A pervert who was not listed on the sex offenders register - despite a 44-year history of paedophilia, including offences in Chelmsford - has been given a life sentence.
Harold Smith, 61, of Bergh Apton, Norfolk, was jailed after being convicted of raping a nine-year-old boy four times.
A judge at Norwich Crown Court heard that Smith was first convicted of sex offences against children in 1958 and that he also had a criminal record for violence.
But he was not on the sex offenders' register because his attack on the boy was the first sex offence for which he had been convicted since 1997 - when the list was introduced.
Smith was sentenced after being found guilty of rape and assaulting a police officer, causing grievous bodily harm, at an earlier trial.
The court heard his previous convictions included sex offences carried out in Chelmsford
Published Monday, December 16, 2002
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