October 2004

Child molester who killed toddler jailed for 12 years

A child molester who killed his girlfriend’s 22-month-old son by ‘a humiliating act of sexual abuse’ was jailed for 12 years yesterday.

Edward Bigley (28), of Bedford Road, Shelton, Stoke-onTrent, attacked the toddler in an act of revenge against its father, Stafford Crown Court was told.

He pleaded guilty to the manslaughter and indecent assault of Cristen Hunt.

He denied murder, which was accepted by the prosecution.

Mr Justice Tucker told him: ‘You must have used considerable force in carrying out these offences which your counsel said was an humiliating act of cruelty.

It is to be hoped that the experience was mercifully short for the child.

‘You have deprived a child of its life and a mother of her son.

I must impose a sentence sufficient to punish you and mark society’s horror and disgust and to protect children by deterring others who might be tempted to commit such offences.’

Rachel Brand QC, prosecuting, said Bigley formed a relationship with the toddler’s mother, Barbara, who had two other children

She said an attack on the child was carried out while his mother was out. ‘He called a family friend to the house and said immediately that Cristen was sick,’ she said. 

Miss Brand added: ‘The child’s injuries were carried out with some item with considerable force. Death appears to have been caused by inhalation of stomach contents.’

December 2002

Carer Gets Four Years for Abuse of Boys

A NORTH Wales foster carer who singled out vulnerable boys to sexually abuse was jailed for four years last night.

Ronald Laurence Jones was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for life after he was convicted of seven specimen charges of indecent assault.

Jones, 67, of Crogan, Lodge Vale Park, Chirk, was cleared of buggery in September, but the original jury failed to agree on 12 outstanding charges of indecent assault and gross indecency with a child.

The jury at Mold Crown Court convicted him of seven charges of indecent assault and cleared him of the others.

Judge Stephen Clarke told Jones he was a man of good character who had positive qualities and in many ways he had been a good foster carer.

September 2002

CAGED FOR DECADE OF SEX ABUSE

A PAEDOPHILE who subjected one of his victims to a decade of sexual abuse was jailed for six years yesterday.

Evil Edward Cooper, 51, subjected the girl to sick sex acts from the age of six, as well as slapping and kicking her.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard how he also exposed himself to and abused another six-year-old girl.

The court was told Cooper, of Kilbirnie, Ayrshire, posed a high risk of re-offending.

Lord Drummond Young said of Cooper’s victim: “It was quite clear from the way she behaved in the witness box that it had a devastating effect on her and her life

Cooper was convicted after an earlier trial of three sexual offences and assault. He targeted his first victim from 1974 at Dean Country Park, houses in Kilmarnock and an Ayrshire hospital, and the second in 1980.

Lord Young also imposed a four-year licence period to follow Cooper’s jail term under strict release conditions.

He added: “I am concerned to ensure the public – that is other children – are protected from harm from you when you are released.””

July 2002

Foster family jailed for ‘sadistic treatment’

Sadistic foster parents Jeffrey and Brenda Tanner of Gladstone Street, Peterborough were jailed today for a catalogue of brutal terror and abuse they inflicted on a 12-year-old boy and a girl, 13.

The couple’s three adult children were also imprisoned for assaulting and harassing a a 40-year-old woman.

Scrap metal dealer Tanner, described by the judge as “the commander”, was jailed for seven years and his 53-year-old wife for three-and-a-half years for their systematic abuse of two vulnerable children.

Kings Lynn Crown Court heard that social services had awarded the Tanners their status as foster parents despite knowing that Tanner, 55, had two previous convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 1981 and 1987.

The couple had also refused to undergo any formal training as foster parents, the court heard.

However, their reign of terror did not come to light until January 2000 after the Tanners’ adult children and a family friend were accused of assault by a 40-year-old woman

The children – now young adults – came forward during the investigation into the adult victims treatment.

The court also heard that the 12-year-old boy was forced to drink urine and eat excrement, hold books over his head for long periods and was regularly beaten. His head was shaved with an electric cutter used to trim the family’s pets and was not allowed to sit on the sofa or chairs – they were reserved for the pets.

He was washed by being scrubbed down with a scouring pad, the court heard.

The girl, 13, who endured the Tanners’ bizarre methods of discipline and cruel treatment for more than two years was punched and forced to hold weight lifting barbells over her head for long periods.

Excrement was forced into her mouth and Tammy Tanner encouraged one of the dogs to scratch and claw at her back, the court heard.

