Pervert who raped young girl in Finedon woodland has sentence INCREASED after government intervention
Ryan Sutton was jailed for six years back in December after his horrifying grooming and rape of a youngster in Finedon was exposed in court.
The now 24-year-old groomed the primary-aged girl on gaming apps including Roblox for three weeks before travelling from his home in Worcester to rape her after she told her mum she was going out to the shop.
Now Sutton has had his jail term increased after intervention from Solicitor General Lucy Rigby, MP for Northampton North.
His case was heard by the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentences scheme, which aims to review sentences that fall outside of the standard guidelines. Although dozens of cases are are referred to the scheme each year, Sutton’s is only the second Northampton Crown Court case to be increased in the past four years.
Sentencing Sutton in December His Honour Judge David Herbert KC said that Sutton’s actions had had a ‘significant’ effect on the girl.
During the hearing at Northampton Crown Court, Judge Herbert said that the starting point in his sentencing guidelines was ten years, but he reduced it to six years because of the mitigation and Sutton’s guilty plea. He also gave him an extended licence period of a year.
Now the Court of Appeal has increased that sentence to nine years.
Ms Rigby referred the sentence to the appeal court after it was revealed in court that Sutton had met the young victim on social media in March 2023.
Sutton groomed the victim with flattery and offers to spend money on her. Messages were often sexual in nature and the pair exchanged photographs. Between April 11 and 23, Sutton and the victim spoke on Facetime 225 times.
On 23 April, 2023, Ryan Sutton travelled from his home to meet the victim in Finedon before he raped her. Ryan Sutton originally ran off when he was spotted with the victim before police arrested him, where they found condoms in his bag.
She was left suffering from severe trauma, and there was a devastating impact on her entire family.
Speaking after the case, investigating officer Detective Constable James Wright said Sutton was ‘one of the worst child sex offenders that I have investigated’. He said he would always pose a risk to young girls.
Lucy Rigby KC MP said: “The offender groomed and abused a child. His crimes were truly abhorrent and the court has quite rightly increased his sentence.
“My thoughts today are with the victim of this offender’s actions, and her family. This case should serve as a strong warning that this Government will take all possible action to protect women and girls from any form of abuse.”
Sutton was charged with one count of rape of a child under 13, one count of assault by penetration of a child under 13, one count of meeting a child following sexual grooming, one count of sexual communication with a child, and one count of sexual assault of a child under 13.
This sentence was increased to nine years’ imprisonment with a licence extension of 12 months on 12 March 2025 at the Court of Appeal in London.