Locations
Westfields, Barlestone, Nuneaton, CV13
Description
Dale Wycherley locked his victims in a Barlestone flat as assaulted them
A teenager who groomed and sexually abused two young girls in Barlestone has been jailed for four years.
Dale Wycherley, of HMP Nottingham, encouraged his teenage victims to send indecent photographs and exchange inappropriate messages on Facebook.
He arranged to meet the girls, aged 13 and 15, in Barlestone and persuaded them to buy alcohol before sexually assaulting them in a village flat.
The 15-year-old girl said she had been left scared of men and had made several suicide attempts since the abuse in a victim impact statement read to Leicester Crown Court.
Wycherley, 19, was sentenced to four years in jail on Friday and was ordered to spend an extended three years on licence when released.
He was given a lifetime sexual harm prevention order and will be placed on the sex offenders register for life.
In June last year, Wycherley arranged to meet the two girls through social media before assaulting them.
The girls reported the incident to the police and Wycherley was arrested.
As part of their investigations, officers seized his iPad and mobile phone and discovered indecent images of four other victims.
In a victim impact statement read by prosecuting barrister Philip Gibbs, the 15-year-old girl said: I have self-harmed, maybe once a day and I have made suicide attempts because of the shame of what happened. Im scared he will hurt other girls who will go through what I am going through.
I feel scared and nervous around men in general. It has taken me six months to be able to trust the support staff I live with. I find it really hard to be around men.
Detective Constable Amanda Thwaites, who has worked on the case, said: The victims in the case have shown tremendous courage in coming forward and speaking about their ordeal.
I know it has not been easy for them to go over what happened, but ultimately, without their support we would not have been able to bring Wycherley to justice.
We are committed to tackling child sex exploitation and take all reports seriously and investigate them thoroughly.
"It can be very difficult for people to come forward and report abuse, whether it happened a long time ago or more recently.
We have a specialist team who deal with these cases and we work closely with social workers and other partner agencies to provide the best possible support and help to victims.
I would urge anyone who thinks they could be a victim to come forward. Anyone that does contact us will have their report treated with the upmost sensitivity and specialist officers will be on hand to support and assist victims.
Leicestershire County Council staff are part of the specialist team tackling child sexual exploitation and have offered support to the victims and family members.
Ivan Ould, cabinet member for children and families, said: It takes immense bravery for victims to speak out and Id like to praise the young people in this case.
Were committed to tackling CSE and our social workers work hand-in-hand with police officers to help victims feel confident about disclosing abuse and exploitation. Im pleased this support is helping to secure convictions.
At an earlier hearing Wycherley pleaded guilty to:
- making Category C indecent images of a child between October 2014 and July 2015
- meeting a child following sexual grooming in June 2016
- sexual assault in June 2016 inciting a child to engage in sexual activity between January and June 2016
- making Category A, B and C indecent photographs of a child between January and June 2016
- inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in March 2016
- making indecent photographs of a child in March 2016
- inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in May 2016