FORMER senior members of Thurrock's prestigious yacht club, including a previous Commodore, stand accused of ignoring and covering up child sex abuse which happened on its premises over a number of years – with the victim being a girl aged seven when the offences started.

The historic club, on Thames Road, Grays, which can trace its roots back to the 1700s, was the place where a majority of 14 listed offences, including penetration, took place.

They were committed by 66-year-old welder/fabricator John Darby who has been given prison sentences totalling more than 60 years.

The sentences included periods including 20, 16, 14 and 12 years, but will run concurrently, meaning he will spend a minimum of 12 years behind bars.

Darby, who proclaimed his innocence throughout a four day trial, was found guilty of repeatedly assaulting the youngster over three years in the cellar below the club's bar – and in the caravan where he lived on a nearby industrial site.

The shocking circumstances of the case were revealed at Basildon Crown Court when the victim was praised for her bravery by Judge Samantha Leigh.

She then went on to award a whistleblowing former member and Afghanistan war veteran a High Sherrif's award and £500 for standing up in the face of threats and provocation to expose the wrong-doing.

Scaffolder Terry Gillingham, who served as a 21-year-old with the Parachute Regiment in Afghanistan, was applauded by the judge for being the witness who ensured the case against Darby was proven.

Earlier this week Thurrock Nub News reported on the case when Darby was found guilty by a jury who wrapped up several days of evidence with just two hours of deliberation, and yesterday (Thursday, 15 August) sentence was delivered.

Darby received multiple sentences, several over ten years, for the 14 offences he had been found guilty of committing. All are to be served concurrently, meaning that the most relevant is the 20 years he received for an offence of penetration, described by the judge as a most serious 'category 1 offence'.

The final of the 20 years will be served on licence, and he must serve at least two thirds of his time behind bars before being considered for parole. He will be 78 when he leaves prison, which Judge Leigh said would be sufficient to make him no longer a threat!

Thursday's sentencing session was a harrowing affair when the victim, now a young woman of 20, gave a victim statement, describing the years of torment that had wrecked her life – and led to numerous attempts to kill herself.

Darby remained impassioned and emotionless in the dock while the trembling victim frequently had to pause amid tears as she detailed the impact the attacks had on her.

She told the court of 'the severity of the damage done by John Darby' to myself', saying "I will never be the same, my innocence was taken from me. Nothing will be able to take away the fact that I had no childhood and on multiple occasions I tried to take my own life.

"I am lucky to be alive, I can't give you the exact number of overdoses, attempts at hanging or suffocating.

"I lost my teenage years."

She told of the 'physical toll' on her, as well as the 'stress and damage through trauma inflicted by John Darby', saying she was left with social anxiety disorder.

A respected member of Thurock Yacht Club, where he sailed his boat, John Darby hid dark secrets, though one man saw through the facade.

She continued: "I don't think there are words to describe everything I have undergone, paralysed by fear of John Darby, which has continued over the years.

"I can't stand to look at myself sometimes, though I have undergone multiple types of therapy.

"My years from 12 to 17 were taken up by hospital admissions and therapy appointments. I missed years of education and was unable to take my GCSEs.

"The number of times I attended school over three years, I could count on my hand. I've not had a fair shot at education.

"I have missed so much, with virtually no social interaction with people of my age. I will never get that back. It is a very hard thing to come to terms with.

"I suffered bullying at both primary and secondary school.

"I have never and will never be able to have a normal relationship because of the trauma caused by John Darby.

"I know it's not my fault but that does not take away from the reality. John Darby's impact will affect the quality of my life forever. I don't know what a normal life is.

"My spark was taken away from by a man who took away so much, he can never realise. I will never have a normal life, nothing can change that.

"I still question why it was me and I don't think I will ever get an answer to that question."

She also paid tribute to her family and her mother.

