Multiple child rapist who targeted vulnerable girls he was babysitter for is jailed for 16 years

Martin Hostler, 49, was found guilty of 28 offences involving five children while he was babysitting for them between 1995 and 2008.

Sentencing him at Bradford Crown Court yesterday, Judge Colin Burn said Hostler had caused "chronic emotional trauma" for his victims.

During his trial, the court heard how Hostler, of Cumberland Court, Headingley, Leeds, had repeatedly raped three of the girls and bribed the youngsters with money and alcohol.

He was said to have struck up friendships with the girls' families, regularly babysitting for them at various addresses in Bradford, and one in Cleckheaton, as their mothers spent time at work or in the pub.

Prosecution barrister Karma Melly told the jury the youngest child Hostler had abused was aged eight at the time of the offences, with another girl being raped so often it "became a normal part of her life."

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Hostler, formerly of Otley Road, Barkerend, had previously been given a two-year probation order after pleading guilty to three offences of indecent assault on a child in July, 1994.

The former minibus driver was arrested in June 2013 after the mother of the 11 year-old victim posted messages about him on Facebook saying he was a sexual abuser of children, leading to the first of the five complainants to contact her.

After she went to the police, they contacted other women who had spent time with Hostler as children.

Speaking about the five victims, Miss Melly said: "The sexual abuse through their childhood and adolescence had a deep impact, and the complainants have all suffered psychological harm."

In mitigation, defence barrister Robin Frieze told the court Hostler had suffered very significantly from "horrendous abuse" at the hands of his father when he was younger.

Judge Burn told him: "All of those parents trusted you, and you engineered a situation at a time your probation was still in place to undertake the same sort of offending.

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"You knew what you were up to, and worked hard to put yourself in that position.

"You clearly targeted particularly vulnerable children.

"In every case, by virtue of their age, the victims were unable to resist, and you used a combination of veiled threats or bribery to prevent them from saying anything to anybody.

"This was a sustained and ever-present feature of your victim's lives.

"It is entirely predictable they have suffered chronic emotional trauma and feelings of anger and guilt.

"There can be no doubt at all, given the systematic nature of the offences, that you present a significant risk of sexual harm to young girls."

After Hostler's sentencing, detective constable Alison Hanson, of the Bradford District Safeguarding Team, praised the courage of the five victims who had come forward.

"They have lived with the horror of his offending throughout their childhood and into their adult lives, and I can only hope this conviction goes some way to helping these families find some closure," she said.

Hostler was found guilty of 12 charges of rape, eight of indecent assault on a female, four of sexual activity with a child, two of sexual assault on a child, one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and one of attempted rape.

He was found not guilty on five charges of rape and one of causing actual bodily harm.

A further six charges, including those for rape and sexual assault, were withdrawn during the trial and formally found to be not guilty.

He was sentenced to 16 years, plus a five-year extension period on licence, given an unlimited Sexual Offences Prevention Order, and ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.