A 22-year-old Leeds man has been given a 10-year extended prison sentence after a judge branded him a danger to young children.
James Giles was sentenced at Bradford Crown Court today (Friday) after he admitted sexual offences committed against a Halifax youngster last year.
The young victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was praised by Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC for her very clear account of the abuse.
The judge said the intelligent youngster’s complaint to her mum and subsequent police interview were very much to her credit and had made the prosecution of Giles easier.
Although Giles, of Bruntcliffe Road, Morley, had denied any sexual activity following his arrest he pleaded guilty last month to four charges of assault by penetration of a child under 13 and one allegation of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
The court heard that during the investigation into the abuse samples from Giles’ fingernail clippings were found to match the victim’s DNA.
Giles had previous convictions on his record, but none of them were for sexual offences.
Today Judge Durham Hall jailed Giles for seven-and-a-half years for the abuse, but said he would have his licence extended by a further two-and-a-half years because of the danger he posed.
The judge said comments made by Giles in a pre-sentence report were troubling and he noted that the defendant admitted having an obsession with sex from a young age.
Giles told the author of his report that he had a sexual interest in children and was excited by things which were taboo.
Judge Durham Hall said Giles had ignored the child protests and she must have desperately confused and frightened.
“In my judgement you pose a significant risk of serious harm to children if given the opportunity to be in their company alone,” the judge told Giles.
“In other words you are a very real danger of abusing, or worse, little children.”
The judge said his sentence was meant to send out a clear message to the public that those who are corrupted by pornography and who have an evil interest in children would be punished as severely as possible.”
Giles will now have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life and he will also be subject to an indefinite sexual offences prevention order.