April 2001 Man jailed for sexual assault on schoolgirl A 21-YEAR-OLD Watford man has been jailed for three-and-a-half years for indecently assaulting a 14-year-old girl he met a May fair in Cassiobury Park. Mohammed Khan, of Hodges Way, Watford, was 19 at the time of the attack and had only recently been released from detention for previous offences. Judge Daniel Rodwell QC said at Aylesbury Crown Court on Tuesday that Khan had escaped a much stiffer sentence because he had spared his victim from having to give evidence by pleading guilty. Khan admitted indecently assaulting the girl on May 31, 1999, and denied a charge of rape. The judge entered a not guilty verdict on the rape allegation. Miss Rosa Dean, prosecuting, said the defendant’s plea was on the basis that the victim was non-consensual to being indecently assaulted. The court heard the victim, from South Oxhey, and a friend had gone to the fair in Cassiobury Park and met the defendant with another man. The girls had already been drinking and the 14-year-old was rather “tipsy”, the court was told. They bought more alcohol and went off in a car belonging to Khan’s friend. Counsel said they drove for several hours. When they got to Aylesbury, they stopped and the girl, who was by this stage very drunk got out to go to the toilet in the bushes. The prosecutor said the defendant followed her and when she got back to the car she was distressed and crying hysterically to her friend. She told her: “I pushed him away. He really hurt me.” Miss Dean said the victim was in pain for the next few days and had bruising to her legs. Since the incident she had been depressed and withdrawn, her mother said. Khan was not arrested until July last year after returning from a trip to Pakistan. Miss Dean said that although he was not picked out at an identification parade, he was linked to the offence through DNA profiling. Paul Wakerley, defending, said although Khan had previous convictions for violence and had been released from custody in February 1999, he had never previously committed any sexual offences. Mr Wakerley told the court Khan was not psychiatrically considered to be a risk for re-offending in such a manner. Mr Wakerley added Khan was shocked to learn how young his victim was. Passing sentence, Judge Rodwell said: “This was a disgraceful episode. You knew perfectly well the state this young girl was in and when she got out of the car to go to the lavatory you went and assaulted her and, as you have accepted, that was against her will.”