Formby sex offender denied freedom at appeal court

Formby man Ian Robert Harris, 47, was jailed for four years at Liverpool Crown Court. Ian Harris of Alderson Crescent in Formby was convicted of 15 sex crimes, including indecency with a child and indecent assault. He appealed to court in a bid for freedom and failed. The Formby man was aquitted of eight other counts but was locked up for four years at Liverpool Crown Court on August 7 last year.

Mr Justice Green told London’s Appeal Court today that his four victims were aged eight and nine when Harris, then a teenager, abused them. In interview, he claimed the allegations against him were ‘malicious’ and motivated by a ‘desire for financial compensation’.

Lawyers for Harris, who was of previous good character, argued his convictions were ‘unsafe’ and ought to be overturned. Claiming his trial was unfair, they argued the ‘passage of time’ meant witnesses who could have testified in his favour had died. There was ‘no logic’ to explain why he had been convicted on some counts, but not on others, illustrating the ‘confusion’ of the jury.

Mr Justice Green, who was sitting with Lord Justice Simon and Judge Martyn Zeidman QC, dismissed Harris’s appeal.