Cruise ship worker jailed for child abuse after being tracked down on Facebook

A British cruise ship worker has been jailed for more than seven years after sexually abusing two children in the 1980s and being found by one of his victims on Facebook.

Barry Willoughby, from Bradford, was working on cruise ships in America and was extradited back to Britain to stand trial over the abuse, the Yorkshire Post reports.

In 2010, a police enquiry which started in the 1990s was resumed after one of the victims said she recognised his photo on the social networking website.

A second woman soon came forward to make claims of sexual abuse against him.

The Telegraph & Argus reports that he did not contest the extradition from America and was arrested once he arrived at Heathrow Airport.

The 46-year-old was found guilty on 10 charges of indecent assault and three charges of indecency with a child.

According to the Yorkshire Post, Bradford Crown Court heard how one of the women was molested by Willoughby when she was aged just nine and he was babysitting her.

Judge Jonathan Rose said: "For whilst you have enjoyed a good life all that I have heard and all that I have read is of lives ruined by what you did in the 1980s.

"They told the truth because they are brave women. They are brave women because after twenty plus years they faced their demons, they came into court and they told the jury of the appalling way in which you ruined their lives."

Willoughby may never be allowed to return to the US and will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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