May 2021 Man jailed for abusing girl  A paedophile sexually abused a young girl leaving her feeling sick and unable to trust adult men, a court heard. Thomas Murphy started sexually abusing a girl the Southampton area when she was just six-years-old. The 64-year-old told his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, that they would keep his crimes a “secret”. Prosecution barrister, Robert Brown, said that the girl eventually complained about Murphy to her mother who then contacted the NSPCC. She said that her abuser was nice when her mother was around but “horrible” when she was away. The youngster added that she would tell him “get off me but he would continue”. During a voluntary police interview, Murphy was made aware an allegation had been made against him. He told officers “It had got out of hand” and that the abuse, which started in 2018 and lasted until 2020, had “started with tickling”. Murphy claimed he was ashamed and referred to himself as a “bloody idiot”. At one point, he even said: “I would not want to come to court or be a witness or nothing.” In her victim impact statement read out at Southampton Crown Court by Mr Brown, the girl said: “When I am sleeping I get flashbacks. “When I am lying down in my bed my hands shake a bit because I am scared it will happen again.” In other parts of her statement, she said the ordeal left her feeling sick and that she had lost her trust in adult men. Furthermore, she wanted to be a boy so she would not be abused in future. Meanwhile, the girl’s father called Murphy’s crimes both hideous and inhumane. Appearing before Southampton Crown Court, Murphy, of George Green, Slough, was charged with three counts of sexual assault to which he previously pleaded guilty. However, Judge Nicholas Rowland deemed that nothing but a custodial sentence could be justified. Murphy was jailed for 30 months and made the subject of an indefinite restraining order not to contact his victim. He was given a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender.