Lancashire shopkeeper jailed after sexual assault on girl who went in to buy chocolate | Preston Crown Court

A trip to buy a chocolate bar ended with a schoolgirl being sexually assaulted by the owner of a corner shop, a court heard.

Naeem Akram locked the 15-year-old in his store, put a sign on the door saying “back in five minutes”, took her upstairs and started kissing her on the neck.

Judge Graham Knowles was told the girl fled in tears and was traumatised when she arrived home, collapsing in front of her mother.

Akram, described by the youngster as “creepy”, appeared at Preston Crown Court for sentence after admitting sexual assault. He was sent to prison for 12 months and put on the sex offenders register for 15 years.

Barrister Trevor Parry-Jones, prosecuting, said that in November 2023 the girl had gone to her local shop in Nelson to buy chocolate. But when she tried to pay Akram wouldn’t take the money. Instead he asked her if she wanted to see the upstairs flat which had been doing up.

Because she had known him for a number of years and trusted him – he was a relative of a close schoolfriend – she innocently went upstairs. Akram locked the shop door and put the sign up telling customers he wouldn’t be long.

In the flat there was a pink children’s bed and she sat on the edge of it. But Akram sat down and started edging slowly towards her.

“She froze,” said Mr Parry Jones. “She said nothing. He put his arm around her and pulled her over to lean on his chest. He then asked: ‘Are you going to give me a kiss?’”

The girl said “certainly not” and kept her lips tightly shut. He began kissing her on the neck. She told him she had an appointment to get to with her mother in five minutes and had to go. So Akram unlocked the shop door and let her out. But as she left he told her: “Come back and it will be our little secret.”

In a victim impact statement read out in court the girl said that what he had done to her that day had completely changed her life. She went from “having a normal life to like any other girl to being scared all the time”.

She went on: “It happened where I should have been safe. I thought I knew him, running the local shop and being related to a friend. It makes you wonder if anyone is actually safe. There are creepy people out there.

“He changed my social life forever. She (his relative) was my best friend. I couldn’t have imagined not having her in my life. Then Naeem did what he did and suddenly she was gone. My social circle went overnight and I have never got over that.

“He knew I was only a child. He should have let me buy my chocolate and let me go home.”

The girl’s mother also made a victim impact statement in which she told of the devastating day her daughter came home and just collapsed sobbing in front of her.

“I will never forget the look on my child’s face that day when she burst through the door and fell on the floor. She would have felt safe until it was too late.

“What he did to my daughter still lingers in the background of our lives. I went from having a normal life to having panic attacks. It has caused irreparable damage to her and the family. He (Akram) broke me that day.”

The court heard Akram, of Chapel House Road, Nelson, gave ‘no comment’ answers to all questions when questioned by police. But in an interview with a probation officer he had blamed the girl for what happened saying she had wanted to go to the toilet and so he had told her she would either have to go home or use the toilet in the flat upstairs.

She had started talking about his ex-wife and showing him sympathy and kindness, which is when he put his arm around her, because he could see she was upset.

Emma Kehoe, defending, said that in the time since he committed the offence Akram had made real strides to turn his life around. He now had a new wife and a baby son.

“We are a number of years down the line and his life has changed significantly,” she said. “At the time he wasn’t in a very good place mentally. He was depressed and upset. It’s not an excuse in any way shape or form.

“He was in a different place and since then he has moved on with his life and built a stable life in the community.”

Judge Knowles told Akram the girl he assaulted was just 15 and had got to know and trust him. “You were working in the shop, and she knew you were doing some work on the flat above the shop.

“When you said to her ‘come and see the flat’ she thought nothing of it, because she thought as a child, she thought she could trust you.

“Unfortunately for her what she couldn’t have known was you were about to sexually abuse her. You took her upstairs, locking the shop door behind you and put a sign up saying ‘back in five minutes’.

“You knew exactly what you were planning to do once you got her upstairs. She didn’t think you were about to attack her or sexually abuse her.

“She speaks of you as ‘creepy’ and everyone understands that a 15-year-old girl doesn’t want men of two-and-a-half times her age showing any sexual interest in them.

“The impact (on her and her family) was devastating. She didn’t consent to what you did to her. She said it completely changed her life. Her social circle disappeared overnight.

“You lied to a probation officer. You pushed the blame onto the child. But that was not the reality. She was distraught, terrified and in tears. You sexually assaulted a 15-year-old schoolgirl for your own sexual gratification.”

In addition to the 12-month prison sentence, Judge Knowles also made Akram the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order severely restricting his contact with girls under 16 for the next 15 years.

He issued a restraining order banning him from making any contact with both the girl and her mother for 15 years and entering the street where she and her family live. And he was put on the Sex Offenders Register meaning he must inform police of his whereabouts for the next 15 years.