July 2014

Pervert exposed himself to children

A PERVERT caused “fear and upset” by carrying out a sex act at his living room window while children were walking past.

Lee Scott, 44, was naked during the shocking display on February 4.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that one young girl who saw what he was doing was left in tears.

One adult witness said she was left “sickened, scared and upset”.

Anne Richardson, prosecuting, said Scott had been at his ground-floor front room, with the net curtains behind him, so he could look out and be seen. Miss Richardson said some weeks before, a passer-by thought she saw Scott acting in a similar manner but convinced herself it was too shocking to be true.

When Scott was arrested, he denied the allegation and claimed locals had it in for him because he has schizophrenia.

Scott, of Swindon Road, Sunderland, later pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Judge James Goss gave Scott, who had been held in custody for the equivalent of a 12-month prison sentence, a two-year supervision order.

He must also register as a sex offender for five years.

The judge told him: “What you did was deliberately and knowingly done towards and in the presence of passing people, including young children.

“That caused both the children and the adults who witnessed your behaviour obvious disgust and upset.

“I hope you understand such behaviour is not only a crime, but it is regarded as a serious crime when it is directed towards children.

“I sincerely hope you have learned your lesson and will never behave in this way again.”

The court heard that Scott has been assessed as posing only a low risk of committing any contact sex offences in future.

July 2014

Gravesend student admits committing sex offences with three victims and downloading abuse images

A teenager is facing custody for committing sex offences with three victims and downloading abuse images from the internet.

Patrick Chidlow, formerly of Dashwood Road, Gravesend, wept as a judge withdrew his bail and remanded him in custody until sentence next month.

The 18-year-old university student admitted 10 offences of causing a person or child to engage in sexual activity, two of blackmail, three of possessing indecent photographs of a child and one of distributing them

December 2004

Mum’s anger at sentence

A mum of a 10-year-old boy targeted by pervert Tony Mellor has told of her disgust after the disgraced academic was spared jail.

Dr Tony Mellor, 44, of Townsville Avenue, Whitley Bay, exposed himself to a group of children and showed them pornographic magazines near his North Tyneside home last August.

And despite pleading guilty to two charges of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13, he was not given a jail sentence.

Instead, judges at Newcastle Crown Court gave him a two-year Community Rehabilitation Order and placed him on the sex offenders’ register.

Now the mother-of-one of the victims says she is “outraged” at the decision to release him into the community.

The woman, who the Chronicle has agreed not to name, said: “I was in court for the whole thing and I can’t believe it.

“After the trial my son was sitting at home knowing this man was at home having his tea just like we were.

“My boy has to walk past the park where it all happened and wonder whether he will see the man.”

Mellor, a senior soil sciences lecturer at Northumbria University performed a sex act in front of the boys twice, Newcastle Crown Court was told.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for five years and was also made the subject of a stringent five-year sexual offences prevention order.

This bans him from going within 50 yards of children under 16 without reasonable cause and from “entering recreational and educational premises they may be using”.

The distraught mother said: “My son was out with his friends at the time.

“The guy came across to them a few times and befriended them. He told them his name was Tony.

“He would stop and talk to them and asked them if they wanted to him to show them pictures. Then he exposed himself and said he was doing it all to educate them.

“My son has been shown things and learnt words he was not ready for. I have a great relationship with him but it was my choice when to educate him about sex, not anyone else’s.

“At the end of the day, we will get over it in time but I think this kind of sentence sends out the wrong message to people.

“The police have been great with us from start to finish but what happened in court was a joke, we were sat yards from him the whole time and how I controlled myself, I’ll never know.”

October 2004

Sick lecturer admits flashing at children

A perverted university lecturer is facing jail after exposing himself in front of young children.

Married Dr Antony Mellor approached youngsters on Tyneside twice within the space of a few days.

The married lecturer pleaded guilty to two charges of obtaining sexual gratification in the presence of a child under the age of 13 at North Tyneside Magistrates Court yesterday.

It is understood he had been looking at pornographic material while in the process of the indecency.

The 44-year-old has been suspended from his post as a lecturer in soil sciences at Northumbria University pending sentence.

Joe Sanders, for the Crown Prosecution Service, told the court: “These are difficult charges under the new sexual offences act and we say these matters are not suitable to be dealt with here. The aggravating feature of them is that they were pre-meditated.”

The CPS did not go into detail about the offences as sentencing will not take place until after the Probation Service has completed a report.

Mellor, of Townsville Avenue, Whitley Bay, was ordered by JPs to complete an interim registration on the Sex Offenders Register and was given conditional bail to appear at Newcastle Crown Court on a date to be fixed.

Noel Dilks, for Mellor, said: “You are dealing with a man in his 40s who is of impeccable character.

“He is spoken of in kind and generous terms by colleagues and he has never ever done this or any other kind of offence previously.

“He was under immense pressure at home and at work. We are getting a psychiatric report and it offers medical mitigation.”

It is understood Dr Mellor exposed himself to the youngsters while looking at a pornographic magazine.

The two incidents are alleged to have happened between August 1 and August 6 in the Whitley Bay area.

The street where the incident happened is close to his own home near Monkseaton Metro station, which he shares with wife Tracey.

A Northumbria University spokesman said: “The university has decided, following Dr Mellor’s appearance before North Tyneside Magistrates court yesterday to suspend him from his employment pending the decision and recommendations of the Crown Court.

“When the university is in receipt of the decision and recommendations and with the best interests in mind of all concerned, Dr Mellor’s position will be given full and fair consideration.”

Dr Mellor is head of Geography and Principal Lecturer in Physical Geography and Environmental Management at Northumbria University.

July 2014

Already convicted pervert had more than 190 images of child abuse on his laptop

A DEPRAVED Clydebank paedophile — who has previously been convicted of asking prostitutes to help him find children to abuse — has been jailed for possessing child abuse images

Twisted James Joyce — who also has a previous conviction for indecently assaulting two young children — was busted earlier this year after seeking out 195 photos and storing them on his computer in folders named after music albums.

The 65-year-old, from Drumry, was previously jailed and has also been placed on the sex offenders register until at least 2025.

ABUSE

It comes after he was convicted of approaching three different sex workers in the east end of Glasgow over the course of a year with a view to them finding a youngster for him to abuse as well as asking them to film the abuse of children.

Last week Joyce appeared in the dock at Dumbarton Sheriff Court after previously admitting to having indecent images of children between March 7 and 17 this year at an address in Drumry.

Peter Young, defending, said Joyce had obtained the images in a deliberate attempt to get himself locked up again as he didn’t think he could still receive support after his supervision period ended at the tail end of last year.

He added: “His position is he did commit this offence to alert the authorities to be returned to custody.”

Mr Young also said that Joyce knew that he was facing prison time and that the only question was how long he would get.

Sarah Healing, prosecuting, previously told the court how police had seized an HP laptop and a hard drive from Joyce’s living room and that evidence of indecent images was discovered following an initial examination at the scene.

A full examination was later carried out while Joyce was detained and taken to Clydebank Police Office and the laptop was found to have nearly 200 pictures of children ranging between levels one and four. Images at level five are classified as the worst.

It was also revealed that Joyce had sought out the images from a peer to peer file sharing network and that the haul of images had been stored in folders created by him with details of music albums to disguise the content.

He was interviewed but refused to answer most of the questions put to him and was subsequently cautioned and charged.

Sheriff Thomas McCartney told Joyce he had made a “calculated and deliberate” search for images of children which he had filed in folders under titles that would not make the contents of the images obvious.

He said the number and nature of his previous convictions played a significant factor in his decision to impose an extended prison sentence comprising two years and four months in custody and a further five years on licence starting after Joyce is freed. He warned Joyce if he did not comply with the conditions of the licence he would be returned to prison.

July 2014

Magician gave child sex image to police

A fire-eating magician was found to have a stash of sick child abuse images after he accidentally handed over the evidence to police to help them with another inquiry.

Nigel Hardman, 46, agreed to give officers CCTV taken outside his house in Lychgate, Preston, as they believed they could help them investigate drug dealing.

