Michael Dunn jailed for 27 years for sexual abuse

Michael Dunn

A violent paedophile from Redcar has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for sexually abusing four girls and women over five decades.

Michael Dunn, 57, was convicted of 10 counts of rape, three counts of indecent assault and three counts of false imprisonment.

He created a 'hidey-hole' behind a false wall in his kitchen at a previous home in Greater Manchester to conceal a schoolgirl when police came to search for her.

The 'hidey hole' in the home of violent paedophile Michael Dunn

Jailing Dunn, Judge Tony Briggs called him a "devious, manipulative and controlling man" adding: "What you wanted, you got.Your pre-sentence report found you are a high risk of serious harm to females.You have left a devastating effect behind you. You still deny any responsibility."

Victim statements were heard from three of his victims.

One of the two long-term victims said she has suffered nightmares and has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.The other said she still 'struggles with life on a daily basis.'

One victim who reported Dunn to police in 1993, told how she felt she wasn't believed by police and social services, which she said caused her "a lot of damage."

She said: "I felt, if nobody believed me, any man could do what they wanted to me, with no consequences."

The Independent Police Complaints Commission is investigating Greater Manchester Police over how it responded to allegations of sexual abuse made against Dunn in 1993.

Dunn's victims:

- A girl aged 10 or 11, who Dunn raped when he was 19, in 1978 or 1979.

- A girl aged 13 or 14, who Dunn sexually assaulted while she was asleep in 1993. The incident was reported to the police, but no action was taken against Dunn.

- A runaway girl who was aged 14 when Dunn began grooming her in 1993. He concealed her in the 'hidey-hole' when police searched for her eight or nine times. He indecently assaulted, raped and falsely imprisoned her over a period of more than 20 years.

- A woman who Dunn raped, physically abused and falsely imprisoned from the 1980s for more than 20 years.

The 'hidey hole' in the home of violent paedophile Michael Dunn

His trial at Teesside Crown Court heard Dunn treated the two women as "possessions", and had sex with them whenever he wanted. The prosecution described him as "violent, controlling and sexually abusive."

He moved from Greater Manchester in 1997, and lived in Cambridgeshire, Gateshead, County Durham and several addresses in Redcar.

From 2001, in Redcar, he locked the women in bedrooms, and used alarms and CCTV cameras to monitor them.

Dunn was finally arrested when one of the women came forward to the police in 2014.

In January, he was also found not guilty of three charges: grievous bodily harm; making threats to kill; and one count of rape.