Pensioner jailed for sexual abuse

A Middleton pensioner became the oldest person to be jailed in the UK after he was sentenced for abusing two sisters 40 years ago.

Thomas Burton, 88, separately abused the two girls, without either of them knowing about the other's abuse until they spoke about it for the first time in 1992.

Burton carried out the abuse between 1962 and 1968, when the girls were both under 11 years of age.

Police took action in 2008 when both sisters decided to speak out against their abuse.

Following an investigation Burton was charged with three sex offences. He pleaded guilty to two sexual assaults on a child under 13 and one charge of gross indecency with a child under 13.

He will serve eight concurrent months for the sexual assaults and 16 months for gross indecency.