Menachem Mendel Levy jailed for three years

Menachem Levy, 41, of Princes Park Avenue, was found guilty in May of indecent assault of a female under the age of 16 following a trial at Wood Green Crown Court.

Levy first targeted the victim, who was 14 when the abuse began, when he visited her family home in Hendon in December 1999, He then subjected her to a series of sexual assaults at other locations, including Levy’s home address, until December 2005,  

The woman suffered a “course of sexual abuse” between the ages of 14 and 21, “beginning when she was a child in the eyes of the law”, prosecutor David Markham told Wood Green Crown Court. After Mr Levy had first touched her sexually when she was 14, the abuse had escalated over years as he “forced himself on her for sexual intercourse”.

The woman — who cannot legally be identified — “did not complain during that period, because in essence she thought she was to blame,” Mr Markham said.

“This was a belief and conviction rooted in her upbringing in north London and the Orthodox Jewish community.”

Mr Levy had exploited her naivety and fears, he said, by telling the woman that she would be the one in trouble if she raised the alarm, throughout the ordeal, Levy constantly told the girl that she was to blame for the abuse and that if she told anyone she would get into trouble.

The woman, the barrister said, had resisted his sexual overtures on some occasions and on others had submitted “with a sense of powerlessness” but in neither situation had she consented.

It was only later when she was abroad and saw a TV programme about sexual abuse that she grasped the magnitude of what had happened to her, he said. When she returned home, in 2006, she told her parents and later spoke to rabbis in her community.

Two years ago, she sent a letter to Mr Levy, detailing the pain his actions had caused her. It said: “You smouldered and suffocated my soul… stole my education… and virginity. You now question what you can do to make it go away… It will never go away. I cannot buy the things you stole from me.”

The letter went on to suggest that he should apologise to her and reimburse her parents for the counselling and therapy she had undergone.

“If an apology had been forthcoming and resolution possible within the community, she would not have gone to the police,” Mr Markham said.

In a video interview with police played to the jury, the woman said she had felt she had been used “like a utensil” by Mr Levy and had hated what went on.

At one stage, she had taken to cutting herself with a razor — “the only way I could get rid of the pain building up inside me”.

Explaining why she taken time to go to police, she said that “in the religious Jewish world, you don’t call the police for anything unless someone is murdering someone or stealing”.

When she had consulted rabbis, “they basically told me there was nothing they could do; they didn’t know what to do. They all started coming up with their bull**** excuses.”

Repeatedly questioned by the defence barrister as to why she had not told someone, the woman described herself as having been “very naive” and said: “In hindsight if I had known how wrong what he was doing really was, I would have said something.”

He was described as “a good man” by a leading Golders Green rabbi, Chaim Halpern, who gave evidence at the trial.

Prosecutor David Markham called Mr Levy a “predatory and controlling individual” who had exploited a “vulnerable” young woman.

Mr Levy, who had admitted to rabbis that he had had an affair, had followed their suggestions on how to make recompense.

He had made a charitable donation to the family of £1,500 through one rabbi, which the father had kept for the woman’s therapy fees

When another rabbi — Rabbi Halpern — had suggested offering a further payment of £4,000, Mr Levy had been reluctant in case it were taken as an admission of the allegations being made by the family.

“The rabbi said ‘pay it’; he paid it,” but the money was rejected by the family.

Levy was arrested at his home in July 2011 and was charged in April the following year.

Det Con Alistair Woods, from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “The victim has shown a tremendous amount of courage to come forward and give a detailed account of the abuse she suffered by Levy.

“No one should suffer in silence - I would urge anyone who is a victim to come and speak to us and let us help you.

“Specially trained officers will support you, and thoroughly investigate your claims.

“This sentencing demonstrates that the courts will prosecute those who prey on vulnerable people, irrespective of their background or status.

“I hope today’s sentencing can offer some kind of closure to the victim and her family.”

 Wood Green Crown Court