A dangerous paedophile from Chorley who raped a nine-year-old girl and put his hands down the trousers of a seven-year-old girl has been jailed for 16 years.

Damon Townsend, 36, was found guilty by a jury of raping the victim more than once and touching the younger girl on her bottom, under her clothes on a number of occasions, despite their pleas for him to stop.

Amanda Johnson, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, said the older victim, aged just nine, had not told anybody about her ordeal for some years, but when using a computer at school, she broke down.

Ms Johnson said: “She became hysterical, she was sobbing, hyperventilating and distraught.

“She said that he touched her and took her virginity.

“She said he sits on the couch and touches her and does sexual things to her, touching her near her private parts.

“He put his 'thing' near her, and she told him to stop it.”

A relative was called and the girl told them: “That thing made me not a virgin anymore.”

In an interview with the police, the victim struggled again to say what had happened to her, asking for a break before she wrote down what Townsend had done and managed to speak to police.

She told officers how when she was nine, she was touched between her legs on numerous occasions.

On one occasion when he took off her underwear, she screamed and said she didn’t want to get pregnant.

In a victim impact statement, the victim, who is now in her teens, said: “Due to this, I feel really unclean all the time. I also feel unsafe around men I’m not close to.

“I feel like what happened was my fault, which has made me feel anxious and paranoid.

“I used to be joyful and could make friends. I don’t want to remember as it makes my arms feel like they are burning.”

The second victim, who was seven or eight when she was abused, said Townsend would go to hug her and touch her bottom.

Ms Johnson said: “He told her to hug him and put his hand in her trousers, in between her underwear and trousers.

“He pulled her towards him but she pushed him away. He said to keep it a secret.”

The girl’s parents asked if anyone had touched her and she said yes, so they contacted the police.

She used a teddy to show how Townsend molested her.

In a victim impact statement, she said: “I have had enough of him messing around with my life.

"It’s on my mind all the time and I can’t escape my thoughts. I have flashbacks that I relive over again.

“I don’t trust anyone like a normal child trusts people like teachers and police officers. I don’t trust anyone except my parents.”

Townsend, formerly of Cornflower Close, was interviewed on two occasions after each report and both times denied all allegations made about him.

While he was released under investigation, due to a previous incident of sexual assault, police checked Townsend’s phone and found 11 sexual images of children and 20 sexual cartoon images of children, telling police he was doing ‘research for his trial’.

Passing a sentence of 16 years in prison, Judge Graham Knowles said Townsend was ‘dangerous’, and ordered him to sign the sexual offences register indefinitely.

He also banned Townsend from contacting his victims or any girl under the age of 16, being unsupervised with a girl under 16, and from using devices with access to the internet unless permitted by police.

Judge Knowles said: “What devastation you have brought in so many lives.

“You are a dangerous man. The public must be protected from you, and you must be punished and punished severely for what you have done.

“You raped a girl no older than nine when she came to visit you. She has had a long wait before she could speak out. She was too scared to tell.

“That’s the power the adult has when he abuses a child.

“Under the pretence of a hug, you had been putting your hands down the back of the trousers of a girl aged seven or eight.

“It was open to you to say you did do it but you, to this moment deny that you ever did any of these things.”

Townsend, of Chorley, has been jailed for 16 years and must serve a further four years on licence.

Following the sentencing, DC Louise Dutton, of South CID, said: “Townsend is a manipulative individual with an abhorrent and warped sexual interest in children. Not only did he target his victims because of their vulnerability, he also forced them to re-live their harrowing ordeals by taking the case to trial.

“I am glad this dangerous sexual predator has now been given a substantial custodial sentence. The associated court orders will also mean Townsend will be monitored by the authorities once he is eventually released from the custodial element of his sentence.

“I want to place on record my admiration at the bravery displayed by both victims during the criminal justice process and beyond. I know these offences have understandably had a significant and ongoing impact on them and I hope they can take some comfort in knowing that their abuser will be behind bars for some time.

“I hope the outcome of this case will encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward, knowing that they will be believed and we will do everything in our power to put the perpetrators before the courts.”