London man jailed 16 years after sex attack on girl who later committed suicide

A man who indecently assaulted a ten-year-old girl while she was on a coach trip in Egypt with her family in 2000 has finally been jailed. In what has been described as a "tragic case" Kayley Howson took her own life in March 2008, when she was aged 18.

Frank Dent, 73, of the De Beauvoir Estate, in Hackney, east London, admitted indecently assaulting Howson, 16 years ago. Dent was jailed for 12 months by a judge at Burnley Crown Court.

During a coach trip to visit the Pyramids for her 11th birthday, she sat next to Dent across the aisle from her mother. Lancashire Police said that it emerged afterwards he had assaulted her throughout the journey.

Her family did report the assault when they returned to the UK but no one was ever traced in relation to the crime.

In 2003 Howson told a teacher when she was 13 she had been raped by another man but after several adjournments the man was acquitted in 2006.

In March 2008, Kayley, from Burnley, Lancashire, who subsequently claimed she was raped by a different man in an unrelated incident later, killed herself aged just 18 after enduring a three-year court ordeal which culminated in him being acquitted.

The victim's mother, Janet Mitchell, who searched to find the culprit for the 2000 attack, is thought to have helped to reopen the case in 2015, when she called police believing, mistakenly, she had seen the suspect on a TV programme. Police reopened the case and identified Dent in February this year.

According to the BBC, Det Con Ben Lyons of Lancashire Police said "This is a tragic case involving the indecent assault of a young girl, a day before her eleventh birthday, while she was supposed to be enjoying a trip on her family holiday.

"It is very sad that Kayley was not able to see Dent being brought to justice for what he did to her over 16 years ago but I hope this case shows other victims of sexual abuse that we are committed to tackling the perpetrators, regardless of how long ago the offences took place."

Dent has also been issued with a sexual harm prevention order and ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for five years.