Van man guilty of Shropshire sex assaults
A "white van man" has been convicted of repeatedly sexually abusing young girls over the course of a decade in a Shropshire village.
Farm worker Charles Stealey was charged with 20 offences which were said to have taken place in the village of Trefonen, near Oswestry, between 2000 and 2010.
The court heard the 50 year old often carried out assaults in the back of his van, as well as at the homes of his victims and at other locations in Trefonen.
Prosecutor Anthony Warner told Shrewsbury Crown Court the victims had been unaware that Stealey had been targeting other people until one of them made a report to the police in 2011.
He said: "He was a well-known figure in Trefonen as someone you didn't confront or stand up to. He was somebody to be seen driving a white van and some people referred to him as 'the white van man'."
Stealey had denied all the charges and his barrister, Daniel White, had claimed one victim's accounts was "a pack of lies".
After spending more than 10 hours deliberating, the jury of eight men and four women returned guilty verdicts on 12 charges, including three of raping a child and three of indecent assault.
After the verdicts were read out Judge Peter Barrie told Stealey he faces "a substantial custodial sentence". He will be sentenced next month to allow time for reports to be prepared. He will remain in custody until sentencing.
The jury cleared Stealey of four further charges of rape and one of sexual assault and failed to reach a verdict on a charge of indecent assault on a child aged 14-16 and sexual activity with a child aged under 16.
Prosecutors will decide in the next 10 days whether to request a retrial on those two charges.
