Man Jailed for 30 Years of Abuse

An East Devon man has been jailed for 21 and a half years for a string of sex offences lasting three decades.

A year long investigation lead to 54 year old Adrian Dance being charged with 20 counts of sexual offences, 14 of which he admitted.

Exmouth Detective Seargent Zoe Nowell was one of the officers involved: "we're really pleased with the sentence. The case deserves a sentence of that kind and we are pleased the judge has recognised that. However we are very aware that for the victims in this case life goes on and it's not the end for them, many will continue to suffer as a result of what happened to them."

She's told Heart it shows that time does not prevent successful convictions: "it's always easier to prove an offence if you've got things like forensic evidence and historic cases can prove problematic however you've got to remember there are a lot of people involved in this case, we've known them to be extremely credible and I think the court has recognised that."

It is hoped the sentence will be used as a message to victims to show they will be listened to.

DS Nowell paid tribute to those who helped: "every witness and victim that has come forward and given a statement to the police and had to talk about extremely personal issues which have been very difficult for them to come to terms with - without them we would not have got the result"

To listen to the full interview with DS Nowell CLICK HERE