A Keswick pensioner has been convicted of repeatedly raping one teenage girl and indecently assaulting a second female during crimes which took place more than four decades ago.
Raymond Harrison, now 73, was aged in his late 20s or early 30s when his sexual abuse of the two victims took place.
At that time, Harrison was a farmer in the Keswick area and the girls came to know him, independent of each other, Carlisle Crown Court was told.
Both trusted Harrison who, jurors heard, would buy them sweets and cigarettes. The prosecution case was that Harrison did this so that he could, when he was separately alone with the girls, sexually touch them.
Jurors were told that Harrison first raped one girl in a garage after pinning her against a stone wall. She was scared during that assault and, the court heard, was then raped on multiple other occasions over the course of many months. Harrison told her it was their secret and that she shouldn’t inform anyone.
The court heard Harrison had indecently assaulted a second girl by kissing and putting his tongue in her mouth, and also by touching her intimately over her clothing.
Neither girl felt they could initially complain about what he had done. It was not until many years later that they began to make disclosures, and in late 2017 they made statements to police.
Harrison was initially given a 20-year prison sentence, in 2021, after he was convicted on a number of charges. That conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal the following year.
As a result, Harrison was the subject of a retrial, held at Carlisle Crown Court in 2023. He was found guilty on three indecent assault charges, acquitted on 13 further allegations and, in the case of 10 additional charges, jurors were unable to reach verdicts.
In respect of those latter 10 charges, Harrison has been the subject of a further trial at the crown court during the past month. He denied four charges alleging rape of a girl and two charges alleging indecency with that same child, whom the 2023 jury concluded he indecently assaulted. He further denied four indecent assault charges relating to the second girl.
In court today, a jury of six men and six women found Harrison guilty, unanimously, on all 10 of those charges having deliberated for almost 12-and-a-half hours after hearing all evidence in the case. Reporting restrictions — lifted today — had previously prevented the media publishing any material relating to the case.
Harrison, of Keswick, was told by Judge Nicholas Barker that he is due to be sentenced for all 13 offences tomorrow.
In the meantime Harrison — who had previously been on bail — has been remanded in custody. “I didn’t think it is appropriate that bail is advanced at this stage,” said Judge Barker in light of the jury’s verdicts.
The judge also announced that Harrison is now subject to notification requirements which include signing the sex offender register.
