Content Warning: References made to sexual assault are contained below.
An audio developer at Jagex, responsible for work on Runescape, has been jailed for more than a year for sexual assault on a schoolgirl under 13.
The offence only came to light when the girl confided in a family member about the matter which occurred in the early hours of December 21. Ian Taylor, 53, admitted the offence of sexually touching the girl when interviewed by police. As reported by Cambridge Independent, Taylor told officers he was drunk at the time of the offence and said he was “depressed”. He was then served a postal requisition charging him with the assault.
After admitting the offence at a previous hearing, Taylor was sentenced to one year and 10 months in prison. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for the same timeframe to monitor his behaviour.
Before his dismissal, , Ian Taylor was an audio developer at Jagex having originally joined the company in a customer support role in 1999. Since 2003, he’s worked on the audio team – according to the RuneScape Wiki – within the company having composed multiple tracks for Runescape. The trivia section refers to him as Jagex’s longest-serving employee with his audio development work encompassing 635 music tracks for the firm, the Runescape wiki also refers to him as the fourth employee at the company, joining shortly after founders the Gower brothers.
Speaking to NME, Jagex employees familiar with the matter, Taylor departed the company in March this year ahead. NME reached out to Jagex for comment and they delivered this statement, which we have included in entirety:
“Jagex expects the highest standards from its staff and we act decisively if those values, that we hold dear, are not reflected in the behaviour of employees. The person in question no longer works at Jagex, and was dismissed when the circumstances of the allegations came to light in March 2021.
“We have conducted an internal review of the employee’s interactions with staff and any players he may have come into contact with during his time at Jagex. We have found no evidence that might prompt further investigation at this time.”
Additional reporting by Jen Allen.
The post Former Jagex audio developer Ian Taylor jailed for sexual assault on schoolgirl appeared first on NME.
