Former Leicestershire officer sentenced to ten years for historic rapes

Leicester Crown Court sentenced 86-year-old Barry Grummett to ten years in prison after a jury convicted him of raping a teenage girl and sexually assaulting an adult woman in the 1970s. Grummett had been a Leicestershire Police officer between September 1970 and October 1981, and he exploited his former role to gain access to the victims' homes when they were alone. The abuse of the teenage girl began in 1977 after she failed to attend school and continued for 18 months, while the assault on the adult occurred later in the decade.

Grummett denied the charges when first interviewed by police in 2023, but the court found the evidence compelling. Amanda Boswell of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit highlighted the seriousness with which the force treats such crimes and commended the victims for their courage. The sentencing marks a rare instance of historic sexual abuse by a former officer being punished decades after the offenses.