Paedophile sentence appeal fails

A man who was jailed for 12 years for abusing young girls has failed in an attempt to have his sentence reduced at the Court of Appeal.

Gerald Alexander McDonald, 64, formerly of Shropshire, was jailed at Shrewsbury Crown Court in December 2006.

He had pleaded guilty to 35 offences which took place between the late 1980s and the early 2000s.

Dismissing the appeal Mr Justice Gibbs, described the case as one of "extreme gravity".

Breach of trust

He said McDonald had subjected girls as young as five to "incidents which involved unpleasant perversions going even beyond the level of depravity inherent in these types of cases."

McDonald, who had previously lived in Telford, appealed his sentence on the grounds that it was "manifestly excessive" in total, given his age and his remorse.

Mr Justice Gibbs ruled the abuse extended over a period of more than two decades and involved "gross and repeated" breaches of trust including a rape.

Dismissing McDonald's appeal, he said the total sentence could not be said to be manifestly excessive or wrong in principle.