But when the performer, who previously went by the stage name of Prince Razaq, duly handed over a USB memory stick, officers from Lancashire Constabulary discovered an indecent image of a child was also on the device.

Hardman was arrested and initially claimed the photograph belonged to someone else, telling officers his ex-wife had access to a computer. However, a search of other computer equipment in Hardman’s home revealed 93 indecent images stored on various computers and hard-drives and Hardman confessed to saving the images.

Hardman admitted he had used search terms including “schoolgirl” to track down child abuse images but claimed he filtered the images and if they appeared to show under-age children he would not look at them.

Paul Cummings, prosecuting, told Preston Crown Court: “(During his police interview) he was maintaining the view that what he was looking at were legal images of people over 18.

“When the allegation was put to him that they were clearly images of children he began to seek legal advice.” The former entertainer, who also had a sideline driving stag and hen party guests around Blackpool in a 31ft limousine, claimed he could tell the girls’ ages by their appearance and insisted the images he was viewing were of actresses pretending to be younger than they were.

However, he later accepted the 93 images found on computer equipment at his home belonged to him.

Mr Cummings told the court the images – which were categorised from Class A to C, covering the whole range of indecent images under a new classification system – clearly depict underage girls.

Hardman, who once won a talent competition on Channel 4’s Big Breakfast for escaping from a straitjacket while standing on a bed-of-nails, has no previous convictions for sex offences. However came to the attention of the authorities when he was caught defrauding the benefits system of thousands of pounds, claiming he was too ill to work, while working as a sword swallower and fire eater in 2008.

After leaving his job as a civil servant due to alleged workplace bullying, he discovered he had a talent for dangerous forms of entertainment and created the persona of Prince Razaq, dressing as an Eastern fakir – in robes, complete with turban and curly- toed sandals.

He went on to set up a limousine company but that fell by the wayside when he separated from his wife.

Hardman pleaded guilty to 11 counts of making indecent photographs and two counts of possessing indecent photographs at Preston Crown Court.

He will be sentenced on August 1.

July 2014

Woman shared child abuse images in exchange for mobile phone top-ups

A woman who shared indecent images of children with paedophiles in exchange for mobile phone top-ups has escaped jail.

Pauline Judge, 33, posed as teenage girls on the internet to talk to sex offenders in America.

She sent them dozens of vile pictures of children she found on-line after they topped up the credit on her mobile phone.

Police recovered 416 illegal images and six videos on computer equipment seized during a raid on her Aberdeen home.

Some of the children were engaged in erotic posing, and some were shown having sex with each other and adults. The youngsters were aged between six months and 15 years old.

Judge admitted two child pornography charges when she appeared in court earlier this year and the case was adjourned for background reports.

She was sentenced at Aberdeen Sheriff Court on Wednesday and ordered to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work in the community.

Defence lawyer Tony Burgess told the court that his client had suffered a traumatic childhood and suffered depression.

He said: “A catalyst to her depression that turned to desperation and loneliness was the death of her father when she was 13 years of age.

“From the reports it’s clear that Miss Judge is standing before this court fully accepting of the wrong that she has done and awaiting her punishment.”

Mr Burgess said his client had taken positive steps since committing the two offences and her family were “extremely supportive” of her.

He said Judge recently had to move home because she had become the subject of public condemnation.

The court previously heard that police received intelligence last year of a UK internet user chatting to someone in the US about indecent images of children online.

Police officers explained the nature of the information they had received when they visited Judge at her home.

Fiscal depute Felicity Merson said: “She was cautioned and intimated that she had sent indecent images in return for top-up credits on her mobile phone.”

Forensic examinations of items seized from her house were carried out. The court heard the images recovered contained children being raped and abused featured babies as young as six months old up to teenagers aged 15.

Officers were unable to tell which images were sent but found that the text related to prepubescent girls.

The court heard that it appeared to be the case that Judge had pretended to be a young girl engaging in chats.

Evidence also revealed that the computer user had visited chat rooms where people had an interest in chatting about sex with youngsters and babies.

Judge previously pled guilty to a charge of taking, permitting or making indecent photographs of children between January 10, 2012 and June 27 last year.

She admitted a further charge of distributing or showing images between September 20, 2012 and June 27 last year.

Sheriff William Summers told the court that there was a victim for every image of child pornography. But he said he was satisfied that there was an alternative sentence available other than custody.

He ordered Judge to carry out 240 hours of unpaid work and placed her on a three year supervision order. The Judge will was also put on the sex offender’s register for three years.

July 2014

Coventry man admits series of child sex offences but denies 13 other charges including child rape

A Coventry man has admitted a series of sex offences against two young girls

Michael Whitmore, 57, from Stoke is charged with 25 offences against the girls, who were aged between eight and fifteen years old

Whitmore pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault and two counts of indecency with a child against another girl

But he denied 13 charges involving the second girl including four of indecent assault, four of rape, two of attempted rape, two of indecency with a child and one of sexual activity with a child.

At the crown court in Leamington, Whitmore was remanded in custody until his trial in November.

The alleged offences date back between 1993 and 2005

January 2010

Chippenham man jailed for four years for under-age sex

A sex offender who got a 15-year-old girl pregnant has been jailed for four years.

Simon Webb escaped a prison term in 2004 after admitting having sex with an under-age girl he had net over the internet.

But the 26-year-old struck up a friendship with the child when she was still 14 years old as she walked past the house where he was living in 2008 wearing her school uniform.

And after chatting in the street and going to the cinema with the youngster he invited her in when no one else was at home and they twice had sex.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court today that the girl had started to become disruptive at home and stopped wanting to go to school.

He said her mother was concerned because she had always been a diligent pupil and after repeatedly confronting her about what was wrong the girl revealed she was pregnant.

The youngster gave an open account of what had happened when she spoke to the police telling them she had told Webb her age.

When he was questioned he admitted to the police that he had sex with the girl and Mr Meeke said ‘appeared to nonchalant’ at the news that she was pregnant.

However he insisted he had no idea she was under-age when he had sex with her.

Mr Meeke said that when she revealed her state it was well into the pregnancy and she went to full term and returned to education after the birth.

Webb, formerly of Brook Street, Chippenham, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child between the beginning of April and the end of July last year.

He had been due to stand trial on the new allegation but changed his plea before a jury could be sworn in.

Virginia Cornwall, defending, said here client had not targeted the girl and was not a sexual predator saying they became friends after meeting in the street.

Although the victim was underage she said that the sex had been consensual and part of a relationship.

Miss Cornwall suggested the fact the girl fell pregnant ‘could be seen as an aggravating feature’ of the case, but Judge McNaught asked how it could be seen as anything else.

She said “The baby in fact was not unwanted it would seem. It has been taken into the girl’s family and was taken in and loved.

“That is different in my submission where there has to be a termination or the baby is given up for adoption and a child’s life is ruined.”

Miss Cornwall said her client had learning difficulties and struggled at school and would be vulnerable in prison.

Passing sentence the judge said “The offence is serious for two reasons: firstly you didn’t use contraception and the girl became pregnant. That seems to me to be a serious aggravating feature despite what Miss Cornwall says about that.

“Then in July 2004 you were convicted of a similar offence with a similarly under aged young female.”

As well as jailing him he banned him from ever working with children, told him he must register as a sex offender for life and imposed a sexual offences prevention order restricting his liberty.

Webb was put on probation in 2004 after a court heard how he took a 14-year-old girl he had met in an internet chat room to Westbury white horse where he had sex with her.

The offence took place in September 2002, when he was aged 19, and after he had contacted the child with e-mails and text messages.

Webb was put on a two year probation order for that offence after a judge heard he was immature and represented a low risk of re-offending.

July 2007

Jailed for life for raping baby

A PREDATORY paedophile who horrifically raped a two-year-old Kirkby baby and groomed a vulnerable 13-year-old girl has been jailed for life.

Sex fiend Simon Webb (22) was ordered to serve a minimum 10-year tariff for the shocking attack at Nottingham Crown Court on Friday. 

