Mum tells paedophile who assaulted her eight-year-old in Wakefield: 'You've taken her childhood away'

Brett Robinson was found guilty after a trial in January at Leeds Crown Court of attacking the eight-year-old girl in Wakefield in 2022. He was convicted of two counts of sexual assault and one of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of the child, having masturbated in front of her.

Further details of his offending cannot be disclosed to protect the identity of the child. A victim impact statement written by the girl’s mother was read to the court this week by prosecutor Rupert Doswell.

She said her daughter that she no longer wanted to go out or sleep at her friends’ houses, and was “constantly anxious” about seeing Robinson, despite him now living on Dalton Green Lane, Huddersfield. The woman said: “He has violated her and I feel he has taken her childhood away.”

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Mitigating, Matthew Harding was limited in what he could say about Robinson as he continues to deny any wrongdoing. But he said that rehabilitative work could be carried out in the community rather than behind bars.

But Judge Nathan Adams jailed him for 30 months and said: “To this day you deny you are responsible. There’s no remorse.”

He also put him on the sex offender register for life and gave him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) banning him from unsupervised contact with youngsters.