Ex Layer de la Haye village shop worker convicted by court

Birch man Christopher White, 37, bowed his head and looked at the floor after Judge Mary Loram KC warned him he is looking at a sentence in the “double figures”.

It took a jury less than two hours of deliberations to deliver the unanimous verdict after a nine day trial at Chelmsford Crown Court.

During the trial, White admitted handing over cigarettes, alcohol and confectionery to two children in return for sex acts performed on him on the shop floor of Layer Village Store in Layer de la Haye.

Historic offences - White carried out his offences in Layer de la Haye (Image: Google)

The court was told how White raped another child when he invited them over to a property he was housesitting.

He also rubbed his genitals on the leg of one of the schoolgirl children in the shop’s freezer room.

READ MORE: Shop worker admits 'trying to shift the blame' on to children he sexually assaulted

The offences are said to have taken between 2007 and 2009, when White was aged in his early twenties.

White, of Mill Lane, Birch, denied three offences of sexual activity with a child, two offences of sexual assault of a child and two offences of rape of a child.

Criminal trial - Layer de la Haye (Image: Google)

He was unanimously convicted on all counts by the jury on Friday afternoon and will be sentenced on June 19.

Judge Loram said: “We are looking at a very long prison sentence, certainly double figures.

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“He has committed a lengthy raft of offences which will inevitably lead to a long period of imprisonment.”

A police interview read to the court detailed how White had attempted to hide his predatory behaviour by telling officers the three complainants were “troublemakers”.

Trial - a jury took under two hours to convict White on all seven counts (Image: Archant)

But his lies unravelled in front of the jury after devastating cross-examination by Emma Nash, prosecuting, left him with nowhere to turn.

His case was blown apart when he answered “yes” when asked by Ms Nash: “Is it right that you thought: ‘What I’m going to do is go into that police interview and lie about it’?"

White was remanded in custody at Chelmsford Prison and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

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