A PERVERTED Penrith man who sexually assaulted two schoolgirls was prosecuted after one of his victims secretly recorded his offending. 

When police began to investigate 56-year-old John Kernan because of his most recent abuse, another victim came forward and disclosed that the defendant also sexually assaulted her when she was a child.

Kernan was himself 16-years-old when he committed that earlier offence. 

The defendant, of Scaws Drive, Penrith, pleaded guilty to four offences: one historical count of gross indecency with a child; and three more recent sexual assaults on a different schoolgirl. Both victims were under 13.  

At Carlisle Crown Court, prosecutor Gerard Rogerson outlined the background to the case.

He said that the offences came to light when the victim of the most recent sexual abuse told her mother that she had recorded an incident involving Kernan, when he claimed that what did was just 'playfighting'.

But the girl was deeply 'uncomfortable' with what happened and so decided to gather evidence by covertly recording her next encounter with Kernan, using her iPad.

She then asked her mother to look at the video she had recorded. “I showed my mum and said look at this video,” the girl told police. When her mother saw the video, what it showed left her feeling “sick to the stomach.”

The girl said she had previously spoken to only one other person about what happened – a friend at school. The victim said she had not known how to tell Kernan to stop the abuse but said: “I knew what was going on.”

The prosecutor then read to the court from a victim impact statement which was made by the child's mother.

The woman said that both she and her daughter had suffered 'significant emotional and psychological impacts' as a result of Kernan's abuse.

"She describes her daughter has having gone through a roller coaster of emotions and trauma," said Mr Rogerson.  The woman said he was heart-breaking to see her child - formerly happy-go-lucky - change so much.

The girl now suffered regular breakdowns, and her sleep was haunted by nightmares.

The woman and her daughter felt vulnerable when they went to Carlisle, fearful that they might see Kernan.

They avoided certain areas because of their fear of seeing him. "He took advantage of an innocent child for his own needs," the woman said.

She added that the abuse had a devastating impact and that the images she had seen on her daughter’s video recording played over and over in her head, leaving her unable to sleep and causing her mental health to spiral.

When he was interviewed by the police, Kernan claimed he had done nothing wrong, but conceded that it 'looked bad.' The court heard that in conversations with members of his family, the defendant had made incriminating admissions.

He told a relative that he had ruined his life. Mr Rogerson added that Kernan was a man of previous good character.

Mark Shepherd, mitigating, said the defendant had himself been exposed as a child to inappropriate sexual material in the form of pornography. “He regrets clearly what he has done and is remorseful,” said the lawyer.

Mr Shepherd said there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.

But Judge Richard Archer noted that the defendant appeared to have learned little during the intervening years between his first offence – which involved inappropriate sexual contact on three occasions with the victim - and the more recent offences.

While it would be possible to suspend the sentence he would impose, said the judge, there should be an element of deterrence in sentences for such sexual offending against children who are aged under 13.

Referring to that deterrent element, the judge said this means sending a message to future offenders and to the public at large that those who commit such offences against young children will be appropriately punished.

Addressing Kernan directly, the judge said: “For that reason, I regret to say to you that I have concluded that appropriate punishment in your case can only be achieved by an immediate custodial sentence.”

Judge Archer jailed the defendant for 16 months.

Kernan will be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade, and he will also be subjected to a sexual harm prevention order which will bar him from having unsupervised contact with any child or staying at any home where a child is resident.