BEDWORTH MAN JAILED FOR SEXUAL ASSAULT ON YOUNG GIRL

A man named Jason Carvell has been sentenced to two years in prison after he sexually abused a 15-year-old girl at a house in Bedworth. During the trial at Warwick Crown Court, the judge stated that Carvell was not given credit for his guilty plea because he forced the girl to give evidence in a 'trial of issue' over the incident. Carvell, 30, from Marston Lane, Bedworth, initially pleaded guilty at Nuneaton Magistrates' Court to the charge of indecently assaulting the girl in December of the previous year. However, because his plea was based on the assumption that the girl did not object, a trial of issue was necessary where she had to testify. Prosecutor Adrian Keeling detailed that the victim was babysitting and allowed Carvell, a familiar visitor, into the home. He sat beside her, then grabbed her hand, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, swung his leg over her, and asked her to kiss him. The girl managed to struggle free after kicking him. Carvell apologized and left, but then pushed her against the wall and sexually abused her, revealing his desire to have sex with her. The girl screamed for neighbors' attention, which caused Carvell to leave. The victim now struggles with concentration, worries about people behind her, and wakes multiple times at night. Judge Ian Alexander emphasized that by forcing the girl to testify, Carvell lost any benefit of his guilty plea. His legal representative acknowledged this, but the judge noted that Carvell's actions worsened her experience, forfeiting sympathy for him. Carvell was ordered to serve an extended period on licence after his release and must register as a sex offender for ten years. The judge explicitly said that Carvell's actions made the girl feel she was going to be raped and that his insistence on her giving evidence worsened her ordeal, thus justifying the court's hard stance.