Remorseful man ‘at low ebb’ handed himself in after sex with girl, 15
A 25-YEAR-OLD man who slept with a 15-year-old girl while his life was “at a low ebb” was so full of remorse he handed himself into police five days later.
Judge David Pugsley told Derby Crown Court this was the first time in 40 years working in the courts he had heard of someone voluntarily going to the police for such a crime.
Sentencing David Bullock to two years in prison for sexual activity with a child, Judge Pugsley said: “There is nothing in the facts of this case where the defendant has shown any deeply disturbed personality or any warped sexuality.
“This is old-fashioned lust. I cannot think of any case in the 40 years I have been at the bar where someone has gone to the police station for a crime of this nature.
“This is not a case of child abuse, but he was 25 and she was 15 and the law protects her in view of her immaturity by reason of her age.”
Judge Pugsley said the two-year sentence was the lowest punishment he could give to Bullock.
The court heard how Bullock, of no fixed abode, had split up from his girlfriend of two years, with whom he had a child earlier this year.
On June 23, he went to a friend’s house in Swadlincote to help him decorate and the teenager and a friend arrived to help as well.
Karen Davenport-Coles, prosecuting, said: “The defendant and the girl began to start flirting with each other, flicking paint and water.
“Later that evening they started kissing on the settee and things got more passionate and at that stage he wanted to leave.
“He got off the settee but she grabbed his hand and pulled him back saying he would not get a second chance.
“Because he was at a low ebb, instead of going he stayed, and the pair had sex.”
The following day a friend of the girl called Bullock to say she had been told what happened and he became anxious that his ex-girlfriend would find out.
Miss Davenport-Coles said: “On June 28, Mr Bullock called Derbyshire police who told him to go to his nearest police station.
“He went and told the Sergeant ‘I have had sex with a minor’. The police contacted the girl and she confirmed she had had sex with him.
“Mr Bullock was arrested and she was given a video interview and medically examined.”
Alistair Munt, in mitigation, said his client had been entirely open and honest with the police after handing himself in.
He said: “He accepts what he did was wrong and that she was under 16 but he denies using any force and at all times she was willing.”
