Serial Oxfordshire paedophile jailed for life dies

Anthony Barron, formerly of Grove, was jailed in 2007 after pleading guilty to 87 charges of sexual abuse of children including attempted rape, sexual assault and making indecent photographs.

At the time, the case was said to be the worst of its kind in Oxfordshire.

According to the Prisons and Probation Ombudsman, Barron died on July 18 at the age of 72 while serving at HMP Ashfield near Bristol.

The ombudsman’s report confirmed he died from cancer. An inquest concluded it was natural causes.

At the time he was jailed Judge Julian Hall told Barron he was a “plausible, predatory paedophile” whose crimes he had found “quite chilling”.

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Anthony Barron when he was jailed in 2007 (Image: TVP)

He added: “This is as serious a series of offences as I think I’ve ever come across.”

The court heard Barron had targeted 11 girls aged from three to 12 over a nine-year period beginning in 1997.

Amjad Malik, prosecuting, said Barron, a popular figure in the community, had befriended their parents through his connections to primary schools and Scout groups and persuaded them to let the children stay with him at his home.

He then “groomed” the girls into allowing him to film himself abusing them, using sweets and toys as bribes.

Mr Malik described Barron as “almost an integral part of the parents’ lives” and a person they believed to be an “extremely friendly, helpful man”.

The court heard that suspicions were raised when one of Barron’s victims made a comment to her mother about him.

Police subsequently raided his house and seized 52 computers which contained scores of video recordings of him abusing the girls.

Andrew Bright, defending, said the case was “truly shocking” and a cause of “great shame” to Barron and anyone associated with him.

But he told Judge Hall that Barron had not used threats or violence to make the children comply.

Jailing Barron, the Judge said: “You totally betrayed the trust of parents who allowed you to look after their children.

“You abused them completely and treated them with no respect whatsoever. You treated them as if they were some sort of toy.

“I can’t imagine anything worse than a parent knowing not only that their child had been abused but had been filmed being abused.”

He added: “I’ve no idea when, if ever, you will be safe to be let loose in the community, because I’ve no idea why this all started.

“I think it’s right that you remain under the supervision of the Probation Service for the rest of your life.”