Sheffield Crown Court heard how 28-year-old Mark Butterworth was found guilty after a 19-count trial of sexual abuse against two youngsters when he was a teenager and the complainant boy was aged between seven and 12 years old and that the complainant girl was between eight and nine years old.
Judge Rachael Harrison told Butterworth: ‘I am mindful of your age at the time of your offense and the information I read about you in the psychological report about your limited IQ.
“You would have been immature and sometimes a child yourself, but there is a significant age difference between you and your victims.
“You used access to your computer games as a bribe to get them to behave the way you wanted. In my opinion, you used grooming behavior with each of them.
Justice Harrison described the offenses against the complainants who were only young children and cannot be identified as a “campaign of sexual assault”.
A jury found Butterworth, of Lilac Crescent, Hoyland, Barnsley, guilty of 13 counts of sexual activity against the boy.
They also found Butterworth guilty of six sexual offenses against the girl, including cases involving indecent imagery, causing her to watch pornography and sexual activity.
The boy said he tried to block out what happened and move on with his life and was reassured by his family that he should never blame himself.
Moreover, the girl’s mother said that she had really struggled emotionally and was self-harming and had a hard time talking about her emotions.
Defending Richard Canning said Butterworth committed offenses when he was under 18 and had just reached adulthood.
Judge Harrison said: “His intelligence is limited and he suffers – and has for some time – from depression and anxiety.”
She sentenced Butterworth on April 29 to 12 and a half years in prison and he was also placed on the sex offender register and a sexual harm prevention order.
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