Judge Isobel Plumstead told Tanner: “You were the commander of a cruel dynasty. Your word was law in the household and your law was neither fair or just.”

She added: “Tanner society is one where you are either a bully or be bullied. The family line was that a Tanner victim was the author of their own misfortune.”

The Tanners’ three children were also jailed: Preston, 20, for 12 months; Aaron, 25, for 12 months, and daughter Tammy, 28, for 18 months.

The Tanner children, said to be copying the behaviour of their parents, humiliated and abused the woman, making her dance naked in front of them holding heavy weights.

Wayne Muffett, 29, a friend of the Tanners, was jailed for two-and-a-half years for assaulting and harassing the woman

The Tanner children and Muffett admitted nine offences between them of assault and harassment.

The Tanner parents had been found guilty at an earlier trial of 20 offences including GBH, wounding, and administering noxious substances.

They denied all charges.

The level of abuse and cruelty stunned even hardened police officers who investigated the case. The children were “treated worse than animals,” the court was told.

The girl was fostered by the “terrible Tanners” with the full knowledge of Cambridgeshire Social Services whose workers failed to pick up the abuse for more than two years.

The girl had moved in with the Tanners as a foster daughter in October 1989, around two years after Jeffrey Tanner’s last conviction for assault. She was finally removed from their home by social services in December 1991.

She had earlier written a letter warning of her plight to social services but the court heard that her plea for help had “fallen on deaf ears.”

The boy had been taken into the Tanners’ home between 1984 and 1987 as an informal arrangement which social services were aware of, but he was not officially a foster child.

Speaking of the social services involvement in the case, Mr Pini told the court: “Newspaper reports have stated that full checks were made on Jeffrey Tanner and Brenda Tanner by social services.

“It is a matter of legitimate public interest that when checks were made they revealed that Jeffrey Tanner had two previous convictions for assault occasioning actual bodily harm in 1981 and 1987.

“In 1989 he was appointed as a foster carer. They (Mr and Mrs Tanner) were offered training but declined it.”

The jailing of the Tanners’ marked the end of joint investigation by child protection officers from the NSPCC’s Specialist Investigation Service and Cambridgeshire police, called Operation Farnell.

NSPCC SIS spokesman Mr Malcolm Muskett said: “This family committed heinous crimes against vulnerable children in their care.

“But like so many victims of abuse the crimes of their abusers were unpunished until now. It is vital that members of the public and child protection professionals work effectively together to reach out to abused children who have nobody else to turn to.”

After the case Mr Bob Pearson, of Cambridgeshire County Council, said he was unaware of Mr Pini’s statement in court that social services had known about Jeffrey Tanner’s convictions.

“Either it was ignored at the time or they didn’t know about it,” he said, blaming a lack of information on the fact that Peterborough had been a unitary authority since 1998 and were holding the Tanners’ files.

But he added: “It is clear from this sad and distressing case that the decision by Peterborough Social Services team some 13 years ago to approve the Tanners as accredited foster carers was wrong.”

“Both the assessment that was carried out and the level of training and supervision provided for the Tanners between 1989 and 1992 fell a long way short of the standards that apply today.”

May 2005

Brave sisters tell of fightback

A WOMAN honoured for her work helping child victims of sex abuse was in court yesterday to see her own tormentor jailed.

Former soldier Andrew Matthew, 67, was caged for six years after a jury found him guilty of a catalogue of rape and indecency going back almost 50 years.

Afterwards, the sisters  - his nieces – waived their right to anonymity to talk about their fight for justice.

One sister was given a Citizen of the Year award in 1997 for setting up the ’18 and Under’ project in Dundee to help child victims of abuse.

She had told the High Court in Edinburgh how her ordeal began on her favourite uncle’s knee when she was just three years old.

Her sister had given harrowing evidence of how she would ‘switch off’ by staring at a picture on the wall of her Dundee home while vile Matthew abused her.

She told the court: ‘I would turn to the wall and I would be in the picture of children playing.’

The sister who fled Dundee in her early teens and lived rough in London, admitted she had used drugs to blot out the horrific memories of what happened to her.

But leaving court yesterday, she said: ‘I think I have managed to turn the negative into positive and used a bad experience to help others.’

The sister also a voluntary worker with 18 and Under, said: ‘I suppose I am glad to have been believed and glad it is all over and he cannot hurt anybody else.

December 2001

Pervert preyed on pupils

A STAR of TV’s Come Dancing was caged yesterday after police uncovered his sordid past as a paedophile.

