A depraved peadophile who kidnapped and sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl was interviewed by police before carrying out the sickening attack. Lewis Jones, 24, abducted and violently attacked the girl in a field in Tameside in August 2022.
The beast was jailed for 12 years after subjecting the child to a "horrific, violent sexual attack, leaving her covered in blood" Manchester Crown court heard. His own father turned him in to police after he saw pictures of his son released by cops, reports the Manchester Evening News.
The court heard Jones was interviewed twice by police officers over similar crimes, once in June 2020 and then in April 2021, but was released under investigation. It was said that a number of issues meant that he was not charged until after the violent attack on the child last summer.
On Tuesday, Jones was handed a life sentence and ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years in prison after admitting kidnap and two counts of sexual assault. He also admitted to four counts of sexual activity with a child and having indecent images of children in relation to the 2020 offences.
Judge Hilary Manley said. "The net result is in this case, a defendant, who if he had been charged when he should have been, would not have been at liberty to abduct this six-year-old girl. That's the cold fact of the case."
The judge demanded an explanation from Merseyside Police as she said the response included a chronology which made "very unhappy reading". The court heard it took the force "two years to build a file" and that it then "failed the internal police triage anyway" as Jones was released under investigation with "no fetters" on his liberty.
Prosecutor Vanessa Thomson told the hearing: "There seems to have been issues with personnel, retirement, third party records and examination of a mobile phone." The judge said prosecutors acted with "alacrity" after the case was transferred to be dealt with by GMP and the Crown Prosecution Service in Greater Manchester.
In 2020, Jones had met a vulnerable young girl, then 12, on Snapchat and lied about his age, telling her he was 14, when he was in fact 21. He met up with the girl some weeks later and they returned to his home in Liverpool where they "hugged and kissed".
The beast then sexually abused the girl on a number of occasions, including an incident in which he managed to sneak in to her home while her family slept. Jones had provided a false address to her family and police were alerted.
He was arrested at his home on Brocklebank Lane in Liverpool. The girl became "very distressed" when she learned he was actually 21, the court heard. She suffered trauma and mental health problems.
Judge Manley said Jones had tricked her into having a 'sexual relationship'. She added: "I have described it as a relationship, because at the time that is what she thought it was, but in reality you had constructed an edifice of lies and manipulations which enabled you to sexually exploit her."
Police found 102 indecent images of children on Jones' mobile phone. He answered "no comment" in the interview in June 2020. In the further interview in April 2021, he told police he "didn't know it was wrong to have sex with a 15-year-old".
At the sentencing on Tuesday for the sexual assault of the girl in August last year, Judge Manley said it was "by no means the first" case where an offender had been released under investigation and went on to commit further offences, but said it was "one of the most egregious examples".
She said the practice of releasing those accused of crimes under investigation 'causes real concern to this court'.
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