February 2018 Windermere man jailed after sexual abuse on 11-year-old A MAN who sexually abused a girl in the Lake District has been locked up for 45 months. Christopher Noel Poole, 55, was sentenced today (FRI) for historical offending which, the victim later told police, left her with the “constant feeling of being damaged goods”. Carlisle Crown Court heard the girl was aged as young as 11 when Poole abused her on separate occasions. He was said to have groomed her, buying her sweets, before indecently assaulting her five times. One particular crime, said to be “perhaps a more serious one”, had “tormented me over the years”, she later told police. A complaint had initially been made on the victim’s behalf in 1999, although the victim at that time said she was not willing to give evidence. She did however report the matter to police in 2016; an investigation began and Poole later admitted five indecent assault charges. The court heard his victim had suffered from anxiety and depression. David Traynor, prosecuting, said: “She talks about years of blocking out what had happened to her. She describes years of blaming herself for what happened.” It was also said she had a “constant feeling of being damaged goods”. Jailing Poole, of Whinfield Road, Windermere, Judge James Adkin told him: “If any case illustrates how sexual abuse of children has a huge, long-term impact this is it.” Poole must sign the sex offenders’ register for life and observe the terms of a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely. He will also be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.