Teenage victim speaks out as man is jailed following two years of sexual abuse

Those were the words of a teenage victim of sexual abuse after her attacker was jailed this week.

According to Sussex Police, Larry White, 55, was sentenced to a total of 17 years’ imprisonment at Portsmouth Crown Court on Monday (July 20), having been convicted on the previous Friday of a series of serious sexual assaults including rapes, on a teenage girl in Emsworth, near West Sussex.

Police said White, now of Canal Walk, Portsmouth, will be a registered sex offender indefinitely and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order ‘severely restricting his contact with children’, to last until further court order.

In a statement released by Sussex Police, the victim said: “I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.

“This man was well practiced in what he did and there is no doubt in my mind that there were victims before me.

“I hope upon reading this article, said victims can muster up the courage to tell their story or at least take comfort in the fact that Larry White is in prison paying for his crimes.”

Detective Constable Leigh Rankin, of the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit, said White came to know the young girl and ‘took advantage of her vulnerability’ to sexually abuse her ‘for his own gratification for two years’.

The police officer’s statement added: “Eventually she felt strong enough to confront him and to tell us.

“We immediately took action, arresting White and carrying out a thorough investigation which established the full and appalling nature of his offending.

“His victim has given full support to the investigation and bravely gave her evidence in court.

“This case shows once again that we will resolutely investigate all such reports, support the victims and seek justice for them wherever possible.”

For further advice and sources of support over child sexual exploitation see the Sussex Police website.

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