Little girl suffering from man night terrors after pedophile’s sick acts at end of bed

Stephen Jennings “refused” to stop attacking his young victim when she told him to stop and now has “night terrors from worrying there’s a man at the end of the bed”.

A twisted pedophile left his victim suffering from the ‘night terrors’ of a man standing at the end of her bed after sexually assaulting her multiple times.

Stephen Jennings was sentenced to four years in prison on Friday after pleading guilty to three counts of possession of indecent pictures and being convicted in court of the two assaults.

Philip Clemo, prosecutor, said the 39-year-old, from Runcorn, Cheshire, initially groped his victim over her clothing, he reported the Liverpool echo.

When she asked him to stop, “he refused” and attacked her again, Chester Crown Court heard.

The abuse came to light when the child’s mother overheard her using “inappropriate language” and then said what had happened.

It was reported to the victim’s school. In a voluntary interview with Cheshire Police, Jennings denied what happened and any “sexual interest in children”.

That lie was left in tatters when a search of his two phones revealed 10 category A abuse photos – the most serious type and including one of a girl around 10 years old being raped “in distress”, 10 category B and 178 category C.

The court heard that an adult witness testified in court that when he had sex with Jennings he called her “my good little 12-year-old girl” and she told him “don’t say that.”

A statement from his young victim’s mother said the little girl suffered from mental symptoms of the abuse, including “night terrors from worrying that there was a man at the end of the bed.”

Mr Clemo said features of the case that showed higher levels of harm included the girl’s “extreme youth” and her vulnerability.

Jennings had no criminal record and was last living with his parents in The Glen, Runcorn.

Gareth Bellis, defending himself, pleaded for a mitigation of the indecent image’s guilty pleas and urged the judge to consider the principle of “totality” when considering the overall verdict, with some aggravating features being “subsumed” by others to avoid double counting avoid.

He added a parole report rated Jennings as having a low risk of recidivism and was not eligible for “dangerousness” provisions such as an extended sentence.

Mr Bellis said Jennings was “a man of good character who had worked for 20 years”.

Recorder Mark Ford sentenced Jennings to four years in prison and placed him on a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and on the Sex Offenders Registry for life or until further notice.

Recorder Ford sent Jennings down, saying: “It was clear to me from her statements that she did not want you to touch her in that way and that her complaints did not prevent you from moving on.

“Despite the clarity with which (your victim) expressed herself, despite her young age, you have contested your right to deny the conduct, but the explanations you presented were fairly unraveled during cross-examination, and the jury concurred.” you duly.”