Latest Offenders

Description

A paedophile who managed to stay out of jail said he would take his own life is he was put behind bars for breaching the sex offender register.

Ricky Johnson was known as Terence Murkin when he was given a suspended sentence last year for trying to groom a 13-year-old online. But he then breached the terms and was brought back before Leeds Crown Court this week.

The court heard that the 63-year-old had threatened suicide if he was jailed, but Judge Simon Batiste, who also dealt with him last year, locked him up. He told him: “In my judgement, you were warned by me that you must complete the requirements of the order. It was made to clear to you [what would happen if you didn’t comply], and I’m going to keep my word in that regard.”

He was handed a 21-month jail sentence, suspended for 24 months in February of last year when he was caught making sexual suggestions to a young girl online. The profile was run by a hunter group trying to catch out predators online.

As part of his sentence, he was also given 130 hours of unpaid work, 30 rehabilitation days, and ordered onto a sex offender programme. He was also put on the sex offender register and given a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

Prosecutor Amber Walker said during routine police checks at his home on Earl Street, Wakefield, following his conviction, they found he had opened a bank account and had not told officers, which put him in breach of the sex offender register.

It was also found that he deleted his internet search history, which he is forbidden to do under the terms of the SHPO. He admitted both breaches this week, having initially denied them.

Mitigating, Leila Taleb said he had initially accepted his wrongdoing during his police interview, but said “acting on legal advice”, then denied it, before finally seeing sense.

Judge Batiste jailed him for 21 months in total, including 12 months activated from his suspended sentence. He said that steps would be taken to ensure his welfare after making the comment about taking his own life.

Description

A sex offender spent years frequenting schools, parks, and children's parties after deceiving police about his living situation.

Lorry driver Robert Bevan, who is under a lifelong sexual harm prevention order intended to restrict his access to children, but for years went about normal family life apparently without any of the other parents he came into contact with being aware of his past.

Swansea Crown Court heard there was no suggestion he has sexually offended since his last sentence in 2011 but for years lied to the police and his offender manager about his domestic situation. Sending Bevan down a judge told him he had deliberately withheld information from the police and now the time had come to pay the price, reports WalesOnline.

Harry Dickens, prosecuting, said Bevan's sexual offending began in 2007 when he was sentenced for engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13 and continued with convictions in 2009 for engaging in sexual activity with a child, taking indecent images of chid, exposure, and outraging public decency and in 2011 for further acts of exposure and outraging public decency. The court heard the defendant is subject to a lifelong sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) designed to control his access to children and is a registered sex offender.

The barrister said around seven years ago Bevan embarked on long-term relationship with a woman he met through a dating website. During this time Bevan would do school runs, attend parks and soft play areas, and go to children's parties. The court heard that though Bevan had been managed by a sexual offender manager for some 14 years he had never once disclosed the details of his new domestic arrangements nor disclosed that he was a father. There is no suggestion of any new sexual offending since the defendant's last conviction.

The court heard the failure to abide by the terms of the SHPO came to light in April this year when police made unannounced visits to an address he had registered in Swansea. The defendant was not home but was spoken to on the phone and told officers he was only at the address infrequently due to his work as a long-distance lorry driver. Bevan was required to provide a list of places where he was "tramping" – that is places where he was sleeping overnight as part of his job – and police then searched his vehicle. The court heard officers found children's toys in the vehicle along with letters in the defendant's name which were addressed to his mother's house. When police searched his mother's property they found bedrooms with children's beds and drawers full of children's clothes.

Robert Bevan, aged 36, of St Helen's Road, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with the requirements of the sex offenders registration scheme. He has six previous convictions for 27 offences some 22 of which are sexual offences. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter here.

John Allchurch, for Bevan, said after being released from his last custodial sentence the defendant had taken steps to turn his life around, successfully addressing his Class A drug addiction and training to be an advanced HGV driver. He said his client accepts he made a "massive mistake" by not notifying the police of the nature of his domestic arrangements and said he realises that when he is released from custody he will have to work with the authorities. The advocate added that Bevan's mother, father, and sister were at court to support him.

