February 2011
Selby man jailed for sex crimes
A Selby man has been jailed for having sex with a 13-year-old girl at his family home.
Tina Dempster, prosecuting, said the girl spent a weekend in the Selby area and during that time was alone with John Thomas Stephen Marshall at his home in Abbots Road.
After she returned to her home, her parents became worried about her behaviour.
She kept following her mother around and did not want to get undressed to have a shower. She then claimed Marshall, 22, had raped her.
Marshall initially denied any sexual contact with the girl, but after forensic scientists produced DNA evidence contradicting his story, he said the girl had stripped to her underwear and danced before him when they were alone at his home.
They had then had sex, to which she had consented. He denied using any force or violence towards her.
The prosecution dropped allegations of rape against Marshall after he pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual activity with a child. Marshall, who also admitted a separate charge of handling stolen copper, was jailed for two years and one month.
He was put on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and barred from having any contact with the girl indefinitely under a sexual offences prevention order.
Judge Christopher Batty said his initial impression of Marshall after reading a probation report on him was that he was a man who lacked respect for anyone, particularly the police or people in a position of authority, but there could be a different side to him.
Dr Dempster said police caught Marshall with his brother and another man as they were wheeling a barrow with copper worth £600 to £700.
It had been stolen from a paper mill which was being demolished.
Taryn Turner said Marshall was “naïve and vulnerable” and he went along with what other people in his company did.
