Locations
Quilter Road, Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG22
Description
A BASINGSTOKE man has been jailed after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.
William Landy, aged 49, cried from the dock of Winchester Crown Court as he was caged for four and half years.
Landy, previously of Quilter Road, was found guilty by a jury following a trial at Winchester Crown Court this week of assaulting a child by penetration and sexually touching a child.
The court heard that Landy gained access to his victim by gaining the trust of her family before abusing her on one occasion after he had been drinking.
In a victim impact statement, Landy’s victim said felt “the whole incident changed her whole life,” Judge Jane Miller QC recalled, adding: “she stopped being a happy person and she withdrew into a hole”.
The abuse only came to light after the victim told her family in 2018, having not spoken about it before because she “didn’t think she would be believed” as she was badly behaved at that point in her life.
The court was told that in the weeks following the incident Landy had contacted social services claiming that the victim had exposed herself to him.
During sentencing on Friday Judge Miller said: “You were trying to get your story in first.”
She continued: “She clearly found the run up to the hearing very difficult, having to watch her video interview again.
“You saw in court having her account challenged was upsetting for her.”
In mitigation, Robin Sellers said his client suffers from a number of health problems including difficulties from a previous liver transplant and is “liable to falls”.
He also has type two diabetes, which he has been dealing with for past 10 years, along with advanced peripheral neuropathy, which a result of damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord.
Mr Sellers said: “In 2019 there was an overdose that required hospitalisation. He expressed this morning that he is not minded to take his medication.”
He continued: “The conditions in prison because of the current pandemic in my submission will be extremely difficult for this defendant bearing in mind the medical difficulties he has.”
Judge Miller jailed Landy for four and half years and he must spend a further year on licence.