Houghton man sexually assaulted young girl, but avoids punishment due to ill health

A Wearside man found guilty of sexual assaults on a seven-year-old girl has been spared punishment due to his ill health.

John Dixon, 80, from Houghton, was found to have committed six acts of sexual assault on a girl under 13 after a 'trial of facts' at Leicester Crown Court.

Dixon had been deemed unfit to stand trial due to health reasons, so jurors were asked to determine whether he committed the acts of which he was acussed.

He was then released with an 'absolute discharge' - used when a court decided not to impose a punishment.

Speaking after the case concluded, investigating officer Detective Constable Kamran Kalia, spoke of his determination to find answers for a young victim of sexual abuse.

The investigation began back in August 2021 when child sexual abuse allegations were first made by the victim against a man.

DC Kalia, who worked in the force’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit at the time of the allegations and investigation, said: “Bringing this case to court was purely about getting answers for the victim. While there is no sentence as such due to the circumstances, it was important that we still did everything we could for the victim as much as we could.

“I remember when I first visited the victim back in August 2021.

"She had bravely confided in a trusted family member that she had previously been sexually abused by Dixon when she was just seven years old and that this had continued over a period of five years.

"Making that difficult first step of talking to someone she trusted, even though that meant recalling such a horrific time, was such an incredibly brave step forward.

“For the family member, being confided in with this information, must also have been the toughest thing to hear and take in – but again she showed extreme courage and support to the victim and made that first contact with police so that we could investigate.

“I remember at the time the victim being completely open and honest with me that while she wanted justice, she was scared of the process she would have to go through.”

Following conversations with the victim, Dixon was voluntarily interviewed and the investigation continued.

Support, advice and updates were provided to the victim throughout with Dixon being charged in August 2022.

“DC Kalia said: “A lot of work did have to be done, enquiries carried out and evidence gathered. It did take a year while we continued to ensure we had everything that was needed for the Crown Prosecution Service and to ensure that if it came to court, we had done all the work we needed. It is obviously extremely hard when an investigation takes this length of time but it is was so important that we gave the time for the enquiries to be carried out to ensure we could get the answers we needed for the victim.

“While Dixon was charged, it was later determined in court that he was not fit to stand a normal court trial and that a trial of the facts would therefore be heard. Again, following this decision, we were determined that this should continue to go ahead to get those answers and an outcome for the victim.

“I do hope that in some way today’s outcome does help the victim knowing that she is believed, that we wanted to get those answers for her and that we remained determined to do this for her.

"I also hope it helps other victims of sexual offences to come forward to police and to know that we will do everything we can to help you, to support you and to get the right outcome for you – no matter what challenges we may face in between.”