A PAEDOPHILE who routinely abused a girl from the age of three has been jailed for ten years.

Stephen Paul Hockey , 59, was told his victim was still suffering as he was jailed in connection with four charges of indecent assault dating back more than 20 years when he appeared before Dorchester Crown Court.

Hockey, of Kestrel View, Weymouth, had previously pleaded guilty to the charges which relate to offences against the same victim between January 1986 and December 1990.

Prosecutor Carolyn Branford-Wood told the court the abuse began when the victim was three years old and continued on a monthly basis for four years.

She said the defendant would rub himself against the girl and touch her inappropriately for sexual gratification.

Miss Branford-Wood said that when the victim was aged three Hockey made her perform a sexual act on him.

Judge Roger Jarvis said: “If you had committed this offence more recently you would have been charged with rape.”

In a witness statement read to the court the victim described the abuse as ‘mind control’.

She said: “I don’t want to see him punished – I want to protect other kids.

“You only get one chance at life and he’s messed mine up.”

Judge Jarvis said: “It’s plain this has had a huge impact on this victim’s life, her adult life and her ability to form relationships.”

Hockey made full admissions when he was interviewed by police after being arrested when the allegations finally emerged earlier this year in March.

He said: “From the age of about three I touched her inappropriately and fondled her for sexual gratification.”

In mitigation Lee Christmas said: “The guilty plea is the best mitigation – not putting the victim through a trial and admitting to the police after he was arrested.

“He readily accepts they are appalling and accepts he has ruined her life and there is genuine remorse on his part.”

Judge Jarvis told Hockey: “I’ve read a statement from the victim on the long-term effects of what you did when she was a very little child and they are profound.

“This lady is suffering still and I doubt time will ever heal what you did to her when she was a child.”

Hockey has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.