A family of paedophiles: Man jailed for 16 years for raping boys becomes FOURTH member of his family to be locked up for child sex offences

A paedophile has become the fourth member of his family to be jailed for child sex offences after he sexually abused two young boys.

Derek Smith, 50, from Darlington, was sentenced to 16 years behind bars after he was found guilty of two indecent assaults, four rapes, two sexual assaults, two charges of sexual activity with a child and two of another serious sexual offence.

His father, George senior, 79, brother George junior, 54, and nephew Mark, 20, are all in prison serving sentences for child abuse, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Judge Sean Morris branded the Smiths ‘a dysfunctional family with no boundaries’, as the court heard Derek Smith was likely to die behind bars as liver failure means he has been given just three years to live.

The court was told that Smith had abused the first boy – then aged 15 – in the 1980s after going to his bedsit and climbing into his bed, pretending to be cold.

The sleeping victim jumped up and grabbed a knife, and during a struggle cut his attacker under his left armpit and on his right thumb, Richard Bennett, prosecuting, told the court.

The boy had reported the incident to Smith’s father, but was laughed at and branded a fantasist.
He then kept his ordeal a secret, only coming forward when he learned last year that Smith had been arrested for abusing another youngster.

Judge Morris told Smith: ‘He reported it the next day to your father, who didn’t believe him, in fact, he laughed at him and called him a fantasist – and that was that.