A 51-YEAR-OLD man from Oldbury-on-Severn who molested a nine-year-old girl while she slept has been jailed for two-and-a-half years.

At Gloucester Crown Court today it was heard how Paul Bennett’s actions had emotionally impacted on the girl, leaving her “extremely introverted”.

Reading a statement from the girl’s mother, prosecutor Tara Wolfe said that the girl had feared that no one would believe her when she originally reported what had happened.

Ms Wolfe said that giving evidence during the trial “had affected her in a very negative way”.

She added that the girl believed Bennett to be someone she could trust and that she is now receiving professional support.

Bennett had denied sexually touching the girl on April 19 this year as well as on a date some time the previous year.

On Wednesday the jury found him guilty of the most recent offence but not guilty of the earlier one.

The girl was asleep on a sleeping bag on the sofa at a home in Stonehouse on the night of April 19 when Bennett assaulted her.

She then told her grandmother what had happened who told the girl’s mother who then reported the incident to police.

Bennett had denied anything indecent but that he had given her a kiss and cuddle and tickled her on her chest, stomach, legs and feet.

Defending, Sarah Jenkins, said Bennett was inexperienced with the opposite sex and had only been involved in short relationships.

Recorder Nigel Lickey told Bennett his actions had been “particularly underhand and devious”.

“It is a very serious offence,” he said. “She has been affected in a number of ways. The damage done to her will persist."

As well as the two-and-a-half year jail sentence, an indefinite sexual harm prevention order was made against him forbidding him from living in the same house as girls under the age of 16 and also from knowingly being in the company of girls below the same age.