A Harrogate man has been jailed for 16 years for raping and sexually abusing an extremely young girl.

Carl Darren Briggs, 43, appeared for sentence at York Crown Court on Friday, March 1, after a jury convicted him of two counts of raping a child under 13 years of age and one count of sexual assault following a three-day trial in December.

The court heard that the offences, which occurred at a property in the Harrogate district, had had a devastating effect on the young victim and her family.

In a statement read out by the prosecution, the victim said she had been traumatised by the abuse and now had had nightmares and flashbacks. It had affected her schooling, her sleep and her social life.

She added:

She was so young at the time of the offences that she “didn’t know (that what Briggs had done) was wrong at that stage”. She only realised that his actions were wrong after learning about the human body in school.

The victim’s mother said:

Briggs, of Wisteria Gardens, Harrogate, was arrested in 2021 after the victim finally made disclosures about the abuse. He denied all the allegations and put the victim through the ordeal of a trial.

At the sentence hearing on Friday, prosecutor Philip Standfast said that Briggs had previous convictions for violence, drug possession and acquisitive crime.

Defence barrister George Hazel-Owram said that Briggs, a mechanic who had a long-term partner, had worked hard throughout his adult life.

Judge Simon Hickey told Briggs that he had abused the girl “in the most vile way”.

He said that Briggs’s “dreadful” offences had had a “huge effect” on the victim’s life.

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