Taxi Driver Online

Former Hartlepool man spared jail for catalogue of child sex abuse due to legal loophole

A former Hartlepool man has avoided jail despite a catalogue of historic sex crimes which destroyed three victims’ lives.

Steven Kelsey, now 63, sexually abused three children several decades ago when he was a teenager.

Despite pleading guilty to numerous counts of indecent assault, which Teesside Crown Court heard robbed the victims of their childhoods, he walked free from the dock.

The judge described the it as one of the most tragic cases he had ever heard.

But he said he was limited in the sentence he could pass because Kelsely could only be dealt with according to the law at the time he committed the “dreadful” crimes when he was still a juvenile.

The maximum then for indecent assault was just six months prison.

Judge Christoper Smith said: “However unjust that must seem to an outside observer I must follow the law as it stood then.”

Emotional testimonies by each of Kelsey’s victims were read in court.

Each spoke how they felt shame and guilt and have suffered ongoing trauma and mental distress.

One said: “He took my childhood and my sanity away.”

Judge Smith said a teenager sitting in the dock today for such offences would expect to go to prison for quite a long time.

Judge Smith said: “This is without doubt one of the most tragic cases I have heard for many years.

"The impact of what you did to [the victims] has followed them into their adult lives, and their courage in the face of that considerable and lasting adversity is frankly humbling.”

But he said if Kelsey was jailed he would be released within weeks and that there would be a “worrying lack” of supervision from the probation service afterwards.

Instead he sentenced him to a three-year community order with supervision and 30 rehabilitation days.

Kelsey, now of Canwick Road, Lincoln, was also put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years, made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same length and given an indefinite restraining order against the victims.

Gregor Purcell, mitigating, said he had shown remorse and submitted supervision of Kelsey would give greater reassurance to the victims and wider community.

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IDFIMH

The reason this story might be of interest to subscribers of TDO is that after committing these offences in the late 1970’s he moved to Lincoln and then became a taxi driver in the 1980’s. Because the crimes were unreported, he clearly obtained a HC licence with ease.
And when the CRB/ DBS regime came into play, there was still no flag up of his offences, because they remained unreported. I knew Kelsey from 1985 and would never have suspected that he was capable of committing these appalling offences. A weird guy for sure, though, but that applies to many taxi drivers. To me it shows the flaws in the DBS checks, in that offences of this nature will not flag up unless an applicant has been convicted of an offence.
In the 1990’s Kelsey switched from Hackney to PH. And I only saw him occasionally. Quite why it took 45 years for his crimes to come to light, I do not know, but I do have concerns as to whether or not his offending continued on his move to Lincoln, and to speculate on his reasons for becoming a taxi driver.
I never have understood why victims take so long to complain, I guess that they think they might not be believed. There may be more to this sorry tale yet.

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Former taxi driver

I think children often brush it off or are too scared to say anything but as you get older the fear subsides and the anger at what was done to you grows. It also helps if you are aware of other victims coming forward as it shows that you are not alone

sounds like he may have moved to Lincoln to get away from his past but usually it catches up with you and he probably never did anything during the last few years so to all intents and purposes he had a clean record

hopefully the victims now have some closure

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Taxis Are Public Transport too

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He moved to Lincoln along with his close family, parents, and brothers and sisters. The reason for moving away from Hartlepool are unknown, and are open to speculation. Did he commit further offences? We may never know. But do leopards change their spots?

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Former taxi driver

Since the horrible things that happened in Rotherham and Rochdale much more weight is being put on non-conviction info.

If the police have been called to an address in respect of domestic violence, that info is now taken into account even though there was no arrest, charge, or conviction.

The same applies for allegations of sexual harm, even though there was no arrest, charge, or conviction.

So hopefully any hearsay evidence could have been used to revoke the fella's license, but as the only evidence was historic and I doubt anyone other than the victims and the culprit knew about it.

This is why it is always so important to report stuff like this, even if it doesn't lead to a conviction.

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IDFIMH