When he was jailed for six years in 2019 for the sexual abuse of a teenage girl in the mid 2000s, Shane Vertigan was described by Judge David Goodin as "an outwardly decent member of society concealing a dark and ugly secret".

And it turns out there were yet more dark secrets in Vertigan's past which have now come to light, after the former PCSO and traffic warden was sentenced to a further four and a half years in jail for the sexual abuse of Wesley Spinks.

The offences against Mr Spinks, who has waived his right to anonymity to talk about his ordeal, came a decade before the abuse suffered by Vertigan's female victim. During his 2019 trial, it emerged also Vertigan had a previous conviction in May 2013 for a sex assault on a 22-year-old woman in February 2012.

The image of him that has emerged in both of the recent cases is far from the one that he had previously tried to portray to the wider public.

He worked as a police community support officer (PCSO) in Fakenham for a number of years. He also served in the custody office at Bethel Street Police Station in Norwich for five years, and then, in 1997, was appointed traffic warden for Fakenham, Holt and Walsingham.

He would become known as the 'singing traffic warden' and also sang for a Salvation Army band, a charity he was a member of.

Vertigan also had a long association with Hindringham Football Club, and had held various positions, including chairman.


The 52-year-old is also a qualified football referee but now will forever be remembered as someone who stole the childhood's of at least two young people living in Norfolk whose lives will never be the same again.