After almost four years of denials spanning two trials and an appeal, a retired WA police officer who called a former commissioner his friend has been again jailed for sexually abusing three boys.
The 10-year term is lower than the sentence of 10 years and eight months that Garry Edward Burton initially received after standing trial last year and being found guilty by a jury of 24 charges.
The 65-year-old was first charged in 2018 and throughout the court process maintained his innocence, including during a successful appeal against his conviction that ultimately led to a retrial.
That took place earlier this year, but midway through the hearing, Burton pleaded guilty to 16 of the 24 charges, with the other eight counts then dropped.
Despite admitting his guilt, Burton maintains he has no memory of abusing the victims, who were aged 11, 12 and 16 over the decade he committed his crimes in the 2000s.
The District Court was told Burton spent more than 40 years in the force, but that at the time of his crimes he was suffering post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of trauma he had suffered through his work, mainly as a traffic policeman.
Family of victims 'relieved'
His lawyers argued that had left him a psychologically damaged man who was not functioning in a very balanced and reasoned way.
The relatives of the victims issued a joint statement saying: "It's an understatement to say we're relieved that Garry is behind bars. It's been a long, gruelling four years to get here and the suffering we've endured in that time is unimaginable.
"Since coming forward Garry's crimes have been excused by his supporters and our suffering has been minimised. Well, not anymore. Today our pain was acknowledged and Garry's abuse of power and authority ends."
Among the character references presented to the court on his behalf was one from former WA Police commissioner Karl O'Callaghan, who started as a junior police officer with Burton.
Dr O'Callaghan said he believed at the time that concerns about Burton's physical and mental health were largely ignored by his superiors.
Scared victim showered with clothes on
The court heard details of the abuse of the three victims, who all tried to stop Burton.
One of the victims, who wanted to be a police officer, was invited to stay at Burton's home on the pretext the officer was going to take the boy to see the police complex at Midland, but instead he abused him.
The boy was so scared that in the morning he showered with his clothes on, in case Burton came into the bathroom and tried to abuse him again.
Another victim, who was 14, had an interest in a particular hobby that Burton used to get access to the boy.
The court heard Burton made it clear that in exchange for helping the boy with the hobby, he had to engage in sexual acts with him.
Some of the abuse of the other victim happened while Burton's wife was at church.
Burton's sentence was backdated to February this year to take into account the time had already spent in prison, after he was first found guilty last year.
He will have to serve eight years before he can be released on parole, meaning his earliest possible release date is in February 2030.
