January 2011 Sex offender jailed after assault on ten-year-old A sex offender was told by a judge that he had taken ‘advantage of a delightful and naive little girl’. Robin Lincoln, 43, of Kings Road, Flitwick, was jailed for 18 months at Luton Crown Court on Thursday. He was convicted by a jury last November of two charges of sexual assault, one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one charge of exposure. The offences all took place on one day – November 14, 2009, when the victim was ten years old. Prosecutor Matthew Walsh said Lincoln was a friend of the child’s family and would frequently visit their home in a mid-Bedfordshire village. The girl told her parents that Lincoln had picked her up twice and in doing so had touched her. He also exposed himself to her when he used the bathroom, during his visit to the house that day, and made a sexual suggestion to her. Lincoln, a courier, pleaded not guilty to the charges. He also denied another allegation of sexual assault, of which he was cleared. Judge Michael Baker QC told him: “You broke the trust of that family. In comparison with many cases that come before the court the assaults were relatively minor, but every assault of that kind has consequences for the child, especially if they have to come to court to give evidence, and the parents have been seriously distressed by this matter. “I accept you are a hard-working family man and I of course recognise that a custodial sentence will have a serious impact on your own family but nevertheless the offences are too serious to be dealt with by anything except an immediate custodial sentence.” Christopher Strachan, defending urged the court to ‘exceptionally’ pass a community penalty. “He is absolutely blameless of any previous sexual offending and is a hard working devoted family man. “The offences are worrying and concerning matters but not the most serious that courts have to deal with.” Lincoln will also have to comply with Sex Offender registration for ten years and is prohibited from contacting the child or having unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 indefinitely.