A man assaulted a 12-year-old girl while she slept, a court heard.
John Webber appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual assault of a girl under 13. Iain Harris, prosecuting, detailed that on one occasion, a 12-year-old girl was told by the defendant that he had “spooned her” when she was asleep.
She responded saying she “didn’t know”, and Webber, 46, then lay behind the victim on a bed and touched her intimately with his hand. The victim pushed his hand away and hid in the bathroom until he fell asleep.
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She fell asleep later, and was then awoken with his hands rubbing her breasts. Mr Harris continued, stating that days later, the victim was lying on a bed face down as she was suffering with back pain.
Webber entered the room, lay next to the victim, and sexually assaulted her. He later texted her to apologise, stating: “I know not much happened but it went too far and I got too close.”
Webber then made the girl delete the texts. Mr Harris detailed that Webber’s phone had actually been uploaded to a different device that was seen by another person and showed he had been searching pornography.
He then took the phone and deleted his pornography search terms, but they had already come to light. The victim then told her mum about the abuse, and about other instances of a similar nature at the hands of Webber.
A victim personal statement written by the girl was read by the prosecution. It read: “The whole situation has massively affected my whole life, I used to be a happy sociable person.
“I have lost a lot of friends including my best friend as they don’t know how to talk around me.” The statement detailed the victim also doesn’t want to discuss what happened with her mum as it upsets her, and she feels a lot of anger towards Webber for what he has done.
It continued: “My mind is distracted by constant anger and thoughts about him all the time.” She said she suffers flashbacks and blames herself “for the upset that others are feeling”.
She continued: “Sometimes I think I should have kept it to myself so only I would be suffering.” The victim’s mum also wrote a victim personal statement which she read in court.
The woman said: “I simply cannot explain the feeling of being told that my daughter had been sexually abused.” She detailed that following the assaults, her daughter had a teddy bear that she took everywhere with her and nurtured, changing its clothes regularly and caring for it, which “broke her heart”.
Webber was arrested and interviewed but denied the first two charges entirely, and said that on the third occasion, he had given the victim a massage but had not assaulted her. Webber, who cried and held his head down throughout proceedings, has two previous minor convictions.
Martine Snowden, defending, said that comments made to the probation service by Webber where he indicated he was not guilty, “were reflective of how difficult he has found it to come to terms with his own actions”, but that his plea of guilty remains. Judge Stuart Driver KC interjected and said: “That is one way of putting it, you could also say he shows no remorse”.
Ms Snowden continued, referencing text messages sent by Webber to the victim where he apologised profusely for the third assault and said “it would never happen again”. She pointed out that there were no more assaults after this, and she argued that those messages showed he did feel some remorse.
Judge Driver responded: “It is not genuine remorse, because when he came to court he initially pleaded not guilty and is still doing it now. “It is manipulative behaviour”.
Ms Snowden added that the “enormity” of his crimes was clear to him after hearing the victim personal statements. She said: “It may sound hollow but I will say it, he is sorry.”
She stated that other than this offending, Webber has been a productive member of society, has worked and supported his family, specifically his sister and her son. Ms Snowden said: “His life has been shattered all because of his own doing and he knows that.
“He has been terrified of a custodial sentence.” In sentencing Webber, of Spinner Close, Ipswich, Judge Driver said: “I do not accept you have shown genuine remorse in this case.
“Your comments in the pre-sentence report amount to denials.” Webber was sentenced to five and a half years in custody, and a restraining order barring him from contacting the victim was implemented indefinitely.
He will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements for the rest of his life, and a victim surcharge applied.
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