Locations
Lulworth Road, Fulwood, Preston, Lancashire, PR2
Description
A woman said she feels like 'her life is crumbling' after she endured four years of sexual abuse at the hands of a sexual predator.
Michael Harvey, 47, attempted to rape the little girl in her sleep when she was just eight years old, Preston Crown Court heard.
In the years that followed he subjected her to numerous sexual assaults which left her feeling 'sick to the stomach', she said.
Harvey, of Lulworth Road, Fulwood, Preston, has been jailed for 10 years with a year's extended licence after pleading guilty to the abuse.
Judge Richard Gioserano, sentencing, said the woman waited 'years' before she found the courage to report what had happened to her as a child.
"You thought you could get away with it because children often don't tell and feel unable to tell for many years - often overcome with fear and shame and confusion", he said.
When the woman did speak out against her abuser, Harvey lied and only pleaded guilty as he was due to stand trial at Preston Crown Court.
He admitted attempted rape of a child under 13 and six counts of sexual assault. which represented a pattern of abuse.
Judge Gioserano said: "This is no isolated case of sexual abuse. You subjected her to sexual abuse on many occasions over a long period of time between the ages of eight and 12 years old.
"You corrupted and distorted her childhood and she is now still paying the price for the sexual gratification you obtained from it."
In a victim impact statement, the woman said: "I find it hard to cope with anything around me and I just feel like I am on my own all the time, with no-one to talk to. It's like I am completely alone.
"My life feels like it is crumbling. I don't even feel like I am living - more that I exist. It is so hard to forget something that haunts me and makes me feel sick to my stomach.
"This man has left me feeling worthless. I shouldn't have to feel like this - I shouldn't have to feel like no-one wants me around, but I do and nothing ever changes, so I stay in my room and don't leave the house."
Harvey wrote a letter to the judge admitting what he had done and expressing remorse, but the judge said in an earlier interview with a probation officer the defendant had tried to minimise his offending.
He said: "She still struggles. One can only hope in time and with love it might become easier to bear. "
He sentenced Harvey to 10 years for the attempted rape and added a year extended licence upon his release.
He also made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and made Harvey the subject of notification requirements indefinitely.