Father-of-three who raped two teenagers jailed for 16 years

Brazen paedophile Mark Jackson, 34, told police it had been “hard to tell” whether his victims, aged 14 and 15, were underage.  But Judge Sylvia de Bertodano said there was “no doubt

whatsoever” that he knew they were under 16.  The heroin addict also sexually assaulted a third 15-year-old girl – and when questioned allegedly told police: “I’m a single man. Why not?” He

denied the litany of sick child sex offences at Warwick Crown Court but was found guilty. Prosecution barrister Peter Arnold told the court Jackson met the girls when they asked him to buy

vodka for them outside a corner shop in April 2014. He gave the older of the first two girls his phone number and told them to contact him should they ever need alcohol.  The girls paid

three visits to his flat, where they drank vodka together. On their final visit, Jackson – who has a daughter of the same age as his victims were at the time of the offences – forced the

girls to strip and perform a sex act on him. The court heard that their phones had been locked in a car to prevent them calling for help. Jackson, from Coventry, also encouraged the girls to

lie to their parents about their whereabouts. He then raped the 14-year-old – and on another occasion sexually assaulted her 15-year-old friend on a separate visit. Sentencing Jackson to 16

years behind bars, de Bertodano said: “There are three girls and they are vulnerable because of their age and circumstances and made more vulnerable by the fact that they are paralytically

drunk. "These girls you took to your flat and gave them alcohol. "These were girls who should not have been drinking, and when they did drink they were clearly incapable of dealing

with it. She added: "You didn't care about their well-being, you just wanted to have sex with them. "When you raped them they were so drunk they had been sick and were in

absolutely no position to resist."