A Chester man who raped an underage girl when he was a teenager has been jailed.

Lucas Spilsbury, 23, of Saxon Way, was found guilty on all 14 charges of sexually assaulting the girl – including two counts of rape – following a trial held at Chester Crown Court earlier this year.

Appearing back for sentencing on Monday, October 14, Spilsbury was jailed for a total of five years, if which he must serve at least two-thirds before being eligible for parole.

Prosecuting, Frances Willmott said the majority of the offences happened when Spilsbury was 16 years old, save for two counts – one of rape and one of sexual touching – which happened several months later when he was 17.

Recorder Mark Ainsworth, the sentencing judge, said he took the view that Spilsbury must have known the girl – who cannot be identified – would have been 12 years old at the time of the first offences.

Ms Willmott summarised the two impact statements the victim had made, where she had described "severe difficulties" since the sex offences, which had resulted in self-harm, OCD-type behaviour, stress including the stress of the police investigation, and significant counselling.

She added there was not a day that went by that this had not affected her and her family, while giving evidence and being cross-examined in the trial was "one of the hardest things I ever had to do".

The judge noted police allowed the victim time to report what had happened, with a gap between the first and second police interviews, saying officers knew there was "something else" after the first interview. Ms Willmott confirmed the victim made the complaint after the second interview.

The court heard Spilsbury had 14 previous convictions for 23 offences, most recently for violence. The sex offences happened at the time Spilsbury received his second, third and fourth convictions.

Defending, Mark LeBrocq said a pre-sentence report had shown Spilsbury had depression, anxiety, ADHD, autistic traits and emotional immaturity and development issues.

He asked Recorder Ainsworth to pass a sentence which the defendant would not find "completely crushing".

The judge said the impact of Spilsbury's criminal behaviour was "significant", but added from his observations of Spilsbury in the dock and giving evidence at his trial, he needed to consider the defendant's emotional and developmental age as well as his chronological age.

As well as the prison sentence, Spilsbury was put on the sex offenders register indefinitely, and an indefinite restraining order was imposed preventing him from contacting the victim in any way.