November 2013
Jailed rapist claimed the 10-year-old girls he abused ‘wrecked his life’
An unrepentant rapist has been jailed for six years after complaining to a judge that the two ten-year-old girls he attacked have wrecked his life.
Ryan Higgins took mobile phone pictures of one of the girls and used them to blackmail them into taking part in sex acts with him.
He forced the girls to go to court to give evidence against him and claimed they had invented their stories and ‘wrecked his life’.
Higgins was jailed at Exeter Crown Court after a Judge declared that one of the two young girls was among the most compelling and convincing witnesses he has ever seen.
The 20-year-old carried out the attacks when he was aged 15 to 17 and the victims were aged ten to 12. He bullied them into sex by blackmailing them over the pictures and ensured their silence by threatening to tell their parents what they had done with him.
Higgins, of Church Street, Paignton, denied two counts of rape against one girl and one of attempted rape against the other. He was jailed for six years in a Young Offenders’ Institution.
Judge Francis Gilbert, QC, told him:”Your victims have both suffered significantly and are continuing to do so. It is not the least bit surprising and is all because of you.
“This was most certainly not some youthful experimentation. You compelled them to comply with your demands by intimidation and threats to expose what happened to their parents.
“You pleaded not guilty and accused both the girls of lying and creating false allegations against you. You accuse them of wrecking your life.
“I can only say that having heard their evidence, I found one to be one of the most compelling witnesses of truth I have ever seen in a long career in the courts.”
During a trial in September the jury heard how Higgins took advantage of the girls when he was staying in the same house where they were having a sleepover.
He persuaded one to pose for an indecent picture and refused to delete it from his phone unless they agreed to his sexual demands.
After that he exploited their embarrassment and fear of exposure to force them to perform further sexual acts with him when they met on later occasions.
Higgins denied any sexual activity had taken place.
Mr Jonathan Barnes, defending, said Higgins was very young and immature at the time but is now has a job and is engaged to be married.
He said:”Young men with all the angst of puberty will behave in a way they would not if they are older.”
