August 2014 ‘Remorseless’ Lincoln paedophile has appeal to overturn convictions rejected A remorseless paedophile from Lincoln who raped an eight-year-old girl has failed in a bid to get his convictions overturned on appeal. Darren Malcolm Lewis, an epileptic “of limited intelligence”, committed a raft of sex attacks on his young victim which came to light several years after they happened. Lewis, 39, of Newland Street West, was convicted of two counts of rape of a child under 13 and six counts of sexual assault on a child under 13 and was jailed for 15 years in July last year at Lincoln Crown Court. When passing sentence on Lewis, Judge Sean Morris deplored his sickening crimes, saying: “You are a man completely without remorse…heaven knows what damage you have done to your victim.” But today Lord Justice Davis, Mrs Justice Thirlwall and Mrs Justice Andrews, sitting at London’s Criminal Appeal Court, heard lawyers for Lewis argue that his trial was unfair and his convictions ‘unsafe’. They argued that information about the victim’s level of intelligence ought to have been put before the jury, claiming this could have had a bearing on her credibility. It was also suggested that inconsistencies in her written evidence suggested collusion with an adult and cast doubt on her account. Rejecting Lewis’ complaints, however, Mrs Justice Thirlwall, said: “The information was plainly before the jury and counsel for the defence was able to deploy his argument about it. “We do not see how further developing that argument would have assisted the defence case. This application is refused.” July 2013 Paedophile raped child A Lincoln man found guilty of raping a child has been jailed for 15 years. 37-year-old Darren Lewis denied a string of sexual offences on the young girl but was convicted after a three week trial at Lincoln Crown Court earlier this year. Lewis, of Newland Street West, Lincoln, was also disqualified from working with children for life and was made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order which will restrict his lifestyle once he is released from prison. Passing sentence, Judge Sean Morris told Lewis he made his victim give evidence against him and accused her of lying about what he had done. “You are a man completely without remorse,” Judge Morris said. “Heaven knows what damage you have done to your victim.” The court heard Lewis still denied his offending. He was convicted of eight sexual offences during 2009 and 2010 including rape. Michael Cranmer-Brown, mitigating, told the court Lewis was a man of limited intelligence with no record of previous sexual offences. “This defendant has no history of this sort of thing which is highly significant,” Mr Cranmer-Brown said. “Nothing else was found or spoken of during the investigation to indicate he had behaved this way before. “It appears on this occasion to be erratic offending.” Mr Cranmer-Brown added: “Having seen him give evidence it is clear he is of limited intelligence.” Judge Morris told Lewis that because of his lack of previous sexual convictions he could be sentenced to a normal jail term rather than being sentenced as a “dangerous” offender. “The only mitigation here is the lack of previous sexual offences,” Judge Morris explained