After the emotion of her speech, which left several people in the public gallery in tears, the prosecution called for the heaviest category of sentencing saying Darby had committed the gravest abuse of trust, getting his victim isolated and making threats to dissuade her from reporting the abuse and causing her severe psychological harm.

Darby was summed up as 'an offender of particular concern'.

In mitigation, Darby's defence counsel had little to offer, acknowledging the gravity of the offences, but suggesting they were of a lesser nature than the most severe, category one.

And the court was told: "John Darby has a severely disabled son who depends very much on his father and losing that responsibility will have a severe impact on Mr Darby."

Judge Leigh, who had been critical of the length and nature of the police investigation during the trial, detailed a succession of the offences, which began in 2010 when the girl was seven and on a trip with her family, accompanied by Darby. At one point, in a forest, he isolated her, placed her against a tree and removed her clothing before sexually assaulting her. He repeated that offence on another trip with the family.

Later offences took place in the cellar of the yacht club – and in the caravan where Darby lived around a hundred yards from the club.

After the offences took place Darby stressed that the girl should not tell anyone, saying: "If you do, no one will like you."

John Darby.

Judge Leigh referred back to the evidence given during the trial and said that the abuse inflicted by Darby on the girl was 'witnessed by members of the yacht club!'

She said: "There was an impression that others at the club knew what had happened and members closed ranks around Mr Darby."

She recalled how Mr Gillingham, among others, had disturbed Darby in the club's cellar, but he was the only one who had felt the actions were improper and something had to be done.

During the trial the timelines of the offences was detailed and happened over three years when the girl was aged between seven and nine.

Following a number of incidents Mr Gillingham made a report to police and social services, which were investigated. The girl, Darby, Mr Gillingham and the girl's family were questioned. The girl's parents played down the suggestion that Darby, who they regarded as a trusted and close family friend was abusing their daughter. They said she was making it up.

They continued to allow access to the girl by Darby, who was also involved in training her sibling and often took that child out on his boat alone. There is no suggestion he committed any offences against her.

And the victim herself, when initially questioned in 2012, denied that any abuse had taken place.

Only Mr Gillingham's testimony was against Darby and in the end the investigation was halted, though social services in the girl's home town, which is outside Thurrock, and Thurrock's own social services, continued to hold records about the abuse – but did not press the matter.

Grays Yacht Club where John Darby committed his offences.

Mr Gillingham says he was appalled that the club's committee and senior officers declined to question Darby's suitability to be a member and instead waged a war of disinformation and aggression towards him, eventually removing his membership of the club.

He told Thurrock Nub News: "I told the committee not to let children be around Darby. I told them what I had seen and my suspicions. I gave them all the details.

"They obviously knew the family it was to do with, who you would have thought would also have mentioned it.

"Members of the club went against me. My boat was damaged, my moorings disappeared, a hole appeared in the bottom of my tender which I used to get out to my boat. Someone tampered with my outboard engine.

"Some members did acknowledge what I was saying but others just slagged me off and eventually I had my membership taken away. Members stood up against me and put the nail in my sailing club coffin."

Mr Gillingham, from South Ockendon, says - despite the personal abuse he suffered and the impact being removed from the prestigious club, for which individual membership is £282, had on his social standing - he does 'not regret for a minute' taking his stance and says he would be more than happy to speak up in detail should an investigation ever take place into what he described as a cover-up of criminality.

He now runs his own scaffolding company in Thurrock and says he is proud of his record for 'doing the right things in his life', which included being recognised for his service in Afghanistan.

Terry Gillingham was awarded his Operational Service Medal by the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea

Mr Gillingham served with White City's 10 Company The 4th Battalion The Parachute Regiment (4 PARA), and after his return from overseas was presented with his Operational Service Medal by the Mayor of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.

He served with the TA for three years and during his Afghanistan duties was based in Helmand Province in from February to July in 2006, providing individual reinforcements to support the regular battalion on the initial British deployment into the area.

