A YOUNG Warwick man who sexually assaulted two teenage girls during incidents more than three years ago has been ordered to register as a sex offender for life.
Ashley Walker had consistently denied the offences against the two girls, aged 15 and 14, until the day of his trial at Coventry Crown Court.
The 24-year-old, of St Lawrence Avenue, was jailed for five years and four months by Judge Andrew Lockhart QC who also ordered him to register as a sex offender for life.
Daniel Oscroft, prosecuting, said the first incident took place in April 2018, at a time when Walker was living at the home of his girlfriend’s parents in Stratford.
His girlfriend was out when a 15-year-old girl turned up hoping to see her, and she and Walker watched a programme on the computer in the bedroom while they waited for her to return.
But as they sat next to each-other he put his leg over hers and began to stroke the inside of her thigh, ignoring her repeated requests to stop.
He then pulled her top down and touched her. Again she repeatedly told him to stop but did not. He repeatedly kissed her and then undid her trousers before touching her intimately.
Throughout the incident the girl kept telling him to stop, and he only did so after getting her to agree not to tell his girlfriend what he had done.
After leaving the house, the girl told a friend what had happened, and later Walker sent her at text saying ‘I’m sorry.’
The police were contacted and when he was arrested Walker, who admitted knowing the girl’s age, said they had been kissing and cuddling, and accepted she had told him to stop several times.
But he denied undoing her trousers or touching her more intimately, and suggested that DNA evidence from a swab could be down to him suffering from eczema.
Mr Oscroft said Walker’s second victim was just 14 when he and his girlfriend went to her home in August the same year to babysit a younger sibling while their parents went out.
When his girlfriend went upstairs to check on the younger child, Walker put his hand inside the girl’s leggings, Mr Oscroft told the court.
“She told him to stop which he eventually did, and she went out to the stairs. The defendant followed her, grabbed her waist and kissed and bit her neck and ear.”
He stopped at the sound of his girlfriend coming back downstairs, and left shortly afterwards, and the police were later informed.
Mr Oscroft added that when Walker, who was 21 at the time of both incidents and had no previous convictions, was arrested and interviewed, he said he had had eight or nine cans of lager, but denied touching her at all.
