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Merseyside Police have welcomed the sentencing 
of Robert Nickson for sexual offences 
ROBERT Nickson, 55, from Crosby, has been found guilty of 21 
counts of indecent assault on a girl under 16 years following a trial. The 
offences were committed against three victims in the 1970's.  On Monday, 10 
April 2017, he was sentenced to a total of 12 years in prison at Liverpool Crown 
Court.  Detective Constable Justin Harrison said:- "Nickson's victims 
have shown incredible bravery to come forward. Specially trained officers in 
Merseyside Police's Unity team have supported them throughout the investigation. 
Time should never be a barrier to obtaining justice and I hope today's sentence 
gives his victims some sense of closure. Merseyside Police takes every report of 
sexual offences extremely seriously, whether or not they are recent, and has 
dedicated officers within the force's Unity team who are specially trained to 
both thoroughly investigate allegations and make sure that those reporting them 
are properly supported. I would like to take this opportunity to reassure anyone 
who has suffered a sexual offence that if you can find the courage to come 
forward and speak to us, we will deal with you sensitively." 
 In a victim impact statement read to the court, one of his victims wrote:- 
"As a child I had no conception of what was happening was wrong. There was no 
understanding by me that what he was doing was wrong at that time. I had no idea 
that what he had done to me was wrong until I was a teenager and becoming more 
aware of the difference between right and wrong. As a teenager we started to 
have sex education in science classes; that was when it really dawned on me I 
had been abused by Nickson. I was only a child, an innocent child who having 
been abused now as an adult suffers. I can't sleep, I can't think straight 
sometimes, my moods are up and down, I fight with me own conscience, but I did 
not want to be abused nor consent to be abused. I have nightmares now of what 
happened to me, I relive the abuse in my dreams. Can I go back to normal? Will 
this abuse stick with me forever? I don't know the answer."
 
 People can call Officers in the force's specialist Protecting Vulnerable People 
Unit, on:- 0151 777 1382. Information can also be passed to Crimestoppers, 
anonymously, on:- 0800 555 111.
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