A Doncaster man has been jailed for more than 11 years for a string of sex offences committed against four women over a 12 year period.
Judge David Dixon jailed Paul Piddington, of the Grove and Rufford Hunt, for a total of 11 years and six months during a hearing held this afternoon, after a jury at Sheffield Crown Court found the 53-year-old guilty of three counts of sexual assault; one count of rape; one count of indecent assault and one count of exposure.
Jurors also cleared Piddington, of Station Road, Misson of three charges of sexual assault made by the same woman.
At the opening of the trial on January 7, prosecutor Caroline Wigin described how Piddington sexually abused four women between 2004 and 2016, none of whom can be named for legal reasons.
Ms Wigin told the court that when police officers asked him about an allegation of rape made by Complainant E in 2016, callous Piddington branded her an ‘attention seeker’.
The first offence took place between January 2002 and April 2004, when Piddington sexually assaulted Complainant A.
Complainant A would have been aged between 18 and 20 at the time of the sex assault, and Ms Wigin told the court that the woman initially decided against reporting Piddington to the police, but chose to come forward after reading press reports about the allegations made by the other complainants in this case in 2017.
Piddington, who owns the Vale of York Polo Club in Misson, sexually assaulted Complainant C in November 2011, and the court heard how she went to the police immediately after the incident is said to have taken place.
The fourth set of allegations were made by Complainant D.
Piddington exposed himself and sexually assaulted her five times between January and June 2014.
He raped Complainant E in July 2016, and is also accused of sexually assaulting her on a separate occasion prior to this.
Ms Wigin described how the day after she was raped by Piddington, Complainant E ‘broke down in tears’ to a friend and disclosed what had happened.
“She went to two other friends, who persuaded her to go to the police,” said Ms Wigin.
Hunt Details:
Grove and Rufford Hunt
Source: Doncaster Free Press
