A child rapist who performed sex acts in front of his young victim could die behind bars.
Joseph Whitbread, 70, formerly of Totteridge Road in High Wycombe, will serve at least two thirds of his 16 year prison sentence before he can be considered for release – meaning he will be 81 when he is finally allowed out.
His lawyer told Oxford Crown Court that the paedophile pensioner had had a heart stent fitted and suffered from lung condition COPD. His deteriorating health meant he may die in prison or be 'very infirm' when he is released.
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Jurors found him guilty in August of raping a girl and molesting her on countless other occasions.
He was said to have performed sex acts on himself while she was in the room on ‘at least’ 20 occasions in the 2000s.
At Whitbread's sentencing hearing last week, prosecutor Russell Pynne told Judge Nigel Daly: “The victim described it as a ‘habit’, essentially. This is what the defendant would do.”
Whitbread also had a catalogue of child abuse images and extreme pornography on his computer, which detectives found when they seized the device during the investigation into the historic sexual abuse.
The woman who’d been subjected to the abuse wasn’t able to write a victim personal statement, her partner said, as she ‘found herself going dead inside’.
The man said in a statement read to the court by Mr Pynne: “I think she reached a point where she just could not face talking about it anymore.”
Sentencing him to 16 years’ imprisonment and ordering he serve an additional year on licence as an offender of particular concern, Judge Daly said Whitbread had groomed his victim and abused her trust.
“I have considered the question of dangerousness. On the face of it you have committed appalling offences against your victim. Your activities on the internet indicate that you are somebody who has got an unnatural interest in young children from a sexual point of view,” he said.
“But I have got to consider the public and I have also taken into account the sentence that I have passed of 16 years' imprisonment. I bear in mind that you will serve two thirds of that before release on licence and you will be subject as far as [the rape charge] is concerned to an additional period on extended licence of one year.
“You will be on licence for a significant period of time and during that period on licence should you breach any conditions of that licence you will be recalled to custody.”
In mitigation, Whitbread was said to be in poor health and was ‘totally isolated’ from his family. Immediately after his offending came to light he’d been homeless and living on Dartmoor.
Whitbread was convicted of rape of a child under 13, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He admitted possession of indecent images.
He will be a sex offender for life and a sexual harm prevention order prevents him from having unsupervised contact with children.
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