Paedophile jailed for 10 years for rape and assault of young girls
A convicted paedophile in England who raped and sexually assaulted six young girls will spend almost 10 years behind bars before he has any chance of release.
Leslie Constable, of Shackleton Road in Ipswich, admitted 10 charges of rape, attempted rape and indecent assault of girls under the age of 16 when he appeared at Ipswich Crown Court in July.
The 47-year-old also pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children, after more than 5,000 child abuse images were found in his possession, Suffolk Police said.
The offences relating to the six girls were carried out over a 30-year period, from the late 1970s to 2009.
Constable was arrested and bailed in October 2015 following a report that he had indecent images of young girls on his phone.
In the subsequent investigation, six victims came forward to police and Constable was charged in May this year.
At Ipswich Crown Court on Thursday, Constable was given six life terms and an indeterminate sentence, and was told he will have to serve a minimum of nine years and 300 days before being considered for parole.
Sentencing Constable, judge Rupert Overbury said he was satisfied there was a "significant risk" that he would offend again and cause serious physical or psychological harm to any potential victims.
He said: "In my judgement, you are obsessed with having sex with young girls, as demonstrated by your cache of child pornography. I would describe you as a committed and dangerous paedophile... what you did was a gross breach of trust, at the highest levels of depravity, and the words shocking and horrifying are quite inadequate."
Detective Chief Inspector Eamonn Bridger, of Suffolk Police's team for protecting vulnerable people, said: "The victims should be praised for their courage in finding their voices to talk about what had happened when they were younger, resulting in the full extent of the abuse coming to light.
"The extent of the abuse in this case was truly shocking, and he used threats and intimidation to deter individuals from reporting what he was doing to the authorities.
"The sentence given today reflects the serious nature of the crimes, and again shows that those who have been subject to such abuse can get justice many years after the original offences were committed."
