Locations
Sudellside Street, Darwen, Lancashire, BB3
Description
A disgraced former police officer who sexually assaulted a lone teenager as she walked home alone at midnight has been jailed for two and a half years.
James White, a former officer for Greater Manchester Police (GMP), admitted he had drunk four bottles of wine before getting in his car for a drive on 25 June, before carrying out an attack that was "the stuff of nightmares".The 39-year-old said he had not gone out to prowl for a lone female but when he spotted the teenager in a remote location in Darwen, Lancashire, he stopped the car and assaulted her.
Eve Salter, prosecuting, told the court the girl heard footsteps running up behind her. When White caught up he put his hands over her eyes, saying: "I don't want to hurt you".
He dragged her to the ground, causing grazes and bruises to her arm, torso and hip, before removing one of his hands from her eyes and putting it on her leg.The brave teenager took out her mobile phone and called her mum on Facetime. She tried to strike her attacker with the phone as the call connected, but White tried to knock it out of her hand.
She was able to take a photo of her attacker, who was wearing a distinctive t-shirt, before White ran away into the darkness, spooked by the girl's call for help.
The youngster was collected by her step-dad and reported the attack to the police.She said: "I don't know how to feel about the attack. I am just glad to be alive as I feared the worst was about to happen."The court heard White was dismissed from his role with GMP, serving the Bolton area, after he was convicted of four offences relating to the sexual harassment of female colleagues.
Tom Worsfold, defending, said his client recognised the court would have little sympathy for him and deserved to feel the shame he feels.
His step father, who has visited him in HMP Durham, said White told him he felt "he was torn between two different people - one good, one bad - and the bad one was winning"."There is a sense of tragedy that this person who was once a police officer in a position of responsibility could fall so low", Mr Worsfold said.
Sentencing, Judge Altham said: "What must have made this attack so frightening is that a 16-year-old who was on her own was targeted on the street.
"It is the stuff of nightmares for a stranger to wrestle you to the ground with the intention of sexual assault.
"If this was a planned attack where he has prowled for a victim before attacking her in this way, it is troubling, but it is equally troubling if all it takes is the sight of a lone female for him to run up behind her and assault her in this way.
"This young woman had to fight him off in the course of a violent attack. A man who can attack a young woman in this way - particularly with his background, is dangerous."
He sentenced White, of Suddellside Road, Darwen, to two years and six months for sexual assault with 10 months to run concurrently for ABH.
The judge also placed White on the Sex Offenders Register for 15 years, saying: "He will remain a danger to women for a significant period of time."