Mother of four-year-old girl raped by boy, 14, blasts judge who freed him because he had been corrupted by internet porn for 'cheap sentence'

Mother knew something was wrong after seeing daughter's Hello Kitty apron scrunched up on the floor

Rapist had used the it to blindfold her as he carried out the chilling attack

'Our daughter was so small for her age, she was still wearing age two to three clothing. I was sick after what happened.'



Father tormented by guilt for allowing girl to be left with teenage assailant

Lack of custodial sentence will prevent victims from coming forward, says mother



Inconsolable: The mother of a four-year-old girl raped at home by a teenage babysitter says she regularly breaks down in tears (picture posed by model)

The mother of a four-year-old girl raped by a teenage babysitter has revealed the pain that has haunted her since the horrific ordeal.

The woman said there are days when she 'can't stop crying' after discovering her daughter had been assaulted by the 14-year-old son of a family friend.

And the father is tormented by feelings of guilt for allowing the toddler to be left in the clutches of the disturbed babysitter.

Speaking publicly for the first time since the attacker walked free from court, the couple blasted the decision not to impose a custodial sentence - and feared their daughter could bump into her rapist any day.

Instead, the judge imposed a three-year community order after blaming ‘the world and society’ for his exposure to porn.

'Our daughter was just four years old and so small for her age, she was still wearing age two to three clothing. He was a lot bigger than her,' the distressed mother told the Sun.

She said that when her daughter - who cannot be identified for legal reasons - told her what had happened she 'was sick' then fell to the floor crying.

The teenager used the toddler's favourite Hello Kitty apron to blindfold her while he carried out the attack - promising her chocolate if she played his 'game'.

The mother said the first chilling sign that something 'terrible' had happened was when she returned home and noticed the apron wasn't hanging in its usual place, but was scrunched up on the floor.

Still numb from what happened, she added: 'There have been days where I just can’t stop bursting into tears and I feel sick all the time. I can’t cope any more.'

Her daughter, who is now five, knows 'something horrible' happened but doesn't understand what.

The girl is likely to have counselling as she grows up to deal with the long-term effects of the ordeal, but both parents are 'worried' about what her future now holds.

The girl's father, a businessman in his 40s, told how they went to watch their older child in school play while leaving the younger daughter with the boy, who they trusted and had known a long time.

Attack: The teenager raped the girl in her home while he was babysitting her. He used the girl's Hello Kitty apron to blindfold her as he carried out the attack (file picture posed by model)

Corrupted: The teenager told officers that he had lost his mind because 'hormones had taken over'. Cambridge Crown Court heard how he watched internet pornography every day

When the parents returned home nothing seemed out of the ordinary and they paid the babysitter £10 and he left

It was only when the father was getting his daughter ready for bed that she told him what happened.

WEB PORN: A DAILY MAIL CAMPAIGN

The Daily Mail's Block Online Porn campaign has called for the introduction of ‘opt-in’ systems, under which internet service providers would automatically block pornography unless an adult asked for it to be available. There is growing alarm about the impact of sexual content on the internet on Britain’s children. Just three per cent of pornographic websites require proof of age before granting access to sexually explicit material, and research suggests as many as one in three under-tens has seen pornography online. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport angered campaigners earlier this year by suggesting it was ruling out the idea of an automatic block on porn, on civil liberties grounds. But following the Mail’s campaign, ministers have now included questions about the opt-in system in a public consultation document, launched last week on the department’s website.

He stormed over to the boy's home, just a few hundred yards down the road, and told his mother what the girl had said.

Together they confronted the teenager who denied the girl's claims - saying that she had walked in on him in the bathroom and had seen him exposed.

But when the concerned father returned home and spoke to his daughter once more it became apparent that the boy was lying and the police were called.

The teenager admitted the offence to officers the following day - telling them that he had lost his mind because 'hormones' had taken over.

'I should want to rip this boy's head off - but I think I let my daughter down,' the guilt-ridden father said. 'I blame myself because I left her in a room with him and made the wrong judgment.'

He said that even when his little girl tells him he's the best dad in the world, he doesn't believe it anymore.

The teenager - who still lives a few hundred yards from the victim - wore his school uniform in the dock at Cambridge Crown Court on Monday as Judge Gareth Hawkesworth told him he would have received a six-and-a-half year jail term if he had been an adult.

Judge Hawkesworth said: ‘You have not shown any particular sexual interest in children. I’m satisfied it was impulsive and I believe you have become sexualised by your exposure to and the corruption of pornography.

‘Your exposure at such a young age has ended in tragedy. It was the fault of the world and society.’

The boy told police who were interviewing that he had regularly accessed porn on the internet at his parents’ home without their knowledge. In court he admitted raping a girl under 13.

The mother of the victim says the judge justified the lenient sentence by making a 'cheap point' to use pornography as an excuse for what happened.

She said the family of the teenager had been expecting him to receive a custodial sentence of three years and were shocked that he had walked free from court.

The sentence 'just isn't enough' as it sends the 'wrong message' about rape and could prevent other victims from coming forward, she added.



The Daily Mail is calling for an automatic block under which adult content would be filtered out by default. Users would have to opt in to see it.



'Corrupting influence': Judge Gareth Hawkesworth accepted said the boy had become sexualised by his exposure to and the corruption of pornography (picture right posed by model)

The teenager wore his school uniform in the dock at Cambridge Crown Court, pictured, on Monday as he was told he would have received a six-and-a-half year jail term if he had been an adult

The campaign has attracted the support of Deputy Children’s Commissioner Sue Berelowitz and Sara Payne, whose schoolgirl daughter Sarah was murdered by paedophile Roy Whiting.



Tory MP Claire Perry, leader of an all-party group of MPs campaigning against open access to porn, said the rape case proved the ‘serious negative impacts’ such images can have on children’s lives.



'I believe an “opt-in” model, along with better education and awareness, would provide the best tools for parents to protect their children online,’ she said.



Jon Brown of the NSPCC said: ‘This case underlines why we want a system where adults have to actively opt in to get access to internet pornography.’

















