Man jailed for decades of sex attacks

Graham Cockerill was convicted and jailed for seven years

A man has been jailed for a string of sex attacks against two girls and a woman over several decades, including one who died in 1995 and never reported him.

Graham Cockerill, 67, of Elwy Circle, Ash Green, Coventry, was found guilty of the sex offences at Warwick Crown Court in June.

After he was sentenced, police said his victims included a girl aged between nine and 14 in the Meriden area, near Solihull, who he assaulted throughout the 1970s and another girl in Coventry, between 2016 and 2022, when she was under 13 years old .

Officers said that, during the investigation, a further victim was identified who was in her 40s at the time but she died before the offence came to light.

Cockerill was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court in August

Det Con James Manders said it showed that "in certain circumstances, a victim need not necessarily even be alive for us to obtain a conviction".

He said officers worked to gather evidence even though 30 years had passed since the woman died and she had never reported the crime to police.

Det Con Manders said the Crown Prosecution Service decided to go forward with the case because of statements made by living witnesses about the victim - and because Cockerill had disclosed details of the crime to them.

Cockerill was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault on a girl under 13 by touching, two counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 and one count of indecent assault of a female over 16 years of age.

He was jailed earlier this month for seven years, given a 10-year restraining order for one victim and a 15-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He will remain on the sex offenders' register for life.