Former oil refinery manager jailed for child sex abuse

A former oil refinery manager has been jailed for sexually abusing four young girls more than two decades ago.

Robert Jeffrey Hughes, 74, of The Close, Spittal, Haverfordwest, sexually touched the girls both over and under their clothes on multiple occasions. All his victims were aged under 13, with the youngest being just five years old.

The offending came to light in 2022 after one victim reported what had happened, with three more victims uncovered during the subsequent police investigation. Hughes denied all allegations and claimed they had been made up.

Swansea Crown Court heard powerful impact statements from three of the victims – now women in their 20s and 30s.

One said she had lived with “a heavy weight on my shoulders” and felt guilty she hadn’t come forward earlier. She said Hughes had made her feel “dirty and cheap” and as a result she had grown up “viewing men as predators”.

Another described the abuse as a “burden” she had carried for 20 years, whilst a third said she thought she would “take it to my grave”. This victim added she had been on medication for anxiety and depression since her teenage years, suffered panic attacks, turned to self-harming, and had chosen not to have children as a result of Hughes’s actions.

Hughes, who for many years was a senior operations manager at an oil refinery in Pembrokeshire, was convicted at trial of nine counts of indecent assault of a child. He has no previous convictions.

Defence barrister John Hipkin KC said the offences happened “many years ago” with no offending since. He described Hughes as having lived a “productive life” and said the conviction had been “a spectacular fall from grace” for someone at his client’s stage of life.

Judge Paul Thomas KC said Hughes had held a responsible job with an “outward cloak of respectability” which disguised the fact he was a paedophile “and an arrogant one at that”.

The judge said it was a shame that even two decades after his offending, Hughes “did not had the guts” to admit what he had done and went to trial where his victims had to relive their abuse.

Hughes was sentenced to eight years in prison. He will serve half in custody before being released on licence. He will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

Judge Thomas said he hoped the sentences would bring some consolation to those affected and that they could “come to some sort of terms” with what had happened.