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Daily Record
Daily Record
National
Lanarkshire Live

Former Lanarkshire man convicted of abusing young girls is jailed

A man convicted of sexually abusing two young girls in Bellshillhas been jailed for 32 months.

Henry Good, 64, was locked up despite a plea from his lawyer that he now lives in a sheltered housing complex and the risk of him re-offending is low.

Good, of Leeds, was found guilty of committing the offences when he resided in Bellshill, between 2005 and 2009.

One of the victims was under the age of eight, while the second girl was in her early teens.

Good, who was known to friends as Big Mo, denied the charges, but was convicted after trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court earlier this year.

During the trial he was asked by prosecutor Neil Thomson if the girls who gave evidence against him were lying.

Good replied: "They must be because it didn't happen."

Mr Thomson said there were "striking similarities" in the girls' stories, yet they had never met each other.

He dismissed the idea that they had somehow "concocted" a story and told Good they had "no reason to lie".

The prosecutor added: "You have every reason to lie because, if convicted, you face serious consequences.

"Your strategy is to deny everything, thinking if you don't admit it nothing will be proved.

"You are lying to save your own skin."

Good, who had been on bail, returned to court for sentence yesterday.

Defence solicitor Tracy Paterson said her client has no similar previous convictions and social workers have placed him at "low risk" of re-offending.

She added: "He has suffered mental health complications and a stroke, but has built himself a small, but reliable, support network that seems to be keeping him on an even keel.

"I suggest the court could take a step back from custody and impose a community-based order.

"He is living in a specialist complex for elderly people and not in a general neighbourhood, so that further minimises the risk.

"He would be under the close supervision of the authorities who would keep him away from further offending."

However, Sheriff Alasdair MacFadyen said prison was the only appropriate sentence.

He told Good: "The jury found you guilty of serious charges of sexual abuse against children.

"You've shown no remorse and went to trial, meaning those witnesses had to give evidence.

"You've had the opportunity after conviction on the basis of compelling evidence to own up and face up to your responsibilities, but you declined to do that."

The sheriff also put Good on the sex offenders' register for an indefinite period.

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