A paedophile has been jailed for four years after being found guilty of indecent assault on a child two decades ago in St Albans.

Ian Haywood, 54, of Wellingborough, was convicted of five counts of indecent assault on a girl aged under 14 and one charge of indecency with a child at St Albans Crown Court last Thursday, June 2.

The offences occurred between 1996 and 1998.

Following Haywood’s sentencing, Detective Constable Mark Winter, from the Sexual Offences Investigation Team (SOIT), commended his victim for ‘bravely’ reporting the paedophile to the force.

He said: “After many years of struggling to come to terms with what has happened to her the victim, who is now aged in her 30s, was incredibly brave in reporting the offences to police.

“Haywood’s actions have had a huge impact on the victim, who did disclose what had happened to her when she was a child but, tragically, she was not believed by those who should have protected her.

“It is only after many years of counselling that she has felt that she could speak to police about her ordeal.

“Now that Haywood has been jailed, this brave lady wants to concentrate on moving forward with her life and specialist officers continue to give her support to help her do this.”

DC Winter added: “I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to anyone who has been affected by this case or has further information to get in touch with Herts Police via the non-emergency number 101. We have specially trained staff who investigate these types of offences and provide support to victims.”

• Sexual assault can happen to anyone, from any walk of life and, understandably, it can be difficult for a victim of a sexual offence to report it to the police.

• Herts Police have a dedicated team of trained specialist staff who investigate these offences. However, if victims wish to contact another agency first there are several options available, including self-referral to a sexual assault referral centre (SARC).

• SARCs are able to provide comprehensive advice, guidance and support to men, women and young people who have experienced sexual assault, whether this happened recently or in the past.

• The centre can be contacted via a free telephone number: 0808 802 9999. In addition, http://www.hertssunflower.org/self-referral-non-police may be able to assist victims.