Paedophile Kettering shop worker who groomed girl with sweets loses bid to reduce prison spell

A paedophile who abused a girl after grooming her with sweets has failed in a bid to have his prison spell reduced.

Shop worker Shibin Vimala Santhakumar, of Pipers Hill Road in Kettering, had sex with the schoolgirl and took an indecent picture of her after gradually building her trust.

In November at Northampton Crown Court he was jailed for 11 years with a further two years on licence, a sentence which he appealed against.

But on Tuesday (June 20) judges dismissed the bid and said 46-year-old Santhakumar had exploited his victim.

London’s Royal Courts of Justice heard the girl was taken advantage of when she was vulnerable.

Santhakumar gave his victim extra change and free treats before engaging in sexual activity with her. The court heard he told her he had ‘done it with a teenager before’.

Paul Webb, representing Santhakumar, said he had contributed in ‘many positive ways’ to the local community and that the circumstances which led to his offending were unlikely to happen again.

He said: "There is not a significant risk of the commission of further offences, simply because of the rarity of these circumstances that led him to make the advances he did to this poor young girl.”

The court heard that a pre-sentence assessment said Santhakumar had a low risk of reoffending but that the report’s author said she did not agree with it. Mr Webb said she should not have dismissed the assessment.

He also said that the decision to impose an extended sentence and find Santhakumar to be a ‘dangerous’ offender was inappropriate, adding that the starting point taken by the sentencing judge, using sentencing guidelines, was too high.

Mr Webb said: “These offences were isolated and opportunistic.”

When the victim reported the offences to Northamptonshire Police Santhakumar initially denied the allegations. He was later charged with sexual activity with a child, inciting sexual activity with a child and possession of indecent images of children, pleading guilty to some offences before his trial and being convicted of all remaining charges by a jury.

Appeal judges Lord Justice Males, Mr Justice Wall and Her Honour Judge Rosa Dean said they agreed with the sentencing judge’s assessment.

Lord Justice Males said: "In our judgement the sentence was not arguably manifestly excessive and the application is refused.”

Speaking after last year’s sentencing hearing lead investigator Detective Constable Chris Waterfall, from Northamptonshire Police’s child protection team, commended the victim for her courage and said her support was vital to their investigation.

He said: “This case shows that sexual offences against children do not often start with an immediate offence. Santhakumar gradually built trust with this girl through offering her free items and money off her purchases. It then escalated into this abuse.

“I welcome the sentence handed out to him as it means there is one less sexual predator on our streets and one less person able to harm children. I hope this result shows the seriousness with which Northamptonshire Police takes these offences and I want to reassure the public that we will continue to work hard to bring people like Santhakumar to justice.”