November 2009 Hereford postman, Norman Vinson, jailed for 16 years for rape of girl, 10 A POSTMAN has been jailed for 16 years for raping and sexually assaulting a young girl. Norman Vinson, of Belvoir Court, Belmont, Hereford, abused the 10-year-old in her own home without others in the house knowing. The 56-year-old pleaded guilty at Hereford Crown Court to seven counts of raping or sexually assaulting a child. He also admitted seven counts of possessing indecent images of children. The court was told that his victim wished she could wipe the ordeal from her memory. “Sometimes I feel like I want to give up on being me and be in my own little world,” the victim was reported to have said. James Dunstan, prosecuting, said on the first occasion in 2006 the girl, then aged 10, “freaked out” when she was attacked in a playroom but did not think anyone would believe her if she spoke out. The abuse continued but, in June 2007, her friends told their teachers and Vinson was arrested. Mr Dunstan said, despite a previous conviction for indecently assaulting two girls in 1981, Vinson made “a full denial” to police. Bruce Gray, defending, said Vinson was “genuinely ashamed” of what he had done and, as a consequence, had difficulty talking about it with others. He said this was also why Vinson failed to admit his guilt at an earlier stage, but in doing so he had at least saved the girl from giving evidence. “But nothing I can say can reduce the shockingly serious nature of these offences and he wouldn’t want me to,” Mr Gray said. Judge Amjad Nawaz said Vinson posed a serious risk to children and ordered checks to be made on him for the rest of his life. Vinson will be considered for release in eight years and is the subject of a sexual offences prevention order that forbids him from contacting or working with children forever. An Another Hereford man was jailed by Judge Nawaz after admitting a series of child sex offences. David Worth, of Bailey Brook Road, Redhill, pleaded guilty to 20 offences when he appeared at Hereford Crown Court on Tuesday and was sent to prison for 10 years. The judge told the 41-year-old that on his release he would be disqualified from working with children and placed on a sexual offences prevention programme.