'Out of control' Portsmouth pervert with knife jailed after groping girl, 15, and attacking children while trapped in own home

Drunk menace Dale Palmer left the children ‘scared’ and ‘traumatised’ after his reign of terror inside their Portsmouth address they were unable to escape from on January 6. The 37-year-old sex pest was jailed at Portsmouth Crown Court following the harrowing and sustained incident.

After entering the property, Palmer ‘cornered’ the 15-year-old girl before touching her sexually, and telling the child she was ‘fit’ before turning aggressive. ‘He grabbed her by her ponytail so she had to look at him and pulled her in for a hug,’ prosecutor Holly Fagan said.

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The girl ‘got out’ of Palmer’s clutches before he put ‘one hand on her neck and one hand on her back’. The girl was able to free herself again before Palmer lashed out at the other two children by grabbing them tightly in headlocks so they ‘couldn’t breathe’.

Palmer went back to the 15-year-old and started ‘rubbing and hugging her’. ‘It looked like he was going to kiss her,’ Ms Fagan said. He then picked up a 10cm long steak knife, although this was not directly used to threaten anyone. The defendant left the address before he was arrested by police. An officer described the children as being ‘scared’.

The teenage complainant said she had now started to self-harm following her ordeal which made her ‘feel like anyone can just touch me’. She added: ‘I have nightmares and wake up crying. I still struggle with it.’

Howard Barrington-Clark, defending, said ‘drinking was the only explanation’ for Palmer’s actions. He highlighted how it was ‘touching on the bottom rather than squeezing’.

Palmer, of no fixed address, admitted three counts of assault by beating and a charge of sexual assault and one count of possessing a knife.

Judge Keith Cutler CBE jailed Palmer for 22 months and handed him a five-year restraining order. Palmer must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

The judge said Palmer’s actions were ‘pretty appalling’ with him ‘out of control’, before adding: ‘(The girl) has been left traumatised. The impact has been significant.’