Stuart Barratt 33

Description

A paedophile had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old girl after she had "blacked out" while drunk and threatened to tell her family and friends if she stopped seeing him. He went on to have sex with the girl on two other occasions without using protection.

Stuart Barratt, 32, told the girl she looked "fit" after she sent him a photograph of herself in her bra on Snapchat. He later had sex with the girl in Builth Wells when she was intoxicated, after she had lost her friends on a night out.

A sentencing hearing at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on October 6 heard the victim and the defendant came to know each other and began speaking on social media. He went on to offer to buy her a tracksuit but she refused.

Prosecutor Ffion Tomos said the child went on a night out to Builth Wells with older friends and had consumed peach schnapps and Strongbow, which left her "eight out of 10" on a scale of intoxication. She was refused entry to a bar and lost her friends, before making her way through the town.

She was approached by Barratt who had sat down with her and kissed her. The victim "froze" and believed she "blacked out" at some point. When she came round, she found herself lying on the floor. The defendant had pulled her trousers down to her ankles, pulled her clothes and underwear to one side and penetrated her vagina with his penis, which she described as painful.

Following that incident, the victim said she felt pressured into remaining in contact with Barratt. Ms Tomos said: "He was manipulative towards her and said if she ended it he would tell everyone, she would lose her family and friends and people would hate her."

The court heard the defendant and victim had sexual intercourse on two further occasions in a field, during which he did not use protection. The victim later made a report to police and Barratt surrendered himself but answered "no comment" in his interviews.

Barratt, now of Fourth Avenue, Brownhills, Walsall, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child. The court heard he was of previous good character but had one conditional discharge for criminal damage.

In mitigation, Marian Lewis said her client was "in a bad place" at the time of the offences, was suffering with depression, was in debt and did not like his job. She said the defendant found the girl's appearance and personality attractive and it "was not based purely on sexual activity". The barrister added: "The defendant said she looked and behaved older than her chronological years.

Sentencing, Recorder Dyfed Thomas said: "You were the adult and you took advantage of a child sexually. In relation to submissions that she behaved older than her chronological years, the court does not take that into account in no shape or form. The law is there to protect children no matter how they act, and she was a child."

Barratt was sentenced to 32 months imprisonment. He was made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and to a restraining order of 15 years.