[The fact that her parents backed Mr Slim speaks volumes .... any parent whose child has been molested would - rightly - want the offender's head removed slowly with a rusty bow saw!]

Mmmmm     ....       'tricky one'.

As his grand-daughter later withdrew the allegations - could he have been 'saving' her from the embarassment/shame of appearing in court and having to admit her lies?

The fact that her parents backed Mr Slim speaks volumes      ....        any parent whose child has been molested would - rightly - want the offender's head removed slowly with a rusty bow saw!

As for 'plea bargaining' - apart from not dragging the g/daughter into the witness box - who would place their trust/life at the mercy of a court/jury?

They've hardly got an amazing track record of getting things right either side of the Pond!

Also - no Legal Aid on The Land of the 'Free' maybe he simply couldn't afford to contest?

The 'evidence'      .....      a Grandad patted his g/daughter on the knee - that's noncing?

RIP to the old fellah      .....     case not proven.

Wish I hadn't opened this thread as I now feel compelled to post.  I knew/know nothing of the guy in any capacity, and wasn't aware of the allegations against him.  I'm also a strong believer in 'innocent until proven guilty', but people will speculate.

Whilst I agree with almost all of luther101's post, I just wanted to pick up on the emboldened point.  I don't think we can reach the conclusion that that 'speaks volumes' at all.  It's a perhaps surprising, but sad, fact that parents of molested children won't always react in the way we might expect them to, especially when the perpetrator is another family member - so many shades of grey.