Tommy Donnelly, 60, ran a successful dance school which he used to make contact with young girls.

The former ballroom king, who later became a leading Country and Western line dance instructor, was jailed for three years after a jury heard how he “groomed” one girl for his own sexual gratification.

Her friend was sexually assaulted after Donnelly let her clean dance trophies in return for pocket money and treats.

His first victim screamed abuse at Donnelly’s family after seeing him jailed.

“It’s disgusting. He’ll serve only 18 months. What’s that for ruining my life?” she shouted from the court’s public gallery.

Donnelly’s decade of depravity came back to haunt him after she plucked up the courage to go to the police 26 years after he first abused her as a six-year- old.

The former Welsh champion ballroom dancer denied all ten charges against him, putting the girls – now both grown up – through the ordeal of a trial.

A jury at Swansea convicted him of three offences of indecency with a child and three of indecent assault – one charge covered ten examples of sex abuse.

But Donnelly continued to protest his innocence.

Judge Michael Burr told Donnelly: “These are very serious offences.

“The effect on one of your victims in particular is continuing. Even now you have not come to terms with what happened. You were prepared to involve more than one child.

“You abused one on the settee at your home time and time again as your confidence grew through getting away with it.”

Donnelly from Llannon, near Llanelli, west Wales,was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Donnelly’s barrister Kevin Riordan told Haverfordwest Crown Court: “This will have a devastating effect on him and his family.”

Donnelly and his blonde wife Barbara, 53, ran a thriving business teaching youngsters how to dance.

In their heyday the Donnellys were a dancing sensation, winning awards for their routines and appearing on Come Dancing.

They worked on cruise liners as entertainers before returning to Wales.

Donnelly began work as a plumber but he wanted to keep dancing and decided to teach.

The husband of Donnelly’s first victim said: “Tommy behaved just like Jonathan King and other paedophiles – gaining the trust of youngsters and then abusing them.”

July 2014

‘Sorry’ paedophile spared jail over huge haul of child abuse images

A pervert whose laptop contained more than 7,500 of indecent images of children as young as six months has been handed a community order after a judge heard he was sorry for his actions.

Michael Mount-Stevens hid the laptop from his partner in his loft at his home in Bushbury but used it to view the images and chat with like-minded people on-line when she went out, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard yesterday. (Tue),

Police received information that led them to raid his home in Elston Hall Lane on June 20, 2013, and seize the computer.

Mr Nicholas Burn, prosecuting, said there had also been evidence that the 49-year-old had distributed three images to people he chatted to on a website.

Of the thousands of images were recovered – including 1,568 in the most serious category.

Mr Burn said: “The defendant’s laptop was recovered from the loft. He says he kept it up in the loft so when his partner leaves the premises he can bring it down and access the sites and engage with like-minded individuals.”

A USB stick was also recovered which contained several indecent images.

Mr Burn said: “The overall age range of the children depicted goes from six months up to the age of four or five, boys and girls.”

He said that he distributed some images to other people while chatting to them online.

The court was told that Mount-Stevens made full admissions in interview and claimed he did not view the images out of any sexual motivation.

Mr Burn said there were several aggravating features, including the ages and vulnerability of the victims, the distress it caused and there were a ‘significant’ amount of indecent images which were filed under the most serious category.

He also said there were a considerable number of victims.

Mount-Stevens, who now lives in Moor Lane, Birmingham, admitted eight counts of making indecent images of children, one charge of taking indecent images of children and one of distributing indecent images of children.

Mr Justin Jarmola, mitigating, said he was now separated from his partner.

He told the court that he had also undertaken a course to address his behaviour and was currently unemployed.

He added: “This is a man that chose, at a low point in his life, to indulge in the darker side of his sexual ability.”

Judge Michael Dudley said there had been a number of aggravating features but Mount-Stevens had shown remorse and taken a course to address his behaviour.

He handed him a three-year community order, with a supervision requirement and a requirement to attend an internet offenders group programme.

The judge told him: “The reason the courts take such a serious view of these cases is the misery and harm it inflicts on very, very young children.

“It seems to me the good start you’ve made by attending the course can be continued by a very high level community order.”

He also made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order until further notice and Mount-Stevens will be on the Sex Offender Register for five years.

He will also have to pay £540 in costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

July 2014

73-year-old paedophile walks free from court after sexually assaulting six-year-old girl

A 73-year-old paedophile who sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl has walked free from court.

