202501950 A5 - [2025] EWCA Crim 1047

The Offender and his victim, who we shall call V, are closely related. The Offender is 10 years older than V. V was aged 5 or 6 when the offending occurred. V and the Offender were then living at different addresses, but the Offender would frequently visit V’s home and stay overnight. He had his own bedroom, which was close to V’s bedroom. V and the Offender would spend a lot of time together at her home, often in each other’s bedrooms. The offending took place at the V’s home when she was aged 5 or 6, and the Offender was aged 16.

On one occasion, when they were in the Offender’s bedroom, he made V spit on his penis. He then placed his penis against her mouth. This was Count 5. On another occasion, also in the Offender’s bedroom, he tried to insert his penis into her anus. It made a squelching noise and hurt V, so the Offender stopped. This was Count 6.

The Offender also sexually assaulted V but it is unclear from the various documents in the case to what conduct the charge of sexual assault and his guilty plea related. This was Charge 1. There was information from V which would have supported the bringing of Charge 1, but neither Counsel for the Offender (who appeared in the Court below) nor Counsel for the Solicitor General (who did not) were able to identify what should be treated as admitted by his guilty plea and we are not able to determine what was included. This is, for obvious reasons, deeply unsatisfactory; but the absence of information should not be held against the Offender.

In addition, the Offender took hundreds of indecent photographs of V, which formed the basis for Charges 4 and 5. In two of those photographs, V was lying on her front on her bed. She was naked. The Offender’s hand can be seen in the photograph separating the cheeks of her bottom to expose her vagina and anus. Those two photographs were uploaded to the internet by the Offender and thus distributed to others. This was Charge 2. A charge of taking Category A photographs was not proceeded with.

The police first became aware of the Offender’s abuse of V when they traced the two photographs that he had distributed back to him and identified V in them. He was arrested and interviewed on 3 October 2023. He admitted that he had taken indecent photographs of V, some with his penis pressed against her bottom or vagina. He also admitted that he had distributed the two photographs to which we have referred. He said that when he distributed images of V online, other people would send indecent images of other children back to him. The Offender said he had taken these photographs of V because he felt worthless. He did it as a way of punishing himself. He said he would look at the photographs and masturbate.

The police carried out an interview with V on 17 December 2023, in the course of which she told them what the Offender had done to her.

In a later police interview the Offender said that he sometimes went into the V’s room and touched her chest, bottom and vagina. He denied penetrating her vagina or anus. He said he would pose with his penis against her vagina or anus simulating sex. He said he did this at the suggestion of other people and recorded it for them.