Judge sentencing rapist, 12, warns against using Internet as a babysitter

Photo: Alamy By Hayley Dixon

10:44AM GMT 26 Nov 2013

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A judge has warned that the Internet cannot be used as a “babysitter” as he sentenced a 12-year-old for raping his younger sister after watching porn at school.

In a stark warning to teachers and parents, Judge Thomas Crowther QC said it was important to remind ourselves that the Internet is a “mirror of adulthood in all forms”.

He added that it was a “sad fact” that many young boys have been exposed to adult pornography and in this case the teenager, who has not been named, copied what he saw.

The schoolboy watched the hardcore films after searching for pornography websites with a classmate while in school.

The school has not been named but education chiefs are understood to be investigating how he accessed adult material while on the premises.

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The slightly-built boy sat between his parents as he was sentenced at Newport Crown Court to a three-year youth rehabilitation order. He will continue to live at the family home.

Judge Thomas Crowther QC said: "It's a sad fact that many boys of his age will have been exposed to adult pornography.

"But not all boys exposed to it will act as he did. He found pornography online and replicated what he saw.

"Let us remind ourselves that the Internet is not a benign babysitter but a mirror of adulthood in all its forms."

The court heard the brother and sister regularly shared a bedroom together while staying with a family member.

Their parents discovered what was going on when the girl, who was under the age of 10, confided to a relative that her brother had touched her.

The boy was questioned by another family member and admitted having urges he could not control and knowing what he was doing was wrong.

The court heard the sexual abuse had been going on for a year and the teenager had watched hardcore pornography then gone home and carried out the acts on his sister.

The boy admitted three charges of rape. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for two-and-a-half years.

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Police hunt rapist who attacked woman after breaking into her home in "harrowing" assault

PA

Police in Manchester are hunting a rapist who assaulted a woman after breaking into her home.

Officers say the woman in her 30s disturbed an intruder who had broken into her house in the Hollins Road area of Oldham, sometime between 3am and 6am on Sunday morning.

He then followed her upstairs and raped her in a "harrowing attack", before leaving the house.

The wanted man is described as white, in his 40s, with a large muscular build, short brown hair and clean shaven.

Detective Sergeant Martin Ashurst from Manchester's Serious Sexual Offences Unit said: "This was a harrowing attack on a woman in her own home.

"I want to reassure people that this type of incident is very rare and we are now conducting a detailed investigation.

"Please, if you saw anything that night, specifically a man fitting the description of the attacker, in that area then call us."

The victim is now being supported by specialist officers.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Serious Sexual Offences Unit on 0161 856 1741 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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Victim of 'evil' child rapist describes nightmares she is left with after his depraved attacks

Depraved: John Paul Lee

The victim of a child rapist has told how her "evil" attacker forced her to smoke and take drugs from the age of seven, and spoke of the devastating impact his assaults have had on her.

John Paul Lee was jailed for 17 years yesterday for the rape and indecent assault of two young girls, one as young as four.

The 36-year-old, of Lytham Road in Blackpool, was found guilty of nine counts of raping a child and six counts of indecently assaulting a child after repeatedly abusing the girls at an address in Oldham between 2002 and 2008.

After plying the youngsters with drink and drugs, he would force them to watch pornography and perform sex acts on him, as well as raping and indecently assaulting them.

One of the girls was just four when the sickening abuse began, and the other was eight.

Speaking after he was jailed, one of his victims described how Lee had stolen her childhood.

She said: "When I look back to when the abuse was happening to me I realise that I was not a normal child - he made me experiment with drugs and started me smoking at the age of seven.

"I had no childhood. I struggle to sleep. When I wake up in the night I have to turn my light on to make sure no one else is in the room and I have nightmares frequently.

"They are about what he did to me but mainly him making me watch him do things to the other victim. I hear her screaming. I see her crying and I feel helpless that I cannot stop it."

PC Natalie Eastwood said the two girls had their childhoods snatched away from them "in the most appalling of circumstances."

She added: "Lee is an evil, depraved man who subjected them both to unimaginable abuse.

"It was heart-wrenching for me to hear what lasting and significant impact the abuse has had on them both physically and psychologically and try as I might I cannot adequately reflect this is words"

She said this made the fact the girls had bravely come forward "all the more remarkable", and police would ensure abusers like Lee did not get away with their heinous crimes.

Lee was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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