Twenty-two-year-old Webb, who sat emotionless throughout the sentencing, raped the baby on 8th March this year –– just months after meeting her mother on an internet chatroom.

The brutal force of his attack resulted in the baby, who cannot be named for legal reasons, needing stitches.

Before Webb was led away to the cells to begin his sentence, Judge Michael Stokes branded him as one of the sickest paedophiles he had ever come across.

“You need to be taken out of circulation for a very long time,” he told Webb. “You will not be released until it is safe for you to be released. If it means you are still in prison in your middle age then so be it.

“Sitting here in my job I am used to dealing with perverted people, but you are something else.”

The judge made his hard-hitting comments after hearing how Webb carried out his sickening attack on the baby following a night out with her and two of her friends.

Prosecutor Julie Warburton told the 90-minute hearing how the party returned to the mother’s Kirkby home for further drinks before she left Webb alone for half-an-hour with her baby while she took her friends home.

Said Ms Warburton: “Webb had been drinking heavily, he consumed vodka, three pints of lager and other drinks.

“He continued to drink when they returned home. Shortly after 10pm the mum took her friends home and left her daughter with Webb.

“She was gone for just 30 minutes, but when she returned she found the defendant on the doorstep in an anxious state

“When she checked on her daughter she saw her nappy had been removed, she was naked and bleeding heavily.

The child was then taken to King’s Mill Hospital for medical attention and surgery.

Webb, of Central Avenue, South Normanton, was eventually snared by blood stains found on his boxer shorts –– but while on bail for the offence he also abused a 13-year-old girl after grooming her on the internet

Added Ms Warburton: “She was 13 and very naive. He told her he loved her and she fell for his advances as you would expect a girl of that age to do.

“He knew she was 13, but he continued to send her sexually explicit texts and groom her in chatrooms.”

The court was told that on 6th April he met the girl on a park bench in South Normanton, he then fuelled her with alcohol and persuaded her to engage in sexual activity in nearby woodland.

He continued to have sex with her on 6th and 7th April until his home was raided by police.

In sentencing him to life behind bars, Judge Stokes told Webb he posed a very serious and very real threat to females of all ages.

“How anyone can even consider what you did to this innocent child is beyond understanding. When you were supposed to be looking after her you abused her,” he said.

“She bled heavily and was screaming in pain because of your actions. This shows there are no limits for the categories of wickedness.

“You also engaged in sex with a 13-year-old girl. You knew this was illegal, but did not care. You are unable to control your sexual appetite and you pose a very serious and very real threat to females of all ages.

Webb was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register and banned for life from working with children.

July 2014

Victim recorded paedophile’s confession on her phone – Jailed 26 years

A sex abuse victim has snared the paedophile who raped her by recording him admitting his crimes on her phone.

Stephen Bower, 55, formerly of Westwick Gardens in Lincoln, has been jailed for 26 years after raping three children over a period of 23 years.

He eluded justice when briefly arrested by police in 1997, only for one victim to withdraw her allegations.

But Derby Crown Court heard he was detained and charged last year when another victim used her mobile phone to record him admitting his crimes, which began in the 1970s.

Prosecutor Avik Mukherjee told the court: “She recorded a conversation during which he admitted that he had abused her. The recording was effectively third party independent evidence. It was recorded on her phone. He was contrite to some extent. He probably knew he was being recorded. The red light was flashing on the phone.”

Recorder Stephen Linehan QC told the victims: “The story revealed to the court is heartbreaking.

“I hope you can put your lives back together again.”

The victims wept and gasped as the sentence was read out, with Bower told he could not seek parole until he is 68.

The recorder said: “No one who has read the statements of the victims could fail to be moved by the suffering you inflicted upon them over many years of their childhood. And no one could fail to be moved by the suffering they have had to endure for years.”

Mr Mukherjee, prosecuting, said Bower began by abusing one victim but later raped the other two, becoming more confident that his victims would not alert the police.

He said: “He was told he would be stabbed if he said anything.”

One was raped over a three-year period. The rapes of the second victim – who made the recording – began in the 1990s when they were a school pupil.

The second victim said: “He completely ruined my childhood.

“I find it very difficult to sleep at night. I silently battle depression and had nightmares.”

The court heard that Bower described himself as “evil”.

But he said he could not remember the sex offences and initially said the “allegations were malicious” and one victim “had a lot of reasons to hate him,” Mr Mukherjee said.

The victims knew Bower had a violent criminal record, which included having a knife in public, wounding, assault and a robbery for which he was jailed for three years in 1977.

He had also been convicted of blackmail and in 1986 was sent to prison for another three years, this time for burglary.

Bower has been put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and been banned from going within 60m of children’s play parks.

He must not have unsupervised contact with anyone under 16. In addition, he must co-operate with police when released so they can carry out a risk assessment on him.

July 2014

Pervert jailed for sexual abuse of young girl

A MAN convicted of sexually abusing a child has been sentenced to two years and eight months in jail.

A jury found Nigel May, of Codrington Road in Westerleigh, between Yate and Bristol, guilty of two charges of indecent assault on a girl when she was aged nine and 12.

Bristol Crown Court heard that on one occasion he made her touch him improperly over his clothes, and on another occasion he touched her improperly over her clothes.

When the assaults were reported 32-year-old May denied wrongdoing and maintained his stance.

Judge Graham Hume-Jones told him to register as a sex offender for life and banned him from ever working with children.

The judge told May: “It was disgraceful conduct.”

July 2014

Former Longton school governor convicted of sexually assaulting a girl twice

Shamed Anthony Tams abused his position of trust to sexually assault a girl twice.

Tams, pictured above, has been banned from working with children and vulnerable adults.

The 66-year-old former school governor must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for the next seven years and was handed a suspended prison sentence.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Tams, of Warrington Road, Hanley, was a governor at Sandford Hill Primary School, near Longton, when he committed the offence.

The court heard the girl – who cannot be named for legal reasons – was left frightened and saddened at having to give evidence at Tams’s trial last month.

The jury convicted Tams of two sexual assaults on a child. He was cleared of six other sex assault allegations.

Nick Tatlow, mitigating, said Tams, who has no previous convictions, does not accept his guilt but will co-operate with the authorities and carry out unpaid work.

Mr Tatlow said: “He has a positive, even exemplary, character to rely upon.

“He has dedicated a great deal of his life to the service of his community for little reward.

“It was two touchings, minor of their kind.”

Judge Paul Glenn dismissed claims included in a pre-sentence report that Tams was a danger to children.

He added: “You had been a governor for years. A former head of the school speaks of the immense role you played at that school for many years.

“Your offending was far from sophisticated. The touching lasted on her account for five seconds over clothing.

“Your involvement as a school governor and volunteer meant you came into regular contact with children. You knew as well as anybody could know the importance of not abusing the trust. You did so on two occasions.”

Tams was handed a four-month jail term, suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.

The case has stunned staff at the Clayfield Grove school.

Headteacher David Wardle said: “Anthony Tams has not been involved in the school governing body for some time.

“The school takes safeguarding issues seriously, and works closely with the local authority and the police when there are safeguarding concerns.

“I am saddened by this case but want to reassure parents that we are absolutely committed to delivering education in a safe and secure environment.”

Staffordshire Police today praised the bravery of the girl who gave evidence against Tams.

July 2014

Pervert holiday park entertainer jailed for abuse

A FORMER holiday park entertainer and photographer has been jailed following sickening sexual assaults on a girl with learning disabilities.

Tim Hankins, who also went by the stage surname Masters, had offered to look after the vulnerable girl at weekends to give her parents some respite.

But the 53-year-old was secretly abusing the girl from the age of 11 until she disclosed the abuse to a teacher at her school.

Four-times-married Hankins was arrested and denied the allegations but detectives found more than 400 different photos of children being abused on his computers.

At Portsmouth Crown Court, he was jailed for six years for the abuse and six months for the indecent photographs.

Police are now urging anyone with concerns about Hankins to come forward.

