This is to add to my previous answer although not sure if this site is used much.
He was real. I knew him when I was 13. He used to take boys camping! He seemed bit eccentric but that's all. This was back in the early 60s. All much more innocent then. My mum saw the case in the paper in 1966. She told me. He was in Bomber Command during the war. Night raids. He had bad luck in business and in love, female, during the 50s. Well educated I would think. Not making excuses if he did what he was accused of. Great shame.