Paul Ward used table cutlery to sexually abuse a baby in Leeds PIC: Yorkshire constabulary
Paul Ward used table cutlery to sexually abuse a baby in Leeds PIC: Yorkshire Constabulary

A teenager sexually abused a baby with cutlery so badly that the youngster now requires a colostomy bag.

Paul Ward, 19, used three implements meant for the dinner table to molest his victim, who was only 10 months old and in his care.

During the abuse the small child was crying in pain and also turned blue after suffering a seizure, Leeds Crown Court heard. Injuries inflicted by Ward included a ruptured bowel, necessitating the colostomy bag.

Judge Neil Clarke told Ward that the shocking attack, which took place in Leeds, Yorkshire, was the "most unpleasant" case of abuse he had ever encountered.

Judge Clarke said: "On two occasions he nearly passed away. Doctors said the injuries to his bowel were acutely painful.

"It would have been obvious to you that he would have been in distress and severe pain and yet you continued to do it. You did that not just intending serious harm, but with a sexual motive. This is perhaps the most unpleasant abuse of a baby that I have ever come across."

Det Insp Lawrence Bone, of Leeds District Safeguarding Unit, said: "Ward was found guilty of appalling sexual abuse against a baby he had been entrusted to care for. He is clearly a callous and dangerous individual who has scant regard for the pain and suffering the child has endured. The victim had to undergo emergency surgery and the prognosis remains uncertain."

Ward, of Leeds, admitted one charge of wounding with intent. He was jailed for 14 years and made to sign the sex offenders register for life.