A North London armed robber has been sent back to prison after he groomed and sexually abused a 13-year-old girl while he was out on license. Michael Brothers, 41, from Lothrop Street in Queen’s Park, was jailed for 12 years at Southwark Crown Court on Monday (June 21) after he was convicted of five counts of sexual activity with a child after a trial at the same court.
Brothers was last jailed in 2017 for nearly 10 years after raiding a Poundland on Holloway Road where he threatened staff with a crowbar and stole £3,000. Flying Squad detectives nabbed him two days later when he tried to rob a security guard delivering cash to a Matalan in Cricklewood. James Dixon, his accomplice, was jailed over a third robbery too, but Brothers denied being there.
Brothers, who has no previous for sexual offending, was released from the custodial part of his robbery sentence in February 2023. After that he lost a child due to cot death, and his relationship broke down, the court heard. During the trial, Brothers claimed he was feeling lonely and had not had sex in a while, while also sharing feelings of ‘shame and disgust’ about what happened next.
On a night in autumn 2024, the victim left her home after a family argument and got a bus to Maida Vale where she ‘hung around’ and bought a vape from a shop. Brothers approached her and asked if she was okay, before driving off in a vehicle. Brothers returned later and this time she told him she was aged 13, causing him to remark ‘I thought you were older’, said prosecutor Michael Peters.
After leaving and returning for a third time, Brothers invited her to walk with him to somewhere she recalled as a ‘council house place’. Brothers then disappeared and returned with ‘Vodka, Fanta, a lighter, and a spliff’. When he asked to kiss her she agreed, then they walked to a nearby park and jumped over the fence to get inside. After drinking alcohol he then kissed her on the lips again.
On the park bench, Brothers got her to perform oral sex acts on each other, then moved her to the grass and penetrated her without a condom. Brothers stopped when she complained of pain, and they went their separate ways. At this point, she went to a pub in Camden and reported the sexual abuse to the manager who called the police.
But feeling ‘confused and nervous’, she returned to the same park to find Brothers again, according to Mr Peters. This time Brothers digitally penetrated her, then once again resumed penetrating her with his penis without protection. The abuse only stopped when Brothers escorted her home because he thought her mum would be worried about her, the court was told.
Brothers, who has been in and out of prison for theft offences since he was 14, was arrested by police after his DNA was found on the patch of grass. Under police questioning, he denied some of the sexual abuse, and claimed he thought the victim was aged 18 and looked homeless. Jurors were left unconvinced by this claim during the trial.
In an impact statement, the victim-survivor said her life had been ‘ruined’ by the abuse, and that she was no longer the ‘smiley, chatty’ person her friends and family had known. “I want people to see me for me, not what happened. I hate who it made me become from my whole heart. I’m always grumpy and anxious. It affects everyone around me. It’s not just me,” she said.
“I hope things can go back to normal and that I become a fraction of the loud happy girl I had once been,” she continued, “I wish my memory of that night was just wiped away.”
‘That gives you no excuse’
There was little defence counsel Gethin Payne could offer as mitigation, though he highlighted it was Brothers’ first sexual offence and said his client had told him he ‘wished he had gone guilty’ before the trial.
Finding him dangerous and handing him an extended sentence, Judge Sally-Ann Hales KC told Brothers: “It must have been obvious to you that she was young and vulnerable, even if you did not appreciate quite how young she was…. Undeterred by her age, and the pain she had experienced on the first occasion you had sex with her, you had a second go.
“I appreciate your feelings of shame and disgust are genuine, but your remorse would have counted for a lot more if you fully admitted what you had done. At least you do not shy away from the impact of it on your victim.
“At the time you were feeling lonely and had not had sex in a while. That gives you no excuse for trying to alleviate those feelings with a child.”
Brothers was jailed for 12 years, consisting of nine years for Count 5 plus three years on extended license. It means he will serve six years before his is eligible for parole. The other counts were sentenced concurrently. Count 1 of sexual activity with a child was oral (penis in mouth), Count 2 – oral (mouth on vagina), Count 3 – vaginal, Count 4 – digital, and Count 5 – vaginal.
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