Sixties pop star Peter MacBeth has been jailed for child sex offences.
The 79 year-old, of High Street, Bangor, was found guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl on two occasions over a two year period in the late 1990s.
MacBeth was a member of the band The Foundations who scored a worldwide hit with the track ‘Build Me Up Buttercup’.
After being convicted the jury at Caernarfon Crown Court were told MacBeth had admitted downloading indecent images of children from the internet in April and May last year.
The jury had already been told MacBeth had been jailed for six years in 2008 after admitting offences of indecent assault and downloading child pornography.
MacBeth leaving court
Sentencing him to a total of 34 months in prison Judge Merfyn Hughes QC said: “It is clear from the reports I have read you have little insight to your offending behaviour and have no intention to address your risk to children.
“The fact it has taken many years since the assault is an aggravating feature. This young woman has had to live with what you have done and hopefully now she can move on with her life.
“These offences are so serious only a custodial sentence is appropriate.”
The jury heard Macbeth indecently assaulted the girl when she was aged just six and seven years of age while he was living in London.
Giving evidence she said the offences had a profound effect on her life causing her personal difficulties.
'Something was not right'
Quizzed by defence counsel Duncan Bould she agreed she was aware of the previous case against MacBeth but had not felt ready to file a complaint with police until last year.
Giving evidence in his defence MacBeth tried to deny his previous convictions.
In her closing speech prosecutor Anna Pope said the conviction showed he had a “proven sexual interest” in young children and the woman had made a credible witness recalling clearly events which had happened many years ago.
“She has a clear memory because what happened was out of the ordinary, that something was not right,” she said.
Mr Bould, in his speech to the jury, countered the woman’s evidence was just from one source.
“Ask yourself is that (source) strong enough to make you sure of his guilt,” the barrister said.
MacBeth was the founding member and bass player with the Foundations until 1970 and had a worldwide hit with Build Me Up Buttercup in 1968.
The song garnered a whole new
He later forged a career in publishing literature for European golfing competitions.
In his later life he worked as a bus driver but developed a tumour of the larynx in 2001.
He moved to North Wales, initially to the Conwy Valley in 2005 and later, after his release from prison to Bangor.
