Mark Kelly

A soldier named Mark Kelly has been sentenced to 19 years in prison for the repeated rape and sexual abuse of a six-year-old girl on an Army base in Lyneham, Wiltshire. The horrific offences occurred in 2014, where Kelly, aged 32 at the time of sentencing, exploited his position to groom and assault the young victim.

According to reports from The Independent and the Daily Record, Kelly bribed the girl with M&Ms before forcing her to perform sex acts on him. He further coerced her by threatening that she would be taken away from her family if she disclosed the abuse. The incidents took place on the military base where Kelly was stationed with the 10th Signals Regiment, in which he had served for 13 years.

The abuse came to light when the young girl confided in her mother about what had happened. This prompted an investigation leading to Kelly's trial. Initially, in 2015 at Swindon Crown Court, Kelly denied two counts of rape and two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, but the jury could not reach a verdict. A retrial commenced, and on Monday, Kelly was convicted on all four charges.

Prosecutor Giles Nelson described the devastating impact on the girl's family, stating that they were left in ruins by the defendant's actions. In a poignant victim impact statement read in court, the mother expressed: "I feel sick to the stomach about what he has done to my child and that will be with me to the day I die." Defending Kelly, Ed Burgess highlighted his client's exemplary Army record, but this did little to mitigate the severity of the crimes.

Judge Tim Mousley QC, delivering the sentence, condemned Kelly's actions as vile and depraved. He remarked: "You took the opportunity to abuse her in a vile and depraved way. Nobody could fail to notice as she gave evidence her extreme innocence and you have taken that away from her. One can only speculate how she will be affected in the future by what you did." The case underscores the profound betrayal of trust by someone in a position of authority within the military.