MIDDLESBROUGH MAN JAILED FOR SEXUALLY ASSAULTING CHILD
A pervert dragged a child into a bush and exposed himself before carrying out a sexual assault.The child of primary school age was out playing in an area of Teesside when Wayne Duggan, 40, pulled them away and made them sit on his knee before forcing them to lie on their back on the ground.
He was later caught after his DNA was found on the victim's clothing.
Duggan claimed he accidentally urinated on the youngster, after they grabbed his leg whilst he relieved himself in bushes.
However, a judge at Teesside Crown Court said it was impossible to know if it was urine or semen.
The victim told their mother who informed police - and officers failed to properly secure the crime scene, the court was told.
Duggan was identified by a member of the public.
In a statement, the victim's mother said: "The crime has torn our family apart." Duggan, of Marton Road in Grove Hill, Middlesbrough, initially denied sexual assault of a child.
He admitted the offence minutes before his trial was due to start.
On Monday, Duggan listened on video link from Holme House prison, as his barrister Paul Newcombe asked if the offence could be viewed as a "one-off incident, owing to Mr Duggan's poor mental health." Mr Newcombe said his client had nothing of this seriousness listed in his previous convictions which include shoplifting, possession of cannabis and assault.
He has schizophrenia and was smoking cannabis at the time, and the barrister said the drugs had "triggered another episode." He has spent the last six months on remand, and Duggan told his barrister that he "is feeling so much better" now he is drug-free.
The court heard that Duggan was diagnosed with special needs as a child, and plans to live in alternative supported accommodation on his release from prison.
Judge Geoffrey Marson jailed Duggan for five years, and said that the case is "every parents' worst nightmare".
"It was horrific, [they] must have been frightened out of [their] life," he said.
"This case, in my judgement, is as bad as a case in this range gets.
I have taken into account your potential learning difficulties and your schizophrenia - but they do not, in any way, reduce your culpability." "This offending was fuelled by cannabis." Duggan was made subject of an indefinite restraining order and was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.
He was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order - which bans him from having any unsupervised contact with children or from living in the same household as a child, unless social services have given permission first.
