Kenneth Mann 49

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Kenneth Mann, 43, a plasterer, now of Seafield Road, Portchester was sentenced at the Old Bailey on Monday for the offences which happened in Hastings.

He had been convicted at Hove Crown Court on March 23 of the rape and sexual assault of the girl, and of inciting her to commit an act of gross indecency.

He was acquitted of further alleged offences against the girl of indecency with a child, sexual assault, and indecent assault.

Mann will also be a registered sex offender for life and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to last indefinitely, prohibiting him from any contact with the victim.

Detective Sergeant Steve Shimmons of the Hastings-based Safeguarding Investigations Unit said: ‘The girl was aged between nine and 13 at the time of the offences.

‘Mann came to know her locally in Hastings and cynically took advantage of her innocence and vulnerability for several years in the early to mid 2000s, for his own sexual gratification, until he moved away to Hampshire.

‘She kept this distressing experience to herself until four years ago when she first contacted us.

‘Even at that stage she was reluctant to support a prosecution, but then came back to us again, and over time we gained her confidence to enable the investigation to progress.

‘She bravely gave evidence in court, and this was crucial in helping to secure the guilty verdicts.

‘If you or anyone you know is being, or has been, subjected to this sort of predatory behaviour, do not suffer in silence.