A paedophile has been jailed for child sex offences for the sixth time after he groomed and sexually assaulted an eight-year-old boy.
Stephen Lott, 47, of Kingsbridge Road in Harold Hill, has been abusing young boys and girls since the mid-1990s when he repeatedly orally raped a girl when she was aged between five and seven.
He has since amassed convictions for 22 offences related to child sexual abuse, including in 2016 when he groped girls aged five and eight at South Kensington station.
But out of prison, Lott began offending again in late 2023.
Over the course of nine months he groomed an eight-year-old boy, buying him presents and gifts, before kissing him and inviting him to his home with the intention of committing further sexual abuse.
Lott claimed he had accidentally kissed the boy whilst giving him a hug but a jury saw through him and convicted him of sexual assault on a child and meeting a child following grooming,
At his sentencing hearing on August 8, Snaresbrook Crown Court was told that Lott puts his behaviour down to the fact that he struggled to make friends when he was a child.
Supported by his sister, her husband and a church official in court, Lott asked Judge Ross Cohen for one more chance as he said he intends to make a career on YouTube making sci-fi videos.
But Judge Cohen said: “You delude yourself and others that your behaviour towards children is innocent and based on an affinity you have for them as a result of your own low confidence.
“The sad truth, Stephen Lott, is that your behaviour towards children is both sexualised and predatory.”
Judge Cohen listed Lott’s previous convictions which include offences of gross indecency with a child aged between five and seven – which would have been charged as oral rape if they were committed today rather than in the 1990s.
“Steve never made me aware he had previous convictions. It’s made me feel really anxious for my son, that he’s had to go through this. It’s been a really horrible time,” she said.
“It’s disheartening and sinister, I feel like a failure for not protecting him.”
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Judge Cohen concluded that Lott was “dangerous” under the definition of the court, allowing him to pass an extended sentence to protect children.
Lott was handed a four-year prison term with an additional three years on licence.
A parole board can decide to release Lott two years and ten months into the prison term, but if he is not deemed safe he will be kept there for the full four years.
Once released he will remain on licence until 2032.
The Met Police did not release Lott's newest custody image until today (September 10).
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