Stephen Dawson, a co-founding member of English heavy metal band SAXON, has been sentenced to six years in prison for child sex-related crimes. The 72-year-old musician was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault of a child under 14 by the courts and was sentenced yesterday, April 11th, following the conclusion of a trial in Sheffield, UK.
The incidents in question are said to have involved a six-year-old girl and took place back in the 1990s. According to BBC, Det Con Robert Heath, who oversaw the case, commented on the verdict and the victim:
“She has shown extraordinary strength through coming forward. It is clear that his evil acts have remained with her throughout her life, and I hope this sentence goes some way to allowing her to move on from these traumatic events.”
Dawson was fired from Saxon in 1986. He would later be involved in a dispute over the band’s trademarks and would go on to perform in a different version of Saxon alongside the band’s ex-guitarist Graham Oliver. That lineup continued to tour together through to last year under the name of Oliver/Dawson Saxon.
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