March 2018 Girl abused by paedophile was accused of lying by police A girl who was sexually assaulted when she was just 12 years old was thought to be lying when she first revealed what had happened to her. So traumatised by her ordeal, the girl was unable to speak about the abuse and had to write a letter to her social worker – although her attacker denied any wrongdoing and the case was dropped. Only after the girl gained the courage to speak out some time later was Alan Phillips eventually arrested and charged. The 51-year-old from Rugby was jailed for 14 years after he was found guilty of two charges of sexually assaulting that girl and two of sexual assault against a second girl. During the trial at Warwick Crown Court, prosecutor Stefan Kolodynski told the jury: “The broad overview is that two people were sexually abused when they were young girls by Alan Phillips.” The court was told one of the girls had told a social worker she wanted to say something but could not talk about it out loud, so would write it in a letter. “That triggered an investigation, but the letter was regarded with scepticism by the police and social services,” said Mr Kolodynski. “Alan Phillips was spoken to and denied any wrongdoing, and they concluded she was not telling the truth. “When she was later spoken to by the police about the letter she effectively clammed up, so the investigation ended there.” But in 2014 she found the courage to open up to the police and told them what had happened when she was about 12. Kolodynski said she was sitting on the sofa at Phillips’ home when he sat next to her and put his hand inside her leggings and sexually assaulted her. The court also heard the girl had disclosed that he had sexually abused her in a similar way when she was older, and that he had threatened her not to tell anyone. This time the police took her seriously and as a result of speaking to other children who had come into contact with Phillips, another girl revealed two incidents when he had also sexually abused her. On one occasion, when the victim was aged about 10, he had put his hand up her top, which Mr Kolodynski said was him “testing the water”. The court was also told that when she was 14 he had sat next to her on a sofa as she was watching television and put his hand on her upper thigh, keeping it there until she moved away from him. Phillips, of the Lodge Farm caravan site in Bilton Lane, Rugby, denied the offences and claimed the first girl had been encouraged by others to make up allegations against him, and that the other girl’s accusations were also false. The court heard that shortly before his trial Phillips had been remanded in custody for witness intimidation, which he admitted, after he had contacted one of his victims. As Phillips was judged to be “an offender of particular concern”, he will only be freed after serving half of his 14-year sentence if the Parole Board considers it safe to do so. He will be released on licence at some point between then and serving the whole of the sentence, and will then be on licence for a further year on top of that. Jailing Phillips and ordering him to register as a sex offender for life, Judge Sally Hancox told him: “You are a man who waited carefully for the opportunities to arise, and when they did, whatever risks there were of being seen, you acted in the way you did to satisfy your desires. “The impact of your offending on both of them has been devastating.” The judge also observed that one of the girls had earlier been abused by another man.