Locations
Fairburn, Skelmersdale, Lancashire, WN8
Description
A child sex predator who coerced a schoolgirl into performing a sex act on him continued to try and groom her even after her mum found out.
Connor Hegarty, 27, touched the teenager inappropriately and bombarded her with indecent messages.
The girl's horrifying ordeal was only found out when her mum discovered messages between the two and confronted him, reports Lancs Live.
After the brave victim came forward about the extent of the grooming and the abuse, he left her to face a gruelling and traumatic cross-examination while he dodged court appearances and evaded police.
In a powerful victim impact statement, the girl told how she had been left suffering panic attacks and night terrors as a result of his despicable actions.
Hegarty, of Fairburn, Skelmersdale, finally faced justice at Preston Crown Court after belatedly admitting three counts of sexual activity with a child - but only after first denying it and forcing her to give evidence in court.
Prosecuting, Jacob Dean told the court that Hegarty was aged 23 and lived in Skelmersdale when the offences took place in 2017.
He manipulated the young girl into keeping their messages a secret and arranged for her to sleep in his house.
On that night, he gave her beer, touched her body and incited her to perform a sex act on him despite her trying to convince him it was a bad idea.
He also pulled her jeans down and attempted to perform a sex act on her but was told to stop and that she was going to sleep.
Mr Dean said: Over the next few days, he messaged her to say that last night was amazing, asking when she would be ready for sex and telling her not to tell anyone.
A few days later, her mum was using her iPad and received notifications of messages from the defendant.
The explicit messages included references to doing more next time and that your ar** is mine.
At the time, the girls mum knew he was older but not how much older.
She informed Hegartys mum who kicked him out the house and she also confronted the paedophile directly, at which point he admitted liking the girl but said nothing physical had happened.
The woman told him to stop messaging her daughter but he did not, this time making references to oral sex.
She shared screenshots of the messages with Hegarty and his mum but was still not aware of the extent of the contact between the man and girl.
Only two years later as they watched a soap opera with a grooming story line did the girl feel able to talk about how much she had groomed him.
Mr Dean said: At that time, they decided not to report him to the police, she was focusing on school. The defendant had moved away but moved back to the area and continued messaging her and one day they did meet.
The girl bravely told a friend at school what had happened and then told school staff before giving a video interview to the police.
Hegarty was arrested but denied being in a physical relationship with her and meeting her on that day, claiming he was out of the area.
However, his phone was seized and searched and his lies uncovered.
He continued to deny his sick actions to the point where a trial began with the girl was forced to go through the ordeal of a cross-examination in which she had to answer his claims that she had lied about the beer and sexual contact and that she had accessed his Facebook account to send the messages to herself.
All the while, he refused to attend hearings and evaded police before being arrested and jailed for six weeks for bail act offences.
In a victim impact statement, the girl reflected on the pain he caused and detailed how she now suffered panic attacks and night terrors, as well as having to face rumours about what had happened when it was first reported to the police.
She said she now struggles to trust people and fears physical contact, even from loved ones, adding that she feels she has had part of my childhood taken away from me.
Defending, Beverley Hackett said that Hegarty was deeply ashamed and embarrassed and appalled by his actions.
She said letters from him and family members detailed his own traumatic upbringing and explained why he felt more comfortable around children than adults.
Sentencing, Judge Graham Knowles QC refused to give any credit for the guilty plea, given that it had come after the trial had begun and the girl had to face his lies about what had happened.
He said: I want to be very clear what happened with [the victim] and everything that went on between you and her was not in any way or to any extent her fault. Not at all.
Judge Knowles issued an indefinite restraining order banning Hegarty from contacting her and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order which bans him from having contact with girls under the age of 16.
He also issued an indefinite notification requirement, informally known as the sex offenders register, and jailed Hegarty for six years.