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A 53-year-old man who forced a six-year-old girl to watch a horror film more than twenty years ago has been convicted of child cruelty.
Peter Bayliss made the child, who has not been named for privacy reasons, watch Night of the Living Dead. He has now faced justice before a crown court, over two decades after he made the youngster sit through the horror flick as punishment for 'behaving like a child'.
He ordered the terrified girl to watch the 18 certificate zombie film, which was scary as shit back when it was made in the 60s.
A court heard Bayliss left her suffering from nightmares after he looked after the young lass in the 1990s.
Last Friday he was convicted of one charge of child cruelty following a trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court.
Bayliss was handed a six-month suspended sentence, given an 18-month supervision order with the probation service, and ordered to complete 160 hours of unpaid work.
During sentencing, Recorder Martin Jackson said: "These offences date back 20 years and since then you have suffered a brain haemorrhage, from your psychological report that may have been linked to your alcohol addiction.
"I take into account that you have recently woken up to the need to seek professional help for your drinking.
"This was not sustained abuse but you, quite deliberately, made a child watch a horror film as punishment for behaving like a child.
"And she suffered, not a long-term psychological injury, but from evidence she suffered nightmares for some time afterwards."
The judge said he did not want to impose a financial penalty as he was reliant on his wife's income and it wasn't anything to do with her.
The court was told Bayliss had an ongoing alcohol problem, which affected his behaviour at the time of the incident.
Night of the Living Dead was originally released in 1968, it starred Judith O'Dea, Duane Jones and S. William Hinzmann, and grossed £22m worldwide.
I've not seen it, but apparently it was considered really scary at the time. It was slagged off at the time for its goriness but is now considered a cult classic.
Moral of the story: don't show it to kids or you could be bang to rights.
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Words by James Dawson
Topics: Horror