A BUTCHER who raped a child and filmed a woman in a tanning salon has been jailed for 17 years.

Danny-Jay Storey, 37, of Spenser Way, Jaywick, was arrested after a shocked woman reported a mobile phone being held over the partition wall of her changing room at a salon in Clacton in February 2019.

The salon’s CCTV showed it was Storey who occupied the neighbouring booth.

Storey, who was the tenant at A Wenn and Son Butchers in Clacton’s Station Road, was arrested and an examination of his mobile phone found indecent images of children.

The discovery sparked an investigation which led to two victims being identified.

They both reported they were sexually abused by Storey when they were young girls.

Police also found two videos of changing rooms, one showing an unidentified woman undressing.

Storey was convicted of four counts of rape of a child, three counts of assaulting a child by penetration, one count of possessing indecent images of children, two counts of attempted voyeurism and one count of voyeurism following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court last month.

Emma Nash, prosecuting, read victim impact statements to the court, in which one victim said she would “cry herself to sleep each night” for a long time.

The victim of the voyeurism added she was left “frightened of using changing rooms” and “felt very anxious and vulnerable”.

Tunde Okewale, mitigating, said mitigation was limited by the virtue of the jury’s verdict, but that character references speak of Storey “in a different light and illuminate another side to his character”.

He added that Storey has lost his businesses and still owes money to the previous owner.

Mr Okewale added Storey’s family and friends were unable to attend court “following various death threats”.

Sentencing Storey today, Judge Patricia Lynch QC told him: “There’s no excuse for your behaviour. You picked on young vulnerable girls and sexually abused them.”

She praised the victims for their “courage and dignity” during the trial.

Storey was sentenced to a total of 17 years, including an extra year on licence due to being a person of particular concern.

He will also be subject to a harm prevention order for 20 years and will be placed on the sex offenders register for life.