The girl's mother says the sentence isn't long enoughA MUM has reacted with horror after a violent man who groomed her five-year-old daughter for abuse was jailed for just three years.

Swindon Crown Court heard on Tuesday how Maurice Cooper, 29, of The Butts, Westbury, had violently assaulted and committed sexual acts against the girl, who is now 11.

Her mother, who cannot be named to protect the identity of the child, said: "It's just not long enough. Anybody who does that should never be allowed out.

"Her innocence and her childhood has been taken from her. I want everyone to know what he has done so his life is hell."

The court heard how Cooper had also repeatedly beaten up another girl over a five-year period.

Michael Butt, prosecuting, described how Cooper had "made a pet" of the girl he sexually abused when she was just five-years-old.

He said: "The defendant gave her lots of attention so that she came to adore him. He knew that she had a crush on him and she said on many occasions that she wanted to marry him. He didn't discourage the crush but actually encouraged it."

Mr Butt said Cooper started sexually abusing the girl in August 2002, when she was nine years old.

Mr Butt said: "The girl would try and get away while he was doing this but he would get angry and would then hit her."

He described how the girl, who was interviewed by police in February, said Cooper had also slapped, punched and kicked her.

Describing the reaction of the girl, Mr Butt said: "She said it would make her feel really angry and upset so that she would just want to curl up and go to sleep and never wake up."

Mr Butt described how Cooper also attacked another young girl, and liked to play boxing with her.

He explained how Cooper had slapped her around the face, spat at her, kicked her and punched her in the head and back.

The girl, who suffers from asthma, said he also held his hand over her mouth and nose so she could not breathe properly.

Mr Butt said both girls were still having nightmares about the assaults.

One of the girls alerted her school at the beginning of this year, leading to Cooper's arrest on February 13.

Cooper, who was born in Bath, pleaded guilty to seven counts of indecent assault and five counts of cruelty on September 8.

He was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on Tuesday.

Ian Lawrie, defending, said there was little that could be said to excuse or defend Cooper's behaviour.

He said: "The offences are so serious that a period of custody is appropriate", and added a spell in prison would give his client the chance to "deal with the devils that drove him".

He said the only consolation was that full rape did not take place and Cooper's guilty pleas had spared the girls the trauma of being cross-examined in court.

Sentencing him to three years in prison and two years of supervision, Judge McNaught also ordered Cooper to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and disqualified him from working with young children.

Det Con Jason Roberts, the officer in the case, said: "Serious criminal offences committed against young children carry lengthy terms of imprisonment on conviction.

"Maurice Cooper is no longer a danger to young children as he will serve a substantial prison sentence along with careful monitoring on his release from custody."