October 2009 Man Locked Up for Raping Girl, Aged 4 A babysitter from Coventry has been jailed for raping a four-year-old girl when he was a teenager. Daniel Jennings, of Rochester Road, in Earlsdon, appeared at Coventry Crown Court for sentencing after he was found guilty of sex abuse charges earlier this month. He was convicted of three charges of rape, four charges of indecency with a child, a serious sexual assault and assault. The court heard how the offences took place between 1993-1998, starting when the defendant was about 15 years old. His young victim was aged four when the abuse started. Jennings – now aged 32 and a dad – denied the charges at the trial but, after the guilty verdict had been reached, submitted a statement to the judge admitting full responsibility. The abuse began when the victim’s mother invited Jennings into her home and trusted him with the care of her child.  Samantha Crabb, defending, argued the fact that the defendant was a teenager at the time the incidents took place should be taken into account.  She said: “The defendant is now32 years old, butwas 15 when it started.  “We are not dealing with an adult predatory paedophile but an adolescent who clearly couldn’t control his urges.  Judge Robert Orme said: “You took the family’s hospitality and abused it in a horrible way by betraying the trust they had placed in you and their daughter.  “You now realise that these sorts of sex offences committed when you were a teenager were wrong.  “If you had been an adult when these offences were committed you would be serving a longer sentence to the one I’m going serve you.”  Jennings was sentenced to eight years in prison, and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.  He will also participate in a sex offenders’ treatment programme. The victim, who is now in her 20s, said after the hearing: “I didn’t care if he got one day or 100 days, the fact that he’s admitted what he did means I can try to put it behind me.“