Brett Connell Sevenoaks Paedophile has been incarcerated for sexually assaulting his 16-year-old stepdaughter, who subsequently took her own life weeks after reporting him to law enforcement.
Brett Connell, 36, was convicted of 13 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a minor during a trial at Maidstone Crown Court.
Georgia Walsh committed suicide in March 2017, leaving a note indicating that the stress was insurmountable.
Brett Connell, residing on Clare Way in Sevenoaks, received a nine-year prison sentence.
He was found guilty of five crimes associated with Georgia and eight out of an additional eleven unrelated sexual offence charges.
Georgia’s grandmother, Carol Sharpe, said more than a year after Georgia’s death her family would now be able to grieve.
“It’s like a bomb went off and it smashed every part of our family,” she said.
“I’ll never get over the loss of Georgia.”
The court was told Brett Connell first abused Georgia when she was 13 years old.
He was arrested on 9 February 2017 and released on bail. Georgia died on 17 March 2017 when she was struck by a train.
The judge, Recorder Peter Guest told Brett Connell; “The damage you have done to this family is incalculable. It is right to note that during the course of this trial you have shown neither shame nor remorse for your actions.”
Brett Connell was placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order.
‘Too much to handle’
Georgia told her mother: “He’s done stuff. I wish had said something earlier”, and begged her not to let Brett Connell back into their home, the court heard.
The jury was told Georgia had seen someone taking a photograph of her through the bathroom window while she was having a shower, and Brett Connell had been the only person at home at the time.
In her suicide note Georgia said the stress had been “too much to handle” and she hoped Brett Connell would “rot in hell”.
Det Con Michelle James from Kent Police said: “The consequences of Brett Connell’s appalling abuse could not have been more devastating.
“The tragic note left by his victim, before her death, detailed the unbearable stress and trauma he caused,” she said.
“Before she died, thankfully she had showed incredible courage to provide her testimony to Kent Police.”
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