JUDGE DESCRIBED COUNTY DURHAM MAN AS 'OPPORTUNIST CHILD SEX OFFENDER'
A "monster" paedophile who left two young girls traumatised after launching sick sex attacks on them has been caged.Luke Connor’s was described by a judge as “an opportunist child sex offender” at Durham Crown Court on Friday (April 10) as he was jailed for 15 years.
He was found guilty of two offences of sexually assaulting girls under 13, one penetratively, and one count of causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity after a four-day trial at the court in January.
Connor, 43, formerly of Front Street, Burnhope, had denied the offences, which came to light in recent years, but committed before some of his more recent convictions for both child sex offending and acts of violence on past partners.
Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, read impact statements from the two victims of the offences.
One said the “traumatic” experiences she suffered as a young child had distressed her for as long as she can remember.
But she said she had only felt able to speak out about the abuse more than a dozen years later and it’s only been more recently that she discovered she was not the only victim of the defendant.
She said: “This monster has taken advantage of others”, adding that she hoped he would never be able to harm anyone else in future.
The now-adult woman said for many years she felt she would be unable to have a normal sexual relationship because of the mental scars of the offences committed by Connor.
His other victim said she found it traumatic being cross-examined as to why she had not come forward sooner.
She said she could still recall that when Connor was convicted she and the other victim were accused of “ruining lives”, as if they were the guilty parties.
Peter Moulson, for Connor, said he could only acknowledge the psychological harm that was suffered by the victims.
But he said the offences did not include many of the aggravating features often associated with such offending, including violence, or the use of alcohol, drugs or grooming behaviour.
Mr Moulson added that the defendant has worked well while on remand in prison and now holds trusted “red band” status.
Judge Richard Bennett noted the defendant has a previous child sex conviction for which he served a four-year sentence in January 2013 and is already subject to lifetime notification requirement as a sex offender.
The judge told Connor: “You have a deviant sexual interest in young girls” and described him as, “an opportunist child sex offender”, who had caused his victims “severe psychological harm”.
Judge Bennett imposed consecutive sentences of five and ten years’ respectively, totalling 15 years, with three years’ extended licence period upon Connor's eventual release.
The judge said as a “dangerous offender” he would serve at least two-thirds of the ten-year element of the second sentence behind bars before being eligible for release on parole.
But he said he may have to serve the full ten years depending on the view of the Parole Board.
Twenty-year restraining orders were put in place for the protection of both victims.
