Paedophile shop worker who groomed girl with sweets.

Paedophile's Appeal Fails: Shop worker's sentence upheld for grooming and abusing a schoolgirl.

Shibin Vimala Santhakumar, a shop worker from Kettering, has failed in his attempt to reduce his 11-year prison sentence for sexually abusing a young girl.

Santhakumar, 46, groomed the schoolgirl by offering her free treats and extra change before engaging in sexual activity with her. He was found guilty of sexual activity with a child, inciting sexual activity with a child and possession of indecent images of children.

At his appeal hearing on June 20, judges dismissed Santhakumar's claims that his sentence was too harsh and that the circumstances leading to his offenses were unlikely to happen again.

The judges agreed with the sentencing judge's assessment that Santhakumar exploited his victim and posed a significant risk of reoffending.

"In our judgement the sentence was not arguably manifestly excessive and the application is refused," said Lord Justice Males.

Detective Constable Chris Waterfall, the lead investigator in the case, commended the victim for her courage and said her support was vital to their investigation.

He said: "This case shows that sexual offences against children do not often start with an immediate offense. Santhakumar gradually built trust with this girl through offering her free items and money off her purchases. It then escalated into this abuse. "

"I welcome the sentence handed out to him as it means there is one less sexual predator on our streets and one less person able to harm children. I hope this result shows the seriousness with which Northamptonshire Police takes these offences and I want to reassure the public that we will continue to work hard to bring people like Santhakumar to justice."