Ray Churchley headed up the investigation at Havant child abuse unit.

He said: ‘Tim Hankins was in a position of trust and he completely abused that trust, knowing that the victim was vulnerable.

‘He is dangerous and, as far as children are concerned, he is a danger and threat to them.

‘The victim was brave to be able to give evidence, via video, to the Crown Court.’

The youngster, who is now 13, is still undergoing counselling to try to get over what happened to her.

Mr Churchley, a retired detective with 30 years experience who is now police staff, said she has a very close-knit family supporting her.

He said: ‘Her family are very, very supportive and in time she will recover.

‘But she is still suffering. The prison sentence is good news because it will allow her to move on knowing there has been justice. She is a very brave girl.’

Hankins, formerly of Beach Road, Hayling Island, was a well-known figure and worked for decades as a keyboardist entertaining guests at holiday parks.

He was also a photographer and had a shop in Mengham which is now closed.

Both Mill Rythe and Lakeside holiday parks say Hankins had not been employed at the sites since 2011, and the abuse was not connected with either of the camps.

Hankins’ fourth wife Ann-Marie has now moved off Hayling Island and is standing by her husband.

A former friend of Hankins has spoken of her shock at his conviction.

The woman, who does not want to be identified, said she knew him for 15 years and he was a rock to her family when they were going through a difficult time.

She said: ‘I thought he was a really nice bloke.

‘He was a very gentle man. I can’t believe I’ve been such a bad judge of character.

‘Everybody loved him, they thought he was ace.

‘We’re all totally gobsmacked. It’s absolutely disgusting.

‘I feel very sorry for the girl and her family. It’s so awful for them.’

Hankins pleaded guilty to making indecent photographs of children and was jailed for six months.

He was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault by penetration of a female under 13. For that he was jailed for six years.

He was found not guilty on charges of rape, sexual assault of a female under 13 and of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Anyone who is concerned about Hankins should contact the child abuse investigation team on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

July 2014

Brute who left baby with brain damage gets 15 years

A THUG who bashed a baby’s head off a hard surface and shook him so violently he was left blind and with brain damage was jailed for 15 years yesterday.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard the baby’s skull was fractured and the force necessary to inflict the injury was equivalent to throwing the infant from a fast car or upper window.

John Dobbie had denied attempting to murder the boy at his home in Kirkcaldy, Fife, when he was left to look after the child on June 5, 2011.

Lord Armstrong told Dobbie: “The crime of which you have been convicted is marked by its sheer brutality, by its devastating and catastrophic consequences for your victim.

“A crime of this type could not be more repugnant to a civilised society. It is difficult to see how your actions, short of murdering him, could have constituted a greater breach of trust.”

Lord Armstrong said the victim, who is now three years old, will be dependent on full-time care for the rest of his life. He  suffers from cerebral palsy, has a limited range of movement and will never be independently mobile.

Dobbie, 36, arrived at the Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy with the child on June 5.

A hospital worker who saw the child said: “I have seen a cot death baby that looked better than that little boy did.”

Receptionist Silvano Costagliola told advocate depute Douglas Fairley QC: “He told me he had him for the day and was not sure whether the baby was alive or dead.

“I couldn’t see him moving at all,” she said. “I was just shocked at how the baby looked.”

Staff nurse Jacqueline Keir said at first she thought the baby was dead.But he started crying when she moved his hand and she thought he was in pain.

He was taken to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh where a CT scan was carried out later to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children at Yorkhill in Glasgow to undergo neurosurgery.

Detective Constable Kim Stuart said Dingwall-born Dobbie had told him that he had earlier fed the baby and changed his nappy and did not notice any marks on him.

July 2014

Killer mother who let her daughter die alone in locked flat above a pub walked free just four years into 12-year sentence – and ‘visited Downing Street on day release’

A killer mother who let her three-year-old daughter die malnourished and alone was allowed out of prison just four years after she was jailed for 12 years, it emerged today.

Sabrina Hirst allowed little Tiffany Wright to die in a squalid bedroom and, according to the judge who sentenced her, seemed to care more about her dogs than her daughter.

Despite being sentenced to 12 years for Tiffany’s manslaughter in 2008, Hirst was allowed out just four years later and even visited Downing Street while on day release, it was reported today.

Tiffany had been dead for about two days when she was found in a room above the Scarborough Arms in Upperthorpe, Sheffield in 2007.  

Police were called after a pub disco ended on a Sunday night and it emerged Hirst had not checked on the youngster since the previous Friday morning.

Police and paramedics found the little girl in a filthy bed in a beetle-infested room, her body covered in insect bites ‘looking like a porcelain doll with sunken eyes’, a court later heard.

Hirst admitted responsibility for the death and was jailed in 2008 for what trial judge, Recorder Alan Goldsack QC, called ‘about as bad a case of child manslaughter as there can be’.

It emerged this morning that Hirst – who has since changed her name to Adelle Shaw – was allowed out on day release just four years later.

She was then freed on licence in 2013 after serving half of her sentence, after time she had spent on remand before trial was taken into account.

After hooking up with new boyfriend, RAF airman, she was even admitted to Downing Street to have her picture taken outside the famous door of Number 10.

It is believed the couple got through security at the famous street using Mr Donnison’s military ID.

The paper reported Hirst now works for a youth support charity in London, where she commutes from her home in Lincoln.

Former friends told the paper her early release was a ‘disgrace’ and claimed she is fooling people with her new life.

At Hirst’s trial in 2008, prosecutor Jeremy Richardson QC said: ‘Tiffany had not been seen for about a week by anyone other than her mother before her body was discovered. Much of the time her mother didn’t feed Tiffany properly or at all.’

The judge told her: ‘One almost unbelievable piece of evidence is that on what was probably Tiffany’s last day alive, you were discussing on the phone concerns you had about one of your dog’s weight and feeding problems.’

A pathologist said Tiffany’s bones showed evidence of significant periods of malnutrition between periods when she had been fed.

Following the publication of the photo of Hirst in Downing Street, a spokesman for the Prime Minister said: ‘Members of the armed forces and their families can request to have their photos taken outside Number 10. This is at the discretion of police officers on the gate, during quiet periods.

‘Military identification must be shown before access is granted and all visitors are subject to strict security checks before entering. Visitors on this basis are not permitted to enter the building.’

June 2008

Mother jailed for 12 years after leaving her ‘porcelain doll’ daughter, three, to starve to death in beetle-infested room

Tiffany’ s mother Sabrina Hirst, left,  has been jailed for 12 years while her husband Robert Hirst has been imprisoned for five

The mother of a three-year-old girl who starved to death showed more concern for the family’s pet dog. 

Tiffany Wright was left neglected and unloved to die alone locked in a squalid bedroom above the pub run by her mother and stepfather. 

Yesterday Sabrina Hirst, 22, was jailed for 12 years after admitting the manslaughter of her daughter.

Her husband Robert, 44, was jailed for five years after admitting child cruelty and neglect. 

Recorder Alan Goldsack QC said it was ‘about as bad a case of child manslaughter as there can be’. 

He told Sabrina Hirst: ‘One almost unbelievable piece of evidence is that on what was probably Tiffany’s last day alive, you were discussing on the phone concerns you had about one of your dog’s weight and feeding problems. 

‘Most members of the public will find it impossible to understand how you can treat your child this way.’ 

While Tiffany was dying upstairs, her mother was caught on CCTV in the pub expressing concern about one of her dogs not getting enough vitamins and not putting on weight.

Her barrister Andrew Robertson QC said. ‘It is inexplicable. Her whole priorities have been utterly distorted. Her priority seems to have been given to the dog.’
Tiffany had been dead for about two days before her mother called police to the Scarbrough Arms in Upperthorpe, Sheffield.

It was when the pub had closed after a disco in the early hours of Sunday, September 30 last year. Her mother had not checked on her since 7am on Friday.

Police and paramedics found the little girl in a filthy bed in a beetle-infested room, her body covered in insect bites ‘looking like a porcelain doll with sunken eyes’.