Robert Reed, of Sandrock Road, Harworth, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child under 13 at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday 22nd July.

Barrister Ian Way, prosecuting, told the court that the victim had been visiting a pub with her family and was playing outside on her new bicycle at the time of the incident on 26th August 2013.

Reed, who was smoking an e-cigarette outside the pub, asked to see the new bicycle and led the victim to the other side of the road where she sat on the curb.

It was then that Reed sat beside the victim and sexually assaulted her.

Mr Way added that when the victim pleaded with him to stop, Reed pinned down her arms and continued the assault.

It was only when the victim’s Father called out to her from inside the pub that he pulled away.

The victim’s Mother sobbed in the public gallery as the prosecution read her statement aloud to court, in which she described how her daughter had gone from a ‘happy, popular’ young girl to a recluse who suffered terrible nightmares.

On 19th September 2013, the little girl finally told her family what had occurred. They called the police and Reed was later arrested.

Defence barrister Martin Elwick said that Reed has been diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2008 and had ‘no recollection of the incident’.

He added: “There is nothing in the defendant’s history to suggest he is a sexual predator or a paedophile.”

Judge Mr Justice Stokes QC sentenced Reed to 12 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He was also placed under curfew for four months and a sexual offences order that prevents him from having unsupervised contact with any female under the age of 16 for ten years.

Mr Justice Stokes said: “Your behaviour is inexcusable. The fact you are elderly does not matter, and has no impact whatsoever on my sentence.”

“The evidence shows that you have been diagnosed with vascular dementia. You have memory problems and difficulty retaining information. This will, inevitably, get worse.”

“You are suffering from a mental disorder. If that was not the case, I would have put you in prison immediately.”

“What you did is unforgivable. You have devastated this innocent little girl and her entire family, and there is no reason why they should lay eyes on you ever again.”

July 2014

Runcorn pervert who flashed two girls on their way to school handed community order

A FLASHER from Runcorn who exposed himself to two girls while they were walking to school has been given a community order.

Michael Doyle, 31, of Constables Close in Castlefields, appeared at Chester Crown Court on Monday, July 21, after pleading guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of exposure.

Judge Nicholas Woodward sentenced Doyle to a three-year community order to be supervised by probation officers and ordered him to attend a sex offenders programme.

A sexual offences prevention order has also been made for the next seven years and Doyle was also told to pay £250 towards the prosecution costs.

The court heard from John Oates, prosecuting, how two girls were walking down Hilden Road in Warrington on April 26 last year after leaving their homes to go to school when they saw Doyle by a bus shelter.

He said: “One saw the defendant standing behind it and looking behind.

“He took his penis out which she saw for about two seconds. It shocked and upset her.”

Mr Oates added that the other girl turned around and Doyle ‘exposed’ himself and both girls ran off.

One of the girls’ mothers then went to the bus shelter to confront Doyle, upon which he fled and she phoned the police.

The prosecution added that the age of the girls was an ‘aggravating feature’ of the case.

Speaking of the witness testimonies – which also included one from an 18-year-old student – Mr Oates said: “Witnesses say there was no suggestion he was urinating. That was a suggestion he made when he was interviewed.”

Jeremy Rawson, defending Doyle, said that his client ‘regrets the hurt he has caused to these two young girls’ but added that the defendant exposed himself in a ‘very limited way’.

He added: “How the offence came about is something I struggle to understand.

“He regrets the actions he took without thinking.”

Judge Woodward, sentencing, said: “There were aggravating features. There were two victims and they were both children.

“Without appropriate treatment, you will run a significant risk of committing sexual offences in the future.”

December 1985

Life for child rapist who tried to kill girls

July 2014

Eight year jail sentence for Moray man who raped 13 year schoolgirl

A loner who plied a schoolgirl with vodka then raped her has been jailed for eight years.

Depraved Vytautas Melinauskas tried to blame his 13-year-old victim for the attack in his Moray home and told a court she had led him on.

But a jury rejected his claim and also convicted him of committing a sex act with another teenager.

He faced being deported at the end of his prison term.

At the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, judge Lord Burns told Lithuanian Melinauskas it was clear the rape had affected the girl very badly.

During his trial jurors heard the 43-year-old bought drink at a local shop then invited the girls, aged 13 and 15, back to his New Elgin home.

The judge said: “Then you proceeded to rape one girl and engage in sexual activity with the other, knowing both of them were very drunk and knowing their ages.

