'Wicked' and 'manipulative' pervert who groomed 15-year-old girl in East Lancashire is jailed

Joshua Denson, formerly of Lancaster Gate, Nelson, but now of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of making indecent images of children, and distributing an indecent image.

Denson, who also uses the name Jay Carter, was sentenced at Burnley Crown Court to five years and three months’ imprisonment, given a life-time Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

PC Beth Turner, of East CID, said: “Denson is a wicked and manipulative individual who preyed upon and groomed the victim for his own perverted and sordid sexual interests.

“Reading her harrowing victim impact statement, you can see the impact Denson’s abhorrent behaviour had and continued to have on her. I would like to praise the victim and her family for the bravery they have shown, standing up against this controlling and nasty individual.

“I hope the outcome of this case and the sentence handed down to Denson will encourage other victims to come forward, knowing they will be listened to and believed, and we will do everything in our power to put their abuser before the courts.”

Denson groomed his East Lancashire victim by buying her designer gifts and getting her addicted to cocaine. He then used his control over the victim to get her to sell cocaine and launder counterfeit money on his behalf.

Lancashire Constabulary launched an investigation into the sordid activities of 28-year-old Denson in March 2020 after the victim’s mother raised concerns that her daughter was in a relationship with an older man.

The victim had returned home with a small amount of cocaine in her bag and when her mother examined her phone she found photographs of her daughter in bed with an older man. A text message exchange revealed the victim had been in a relationship with the man since she was 15.

An examination of Facebook Messenger exchanges revealed the victim had sold cocaine on Denson’s behalf and that she had made small purchases in local shops using counterfeit notes in order to get change in real money.

When the victim was spoken to by police for a second time she said the relationship had started when she was 15, her believing that Denson was 28, and that the relationship had become sexual before she had turned 16.

She also said that Denson would tell his friends she was 17 and his mum that she was 18.

Denson was arrested and police recovered 105 indecent images of a child – the victim – from his iPhone, with some being videos and others being photographs.

Officers also found evidence that Denson had sent one of the images to a contact in his phone.

There was also evidence that Denson tried to organise a threesome involving the victim and a second 15-year-old girl.

In a message, he wrote: “Yeah, I feel bad enough I’m having sex with one girl underage but (it doesn’t matter) I guess.”

While under investigation for this case, Denson fled the country to Malta the day after being arrested for assaulting another woman.

Police brought Denson back to the UK under a Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TaCA) Warrant and put him before the courts.

In her impact statement to court, the victim said: “What I have been through has impacted on my relationships. I am currently in a relationship, it has been a lot for my partner to take on. I feel when I have bad days from everything I have been through, I then put this on to my boyfriend. I now feel like I have to be more wary in my relationship, I don't always feel that I can truly be myself and have a laugh and a joke with my boyfriend. I believe the reason I feel like this way is because when Jay was in my life I felt like I had to put on a front, Jay would always tell me to tell people I was older than I was, act older than I was. I started to do things at 15 years old like going out drinking in clubs, I feel like I grew up before I needed to and this was down to Jay's influence.

“Every couple of days I experience flashbacks of negative experiences I had with Jay. One of the frequent flashbacks I have is when one of Jay's friends got stabbed I was helping his friend, there was a lot of blood and it was traumatic, Jay sat there eating a sandwich doing nothing.”

She added: “Jay introduced me to cocaine from the age of 15-years-old. This had a massive impact on me, I've gone through rehabilitation from taking drugs. At one point I heavily relied on taking cocaine, at its worst I was taking it a couple of times a day. I feel like I have to remove myself from any situations where drugs are mentioned and I feel like the temptation will always be there now I have experimented with drugs from a young age.

"I have never been the type of person to take drugs. Before meeting Jay I had never taken cocaine and wouldn't even consider taking it. It was down to Jay's influence that I started to take cocaine. Jay got me involved in things that I would never consider doing. I was doing things completely out of character for me. I have never been in trouble with the police or done anything criminal until meeting Jay and I feel like he dragged me down to his level.

“If I could sum up how this crime has affected me, it’s made me feel very depressed. This has impacted my confidence and I constantly feel drained. When I look back now I feel like I've been groomed. Jay was buying me expensive gifts, introducing me to drugs.

"This now makes me question why was he ever interested in a 15-year-old girl? I feel like my teenage years have been robbed from me because of Jay.”