Lee Curley was arrested for rape. Pic: Metropolitan Police
A man was jailed for 16 years yesterday (September 30) after filming himself repeatedly raping a girl under the age of 13.
Lee Stuart Curley, 36, from Tower Hamlets, carried out the sexual assault on the young girl over a period of 10 months between May 2015 and March 2016.
Curley was sentenced to 16 years’ imprisonment at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
The 36-year-old had over 120 images and videos which he took during his attacks on his victim. He also owned 1,006 images and videos of other children being abused.
The court found evidence of his attacks on his iPad earlier this year and was arrested on March 5.
Curely, who was described at a predatory sex offender, pleaded not guilty at court and denied his sexual attacks and claimed he had no knowledge of where the images had come. He was charged on March 8.
At a following hearing on May 17, Curley changed his plea when Snaresbrook Crown Court presented the evidence against him.
Curley pleaded guilty to four offences of the rape of a girl under 13, possession of extremely graphic images demonstrating rape along with owning and making vulgar pictures of a child.
He was later charged with six more offences and had pleaded guilty to three more offences after a second victim was found who was subject to Curley’s attacks between 2012 and 2014.
It was found that the 36-year-old had provoked a girl aged 13 to 15 into sexual activities along with being charged offence for forcing a child under 13 to look at an offensive image of sexual activity.
Detective Constable Carla Goymer-Ellice of Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “My thoughts throughout this inquiry have been with those who suffered at the hands of this man.
“In 14 years of investigating serious and sexual, this was one of the worst cases I have dealt with.
“It was terrible series of assaults that upset even experienced investigators, but we were all fully committed to bringing the man responsible to justice.”
Curley is now also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.
According to Metropolitan Police Crime Rates statistics, rape offences have increased over the year in Tower Hamlets. With a total of 5313, over 12 months to July 2015, the number increased by 9.7 per cent to a total of 5,827 in July 2016.
The number of other sexual offences has also increased, with 10,237 in over a 12-month period until July 2015, up to 11,046 in July 2016 in Tower Hamlets alone.
There has been a case of a staggering 59 rape and other sexual offences in August 2016 in Tower Hamlets.
It was also reported that 11 per cent of women had experience sexual abuse as a child along with 3 per cent of women experiencing sexual abuse, including rape.
John Flately, Crime Statistics and Analysis, Office for National Statistics said: “Police forces in England and Wales have been dealing with a growing number of reports of child abuse in recent years. Many of these have been historical cases reported by adults many years after the event.”
