October 2009 Sex beast jailed for 10 years A SICK pervert who plied young girls with drink at his South Tyneside home before sexually abusing them has been jailed for 10 years. Andrew Stephen Brown was described as “serial sex abuser of young girls” when he appeared before Durham Crown Court yesterday, where he admitted a string of sex attacks over a five-year-period. The court heard he used the youngsters as a sexual substitute for his estranged wife, thinking they would never report him. If they did, the court heard, Brown thought nobody would believe them. The 44-year-old carried out the abuse at two houses he occupied in Jarrow and at another house he lived in at Gilesgate, Durham City. The court heard one of his victims has since suffered a nervous breakdown. Prosecutor Amanda Rippon said: “This man is a serial sex abuser of young girls who was willing to carry on the abuse even when he may have been observed. “He never thought the victims would complain, and if they did, he thought they would not be believed.” The court heard one girl was forced to carry out a sex act with Brown around 200 times. Most of his victims were between 11 and 16 years old, and the offences took place between 2003 and 2008. A victim complained in 2007, but Brown carried on abusing girls after he was arrested and bailed. The court heard he was a heavy drinker and when he was living in Jarrow, his house became a magnet for young people who knew there were no rules there, and that they could get drink. Brown, of no fixed abode, admitted five charges of sexual assault and two charges of sexual penetration of girls aged both under and over 13 years. Tom Moran, defending, said in mitigation: “These were dreadful offences, but he co-operated with the police and has admitted his guilt. “He was abused in the distant past, and while it might be thought that would make him determined not to make others suffer as he has done, sadly that has proved not to be the case.” Judge Guy Whitburn QC jailed Brown for 10 years and banned him from ever working or living with children. The judge told him: “I’m not going to waste too many words on you. You know full well what you have done.” Brown’s licence period on release was extended from five years to 12 years. He must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.