Middlesbrough sex abuser told police he had been 'a silly man'

Leslie Wilson sexually assaulted the youngster on a regular basis until she plucked up the courage to tell someone despite him warning her that it was their "little secret".

The 77-year-old told police that he had been "silly" when they called at his home last year to confront him with the allegations.

Robin Turton, prosecuting, told Teesside Crown Court how Wilson had sexually assaulted his victim on numerous occasions.

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Mr Turton said the defendant would put pressure on his victim to talk in a sexualised manner and even offered to take her virginity despite her being under 16.

Leslie Wilson

When police attended his Middlesbrough home, Mr Turton said the defendant said "I shouldn’t have done it and I have been a silly man".

In a victim personal statement, the victim said she had been left traumatised by the abuse after she learned it was not usual behaviour to be sexually abused on a regular occasion.

Wilson, of Marton, Middlesbrough, pleaded guilty to eight charges including sexual assault on a young child and engaging in sexual activity with a child.

Andrew Stranex, mitigating, said his client disputed the number of occasions on which the abuse occurred but accepted his sexually abusive behaviour had happened.

The judge, Recorder Darren Preston, said: “She was so distressed that when the police came to her she had to write down what you did to her because she couldn’t speak of it.

“She told the police that you abused her every time you saw her, I know you don’t accept that it’s so often and I accept from you that it didn’t happen every time but it is fruitless to try to work out how many times it occurred suffice to say that it was on multiple occasions.”

The judge added: “You would talk about inappropriate things with her such as her virginity and whether she would have sex with you.

“You bought her silence by telling her not to tell anyone.”

Wilson was jailed for four years and eight months.