Man jailed for committing child sex offences
A man who committed sex offences against a child has been jailed for five years and three months in the Royal Court.
James Pearson-Jump, 34, pictured, had denied one count of sexual assault by penetration and two of indecent assault, but was found guilty of each by unanimous decisions, following a trial lasting five days in September.
The offences were committed between March 2022 and January last year.
The court heard that he would be appealing his conviction.
In her sentencing remarks, Judge Catherine Fooks said there were several aggravating factors in the case.
The child had to be interviewed by police and then come to court to give evidence, which had been very traumatic.
The evidence had been consistent throughout.
References submitted on the defendant’s behalf described him in glowing terms.
‘But the court cannot ignore that fact that the writers largely do not accept that you committed these offences,’ she said.
The suggestion that he had been set up had not been raised at trial, she added.
Judge Fooks described the offences as ‘disgusting and abhorrent’.
But as Pearson-Jump was appealing the verdict, naturally he expressed no remorse.
While he received no credit for guilty pleas, it did not increase the length of his sentence, she said.
Pearson-Jump was jailed for five years and three months for the sexual assault by penetration and 18 months each, both concurrent, for the indecent assaults.
He will be subject to an extended sentence licence with conditions for two years upon his release from prison, and notification requirements for seven years.
Advocate Samuel Steel said his client understood that the offences of which he had been convicted were disgusting and warranted sentences of immediate custody. But while he had respect for the court, he was maintaining his innocence.
Counsel spoke of his client’s emotional challenges over the past seven years and said his family remained supportive of him. He had been forced to leave his job six months ago when rumours began circulating about the offences, and had already ‘suffered greatly’ before the inevitable prison sentence had been imposed.
Sitting as judge alone in the Guernsey Court of Appeal later in the day, Deputy Bailiff Jessica Roland refused the defendant’s application for bail pending appeal.
