A KEY prosecution witness at the trial of a paedophile now serving 18 years in jail is now also behind bars for sexual offences against an under-age girl.

York Crown Court heard that Calvin Daniel Dixon, 21, gave a statement to police about the activities of child rapist Wayne O’Donnell, 55, in June 2012.

Recorder Tim Roberts QC described how within months, Dixon started grooming a 13-year-old for sex and had consensual sex with her at his home and sexually assaulted her in bushes in a public park.

Dixon’s barrister Nigel Jamieson said he had then given evidence against O’Donnell at Teesside Crown Court during which O’Donnell accused him of committing some of the crimes of which the older man was accused and later convicted.

In a victim impact statement, the girl told Recorder Tim Roberts QC at York Crown Court: “He took away my innocence in the most disgusting way before I really understood about sex.”

She also said Dixon had taken “part of her childhood” and the consequences of his crimes would affect her more as she grows older.

“He is a dangerous man,” she said.

Nicholas Barker, prosecuting, said the girl had had a crush on Dixon.

The judge told Dixon of his crimes: “You knew all too well the devastating consequences on a young girl of this kind of predatory sexual behaviour by an older, more experienced man.

“It should have been a natural reaction to resist her crush upon you and to deal with her in a mature and kindly way.”

He said Dixon had been a key witness for the prosecution against O’Donnell, and reduced his sentence slightly as a result.

Dixon, now 21, of Pasture View, Sherburn-in-Elmet, was jailed for three years and put on the sex offenders register and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, both for life. He admitted two charges of sexual assault against the girl, who was not one of O’Donnell’s victims.

O’Donnell, 55, of Pinfold Avenue, Sherburn-in-Elmet, was convicted of four rapes and four sexual assaults against two girls aged under 11, seven charges of taking indecent images of children and one of possessing indecent images of children and was jailed for 18 years last summer.

Mr Jamieson said Dixon may have become so affected by the child sex world which he had inadvertently become part of through events leading up to his witness statement and that may have led to him committing the offences against the 13-year-old girl.