Raping Children - six convicted -

Jailing of sixth man, James Machin, means details of other men in Cornwall paedophile ring can be revealed




Six men have been jailed for sexually abusing girls in Cornwall, including at least one as young as five, it can be revealed today.



One of the paedophiles, John Barrett, groomed two of the girls when they were just five and seven by offering them cigarettes, and passed them on to other men to be assaulted.







Police arrested Barrett in December 2007. A complex investigation, called Operation Lakeland, was launched to identify other men. As many as 30 possible victims were spoken to by officers.



Details of the investigation can be reported after restrictions were lifted following the conviction at Truro crown court of a sixth man, kitchen fitter James Machin, 54.



Machin, a father-of-two from Falmouth in Cornwall, was found guilty of a string of sexual offences against two girls over a three-year period.



Barrett, 49, and a third man, John Wrey, 55, were convicted of sexual offences in 2008. Barrett, a builder from Camborne in Cornwall, was jailed for 14 years, and Wrey, from nearby Hayle, was given a five-and-a-half-year sentence.



Three other men arrested as part of the Operation Lakeland inquiry, Derek Shepherd, 63, Alan Wills, 46, and Mark Cox, 43, also received prison sentences.



The net began to close on Barrett in December 2007 when he was confronted by the parents of one of the girls accusing him of offering her cigarettes. He denied any wrongdoing but was arrested by the police.



The girls were interviewed and later said they had been sexually abused by Barrett and other men, prompting the start of Operation Lakeland.



Machin, who was finally arrested in June 2009, attempted to cover his tracks by steam cleaning the inside of his black Mercedes van and trying to wipe the hard drives of two of his laptop computers, which contained large quantities of child pornography.



During Machin's trial, prosecutor Jonathan Barnes said he and Barrett had taken the girls to an empty holiday cottage to repeatedly abuse them.



Jurors heard that Machin made the two girls inhale "poppers" – alkyl nitrates – to relax them, and used sex toys during the abuse.



The mother of one of Machin's victims said she felt extremely angry, but also guilty. She said: "I didn't look after her, although I tried. I did feel guilty because a parent's job is to look after her children."



She said her daughter was struggling to come to terms with what happened to her. "Because her head is so messed up she doesn't know what to do. She's just completely all over the place."



Machin will be sentenced on Monday.