October 2016 Girl ‘self-harming’ after being sexually assaulted by Staines paedophile A teenage girl has told how she had been left a nervous wreck after she fell into the clutches of a paedophile. The teenager said she now self-harmed and was frightened to be away from her parents for any length of time after a man sexually assaulted her repeatedly when she was a young child, Guildford Crown Court heard. The victim impact statement was read out on Monday as Ian Hartley, 48, was jailed for eight years for sex crimes against the youngster. Hartley, formerly of Garrick Close, Staines, was sent down after pleading guilty to three offences of sexual assault by penetration. He was put on the sex offenders’ register for life and also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further notice. Passing sentence, Judge Stephen Climie said Hartley’s perverted behaviour had a lasting impact on the young victim. “She has suffered severe psychological harm as a result of what you did to her,” he said. Judge Climie added: “Nothing I can say can in any way improve her future prospects.” The court heard the girl was not the only youngster to have had her childhood ruined by Hartley, who has since moved to Cambridgeshire. It was revealed he had been given a 27-month prison sentence in April 2014 after pleading guilty to sexual activity with a four-year-old girl and possession of child pornography. A probation report to the court described the defendant as posing a “high level of risk to pre-teen girls”. Ruby Selva, prosecuting, said: “The defendant never said anything while the abuse was taking place and she never spoke about it to him. “When she was older, she began to realise that what had happened to her was wrong.” Ms Selva said the girl finally confided in her mother and the matter was reported to the police. She said Hartley at first denied the allegations but later admitted his guilt. In a victim impact statement which the girl insisted should be read out in court, she said: “I’ve been self-harming as a result of what he did to me.” The girl said she also wondered if other children had suffered the same sort of ordeal at Hartley’s hands.