A paedophile who carried out ‘grotesque’ rapes and sex offences against a child has been handed a long jail sentence. Jason Lea, 33, from Stockport, sobbed in court when he was sent down.
A court heard sickening details of the ‘regular’ attacks on the girl over a two-year period and that he even warned his victim to keep quiet or he would go to prison.
Jason Lea’s horrific crimes began to unravel when his victim ‘disclosed to a member of staff’ at her school that she had been sexually abused ‘for a number of years’, prosecutor Julian Goode told Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court on Monday.
When she was later video-interviewed by police about her allegations, the child described explicit details of Lea’s offences, including that he would ask the girl to sit on his lap and ‘writhe’ on him, the court was told.
Lea, 33, who had no previous convictions, told her not to tell anyone about what he was doing or he would go to prison, said Mr Goode. The girl told police she thought her attacker was a ‘kind man’, according to the prosecutor.
Howard Bernstein, defending, said his client’s guilty pleas had ‘spared the young complainant’ in the case from having to come to court. “That is to his credit and it provides a source of optimism for his ultimate rehabilitation,” said Mr Bernstein.
His admissions were the ‘start of a process of him understanding what motivated him and it also demonstrates a willingness and determination to attack his offending behaviour and understand his offending behaviour and to rehabilitate himself’.
Mr Bernstein said his client had endured a ‘troubled childhood’ but felt ‘shame’ and had described his crimes himself as ‘unspeakable’.
Lea appeared at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester city centre
(Image: ABNM Photography)
Judge Bernadette Baxter told the defendant his offending had happened ‘on a regular basis’ over a two-year period, describing the crimes as ‘grotesque’. He had been guilty of a ‘cynical manipulation’ of the child, said the judge, who went on to describe the ‘terrible burden’ on the child.
Judge Baxter said the defendant had ‘grotesquely abused’ the girl. Lea sobbed in the dock as the judge handed him a 19-year extended prison sentence. It means he cannot apply to the Parole Board for release until he has served 12 years behind bars, and he may then only be released if the Parole Board believes he is safe to be released.
The judge also ruled Lea ‘poses a risk of significant harm’ to children and made him the subject of a life-long Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He was also told he must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.
Lea, from Brinnington, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to two offences of rape, three offences of sexual assault and two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.