Jordan Meek – Cumbria

THE devastating impact of sexual abuse was spelled out in a courtroom as a judge sentenced a 22-year-old Maryport man for multiple child sex offences.

The victim – just seven when Jordan Meek began abusing her – made two impact statements about how her prolonged ordeal has changed her life forever and continues to hover over her thoughts “like a black cloud.”

The defendant, who was a youth when he began offending, denied sexual wrongdoing, but he was convicted by a jury of eight offences following a trial.

He did, however, plead guilty to possessing the Class B drug cannabis with intent to supply.

Much of the hearing at Carlisle Crown Court was taken up with the reading aloud of two victim impact statements that the girl made to explain how she has been affected.

As a young child, she did understand the significance of what happened, she said.

At primary school, she cried a lot and did not want to go.

“I didn’t know if anyone would believe me,” she said, but she then recalled the relief she felt when she was listened to. She described suffering recurring nightmares featuring Meek. She constantly worries when away from her home, suffering from stomach cramps.

“It has impacted my life in so many ways,” she wrote.

“I want to try to put this nightmare behind me and I want to try to live a normal life, even though it’s been like a black cloud sitting over my thoughts.

“I know that it’s something that, in time, I will learn to live with but it will never go away.”

Judge Fanning jailed Meek, of Lonsdale Terrace, Maryport, for five years – a term he must serve two thirds of before he is eligible for release on licence.

The judge also imposed an eight-year sexual harm prevention order and put Meek on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely. An indefinite restraining order also bans any contact with the victim.