Man jailed for child sex abuse over 11-year period
A former Lincolnshire man who sexually abused a young girl over a period of more than 10 years has been jailed.
Anthony Shipman admitted charges of indecent assault and indecency with a child on dates between 1993 and 2004 and was jailed for five-and-a-half years.
The judge at Lincoln Crown Court told him his offences were "abhorrent".
Shipman, 50, of Eastgate, Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.
The court heard the defendant had escaped prosecution in 2005 after the woman he was then married to discovered indecent photographs he had taken of the girl and reported him to Lincolnshire Social Services.
Julie Warburton, prosecuting, said Shipman's then-wife discovered the pictures purely by chance as she was doing the vacuuming in 2005.
The prosecution counsel said it appeared "inexplicable" that the matter was not pursued further.
Although the girl in the pictures was traced and confirmed what had happened, Shipman, who was then living in Grantham, was let off with a police caution.
But the victim later complained to the police and when Shipman was subsequently interviewed he confirmed he had sexually abused her.