A former teaching assistant from Swindon has been sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty of raping a child and committing multiple sexual offences against minors.
Sam Powers, 28, was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court last week following his earlier guilty plea to 44 counts of sexual offences against children.
Powers will serve 16 years of his sentence in custody, with the remaining four years on licence. Additionally, he has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register and issued a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for a minimum of 25 years.
Detective Sergeant Zoe Purnell, who led the investigation, expressed her admiration for the survivors who bravely came forward to provide evidence. “I would like to pay tribute to the numerous survivors who bravely came forward to give evidence which has led to the conviction of Powers.
“This case has been brought as the result of a wide-ranging, complex and challenging investigation in which it became clear that Powers is a predatory paedophile who sought opportunities to work closely with young people, to groom and abuse them in order to satisfy his own selfish desires,” she said.
Powers’ lengthy jail term brings some measure of justice to the survivors, who endured significant trauma. DS Purnell hopes this sentence will encourage other survivors of abuse to come forward. “I hope this sentence will encourage other survivors of abuse to report it – we are here to help you, you will be listened to, and we have trained officers who work closely with partner organisations to support you in any way we can,” she added.
