August 2011

Molester who raped children sent to prison indefinitely

A “MANIPULATING” paedophile convicted of sexually abusing four girls has been jailed indefinitely for public protection.

Leroy James opted to leave court after a series of outbursts as a judge described how he forced intimacy on the youngsters, some as young as eight, in a campaign of control spanning a decade in Bristol, Sheffield and Nottingham.

One angry victim told the Evening Post: “They should have electrocuted him.

“He should be put in a room with all his victims…

“He’s just a stinking tramp who should rot in hell.”

Bristol Crown Court heard one girl aged under 16 suffered a miscarriage and had a second pregnancy terminated because of James.

James, formerly of St Jude’s and Southmead, denied 35 sexual abuse charges. The 40-year-old denied raping one woman three times, as well as one indecent assault and eight rapes of a girl aged as young as nine.

He denied abusing another girl as young as eight by one indecent assault, two sexual assaults of a child under 13 and five rapes of a child under 13. He also denied raping a 14-year-old girl and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl. And he denied abusing another child by nine sexual activity charges and four rapes from when she was aged 13.

He was convicted of 16 counts of abuse from the original 35, relating to four out of six complainants.

The guilty verdicts comprised of eight rapes, two indecent assaults, one sexual assault and five sexual activity counts.

Judge Michael Longman jailed him for the protection of the public, with a minimum ten years and 91 days to serve, as well as an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order to keep him away from children.

The judge told him: “You exerted control over these girls. Your behaviour was manipulative, callous and at times brutal.”

He awarded a judge’s commendation for officer in charge of the case, Detective Constable Neal Hobbs.

Detective Inspector Gary Stephens, of Bristol’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: “We are pleased with the sentence passed today on Leroy James and hope that this will allow his victims to move on and attempt to rebuild their lives.

“James is a manipulative man who had a hold over his victims. For years they have suffered both physical and mental abuse at his hands. As a result this was a complex investigation that involved officers from child abuse investigation teams in both Bristol and Nottingham.

“These teams worked to identify the extent of his offending and as a result have taken a manipulative and predatory man off the streets.”

Lynne Matthews, prosecuting, told the jury: “Leroy James, previously Robert Day, had relationships with a number of women. He has fathered their children and he has acted as a step-father to others.”

Mrs Matthews said police community support officers in Nottingham received a report from a 14-year-old girl that James raped her, and she was willing to have a medical test to prove it.

Mrs Matthews told the jury: “The girl said she was raped at a New Year’s Eve party. She was seen at Bristol Children’s Hospital and gave a positive pregnancy test.

“She told a doctor and Bristol police James made her pregnant.”

Subsequently, the court heard, the girl retracted her complaint but another youngster told police the girl confided to her about the rape.

So began an intensive investigation in which police interviewed several youngsters who told them of abuse at James’ hands.

A youngster said James raped her in a field in Sheffield, and also handcuffed her and raped her. Another described how he sexually abused her in Sheffield and Nottingham.

Another youngster said James raped her in Bulwell, Nottingham, during school summer holidays, and another girl said James sexually assaulted her in the living room of his Sheffield home.

The girl who first reported James for rape described multiple occasions of rape and sexual activity with him in Nottingham and Bristol – sometimes after he gave her cocaine and cannabis – which resulted in her getting pregnant twice.

Richard Smith QC, defending, said: “Leroy James does not accept the position he finds himself in, in terms of his convictions.

“He maintains extremely clearly he was falsely accused and falsely convicted. That is a position he is entitled to hold.

“The consequence is I am limited in what I can say on his behalf.”

Mr Smith said James was a “product of his own childhood” and drug abuse contributed to his offending as opposed to him merely having a predatory sexual inclination.