November 2011

‘Evil’ paedophile jailed for abuse and images

A PAEDOPHILE who abused a young girl and had a collection of “evil” images of child abuse has been jailed for four and a half years.

Former taxi driver John Baker, of Avonvale Road, Redfield, admitted 26 sexual offences.

They included one count of sexual assault on a six-year-old girl; three counts of indecency with the same girl; showing the girl indecent images of children and 20 counts of possessing indecent images, including pictures of children and pictures depicting sex with animals.

Of the 2,823 images and 251 movies and clips found on his computer, 700 to 800 were of the most extreme types, showing images of children being raped by adults or subjected to abuse involving violence or animals.

Prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court yesterday, Giles Nelson told how Baker, now 63, abused the girl a number of times, in different ways.

On one occasion, Mr Nelson said, he touched her private parts. He also encouraged her to perform sexual acts on him.

Mr Nelson said Baker effectively “targeted” his victim, who was scared not to do what he told her.

“She was undoubtedly, because of her age, very confused about the defendant’s behaviour towards her,” he said.

That behaviour took a different slant when Baker showed his victim images of naked children.

The court heard that when someone found a folder on the computer containing the images of child abuse, Baker excused the discovery by saying it was a second-hand computer.

When police seized it, they discovered a total of 3,074 images depicting child abuse. Nine of those also included animals such as dogs.

The court heard that at the time of Baker’s abuse, his victim struggled to sleep at night.

But after years of silence, she confided in a friend.

Eventually, details of the abuse got back to the victim’s mother and, last summer, she summoned the courage to tell police what had happened.

Mr Nelson said when she gave evidence to police she felt physically sick, but told them: “I do not want him to do this to anyone else.”

Mitigating for Baker, Edward Burgess asked for credit for his client’s guilty pleas.

“He spared his victim the ordeal of having to relay her trauma and be questioned about it in court,” he said.

Judge David Ticehurst sentenced Baker to a total of four and a half years and imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order on his release.

He will also have to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and has been banned from working with children.

Judge Ticehurst condemned Baker’s behaviour and his taste for “evil” images of children being abused.

The judge said people like Baker provided the market for people to produce such material.

“You have a perverted and unhealthy interest in young girls,” he said. “What happens to these children will have caused them untold physical and psychological damage that may well affect them for the rest of their lives.”

As Baker was taken to the cells, someone in the public gallery shouted: “Not enough – it’s not enough!”

Police refused a request to release an image of Baker after he was sentenced.