Robert Bell, 57, has been put behind bars for nine years after pleading guilty (Pictures: Lancashire Police/PA)

A little girl sexually abused by a man, 57, when she was five years old now struggles to sleep because she feels unsafe and runs from men she doesn’t know.

The child’s mum revealed these details in a heartbreaking statement to Preston Crown Court, as attacker Robert Bell was jailed on Monday.

She said her daughter ‘cries herself to sleep’ as ‘the nightmares and fear follow her’, and has asked her if other men are ‘bad’ too.

Bell, who police have named a ‘dangerous pervert’, has been given an extended determinate sentence of nine years.

Detailing her daughter’s pain, the mum said: ‘Before this, my daughter was a happy, sociable, carefree typical five-year-old.

‘Since the incident, my daughter no longer sleeps well. She was struggling
with her sleep that much that our GP had to give her sleeping medication.

‘Last night she finally fell asleep about 01:30 in the morning, but said to me she didn’t feel safe.

‘I feel as though she falls asleep once the exhaustion finally catches up with her and after she has cried herself to sleep.

Preston Crown Court deemed Bell as someone who is a high risk to children (Picture: PA)

‘As a mother, this really upsets me that no matter how much I reassure her my daughter doesn’t feel safe and that no matter what I change the nightmares and fear follow her.

‘I feel helpless as there’s nothing else I can do and I worry that the neighbours must hear her crying at night and think I’m a terrible mother.’

She went on: ‘My daughter now runs away from men she does not know. She has on occasion asked me if they are bad men too.

‘My daughter’s general attitude has completely changed. The incident has aged her, you would think she was a teenager with the way she acts.

‘She gets angry and swears whereas she wouldn’t have before.’

Bell’s phone and computer were searched after an allegation was made of him sexually assaulting a child.

Police found 28 indecent images of children, including some of the most serious examples of child sexual abuse.

The predator, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13 and making indecent images of children.

He was put behind bars for nine years – an extended determinate sentence as Judge Andrew Jeffries QC named him someone who is a high risk to children.

Bell will have to prove to the Parole Board that he no longer poses a danger before he can be considered for early release.

He was also made subject of an indefinite Sexual harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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‘No matter how much I reassure her, my daughter doesn’t feel safe and no matter what I change the nightmares and fear follow her.’