Vicki Bevan: Woman paedophile jailed for life for 'shockingly depraved' sexual abuse including rape of girl

A woman has been jailed for life after she committed "shockingly depraved" sexual abuse, including the rape of a girl.

Vicki Bevan "instigated and organised" the abuse of the victim - aged under 10 - with two men; Paul Rafferty and Tony Hutton, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said.

Images of the abuse, including the rape, were found on Bevan's phone and were shared between the trio from St Helens in Merseyside.

Bevan also shared the images more widely on the Kik Messenger platform and she instigated conversations with the two men about the "sexual abuse, rape and torture of the child", the CPS said.

At one point, she was asked by one of the men if she had any boundaries and she answered: "No, none at all..."

The abuse - over a two-year period - came to light when another man was arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.

His phone was examined and images of the abuse carried out by Bevan were found.

A video was also recovered by police showing the 37-year-old woman sexually abusing the child.

Prosecutors said the "level of depravity... shocked the CPS team that worked on the case".

'Shockingly depraved fantasies... played out in real life'

On Friday, Bevan was given a life sentence with a minimum term of 10 years at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting 34 sexual offences, having been seen laughing in the dock at a previous hearing.

Rafferty, aged 62, was jailed for 10 years, with four years extended licence, after he pleaded guilty to nine sexual offences, including the rape of the girl.

Hutton, 42, was handed a prison term of four years after admitting four sexual offences including the sexual assault of the child.

Delivering his sentences, Judge Andrew Menary QC said the scale of depravity in the case "beggars belief" and it was likely the victim would suffer "severe psychological harm".

At a previous hearing, the judge said "just when you think you have heard the worst, another one comes along".

He added: "Of particular concern to the court is the fact that there are exchanges of messages which are shockingly depraved fantasies.

"And they did not remain as fantasies, some of these were played out in real life."

'Extremely disturbing crimes'

When officers raided Bevan's home address, laptops and a mobile phone were found with several indecent images of children that had been shared with Hutton and Rafferty, Merseyside Police said.

After Bevan was arrested in October last year, she pleaded guilty to 34 offences in January including:

• Rape
• Two counts of sexual assault
• Four counts of sexual assault by penetration
• One count of attempted sexual assault by penetration
• Inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
• Three counts of sexual activity with a child
• 17 counts of making indecent images of children
• Three counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child
• Two counts of possessing extreme pornography

Neither Bevan nor Hutton had any previous convictions, while Rafferty had some previous convictions but none related to child sexual abuse.

Following the sentences, senior Crown prosecutor Pauline Newrick said it was "one of the worst cases" she had ever been involved in.

"If (Bevan) had not been caught, no doubt she would have continued arranging for this young girl and potentially others to be abused by herself and men in the most horrendous way," Ms Newrick added.

Detective Chief Inspector Allison Woods said: "These extremely disturbing crimes committed by Bevan, Rafferty and Hutton have caused great psychological and physical harm to their victims and destroyed lives.

"They repeatedly subjected them to deplorable offences, and we welcome the lengthy sentences given out by the court today."

Before the sentencing, Judge Menary said any "blame sharing" claim by Bevan in her defence, that she was "led on" by the others, would not be accepted.

At a previous hearing in March, Bevan laughed and smiled with the prison officers in the dock before wiping away tears with a white tissue when the judge came into court.