Littlehampton paedophile jailed for 11 years

Steven Mizon, of The Poplars, Littlehampton, systematically abused a girl and a boy he met while volunteering at a Surrey youth club, but it came to light only when the couple, by chance, started a relationship and confided in each other.

Mizon, 65, denied one allegation of rape, 13 of indecent assault and one of indecency with a child, while living in Merstham between 1984 and 1990.

Guildford Crown Court found him guilty of all but two of the charges, of indecent assault, last week.

The court heard Mizon had subjected the boy to a “catalogue of abuse” for about a year from the age of 13, before turning his attentions to the girl, when she was 14, eventually raping her five years later.

Mizon, who has arthritis and walks with the aid of stick, claimed that he was being “fitted up” by the man, who, he said, was attempting to get revenge for an affair he had had with the woman.

Judge Peter Moss described the defendant as having a “controlling and dominant personality”, and said he had “achieved complete mastery” over the lives of the two victims, grooming the woman from such a young age that he was eventually able to exert complete control over her.

“The damage you have inflicted on these two people will affect them for the rest of their lives.

“The damage cannot be underestimated,” he said.

“You have little insight into what you have done.

“No doubt you will continue to deny it.”

The couple, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were married in 1999, and live in a village in the Horsham district.