Shirebrook man jailed for over seven years for the rape of a young girl

A Shirebrook man has been jailed for more than seven years for the rape of a young girl more than a decade ago.
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Alan Lamb, now aged 33, targeted the child, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, in the years leading up to 2009, when he was still a teenager.

Derby Crown Court heard Lamb had full intercourse with the child on one occasion, but continued to sexually abuse her until her family went to police.

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Following a trial, where Lamb claimed the complaints were false, he was convicted of rape of a child under 13 and two counts of sexual assault.

Alan Lamb, now 33, targeted the child in the years leading up to 2009Alan Lamb, now 33, targeted the child in the years leading up to 2009
Alan Lamb, now 33, targeted the child in the years leading up to 2009

Jailing Lamb for seven-and-half years, Mr Recorder Adrian Reynolds told him his victim’s adolescent years had been ‘grossly disfigured’ by the abuse.

He told Lamb : “She was very young when this started, certainly too young to appreciate what you were doing was wrong.”

The court heard Lamb’s abuse of the young girl came to an end in 2009 following a complaint to the police by a member of her family, but nothing came of the complaint at the time.

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Mr Recorder Reynolds said: “However, if it was the end of the abuse, it was only the beginning of the trauma she has suffered as a result of it.

“Her teenage years were characterised by self-harm and suicide attempts. Her adolescent years, which should have been among the happiest of her life, were grossly disfigured by your treatment.

“It is clear and enormously sad to contemplate your abuse has adversely affected her ability to engage in normal sexual relationships.

The court heard in 2017 that Lamb’s victim confronted him with a ‘detailed’ social media message about his crimes.

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‘Ridiculous’

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Mr Recorder Reynolds told Lamb: “The idea this was the behaviour of someone making a false complaint, as you suggested at trial, is ridiculous.

“Despite your inability to acknowledge what you did, I hope now that somewhere within yourself, now you’re older, you can feel shame at how you have damaged her life.”

He told Lamb the ‘safest conclusion’ he could draw was he was aged under 18 at the time of the most serious offence of rape and there had been no other similar offending since.

He said: “I regard what happened as of its time and context and unlikely to be repeated, but it is deadly serious to rape a child of this age.”

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Will Bennett, mitigating, said it was clear Lamb was ‘not an intellectually sophisticated man’ while giving evidence during his trial.

He said: “When one looks at age and maturity, your honour may be able to infer a certain amount of immaturity on the part of the defendant at the age of 16.

“It was not repeated over a significant period of time – it is perhaps more indicative of somebody having matured, grown up and changed their ways.”

Lamb, of Valley Road, was jailed for seven-and-a-half years and told he must serve at least three-quarters of his sentence.

He will also remain on the sex offenders register for life.

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