A 26-year-old East Yorkshire man has received an immediate custodial sentence of two and a half years at York Crown Court after being convicted of sexually abusing an underage teenage girl inside a North Yorkshire property.
Sam Anthony Jordan, formerly of Harrogate but lately residing at Brigham Straight, Brigham, near Driffield, appeared in the dock for sentence on Friday 6 November 2026.
Prosecutor Ian Howard outlined that the offending occurred at a residential address in Harrogate during 2022, when Jordan was approximately 22 years old. The sexual abuse was officially reported to North Yorkshire Police in January 2023. Detectives arrested Jordan and brought him in for formal questioning, during which he answered “no comment” to all allegations put to him.
Jordan entered a guilty plea to one count of sexual activity with a child under 16, but denied a second charge. Following a Crown Court re-trial held in September, a jury rejected his defence and found him guilty of the second offence:
Two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16 (one guilty plea, one conviction following re-trial)
In a victim personal statement read to the court by the prosecution, the survivor described the enduring psychological toll of Jordan’s actions, explaining that her life had “completely changed” since the assault took place.
“I had no choice but to grow up a lot quicker than I should,” she said, detailing how she suffered from recurring nightmares, severe distress, and persistent flashbacks.
Mitigating for Jordan, defence barrister Andrew Semple told the court that the defendant, a father-of-one, was an otherwise hard-working and “pro-social” individual, presenting character references from his employer speaking highly of him.
Sentencing Jordan, Recorder Chris Knox noted the “serious disparity of age” between Jordan and the young victim at the time the sexual activity took place. Recorder Knox remarked that the overall impact of the abuse and the protracted delay in bringing justice to fruition had been “disastrous and catastrophic” for the complainant.
The judge stated that despite the substantial collection of character references, the gravity of the offences demanded an immediate custodial outcome.
Recorder Knox sentenced Jordan to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment. The court additionally ordered that Jordan be placed on the Sex Offenders Register under statutory notification requirements for an indefinite period.
Under the provisions of the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, the victim is protected by mandatory, lifelong statutory anonymity. Any publication, broadcast, or public dissemination of information capable of leading to her identification is strictly prohibited under UK law.
Image – Anonymous Artist Impression
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