More on KentOnline
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A retired butcher has today been jailed for three years for child abuse dating back 30 years after his victim recognised him when he carried the Olympic torch.
Pervert Graham Cooper, 69, was brought to justice after being chosen to run a leg of the 2012 relay.
The retired Aldington butcher's exploits came to the attention of a woman who recognised him as the man who had carried out sex attacks on her in the 1980s.
Now the businessman, who ran Cooper and Sons Butchers and Bakers in Aldington for many years, has been locked up at Canterbury Crown Court.
Judge Adele Williams told him today: "The victim was quite rightly incensed when she heard you had been chosen to be a torchbearer.
"Child sex abuse is a considerable evil and those who engage in it can expect nothing but imprisonment.
"What you did had long lasting effects on your victim."
The judge also placed Cooper under a sexual offences prevention order and ordered he sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years.
Cooper's victim had tried to bring charges some years ago, but was told it was too late for him to be questioned about his attacks.
But last year, after discovering he had been selected to take part in the historic torch run to celebrate the London Olympics, she contacted the police again.
This time Cooper - who has now moved to Church Road, New Romney - confessed to three of his vile acts, while still trying to blame the young child for initiating the sex contact.
A jury convicted him of a fourth sex attack, but acquitted him on three others, including an alleged rape.
The victim had to give evidence in the five-day hearing and relive her 30-year nightmare.
The woman, who wept while giving evidence, told the court how in the years following the attacks she sought counselling and hypnotherapy to cope with her ordeal.
She said she lived in fear of "bumping into him" in the street, adding that she wondered if she would recognise him.
However, she was in the West Country reading about the Olympics when she discovered he had been nominated to take part in the relay.
She remembered: "I was thinking how could this happen? I looked things up on the internet. How could this person be chosen?
"This man abused me. I read on the internet about him and why he was nominated, his charity work, singing in a local choir, raising money for local projects.
"It said he was always cheerful. I read about him over and over again, about him going to the church and (thought) is he going there to repent or what?"
The former chairman of the Ashford Photographic Society said in his evidence: "I feel very sorry. I am shameful. It shouldn't have happened. I have regretted it for 30 years."
He claimed he stopped during one attack, saying: "That was my wake up moment. I suddenly thought: 'What are you doing?' Stop! I suddenly came to my senses and knew it was wrong.
"I have regretted it ever since. I am truly sorry and ashamed."
