Ex Norwich and North Walsham rugby star jailed for molesting girl


A Norfolk man has been given a two-year sentence for molesting a teenage girl while they watched a film with his family in the room.
A court had previously found Shaun Woodhouse, 45, of Horsford in Norfolk, guilty of four counts relating to the molesting of a girl in 2013.
On Friday, December 14, at Ipswich Crown Court, Woodhouse spoke only to confirm his name as he was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
Judge David Goodin said: “This has had a significant effect on her schooling and university life.
A court had previously found Shaun Woodhouse, 45, of Horsford in Norfolk, guilty of four counts relating to the molesting of a girl in 2013.
On Friday, December 14, at Ipswich Crown Court, Woodhouse spoke only to confirm his name as he was sentenced to 12 months in prison.
Judge David Goodin said: “This has had a significant effect on her schooling and university life.
“Common sense dictates you must have at least considered what you were going to do – this was an opportunistic crime and you took that opportunity.”
He added: “Yours was a solemn position of trust between the victim and the victim’s mother, which you broke.”
Speaking for the prosecution, Lindsay Cox, asked the judge to take into account three previous offences Woodhouse had for exposing himself and masturbating in front of a 16, 20 and 30-year-old between January and February 2000.
Mitigating for Woodhouse, Danielle O’Donovan asked the judge to consider his family life and the impact that a custodial sentence could have on his finances.
The judge sentenced Woodhouse to three six-month sentences for three counts and a two-year sentence for the attempted rape to run concurrently.
Woodhouse will serve one year in prison and another year on licence.
Speaking after the sentencing, the victim’s mother spoke of the harm Woodhouse’s actions had caused to her daughter’s life.
She said: “Nobody can underestimate how much my daughter has suffered.
“It has affected her enormously and ruined years of her life she should have been able to enjoy.
“She reached the point that she would not come into Norwich city centre with her family because she might see him.
“He has destroyed my daughter’s life.”