Man from Malton jailed for two years after raping young girl twice ten years ago

Ryan Williamson, 25, from Malton, raped the girl twice when he was 15 or 16 years of age, York Crown Court heard today.

However, the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, did not come forward to police until years later.

Prosecutor Ian Howard said the girl was raped about 10 years ago when Williamson asked her “to do something with him” as a “favour”.

Being so young, the girl didn’t know what he meant by a “favour” and “did not understand what was happening”, added the barrister.

Williamson touched her on an intimate part of her body and then raped her, said Mr Howard.

After the second rape, he told her not to tell anyone and that if she did, she “would not be believed”.

It wasn’t until November 2021 that the victim told police about what had happened all those years ago.

She said she was distressed, struggling to cope with the after-effects, had flashbacks and had sought counselling for serious mental-health problems and anxiety.

Williamson, a father-of-two, was brought in for questioning and admitted the first rape but initially denied the second offence, claiming he had no recollection of the incident because his cannabis use had clouded his memory.

He was charged with two counts of rape and ultimately admitted both offences when he appeared for a plea hearing in March.

Four other allegations of sexual activity with the victim during the same incidents were allowed to lie on court file.

In a statement read out in court today, the victim said had been left feeling isolated and “tried to escape from reality” following the offences.

She felt she wouldn’t be believed if she told anyone about the abuse and by her teens her mental health started to deteriorate.

She had “lost trust in all men” and felt “permanently damaged by what (Williamson) did”.

She had sought professional psychological support for emotional problems.

Defence barrister Nick Peacock said that Williamson had been honest with police since his arrest and had no other criminal record.

“He can’t explain his thinking at the time (of the offences),” added Mr Peacock.

“He fully accepts the pain and suffering he has caused (the victim).”

He said that Williamson was now a “completely and utterly isolated” man who suffered from lengthy bouts of depression.

Judge Sean Morris, the Recorder of York, said the victim had endured a “terrible time before these matters came to light”.

He said the consequences had been “devastating” for the victim.

The judge told Williamson: “Sexual offending against people has enormous, long-term consequences for (victims’) mental health.

“The consequences (in this case) are so bad I take the view that it has to be a custodial sentence and it’s too serious, because of the consequences, to suspend it.”

Williamson was jailed for two years – a reduced sentence due to his guilty pleas, his otherwise clean record and his age at the time of the offences.

He will only have to serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence and the judge told him it could be less than that due to the current overcrowding in jails.

Williamson was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years and made subject to a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order.