Man, 52, jailed for sexually abusing four young girls (From York Press)

John Robinson, 52, jailed for sexually abusing four young girls

10:00am Thursday 2nd August 2012 in News By Jennifer Bell, Crime reporter

A CHILD molester has been jailed for seven years after admitting sexually abusing four girls, one aged just five.

John Robinson, 52, assaulted each of the young girls at his former home in Haxby , in York, starting in November 1998.

At York Crown Court yesterday, Judge Michael Mettyear heard that on one occasion Robinson, now of Walmer Carr, Wigginton , assaulted one young girl in a bedroom during a barbecue and told the 12-year-old, “don’t say anything and spoil the party”.

The girl only revealed the abuse to her mother years later.

In a separate incident involving another victim, aged six at the time the girl’s father saw Robinson sexually assault his daughter.

Robinson, who has worked for Nestlé for 31 years, also assaulted two young girls at his home on about ten occasions, from when they were aged just five and seven.

The court heard how one of the girls disclosed the abuse at her school after learning on the Facebook website that Robinson was being accused of other charges of child abuse.

Robinson was arrested on March 19 of this year. He later pleaded guilty to seven charges relating to child abuse and indecent assault.

Alexander Menary, prosecuting, read statements from some of the victims, one of whom said Robinson had “taken away her innocence and childhood”, and saying she now had a “warped perception of men”.

She said not a day went by in her life without him in her head.

One of the victims’ parents told the court in a written statement that his daughter “suffered a lot of emotional upheaval” and had been “scarred by what happened”.

Robinson, in a blue and grey tracksuit top, was impassive as the charges were read out, but wept as Judge Mettyear passed the seven-year sentence and told him he would be placed on the Sexual Offenders’ Register for life.

Judge Mettyear told him: “These were very young girls and a number of them. There is very little that can be said on your behalf.”

Referring to one girl’s testimony, on the impact the assaults had in the years after the abuse, Judge Mettyear said: “The lasting impact of your behaviour is vividly portrayed in her personal statement.

“I very much hope as far as she and the other girls are concerned that the conclusion of this case will help bring the process of some sort of closure and perhaps a degree of healing.”