October 2015 Predatory paedophile, 60 sexually abused 14-year-old schoolgirl in the back of his van A 60-year-old parcel delivery driver has been given a 14-year jail sentence for having sex with a schoolgirl young enough to be his granddaughter in the back of his van. Last month a jury at Cardiff Crown Court found Paul Sleeman guilty of 11 charges against the 14-year-old, including abduction. On Monday, Judge David Wynn Morgan handed down the prison term, telling him eight of those years would be custodial, with six being an extended licence period, following his release. He described Sleeman who was living in Dunraven Close, Dinas Powys, at the time of the offences, as “a dangerous offender”. His trial had heard how the child was with him when she should have been in school. But he denied doing anything wrong, forcing her to give evidence against him and be cross examined. He claimed text messages that he sent her, including “love you cute bum” meant nothing and said the only contact between them had been when she kissed him. But prosecutor Heath Edwards said his grooming of her had been “clever, manipulative and predatory” and he was trying to “twist” things by making her the sexual aggressor. He even claimed in court he suffered from erectile disfunction, which made sex impossible, and wouldn’t accept his van was big enough for sexual action. Mr Edwards said: “The truth is, he turned his attentions from his mature partner to a pretty, young schoolgirl. “He knew she should be in school and gifts were a way of bribing her.” When her school reported her missing from classes her parents were said to be distraught. But Sleeman instead of making her go straight back to school when he saw her, “took her for a coffee” instead. During his trial, Sleeman was said to have painted himself as a good Samaritan, claiming he was just a support for the child, who had problems she could not speak about to her family. Mr Edwards said: “He took chances he had made for himself, to abuse her.”