Judge Geraint Walters said Bevan had committed a "flagrant and persistent" breach of court orders which had been imposed due to the defendant's offending including his "history of disturbing exposure" offences. He said the defendant had taken a deliberate decision to withhold information from the police and would now have to pay the price. With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Bevan was sentenced to two years in prison. He will serve up to half the sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

Description

A dad who discovered that his young daughter had been sent sexual messages online was living "every parent's nightmare".

The parent discovered the highly explicit messages from John Barker, 33, which had been sent to his primary-school aged child earlier this year. The victim had not known Barker before he contacted her.

After contacting police, Barker was arrested and granted bail. But as police investigated, he then went back online and contacted another 'child's' profile, and tried to get them to take part in sex acts with him online.

However, Barker was actually talking to an adult who had set up a fake profile, as part of a child protection group's efforts to catch paedophiles. Barker, who is now of no fixed address but formerly of North Lodge Terrace in Darlington, pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communication with a child; inciting a child to engage in sexual activity; and two counts of making indecent photos of a child.

On Friday, he stood in the dock at Teesside Crown Court as Judge Jonathan Carroll told him: "A dad found what is every parent's nightmare - that his young daughter had engaged in sexual communication with an unknown male.

"It's the adult world's responsibility to protect and care for our children. The internet and social media is becoming the hunting ground of people like you, who see children as easy sexual targets to be exploited.

"It was abundantly clear that she was young. It is clear that you were seeking to go down exactly the same path with the second user as you did with the child victim."

Barker was jailed for 53 months. He will serve half of the sentence, before he is released on licence. He was also made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and he will sign the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.

Description

A brave survivor has heaped praise on police and criminal justice partners after her abuser has been put behind bars after almost 40 years.

Andrew Blake subjected his victim to a tirade of sexual assaults in the 1980s and 1990s – starting from when she was just nine years old, and he was a teenager.

Now an adult, the brave survivor spoke out against her abuser in 2020 after having been left completely traumatised by the abuse for her entire life.

An investigation was launched by the Force’s Safeguarding Department and Blake, now 52, attended a police station to be interviewed where he initially admitted to two instances of sexual abuse.

However, the investigation continued and in 2022, he was charged with a total of 16 offences of indecent assault – being that the offences took place before the Sexual Offences Act was introduced in 2003.

He continued to deny the allegations, however in February this year a jury at Newcastle Crown Court saw through his lies and he was convicted unanimously of all 16 offences.

On Thursday (May 30), Blake, of Parc Pentywyn, Deganwy, Conwy, Wales, was handed a three-year sentence behind bars at the same court.

He will also spend the rest of his life on the Sex Offenders’ Register and his victim will be protected by a life-long restraining order.

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A teenager from Dunfermline is under supervision and on the Register after being caught with a sick stash of child abuse images on his phone.

Calin Schreiner pled guilty to possessing indecent photos of children between November 18 2021 and July 30 2022.

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Description

A 51-year-old registered sex offender has been sent back to prison after he failed to disclose his conviction to a new employer.

As a registered sex offender, Steven Grosvenor, previously of Northampton, was expected to abide by very strict conditions as part of his release.

However, in March this year, he applied for a job in Northampton and failed to disclose his criminal history to the recruitment agency.

Having been given the job, he was then provided with a mobile phone for work purposes which had the ability to connect to the internet. He then failed to disclose this to police as per the requirements of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Grosvenor was arrested and subsequently charged with one count of fraud by false representation and one count of breaching his SHPO.

After pleading guilty to the offences at Northampton Crown Court at the end of last month (May 31), he was sentenced to one year and four months in prison.

Detective Sergeant Tom Curlett-New of Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO Team said: “I am really pleased with the result of this case and the fact that we managed to utilise the Fraud Act meaning the sentence was longer than usual.

“This is all down to the work of PC Dani Wilton and I’d like to thank her for her diligence and determination which achieved this result.

“Our team will always endeavour to do what we can to support and encourage people who have been released from prison to gain employment. However, when breaches occur, we take a zero-tolerance approach to ensuring offenders are brought to justice.”

Description

A 36-year-old man who raped a teenage girl has been jailed.

