Child rapist jailed after more victims come forward

Neil Piggott was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court

A convicted child sex offender has been sent back to prison for a further 24 years after more victims of his abuse came forward.

Neil Piggott, now aged 46, was previously jailed for three years in 2019 for sexually assaulting a child two years before.

Nottinghamshire Police said following his conviction three other women approached the force in 2021.

Piggott, of no fixed address, denied four charges including two of rape but was found guilty following a trial and sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday.

'Harrowing experiences'

Police said in 2021 one woman reported he had raped her twice when she was a teenager in the late 1990s.

Another young person gave an account of a previously unreported sexual assault in 2017, whilst a third victim explained how Piggott had posed as someone else to extract personal photographs from her in 2013.

The force said Piggott initially declined to comment in his police interview and later pleaded not guilty to four charges.

After a trial in September, he was found guilty of two counts of raping a girl under the age of 16, one count of inciting the exploitation of a child, and one count of sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13.

Det Con Ruth Statham said it was a "complex and evolving investigation with three victims whose abuse at the hands of Neil Piggott spanned 20 years".

"The courage these victims have shown in coming forward to tell of their harrowing experiences at this man's hands cannot be underestimated," she said.

"I hope these unanimous guilty verdicts will offer some closure to these victims after what has been an arduous legal process."