June 2005 Sex assault man avoids jail term A SOLIHULL man who admitted drunkenly entering a Blockley home and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in her bed escaped a prison sentence at Gloucester Crown Court. Jason Terry, aged 29, of Shirley, Solihull pleaded guilty to lying on the girl’s bed and squeezing her bottom through her pyjamas on July 24 last year. Simon Burns, prosecuting, said the Crown accepted the basis of Terry’s guilty plea – that it was quite usual for villagers in Blockley to leave their doors open and for friends to wander in. He said on the evening in question the girl was babysitting her sisters while her mother was out and after putting them to bed she had gone to bed herself. “At about 11.30pm she was awoken by the defendant, who was very drunk, in her room,” Mr Burns said. “He lay on the bed and put his hand on her bottom over her clothing but certainly in circumstances that were inappropriate. “She told him to get off and get out and he did. She was obviously concerned and reported him and he was arrested later that morning.” Mr Burns said Terry had been on a night out, drinking vodka and champagne and did not consider this was a predatory offence. The girl had ‘suffered for a bit’ but had now moved on, he said. Stuart Baker, defending, said his client was truly sorry for the incident and had suffered because of his behaviour. He said he had lost his job, was £40,000 in debt and spent much of his time in bed just watching television. Judge Jamie Tabor, QC, said he was concerned Terry had wallowed in self-pity instead of thinking about the distress he had caused the girl. “It should not be you that you are feeling sorry for, it should be the victim,” he told Terry. “This young girl has suffered considerably by waking up and finding a drunk man lying beside her.” Terry was sentenced to a three-year community rehabilitation order where he will undergo sexual offender treatment and will be on the sexual offenders register for five years. He was also ordered to pay the girl £300 compensation.