7:30am Thursday 29th July 2010
By Jamie Henderson
A predatory paedophile lured young children to his Sutton home and abused them during a 30-year reign of terror.
Walter Parish, of Matlock Crescent, pleaded guilty to 14 separate charges of sexual assault at Croydon Crown Court earlier this month.
The victims, two girls and two boys who were all under 14, were assaulted by the 63-year-old between 1974 and 1997.
In an exclusive interview with the Sutton Guardian one of his victims tells of his suffering at Parish’s hands.
He said: “The abuse affected me for years and changed my life. It took me a long time to get my life back to normal and I will just be happy to see him behind bars.
“He knows he’s going down for a long time but that can’t change what he did to all his victims.”
Parish, a computer boffin, would abuse children who visited his house to learn to use computers or play games like Command and Conquer and Doom.
A former colleague of Parish said: “Walter Parish always held a managerial position and was an expert with computers. If anything needed doing he would always jump at the chance.
“He was quiet and shy but a little shifty. It is unbelievable to think we worked with him for so long and never realised about the filthy second life he was leading.
“A lot of us have children and find this completely disgusting.”
Parish was in his 20s when he started abusing his first victim, a seven-year-old girl, who suffered serious sexual abuse over a five-year period between 1974 and 1979.
Ten of the 14 charges the defendant pleaded guilty to related to this girl.
The father-of-one managed to subdue his urges until 1989 when he focused his attention on another young child, this time a 12-year-old boy who he sexually assaulted over a two-year period.
Parish continued his depraved habit into the 90s and his next victim was a 13-year-old girl.
He waited another five years, until 1997 when he was 50 years old, before committing his final acts of depravity.
His victim was a 14-year-old boy who knew the Parish family. The predator took advantage of the child’s trusting nature to satisfy his sick urges.
In February, at Sutton Magistrates’ Court, Parish denied all 16 charges that he was originally accused of but after seeking legal advice he changed his plea to guilty this month.
The Crown Prosecution Service accepted a guilty plea on 14 charges, meaning the remaining two will lie on his file.
Parish must return to Croydon Crown Court for sentencing on September 24.
The victim's view One of Walter Parish’s victims spoke to the Sutton Guardian about his terrifying ordeal.
The man, who is now in his late 20s, was a friend of the Parish family and visited his house in Matlock Crescent to use the array of computers set up in the paedophile’s attic.
Mark*, who was 14 when he was abused, said: “My brother used to play computer games in his loft, which he had insulated to keep it warm in winter.”
Like any curious teenager Mark just wanted to hang out with his older sibling and was drawn to the Parish house.
But one day in the summer of 1994, when the trio went down to Parish’s garage to get a cold drink, the vile predator struck.
He said: “It was a really hot day and the three of us went down to the garage. After a while the two other boys went back upstairs and that was when Parish grabbed me.
“It was almost like it hadn’t happened, like I had imagined it. I even doubted whether it had actually happened.”
The memories of that day are still raw and Mark kept the ordeal locked up until he told his first girlfriend in 2000.
He said: “I didn’t tell anyone, I was so scared. Like any teenager you occasionally tell little lies and I was certain my parents wouldn’t believe me.
“The abuse affected me for years and changed my life. It took me a long time to get my life back to normal and I will just be happy to see him behind bars. He knows he’s going down for a long time but that can’t change what he did to all his victims.
“I find it insulting that he will probably receive a smaller sentence when he initially denied all the charges. But that is the nature of the British legal system.”
*The victim’s name has been changed to protect his identity.
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