Teenager abused 'neglected' girl

Goddard denied the abuse and claimed one of his victims had "seduced" him

An 18-year-old man has been jailed for five years for repeatedly raping a young girl who was left in his care and abusing her three brothers.

Steven Goddard started the three-year campaign of abuse in December 2002 when the girl was four-years-old.

Judge Lord Turnbull said neglect by the mother, then a heroin addict, had exposed the children to the attacks.

The teenager, who committed the offences in Edinburgh, was also placed on the sex offenders' register.

Goddard, who was aged between 12 and 14 when he carried out the abuse, had denied the charges and claimed the girl had "seduced" him on one occasion.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how he had forced the girl's three young brothers to watch and to carry out sex acts, including some with an unknown teenage girl.

Lord Turnbull ordered that Goddard be monitored for three years after his release.

The case was also referred for consideration by the Scottish Ministers, which could lead to him being banned from employment which involves working with children.

Lord Turnbull said the abuse would not have occurred if the children had received proper "support" from their mother.

The 34-year-old woman was previously put on probation and ordered to do community service after she admitted wilfully ill-treating, neglecting and abandoning her children.

During a hearing in February, the court heard she had left the children with Goddard at her flat in Edinburgh.

She also failed to provide her children with food, permitting them to watch unsuitable DVDs and allowed convicted rapist Kenneth Crouch to supervise them via a webcam from his home in England.

The jury cleared her of sexually abusing two of her children.

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