A soldier has been jailed after being convicted of the rape and sexual assault of a child under 13.

Shane Percival, 27, a lance corporal with the Royal Anglian Regiment, appeared at Norwich Crown Court having been found guilty of rape and sexual assault .

It followed a trial in March this year after which Percival, of Lynford Drive, Eaton, was found guilty of the offences.

They happened between December 2011 and August 2013, when Percival was aged between 16 and the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was aged between nine and 10.

Before Percival, who was stationed at Woolwich Barracks and in Cyprus, was sentenced the victim read out a statement in court.

She said: "I was 15 when I told my teacher what Shane did to me.

"My whole world fell apart.

"I had kept this hidden since I was a little girl.

"I did this because it would break my family's hearts and it did."

The victim described how her mental health suffered as a result and how she turned to self-harm and made attempts to take her own life.

The victim said: "Luckily my attempts were unsuccessful."

She added: "I didn't want to live but I'm now stronger than ever."

Duncan O'Donnell, prosecuting, read a statement on behalf of the victim's mother who said she was "so proud of her" for how she has come through the ordeal.

Mr O'Donnell said the victim impact statements describe the effects of what had happened to her and insisted there was "substantial psychological harm".

Jailing Percival for five years and two months, Judge Alice Robinson said the victim "undoubtedly suffered psychological harm as a result of these offences".

Michael Clare, mitigating, provided to the court a number of character references on behalf of the defendant.

Mr Clare said Percival who was 16 when the offences were committed, was "clearly was at some point a damaged boy".

Percival was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for six years.

He was also put on the sex offenders register indefinitely and banned from contacting the victim directly or indirectly for six years.

A British Army spokesman said: "The army takes such convictions very seriously and where there is a sentence of imprisonment, there is a strong likelihood that the individual will be discharged."