A former teacher has been jailed for a string of indecent assaults on young boys.
Seventy-six year-old Robert Lippiatt abused four boys during the 1970s, causing profound psychological harm to his victims.
The pensioner had denied the charges against him but was convicted following a trial at Swansea Crown Court – a trial where the people he abused had to relive their childhood ordeals from the witness box as they gave evidence.
Lippiatt, of Penybont Road, Pencoed, Bridgend, returned to the dock on Friday where he was sentenced to four years prison, and was put on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.
It is the second time the defendant has been jailed for sexually abusing children – in 1994 he was sentenced to seven years for indecently assaulting a string of young boys in the early 1990s.
Robin Rouch, for the prosecution, read impact statements from the victims of Lippiatt’s 1970s offending.
One described how the abuse he suffered “damaged my young mind”, leaving him anxious and confused about his sexuality. He described how he turned to alcohol in his early teens – later becoming an alcoholic – and how found it hard to trust people.
He added: “I will never know how my life would have turned out if he had not abused me.”
Another said he came from a generation where men didn’t talk about their emotions, and he had found it difficult to live with what Lippiatt had done to him.
He said: “I have cried more in the three days after giving evidence than I have in the last 30 years. I have found it hard to come to terms with not being as strong as I once believed I was.”
In his statement another of the victims said that after the abuse he turned to alcohol and drugs to “block out” what had happened, and he became an “aggressive and unruly” youngster – he said his life became a “living hell”.
The fourth victim said he had never gotten over what Lippiatt had done to him, saying the defendant “robbed me of his childhood”, and left him “feeling I was not a good person”. He said he was left wondering what kind of life he would have led, and what he would have achieved, if the defendant had not done what he did.
Lippiatt was sentenced to a total of four years in prison, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for an indefinite period.
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