Robert Llewellyn Price from Amlwch, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, June 6th) where he was sentenced to six years and eight months for two counts of rape.  

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

The victim, who was 16 at the time, reported the incidents to police in April earlier this year. 

Having twice lured her to his home, Price raped the victim on both occasions before she later told him she was worried she might be pregnant.

He told her he would “be in trouble” if she told anyone.

After the victim reported the assaults, Price fled but was later arrested on a cliffside in Amlwch and was remanded into custody.

Detective Sergeant Mark Dickson said: “This was a horrific incident for this young girl, who demonstrated exceptional bravery in coming forward to report Price’s crimes.

“I commend her courage in doing so, and her strength throughout the entirety of the case.

“I hope she can now focus on moving forward with her life, with the knowledge that Price is now being held accountable for these disgraceful assaults.

“I would encourage any victim of sexual abuse to come forward, safe in the knowledge that we will do everything in our power to pursue offenders.”

Description

A man has been jailed for sexually assaulting a teenager and woman in the Aston and Perry Barr area of Birmingham this year.

Irtiza Abbas of Lozells Road, Birmingham pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a schoolgirl and a university student after compelling CCTV evidence showed him selecting and following his victims.

Both victims have bravely allowed us to tell their story and show CCTV in the hope that anyone else who feels they've been a victim and hasn’t come forward to do so.

On the afternoon of Tuesday 16 January, the 25-year-old hung around the area near to Aston University and followed a woman who was walking on her own.

He followed the 22-year-old along Dartmouth Middleway for a while to make sure she was definitely on her own and that there was no other person in the street and then grabbed her and assaulted her.

And on Tuesday 16 April he followed a 15-year-old schoolgirl as she walked home in the Perry Barr area.

CCTV shows him following her closely along a street and looking around to make sure he was alone.

Only when he was sure that there was no-one else around, he grabbed the girl and assaulted her.

The 15-year-old bravely rang her father who was luckily driving nearby. They drove around the area and spotted Abbas, but following a tussle, Abbas escaped and fled the scene.

Officers painstakingly pieced CCTV together linking the assaults and a suspect was identified.

Abbas was arrested from his address in Lozells on 22 April and clothing matching the description in the

CCTV was recovered. Although he didn't admit his guilt in interview, he knew the evidence against him was so compelling that he pleaded guilty at court. 

He was sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court to two years in jail.

The investigating officer, Detective Inspector Joe Davenport, said: "We strongly believe due to the nature of the offences that Abbas may have committed more offences.

"CCTV has shown him lingering on the streets and carefully selecting his victims. He would follow them to make sure they were on their own before he struck.

"Although he's pleaded guilty to two offences there's a real time line gap and we have really strong suspicions that he may have offended again and again.

"Thanks to the support of the victims and their bravery and our teams’ efforts in tracing every single piece of CCTV that we could, we've managed to take a serial offender and a potentially dangerous man, whose offences were deliberate, methodical and repeated, off the streets of Birmingham.

"If anyone feels that something similar has happened to them and that they've not come forward before, we'd ask them to reconsider. Please contact me or one of my team and we promise that we will take your account seriously."

We are committed to identifying individuals who pose the highest risk of harm to women and girls, and actively managing them to prevent or reduce offending.

We are encouraging any more victims to come forward by contacting us by calling 101 or visiting our Live Chat function on our website and quoting crime number 20/412643/24.

Victims of sexual assault receive life-time anonymity.

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A man who forced two girls to perform and film sex acts, before threatening to share the images online, has been jailed for 18 years.

Christopher Osborne, 38, befriended one victim, who was 15 and lived in the US, then went on to send violent messages and forced her to send videos of herself to him.

She and another girl, also in the US, reported what had happened to their local police enabling Osborne, of Melville Avenue, Doncaster, to be arrested in 2016.

He had pleaded guilty to inciting children to commit sexual acts at an earlier hearing and was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court on Wednesday.

South Yorkshire Police said an international investigation enabled them to match his online IP address and chat group name.

Analysis of his and his victims chat logs showed Obsorne telling the girls he would post the images and videos online and would “ruin their lives” if they didn’t do as he said.

