Karl Pitcher jailed for sexual abuse of four girls

A man has been jailed for 10 years and four months for sexually assaulting four girls over a 10-year period.

Karl Pitcher was found guilty at a trial on 16 March of 11 counts of indecent assault against four children aged between two and 14 on numerous occasions between 1993 and 2003.

The 54-year-old, of Great Orchard, Ilchester, near Yeovil, was sentenced at Taunton Crown Court on Thursday.

Judge Neil Millard told him: "You are a predator of young girls."

Judge Millard, who commended the "strong women" who came forward, told the defendant: "Over 10 years, you demonstrated a long-term commitment to abuse young girls.

"You've displayed no victim empathy in this case."

In a personal statement, one victim said: "I was a vulnerable young girl all those years ago and he knew it. He used that to his advantage to be able to behave how he wanted towards me.

"He destroyed my confidence. I spent all those years rebuilding my life and was then made by him to relive it all again during a trial."

Another victim said: "The day we found out the jury had reached a guilty verdict, I cried with relief -relief that the truth had been told and heard and that, as victims, we were finally getting the justice we deserved."

Avon and Somerset Police said the force had a disclosure in 2020 from two women who had been sexually assaulted as children.

Investigating officers carried out inquiries that led to the further examination of two other cases, which were reported in the 2000s but did not lead to a prosecution at the time.

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