The mugshot of Aberystwyth’s serial paedophile Benjamin Griffiths has been released.
Last month Griffiths was sentenced to another three years in prison after being found guilty of six counts of historic sexual offences against an eight-year-old girl in 1995/6.
The 83-year-old of 61 North Parade was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register and Sexual Harm Prevention Order for an indefinite period.
He had already served eight years in prison from 2005 for the rape of a nine-year-old girl.
The victim, who had requested Dyfed-Powys police reopen her 1996 case in 2021, bravely waived her right to anonymity to share her experiences with the world and name and shame Griffiths, who had arrived into her family’s life as a ‘religious figure’ from the Catholic church.
Holly Marie Grady-Ellis, now 36, said on watching her abuser go behind bars: “I felt like I was starting to get my power back, that young me had a voice suddenly.
“It’s been gruelling to get to this point.
“It was scary sitting in a room of strangers hoping they’d believe me and they did.
“I’m taking my power back – this is a person who was a predator, he deserves to be named and shamed for this and to show whoever reads the Cambrian News that you can get justice.
“Because of my history [the CPS dropped her case in 1996], I didn't have a lot of faith in the police, but the way the DC in charge of the case handled it with so much compassion was astounding.
“They are an absolute credit to the force.”
According to her, Griffiths caused such disruption to the investigation, missing hearings and sacking four of his own solicitors which pushed the trial back, that he had to be remanded until the trial began in September. Holly described sitting in the courtroom behind a privacy screen so he couldn’t see her, but on entering Griffiths tried to sit in a chair so that he could see her until a guard moved him.
Whilst Holly gave her evidence she described him sighing and shuffled his papers to the degree where the judge had to tell him to be quiet.
Whilst Holly’s mother gave evidence via video link Holly described him goaded her to the point where the judge had to call a five-minute break.
Griffiths represented himself during the trial, and according to Holly he would “go on and on about an imaginary dog and the bike”.
Holly described Griffiths grooming her and her mum, buying her mum alcohol and Holly sweets, and eventually, a bike: “He said [in the trial] that the bike I had was dangerous.
“He painted himself as a concerned citizen.
“It couldn’t have been further from the truth.
“He annoyed the judge but they saw straight through his lies and put him back in jail.
“I feel relieved that he’s where he should’ve been all those years ago.”
You can read Holly’s full story in our exposé here.
Donate to the charity which helped Holly “every step of the way” here - New Pathways rape, sexual abuse and assault support service.