October 2020 ‘Manipulative, nasty and evil’ child rapist jailed A predatory child rapist who committed a decade-long campaign of abuse against two vulnerable girls has been locked up. Preston Paris preyed on the children, grooming them from a young age and subjecting them to sexual abuse through to adulthood. The 50-year-old American national, who lived in Tarragon Road, off Western Boulevard, Bede Island, Leicester, arrived in the UK in 2001 and within months had started abusing the victims. Paris was found guilty of 15 offences, including indecent assault, sexual activity with a child, sexual intercourse with a child under 13 and five counts of rape on Monday following a trial at Leicester Crown Court, and on Friday returned to the court for sentencing. He was given 10, 23 and 24 years in prison. The terms will run alongside each other, or concurrently, meaning his term is effectively 24 years. Paris will have to serve two thirds of his sentence before being considered for parole. A spokesperson for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said after the hearing: “He abused both victims throughout their childhood, raping one repeatedly from the age of just eight and the second from when she was 12. “Paris used violence, threats, emotional abuse and even further rapes to keep them under his control. The ordeal for both finally ended when one of the victims reported the abuse in 2017.” His second victim then came forward to report his crimes against her. Sentencing him, Judge Ebrahim Mooncey told Paris: “One of your victims, in her recorded interview, said that you were ‘manipulative, nasty and evil’. “She, in those three words, sums you up. “Her victim personal statement goes on to say that her life has been hell and the effects of what you did to her still affects her to this day and she envisages she’ll never get over it. “The other victim says you used her as an object. She too will find it difficult to get her life back on track.” He added: “One can only hope that, in time, they will both be able to put this nightmare ordeal behind them and find goodness in life. “They will need all the support they can get.” The judge said that it was only later in their lives that they felt able to report the matter. “During the trial the jury and I heard the details of your depravity,” he said. “On some occasions you filmed the sexual activity and threatened to release the recordings if they reported you. “You have no remorse for what you did. “When you gave evidence your arrogance was transparent. You told lie upon lie.” Judge Mooncey added: “In sentencing you, totality is the key. I have to look at your offending as a whole and impose a sentence that in my view is required to meet the justice of the case.” Because the sexual abuse had been so prolific, the CPS could not charge the defendant for each time he had raped or abused the girls. Instead, he was prosecuted for one count for every type of offence he had committed during the entire period.