July 2013
Paedophile tried to hide his rape victim in Hanley flat
PAEDOPHILE Emlyn Francis has been locked up for 10 years after raping a child.
The 56-year-old former soldier – who was already a registered sex offender – subjected the girl to a campaign of sexual abuse.
Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard the victim, who was aged under 13, was assaulted over a three-year period.
Francis’s crimes were discovered when police found the girl at his home during a routine check.
Prosecutor Neil Ahuja said: “Police visited his flat as part of monitoring him as per his sex offenders registration.
“There was a reluctance by the defendant to open the door, he was nervous on arrival and tried to hide the girl’s presence.”
Following the police intervention the victim told a family member what Francis had done to her.
Officers seized his mobile phone and found photographs of the abuse.
Francis, of Linfield Road, Hanley, pleaded guilty to two counts of raping a child, and seven counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
Mr Ahuja said: “The counts are based on a combination of the victim’s disclosures to a family member, those made during her interviews and the photographs found on his mobile phone and what they revealed.”
The court heard Francis was dishonourably discharged from the Army in 1990 after he sexually assaulted an 11-year-old girl.
In 2001, he was convicted of three counts of indecently assaulting a female under 16, and gross indecency with a child.
Anis Ali, representing Francis, said his client had been ‘hard-working’ for most of his life.
“Of late, he has lived a lonely, perhaps sad, and isolated existence without active support,” said Mr Ali.
“He lost the support of his wife when he was last convicted, and he has no meaningful relationship with his children, who are now adults.
“He accepts full responsibility for his conduct.
“He is able to demonstrate a level of understanding of the long-lasting consequences and the trauma that he has caused the complainant.”
Judge David Fletcher sentenced Francis to 10 years in prison for the two rape charges and eight years – to run concurrently – for the seven further counts, making a total of 10 years.
He said: “You utilised your position, as an adult in a position of power, and you also used coercion.
“You required her to do things and if she did them she got a reward – that’s grooming.
“When the victim was interviewed she found the whole experience hugely difficult.
“I suspect that going through life she will find the recollection of this whole set of circumstances equally difficult to deal with.
“Goodness knows how this is going to affect her in years to come.”