After initially being interviewed but seeing the case dropped, Mr Gillingham was contacted by the police again in around 2017 when the case was reopened when the girl, having suffered years of therapy and treatment and after several failed suicide attempts, finally admitted to the authorities that she had not told the truth in the initial investigation because she was scared by Darby and influenced by her parents backing of him.

When the matter was referred again to the police by social services, it transpires original evidence, including some forensic material, records and transcripts of the original statements were lost, meaning Mr Gillingham had to be reinterviewed.

He remained consistent in his recollection of what had happened and it was his evidence that was pivotal in the eventual prosecution, though it took police a further six years to bring the case to court, a delay that was heavily criticised by Judge Leigh.

However, she was fulsome in her praise of Mr Gillingham and his support for the victim, saying: "You stepped up when those around her failed. You were an honest man, doing what you believed was right.

"But for your efforts in this case and staying as strong as you did, this case might not have been brought to court.

"For that I confer upon you a High Sherif's award together with £500 and the thanks of the court.

"You have been treated appallingly by the yacht club. Shame on them!"

Speaking to the victim, Judge Leigh was effusive in her admiration for the girl's courage in court, saying of the victim statement: "I defy anyone who heard that not to have a breaking heart."

She added: "None of this is your fault, the blame lies squarely on the defendant. I have no hesitation in saying that in 30 years close to the Bar, I have never had such sympathy with the victim as I have today."

No laughiung matter. John Darby was ultimately brought to justice more than a decade after his offences.

Turning to Darby, and delivering her sentencing, Judge Leigh said: "This is a category one offence because of the planning, the grooming, the abuse of trust and threatening to stop her coming forward.

"The only mitigating fact is you have no previous convictions.

"You lied and what you did had devastated the life of this victim."

Speaking to Thurrock Nub News after the conclusion of the trial, current Thurrock Yacht Club commodore Dave McLean said: "Thurrock Yacht club has just been informed of the court case and outcome of an ex member who took advantage of the opportunity to day sail from the club premises with a minor around 2010.

"Our thoughts are with the victim and families concerned.

"We are deeply sorry for the victim and commend her for challenging this man's actions and for her courage in the process of obtaining justice.

"We want to assure you that we are committed to supporting such efforts.

"Contrary to some media reports John Darby has at no stage been an employee, coach or instructor at the club.

"Many club officials have changed since then and the club's processes and procedures have evolved.

"The safeguarding and welfare of all children and vulnerable adults within the club is of paramount importance to all members."

A statement from Essex Police, issued today (Friday, 16 August) says: "The first report came into Essex Police in 2012 following concerns about Darby around a young girl at Thurrock Yacht Club. This investigation was filed, however in 2017, the victim approached Essex Police to correct her original statement and reopen the investigation.

"The victim bravely disclosed that she had been sexually abused by Darby for several years.

"Throughout the investigation, Darby continued to deny all allegations against him.

"He was charged with 12 counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, one count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of attempted assault of a child under 13 by penetration.

"Following a trial which began at Basildon Crown Court on 6 August, Darby was found guilty of all charges. John Darby appeared at Basildon Crown Court yesterday (15 August) where he was sentenced to 19 years in prison."

Detective Inspector Emma Portfleet said: "The patience and bravery that this victim has demonstrated throughout the investigation is nothing short of admirable.

"Sexual offences often have a life-long impact on survivors but I hope that she is able to start moving forward and is proud of how she has conducted herself throughout this investigation.

"I appreciate that there are questions from the public about the length of time this investigation took to conclude. The complexity of investigations into non-recent sexual offences investigations cannot be underestimated. During this investigation, detectives spoke with dozens of witnesses, took countless statements and made sure that the victim was receiving specialist support throughout.

"It took the jury less than two hours to find Darby guilty and I believe that this is due to the strength of the case formed by our detectives.

"However long an investigation may take, detectives in our Crime and Public Protection Unit work constantly to put dangerous perpetrators behind bars and protect vulnerable victims."