A DEPRAVED couple have been jailed for more than 25 years after committing a prolific and sustained period of sexual abuse, including sexually assaulting a young girl at a Cumbrian camping site.

John Mills, 38, and Tiffany Eccles, 27, were sentenced after previously admitting more than 20 offences between them – including rape, sexual assault, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Police first became aware of the couple’s offending in November 2021 after a teenage girl attended Bury police station with her mother to report Mills and Eccles for sexually assaulting her for a period of almost five years – starting when she was aged just eight-years-old.

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The girl described several incidents of serious sexual offences committed by the pair, with Mills often inciting the victim to ‘do things’ involving himself and Eccles.

It was also described how Mills would sometimes be drunk when committing the acts, and over the course of the abuse he was found to have sexually assaulted the girl at a camping site in Cumbria, raped her in a car on a dirt-track in Farnworth, at an address in Whitefield and at multiple addresses in Bury.

Following the pairs arrest, a second report was made to police by another teenage girl who also alleged serious and persistent offending of a sexual nature perpetrated by the couple, the abuse starting when the girl was as young as three-years old.

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The couple, from Bury, were charged following their interviews following the quality and detail of evidence provided by both girls, before Mills and Eccles proceeded to admit the offences they were accused of in court.

They were sentenced on Monday at Manchester Crown Court.

Now Mills, of Rochdale Road, has been jailed for 19 years and three months with an extended period of two years on license after admitting three counts of rape of a child under 13, three counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and two counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity - in relation to the first victim.

In relation to the second girl, he admitted three counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, six counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Eccles, of Rochdale Road, was jailed for seven years and two months for - in relation to the first victim - one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, and two counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

In relation to the second victim, she pled guilty to one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

They must serve at least two-thirds of their sentence before being considered for parole; they have also received indefinite sexual harm prevention orders and restraining orders relating to both victims.

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