Judge warns parents to check children's online activities in bedroom as Darlington teen rapist put behind bars

William Nicholson, of Symington Walk, Darlington, was said to have used his victim as an “experimental” plaything over several years to satisfy his sexual curiosity.

Teesside Crown Court saw Nicholson, now 19, found guilty of two charges of rape, attempted rape, two indecent assaults and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard he showed the girl pornography, and searches for sex films had been made on his X-Box.

Teesside Crown Court heard he was 14 when he started abusing the primary school pupil, who kept her ordeal a secret until 2015.

She confided in a friend of her mother’s what had been happening, and the police were called in, said Aisha Wadoodi, prosecuting.

Judge Peter Armstrong said Nicholson’s pornography viewing had influenced his behaviour.

“It almost beggars belief,” said the judge of Nicholson’s internet interest. “I can’t believe it didn’t have an effect on him. It is a warning to parents to monitor their children’s activities rather than being left to their own devices in their bedrooms.

“It’s behaviour where it is experimenting or curious and perhaps acting out what he had seen using [the girl] as an object to do that.”

Chris Baker, mitigating, said Nicholson had been heavily influenced by adults from the time he stopped going to school seven years ago.

In statements, the victim said she struggled to explain what was happening at the time, and now suffers from nightmares.

She said: “When this was happening I felt really confused. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn’t put it into words.”

He was sent to a young offenders’ institution for six years, will be on the sex offenders’ register for life, and banned from working with children. An indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order was also imposed, which prohibits Nicholson from having unsupervised contact with under-16s and restricts his computer and internet use.