Last updated at 11:43, Friday, 16 July 2010

A 15-year-old Cumbrian boy has been put on the Sex Offenders’ Register after he pleaded guilty to molesting a young girl.

Carlisle Crown Court heard how the boy had abused the primary school-aged girl after a relative plied him with alcohol.

At an earlier hearing, the teenager, who is now 15 and from the Workington area, admitted two sexual assaults on the girl and a third count of inciting her to engage in sexual activity.

He committed all the offences on a single night in the summer of last year.

Alison Whalley, prosecuting, said the girl had woken in the night to find that the defendant was sexually assaulting her.

When interviewed by police, the girl said: “It was horrible.”

During his initial interview with police, the boy denied doing anything wrong but later made partial admissions, said Miss Whalley.

The girl’s mother later made a statement, describing the impact of the attack on her daughter, who is now attending counselling.

Tim Evans, for the boy, who like his victim can not be identified for legal reasons, said some months after the incident the boy went to a police station with his mother.

The barrister spoke of “contributory factors,” including the boy’s sexual curiosity and him being uninhibited because of the alcohol.

“The defendant has expressed genuine remorse for what he has done,” said Mr Evans, who said the teenager was very immature.

The boy knew that he had done something terribly wrong, said Mr Evans.

Judge Barbara Forrester told the defendant: “It must have been made clear to you over the last few months how serious this is and how dreadful your behaviour was. Having listened to everything and read all the papers about you, I have to come to a decision and I first of all must decide which of two ways to look at your behaviour.”

She had to decide whether what happened was a prelude to further serious deviant behaviour or whether it had been a “misjudged experiment and exploration.”

She said she had concluded his offences were the latter.

The judge imposed a two-year supervision order.

The boy would be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for two and a half years, said the judge. She also imposed a 12-week 7pm to 7am curfew but she did not impose an order banning the teenager from working with children.

First published at 11:22, Friday, 16 July 2010
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk