A paedophile who abused a young girl and then downloaded child porn while on bail has been jailed for 11 years – but police haven’t released his mugshot.

Robert Wootton, of Tilney Gardens, Canonbury, was a teenager when he began carrying out the horrific attacks on the child.

Now 26, he was convicted of attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13 and engaging a minor in sexual activity at Wood Green Crown Court in August.

At the same hearing, he also admitted making indecent or pseudo photographs of a child in February, while awaiting trial.

Police usually release images of people who receive lengthy sentences, but risk assessments are done when the crime is a sexual offence. In this situation, officers have argued against publishing it – but the victim’s family have said they wanted it released, not least because they think he preyed on others.

This week the girl’s father told the Gazette the family’s world changed forever when she came forward to tell them she had been abused when she was younger.

“She was having emotional problems in school and kept crying,” he explained. “My wife went to pick her up and she told her in the car on the way home. It completely shattered our world. She has trust issues around people and it came out just as she was taking her exams.”

The father was also in court to watch Wootton get convicted and then sentenced, and says the overriding feeling was relief.

“The main thing for us was for him to get convicted,” he continued. “So people can recognise what he is and so my daughter knows she made the right choice by going to the police and going through that process. It took a while and we were starting to question whether we’d done the right thing so there was a real sense of justice being served.”

Regarding other potential victims, he added: “I think when people read it locally some parents are going to have to have conversations with their own children. I’d like to think other people in the same situation will speak up.”

Three other charges from the first case, a rape and two sexual assaults, were left to lie on file, as were two more charges of making indecent photos of a child, which he denied.

Anyone who feels they or someone they know may have been a victim can call police on 101.