“It must have been quite clear to you that they were quite incapable of making any decision, yet you maintained, and still maintain, that they were the instigators of these events.”

Lord Burns said a background report concluded that Melinauskas posed “some considerable degree of risk”.

This would normally have led him to impose an order keeping Melinauskas under supervision after his release.

The judge said the only reason he would not do so was because Melinauskas would be deported at the end of his jail term – but he will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.

In court yesterday, his counsel, advocate Bill Adam, described Melinauskas, as “a rather lonely man” who sometimes drank to excess.

He had been living and working in Scotland for some years.

The offences happened in September 2012.

Mr Adam said: “He is genuinely sorry for the girls and for the distress that he has caused.

“He knows he was the adult. They were the children. He should have known better as far as the alcohol and everything else which followed was concerned.”

Melinauskas, of 7 Langstane Place, New Elgin, was found guilty of breaching licensing regulations by buying alcohol on behalf of a child or young person.

He was also found guilty of raping the 13-year-old while she was incapable of giving or withholding consent due to the effects of alcohol.

Melinauskas was also found guilty of engaging in sexual activity with the older girl, but the jury deleted an allegation that she had been asleep because of the effects of drink.

September 2006

Child sex monster caged

A CHILD sex offender’s own family have praised his ‘richly-deserved’ 14-year prison sentence.

People in the public gallery cheered and shouted ‘die, you b*****d’ as Adrian Martin Jones was jailed at Chester Crown Court 

Judge Elgan Edwards told the 46-year-old defendant from Ellesmere Port that he was ‘sick and perverted’ and it was one of the worst cases he had dealt with.

Jones had pleaded guilty to 26 charges of a serious sexual nature, seven of indecent assaults, six of indecency with a child, and two further sex assaults.

He was banned from working with children and will be on the national Sex Offender’s Register for life.

Prosecutor Ken Schultz said Jones, of Norley Avenue, committed sexual offences on boys and girls in the town between 1991 and this year.

Mr Schultz added: ‘He was arrested on May 4 this year. He has a previous conviction for having sex with an under-age girl in 1983.’

Defending, Gordon Hennell handed in a letter from Jones, apologising to his victims, saying he didn’t realise how much he had hurt them. He asked for credit for the guilty pleas.

Judge Edwards told Jones: ‘You behaved in a sick and perverted fashion, it was disgusting.

‘The offences are extremely grave, some of the worst to come before the court. You richly deserve your sentence.’

In a statement issued via police after the case, Jones’ own family said: ‘We are pleased with the length of the sentence imposed.

‘We do not and never will support any paedophile, even when it is a family member, and condemn all such acts upon children.

‘As no member of the family was aware of what he’d done, it came as a sickening shock to us all.

‘To his victims, we can only say a heartfelt sorry for what he’s done.

‘Without them having the courage to come forward, he may have continued his abusing for much longer.’

They thanked PC Brendan Crilley for the investigation. nIn court, Judge Edwards lifted a ban on the Press revealing Jones’ identity, saying it was in the public interest to know who he was.

July 2014

Woman sexually abused by her mum speaks out over paedophiles

A daughter sexually abused by her own mother when she was just seven-years-old today called for more help to stop paedophiles ruining children’s lives.

Waiving her anonymity, Kelly spoke of the devastating impact the child abuse has had on her life and demanded more is done to support young children, who she calls the “forgotten victims”.

The 42-year-old was left suffering in silence throughout her childhood as she tried to deal with the abuse – and the fact her mum allowed it to happen.

Kelly, of Washington, said: “I’m coming to terms with the abuse now but I don’t know if I’ll ever come to terms with the abuser being my mum.”

Kelly said recent high profile sex abuse trials including that of Rolf Harris have only strengthened her resolve to speak out in the hope that fewer children have to suffer in silence.

Kelly’s mother, Martha Owens, 63, (pictured above) admitted four charges of indecent assault when she was arrested in 2012. Her stepfather, Frederick Dixon, denied the allegations and killed himself on New Year’s Eve 2012.

Last year, Newcastle Crown Court heard how Owens stripped Kelly, then just a schoolgirl, naked and watched on as Dixon sexually assaulted her.

Kelly said: “When all of this was happening to me my mam kept telling me it was ok, they both did.

“I was a child, I didn’t know what was happening. It was only as I got older that I realised this wasn’t right, that it wasn’t happening to other people.”

Recent allegations of child abuse involving former MPs at Westminster in the 80s as well as high profile celebrity trials has brought back painful memories for Kelly.

