Jailed for five years: Jehova's Witness Ian Pheasey

A Jehovah's Witness who enjoyed choking young girls for sexual gratification has finally been jailed after the attacks were 'swept under the rug' by his church congregation for more than two decades.

Ian Pheasey, 54, targeted a seven-year-old girl when she went to pick up a book from the library at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, in Warwick, where he attended in the 1990s.

Warwick Crown Court heard he also strangled a 14-year-old girl and moved his hand up the skirt of a six-year-old girl while working at her parents' house.

Pheasey was eventually caught when one of his victims spoke out after he was given a job at a hospice.

Pheasey, from Warwick, was jailed for five years last Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to assaulting one girl causing her actual bodily harm and indecently assaulting two others.

Sentencing, Judge Richard Griffith-Jones said: 'You obtain sexual gratification from the idea of strangling children.

'That is a hideous and discomfiting fantasy, and one which has given me some concern when I come to sentence you.

'One of the most serious features is that strangulation creates a risk of causing very serious injury and death.

'So it's not simply a matter of it being frightening and disgusting that small children have been made to suffer in this way, it's the risk they would suffer something even more catastrophic.'

Prosecutor Nicholas Taplow told the court how Pheasey first struck when the seven-year-old girl went to pick up a book from the library where he worked.

His second victim was a 14-year-old girl who he grabbed around the neck before throwing her to the floor. There, he straddled her and squeezed her neck.

The court heard she fell into unconsciousness, came round but then passed out again before coming round for a second time and crying out: 'Jehovah help me!'

He calmly told her that he would kill her if she told anyone, adding that if she grew up and had daughters he would rape them.

She ran home screaming and crying and told her mother what happened but was told to clean herself up before she was taken to hospital for the bruising to her neck.

Mr Taplow added: 'Sadly her parents chose to conceal the sexual nature of the incident and told her not to say anything about it.

'They continued to understate the seriousness of the assault, and the matter was swept under the carpet by the church.'

Warwick Crown Court, pictured, heard he also strangled a 14-year-old girl and moved his hand up the skirt of a six-year-old girl while working at her parents house

Pheasey targeted his third victim, the six-year-old girl, while he was carrying out some work at her parents' home.

The court heard the pair were sitting in his van when he began to tickle her before moving his hand up under her skirt. He stopped when she kicked out and screamed.

Following his arrest, Pheasey said he could not remember the incident in the library but admitted he had put his hands round the girl's neck on more than one occasion.

He confessed to fantasising about strangling the 14-year-old and said he had lured her over with the intention of strangling her and becoming sexually aroused.

Mr Taplow said: 'He was a man who had a particular sexual fascination with the act of strangulation.

'He derived sexual gratification from strangling children, and many children were strangled in this way by him during what he described as "horseplay".'

Nick Devine, defending, said: 'The inevitable lengthy sentence of imprisonment will have devastating consequences for him, going to prison at his age for an offence of this nature.

'It may be that, while the congregation of the Jehovah's Witnesses can be criticised for how they dealt with it, it has at least acted on him in part to prevent a return to acting out the fantasies he had.'