Convicted sex offender Harold Wharton, of HMP Whatton, given further jail sentence

A convicted sex offender has been handed another lengthy jail sentence for offences committed more than 25 years ago.

Harold Wharton, now aged 45, sexually assaulted the primary school age girl on at least two occasions in Nottinghamshire during the late 1990s.

Wharton, then known as George Charlton, was previously jailed in 2018 after grooming and sexually abusing another child in a different part of the country.

He came to the attention of Nottinghamshire Police in March 2022 when his victim came forward to report what had happened to her.

Wharton, of HMP Whatton, denied the allegations against him and dismissed the testimony of a witness who was herself a child at the time.

After a week-long trial in June, he was found guilty of two counts of unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 13.

The charges had been under the 1956 Sexual Offences Act because of the age of the offences.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Thursday, Charlton was jailed for eight years and six months.

Detective Constable Aimee Robinson, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “The victim in this case was so young at the time of these offences that she had no idea what was happening her.

“As she grew older, she began to understand the seriousness of what this man had done to her all those years before.

“However, like many victims of this kind of abuse, she found it very difficult to come forward and speak to the police such a long time after the offences.

“The evidence she was able to give was extremely powerful and helped a jury convict this man of extremely serious sexual offences.

“As he begins another very lengthy prison sentence, I hope this case serves as a reminder to both victims and offenders that there really is no time limit on our investigations.”