A deaf juror has taken part in a trial at Exeter Crown Court for the first time after a change in the law made it possible.

The juror was helped by a team of three signers who were capable of keeping up with the pace of the historic abuse case over seven days of evidence, speeches and summing up.

The signers worked as a team with one interpreting the evidence as it went along while a second checked their work and the third took a break.

The case in Court Room Three at Exeter was presided over by Recorder Mr Philip Mott, KC, who insured there were regular breaks to enable the signers to change over.

The juror was only able to serve as a result of a recent change in the law which enabled the sign language interpreters to join them in the jury retiring room.

It had previously been illegal for anyone other than the 12 jurors to be in the room and the signers had to be sworn to restrict their contributions to translation alone.

The trial resulted in former car dealer David Hargreaves being found guilty of abusing three boys aged 12 to 15 during the 1990s, when he was living in Exeter.

Hargreaves, aged 61, now of Braintree, Essex, denied nine counts of indecent assault or indecency but was found guilty unanimously after three hours and 22 minutes of deliberation.

He was cleared of encouraging two of the three boys to go out stealing car stereos, which he was alleged to have re-sold.

He was remanded in custody and told he would receive an immediate jail sentence by Recorder Mr Philip Mott, KC, who ordered the probation service to assess whether he poses a threat to the public.

He thanked the three victims for their patience in waiting more than three years for the case to come to court as a result of Covid delays.

He said: “These are serious offences and there is a risk he would not appear for sentence. The only safe and sensible thing is for him to start the inevitable prison sentence today.

“It is inevitable there will be a prison sentence, but I don’t know how long it will be at this stage. I have to look at dangerousness. I need to see what needs to be done to protect the public although he is now in his 60s.”

During the trial the jury heard that Hargreaves groomed the boys by taking them on trips to Exmouth and Dawlish, buying them treats and taking them to amusement arcades.

He abused two of the boys at a caravan or parked up cabin cruiser at his brother’s garage in Exeter and paid the third to allow him to touch him, leaving him feeling ‘like a prostitute.

Hargreaves denied all the charges and said the boys had got together to concoct them. He said he had never paid them for sex and told the jury ‘I’m not some kind of monster’.