She said: “All too often the emphasis is on the abuser and the victims are forgotten about.

“They are children and they need help and support because they often don’t understand what’s happening to them – how could they?

“My mother got a nine-month suspended sentence for what she did. I got a life sentence.”

“Growing up, I couldn’t wear certain clothes, no make-up, no perfume,” she recalled. “It was his way of making sure no one else would look at me.

“When I asked my mother about what he was doing to me, she’d just says “he’s doing it because he loves you”, and I believed her.

“I know it was him who abused me, who did all this stuff, but it would never have happened if it wasn’t for her.”

Kelly believes more education is needed and more support offered at an early stage to those young people affected.”

Her calls come after Children’s Commissioner Maggie Atkinson, former Gateshead Council’s director of Children’s Services, launched a national inquiry into sexual abuse. The two year probe will look specifically at sexual abuse within the family environment.

She said: “Most of our children are raised in secure, loving homes but I’m sure many of us will be disturbed by how much abuse within the family goes unreported and how little is done to support the children who suffer.

It was only after years of counselling that Kelly felt able to speak out over what had happened in her family.

Newcastle Crown Court was told Owens did not carry out the offences for her own sexual gratification, but a desire “not to cross” Dixon.

Judge Paul Sloan QC sentenced Owens, of Goodwood Road, Grindon, Sunderland, to nine months imprisonment, suspended for two years.

July 2014

Female paedophile has lifetime sex offenders order changed

A North Shore woman has had the terms of her lifetime sex offenders’ prevention order changed.

Mother of four, Jane Ruddock, 40, of Pleasant Street was made the subject of the order after she was convicted of a sex assault on a 12-year-old boy.

District Judge Pamela Baldwin sitting at the town’s magistrates court agreed to an application by Lancashire Police lawyer Chris Keogh that the order be amended.

He told the judge: “We have looked at this because there has been some confusion on this woman’s part as to the certain parts of it and the changes have backing of social services.”

Under the new terms she is barred from having contact with a child under the age of 16 unless approved by social services and with the consent of the child’s parent or guardian who must know about her conviction.

She must not undertake any paid or unpaid employment which would bring her into contact with any children.

She must not invite any child under 16 into her home, any other residence, caravan or tent.

And she must not live or sleep in any household where there are children.

October 2012

Mother broke terms of order

A WOMAN placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life after she sexually assaulted a 12 year old boy has broken the terms of the order.

Jane Ruddock, a 38-year-old mother-of-four, secretly moved to Blackpool but failed to tell the police about her new address.

She lived under the same roof as children, which also broke the order, and she did not attend her sex offenders review when she should have done.

Ruddock, of Clifford Road, who has been living at a probation hostel, admitted the three breaches when she appeared before Blackpool Magistrates’ Court.

Tracy Yates, prosecuting, said Ruddock appeared before Preston Crown Court in 2005 where she was given a three year supervision order and a five year SOPO for the child sex assaults.

In 2008 the SOPO was increased to a life order after she was found working in a shop with a child.

Ruddock was arrested in Blackpool earlier this year. She had been living in the resort for three months,the court heard.

In the house were four children under the age of 16.

She told police she wrongly thought the order was for 10 years and blamed being “zoned out” by health problems for what she had done.

Peter Manning, defending, said: “It is now crystal clear to her that the order is for life. A probation report on her details her problems with drink, drugs and sex. It is not suggested that she committed any offence as a result of the breaches.”

Chairman of the magistrates, Mrs Janet Oldroyd, told Ruddock: “This is your last chance.Children have got to be protected from harm.”

Ruddock was ordered to live for the next 12 months only at addresses approved by probation, and she will be under their supervision for 18 months.

July 2014

Ex-scout leader pressured vulnerable 14-year-old girl into sex

A FORMER Scout leader from Southminster who groomed a 14-year-old girl by sending text messages saying he loved her before trying to have sex with her has been jailed for four years.

Simon Collier, 30, pleaded guilty to three sex offences at Chelmsford Crown Court on Monday (July 21) and will remain on the sexual offenders register for life.

The victim’s sister told her parents that she had seen Collier “kissing and cuddling” the girl at a swimming pool.

They then checked her phone and found a large number of texts to Collier.

The messages were described as of a “loving nature” by Nneka Akudolu, for the prosecution, in which Collier told the victim that he loved her.

When her parents confronted the girl, she told them it was “just a kiss” and that she had no intention of having sex until she was married.

