Paedophile slits own throat in court after being found guilty of sex assault on 6-year-old daughter

A paedophile tried to take his own life by slashing his throat with a razor blade while in the dock at Leicester Crown Court, it has been reported.

The defendant attempted to cut his throat after being found guilty of sexually abusing his own six-year-old daughter on 23 February.

Once he was told he was guilty of two counts of sexual assault, he repeatedly slashed his throat in front of the jury and judge, The Metro reports.

The man – who cannot be named to protect his child's identity – was dragged to the ground by custody officers before his ex and mother of the victim shouted from the public gallery: "Go on bastard, do it."

The sex abuser had allegedly smuggled the razor blade into the court underneath his watch.

After trying to take his life and injuring himself, the defendant was taken to hospital where he was treated for "superficial" neck lacerations.

He has been jailed for five years for the crime against his daughter, receiving a seven-year sentence for unrelated burglaries, motoring and other offences.

The man was convicted by the jury of twice sexually assaulting the little girl in a tent and common assault. This prompted him to protest against his sentence and repeatedly slash at his throat in front of the judge and jury.

Prosecutor Richard Thatcher said that a victim impact report on the child – who is now being looked after by relatives – revealed the abuse had affected her school work.

He said: "She is now wary of strangers and feels everyone is staring at her and knows what happened. She can't concentrate at school. She becomes tearful and can get angry."

The defendant's barrister, Mr McDonald, said in court that his client did not accept "the guilty verdicts by this jury."

McDonald said: "He's a persistent offender of violence, dishonesty and road traffic offending and is a serial offender, but that is in a different category to this which is something that goes against every grain of what he's stood for. This is a man who says he would be almost violent towards someone who had committed this type of offence, not the person committing it.

"He sees his life as destroyed; he's a broken man. That's demonstrated no more clearly than his attempt to kill himself in court. He had a razorblade under his watch whilst in prison and came here, to this court, with a razorblade. As soon as he heard that verdict he took it out and slashed his throat. As the dock officers bundled him to the floor they were holding his hand to try and prevent him."

Judge Brown claimed that he was not aware that the defendant was in possession of a blade, adding: "I thought he had an outburst with his fists and the security staff overpowered and pretty much had him under control."