October 2014
‘Depraved & evil’ paedophile jailed for 18 yrs for 5 counts of rape on girl aged under 13 yrs old
A ‘DEPRAVED and evil’ former Helston man has been jailed for 18 years after being found guilty of raping a young girl and depriving her of her innocence.
The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was left traumatised by 48-year-old Karl Reader’s offences against her, Truro Crown Court heard yesterday.
Reader, who used to live on Bulwark Road, raped the girl, who was aged under 13 on a number of occasions from 2003 onwards.
Giving evidence, the girl described that she had been frightened to tell anyone about what had happened and that she had been a “small, innocent little girl”.
Reader, who also had sexual activity with a schoolboy, denied that he had done anything with either child.
On Wednesday, the jury found him guilty of five counts of rape in relation to the girl.
He was also convicted of one charge of sexual activity with a child, one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child in relation to the boy, all in 2005 and 2006.
The court previously heard Reader, of Queens Avenue, Highworth, Swindon, told the boy that he was bisexual and sent him vulgar texts, which progressed to him saying he wanted a threesome with the boy and another boy.
William Sellick, prosecuting, said at one point Reader offered the boy money to have sex with him and on another occasion put his hands inside the boy’s boxer shorts and touched him inappropriately.
Christopher Smyth, defending, said Reader was in poor health and had suffered two minor stokes in recent years.
He added that he had been working voluntarily on a charity market stall for the past three years which had raised £24,000 for a hospice in that time.
Sentencing Reader, Judge Christopher Harvey Clark, QC, said he hoped the young girl would be able to move on with her life but that what he had done to her at a tender age would be a “distressing scar” that she would carry for the rest of her life.
He said: “Karl Reader, you have been a practising paedophile.
“The convictions brought in relatively swiftly by the jury reflect the depths of your evil depravity.”
Judge Harvey Clark said that Reader had groomed the teenage boy by buying him presents and giving him money for small jobs.
“He remains lacking in self confidence and unable to sustain a long term relationship with another person,” he said.
Of the girl he added: “You deprived her of her innocence; it was a despicable thing to do.”
Reader was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order