She told them she knew it was wrong but did not want to get Collier into trouble even though he tried to have a relationship with her “that shouldn’t happen” and kept hounding and kissing her.

It then emerged that they had met in an orchard in Southminster, where Collier took off his trousers and told her that they were going to have sex.

He took off some of her clothing and performed a sex act, but she said no to intercourse.

Judge Lynch QC said: “There’s evidence here of grooming and targeting.

“Any 29-year-old man like yourself in a position of trust as a Scout leader who takes advantage of a 14-year-old girl sexually does so at their peril.

“This was the classic grooming of a young girl by telling her that you loved her – not to make her feel loved but for your own gratification.

“She was vulnerable not only by virtue of her age but by virtue of her background.”

The court had heard that Collier had put pressure on his victim by saying things like “don’t you like me?” when she turned down his advances.

Judge Lynch added: “We know the impact this can have on vulnerable young women. You were pressuring her into sex and she felt pressured and scared and had nowhere to go.

“You didn’t show her much empathy, it was all about you.”

Collier was arrested on August 11 and replied “no comment” to all questions but later pleaded guilty to all charges at the earliest opportunity.

A spokesman for the Scout Association said: “The Scout Association is aware of court proceedings involving Collier.

“Collier’s appointment within the Scout Association was cancelled as soon as we were informed by the statutory agencies.

“We can confirm that he will never again be allowed to work within the Scout movement.

“The Scout Association has co-operated fully with the statutory agencies.

“The Scout Association carries out stringent vetting of all adults who work with young people and requires them to work to a strict code of practice outlined in the Young People First Code of Practice.”

Suzanne Stringer, for the Crown Prosecution Service in the East of England, added: “Collier was in a position of trust as a Scout leader and his behaviour towards his teenage victim was clearly inappropriate.

“We are pleased he has admitted these offences and has been prosecuted for his actions, which we take very seriously.

July 2014

Engineer admits raping 12-year-old girl at Peterhead house party

An apprentice engineer has admitted raping a 12-year-old girl at a party.

Nabil Romero Bowers, 19, pleaded guilty to placing the schoolgirl on a bed and having sex with her at a house in Peterhead on one occasion between March 1 and June 30, 2013.

The High Court in Glasgow heard that after the incident rumours circulated that the girl had been raped by Bowers.

She was asked on Facebook by a friend if this was true and replied: “He was drunk and I didn’t know what was happening and it happened for two seconds cos I didn’t want to do it.”

Advocate depute Rosemary Guinnane, prosecuting, said: “Prior to this incident she had not been involved in a sexual relationship.

“Afterwards she told a friend that something had happened that she hadn’t wanted. The girl later said she was crying when she made this disclosure.

“The girl did not initially tell her mother, but finally blurted out what had happened in August 2013.”

When Bowers, of Viking Way in Peterhead, was questioned by police he admitted having sex with her.

He said he stopped when she said it was painful and added that he believed she was 14. The court was told that Bowers previously lived in Spain – where the age of consent is 14.

However, he told police that he knew the age of consent in the UK is 16.

Ms Guinnane added: “The girl told police that the accused had sex with her and that she did not consent to what had taken place, although there is no suggestion that she specifically voiced that lack of consent prior to sex having taken place.”

The court heard that the girl has found school life difficult as a result of this incident. Judge Lord Turnbull deferred sentence on Bowers until next month and placed him on the sex offenders’ register.

July 2014

Ex-council worker found with over 6000 indecent images of children

An ex-council worker was caught with thousands of indecent images of children.

Colin Spink was found with 5773 still pictures and 976 indecent videos when police raided the home he shared with his wife and three-year-old daughter.

Spink, was formerly employed by Dundee City Council as a resource assistant in two community centres, now faces a prison term after admitting downloading the pictures using an online file sharing site.

It is understood he no longer holds the position with the local authority.

Dundee Sheriff Court heard Spink had gone to lengths to cover his tracks by downloading file cleaning and shredding software to erase the evidence.

But a tip off received by Police Scotland in January led officers to his door on April 3 this year.

Fiscal depute Susan Ruta told the court that Spink had later told officers he liked looking at indecent pictures of naked girls aged 10 and over but claimed he “didn’t get sexual gratification”.

The prosecutor said: “He told officers ‘I ventured too far – I admit to looking at certain things knowing it was wrong’.

“He stated he loved children and his daughter and would never do anything to harm them.

