The jury sitting on an historic child abuse trial at Mold Crown Court has been sent home for the ninth time – because one of the jurors has a dental appointment.

Judge Rhys Rowlands asked them to return tomorrow (July 2) to continue their deliberations in respect of the final defendant, Farndon man Keith Stokes, on three charges of indecent assault, one charge of serious sexual assault and one charge of an attempted serious sexual assault.

Former haulier and abattoir manager Stokes, 62, from Quarry Hill in Farndon, Chester, has already been found not guilty of one charge of indecency with a child.

On June 25, Little Sutton man David Lightfoot, 72, was convicted of six charges of indecent assault on a male, two serious sexual assault charges, and one attempted serious sexual assault. The former Wrexham publican, during the 1980s, from Parklands View, Little Sutton, was cleared of a charge of indecency with a child.

David Lightfoot
David Lightfoot

Yesterday (June 30) former metropolitan police officer Julian Huxley, 70, who at the time worked as a civil servant at Wrexham Barracks, was convicted of two charges of indecent assault on the main complainant, by a 10 to two majority.

It came a day after the jury found defendant Neil Phoenix, 63, of Windsor Road, New Broughton, Wrexham , guilty of the one charge he faced, indecent assault on a boy at the home of Gary Cooke, who was alleged to have been at the centre of a paedophile ring in the 1980s.

Operation Pallial

The men were arrested as part of Operation Pallial, a National Crime Agency investigation into allegations of historic sexual abuse.

Phoenix, who denied the charge, was convicted by a 10 to two majority by the jury.

Last Friday, June 26, retired teacher and former children’s home owner Roger Griffiths, 76, of Coed Efa Lane, New Broughton, Wrexham, was cleared of a charge of indecent assault on the main complainant after being cleared of another charge a day earlier.

And on Thursday, June 25, former wrestler and Wrexham sex shop owner Mark Grainger , formerly known as Gary Cooke, aged 64, from Galway Road, Leicester, was convicted of 11 charges of indecent assault, three charges of serious sexual assault and two charges of indecency with a child.

Former local radio presenter Roy Norry, aged 55, from Hamilton Road, Connah’s Quay, was convicted of five charges of indecent assault on a male, one charge of serious sexual assault and was cleared of one charge of attempted serious sexual assault and one indecent assault.

Sentencing is yet to take place.

Trial continues.