A man branded a “low life scum” has been jailed for ten years for plying underage girls with drugs and sexually abusing them.

Dale Hewitt, aged 26, drove both schoolgirls to cut themselves or attempt suicide and has left them struggling to rebuild their lives.

He slept with one schoolgirl and touched another indecently, often after giving them mephedrone and cannabis.

Hewitt handled weapons including a machete in front of the girls, then aged 13 and 14, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

Hewitt later abducted a third girl aged 14, whom police found in the shower at his flat.

Judge Paul Darlow jailed Hewitt for ten years for a decade for a string of offences.

Friends and relatives of the victims whooped and clapped at the back of the court, with one person shouting “Justice” and others saying sarcastically “See you, Dale.”

The mum of the girl with whom Hewitt had had sex had earlier said he was “low life scum” who went from one victim to the next.

Hewitt, of Marlborough Street, Devonport, changed his story last month to admit four counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child between December 2014 and February 2015.

He also admitted four counts of sexual activity with the other girl between April and December 2014.

Hewitt pleaded guilty to abducting the third teenager in February this year.

Manipulative Hewitt supplied both girls with mephedrone, or bubble, and sometimes cannabis before touching them sexually. He never asked them for any money.

One girl told the jury through her recorded police interview that she was “wrecked” on drugs and alcohol, but Hewitt still had sex with her at his old flat in Clifton Place, Greenbank.

She said she was always “scared” of Hewitt, who became aggressive and angry after taking drugs himself.

The girl broke down in tears as she recalled how she cried in the toilet the first time it happened.

His victims do not know each other.

Both girls said he showed them his weapons, including knives, a machete and a sword.

In a new statement read to the court, one of the victims said: “I feel as if I am a shadow of the girl I used to be. It makes me feel so sad. I feel that Dale Hewitt stole my childhood from me.

“I have cut myself, my arms and legs. I felt as though I wanted to die. I overdosed on alcohol and tablets.”

The second girl, the one with whom Hewitt slept, said: “I tried to end my life. I felt worthless. I have been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.”

Hewitt, in his version of events accepted by the prosecution, said that both girls were already using drugs when he started to share his mephedrone and cannabis.

The defendant added that he started off as friends with the girls, but accepted that he could become aggressive and angry towards them after using drugs.

“Hewitt groomed, manipulated and then preyed on young vulnerable victims for his own sexual gratification, acting without any regard for these children or their families who will live with the consequences for years to come.

Plymouth Herald