Gosport paedophile may die in prison after being jailed for sex abuse

George Diaper preyed on the girl, who was around five or six years old at the time of the abuse, for six months.

He would force her to perform sex acts and he would then carry out lewd acts on the child. Now a judge has jailed Diaper, 84, for six years and eight months, and put him on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard that years after the abuse – when the victim bravely plucked up the courage to tell police what happened – Diaper wrote a confession.

Diaper wrote the letter admitting to his crime but also asking for forgiveness, the court was told.

But judge Sarah Munro QC revealed the same letter tried to diminish what he did, and she told him: ‘You have written a letter in which you apologise but you mitigate your offending, which you called “playing around”.’

The judge added: ‘You demonstrated a complete lack of insight into the seriousness of your offending when interviewed by the probation officer.

‘The probation officer describes you as having distorted thinking and continuing to say that she was a willing participant in the sexual activity when in reality she was a very vulnerable child who had no idea what was happening to her.’

In a victim personal statement read by prosecutor Daniel Sawyer the victim, who cannot be named, said she went through ‘years of pain’ and was ‘mashed up’.

‘There’s not a day that goes by when I don’t think about the abuse that happened to me as a child,’ she said.

She added she experienced ‘daily reminders and triggers’ that turn her back into the ‘blameless innocent’ young girl being abused.

Mr Sawyer added she said a ‘living hell didn’t come anywhere close’ to how it made her feel.

Robert Harding, for Diaper, said: ‘Whatever custodial sentence is imposed, your honour may feel that he will not see the outside of the prison again.’

Diaper, who will serve half his sentence before a parole board considers releasing him, admitted four charges of indecency with a child and four of indecent assault.

As he was led down from the dock, the former Merchant Navy sailor said: ‘I didn’t understand all of that.’

Judge Munro ordered he pay £16,500 compensation to the victim, adding the victim had not asked for it and the money was not – and could never – make up for his actions against her as a child.