Locations
Ffordd Mela, Pwllheli, Gwynedd, LL53
Description
A man in his 40s has been jailed after he was convicted of sex offences which occurred when he was a teenager.
Jason Hughes, 43, of Ffordd Mela, Pwllheli, pleaded not guilty at Mold Crown Court but was this afternoon convicted of indecent assault and indecency with a child by a 10 to two majority.
He was cleared of a third charge.
Judge Niclas Parry jailed him for three and a half years and ordered him to register with the police as a sex offender for life.
A life-time sexual harm prevention order was made under which he is not to approach the victim in any way.
He is not to have any unsupervised contact with girls under 16 apart from what is unavoidable in day to day life unless he had the consent of a parent or guardian who knows all about his offending.
Judge Parry said that, when he was aged 18 or so, the defendant had gratified himself sexually by abusing her when she was very young.
He isolated her and indulged in sexual acts with her.
She was a total innocent used by you for pleasure, the judge told him.
You knew that at that age if you told her not to tell anyone she would listen and that is what happened.
The judge said that, if he was sentenced under modern-day guidelines, the starting point would have been four years with a range of three to eight years.
Hughes, he said, was a hardworking man of good character.
He had been convicted of few incidents which were not repeated and no violence or threats had been used.
The offences occurred some 25 years ago when the defendant himself was aged about 18, the judge said.
Prosecuting barrister Anna Price told how the victim, now an adult woman, came forward more recently and reported what had happened to her when she was young.
Defending barrister Duncan Bould said after the jury verdicts that the defendant knew it had to be custody, which would be a big change for him he would lose his job and in all probability his home.
The sentence would mean that he would lose contact with his young son who he saw on a regular basis.
His offending as found by the jury had been limited and in the intervening 25 years or so he had led a positive life.
He had essentially worked for the same employer, he worked hard and had raised a family, said Mr Bould.