A TEENAGER who abused a young girl after pretending to be a zombie and a murderer has been jailed, and his career as a soldier “ruined”.

Dean Whittaker, 19, has been sentenced at York Crown Court, after a jury convicted him of seven charges of sexual assault, inciting a child to commit a sexual act and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

During his trial, York Crown Court heard Whittaker sexually abused the girl, who was of primary school age, by using children’s games in which he played a zombie and a murderer in a darkened room as cover.

He also played “schools” with her, where he had the role of head teacher and she was a pupil.

The child, to whom he is not related, told the jury he bribed her with promises of computer game software for her mobile phone to take part in the sexual activities, and told her not to tell anyone because he would go to prison if she did. The offences took place between August 2013 and February 2015. The girl kept silent until February 2015 when she told her grandmother.

Whittaker, of West Lutton, near Malton, had denied all the charges which the jury found him guilty of. He also denied three more sexual charges of which he was acquitted at the end of a week-long trial. Giving evidence during the trial, he denied behaving in any way improperly with the child.

At York Crown Court, Taryn Turner, in mitigation, said: “As a consequence of his offending, his future career prospects are in tatters. He had just begun what he hoped would be a promising career in the Army.”

Judge Andrew Stubbs QC, told Whittaker: “You repeatedly abused the victim in a number of different ways and at different locations. You took advantage of the opportunities you engineered. There was grooming by developing games that allowed you one to one access with her in privacy.”

Judge Stubbs also said that the girl has suffered from nightmares as a result of the incidents. He sentenced Whittaker to three years in a young offenders’ institution. He imposed a sexual harm prevention order, which prohibits Whittaker from contacting the victim, and has a number of other conditions.