Child rapist who 'paid' a young girl 5p for sex four decades ago is jailed

A man who groomed a primary school aged girl whom he ended up raping over four decades ago has been jailed.

David Armstrong, now 58, was a teenager himself when he groomed the primary school aged victim, at one time offering her 5p.

He admitted one count of rape and six counts of indecent assault.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how three of the indecent assault charges involved oral sex, which under current legislation would be classified as rape.

Graham Pickavance, prosecuting, said the victim had enduring psychological problems and battles with suicidal thoughts.

A victim personal statement said: "When it was happening I didn't realise what David was doing was wrong, it was as if it was normal. But looking back I must have known deep down because if it was normal why didn't I say anything to anyone?"

The court heard Armstrong, of Tuebrook, admitted the offences in full and had not committed any similar offences since the abuse ended, in the 1970s. He said he was under 18 at the time of the offences, which the court accepted.

John Weate, defending, said his client had no previous convictions and admitted that it was cowardly he had not come forward more quickly, adding he "accepts that his behaviour was abhorrent over a number of years. Can he explain it? No he can't," the Liverpool Echo reported.

Judge Robert Trevor-Jones, sentencing, said: "It has resulted in terrible trauma, as she described she has sustained and experienced a real sense of diminished self worth and she feels a real sense of guilt as far as the offences are concerned, as is so often the case with victims of sexual abuse when in reality nothing could be further from the truth."

Armstrong was jailed for nine years and four months and has to sign the sex offenders' register.