Depraved paedophile repeatedly raped and sexually abused child


A depraved paedophile who repeatedly raped and sexually abused a child has been jailed for 20 years.
During Darren Rochford’s despicable campaign of abuse he said he would kill his victim if she spoke out and offered her money for sex acts.
The 50-year-old of Waverley Avenue, Kidlington, went on to record some of the sexual abuse, a video of which was later discovered by police, among many other images of children being abused.
The victim – who cannot be named for legal reasons – later said she felt ‘disgusting’ and suffered flashbacks and nightmares.
Rochford had already admitted 20 counts of rape, sexual assault, inciting a girl to sexual activity, voyeurism, and making and distributing indecent images of children.
He was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court yesterday for that string of crimes, which took place in Oxfordshire in the 2000s and 2010s.
Outlining the case prosecutor Matthew Walsh said Rochford repeatedly abused the girl during her ordeal.
He said he would use ‘blackmail’ against her and also gave her money in exchange for sexual acts.
Rochford went on to record some of the abuse and the victim said he told her he would kill her if she told anybody about him.
Years after the sexual abuse police investigated Rochford separately for online paedophilia offences.
After a raid at his home officers seized an Apple Macbook and three hard drives.
Investigating those devices a haul of indecent images was discovered.
Those images of child abuse – not involving the earlier victim – were made up of 1,321 images in the most severe category – A.
There were a further 1,569 in category B and 2,457 in category C and he was also found to have distributed a number of images.
The victim of the rapes said through a victim personal statement that the abuse had left a lasting impact on her life.
She said: “He was not a good man, he would shout a lot. I felt like he only wanted me for one thing, that was to sexually abuse me.”
Sentencing, Judge Peter Ross said Rochford had a ‘deeply entrenched sexual interest in children’ and the abuse involved ‘degradation and humiliation.’
He said: “It is the most dreadful and insidious corruption of a child and you did utterly corrupt her.”
Rochford was jailed for a total of 20 years and must serve an extended period on licence for eight years.
He must also obey a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely and sign the sex offenders register for life.