Paedophile, who abused girl over prolonged period, jailed as police praise bravery of young victim

A man who sexually abused a young girl over a period of several years has been jailed for more than a decade.
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Simon Crick, 41, of Tamar Close in St Ives, admitted the abuse two days into his trial, after hearing police interviews with his victim.

The allegations came to police attention on 11 July 2016 after the victim confided in a girl the same age as her.

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Crick was arrested on three days later and a search of his home was carried out which uncovered a digital camera containing indecent images of the victim.

JAILED: Simon CrickJAILED: Simon Crick
JAILED: Simon Crick

On 25 August last year (2017), Crick was charged with six counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, attempted rape of a girl under 13 and making indecent images of a child. He was also later charged with assaulting a girl under 13 by penetration.

Crick denied the charges and went to trial at Cambridge Crown Court on Monday (9 April), however on the third day of the trial he changed some of his pleas. He continued to deny three charges of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, which will lie on file, but did admit the other six charges.

On Wednesday (11 April) he was sentenced to 11 years for attempted rape of a girl under 13, 11 years for sexual assault of a girl under 13 by penetration and seven years each for three charges of sexual assault on a girl under 13 by touching, all to run concurrently.

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A charge of making indecent images of a child was taken as an aggravating feature and received no separate sentence.

JAILED: Simon CrickJAILED: Simon Crick
JAILED: Simon Crick

He has also been made subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Detective Constable Jane Stokes, from the Child Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit (CAISU), said: “All the way through this investigation over the last 21 months Crick denied the allegations, it wasn’t until he heard the victim’s interviews when they were played in court that he saw how upsetting this was for all those involved.

“I would like to highlight the bravery shown by the victim throughout this whole investigation, she has been incredibly courageous in speaking out about what has been happening to her over a prolonged period period of time, and I truly do hope she can now begin to put this behind her and learn to move on with her life.”

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For information and advice around child protection, please visit the force website www.cambs.police.uk/childprotection. If you are worried about a child, you should call us on 101, or if you think a child is at immediate risk of abuse please call us on 999.