Jailed, vile abusers who groomed 'troubled' boys

VULNERABLE YOUNGSTERS WERE BRIBED WITH MONEY, CIGARETTES AND ALCOHOL

- AMY WALKER

TWO men have been jailed after grooming ‘troubled and vulnerable’ young boys with cash, cigarettes and alcohol before committing vile sexual abuse over two decades.

David Marsh, 74, and Anthony Whitehead, 72, were found guilty of grooming and sexually abusing the boys following a four-week trial at Minshull Street Crown Court.

The court heard that the men exploited a number of boys in Rochdale between the 80s and 90s, grooming them with cash, alcohol and cigarettes.

The offences came to light in 2019 after Greater Manchester Police received a report that one of the victims confided in a person in authority that he had been sexually abused by two men as a boy. Investigators found that one of the men was dead but that the second man, Marsh, was alive.

Their investigations led them to a sinister campaign of abuse by Marsh and Whitehead, who were not known to each other, but both bribed the boys with cash, alcohol and trips around the country before carrying out the abuse.

Both men denied the offences, but jurors unanimously found them guilty of 35 offences.