A room where the family dogs were kept was full of excrement and urine.

The stench was unbearable, even for experienced staff used to finding filthy homes.

Tiffany’s mother and stepfather were originally accused of murder but the charges were reduced. 

Hirst, who was eight months pregnant when Tiffany died, and her husband also pleaded guilty to cruelty against a one-year-old child at Sheffield Crown Court. 

She sobbed as prosecutor Jeremy Richardson QC said: ‘The circumstances are truly appalling. 

‘Tiffany had not been seen for about a week by anyone other than her mother before her body was discovered. 

‘Much of the time her mother didn’t feed Tiffany properly or at all.’ 

A pathologist said her bones showed evidence of significant periods of malnutrition between periods when she had been fed.

 February 2010 - Death of a child

What does the death of three-year-old Tiffany Wright reveal about the growing problem of child neglect?

The 999 call came in just after ­midnight. With ­Saturday sliding into ­Sunday, the streets of Sheffield ricocheted with the sounds of boozy ­bravado. On the line was the landlady of the Scarbrough Arms, a quiet pub in Upperthorpe, a nondescript suburb off the inner ring road. Her name was Sabrina Hirst and she was calling about Tiffany, her three-year-old daughter, who had ­collapsed and was not breathing. The operator coached her in basic CPR, hoping the child would live long enough for the paramedics to arrive.

A police patrol made it first to the white-walled corner plot on Addy Street. Upstairs, in the flat above the pub, the officers found Sabrina Hirst crouched in a bedroom doorway over a small body. The child was dead. One of the officers lifted Tiffany’s arm and noted that it was floppy, not stiff with rigor mortis, that her skin was tinged with an odd, blackening pallor and that her eyes were sallow and sunken. Stranger still, she was covered in a skein of insect bites, adding to the building ­suspicion that she had been dead for some time. A dog ­barking in another room drew the ­officer away. In the bedroom next door a baby screamed, purple with panic, naked in his dishevelled cot.

Police quizzed Sabrina and a man who intro­duced himself as Robert Hirst, her husband. They made an odd ­couple. Balding and overweight, ­Robert was 43, 22 years older than his young wife. He said he was Tiffany’s stepfather and that the baby in the cot was his child. Police noted that Sabrina was heavily pregnant. Tiffany, she said, had come down with some kind of “bug”. She had last eaten on Thursday: “A sandwich and some water.” Sabrina had next checked on her at 7am on Friday, when Tiffany seemed “OK”. That was more than 36 hours earlier, the officers calculated. The Hirsts clammed up. In the early hours of Sunday, police arrested the couple. They were taken to South Yorkshire police head­quarters, and their one-year-old baby placed in foster care. A murder inquiry rapidly unfolded, centring on the pub. Neighbours, family and friends awoke that ­Sunday morning, 30 September 2007, to find their local guarded by police.

Detective chief inspector Dave Powell got to work. “The crime scene was everything in this case,” he said, “and it was the worst thing I have witnessed in more than 100 murders.” Heavy locks were on the internal doors leading from the bar to the living quarters, but this was not a high crime area – the Hirsts had put them there to keep casual visitors at bay. The locks, Powell thought, suggested ­premeditation. Climbing the stairs, he had stepped over soiled nappies flung into empty catering boxes of Walkers crisps. Dog excrement had been trampled all over the flat. In Tiffany’s bedroom a stained pillow bore the indent from her head. “Where were the sheets? There was no duvet, no toys, only a small pair of well-worn, pink and white Adidas trainers.” Tiffany appeared to have clutched them as she lay dying.

Behind one of several stained ­mattresses that stood upended in the room, Powell found ­unopened Christmas presents ­addressed to ­Tiffany from the previous year. A dirty pair of orange curtains hung off the runners. He glanced out of the window and noticed the local GP practice and health centre across the road. He turned back to the child’s bed to stare at hundreds of pieces of lilac wallpaper, scattered around it like discarded confetti.

On 2 October 2007, the Hirsts were released from custody; five days later, ­Sabrina gave birth to her third child. The baby was taken into care 10 days later, while police waited for the final pieces of forensic evidence. By the time they rearrested the Hirsts on 17 December 2007 and charged them with murder, Tiffany’s “bug” had been identified as terminal bronchial pneumonia, a condition more commonly associated with famine victims; it takes a while to set in and rarely kills in the devel­oped world. The child would have been visibly ill – feverish, coughing, vomiting – but no one had ­administered any ­medicine or called a doctor.

In their medical reports, doctors noted Tiffany’s immunity was already dangerously weakened since she was chronically malnourished. Her size was “typical of a two- rather than a three-year-old”, and her leg and arm bones were marked with growth arrest lines, meaning she had suffered long periods without food – she had barely put on any weight in the last year of her life. A toxicology ­examination found a condition common in ­anorexia sufferers in which the body begins to eat itself, the liver converting body fat into fatty ­acids. Analysis of Tiffany’s stomach contents ­revealed she’d had ­nothing to eat for more than 20 hours before her death, which was likely to have been three days before the 999 call. What definitively proved how much time had elapsed between her death and her mother’s call for help was an entomological analysis of the ­insect ­larvae that had hatched on the corpse as it lay ­naked on a urine-soaked bed.

In return for a guilty plea, on 27 June 2008 ­Sabrina was convicted of man­slaughter and ­sentenced to 12 years in prison. Robert, having started a new job a week before Tiffany’s death, could place himself outside the flat at the time; he pleaded guilty to child cruelty and ­neglect, and was sentenced to five years. In the absence of cross-examination, neither had to ­explain or defend their actions. A child living in a commu­nity rich in health, education and social services had been starved to death. Yet the ­Tiffany Wright ­killing soon slipped from public view.

Five months later, the death of 17-month-old Peter Connelly, Baby P, provoked a political firestorm around Haringey, the local authority ­responsible for his welfare, leading to the sacking of Sharon Shoesmith, the children‘s services ­director, and the resignation of several social workers. A government inquiry was set up into social work reform. Yet the case was anything but unique: in the two years since April 2007 (when records into unnatural child deaths were centrally collated), 167 children had died from abuse or ­neglect, mostly at the hands of their own families – in many cases families known to social workers.

What Tiffany’s death highlights in particular is the growing problem of neglect. Over the last five years, the number of children on child protec­tion plans for neglect has risen by 30%. However, the NSPCC has raised concerns that social workers are not acting quickly enough to safeguard such ­children. Ill-equipped to deal with early signs of neglect, they often wait until there is physical abuse before intervening. New timelines are to be introduced to try to prevent such “drift”.

But it was not only these systemic failures that claimed Tiffany Wright. Her case also challenges the British notion of community: family and friends, neighbours, pub regulars, staff, all watched as a sickening child faded from view, and not one of them called for help.

Five days after she was arrested and charged with Tiffany’s murder, Sabrina wrote to a relative from HMP Wakefield. “Six months ago I had it all, a fabulous husband, two gorgeous children, one little bump on the way, a home (albeit not a good one) and a steady job. Now I’ve lost my precious first-born little girl. I miss her so much and would give anything to have her back in my life.” A few weeks later, more thoughts, penned in Sabrina’s adolescent hand: “I failed my little Angel. I feel totally lost, lonely and empty. Someone up there must really hate me, always has and probably ­always will. Why did it all have to fall apart?”

From the start, things had been complicated, even when she had been Sabrina Shaw, the product of a teenage romance, growing up with her mother Brigitte and sister Louise. Brigitte was not a hands-on presence, spending her days as a nursing assistant. Friends say she was ­independent and proud of what work bought her: a new tele­vision, nice furniture, the odd foreign holiday; even their council house in Shirecliffe, North Sheffield, overlooking abandoned steelworks.

