Christopher Roth, of Middlesbrough, has been sentenced to 28 months’ imprisonment at Teesside Crown Court after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl and threatening to murder her if she disclosed the abuse.
The offending was uncovered following a routine communication between the child’s school and her parents.
Staff at the school had requested to inspect the 14-year-old pupil’s digital tablet over welfare concerns regarding material stored on the device.
Upon examining the hardware, staff discovered sexually explicit material involving Roth and immediately contacted Cleveland Police.
Under statutory legislation, the child is protected by lifelong anonymity.
Officers executed an arrest warrant against Roth and seized his mobile phone for digital extraction.
A subsequent forensic examination uncovered further indecent images and videos of the young victim stored on his device.
Among the seized media, investigators identified an image directly depicting Roth carrying out a sexual assault against the schoolchild.
The court heard that Roth maintained control over the 14-year-old through intimidation, issuing direct threats that he would kill her if she spoke to anyone about what had occurred.
Roth entered a formal guilty plea at Teesside Crown Court to one count of sexual assault of a child.
Passing sentence, the judge handed Roth an immediate custodial term of 28 months behind bars.
In addition to the prison term, the court imposed:
- A 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO)
- A 10-year restraining order incorporating an exclusion zone
- A 10-year requirement to register on the Sex Offenders Register
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation governing standard determinate custodial sentences of less than seven years, statutory early release provisions apply at the halfway mark. Roth is required to serve 14 months in prison custody before becoming eligible for automatic release on licence to complete the remainder of the sentence under the supervision of the Probation Service.
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