Overview
- A jury convicted 63-year-old Phillip Lakey and Judge Jonathon Salmon sentenced him on Friday to 22 years and three months in prison.
- Lakey was found guilty of four counts of rape of a child under 13, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, and six counts of sexual activity with a child committed between 2019 and 2023.
- Prosecutors said the offences took place at a flat above the Ace Linen laundrette on Ombersley Road and lasted almost four years.
- A victim impact statement read in court said the girl felt she had been 'robbed of a normal childhood,' and Lakey appeared at Worcester Crown Court by video link from HMP Hewell while the defence cited prior good character and serious health problems.
- The court also ordered an extra year on licence after release, a 25-year sexual harm prevention order and a lifelong restraining order, and West Mercia Police used the case to urge other victims to report abuse and noted a similar long sentence given to another offender in the county this month.