A Kettering paedophile who subjected a young girl to sickening sexual assaults has been jailed for almost 10 years.

Raymond Wykes carried out what was described as a ‘campaign of abuse’ against his victim until she courageously revealed what had happened.

Yesterday a judge said she would be scarred for life by the actions of 46-year-old Wykes, who had claimed he was not sexually attracted to children.

Northampton Crown Court heard the delivery driver, of Headlands, was arrested in May last year after the sexual assaults were reported to police and that he made partial admissions when interviewed.

Prosecutor James Keeley said: “He stated that he got no sexual gratification from it…and was not sexually attracted to children.”

Wykes later admitted 12 child sex offences, with the most serious being assaulting a child under the age of 13 by penetration.

Mr Keeley said the incidents had caused the victim severe psychological harm and read an impact statement from her, where she described suffering from depression, stress and anxiety.

Sentencing, His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo said Wykes had distorted attitudes and described some of his behaviour as chilling.

He said: “It has led to psychological harm that will scar her (the victim) for life.”

Wykes was jailed for nine years and five months with an additional one year on licence.

He will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence in prison before he will be eligible for parole. Wykes will also be on the sex offender register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life.