During his initial interview, Osborne admitted the offences claiming he did not believe the girls were the ages they said.

Originally, it was ruled he would be tried in the US, but in 2021 a hearing ruled that he would be charged in the UK.

Despite initially pleading guilty, he changed his plea in in October, however a special hearing in February ruled his original pleas would stand.

In addition to his jail term, he was also told he would remain on extended licence for a further five years.

He was also told he would be placed on the sex offender register for life.

Description

Female sex offender who attacked two women in nightclub toilets jailed.

Jennifer Mallee spiked her first victim's drink before leading her to a toilet cubicle where she sexually assaulted her. She attacked a second woman less than three weeks later

A woman who attacked two others in nightclub toilets just 19 days apart has been jailed for four years and three months.

Jennifer Mallee spiked her first victim's drink before leading her to a toilet cubicle where she sexually assaulted her. Less than three weeks later the 28-year-old sexual predator carried out a similar attack on another young woman who she trapped in a cubicle in another club.

The first victim only came forward three years later when she read about the second attack and posted on Facebook: "She did it to me, too." Both victims became friends and attended court together to watch Mallee be sent to jail. Judge Robert Pawson told her that had she been a male sex offender the public would expect them to receive a custodial sentence.

The first attack happened in the early hours of New Year's Day 2019, when the victim met Mallee at the DYMK club in Bournemouth, Dorset, after being dumped by her boyfriend. The woman, who was 22 at the time, said she had three rum and cokes then started feeling 'weird' and 'like a zombie'. She believes her drink was spiked.

Mallee, who was aged 23 at the time, led her to the toilet, locked the cubicle door and assaulted her. Charles Gabb, prosecuting, said: "This was a sustained incident, the victim was particularly vulnerable by way of her state. We cannot prove who it was administered the substance but for anybody who cared to see, she was seriously affected. Anybody would have noticed there was clearly something very wrong with this person."

On January 20, Mallee attacked another young woman in the toilet of Cameo nightclub, trapping her in the cubicle, with the assault lasting about 20 seconds. Mallee admitted the sexual assault and was given a 12-month community order and placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.

After reading about that incident, the first victim commented on social media 'she did it to me too'. The second victim reached out and they met up for coffee to share their experiences. She then made a complaint to Dorset Police and Mallee was charged with the first attack. She was found guilty of three counts of sexual assault against the first victim.

Chetna Patel, defending, told Bournemouth Crown Court said the "very unpleasant incident" was not sustained but short, spontaneous and fuelled by alcohol. She said: "She desired to use the facilities, this is not a case where she was taken and dragged to the toilet against her will. Both of them had been willingly consuming alcohol.

"Miss Mallee has not committed any further offences in the five years since. She recognises her consumption of alcohol played a significant part and rarely drinks or indeed goes out. This was out of character. Her behaviour was isolated to that period of time." The court heard that Mallee was physically larger than her victim and knew she was intoxicated and vulnerable.

In jailing her judge Robert Pawson told Mallee: "The victim was at a low ebb and she sought out your company. I have no doubt, having heard the evidence, that night someone slipped (her) a Mickey Finn. Although there is a very strong inference you were involved in administering that, there's a lurking doubt in my mind and I resolve that in your favour. But I am sure on the evidence that you knew or perceived that she was intoxicated and very vulnerable.

"You knew the state she was in and you formed an intention to do what you did and led her to the ladies, whether she resisted or not she was going to become subservient to your will. While you had no convictions at the time, you offended similarly within less than three weeks. I see little remorse in what I have read and heard. I have to consider the public's perception if a man in your position was given a suspended sentence. The sex of the perpetrator should not be decisive in terms of sentence."

Judge Pawson also made a restraining order preventing her from contacting the two victims and a sexual harm prevention order banning her from being in a public toilet cubicle with another women. She will also have to remain on the sex offenders' register for life.

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A sex offender who ran into the street naked while brandishing a machete has been jailed.

Witnesses said Trevor Evans became aggressive after being told to turn down music coming from his flat in Little Stanion near Corby on 15 December.

