Prison for former Rugby councillor who sexually assaulted a 14-year-old girl

A man’s election as a Rugby councillor brought back awful memories for a woman of being sexually abused by him almost 20 years ago when she was a teenager.

Nicholas Long, who had won the Rokeby and Overslade ward for the Lib Dems by a massive margin in May last year, resigned his seat when the offences came to light.

And at Warwick Crown Court, Long (50) of Gorse Close, Rugby, pleaded guilty to five charges of indecent assault and two of indecency with a child.

Long, whose plea of not guilty to a further charge of attempted rape was accepted, was jailed for three years and eight months and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Prosecutor Stefan Kolodynski said the offending against the girl, who was 14 at the time, began after Long had given her a lift from a venue they had both attended.

She felt safe with him and accepted further lifts.

But there came an occasion when Long, who was in his early 30s, stopped in a rural layby and kissed her.

That was followed, after keeping in touch by text, by an occasion when he turned up at her home while her parents were out.

After attracting her attention at the rear door, he said he was ‘feeling uncomfortable’ and asked if she minded if he undid his trousers.

The sexually naïve girl thought it was something as innocent as him having eaten too much – but when he undid his trousers he exposed himself before they kissed.

On other occasions in his Ford Escort car he touched her over and under her clothing, before progressing to a more serious sexual assault.

Such ‘one-sided’ incidents became routine, and she felt she had to comply because she did not know what to do and felt she could not refuse, said Mr Kolodynski.

Their meetings came to an end after the girl’s mother found an email and contacted him, demanding he go to their home where he admitted only to kissing her – and nothing more was done.

But in May last year Long stood and was elected as a Lib Dem councillor on Rugby Borough Council, winning 63 per cent of the vote in the Rokeby and Overslade ward.

His election as a councillor brought memories of what had happened flooding back for his victim, who said she had ‘regressed to being that 14-year-old girl,’ and she contacted the police.

When he was arrested Long said they had both known it was wrong, but had found it difficult to stop.

He admitted ‘kissing, fondling and touching,’ saying he could not remember the more serious acts but could not deny them.

Rebecca Wade, defending, said: “The defendant believes the conduct happened on no more than eight to ten occasions in total, and kissing and the touching of breasts took place on more occasions than other matters.

Asking the judge to consider a suspended sentence, she conceded: “I accept there is a significant disparity in age in this case.

“He accepts that the likely sentence is one of immediate custody, and but for the exceptional circumstances we are in, I would be accepting that.”

She said that after university Long had become a teacher and had then pursued a number of occupations, as well as pursuing his music interests, being described as a very accomplished cornet player, and doing charitable work in response to Covid-19.

“He stood for the local council and was elected, and at this stage the offences resurfaced. He made admissions when he was interviewed and resigned from his post.”

Jailing Long, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “There is no suggestion you used physical force on her, but you can be under no illusion that the relationship you had was in any sense a relationship of equals. You were over double her age, and she felt flattered by the attention of a man like you.

“It should not have needed her mother to tell you, an adult male, that a relationship with a child 17 years your junior was wrong. It left her feeling degraded and seedy.”