A COLNE man who molested a seven-year-old girl after making her watch pornography has been jailed by a judge for six years at Burnley Crown Court.

Prosecutors said that the young victim initially kept quiet about the abuse by Martin Alcock, now 34, but later told her grandmother she ‘had a big secret’.

The young girl told her grandmother that Alcock, while babysitting her, had asked her if she wanted to be his girlfriend, jurors were told.

And when her grandmother pressed her further, she wrote a note indicating she had been sexually assaulted by the man.

Alcock, of Burran Meadow, denied sexual assault by penetration and two offences of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

But he was convicted of the offences after a trial and jailed for six years by Judge Andrew Woolman – who also ordered him to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

Prosecutor Jacob Dyer said that the girl was molested while Alcock watched adult pornography, which had been fed into his television via a laptop computer. The defendant asked if the girl wanted to be his girlfriend but she told him to leave her alone, he told the court.

Alcock later told the girl not to repeat what had happened to anyone, added Mr Dyer.

The defendant was later arrested and told police it was possible that the girl may have inadvertently seen ‘pop-up’ adverts of a sexual nature, through the TV, by accident.

He admitted that he watched porn via his laptop but that the images, which he would have immediately clicked away, may have flashed up on the screen during conventional programming He also flatly denied molesting the girl.

Mr Dyer told the jury that the sexual activity charges were intended to represent a number of occasions, where Alcock had forced the girl to watch porn, during 2012.

He added the defendant would be guilty of the offence if the prosecution could prove that he had obtained sexual gratification from the offences, and his behaviour had been intentional.