Evans, 46, of Mendip Way, pleaded guilty to possession of a knife and also exposure with the intention of causing alarm or distress.

He was jailed for 16 months at Northampton Crown Court on 24 May.

Northamptonshire Police said Evans discarded the machete in a plant pot, where it was later found by officers.

Evans had already been given a three-year community order at Nottingham Crown Court on 6 November after being found guilty of one count of sexual activity in the presence of a child.

PC Hayley Wollacott said: "The judge in his previous case had made it very clear that any further criminal activity or breach of his sentence conditions would result in him going to jail."

She said Evans reacted in "the most extreme of ways" to being asked to be more considerate of his neighbours.

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A Sheffield man who bit a 13-year-old girl in intimate areas, before going on to send her messages in which he effectively ‘asked her to have sex with him’ is beginning a prison sentence today. 

Geoffrey Hurt claimed he had entered into a ‘play fight’ with the girl, and denied ever sending her messages; but jurors rejected his account when they found him guilty of three sex offences at the conclusion of a Sheffield Crown Court trial. 

Sending him to prison today (June 6, 2024), Judge David Dixon told 38-year-old Hurt: “A man who is interested in biting young girls in a sexual way, as the jury found you had, is clearly a worry.”

He added: “The jury accepted it wasn’t a play fight.”

The court heard how during the course of the incident, Hurt, of Batemoor Place, Batemoor, Sheffield, bit the girl on two different intimate areas of her body.

Judge Dixon said it was ‘difficult to understand’ what ‘kink’ and ‘fetish’ Hurt had.

He continued: “After being involved in sexual biting, you then sent messages that were beyond flirtatious, they were simply inappropriate. 

“You were asking if she could send photos, and therefore you were soliciting images,” continued Judge Dixon. 

Judge Dixon also detailed how Hurt sent her a message, which further proved his ‘attraction’ to one of the intimate areas he had bitten, before branding her a ‘tease’. 

“You asked her if she would ever go with an older man…while you said you didn’t mean you, you clearly did. You had a sexual interest in her, that’s what this has all been about.”

“Those messages, those inappropriate sexual remarks, you were in effect asking her to have sex with you. While that’s not what was explicitly said, that’s clearly the implication you were putting forward.” 

Judge Dixon said Hurt had sought to blame others and claimed the allegations had arisen out of ‘fabrications’. 

Hurt also claimed not to have visited web links with sexual activity involving children, the court heard.

“Given the timing of some of those activities, on your own account of what happened that simply couldn’t be true. 

“It’s you that searched those materials, it’s you that has the sexual interest in children.”

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, chose not to submit a victim personal statement to the court, prosecutor, Andrew Petterson, told the court. 

Jurors convicted Hurt of two counts of an offender aged 18 or over engaging in non penetrative sexual activity with girl aged 13 to 15, and one count of engaging in sexual communication with a child. 

Hurt was also accused of allegations relating to a second girl, but jurors acquitted him of the sexual offences he faced in relation to her. 

Judge Dixon noted Hunt has a previous conviction for sexual assault dating back 12 years, which he said he regarded as an aggravating factor. 

Defending, Camille Morland said Hurt accepts that he ‘crossed some boundaries’ in relation to the complainant.

Ms Morland continued: “He’s someone who’s had somewhat of a complex background. He was in the army very early, and he’s somebody who has crossed boundaries before with his previous conviction for sexual assault on an adult female.”

Suggesting Hurt would ‘benefit’ from being kept in the community, instead of a custodial sentence, Ms Morland continued: “He’s someone who would benefit from rehabilitation work to tackle why he has crossed these boundaries.”

Ms Morland told the court that Hurt is in a relationship with a woman, without children, who resides in Hampshire, and his intention is to join her there. 

Sending Hurt to begin a 18-month prison sentence, Judge Dixon told him: “You have an unhealthy interest in young girls.” 

Judge Dixon said that Hurt’s continued denials, in addition to his ‘lies to the jury,’ had led him to believe Hurt does not have a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. 

He said that, coupled with the seriousness of his offending, meant that only a custodial sentence could be justified. 

Hurt was also made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, a condition of which prohibits contact with girls under the age of 18. He was also told he must register as a sex offender. 

