Stephen Dawson: Saxon founder member jailed for child sex offences

Stephen Dawson was found guilty of abusing a child in the 1990s

A founding member of one the UK's most successful heavy metal bands has been jailed for historic child sex offences.

Stephen Dawson was the bassist in Saxon, who formed in 1975 in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and went on to sell more than 23 million records.

Dawson, of Street Lane, Rotherham, was jailed for repeatedly abusing a six-year-old girl in the 1990s.

The 72-year-old was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

Dawson, who will spend a year on licence after his release, was found guilty at an earlier hearing of four counts of indecent assault of a child under 14.

Saxon at a gig in Chicago in 1983. Pictured are, from left, Paul Quinn, Biff Byford, Stephen Dawson, Nigel Glockler, and Graham Olive

Det Con Robert Heath, the officer in charge of the case, said Dawson "thought he had got away" with his attacks on a vulnerable victim 30 years ago.

"It is clear that his evil acts have remained with her throughout her life, and I hope this sentence goes some way to allowing her to move on from these traumatic events," he added.

Dawson, who Spinal Tap character Derek Smalls was reportedly partly based on, toured the world with Saxon, whose top 40 singles included Wheels of Steel and 747 (Strangers in the Night).

The band was said to be one of Europe's most successful metal acts of the 80s and counted Ozzy Osbourne as one of its support acts.

Det Con Heath said that Dawson's victim had shown "extraordinary strength" to come forward and urged other people who may have suffered abuse in the past to come forward.

Dawson, pictured here in 2009, was sentenced to five years in prison