A woman told two men there were "no boundaries" as she organised the rape and sexual abuse of a young girl.
Vicki Bevan, 37, Paul Rafferty, 62 and Tony Hutton, 42, all from St Helens, pleaded guilty to a number of sexual offences in January 2022 after being involved in the calculated abuse of a girl under the age of 10 years old between 2019 to 2021. Bevan, who began conversations between the other two men about the abuse, rape and torture of the female minor, said there were 'no boundaries at all' after being asked by one of the men if there were any.
Harrowing images of the abuse and rape were found on Ms Bevan's mobile phone. They were also shared between the other two men and Ms Bevan also shared the pictures of the abuse on the social media platform Kik Messenger. The three shared images of Bevan abusing the child on her own but the men also took part in the abuse in person.
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The abuse was uncovered after police arrested a fourth man on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children, where pictures of the abuse carried out by Ms Bevan were discovered on his phone. Police also recovered a video that showed Ms Bevan sexually abusing the child, Liverpool Echo reports.
The 37-year-old was arrested last year on October 25, while Rafferty was arrested on November 3, 2021 and Hutton on November 4. The two men admitted they were the ones in the images of the abuse, but claimed Ms Bevan was the main instigator. Ms Bevan claimed that much of the conversations between her and the two men regarding what she would do to children was fantasy and that she would never act it out. She claimed to be sorry for what she had done to the young girl.
The counts that the three pleaded guilty to are:
Bevan
1 x Rape jointly with Rafferty
2 x Sexual assault one jointly with Hutton and one with Rafferty
4 x Sexual assault by penetration one jointly with Rafferty
1 x Attempt sexual assault by penetration
1x Inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
3 x Sexual activity with a child
17 x Making indecent images of children
2 x Possessing extreme pornographic images
3 x Distribution of indecent images of children.
Rafferty
1 x Rape jointly with Bevan
1 x Sexual assault by penetration jointly with Bevan
1 x Sexual assault of a child jointly with Bevan
6 x Making indecent images of children
Hutton
1 x Sexual assault of a child jointly with Bevan
3 x Making indecent images of children
Bevan was jailed for life at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday. She must serve a minimum of 10 years and 44 days before she can be considered for release. Rafferty was jailed for 10 years and further four on extended licence, while Hutton was jailed for four years, two to be served in prison and two years on licence.
Sentencing, Judge Andrew Menary said the scale of depravity in the case "beggars belief". He added it was likely the victim would suffer "severe psychological harm" as a result of what had been done to her.
The defendants were all given a restraining order to prevent them from having any contact with the victim. Additionally, a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed on all three. This prevents them having any unsupervised contact of any kind with a child. They also cannot use a computer or access the internet without informing the police.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Pauline Newrick, a specialist prosecutor with CPS Mersey-Cheshire Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) unit, said: “This is one of the worst cases I have been involved in, in my time at the Crown Prosecution Service. There are certain cases that it is difficult to get out of your waking thoughts.
“This is a woman who has gone out of her way to satisfy her own sexual needs and those of men she communicates with online by abusing a young girl. She has assisted men to rape and sexually abuse this child and has also sexually abused her for her own personal pleasure.
“If she had not been caught, no doubt she would have continued arranging for this young girl and potentially others to be abused by herself and men in the most horrendous way. She has not confined herself to the actual abuse - she has encouraged others to participate. What woman could do that to a child?”
Ms Newrick added: “An innocent child is at the heart of this case – a child who was dragged into the depraved and sordid world of these three people who could have tried to protect her. That child is now receiving the care and support she has a right to expect. We hope this successful conclusion of this case helps her in the long journey ahead.”
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