When Sabrina and Louise, who was two years older, were at Shirecliffe Junior, their father left and Brigitte married Paul Bennett. The two sisters drew closer, but reacted in different ways. While Louise hung around Shirecliffe at weekends, ­Sabrina withdrew into her room with a succession of pets: staffordshire bull terriers and hamsters. “We never really knew what Sabrina was thinking,” said one relative. At 14, she turned in on herself even further when her sister moved out. For six months no one knew where Louise was; when she finally reappeared in 2001, it was to ­announce that she was pregnant and moving in with her boyfriend. Sabrina was alone. Her relationship with her mother and stepfather deteriorated. She got into trouble, looking for a reaction, her worsening ­behaviour driving people away.

In summer 2002, Louise gave birth to a daughter. Sabrina passed nine GCSEs, enrolled at sixth-form college and passed one A-level. In late 2003, at the Five Arches, a large, noisy pub a few miles from home, she fell in with Martin Wright. They argued viciously, friends recalled, yet in September 2004 Sabrina found herself alongside Louise on the maternity ward at Sheffield children’s hospital. Her sister was pregnant with her second child, a son; Sabrina awaited the delivery of a daughter she planned to call Tiffany.

Louise later wrote on her Facebook page of their shared maternity: “I will never forget the day u was born [Tiffany]… Me and ur mum was the talk of the ward. 2 sisters with babies just 2 days apart. U was so tiny long an thin but u were beautiful.”

Sabrina seemed to agree. “She was the only good thing to come out of my teenage years…” she wrote from prison. “I was so happy… she ­finally gave me something good in my life.”

At first, all seemed to go well. As teenage ­parents, Sabrina and Martin qualified for a council house. Tiffany was registered with a doctor, and appeared healthy and happy – photos show a well-dressed and cared for little girl, asleep in her rocker. After Tiffany’s death, police found a box of baby things that Sabrina had kept: a scan, hospital wrist tag, her first socks and sleepsuits. But she would later say she was already daunted by her ­responsibilities and miserable in her relationship.

Martin moved out when Tiffany was three months old, while Sabrina, like her own mother, sought independence in work. She took the first job she was offered, behind the bar at the Five Arches, leaving Tiffany with friends or relatives. She also secretly began dating the pub landlord. Rob Hirst was supposedly out of bounds: he was old enough to be her father, he already had three daughters and a stepdaughter with his long-term partner, Donna; even his friends told her to stay clear. No sooner had he got Sabrina into bed than he left his wife and kids, and encouraged her to move into the pub in December 2004. According to friends, Hirst lavished money and attention on his new girlfriend. Sabrina came out of her shell and told her sister she was in love for the first time.

The pair left Sheffield to run a village pub in Staffordshire in early 2005, and soon after Sabrina found out she was pregnant. Rob had made a big thing about her having his child, but no sooner had she become pregnant than he started disappear­ing. She revealed none of this in occasional calls and texts to friends and family. But, heavily pregnant and miles away from her sister, Sabrina later said she had been depressed, anxious and overworked. “[Rob] did less and less. I got used to ­being on my own down there looking after Tiffany and the pub,” she wrote in one prison letter.

A dangerous pattern of behaviour began to emerge as Sabrina left Tiffany alone upstairs in her bedroom with a bag of crisps while she manned the bar. If anyone asked after the little girl, she’d say she was with relatives. A friend said, “Rob told her it was OK to leave Tiffany alone – he said he had done the same with his kids by Donna.”

For anyone to spot that Sabrina was failing, she would have had to stay in one place long enough. But she didn’t: in early 2006, she and Rob moved to a pub in Barnsley. Then in July 2006 they returned to Sheffield, with a lease for the Scarbrough Arms, not far from Sabrina’s family and friends, a place where they would be rooted. It wasn’t much to look at – on a run-down street ­corner near the university campus, it had a tired ­interior of maroon velour and pie-crust ­tables – but it had a solid base of tight-knit regulars, who say Sabrina was proud to show she had come good. And it all looked promising. Tiffany was registered at the Upperthorpe ­Medical Centre. Nearby was the Zest Centre, a library, gym and swimming pool used by mother and toddler groups, and the Playtime Centre, with its free young mums’ baby and bump group.

All these could have come in handy – two months after taking on the pub, Sabrina gave birth to a boy. But things began to go wrong immediately. When she arrived home from hospital without sleepsuits, Rob volunteered to get some. He vanished for seven hours. “We had a delivery due that afternoon, so 16 hours after giving birth, I opened the pub with both children downstairs and after-pains,” Sabrina wrote from prison. “It was the worst day of my life.” When Rob finally returned, he said he’d run out of petrol.

Paranoid about Rob’s increasing absences and working all hours at the pub, Sabrina later told a friend she felt she was “falling to pieces”. But it was Tiffany who was really suffering, a fact picked up by Kathleen Delaney, a community midwife who began visiting soon after the family moved in. According to legal documents, Delaney pressed Sabrina over several visits to let her into the flat to see where Tiffany and the baby were sleeping. Alarmed by the filthy conditions, she registered her concerns with health ­visitors at the local medical centre: this family clearly needed help.

By October 2006, having heard nothing, ­Delaney returned unannounced to find Rob alone at the bar. He said ­Sabrina and the children were out, and the door to the flat was locked. Delaney stayed put, however, ­surprising Sabrina when she returned alone and forcing her to take her ­upstairs. She found the baby cold, ­naked, hysterical and strapped into a chair – he had clearly been left for some time. There was no sign of ­Tiffany, who ­Sabrina claimed was “asleep in bed”. The midwife ­demanded that Sabrina dress and clean the boy. She was never to leave them locked up again.

Delaney could see things were critical, so she called up the city council’s children’s specialist services. She expected them to act quickly and energetically. What she did not know was that, overburdened and understaffed, the local authority had been hiring­ ­unqualified support workers to field phone calls from the public. These untrained operators had only a few phone lines to deal with complaints from a city of more than 500,000 people. It could take hours of persistent calling just to get through.

Despite the severity of Delaney’s warning, this ad hoc system of referral led to a decision to assist Sabrina “by way of a letter”. She did not ­reply. No one from children’s specialist services visited the pub. No one saw the children. And three days after the letter was sent, the ­”contact” file on Tiffany and her brother was closed without any kind of assessment by a trained social worker.

Delaney persisted. She had no idea her ­report to social services had gone nowhere, but she again informed Upperthorpe ­Medical Centre. The family was supposed to ­receive regular health visitor check-ups, but it would be two more weeks before one popped into the pub across the road. When she did, Sabrina refused to let her upstairs.

Friends and family were growing concerned. Sabrina was increasingly moody and frequently tearful, and Rob was never around. Their debts were spiralling. The business was demanding. The children had needs Sabrina had no idea how to meet, but there was no time for playing, going to the park, giving love and attention. To cut down on laundry, she left them undressed. Rob some­times tolerated Sabrina bringing his son down to the bar, but Tiffany was ­almost always left upstairs.

Janine Buxton, who worked behind the bar, said, “As Tiffany grew up, Rob’s attitude to her changed. He only spoke to her to tell her off.” One pub-goer said he once saw Rob shout at Tiffany as she sat in the bar with a sandwich, “Eat your fucking food, you little bitch.”

To make matters worse, he bought a succession of large dogs: a great dane, a staffie, a ­rottweiler. Paul Todd, a rare visitor to the flat when he was employed to do some odd jobs in late 2006, recalled how he had opened a door to find Tiffany shut in her bedroom. “I was horrified. There was a young child sat on the bed, crying and whimpering in the dark with no clothes on. She’d clearly been like that for some time.”

One of Sabrina’s relatives who worked at the bar heard tapping coming from above the pool ­table, where Tiffany’s bedroom was. “I had the horrible thought that ­Tiffany was being locked in her room when ­Sabrina and Robert went out.”

Eventually, Sabrina’s aunt, Sharon Sutheran, ­intervened. Left in charge of the pub one weekend, she and her partner decided to redecorate, “because we didn’t want to see them living in squalor”. They painted the kitchen, stairs and landing, tidied Tiffany’s bedroom and painted it lilac. They rearranged the bed with teddy bears and soft toys they found stuffed in a bin bag. “When Tiffany got home, she came ­running into the room and saw her bed done up and her walls painted, and she was so happy,” ­Sutheran said. Sabrina gave her aunt a mouthful and told her not to interfere again.

