Taxi driver who tried to rape 9-year-old and was caught on CCTV while leaving her house gets 15 years in jail
A man who tried to rape a nine-year-old girl has been sentenced for 15 years. Jason Bursk was caught in CCTV footage that showed him fastening his trousers after leaving the house of the victim. The 51-year-old taxi driver from Radcliffe, Greater Manchester, was sentenced for breaking into various properties late at night and sexually attacking women and children. Bursk’s most serious crime included the November 15, 2019, attack on the nine-year-old, who was asleep with her younger sister, when he broke into her house and attempted to rape her. He also bit her and called her a “brat” as she resisted. However, the girl’s sister woke up and bravely intervened that led Bursk to flee the house after shoving both children. He was captured on CCTV that showed him escaping from the scene, holding his trousers up.
According to reports, Bursk’s criminal activities dated from November 2018 to November 2019. During that one year, he stalked a district of Radcliffe as a secret sex pervert. He used to look through windows and doors of the houses to find where women and children lived. In a drunken state, Bursk would check the properties and try their front and back doors in the early hours until he found one that was not properly closed or unsecure.
Two other children and a woman in her 70s are also the victims of Bursk, who as per police, tried to trespass numerous properties “with the intention of committing sexual acts”. The taxi driver admitted two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13; one count of attempted rape of a child under 13; one count of sexual assault of a woman in her 70s; three counts of attempting to trespass with intent to commit a sexual offense; and four counts of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offense at Minshull Street Crown Court. Judge John Potter told Bursk, “Your convictions in these proceedings show you to be a deviant sexual predator”, as he gave him 15 years of jail with an additional five years on extended license.
Detective Supt Howard Millington, who led Operation Horsley to investigate Bursk, said: “Bursk is a sexual predator. He loses a lot of his inhibitions, especially when he has had alcohol. He is a very dangerous man - particularly a danger to women and young girls who are vulnerable by reason of age.”
Detective Sgt Andy Wright, second in command of the investigation, said, “Once he got dropped off by taxi he would go wandering and try doors to get into a house. We have CCTV of him trying doors. He looks for houses that are associated with children - kids' toys in the garden - or he looks through windows to check for toys. In the house, he entered [and committed the attempted rape of a child], it was quite clear children lived there. In another incident in the previous summer, where he got chased down the street, it was blatant children lived there.”
Wright also commented on the family whose child Bursk tried to rape. He added, “From the night it happened, they never slept in that house again. They have moved out of Radcliffe, the children moved to different schools. Their lives were ruined.”