Sheffield Crown Court: Jail for pervert who had sexual activity with a girl and left her suicidal

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 11 how Brian Stott, aged 41, groomed the teenager and began molesting her before engaging in penetrative sexual activity when she was aged 16 and 17 leading to her becoming suicidal.

Prosecuting barrister Gordon Stables said Stott persuaded the confused youngster to agree to his demands and he manipulated her and if she did not comply he became mad with her.

The complainant stated: “The biggest thing that has impacted me since what Brian did is the impact it’s had on my mental health and this resulted in my trying to take my own life on a number of occasions.

“My mental health is literally awful and I struggle on a day to day basis and I still have the thoughts of ending my life.”

Mr Stables added Stott started to have sexual intercourse with the complainant – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – and he gave her cannabis and alcohol and she stopped seeing her boyfriend and talking to boys.

Stott’s sexual activity with the youngster continued for about a year-and-a-half and she later described the sexual activity as ‘horrible’ and she tried to commit suicide several times.

The complainant stated: “I still have scars on my arms. They are a constant reminder of what led me to do them. I cannot get away from it. I also have to deal with my depression and anxiety and I suffer from panic attacks. One of the other main things I struggle with is not being able to sleep. This is because I still get flashbacks after what happened and bad dreams.”

She added: “I cannot think of one part of my life that has not been impacted by what Brian did to me.”

The complainant said: “I know what happened is going to affect me for the rest of my life and my relationships with my friends have been so up and down as I wanted to be by myself.”

Stott, of West Avenue, Woodlands, Doncaster, and who is of previous good character, pleaded guilty to having penetrative activity on no fewer than 20 occasions with the complainant after he was arrested in July, 2019.

Zaiban Alam, defending, said his guilty plea has spared the complainant from the ordeal of giving evidence in a trial and this is the most sincere and genuine expression of remorse he can give.

Ms Alam added Stott’s wife is supporting him and she ‘stands by him’ and prior to this offending he lived a good and responsible life but he will now have to live with the consequences. She also stressed the offending was not non-consensual and had not involved rape.

The judge – Recorder David Gordon – told Stott: “There was grooming and a significant disparity of age. These offences were committed when she was aged 16 or 17 years of age and there was use of drugs to facilitate the effects.”

Recorder Gordon sentenced Stott to five years and six months of custody and the defendant has been made subject to the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same period to monitor and restrict his behaviour.