Tuesday 10 May 2022 11:08 AM Mother, 27, and boyfriend, 38, forced girls as young as eight to watch them ... trends now

A mother-of-one and her rapist boyfriend have been jailed for a total of 26 years over sickening sexual abuse they inflicted upon two young girls.

Tiffany Eccles, 27, and John Mills, 38, forced their victims to watch them have sex 'as a demonstration' before Mills raped both girls on separate occasions telling one to keep it their 'little secret'.

The couple were arrested last November after one of the victims told her mother how she had been abused by the couple over the course of four years, starting when she was just eight.

Landscape gardener Mills, of Bury, Greater Manchester raped the first victim at least five times and made her watch him and Eccles have intercourse. The sick group sex sessions involved them playing a game of spin the bottle whilst naked.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Mills was jailed for 19 years and three months after he admitted rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Girlfriend Eccles, also from Bury, was jailed for seven years and two months after she admitted engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13 and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard the first victim was targeted after Mills befriended her father. Prosecuting, Mr Jon Close said the first attack happened during a camping trip attended by the couple, the now-teenage victim and her father and other friends.

'She was just eight years old and stayed in the same tent as the defendants,' he told Minshull Street Crown Court. 

'He began touching her and she tried to get out of the tent he pulled his hand over her face saying: "Shh! don't do that".

'She was shouting for her father but he didn't hear as he was asleep. He told her not to tell anyone saying it was their "little secret".

'She knew it was wrong but was too frightened to tell anyone as she was fearful she would get into trouble. Eccles was present at the time but was asleep.

'The offending escalated when he took her to a shop in his car and he bought condoms. As they were coming back, he turned down a country road and told her to lie down in the back of his car and he raped her.

'Another car containing teenage boys arrived on the lane but they thought she was older than she actually was and Mills drove away.'

In one incident, Mills raped the girl whilst Eccles was in another bedroom aware of what was happening. He also raped her on a sofa at his home.

'On one occasions she was told she had to stay with Eccles until Mills got back from work,' said Mr Close.

'She recalled him saying the could "have some fun". They were drinking alcohol and when he got back they went to a bedroom where they were all naked and they played Spin the Bottle.

'Eccles and the girl engaged in sex acts whilst he watched before joining in. The girl recalls how Mills made her watch him and Eccles have sex saying: "watch this". She felt disgusted. She said Mills was manipulative saying saying there would be lots of girls her age who liked these things.

'She said he was like two different people, one hand being friendly then on the other being totally different.'

As Eccles and Mills were locked up for a total of more than 26 years, relatives of the youngsters burst into applause in the public gallery and shouted: 'You filthy scumbags - hope you f**king rot.'

Police examined Mills' phone and also discovered he had filmed Eccles having sex with another man.