Abuser’s victims live with the scars

PAEDOPHILE GROOMED GIRLS WITH ALCOHOL AND DRUG

A PAEDOPHILE gave two girls alcohol and one of them cocaine while grooming them for sexual abuse.

Sean Lawrence denied wrongdoing but was convicted by a jury at Leicester Crown Court of offences committed between 1998 and 2014, consisting of:

■ Three counts of indecent assault.

■ Three counts of rape.

■ Two counts of sexual assault.

■ One count of witness intimidation to a third victim.

Both abuse victims, who are now adults, were molested and assaulted during their teens in locations across Leicestershire.

In June last year, one of his victims contacted police to say the tyres on her vehicle had been slashed, and she believed Lawrence, 51, of Linford Crescent, Coalville, was responsible as she had told people he had abused her.

Following the initial report, the victim disclosed to police she had been sexually abused between 2010 and 2014.

As part of the investigation, a second victim was identified.

She told police she had been subjected to sexual abuse by Lawrence between 1998 and 2003.

Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: “The two victims have been subject to the most appalling conduct by you and both have been living with the scars for many years.

“By chance these matters have come to light.

“These two women have had to give evidence and you receive no credit because you didn’t plead guilty. They had to relive the horrors they experienced early on in their lives.”

Judge Mooncey said Lawrence had given the girls alcohol and one of the victims “makes it clear you also gave her cocaine”.

He said: “There’s a strong element of you corrupting these young people.

“In some instances there was planning.”

The defendant was acquitted by the jury of two counts of sexual assault and one of rape, relating to the same victims.

Timothy Banks, mitigating before sentence, said the defendant had suffered sadistic physical abuse at the hands of his own father when he was younger, which had affected him throughout his life.

Although he had unrelated previous convictions for violence on his record, he had reformed himself since 2009.

Lawrence was jailed for a total of 20 years.