Lee Saxton

Introduction

Lee Saxton, 41, of South Street, Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, was sentenced to nine years and ten months in prison at Nottingham Crown Court in November 2026 after admitting a series of offences against an underage girl he groomed in the Skegness area of Lincolnshire, including sexual activity with a child, strangulation, assault, sexual communication with a child, and causing the sexual exploitation of a child. He avoided attending his own sentencing twice — first through a hospital admission, then by refusing a prison video link on the grounds that he was “too tired.”

Background Information

Saxton was 40 years old when he first met his victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, and began sexually abusing her four months later. The abuse continued until she reported him for assault. The court heard the pair had met on Facebook, where the girl initially described him as “just a friend.” At the time of the offending Saxton worked in the motor trade; the court later heard he lost that job and subsequently experienced depressive symptoms. He had no previous convictions for sexual or violent offending before this case.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Convicted and sentenced. Saxton admitted the offences on the day of his trial and was sentenced to nine years and ten months in prison, with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and placement on the sex offenders register for life.

Prosecutor Jeremy Janes told Nottingham Crown Court that Saxton was “well aware of her age from the first time they met because she told him,” and that he invited her to his house where he had sex with her, “having pestered her to do it until she eventually relented.” Saxton “repeatedly” videoed her without her knowledge and used the recordings as “collateral” to “hook her” into the relationship. He also sent her a picture of himself holding a knife to his neck.

The court heard the victim was “reluctant to disclose the full truth” and initially told police Saxton was only a friend. In the incident that finally brought the relationship to police attention, Saxton became angry with her and began biting her on her forehead, nose, arms and finger, and strangled her so she could not breathe properly while telling her: “Die, no-one gives a f*** about you.” She called 999 in fear, but Saxton snatched her phone away and ended the call. She later phoned police again from his caravan in the Skegness area in the early hours, purporting to be someone else.

When officers reached the caravan it was empty, but they found the girl in a nearby pub with a bruise on her right cheek. She denied being with Saxton and led officers to a caravan she later admitted she had not been staying in. Asked to speak to her parents, she called “her friend’s dad” — a man supposedly called “Steve” — and an officer spoke to him about “wasting police time.” When “Steve” was asked to meet police at his caravan he gave a fictitious address. Officers concluded “Steve” was Saxton himself, that the girl was not safe, and took her to a police station and contacted social services. She later told officers the pair were having sex regularly, and that when she threatened to report him for assaulting her, Saxton said he would share the videos he had taken of her on Facebook. The prosecution described a relationship “marked by a huge imbalance of power.”

Saxton was arrested and released on bail with conditions to keep away from the girl, but the court heard he immediately resumed the sexual relationship with her. He admitted eight counts of sexual activity with a child, strangulation, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, sexual communication with a child, and causing the sexual exploitation of a child, entering the pleas on October 6 — the day his trial was due to begin.

Public Reaction and Consequences

Saxton’s conduct of his own sentencing drew attention: he was due to be sentenced on the Wednesday but complained of chest pains and was taken to hospital, and on the Thursday he refused to attend via video link from prison, claiming he was too “tired.” Recorder William Davis jailed him for nine years and ten months regardless. The court imposed a sexual harm prevention order and placed Saxton on the sex offenders register for life. Mitigating, Simon Eckersley said Saxton was entitled to credit for his day-of-trial pleas, had no previous sexual or violent convictions, and had depressive symptoms following the loss of his job.

Recorder Davis said the “grooming element” was less pronounced than in some cases but that Saxton still exerted “emotional pressure” on his victim. “You knew from the outset any sexual activity with her was wrong and should not have happened,” the judge told him.

Current Status

Lee Saxton, now 41, is serving a prison sentence of nine years and ten months imposed at Nottingham Crown Court in early November 2026. He is subject to a sexual harm prevention order and must remain on the sex offenders register for life. The sentence followed his guilty pleas entered on the day of trial, which limited the credit available to him.

Impact on Their Career/Life

Saxton’s name and photograph were published by Lincolnshire courts reporting after the sentencing, attaching a decade-long prison term and lifelong registration to a man who had worked in the motor trade and had no prior convictions of this kind. The judge’s remarks made clear the sentence reflected the wrongness of the sexual activity from the outset rather than only the later violence, and the reporting preserved the victim’s legal anonymity while documenting the grooming, recordings and threats that defined the relationship.

Sources

• “Man jailed for sexual abuse of a child at Skegness caravan park” — LincolnshireWorld, Nov. 9, 2026 source