A MAN from Four Marks who sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl while working as a volunteer at the Mid-Hants Watercress Line has been given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum of nine months in jail. George Sully, 73, of Thorn Lane was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday, June 21. Mr Sully was put on the sexual offenders register for life; disqualified from working with children and ordered not to be in the company of under 16s; and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order. The incident happened in August 2006, at one of the Watercress Line's Thomas the Tank Engine days. Sully, who was normally a volunteer employed in the engine shed was working on the red engine, James. He was seen by the girl's mother and an independent witness to put his hand up the girl's skirt and over her bottom as he helped her off the train. During the trial, the witness told the jury that she saw Sully touch the girl in an inappropriate manner five times. Mr Sully has two previous convictions of a similar nature, which date back to 1968 and 1974. Sully had not been given a Criminal Records Bureau check because he did not normally work with children in his role as a volunteer employed in the engine shed. The court heard that the young girl, now aged seven, has been significantly affected by the events, and has turned from a jovial and confident girl to being apprehensive and distrustful. The mother of the girl said in a statement: "I no longer trust any man with my daughter, other than my husband. "She has nightmares and is reluctant to go to bed. She is so emotionally fragile that she takes a teddy to school." In his summation of the case, Judge Brodrick told Mr Sully: "Your two previous convictions are of a similar nature, and the past can provide a relative guide to the future. I therefore predict that you pose a medium risk of committing further sexual offences. "There has been no suggestion that you have committed further offences since your previous convictions. However, the fact remains when the opportunity arose on this occasion, you could not resist temptation to revert to previous behaviour. "You deny that you have sexual interest in children and you put yourself in contact with them. My opinion is that you lack awareness. "The only reduction in the risk you pose would be to impose restrictions on your liberty."
