June 2004 Man jailed for persistent sexual abuse of girl, 13 A MAN who systematically sexually abused a teenage girl several times during a period of more than three years has been jailed for 11 years. Kevin Ellis, 42, was unanimously convicted by a Liverpool Crown Court jury of five charges of rape and three charges of indecently assaulting the girl, who is now aged 17. Ellis, formerly of Tarbrock Court, Sefton, started sexually assaulting his victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons,in 1999 when she was 13. He continued raping and indecently assaulting her when she was 16 in 2003. Peter Davies, prosecuting, told the jury, which took five hours to reach its guilty verdicts: “He systematically sexually abused her. His conduct towards her was continuous and persistent sexual abuse.” He was also found guilty by the jury of seven men and five women of showing an indecent photograph of a child to the girl on two occasions. Ellis had denied all the charges but, before his trial started,he pleaded guilty to 12 charges of making indecent images of children. Jailing him, judge Mr Justice Hughes told Ellis: “You have been convicted of very serious offences.”