A Swindon baguette bar owner has been jailed for abusing three children.
Timothy Scott was found guilty of three counts of child cruelty following a trial at Swindon Crown Court in early December 2023, and he returned for sentencing last month.
The jury were told of how the dad-of-two inflicted domineering and abusive behaviour on three children – two girls and a boy – when they were aged between seven and their mid-teens.
One of his female victims was repeatedly hit with a slipper on her bare bottom, verbally abused and demeaned – and on one occasion, he kicked her in the mouth.
The other female victim was punched, kicked and dragged by her hair. He also rammed a broom into her stomach and called her a whore, a b**ch, and a prostitute.
His male victim was locked outside the house in circumstances he found particularly frightening, as well as being hit with a pole and attacked to the point where his head required hospital treatment.
Defence barrister Helen Easterbrook said her 55-year-old client “wishes dearly that he could go back in time and solve this”.
Adding: “It’s the one thing, of course, he can’t do. But if he could take away that hurt from his children, he absolutely would.”
Ms Easterbrook told the court that Scott is “a complicated individual, but he is not an entirely bad one”.
She continued: “There is a lot there which can be rehabilitated and which can be brought back into the community in due course to give back and to do good in the community.
“He is currently a protected prisoner because of the level of abuse that he is currently facing, so his time in custody is going to be harder than most.”
Judge Jason Taylor KC jailed Scott for five years and six months. He’ll serve half his sentence behind bars and the rest on licence in the community.
He said that each victim has been “affected in different but significant ways” and the “consequences are long lasting, probably lifelong”.
The Judge added: “Even making allowances for different attitudes to discipline and physical chastisement at the relevant time, overall, your behaviour could be described as gratuitous and went far beyond what could ever have been described as appropriate.
“It’s notable you didn’t seek to argue reasonable chastisement at trial, rather you disputed that the events had even occurred. The jury plainly rejected that.”
The defendant, of Wrenswood, Swindon, was handed a indefinite restraining order, prohibiting any contact with the three victims – who are all now adults.
Scott was known for his takeaway, Tim’s Baguette & Grill Bar, which operated out of a shop in Rodbourne Road for many years before closing ahead of his trial.
He’s also featured on Wiltshire 999s before – when he was convicted of a public order offence after accusing a police officer of touching his penis and shouting homophobic abuse in custody.