Judge Dixon also granted restraining orders, which prohibit him from contacting both accusers for a period of 10 years.  

Description

A paedophile former vicar who was jailed for sexually abusing children for four decades has been sentenced to a further four years after another victim came forward.

John Roberts, 89, was found guilty of 10 counts of indecent and sexual assault in 2020 and jailed for nine years.

He was vicar at St Peter's Church in Woolton, Liverpool, which is known as the "Beatles church" due to it being where John Lennon and Paul McCartney met.

Roberts has now been found guilty of a further five counts of indecent assault against a boy under the age of 14 and sentenced to four years in prison, three of which are to be served on top of his original sentence.

'Real monster'

Merseyside Police said that following publicity around the first court case another male came forward to report he too had been a victim of Roberts when he was aged 10-13 in the 1970s.

In a statement, he said: "For his entire career, [Roberts] has pedalled his lies with talk of sin, repentance and truth.

"I'm appalled that he has shown no intention of following his own guidance.

"How dare he use his God to disguise the real monster that he truly is. Monstrous acts on vulnerable helpless children over decades.

"I cope with it in a fashion, but I speak for those that didn't."

Three previous people reported attacks by Roberts in 2018 - one who had been assaulted as a boy in the 1980s, one who he attacked when they were a child in the 2000s, and one who was abused as an adult in the 2010s.

Roberts was previously convicted of sexual assault in 1989 but had remained in the Church of England after that conviction and became a canon.

Det Con David Tweedle said the victim had trusted Roberts because of the position he held - a trust he had "abused in the most heinous way".

"Today’s result in court will not undo the impact of Roberts’ actions, but I hope the victim and his family takes some sense of justice from it," he said.

"He has shown immense courage to come forward and speak about the hurt Roberts caused and the problems he has faced since."

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A "predatory" rapist cleared of attacking a teenage girl in 2006 has been jailed after evidence was obtained using new forensic techniques.

Donald Kargbo-Reffell was sentenced to 19 years at Luton Crown Court after being found guilty of the rape on a 14-year-old in Bedford.

He was originally arrested 18 years ago - and forensic evidence was taken - but the techniques at the time meant there was not sufficient evidence to charge him.

The 55-year-old, from Princes Street, Bedford, was already serving a 12-year sentence for another Bedford rape in 1999 which was also solved using improved scientific techniques in 2018.

'Destroyed my mental and physical health'

The case was reopened as part of Operation Painter, a major crime unit investigation into non-recent sex offences.

Kargbo-Reffell convinced the victim to go with him to a friend’s flat, then plied her with alcohol and raped her.

The judge praised the victim for her courage and in a statement read to the court, she said: "His actions have had a massive impact on my life, he has destroyed my mental and physical health.

"Destroying my reputation, the trust I have in other people, relations with family members and partners, stealing the last part of my childhood which I should have been allowed to enjoy as a young teenager, turning into an adult", she added.

Det Supt Emma Pitts said it was a "predatory and calculated attack".

“He knew exactly what he was doing, targeting a vulnerable girl and believing that he had got away with it.

“The way we respond has really progressed in the time since this attack both in terms of improved technology and how we approach this sort of sexual abuse."

Description

A sex abuser has been locked up for 13 years after be preyed on a five-year-old girl. Benjamin Holmes, 31, was found with images on his phone after he was arrested by police.

The pictures depicted his abuse, a court heard. Holmes, of Ravensholme, Wolverhampton, was found guilty of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity at Worcester Crown Court on Thursday, June 6.

Alongside his prison sentence, he was handed a sexual harm prevention order and restraining order to protect his victim.

Det Con Louise Sutton, of Worcester CID, praised the victim for having the courage to speak to police despite her young age. She said: "We are pleased to get this lengthy sentence on behalf of the young victim who showed enormous courage to speak to us about this devious predator.

"We take sexual offences of all kinds extremely seriously and it takes a lot of bravery for those affected by these appalling crimes to report such matters. We would always encourage people who are victims of these offences to approach police.

"We will always listen and offer all the support you need to get justice for you and to help you to rebuild your lives."