Powys man found guilty of historic child sex offences after trial

A Powys man has been found guilty of three historic child sex offences, after a trial.

Mark Morgan of Mill Farm, Heyope, near Knighton had denied a total of nine charges against him.

The 60 year-old appeared at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court for a two trial recently and the jury returned with their verdicts on Friday.

Her Honour Judge Lucy Crowther directed not guilty pleas for charges one and two, indecent assault on a child between 1976 and 1978, as she considered them to be an unsafe prosecution.

The jury found Morgan guilty of three offences of sexual intercourse with a child under 13 on separate occasions spanning 1981 and 1985, by a majority verdict.

They also found him not guilty of four offences of sexual intercourse with a child under 13 by unanimous verdict, spanning 1979 and 1985.

Prosecuting, Mr Nigel Friar said Morgan had been an adolescent at the time of the abuse, aged between 10 and his late teens and time and his actions had caught up with him.

When he was arrested in 2022 Morgan denied all the allegations and said they were false and malicious. Morgan had no previous convictions prior to these matters.

Judge Crowther asked for a full report before sentencing Morgan for his convictions.

She adjourned the case for a sentencing hearing on Friday, October 9, probably in Cardiff Crown Court.

Morgan remains on conditional bail until that date, the condition being that he co-operates with the Probation Service in the production of a report.