Yet this was a wake-up call. In ­November 2006, Sabrina enrolled Tiffany at ­Breedon House, a ­private nursery. In her red school jumper and ­surrounded by other children, she began to come out of her shell. In the run-up to Christmas 2006, she made a 2007 calendar, a black card covered in splodges of white paint that her mother hung in the kitchen. All the significant dates for ­September 2007 were ringed when police found it: Sabrina’s son’s first birthday on 3 September, Tiffany’s on 13 September, their cousin Louise’s second child two days later.

There was more good news: Sabrina and Rob were going to marry. ­Tiffany made a card, inscribed by a nursery worker: “To Mummy and Daddy, have a very nice ­wedding day, Love you lots, Tiffany.”

But Sabrina’s fears and depression deepened. She confided in friends that Rob was again going missing for days at a time, and that the wedding, in December 2006, was a ­desperate attempt to “sort her life out”. And she was pregnant again. She had an infant, a toddler, a baby on the way, and a business with a man she feared was ­engaged in some secret enterprise.

Sabrina spent that Christmas working around the clock, while Tiffany and her brother were locked ­upstairs. Everyone sent presents for the children, including a toy vet’s station and a ­miniature kitchen set, but the family did not find out until after Tiffany had died that most had been stuffed, unopened, behind an old mattress.

By now, there were many clues that things were going seriously wrong. After Christmas 2006, ­Tiffany did not return to nursery, and the bill for the previous six weeks went unpaid. No one called round or even telephoned. If they had, they’d have seen a child who was starting to show physical signs of serious neglect, her nails ragged, her hair falling out. When her aunt Louise was occasionally allowed to take Tiffany out, she found her ravenously hungry and so thirsty that she drained several juice bottles in succession. Others noticed a sticky black line around her neck, as if she wasn’t being washed, and an awful smell. “She reeked of stale urine,” said one. But whenever a health visit was due, Sabrina cleaned up the children. Untrained in child protection, the Upperthorpe health visitor reported in February 2007 that Tiffany appeared healthy and happy. Sabrina’s family and friends were concerned enough to offer help, but all were refused.

Glancing at her husband’s mobile phone one morning, Sabrina’s worst fears were confirmed: he had never given up his first wife and children. All the time he had told her he was working, Rob had been with his other family, enjoying a parallel life, stringing Sabrina along. She wrote from prison, “When [Rob] wasn’t away… with his other family he was on the phone to them or texting them and… lying to me about where he was going. Or meeting them in secret.”

“Interviews with family and relatives gave us the impression that Tiffany had been loved as a baby, but things dramatically changed after ­Robert Hirst came into their lives,” said a senior police officer. “Hirst’s methodology was to pick on vulnerable women with young children, have more trophy kids with them to parade through his bar, and then dump them.”

The last time anyone from the Sheffield care agencies saw either child was 25 July 2007, when the health visitor called, only to be again refused access upstairs. She examined ­Tiffany’s brother in the bar, and left having not seen Tiffany at all. By this time, the child was ­a “bag of bones”, said her grandmother, Brigitte. Louise, meanwhile, was by now so worried about the niece she rarely saw that in late August 2007, when she looked after her one night, she snapped a photograph on her mobile phone. It would be the last picture of ­Tiffany, and shows a solemn little girl dressed in her cousin’s tie-dye pullover.

Nobody saw Tiffany on her third birthday two weeks later, and on 26 September 2007, when ­another health visitor called at the pub, she was told that Sabrina and the children were not at home. Accepting the excuse, the health visitor left. Upstairs, Tiffany was locked in her bedroom.

The next few days were a blank until ­police recovered CCTV footage from the pub and found a microphone had picked up Sabrina and Rob’s most ­private conversations. On 27 September 2007, the day Sabrina had told police she had last fed her daughter, the CCTV ­recorded her cleaning the bar while saying to no one in particular, “I have to get my daughter up. I’ve not seen her for a week.” The next day, she was seen leaving the pub alone to go shopping at Tesco for an hour. There was also no sign of the children when Sabrina and Rob left the pub to visit friends for two hours on Saturday morning, or that afternoon when they went shopping and came back an hour later with bags of dog food. Later, Sabrina was taped talking about buying vitamin supplements for her staffie, which had been losing weight.

Only on the final segment of tape did Sabrina ­remember to look in on her sick daughter, shortly after 9pm on the Saturday, with the pub’s night session in full swing. She went ­upstairs and ­returned 10 minutes later, clearly in distress. She took Rob upstairs, where he stayed till 10.30pm, a time during which, detectives believe, Tiffany’s fetid bedroom was tidied and her naked corpse dressed in a clean nightie. When the last customer left just after midnight, Rob and Sabrina faced each other. “Obviously she’s been dead for two days,” he said. “We could get fucking banged up for this, everything took away from us.” She looked at him with horror. Ten minutes later, she called 999.

Sheffield social services held a serious case review behind closed doors. It conceded there had been “serious failings” in dealings with the family. ­Despite a midwife’s multiple attempts to raise the alarm, none of the professional care agencies had intervened: “There were lengthy periods when [Tiffany] was not seen by professionals from any care agency and she was rarely seen at home.” And even though concerns had been registered ­repeatedly with the local medical centre, these, too, “were never adequately addressed”. Midwife, health visitor and GP records were never cross-referenced, so the GPs “were not even aware” of Tiffany’s plight. Much was made of the Hirsts’ attempts to ­deceive the health visitor and midwife, with the review finding, “It is ­particularly difficult for staff… who are not child protection specialists, to safeguard children where parents are not only culpably neglectful but are also deliberately ­untruthful, evasive and manipulating of visiting health professionals. The review shows that the style and level of intervention that was provided to this family was not strong enough to break through the facade created by the parents.”

More than 30 recommendations were made. While the health trust declined to comment ­beyond the summary findings, Jayne Ludlam, who became director of children’s specialist ­services a month after Tiffany’s death, said, ­”Nobody came out of this sparkling and fantastic.” She conceded that having unqualified staff manning phones and making crucial decisions about referrals had been wrong. In October 2006, when the midwife had called about Tiffany, the social work team at Sheffield had a 28% vacancy rate, with only 107 social workers on staff to cover 426 children on the child protection register and another 651 in care. This staffing shortage was one reason they had employed cheaper, unqualified staff. In the wake of Tiffany’s death, Ludlam’s ­department was overhauled and received a 21% increase in funding. “I hope to God this would never happen today,” Ludlam said. “I hope if a midwife rang in today, she would have a good ­discussion with a qualified social worker and ­together they’d agree the next steps.”

But Ludlam has a mountain to climb. Although the vacancy rate had dropped to 19% by late 2007 (the most recent figure they could provide), there are still only 128 social workers. An Ofsted ­inspection last August found that the service in Sheffield is still failing vulnerable children – since 2003, there have been seven case reviews into the death or injury of a vulnerable young child.

And what of the Addy Street community? Their lack of involvement in reporting the Hirsts or ­assisting Tiffany was, the case review concluded, “a matter of great regret”. The community of ­Upperthorpe had stuck its head in the sand.

Sabrina’s stepfather, Paul Bennett, had had a chance to intervene. He had spent a night on the sofa in August 2007, but later told police he had not noticed anything untoward in a place police found smeared in dog excrement, where a child was coughing and sobbing through the night. Brigitte, Sabrina’s mother, who had also got ­inside the flat, told police that, while it was “a mess”, her daughter had always been an untidy girl. Even when Tiffany began vomiting ­repeatedly while staying with Brigitte a few days before she died, she did not call a doctor, saying this was a decision for the child’s mother alone.

