Locations
Southcote Road, Reading, RG30
Description
John Saxton, of Southcote Road, was convicted of three counts of raping a child under 13, one of sexual assault and one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity
Judge Peter Ross sentenced a 71-year-old West Reading man to 16 years' imprisonment for raping a child saying it was one of the worst cases he had dealt with.
He released the jurors from ever having to serve on a jury again saying he hoped the case would not "haunt" them.
He described the 999 call made by the girl who was eight when the abuse began and 10 when she hid in her wardrobe and called the police as "harrowing".
John Saxton, of Southcote Road, was convicted of three counts of raping a child under 13, one of sexual assault and one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
He was cleared of one count of rape and one of sexual assault.
After deliberating for more than 21 hours after a trial which lasted 14 days, the jury was unable to reach verdicts on the remaining seven counts - of a similar nature - which were left to lie on the file.
Judge Ross said Saxton had committed multiple rapes on the girl for a protracted period of two years.
The rapes involved oral sex and acts of "degradation" in which she described how Saxton took her into the lavatory and "used her as toilet paper".
Saxton also made the girl take part in "sexualised dancing" making her perform pole dancing and striptease sometimes using a game called Eat Me I'm Delicious in which he typed out commands on his computer in a mock TV show.
He said the effects on the girl were "truly terrible".
Speaking of a report sent to the court by a therapist who interviewed the girl, the judge told Saxton: "She used sexualised language and concepts which revealed the depth of corruption you have wrought upon her."
Judge Ross told Reading Crown Court yesterday Saxton maintained his control over the girl with a "truly evil threat" that he would turn on another child "so she continued to place herself in a sense as the sacrificial victim".
He said the girl had a complete breakdown after she reported the matter to the police, although the court heard she had since managed to settle back at school.
"The degree of harm that you have caused is simply enormous," said Judge Ross. "It is almost impossible to put into words the degree of harm."
He added: "She will bear the scars of that for the rest of her life."
The judge said of Saxton that the length of sentence he would impose "would have a not just life-changing, but possibly life-ending effect".
He sentenced him to five years for causing the girl to engage in "sexual dancing", 16 years for each of the three counts of oral rape and five years for sexual assault, all to run concurrently.
Saxton will remain on the sex offenders' register for life.
The judge praised the prosecution and defence barristers, the police officer in charge of the case and the control centre operator who took the 999 call, for their conduct the case.
He also praised the Reading Post/getreading for the way it has reported the trial.
After the hearing, the victim's father said: "We are very grateful to the jury and to the police."