June 2013 Cobridge man played sexual ‘doctors and nurses’ sex game with girl A 20-YEAR-OLD man has been locked up for committing sexual offences against a young girl in a perverted game of ‘doctors and nurses.’ Ashley Ecclestone, of Furnival Street, Cobridge was around 16 when the crimes took place. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard he had touched the girl inappropriately, and got her to play the game so she would touch him. He made his victim take off her clothes as a ‘forfeit’ when they played another game, and also removed his own clothes. The court heard Ecclestone offered to show the girl ‘what sex was’, and in another incident made her watch a pornographic video on a mobile phone. He has now been sentenced to 10 months in a young offenders’ institution. Ecclestone was charged with three offences – sexually assaulting a child under 13, causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to watch a sexual act – said to have taken place in 2008 or 2009. He denied the charges but Ecclestone was found guilty by a jury on May 1 following a trial. At his sentencing hearing yesterday, his barrister Anis Ali said Ecclestone was still ‘relatively immature’. “He struggles to come to terms with his offending,” he said. “He is able to display a degree of empathy and understands the effect on victims of this type of offending, but there is still work to be done to assist him.” Mr Ali said Ecclestone had no previous convictions and had not offended since his crimes were committed. “He hasn’t displayed a predatory attitude. “There have been no other victims and it may be that he has learned a lesson,” the barrister said. Judge Paul Glenn said he believed Ecclestone’s motivation was, to some extent, sexual experimentation, and he was not sexually attracted to children. However, he said, custody was the only appropriate sentence. “The victim made it very plain she wasn’t happy with the game, but you persisted,” Judge Glenn said. “The jury rejected your account, and in reality you have shown no remorse for what you did. The victim found it very upsetting, and found it upsetting giving evidence about it. “These offences are so serious they must be met with a custodial sentence. “Had you been an adult when the offences took place the sentence would have been much longer.”