May 2001

Jail for man who preyed on drunk girl, 14

‘Children are to be protected from their own stupidity’ – judge

A MAN who took advantage of a drunken teenage girl and indecently assaulted her in a Merseyside pub toilet after she asked him for a cigarette was jailed for 12 months.

Judge Denis Clark told Peter Lindon that he accepted the girl had been flirtatious and drunken and had been hanging around the public house.

He said: “But the law takes the view that children of 14 are to be protected against their own stupidity and recklessness and lack of experience and maturity. They are not to be taken advantage of.”

He continued that it had been a dreadful experience for the girl in the claustrophobic confines of the toilet cubicle. He accepted Lindon had had the matter hanging over him for a long time, but so had the victim of his lust.

Judge Clark ordered Lindon, formerly of Allport Road, Bromborough, to register on the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years.

Mr Cowan told the court that the incident occurred on the evening of January 28 last year at the Brown Cow public house in Bromborough. The girl and friends had been hanging around outside the pub, despite earlier being chased away by staff, and then went inside.

Lindon, aged 30, pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court to indecently assaulting the 14-year-old on the basis that when she asked for a cigarette he said he would give her a cigarette if she performed a sex act.

She allegedly replied “all right” and he followed her to the toilets where the offence occurred. His judgement had been clouded by alcohol and he believed she was consenting as she showed no active signs of resistance.

Defence barrister Janet Reaney said that although Lindon has previous convictions, he had none for sexual offences and this incident had been an aberration which he regretted.

She said: “It was not a predatory act by him.”

He has had 15 months to reflect on his behaviour and no longer adopts a cavalier attitude, not thinking of the consequences of his actions. Since his arrest Lindon had been bailed to stay away from Wirral and has been living with his father at Nercwys Mountain Road, near Mold, said Miss Reaney.