'Perverted' tattooist jailed for rapes

Martin Paul Sixsmith, 58, groomed the self-conscious youngster by complimenting her on her appearance - only to subject to her vile and persistent abuse once he had her hooked.

Sixsmith, who ran an award-winning tattoo parlour in Scarborough, abused the girl at various properties in the area between 2010 and 2013.

Sixsmith - branded “truly perverted” by an investigating officer - was arrested in May 2014 after the girl finally plucked up the courage to press charges.

He made emphatic denials and claimed the girl was a liar, but was charged with 11 specimen counts of rape.

Seven of those charges related to repeated rapes when the girl was under the age of consent.

He also denied one count of sexual assault of a child under 13, two counts of assault by penetration, one of sexual assault when she was above the legal age, and another of attempted sexual assault.

Sixsmith, of Station Road, Cayton, maintained his innocence until the end and showed not a flicker of emotion during the week-long trial, but the jury was unanimous in finding him guilty on all 16 counts.

Judge Paul Batty QC sentenced him to 12 years in jail for the rapes and four consecutive years for two of the other counts - 16 years in total.

Mr Batty described Sixsmith’s offences as “the most appalling, disgraceful catalogue of sexual conduct” which had “profoundly affected” the girl.

Prosecutor Peter Hampton said Sixsmith groomed the girl via text and social media, telling her she was pretty.

He said that two years before the series of sex attacks between 2010 and 2013, Sixsmith had sexually assaulted the victim at another property before she had reached her teens.

After Sixsmith’s arrest, he tried to pin the blame on the girl, claiming she had been the instigator.

He was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register indefinitely and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order, which will restrict his activities when he is released from prison.

DC Ali Morris, of the Scarborough Serious Crime Team, said after the sentence: “The victim in this case showed great courage in coming forward and were it not for that courage, Sixmith would still be free to abuse children.

“Sixsmith is a truly perverted man who took advantage of his position to commit these appalling offences.”