A 59-YEAR-old Bromyard man with the learning age of a child has been jailed for two-and-a-half years for sexually assaulting a young girl.
Philip Green denied the offences against the girl when she was aged between seven and nine but was found guilty after a trial.
Stephen Dyer, defending, told Worcester Crown Court Green was “almost a child” at primary level in terms of reading and writing and his range of understanding was extremely limited.
He had worked as a chicken catcher at a poultry farm until he had a heart attack 15 years ago and had not worked since.
Mr Dyer said Green, of Awbrey Way, Bromyard, did not go out to prey on girls but he let people he knew stay regularly at his home when they were in difficulties or homeless.
His young victim had been connected with one of the friends who went to live with him.
Judge Robert Juckes said Green had now been tried twice for offences against young girls.
He was sentenced to five years in jail in November 2008 for offences against two girls under 16 which were committed before 2001. They made complaints in 2007 and he was arrested over these when he had already started committing the other offences against the younger girl.
He jailed Green for 30 months on each of two sexual assault charges to run concurrently, making a total of two-and-a-half years minus 144 days he has already spent in custody.
Green has also been banned from working with children and will have to sign the sex offenders register for life.
