JUDGE STOPS ADAM HEPWORTH'S COMMUNITY SERVICE, UPS SENTENCE AND SENDS HIM TO PRISON
A ‘sordid’ pervert who was spared jail after molesting a teenage girl as she lay sleeping has been sent to prison by top judges who said his original punishment was “too soft.” Adam Hepworth, 27, of Wroe Street, Dewsbury Moor, sexually assaulted the victim as she shared a bed with a female friend, who witnessed the incident but was too scared to alert her.Hepworth, who has a previous conviction for having sex with a 15-year-old girl, was given a 12-month community order at Leeds Crown Court in March after admitting one count of sexual assault.
But he was today (Friday) jailed for 12 months by judges sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, who said the original sentence was “unduly lenient.” The court heard Hepworth preyed on the 17-year-old girl when she was staying with a friend after a night out drinking.
The friend awoke in the middle of the night to see Hepworth on top of the teenager.
She was too scared to say anything but told the victim the following day and the incident was reported to police.
The court heard there was then a series of delays in the investigation.
In the meantime, Hepworth was jailed for two years in October 2011 for having sex with a 15-year-old girl.
He was eventually charged with the sexual assault in June 2014 and admitted his guilt after his DNA was found on the victim’s clothes.
Lawyers for the Solicitor General, Robert Buckland QC, said the sentence was far too lenient for his crime.
Hepworth’s lawyers argued that, in the years since the offence, he had become a “different person”, having addressed his binge drinking and changed his attitudes towards women.
They also said he had completed a sex offenders’ treatment course, had a stable job and was in a loving relationship with a fiancée who is pregnant with his child.
But Lady Justice Macur said he should have been jailed for the serious assault on the sleeping victim.
Sitting with Mr Justice Green and Judge Neil Bidder QC, she added: “This was quite clearly an opportunistic offence, carried out in aggravating circumstances.
“The victim was in a stranger’s house, she was asleep at the time and the timing of the offence was made to coincide with her state of unconsciousness.
“The offence was sordid and it was committed in the presence of her friend.
“We conclude that the sentencing judge did hand down an unduly lenient sentence.
“We see no circumstances whatsoever which could have led the judge to conclude that this offending should not have been met with an immediate custodial sentence.” Speaking after the hearing, Mr Buckland said: “I am very pleased the Court of Appeal has quashed the community order and replaced it with a custodial term of one year as I felt the original sentence failed to reflect the seriousness of the offence.
“Men who make unwanted sexual advances should be punished appropriately.
The Court has sent a clear message that those who commit serious sexual assaults against women will be given a prison sentence.” Hepworth was ordered to hand himself in to police by noon on Monday (July 27) to start his sentence.
