A gang of child sex groomers branded “monsters of men” by a girl they abused for years have been brought to face justice.
The gang abused the girl at a house in Blackrod dubbed a “sordid den of iniquity” by a senior judge between 2016 and 2018 before a police investigation aided by the victim’s courage put a stop to them.
Nearly seven years on, prosecutor Ben Lawrence read out moving testimony from the girl to a packed courtroom at Liverpool Crown Court, telling those present how the gang had abused her.
The statement, read by Mr Lawrence, said: “These monsters of men used my own brain against me."
The statement added: “I am forced, by my own brain, to relive every second with these vile people, over and over again.”
He said Darbyshire first abused the girl in bushes near the Blackrod Community Centre while she was wearing her school uniform.
He then continued to message and call her.
Mr Lawrence said: "They then began to meet frequently, at first every two days, that then reduced in the months and years ahead to every fortnight."
In another incident, Darbyshire abused the girl alongside his co-defendant, Corey Barrett, 24, formerly of Blackrod and now of Wigan.
But Mr Lawrence told the court that Darbyshire had also abused several other girls.
One of them was around five years younger than him when he abused her at the age of 13 in 2015.
Darbyshire sent her Facebook messages asking for sex, she objected but he continued trying to incite her to sex.
He eventually raped the girl after meeting her in October 2016.
Another of the victims he messaged “out of the blue” on Facebook in January 2016.
At the time she was 13 and he was 19, which Mr Lawrence said: “was plainly part of the grooming process, as he was not genuinely deterred by her age and swiftly went on to act on his sexual desire for a child".
Darbyshire contacted a fourth girl on Facebook in April 2016 when he was 19 and she was 15.
He asked for naked photographs and asked for sexual favours despite her pointing out she was only 15 and continued to "badger her for photographs".
He continuously asked her to meet him and she eventually agreed.
He eventually talked her into sending a photograph and sexually abused her twice near Blackrod Community Centre.
A statement from the first girl read by Mr Lawrence said: "I live my abuse out every day, I live every single detail and as much as I would love to stop my brain and body remembers it and always will."
The girl's statement added: "As much as I've coped, I've died over and over again with realisation and learning what the truth really was."
Darbyshire and his fellow grooming gang members were eventually brought down as part of Operation Pavarotti, a wide-ranging police investigation into child sex abuse around Blackrod.
Brought before the court earlier this year Darbyshire admitted to two rapes and 10 counts of sexual activity with a child against one of his underaged victims.
He confessed to another rape and count of inciting a child to sexual activity against another of the girls.
He pleaded guilty to a single count of inciting a child to sexual activity against a third girl.
Darbyshire confessed to another count of inciting a child to sexual activity with two counts of sexual activity with a child against a fourth girl.
Finally, he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of a child in respect of a fifth girl.
Darbyshire was one of a group of four of 10 men to be sentenced over the first of a two-day sentencing hearing.
He was convicted of rape, attempted rape and sexual activity with a child after a lengthy trial that concluded earlier this year.
The girl’s statement said Harwood was "a horrible and vindictive person who could turn in an instant".
Another of the first group was Ross Corley, 30 of Blackrod, who the girl’s statement said abused her “away from prying eyes” after he went on Snapchat when he was 23 and she was 15.
The final man to be sentenced on the first day was Harvie Aspden, 25, of Radcliffe, who was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child at the trial earlier this year.
The girl’s statement said he had seemed "quiet and quite timid" but had eventually abused her as well.
Damian Nolan, defending Darbyshire, said he deserved credit for his guilty plea and pointed out he had no previous convictions and had not offended again since then.
He said given he had recently suffered a stroke he would find prison “particularly difficult.”
Mr Nolan said Darbyshire has "no recall at all about the offending" because of his medical episode.
She said he is unlikely ever to come before the courts ever again for any offence.
Matthew Cullen, for Corley, said he also deserved credit for his guilty plea and said that he had “struggled with the offences hanging over his head” since 2018.
He said Corley hoped eventually to return to America, where he is an American citizen.
Finally, Paul Treble, for Harwood, said his client had "the verbal ability of a child under 10", with comprehension difficulties.
But he said he had since learned to show some empathy for his victim.
Judge Simon Medland KC accepted these points but reminded the court of the "extemporary courage" of the "calm thoughtful and dignified” victim.
He said Darbyshire had manipulated her into his circle of "drug takers, drinkers and wastrels" at the house on Vicarage Road West in Blackrod.
He said this was "a lawless den of iniquity, a filthy hovel in which sexual offending, drug taking and drinking took place".
Addressing Darbyshire, who sat impassively in the dock Judge Medland, said: "In the end her truth was too powerful for you as it was too powerful for the other defendants also."
Judge Medland jailed Darbyshire for total of 15 years in prison, which he will serve two thirds of in custody.
He also hit him with a restraining order and a sexual harm prevention order until further order and a notification order for life.
Turning to Harwood, Judge Medland sentenced him to 10 years in prison and said it would have been 12 years had he not been only 18 when the offences were committed.
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He will be subject to the sex offender notification requirements for the rest of his life as well as a restraining order and sexual harm prevention order until further order.
Judge Medland sentenced Corley to 28 months in prison.
He will be subject to the sex offender notification order, restraining order and sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
Finally Judge Medland sentenced Aspden to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years, with 200 hours unpaid work.
He will be subject to the sex offender’s notification order, restraining order and sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.
Speaking after the hearing, senior investigating officer, Detective Inspector Samantha Parry, from Bolton CID, said: “I am glad that this group of abhorrent individuals have been handed substantial sentences and are off the streets of Bolton and where they belong, behind bars.
“I want to thank the victim-survivors that all came forward and put their trust in us to disclose the awful things that were done to them by these predatory men while they were trying to go about their lives as normal teenage girls should be able to do.
“We could not have gotten this far without you. You are all so incredibly brave and I hope you know that.
"Although today’s result cannot take back what has happened, I hope that these sentences will bring you some comfort as you try to carry on with your lives.
“I’d also like to take this chance to reach out to all victim-survivors of sexual abuse.
"We are here to listen to you when you are ready and will work at a pace that is comfortable for you.
“We take sexual offences very seriously, no matter the passage of time since it took place.”
The rest of the gang are expected to be sentenced on Tuesday, April 29.
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