Sunderland pervert locked up for groping Hartlepool teenager and taking secret pictures of her

Philip Warris, 35, was found guilty of touching his victim after a trial at Teesside Crown Court.

Despite denying four offences, the judge told him: “The jury nevertheless having heard all of the evidence had little difficulty in convicting you.”

The jury found Warris guilty of one count of sexual activity with a child.

He was also convicted of three counts of voyeurism after three pictures of the victim in a state of semi undress were found by police on his phone.

Warris was jailed for three years on Wednesday, October 13, and will be on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

Paul Reid, prosecuting, said the victim trembled in her mother’s arms when she told her what had happened.

A heartrending statement by the victim’s mother read in court detailed the devastating impact of Warris’s crimes, which happened in Hartlepool.

In it, her mum said: “During this time in the aftermath our lives have been a blur and riddled with sadness.

"I’ve spent that time doing what no mother should ever have to do comforting their child through nights of terrors.

"Until you have lived through this you can never quite imagine the horrific effect it has on every area of your life.

"I only hope that the punishment he is given reflects the amount of heartache and long lasting damage he has caused.”

The girl’s mother also described how her daughter no longer trusts people, has suffered with anxiety issues and her education has been significantly affected.

Warris, a HGV driver, denied any sexual interaction with the victim when questioned by police and throughout the trial.

But the judge, Recorder David Gordon, said: “The jury nevertheless having heard all of the evidence had little difficulty in convicting you.”

Warris, of Gill Crescent South, Houghton le Spring, was also made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order to regulate his use of the Internet and contact with children.

Recorder Gordon said it was necessary to manage the risk Warris poses to the public given his denials.

David Callan, defending, said Warris had served in the army including in Afghanistan and had no previous convictions.

He was found not guilty of two further allegations of sexual activity with a child.

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