Two Hull Fair workers jailed over child sex offences

Two men who targeted and groomed two teenage girls while working at Hull Fair last year have been jailed for child sex offences.

Ryan Edgar, 30, was sentenced to 20 years after being convicted of sexual activity with a child, rape, assault by penetration and two counts of assault.

Ashley Phillips-Dawson, 19, was jailed for five years after he was found guilty of assault and three counts of sexual activity with a child.

Edgar and Phillips-Dawson had both denied the offences but were convicted following a trial in November. They were sentenced at Grimsby Crown Court on Monday.

Jurors previously heard that Edgar and Phillips-Dawson had befriended the two young girls while working at the fair last October.

Edgar, of Park Street, Hull, made requests for the girls to send him nude pictures and convinced both girls to go back to his flat with him and Phillips-Dawson, of Topcliffe Garth, Hull.

The girls were reported missing but were later found at Edgar’s flat, hiding in the bedroom, after he lied about them not being there.

The men were arrested on suspicion of rape.

It was later found that Edgar had taken one of the girls to his bedroom, pinned her down and raped her, while Phillips-Dawson sexually assaulted the second girl downstairs.

Both men also subjected the girls to assaults as well as forcing them to take cocaine, the court was told.

Det Con Megan O’Meara, who led the investigation, labelled the men as “sordid individuals” who “took advantage of two impressionable teenagers”.

“I’d like to commend the two girls and their families for coming forward,” she said.

“It’s not easy to take that step and report sexual crimes in the first place, but then they had to relive the trauma through a trial after both men refused to admit their reprehensible crimes.”