2010: MAN JAILED FOR RAPING THE DAUGHTER OF WOMAN HE BEFRIENDED ONLINE
A COMPUTER engineer who befriended a mum via a dating website and then raped her daughter has today been handed an indeterminate sentence at court.Phillip Anthony Brown, 37, who previously lived at Ox Leasow, Woodgate Valley, Birmingham, met the Redditch mother through an internet dating website and moved into her home in Redditch.
The pair planned to marry but while she was out at work Brown was sexually assaulting her teenage daughter.
He pleaded guilty on July 20 this year to two counts of raping the 14-year-old daughter between September 2009 and January 2010 and between January and April this year.
Brown also pleaded guilty to five counts of making indecent images of the daughter and five counts of making indecent images of other children.
There were in excess of 50,000 images graded at level one, eight images at level two, four images at level three, 47 images at level four and three images at level five, level five being the most serious.
West Mercia Police’s Hi-Tech Crime Unit worked in conjunction with the Child Protection Unit at North Worcestershire Division to investigate the offences.
Brown appeared before His Honour Judge Patrick Thomas at Worcester Crown Court today (Thursday, September 2).
The judge described Brown as a ‘predator’ who has left his victim ‘mentally scarred’.
He was given an indeterminate sentence with a tariff of 12 years for the rape offences and four years for making indecent images, to run concurrently.
Brown will serve a minimum of six years in prison but will not be released until he is deemed to no longer pose a risk.
He will undergo a sex offender treatment programme.
He was also made subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order which will come into effect when or if he is released from prison.
This means he will face restrictions, for example with his internet access.
Detective Constable Elaine Sloane, from the Child Protection Unit at Bromsgrove police station, said: “We are satisfied with the sentence today and hope that it will go some way towards helping the victim and her family rebuild their lives.
We would like to remind internet users to be vigilant when using dating or social networking websites and not to disclose too much personal information.
So called ‘friends’ in the virtual world may be deliberately hiding their true selves.”
