Monster who plied girls with drugs and then attacked them
PERVERT JAILED FOR ‘APPALLING’ ACTS
A TEENAGE sex abuse victim left herself with burns after using bleach and Dettol in a desperate bid to cleanse herself of the “predatory animal” who attacked her.
Darren Trott turned his caravan into a “drop-in centre” for vulnerable teenagers who he plied with drugs and sexually abused.
The 33-year-old pervert lured girls to a scrap yard compound, where he was living in a mobile home, with the offer of what were previously legal highs.
He would then wait until they were “insensible” through the now banned substances and launch sex attacks.
A court heard the victims were aged around 17 and either homeless or in the care system and were vulnerable.
Newcastle Crown Court was told one victim was reduced to washing her body in Dettol and bleach in a desperate bid to cleanse herself and suffered burns to her back and legs as a result.
She said in a statement: “It was the only way to clean myself from Trott and what he did to me.”
Another teenage victim added: “The whole experience has stopped me from having a normal life.”
The third victim said she was left “frightened” as a result of what happened to her and added: “He got me to trust him by mentioning people I knew and gave me legal highs to take.”
Jailing Trotter for four years and eight months, Judge Amanda Rippon said: “Drugs were used to facilitate the assaults.
“At the time, those drugs were legal highs.
“Drug consumption rendered each girl insensible so you could take advantage of them and commit the assaults you did.”
Trott sexually assaulted the three girls at his base near a Metro station, in Sunderland, the court heard.
Christine Egerton, prosecuting, said the attacks happened in 2015, when Trott was living at the compound, which contained a caravan and scrap yard. Miss Egerton said: “He had many visitors to that caravan, not least because he was in the business of selling, providing, legal highs to anyone who wanted them.
“The complainants are all vulnerable young women who came to know this defendant through his involvement with those legal highs.”
Trott who has previous convictions for violence, dishonesty and drugs, pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault. He also admitted three offences of handling stolen goods, in relation to a stolen convertible Audi, worth over £12,000, a stolen Mercedes van, worth over £20,000 and a set of stolen number plates, which were all found hidden inside the compound.
Caroline Goodwin QC, defending, said Trott was “addled with drugs and drink throughout this period” and has his own difficulties.
Miss Goodwin added: “Police regularly attended the yard, knowing this was effectively a drop-in centre for young people
“The police attended when they were often looking for other young individuals.”
Miss Goodwin said Trott welcomed teenagers to the yard because adults his own age “wanted nothing to do with him”.
She added: “It was a family plot but it wasn’t a desirable existence, living in that caravan.
“It was frankly just appalling, absolutely dreadful.
“People were going there, dossing in the yard, it was just an appalling set of circumstances.” Miss Goodwin said Trott accepts his offending was “despicable”. After the case, Detective Chief Inspector Claire Wheatley, of Northumbria Police’s Safeguarding Department, said: “He preyed on vulnerable women and plied them with alcohol and drugs before he sexually abused them. “He targeted the most vulnerable in society and he deserves the punishment handed to him. These court proceedings would have been incredibly difficult for Trott’s victims and I want to commend their bravery throughout the course of these legal proceedings.
“Their courage has seen a predatory animal taken off our streets and put behind bars where he belongs.”
Coun Harry Trueman, Chair of the Safer Sunderland Partnership, said: “Preying on vulnerable people can never be tolerated and we hope that this sentence will serve as a warning to others. The council worked in partnership with Northumbria Police to help them bring this case to court to court.
“This was a case of a manipulative man who preyed on young women and exploited their vulnerabilities. It took many months of hard work on the part of the agencies involved to gain the confidence of his victims and support them to the point where they were ready to give evidence to put him behind bars.” Det Ch Insp Claire Wheatley