A York churchgoer has been jailed for over two years for sexually assaulting a very young child.
Thomas Sykes, 35, touched the girl on an intimate part of her body and told her to “keep quiet and keep it a secret”, York Crown Court heard.
The incident – which had had a profound and “long-lasting” effect on the victim – occurred in 2017 at a time when Sykes was downloading hundreds of indecent images of children on the internet.
The victim, who can’t be named for legal reasons, kept the incident a secret for several years until she was old enough to realise that what Sykes had done was a criminal offence and the matter was finally reported to police.
Sykes, of Beech Grove, was charged with sexually assaulting a child under 13 years of age but denied the allegation.
He was found guilty as charged following a trial at York Crown Court in April. He appeared for sentence yesterday (Wednesday).
In a statement read out in court the victim said: “He is not sorry for what he did to me. He is unable to admit what he did to me. I feel this makes him dangerous.”
Prosecutor Ayman Khokar said that Sykes had two previous convictions for 11 offences from 2020 and 2022, namely making indecent images of children and breaching the resultant sexual-harm prevention order, under which he was supposed to notify and present police with any new internet-enabled devices in his possession.
Sykes, who was then living in Clifton, had downloaded 1,100 sexual photos and videos of children over a period spanning two years. Some of the children depicted in the images were as young four years of age.
In July 2020, he was given a three-year community order, a five-year sexual-harm prevention order and a sex-offender treatment programme for those offences which cost him his marriage.
Two years later, he was back in court for breaches of the sexual-harm prevention order and given another community order.
Supportive partner
Defence barrister Lily Wildman said that Sykes was a working man who had since complied with those orders which included a rehabilitation programme specific to online sex offending.
She said that Sykes still had the support of his family and his new partner.
Judge Simon Hickey said that the effect on the young victim of the sexual assault had been “significant and long-lasting”.
He told Sykes: “If a perpetrator like yourself says to a child, ‘keep quiet, it’s our little secret’, that’s exactly what the child does.
“(The victim) felt embarrassed and ashamed because of what happened. She has kept it secret for a number of years. She has lost trust in adult men.”
He said that by dint of his not guilty plea to the sexual offence, Sykes had not shown remorse.
The judge told Sykes: “You are in employment and work well. That’s clear from all the references from the church and all those people who speak well of you.”
He added, however, that the seriousness of the offence against a very young girl outweighed all other considerations and Sykes must go to prison.
Sykes was jailed for two years and three months and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for a further 10 years.
He was made subject to a new, 10-year sexual-harm prevention order which includes curbs on his online activities and bars him from working with children or vulnerable adults.
