Paedo couple who dressed toddler up in ‘sexy’ clothing before raping her and taking pictures jailed for 24 years

THE victim of a paedophile couple who photographed themselves while abusing her as a toddler has told of her relief “they have finally faced justice.”

Married sickos Gary and Heather Talbot dressed the child up in “sexy” clothing before raping her and taking pictures.

Today the pair, from Newcastle, Co Down, were sentenced to a total of 24 years.

After distressing details were heard in court, Judge Piers Grant said their “depraved” actions would spark “disgust and even disbelief.”

Former postman Gary Talbot, 60, admitted 16 charges including two rapes, gross indecency, indecent assault, and taking and distributing indecent images of the child.

He also confessed to a separate charge of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old teen sometime between 2012 and 2014.

His wife, 59, admitted ten charges, ranging from aiding and abetting her husband to rape the child.

She also confessed to taking pictures of her husband doing so, indecently assaulting the girl and committing acts of gross indecency.

COPS RECOVERED 47 INDECENT IMAGES

Earlier Crown QC David McDowell told of the couple’s attempts to distance themselves when quizzed by police three years ago.

He said detectives had recovered 47 indecent images taken of the toddler, now aged 20.

There had been three separate records of different sessions of abuse, including of the child being raped.

All were seized when police found computer equipment in a locked cupboard.

The key had been hidden within the pages of the novel ‘Lolita’.

At first former postman and school bus driver Gary Talbot gave ‘no comment’ answers but in his third interview admitted: “It is just the wrong road I have taken”.

Talbot said he had been “going through a phrase where he was sexually attracted to children” and it was “his idea to buy clothes from Dunnes, to dress-up the child for ‘posing’, pictured surrounded by porno magazines.

He claimed to cops the youngster had posed with the magazines “of her own accord”.

SICK IMAGES SHARED ONLINE

Pictures of the child were later shared with other perverts online.

Mrs Talbot first said the images were the result of “a fantasy that we carried too far.”

But she had corrected herself saying: “It was his fantasy, not mine really’,” adding she had “played along”.

She alleged the abuse occurred while she was out, yet accepted buying more than one outfit for the youngster and dressing her up “once or twice, it was no more than that”.

In her last interview Heather Talbot said she “did not think it would go as far as it did”.

TWISTED SICKOS JAILED

Defence QC Greg Berry for Gary Talbot said his admissions had spared their victim having to give evidence.

Mr Talbot was sentenced to 12 years for abusing the girl when she was a toddler, with an additional three years imposed for abusing her again when she was aged 13-14.

He will serve seven-and-a-half years in prison, followed by the same period on licence when he is released from jail.

Mrs Talbot was given a nine-year sentence.

She was told she will spend six years of her sentence in jail, while the remaining three years will be spend on supervised licence.

The couple, from Kinghill Avenue in Newcastle, were also both made the subjects of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and put on the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period.

Neither showed any emotion and did not look at each other during the hearing.

Just a few feet behind them, being comforted by family and friends, was their victim.

PERVERTS PREYED ON ‘EXTREMELY VULNERABLE’ CHILD

The judge said the perverts had preyed on an “extremely vulnerable and quite defenceless” child with acts that were “planned, carefully considered and pre-meditated.”

In a statement after the hearing the victim said: “I was only a child when they took my innocence away.

“The abuse left me traumatised and upset as they betrayed my trust in the most despicable way. The trauma caused me to lose all my childhood memories and develop PTSD.”

She added: “Pursuing justice has been a long process however seeing my abusers jailed has given me renewed strength and I am now looking forward to the future in which I’m hoping to become a counsellor as counselling has been essential in my recovery and thank you to my counsellor as you have inspired me to help others overcome traumatic experiences.”

She went on: “Together we will send a message across the world that there is no shame in being a survivor of sexual abuse – the shame is on the abuser.”

Speaking after the hearing at Belfast Crown Court Detective Chief Inspector Claire McGuigan said it had been “a hugely disturbing and harrowing case of the most awful abuse.”