For DCI Powell, the symbol of how badly Tiffany was failed were the lilac flakes he had found in her bedroom, evidence he finally came to understand. Without toys or food, the three-year-old had resorted to licking or eating the paper from her wall, spending hours diligently picking it off in pieces, an entire arc cleared by her bed-head as she foraged; tiny scraps had been found stuck to her locked fists. And all the while she would have heard the drinkers down below, stamping and singing. People who now quietly admitted to each other, as they shuffled past the boarded-up pub, that they had long suspected things were going horribly wrong in the flat, recalling Sabrina’s failings and Rob’s absence, the couple’s incendiary arguments, their dirty, emaciated children, and how all of them had continued to drink the Hirsts’ beer and not said a word.

When Tiffany Wright’s body was finally released for funeral in March 2008, it was brought to ­Sheffield’s Grenoside Crematorium in a white ­coffin surrounded by floral tributes, including one spelling out Rob’s nickname for the girl he never really loved: “Nutmeg.” Sabrina was waiting, handcuffed, in the funeral parlour when the ­others mourners filed in. Afterwards, from her prison cell, she wrote, “When they carried Tiffany in, I wanted to take her away from them, hold her and never let go.” Unable to care for Tiffany in life, Sabrina took control of her daughter after her death. Instead of allowing Tiffany’s ashes to be buried, she insisted they be kept at the funeral parlour on Herries Road, a few streets from where she had grown up. There they will remain until Sabrina is freed, probably in 2014 after serving half her sentence. “I’ve gone past caring,” Sabrina said in her most recent letter. “I’ve got the most important thing in the whole world waiting for me when I get out and that’s Tiffany.”

July 2014

Former St Albans toy shop owner sentenced over child abuse images

A former retailer who co-owned a toy store which folded in St Albans several years ago has blamed an alcohol problem and being in a “dark place” for leading him to keep over 1,000 indecent images of children.

Andrew Mott, 37, of Horsell, Surrey, was sentenced in St Albans Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to four counts of distributing, eight counts of making and two counts of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Mott was the co-owner of award-winning Little Wonders toy shop, which moved from The Maltings shopping centre to Holywell Hill in 2010 but ceased trading after going into liquidation in 2011.

Prosecutor Alan Richards told the court that on June 27 last year a search warrant was executed at Hunt Close, St Albans, after the police received information.

Upon opening the door, Mott was cautioned by the police and asked if he had any indecent images.

Later, while in custody, Mott told the police of a number of email addresses and file sharing accounts and gave a “frank admission” about historical use of such images.

Mr Richards said that Mott, “had searched for indecent images of children, the youngest of whom was nine years old”.

Following an investigation, a schedule of the images revealed a total of over 1,000 pictures including the most serious Category A and B images.

The court was told that Mott had five different storage devices – one of which had 879 images.

The police had also seized 84 moving images, 43 of which were in Category A.

Jean-Jack Chalmers, defending, alluded to references being written for the court in support of Mott by family members.

Mr Chalmers said that Mott was “deeply, deeply ashamed”.

“He is truly sorry for his action. He accepts the offences are very serious. He knows he will be punished and says it is deserved.

“He is intent upon dealing with the issues which have led to this behaviour.”

Mott had paid to attend courses provided by The Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a child protection charity.

Mr Chalmers said Mott had turned to alcohol after suffering depression and anxiety after being declared bankrupt and separating from his partner.

However Mott has a “good relationship with his daughter”.

After being declared bankrupt Mott managed to find another job, but later lost his role while “still drinking heavily and suffering anxiety”.

He had recently retrained as a labourer in floor fitting and carpentry.

Mr Chalmers said that Mott had been in a “dark place” and had pleaded guilty “at the earliest opportunity”.

Sentencing, Judge Michael Baker gave Mott a three-year community order, with a supervision requirement. He must also attend a sex offender’s treatment programme.

Judge Baker said that given Mott’s “signs of alcohol dependency” he was also ordering him to attend six sessions of an alcohol rehabilitation programme.

Mott has automatically been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years.

Details of a sexual offences prevention order are still being determined.

Mott was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60 and £425 court costs.

July 2014

Former Knights of Malta member pleads guilty to abuse of young boys

A former sacristan for the Knights of Malta has pleaded guilty to nine sex offences including those against boys as young as 11 he had met in the 1960s and 70s.

Vernon Quaintance, a companion of the Order of Malta, served at the Knights’ regular Mass at the chapel in St John and St Elizabeth Hospital in North London.

On Wednesday this week a court heard that Quaintance, 71, accumulated indecent images of children as recently as 2011.

The retired telephone engineer and part time race marshal, of Hetley gardens, Upper Norwood, is also the founder of the controversial Gilgal Society, which is dedicated to promoting male circumcision and “its benefits in terms of health, sexual satisfaction and self-image.”

In 2012, he was found guilty of possessing nine hours of child pornography on video tapes. This week he pleaded guilty to five counts of indecency with a child between 1966 and 1976 and four counts of possession of indecent images. An additional count of sexual assault alleged to have taken place in 2011 on a child was left to lie on file.

Judge Anthony Leonard QC adjourned sentencing until September. He said there was a “very real likelihood” of a significant custodial sentence. Quaintance was released on conditional bail, with the requirement to have no unsupervised contact with anyone under 18.

He previously claimed to be celibate throughout his entire life and has undergone an operation to remove his prostate.

Concerns about Quaintance’s behaviour had come to the attention of members of the Grand Priory, a senior body of knights, who were later found not to have reported the concerns to the relevant authorities. Quaintance had been banned from serving and attending the social club at St Bede’s, Clapham Park, South London.

An inquiry into the matter by Baroness (Julia) Cumberlege found that three of the knights made a catalogue of serious errors in dealing with the concerns. The three later apologised.   

July 2014

Birchwood man caught by self-styled paedophile hunter sentenced

A Warrington man who was caught by a self-styled paedophile hunter who posed as a 12-year-old girl has escaped an immediate prison term.

Daniel Bates, aged 36, of Harcourt Close, Birchwood, was sentenced to 15 months in prison which was suspended for 18 months for attempting to engage a child in sexual activity under the age of 13 at Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester today.  

Editor’s note: This story is not linked to Daniel William Bates, of Talbot Close.

July 2014

Paedophile pensioner facing jail for assaulting ten-year-old girl

A PENSIONER has been told he faces jail after he admitted abusing a ten-year-old girl while visiting her home in Tiverton.

Reginald Lawson is to be interviewed by a probation officer to assess his risk of future offending after he pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault.

Lawson was remanded in custody by Judge Erik Salomonsen at Exeter Crown Court and will remain in Exeter Prison until he is sentenced next month.

The 67-year-old, from Tiverton, admitted six offences of sexually assaulting a girl of ten in the town and one of assaulting a girl under 13 in Kent.

Miss Julia Brassington, defending, said Lawson was expecting a lengthy jail sentence and was keen to know his fate as soon as possible.

Judge Salomonsen said:”In this type of case I need to be guided about the issue of risk by those with expertise in assessing it. It is extremely important for him and for others that I have a thorough knowledge of him.”

He told Lawson:”You will receive full credit for your guilty plea, not least because the children involved in this case will not have to come to court or be in any fear that they may need to do so.

“You have asked to be sentenced today but I have indicated I am not prepared to do that because I do not have the full papers before me and I need a report from the probation service to advise me about the risk you may pose.”

Lawson was ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register immediately.

July 2014

Leigh paedophile pleads guilty to possessing child abuse images – for the second time

A PAEDOPHILE has pleaded guilty to downloading indecent images of children — some in the most serious category — for the second time.

Shaun Bradburn pleaded guilty to 18 offences and was remanded on bail to await sentence next month.

He admitted 16 offences of downloading such images, including some in the most two serious categories and involving children aged between five to 17 years old.

The 52-year-old also pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court, to distributing two indecent images and possessing a total of 416 child porn photos.

Defence barrister Geoffrey Lowe, asked for a psychiatric report to be prepared before Bradburn is sentenced but after hearing that he has a previous similar conviction and has attended part of a rehabilitation course Judge Mark Brown ruled that such a report was unnecessary.

Sentence for Bradburn, of The Avenue, Leigh, was adjourned until August 15 to enable a pre-sentence report to be produced.