THOMAS HOBBS – HMP/NORTHUMBERLAND

A vile North East sex beast that burned a little girl with a gas cooker as punishment for not ‘enjoying- being raped has been jailed for 22 years

Thomas Hobbs was convicted of raping and deliberately burning a young child.

Sadistic Hobbs was separately abusing two children at around the same time and was previously jailed for 19 years for attacking the first victim.

Now the 79-year-old been been told he will serve even longer behind bars after jurors found him guilty of attacking the second victim in Northumberland.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the girl said Hobbs would tell her they were “just playing” before carrying out the abuse.

Afterwards, he would ask if she had liked what he did and when she said no he reacted angrily.

Sentencing him, Recorder Toby Hedworth KC told him: “When she said she didn’t like it you became annoyed with her. You hit her or slammed her against a wall and there was one occasion where you burned her hand with a gas cooker.”

Hobbs also chillingly warned the frightened youngster: “If anyone finds out I’ve done this, I will stab your whole family and yourself.”

The girl’s mother said in a victim impact statement that she had noticed changes in the demeanour of her “happy little girl” since the offences. She added: “She tends to avoid everybody, especially older men.”

The woman said the girl has self-harmed and the abuse has also affected her own health. She added: “Her quality of life has changed since the abuse.

“His sexual abuse of my daughter has had a devastating effect on her physical and mental health. This has then had an impact on my physical and mental health.

“I would like Hobbs to understand and reflect on the effect his abuse has had on our family.”

When the victim came forwards, the earlier case against Hobbs was already in the court system.

For that offending, he was jailed for 19 years, with a one-year extended licence period, in September 2024 after he was convicted of ten offences, including rape and sexual assaults.

For the latest offences, he was found guilty by jury of rape, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, assault by penetration and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in relation to the burning.

He was sentenced to 22 years with an extended licence period of a further year. That sentence will run concurrently to the 19 year sentence imposed in 2024.