Victims encouraged to report 'historical' offences

Police say a man who indecently assaulted his friend's eleven-year-old daughter was 'devious' and 'manipulative'.

Sixty-six-year-old Brian Stephen Goodspeed, from Ramsey, committed the offence four years ago, then wrote a letter claiming the girl was blackmailing him and tried to involve her mother in a cover-up.

He was jailed for 16 months by Deemster Doyle, who said his actions were 'totally and utterly unacceptable in a civilised society'.

Detective Sergeant Cathryn Bradley of the Public Protection Unit says she and her colleagues work hard to secure convictions in cases like the Goodspeed one, where the offence was committed some time ago: