Ben Frank Spruce, aged 20, from St Peter Port has been sentenced to 15 years and 5 months in prison for sexual crimes against 10 victims, including eight girls and two boys under the age of 16.
Spruce, who was a teenager when the offences occurred, was found guilty of five sexual offences during a trial in March before being sentenced yesterday.
In total he was sentenced for 18 offences, the bulk of which were committed during 2023.
Giving the sentence, Judge Catherine Fooks spoke to Spruce directly saying he was “a dangerous sexual predator”.
“You are clearly a serious danger to children and the only way to protect them is with you in prison.”
Among Spruce’s crimes, he was sentenced for two counts of rape involving a 13-year-old girl he met via social media, with the offences happening in a field near the girl’s home on Boxing Day 2023 when he was 18.
Judge Fooks told Spruce “your victim was a child, you were an adult, this is grooming”.
Spruce had sent the girl unsolicited pictures and pressured her to meet in person and even offered her money.
Among the other crimes Spruce was sentenced for was the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl at Saumarez Park when he was 17.
Judge Fooks went on to say that Spruce “had been driven by your own sexual desires without giving any thought to the ages of the child victims”.
Judge Fooks added: “You made and shared indecent images and messages. You intimidated and frightened all your victims”.
In sentencing Spruce for each of the 18 crimes that he had either admitted or was found guilty of, Judge Fooks gave him 15 years and five months in prison.
The sentence has been backdated to Spruce’s remand date of 7 March 2024. He will be supervised and on an extended licence on his eventual release from prison.
Statements from Spruce’s victims were read out in court with one of the children describing the toll the trial had taken on their relationships with parents and family in general.
Another victim said she had struggled with depression, and “can still feel his hands on my body” and one child had missed alot of school due to severe mental health issues, saying “the internet makes it very easy for this kind of thing to happen”.
The court also heard that it was a “complex investigation” and had taken one year in total with two police officers working on the case for five months solely.
The public gallery was full when the decisions were read out and the defendant showed no emotion.