William McMahon, 60, was sentenced today at Snaresbrook Crown Court to a total of 18 years and two months imprisonment for sexual offences committed on 29 June 1990. The victims were three girls, two aged 13 and one aged 12. McMahon pleaded guilty on 25th April 2016, the first day of trial, to three counts of false imprisonment, three counts of indecent assault and one count of buggery.
Catherine Wear, CPS London reviewing lawyer, said:
“More than 25 years after this horrific attack on three young girls William McMahon has now been sentenced for his crimes.
“On 29th June 1990 three girls had been innocently playing in an area known as Devil’s Canyon in Plaistow, a disused mortuary where young people would often meet up and play.
“The defendant trapped the girls in the abandoned building, telling them to face the wall. He did everything he could to disguise his identity, including making the girls put their clothes over their heads and giving them false information about himself. This made it very difficult for the police to identify him at the time of the attack.
“McMahon was identified as the perpetrator of this offence in 2015 when a DNA sample was taken from him for unrelated matters. Through painstaking police work and a strong prosecution case justice has at last been done.
“Sadly one of the victims died in 2004 from an unrelated illness. I would like to thank the other two women for their support of this prosecution and we would like to recognise the courage shown by all the victims in coming forward to report these offences.
“The overwhelming evidence in this case left McMahon no choice but to plead guilty and accept responsibility for his crimes.”
