Judge 'troubled' by the way child sex case was handled by police

Colin Guntrip, aged 46, of Ffordd Croesawdy, Newtown, was sent to jail for three and a half years for four counts of sexual activity with a child.

But the court heard he had been grooming the schoolgirl from 2013 – but it took until 2017 for West Mercia Police to interview him and until 2019 to charge him.

Shrewsbury Crown Court Judge Peter Barrie sentenced Guntrip on Friday.

He said: “This might have come to an end when her mother found out what was happening and contacted the police. "It is concerning to know that the police dealt with it by suggesting that her mother should take her phone away.”

Judge Barrie said he found the case “troubling” because when the girl eventually found the courage to speak to an MP about what she had gone through in July 2017, the police interviewed her in August 2017, and then interviewed Guntrip in September 2017.

But “nothing happened for over a year” until he was charged with serious offences in November 2019.

In 2021 Guntrip pleaded guilty to an alternative set of lesser charges before later seeking to vacate his pleas.

His attempt to revert back to a ‘not guilty’ plea was rejected, and Judge Barrie told him he would “have to stand by pleas entered in court”. He was given credit on his guilty plea, which meant that the victim was not required to give evidence at a trial.

Russell Pyne KC, prosecuting, said the victim, who cannot be named, had attended an MP’s surgery five and a half years ago to complain and was recommended to go to the police. The victim is now in her 20s. But Guntrip’s offending had started when she was a young teenager, in 2013.

“She was very quiet and subdued and he sent her a friend request on Facebook,” said Mr Pyne. They started to chat as friends, and Guntrip first claimed to be 22, then 28, when he was in fact 36 years old.

“He started to ask for pictures and because she thought he was the only person who really cared for her, she started sending intimate photos. He was insistent about wanting more and issued threats if he did not receive more. He made threats about her family.”

Mr Pyne said when Guntrip was arrested in September 2017 his electronic devices were checked and they found 36 photos of the victim, another 18 images of children at or before puberty, and others at the extreme end of the scale. He also had used certain internet search terms.

Guntrip had no previous convictions, the court was told.

Victim impact statements were read to the court which described a young woman who is still looking over her shoulder, having nightmares, sleepless nights and years of denial. She is described as saying: “For years nobody believed me and I lived through hell.”

“I feel he still controls me through smells and songs I hear on the radio.”

She has suffered post traumatic stress disorder and suffers flashbacks, nightmares and feels isolated.

Paulinus Barnes KC, mitigating, said Guntrip had a “low risk” of offending again and that the probation service feels they can work with him.

Judge Barrie said the victim was a “quiet, introspective 14 year old schoolgirl when you sent her a friend request.

“You managed to make her think of you as a kind person who thought of her first. It is a process we call grooming.”

He said it was quite clear that Guntrip’s interest in her was to develop a sexual relationship.

The effect on the victim was that it “left her in a terrible state”, said Judge Barrie.

Judge Barrie reduced Guntrip’s sentence to take into account his mental health problems. Then he was given a 20 per cent reduction for pleading guilty. He sentenced Guntrip to three years and two months’ imprisonment for each of four counts of sexual activity with a child. He ordered that the sentences be served concurrently.

Guntrip was also sentenced on two counts of making indecent images of children, one for nine months’ imprisonment and the other for four months. Those sentences will also run concurrently with the sentence for the main charge.

Judge Barrie said half of Guntrip’s sentence of three years and two months would be served in custody and the other half in the community.

In response to the Shropshire Star, West Mercia Police said in the past they have let young people down but is working on its responses to the publication of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Telford (IITCSE).

Officers say they want victims to come forward.

Superintendent Jamie Dunn said: “I would like to extend the apology made by our Assistant Chief Constable Richard Cooper following the publication of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Exploitation in Telford (IITCSE).

"In the past, we let young people down at a time when they needed our help and protection the most and the report was a stark reminder of the harrowing suffering children who have been abused and exploited have endured.

"We continue to work with our partner agencies to implement the recommendations of the report.

“Due to the very nature of grooming and exploitation, they can often by very complex investigations and must be handled sensitively.

"Ensuring victims are supported and safeguarded from any further abuse is absolutely paramount to us and I would encourage anyone who has been a victim of exploitation, whether now or in the past, to please come forward and speak to us about this.”