A man has been jailed for 8 and a half years for the rape of a girl aged 11 and another sex attack

Stuart Woolman raped the girl as she was delivering a Christmas card.

Woolman, 21, denied rape but was convicted after a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court. He received a six-year sentence

He admitted indecent assault on a woman in Chelmsford and was given a 30-month sentence to run consecutively.

The trial heard how the 11-year-old left her Chelmsford home on December 22 to deliver a Christmas card.

She met Woolman and he offered to walk her home as it was dark.

They took a short cut near Milton Place then he raped her, the court heard.

Afterwards, Woolman gave the girl a hug and told her not to tell anyone.

Amanda Rippon, prosecuting, said the girl's grandfather noticed she was tearful but it was five days before she told her aunt what had happened.

Woolman, of King's Road, Chelmsford, at first denied meeting the girl that night, then denied having sex with her.

Gareth Hughes, mitigating, said Woolman continued to deny the rape but has expressed genuine remorse over the indecent assault.

"He is a man who suffers in a minor way from a personality disorder," Mr Hughes said

Published Tuesday August 20, 2002

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