A disgraced former police sergeant who sexually abused a young girl while he was a cadet has been given a suspended sentence after twice trying to commit suicide following his conviction.

And Timothy Lively, who became a successful businessman after being discharged from the Warwickshire force in 1986, is now in a wheelchair as a result of ploughing his car into a tree.

Lively, aged 62, of Old School Mead, Bidford-on-Avon, had denied a total of 26 charges alleging sexual offences against boys as well as girls between the mid-1970s and the summer of 1986.

Following a 15-week trial which ended in May 2019 a jury at Warwick Crown Court convicted him of two charges of indecently assaulting a girl in the late 1970s and one of gross indecency with the same girl.

He was found not guilty of nine charges in relation to four boys, but the jury was unable to reach verdicts on the remaining 14 charges.

At the time prosecutor Rosina Cottage QC asked for time to consider whether to ask for a retrial on those outstanding matters – and the court was later told one would be requested.

But after a series of delays, caused largely by Lively making two attempts to take his own life, Miss Cottage said it had now been decided not to pursue that in the light of psychiatric reports on him.

After reading the reports, Judge Anthony Potter ruled that Lively was unfit to stand trial on those charges – and ordered them to lie on the court file, ‘not to be proceeded with without the leave of this court or the Court of Appeal.’

Explaining the decision, the judge outlined: “Following his conviction Mr Lively made first an attempt to take an overdose, and then a couple of days later made a bid to end his life by driving his car at speed into a tree.

“That has left him confined to a wheelchair and has profoundly affected his short-term memory, and he is also assessed as suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.”

Evesham Journal: Lively attempted to end his life by crashing into a tree, an incident which left him wheelchair-boundLively attempted to end his life by crashing into a tree, an incident which left him wheelchair-bound

He pointed out that the psychiatrists had concluded that Lively would now be unable to follow proceedings in a trial or give instructions to his defence team, adding: “I have no hesitation that Timothy Lively is not fit to stand trial.”

And for the offences of which Lively was convicted, Judge Potter sentenced him to 20 months in prison suspended for 18 months, with an 8pm-7am curfew for three months, and ordered him to register as a sex offender for ten years.

During the trial Miss Cottage said Lively had committed the offences he was convicted of at a time when he was a serving Warwickshire Police officer or, before that, a cadet, and also carried out voluntary work at a children’s home.

They had involved him going into the bathroom at the home while the girl was in there having a bath when she was aged between 10 and 12 and he was about 17.

He then sexually assaulted her when she was 15. 

She did not make a complaint herself, and only revealed what had happened at Lively’s hands when the police contacted her as they were investigating other complaints against him.

Stephen Vullo QC, defending, said that if the judge was considering an immediate prison sentence, the case would have to be adjourned to establish whether the prison could accommodate him appropriately in view of his disabilities.

He pointed out Lively had spent two months in custody following his second suicide attempt, during which time he was under 24-hour guard after being transferred to a spinal unit in Oswestry.

And he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder because of alleged mocking by the guards over an aspect of his condition.

Sentencing Lively, Judge Potter told him: "I sentence you for offences you committed over 40 years ago and were convicted of over two years ago.

“Your personal circumstances were very different. You came from a loving home, and she was in care at the home where you volunteered. She was particularly vulnerable, something which you quickly identified.

“You befriended her and gained her trust and then sought to exploit that. It began when you were 16 or 17 and in the police cadets. She did it because she was scared and saw you as a figure of authority.

“Not only did she not approach the police, she had not told anyone what you had done to her until the police, as a result of an ongoing investigation, contacted her.

“You were not willing to admit what you had done, which caused a great deal of unpleasant memories to be dredged up, and it has had a continuing impact on her.”

The judge pointed out that now the offences would have a maximum sentence of 14 years and would lead to a ‘starting point’ of six years – but at the time, on which he had to sentence him, the maximum was just five years.

“The principal features I have to bear in mind are one, the delay; two, that you were 16 or 17 at the time; three, the effective conditions you experienced on remand; and four, your disabilities, both mental and physical.

“To a large extent they were self-inflicted, but it is equally plain that those injuries were as a direct result of your conviction following the false denials you had maintained.

“I am just persuaded, as an act of mercy, that I can suspend the sentence.”