March 2015 Paedophile gets 13 years in jail for fishing trip abuse on young girl AN angler has been jailed for 13 years for forcing a young girl to take part in sex acts with him in overnight fishing trips. Ian Gilbertson abused the girl repeatedly from the ages of 11 to 16 after grooming her for sex during her trips away from home with him. He was jailed after a Judge told him he had abused the trust put in him and used threats to ensure the victim’s silence. Gas engineer Gilbertson claimed the girl had invented her allegations but he was unable to explain how she could describe a distinctive mole on his private parts. She was too frightened to tell anyone when the abuse was taking place and only revealed it when she saw a counsellor during her first year at university. Gilbertson, aged 47, formerly of Vixen Tor Close, Okehampton, and Elms Meadow, Winkleigh, but now of Leegorwell, Telford, denied attempted rape, sexual activity with a child, and four counts of inciting sexual activity with a child. He was found guilty of all counts by a jury at Exeter Crown Court and jailed for a total of 13 years by Recorder Mr Stephen Parish. He told him: “You told her that this is what all girls did and that she must not tell and you started taking her on fishing trips at night. There followed a familiar pattern of grooming. If she refused your requests, you threatened to rape her. “When the victim was 15 you took her up North and clearly planned to take her virginity. You attempted intercourse and only desisted because of her screams. She said it felt as if she was being torn apart. “The difference between attempted rape and rape falls to almost invisible in these circumstances. There was planning, threats and a significant disparity in age.” During a week-long trial the jury heard how the girl had been sexually assaulted around 20 times, often on fishing trips to the Devon coast. Gilbertson denied all the allegations and said he could not understand how the girl knew about the mole on his private parts but suggested she may have overheard him joking about it with friends. He said: “Blokes are always making jokes about their manhood. I can’t remember anything specific but it was something I have discussed in banter. I have often had the mickey taken out of me because of it. “I have never asked her to do anything that would have led to her seeing the mole. That cannot be how she knows about it.”