“He said he had ‘not looked at hard stuff’ and said ‘it disgusts me’.”

Miss Ruta added that a total of 5773 still pictures and 976 videos of chldren aged between six and 14 were found.

Spink, 49, of Dundee, pleaded guilty on indictment to taking or making indecent photographs of children.

John Boyle, defending, said he would reserve his plea in mitigation to a later sentencing date.

Sheriff George Way deferred sentence until August for social work background reports and released Spink on bail meantime.

June 2014

Paedophile jailed for 22 years for multiple sex offences and abuse against young girls

A paedophile who abused young girls who were aged under 9 years old has been handed one of Sussex’s highest prison terms for a sex offender

Crispin Kerslake, 43 of Ash walk, Newhaven was jailed for 22 years after he was found guilty of one of the most vile cases of its kind in the country

Kerslake initially denied sexually assaulting two girls aged under 9 years old on five occasions between 2006 and 2009. But after being convicted by a jury at Brighton crown court, judge David Rennie felt that one offence on its own merited a 15 year sentence – the highest possible sentence that could be given under current law

Kerslake was given an extra two years for the other sexual offences relating to the two girls

Kerslake was also convicted of a further seven counts including – neglecting, abandoning and causing unnecessary suffering to the two girls and a third young girl

For these offences he was sentenced to a further 5 years in prison

September 2003

Web pervert locked up

A Sussex pensioner who downloaded more than 6,000 images of child abuse images from the internet has been jailed for 18 months.

Some of the youngsters pictured during sex acts were only five years old.

Bernard Southgate, 64, of St John’s Road, Crowborough, stored the images on a file called RDS – meaning Really Dodgy Stuff – but was caught after police raided his house on Christmas Eve and seized his computer, Lewes Crown Court heard.

Southgate admitted 20 charges of making an indecent photograph of a child between February 2000 and November last year and asked for a further 19 to be taken into account.

The court heard Southgate was jailed in 1981 at the Central Criminal Court in London for nine years for a serious sexual offence and indecent assault on a male under 14.

He was also jailed for four months in 1998 by Lewes magistrates for possession of a class B drug with intent to supply but was later given a community service order on appeal.

Tim Bergin, prosecuting, said: “The images came to light following a police raid. On that occasion various computer equipment was seized.

“In total there were 6,047 images. One shows a picture of a girl aged between six and eight on a bed with a gag on her mouth and a whip being held across her buttocks with a sex aid on the bed.”

The court heard other images showed girls and boys in sexual poses.

When arrested, Southgate accepted he had downloaded child abuse images.

Paul Casey, defending, said: “He has a problem of longstanding years and he has in the past voluntarily sought medical and psychiatric help.”

Southgate was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.

August 2011

Portchester pensioner jailed for sex assault on five-year-old girl

A PAEDOPHILE pensioner found guilty of repeatedly abusing a young girl has been locked up for two-and-a-half years.

At the end of a trial last month, Christopher Barrable was found guilty of molesting the girl, then aged five and six, a number of times in 2009 and 2010.

Barrable, who lived in Portchester at the time of the offences, showed little emotion as he was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court for multiple counts of sexual assault on an under-13.

During the trial, the jury was shown a DVD of an interview with the girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

In it she said: ‘He was being bad.’ She added: ‘I feel angry about what he has done.

‘Grown-ups shouldn’t do it because it’s quite bad.’

She told how the 68-year-old had repeatedly touched her by putting his hand beneath her underwear.

Barrable admitted he had touched the girl but denied it had been in a sexual way.

The allegations came to light when the girl told her parents.

Adrienne Knight, defending, told the court that Barrable had previously been of good character and had no previous convictions.

She said that before the allegations he had been a bridge teacher who was often employed to work on cruise ships. She said: ‘He’s lost his home, he lost all his bridge contracts, he could no longer go on the cruises.

‘His former friends have disowned him and he’s had to move away.’

Barrable, of Sweetwater Close, in Guildford, Surrey, sat impassively throughout the hearing.

His partner, who is standing by him, sat in the public gallery.

Jailing him Judge Roger Hetherington said: ‘The touching was done despite repeated attempts by her, young as she was, to try to get you to stop.

‘When she was only five or six, over quite a protracted period, you put your hand under her clothing and moved it around. I accept this whole business has had a devastating effect on your life and your social life.

‘It’s fortunate for you that you have the support of a new partner, but this type of offence must be visited by a custodial sentence.’

Barrable had already been put on the sex offenders’ register after the trial.