Jake Ormerod 33

Description

2022-03-14 Released and is living in a bail hostel in Plymouth.

Gang member used Facebook as part of a campaign to sexually abuse more than 100 schoolgirls in the Torbay area

A member of a gang believed to have sexually abused more than 100 schoolgirls in a seaside resort has been sentenced to 10 years in custody.

Jake Ormerod, 20, used Facebook as part of his "campaign to groom naive and immature girls" and then "mercilessly corrupted" them to satisfy his "insatiable need for sex". He admitted 13 charges of sexual activity with eight girls.

He plied victims with drink and drugs in the Devon resort of Torquay, before having unprotected sex. Some of them were virgins, and in one session he had sex with three children within 90 minutes, Exeter crown court heard.

Sending Ormerod to a young offenders' institution, Judge Philip Wassall said that some of his victims had been "so stupefied they did not find out until later that you had had sexual intercourse with them".

After the sentencing, Devon and Cornwall police said they believed Ormerod was part of a wider group of young men in the Torbay and Teignbridge area who had abused girls as young as 11 who went missing from home.

Police and other agencies have acted to safeguard 139 girls who are believed have come into contact with members of the group.

Sources believe that there have been at least 40 victims of the gang, though others may have been assaulted but are too traumatised or frightened to give evidence or remain loyal to the abusers. Police refuse to say how many other suspects they are hunting, only saying it is "fewer than 10".

Detective Inspector Simon Snell, who is leading the inquiry, codenamed Operation Mansfield, said Ormerod was guilty of "classic grooming behaviour" to make the victims feel wanted and loved.

As well as grooming them on the internet, the men would meet the girls at school gates or on the streets of Torquay, police say.

The case is another example of the worrying number of girls who are victims of street grooming. A report from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre published last month revealed that many such victims were runaways.

In court, Andrew MacFarlane, prosecuting, said that a large number of girls aged 12-15 who had gone missing were regularly found at Ormerod's home.

MacFarlane said: "The defendant took advantage of their vulnerability. He mercilessly corrupted them in order to satisfy his apparently insatiable need for sex.

"He never used a condom. He never took no for an answer. He lowered what resistance they had mostly by the ready provision of drink and cannabis in significant quantities."

The house Ormerod shared with his mother in Torquay was described as filthy by some victims. But MacFarlane said: "The lure of drink and drugs appears to have overwhelmed their disgust."

MacFarlane said: "For many, it is no exaggeration to say that their lives have been damaged permanently and what remained of their childhood years have been destroyed."

One victim, who was 14 at the time she was abused, tried to kill herself. She said Ormerod had pinned her down and had sex with her when she was a virgin. Later she described herself as horrible and called Ormerod "blatant scum who never washed and was a creep".

A 13-year-old girl said that Ormerod had a "bad boy image which girls found attractive". Another 13-year-old said that he had sex with her as she drifted in and out of consciousness "after getting wrecked".

Yet another girl aged 13 said that he plied her with drink and drugs and for him having sex was "like necrophilia". She added that she felt she "will never be the person I was".

Defending, Paul Dentith, denied that Ormerod was a predatory paedophile. He said: "He is not the Pied Piper of Torquay."

Dentith said there was a hate campaign against Ormerod and he would never be able to return to Torquay.

But outside court one victim's mother said: "He has cherry-picked these girls because they are vulnerable, and he has gone on to sexually exploit them.

"He has pretended to befriend them, shown them kindness and that he is a really decent, gentle guy he isn't. I'm glad he is locked up. He started the exploitation of young girls years ago."

Police said the hunt for other men suspected of abusing girls in Torquay was continuing.

Officers also conceded that questions needed to be asked about the way police and other agencies worked together to prevent vulnerable runaways being abused and to identify those who were targeting them.