Sex attacker preyed on children at Meadowhall

In one incident Karl Snow, aged 29, grabbed the bottom of an 11-year-old girl before offering to buy her anything she wanted in return for sex.

CCTV cameras at Meadowhall also caught him grabbing the bottom of a 12-year-old girl at the shopping centre in Sheffield.

Snow, from Doncaster, was found guilty of both sexual assaults after a trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

He admitted three other sex attacks on girls aged 12, 13 an 15 near to a school.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how, in the first assault, Snow followed a 12-year-old girl as she walked home from school and indecently assaulted her before walking away without saying anything.

In June 2013, Snow indecently assaulted a 13-year-old girl near a school before saying, ‘you’re sexy’ and running away.

Three days later he assaulted a 15-year-old girl as she walked to school.

He has been sentenced to 20 months behind bars for the attacks, which happened between March 2013 and April 2015.

Hannah Lynch, prosecuting, read out a victim impact statement from the 11-year-old he targeted at Meadowhall, who said she no longer feels safe going to the shopping centre without an adult.

The statement said: “At the time I was left really scared and very shocked, I was instantly in tears.

“I used to enjoy going to Meadowhall, it was somewhere I felt safe and after the incident I didn’t go back for five or six months because I was scared I would bump into him again.”

Recorder Andrew Baker QC told Snow he posed a 'serious risk to young girls' and made him the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and banned from working with children indefinitely.

Gordon Stables, representing Snow, said he had no previous convictions and felt 'utter shame and embarrassment' for his actions.