May 2022

Paedophile jailed for abusing young girl he ‘fell in love with’ and said was his ‘ideal woman’

A paedophile who subjected a girl to two years of ‘grossly’ abusing her also threatened to rape her after saying she was his ‘ideal woman.

Leonard Roberts “grotesquely” subjected her to numerous different types of abuse during “totally outrageous” behaviour 

When his victim revealed what she had gone through, Roberts told police that “he was a piece of s*** and deserved to die”, Hull Crown Court heard.

Roberts, of Gypsey Road, Bridlington, East Yorkshire, admitted 11 sexual offences, including two of sexual assault, four of sexual activity with a child and others of penetrative sexual activity with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and causing a child to watch a sex act.

Charlotte Baines, prosecuting, said that on April 26, the girl revealed to members of her family details of the sexual abuse that she had suffered from Roberts over the previous two years.

Roberts told police: “Whatever she said, I have done it.” He repeated this five or six times.

The girl said that the abuse had “got worse over time” and he repeatedly sexually and intimately touched her. “This made her feel very, very uncomfortable,” said Miss Baines. Roberts committed a sex act in front of the girl and watched pornography in her presence. “He made threats of sexual violence towards her and threatened to rape her,” said Miss Baines. “He told her that she was his ideal woman.”

Roberts, 41, told the girl: “You deserve to be raped.” The girl felt scared. When Roberts was arrested, he told police that “he was a piece of s*** and deserved to die” and that he was “in desperate need of love, affection and stimulation”.

The girl said in a statement that it had been very difficult to cope with what had happened. “I have been trying to hide what he did for so long,” she said

“He told me that he was doing what he did to me because he fell in love with me. It has affected my mood. I have lost interest in all the things I liked doing. I am depressed all the time. I feel happy that it is over. I wish this had never happened.”

Roberts had previously worked as a factory worker before up that job to become a full-time carer for his parents.

Judge Mark Bury told Roberts that he behaved “grotesquely” towards the girl. “You grossly abused her over a two-year period,” said the judge.

“You threatened to rape her. On one occasion, you said she deserved to be raped. Can you imagine how that would make a young girl feel? It’s grossly inappropriate. She wants you to know how much you have hurt her. This went on regularly many times over two years. There were many types of abuse. There was verbal abuse that you uttered towards her, really horrible things that you said to her. You were told to stop but you carried on.

Roberts was jailed for eight years and will have to register as a sex offender for life.