PRISON FOR BULLY WHO BLACKMAILED UNDER-AGE GIRL INTO SEX
TEENAGER WAS INITIALLY GROOMED WITH MONEY AND CIGARETTES
A MAN who bullied and blackmailed a teenager into having sex on a regular basis for years has been jailed.
Gary Jelly, 52, was found guilty of a string of offences.
A MOLESTER who bullied a teenager into having sex on a regular basis for years has been jailed.
The victim told a jury that Gary William Jelly had effectively blackmailed her into suffering the abuse.
Jelly, 52, who formerly used the surname Bollen - and has a previous conviction for manslaughter befriended the girl more than 15 years ago and groomed her with cigarettes and money.
When she later refused to cooperate, he put her in fear of violence, including once threatening to put her head though a window.
A jury convicted Jelly of a catalogue of sex offences following a two-week trial in February and he appeared at Leicester Crown Court yesterday, via a live video link from prison, for sentencing.
Judge Keith Raynor said the offences included sexual activity in a garden shed, a garage and a caravan.
Jelly took explicit photographs of the complainant, some without her knowledge.
The images were later used as leverage, in threatening text messages and calls, to enforce her compliance.
When she gave evidence, she said: “It was like I bowed down, pretty much he clicked his fingers. He had that much control over me.”
Judge Raynor told Jelly: “The text messages show you as a pathetic middle-aged bully.
“You used your money to get what you wanted and threatened to expose her and show sexual pictures of her to others, including her family.
“You maintained your threats to have a hold over her and wanted her at your beck and call.
“She told you on multiple occasions ‘I’m sick of this blackmail.’
“She needed money on occasions and you preyed on that financial vulnerability.
“On one occasion you threatened to go round and beat her up and on another said you would put her head through a window.
“When she didn’t want to see you, you began stalking her.
“She suffered significant psychological trauma. Your conduct was to maximize fear and distress, with a high degree of planning and it was persistent action over a prolonged period.”
Defence counsel, Rachel Darby, said Jelly’s family, including his elderly parents, would suffer because of his incarceration.
Jelly, formerly of Woodland Road, off Uppingham Road, Leicester, was convicted on majority 11 - 1 verdicts on four counts of sexual activity with a child under 16 and two offences of paying for the sexual services of the same girl, during a 12-month period.
Jelly denied the offences, claiming nothing sexual happened until the complainant was aged 19, and that she consented.
He said he gave her cigarettes and money just “to help her out”.
He pleaded guilty to one count of putting the same victim in fear of violence, by “making numerous threats” when she was an adult, between 2013 and 2014.
Prosecutor Richard Thatcher said it was only after many years of feeling ashamed and staying silent, she found the courage to tell her family and finally report the matter.
Judge Raynor said he took into account the four-year delay in the trial taking place, Jelly’s chronic ill health, including a heart condition, and the restrictions in prison regarding Covid-19.
He jailed Jelly for a total of eight years and four months.
He was also placed on a 12-year sexual harm prevention order, banning any contact with the victim.
The judge publicly commended the officer in the case, Detective Constable Alec Lester, for his “excellent” work including investigating an issue that arose during the trial.
MANSLAUGHTER CASE
The court heard that in 2017, the defendant received a seven-year jail sentence for an unrelated offence of manslaughter, which involved the death of a “vulnerable” 34-year-old woman.
The court heard that he was on early release licence from that sentence when he stood trial for the sex offences.
Judge Raynor said Jelly’s conviction for the manslaughter - involving him pushing over the victim who died from rib injuries - was relevant because he had behaved in a simi larly bullying manner towards the sex abuse victim.
He said Jelly told the manslaughter victim during a confrontation: “Don’t mess with me.”
Jelly, then aged 47, and his daughter, Natalie Bollen, then aged 29, both assaulted a woman, Kelly Machin, following a neighbours’ row over a burst child’s football in August 2016.
The father and daughter, who were both jailed for seven years, confronted Ms Machin at her home in Waldwick Close, Leicester Forest East.
Ms Machin died alone on her living room sofa, from internal bleeding caused by fractured ribs, several days later.
The incident occurred after Ms Machin became so “fed up” with footballs coming over the fence into her garden, from Bollen’s nearby home, that she burst it with a knife before throwing it back.
Bollen became outraged and went round to Ms Machin’s home with her father. The sentencing judge on that occasion observed that three punches from Bollen and a forceful push onto a coffee table by Jelly had unintentionally led to Ms Machin’s death.