A YOUNG girl abused by paedophile John White is so scared she has been keeping knives in her room for “protection”, her mother has revealed.

She said the youngster had suffered behavioural problems at school and had been referred to a counsellor because of the abuse.

White repeatedly abused the child, who attends primary school, in a shed at his Bicester home. He was jailed for six years at Oxford Crown Court last week.

Her mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “It’s devastated us.

“My daughter hasn’t been good at all. I found three steak knives in her bedroom hidden in different play handbags.

“When I asked her why have you got knives in your bedroom she said, ‘to keep me safe’.”

She said: “He has shown no remorse at all. It has devastated us all.”

Jurors were told White lured his victim into the shed by promising to show her his runner beans.

He told her the abuse was a secret and she should not tell anyone. It came to light when the girl told her mother.

White’s semen was found on the child’s underwear and at court he admitted three charges of sexual assault of a child under 13 at an earlier hearing.

Jailing him for six years, Judge Bruce McIntyre said on Friday that the emotional damage was far worse than any physical injury.

He said: “What you’ve done is, in a way, more serious because you have damaged her emotionally.

“How long that will go on – at school, with emotional attachments, boys, girls? I don’t know.

“They are dreadful offences.

“They would have been bad enough were they against a girl of 18 but you have committed them against a little girl, who would hardly have know what was going on and certainly was not in any position to resist or prevent you from doing what you did.”

Graham Bennett, defending, said: “My client cannot undo the harm that he has caused to the complainant and everyone associated with this case.”

Three charges of rape – which White denied – were ordered to lie on the file.

White must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and will be prevented from living within a mile of the victim after his release from prison.