Eastwood pervert who groomed an underage girl before biting and strangling her was ‘too tired’ to attend court

Lee Saxton was 40-years-old when he first met his victim and began sexually abusing her four months later until she reported him for assault, Jeremy Janes, prosecuting, told Nottingham Crown Court.

She told police he strangled her and tried to push her face into the steering wheel of a car but was “reluctant to disclose the full truth” and claimed he was “just a friend” that she’d met on Facebook.

Saxton was arrested and bailed with conditions to keep away from her, but immediately resumed the sexual relationship.

“He was well aware of her age from the first time they met because she told him and invited her around to his house where he had sex with her, having pestered her to do it until she eventually relented,” said Mr Janes.

Saxton “repeatedly” videoed her without her knowledge, used the videos as “collateral” to “hook her” into the relationship, and sent her a picture of him holding a knife to his neck.

His victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, “disengaged” from the police until she called them from his caravan in Lincolnshire, purporting to be someone else, in the early hours.

The court heard Saxton became angry with her and began biting her on her forehead, nose, arms and finger.

He had strangled her so she couldn’t breathe properly whilst telling her: “Die, no-one gives a f*** about you.”

She ended up calling 999 because she was so scared but Saxton snatched her phone away, ending the call.

When police reached the caravan it was empty but they found her in a nearby pub with a bruise on her right cheek.

She denied having been with him and led them to a random caravan which she admitted she hadn’t been staying in.

They asked to speak to her parents and she called “her friend’s dad” and an officer spoke to a man supposedly called ‘Steve’ who said he would tell her off for wasting the police’s time.

When ‘Steve’ was asked to meet police at his caravan he provided a fictitious address. Officers concluded ‘Steve’ was the defendant and she wasn’t safe, before taking her back to the station and contacting social services.

She later told officers they were having sex regularly and, when she threatened to report him for assaulting her, Saxton said he would share the videos he’d taken on Facebook.

He became even more angry with her after his arrest and was regularly aggressive in a relationship “marked by a huge imbalance of power,” said Mr Janes.

Simon Eckersley, mitigating, said Saxton was entitled to some credit for pleading guilty on the day of his trial and has no previous convictions for sexual or violent offending.

He has traits likely associated with autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as depressive symptoms following the loss of his job in the motor trade, he said.

Saxton, of South Street, Eastwood, admitted eight counts of sexual activity with a child, strangulation, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, sexual communication with a child, and causing the sexual exploitation of a child, on October 6.

He was due to be sentenced on Wednesday but complained of chest pains and was taken to hospital. On Thursday he refused to attend via video-link from prison claiming he was too “tired.”

Recorder William Davis said the “grooming element” was less pronounced but Saxton still exerted “emotional pressure” on his victim.

“You knew from the outset any sexual activity with her was wrong and should not have happened,” he said.

Saxton was locked up for nine years and ten months. A sexual harm prevention order was imposed and he was placed on the sex offenders register for life.