'Deviant' pervert fails to win cut in 16-year sentence

Leon Ashley Ward (32), of Badsley Moor Lane, Clifton, was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court after he was convicted in May of two rapes, sexual assault and possession of child pornography.

But appeal court judges upheld his jail term after ruling that it was not ‘manifestly excessive’

The court was told that Ward had been arrested after his young victim told her family about the attacks.

He was found to have child porn on his mobile phone and  the was evidence that he had visited sick internet sites.

The judge at the Crown Court said Ward had been ‘obsessed with deviant sex’.

Ward had admitted having a sexual interest in 13 and 14-year-olds, but denied the attack on the younger girl.