The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A FRAIL pensioner has pleaded guilty to detaining a then 12-year-old girl whom he gave money and cigarettes, a court has heard.
Raymond Mauderne (74) of Hampton Close, Spalding, leaned heavily on a stick and had great difficulty in getting up and down as he admitted the charge of detaining a child under the age of 16, so as to remove her from the lawful control of her mother before Boston Magistrates Court on Wednesday, February 21.
Prosecuting, Dan Pietryka, said the girl concerned, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been 12-years-old at the time the charge related to, which was between July 24 2015 and June 1 2016.
He said Mauderne had known the girl and her mother for four or five years, and the girl would go around to his bungalow alone or with friends.
He said he had been issued with a statutory warning notice to stop seeing the girl in July 2015 but she continued to do so, sometimes uninvited, over the next 10 months, often being given money by him.
He told police he saw her as a granddaughter and bought her sweets and had given her cigarettes, although he had not started her smoking.
He said he had told her she should not come round but she did anyway.
Mauderne told officers he spent a lot of time alone and was glad of her company and that they talked about her school.
He said it had been difficult to keep her out but said she was a ‘likeable young girl’ but admitted he had not done enough to keep her out of his bungalow.
Mitigating, Helen Coney said that following the issuing of the statutory warning letter by the police in July 2015, the girl had gone round on a number of occasions uninvited but he had not done enough to make her leave, such as calling the police.
The magistrates ordered a report from the Probation Service and adjourned the case until March 12.
