Paedophile jailed for sexually abusing girl in car
Cleveland PoliceA man who sexually abused a girl in his car has been jailed for six years.
Lewis Herman was 20 when he started sending the child messages online, culminating with him meeting up to abuse her, Newcastle Crown Court heard.
The girl said the impact of Herman's actions had been "overwhelming", while a judge said the child abuser from Newcastle had "hugely impaired" the victim's ability to have a "normal life".
Herman, who had previous convictions for possessing indecent images of children aged as young as four, was convicted of offences including sexual activity with a child.
The court heard he began sending the girl sexual messages and videos of himself performing a sex act soon after making contact with her on social media platform Snapchat.
He requested naked images of her, some of which she agreed to send, Recorder Martin Rose said.
Herman then went on to abuse her twice in his car, the court heard.
In a statement read to the court, the girl said she had been "completely overwhelmed by what happened" and she was "constantly reliving" the abuse.
"All I see is his face, what he did to me and how he manipulated me," she said.
Recorder Rose said the abuse had a "considerable impact" on the girl at a time in her life where she "ought to have been enjoying life".
Herman's actions had "hugely impaired her ability to live the sort of normal life one would expect a child of her age to have", the judge said.
The judge said Herman had been assessed as posing a "very high risk" of carrying out further sexual offences against children.
Herman, now aged 21, will also have to sign the sex offender register for life and comply with a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
