April 2011

Jailed for abusing girl

A MAN has been jailed for sexually abusing a girl and possessing indecent images of children.

Stephen Cornfoot, aged 53, of Castle Hill Road, Hindley, was jailed for three years six months when he appeared at Liverpool Crown Court.

He was found guilty of seven counts of sexual assault and sexual activity with a girl under 13 following a trial in March.

Cornfoot had abused the girl from 2006 to 2008 when she was aged between 10 and 13 and was sentenced to three years.

He was also sentenced to six months imprisonment to run consecutively for possessing indecent images of children – for which he was tried separately and also found guilty.

Cornfoot was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO).

In November 2008, police acted on information they had received about a man possessing indecent images and raided Cornfoot’s home.

Officers found that Cornfoot had been using paedophilic websites and downloading images.

In October 2010, he was found guilty of 17 counts of making and possessing indecent images of children and jailed for six months in December 2010.

While he was awaiting sentence for that conviction, a couple who knew Cornfoot were discussing his conviction with their daughter and she told them that Cornfoot had abused her when she was younger.

In November 2010, before he was sentenced for the original offences, police arrested him on suspicion of the sexually assaulting the girl and two mobile phones were seized and found to contain indecent images of children.

Detective Constable Amanda Goulding, based at the Public Protection Investigation Unit (PPIU) at Leigh Police Station, said: “Rather than admit his wrongdoing, he put his victim and her family through the worrying and daunting prospect of a trial.

“However, Cornfoot has been given what he deserves not only as justice for the abuse of this girl but for the other children who were abused to make the photographs he downloaded.

“This case proves the importance of dealing with people who look at indecent images of children on the internet – not only have children been abused in the process of making such images – but the people looking at them might also be involved in abuse that has not yet been discovered.”