July 2013

Serial Sunderland flasher avoids jail

A SERIAL flasher who exposed himself to a woman from a window at his home has avoided jail again after breaching a community order.

Robert Chisnall deliberately flashed his private parts to the shocked passer-by in May 2011, a court heard.

Chisnall already has convictions for exposing himself to young girls in 2001 and 2002.

The 39-year-old Wearsider was convicted by a jury of exposure after a trial at the end of last year.

Chisnall was ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years.

He was also given a community order for three years with supervision and sex offender group work.

But the dad-of-two, from Rose Street, Millfield, Sunderland, was back at Newcastle Crown Court this week for breaching the order.

It came after he refused to engage with probation and group workers.

Again, he escaped a stint behind bars as Judge Simon Hickey gave him a six-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

Last year, a court was told Chisnall had stood at the window of his home and deliberately exposed himself to a lady of “mature years”.

Prosecutors said the woman was left distressed and offended by his actions.

Judge Hickey told Chisnall: “What’s worrying is that you have become particularly obstructive and you’re not working with the experts on the sex offenders programme.

“They have tried and failed with you, which is why they have initiated breach proceedings.”

The judge added: “The real worry to trying to stop you from committing further offences and to stop you by getting you treated.”

The court heard that Chisnall was convinced he was innocent of the indecent exposure offence.

Judge Hickey was also told that Chisnall was now displaying symptoms of depression, after his partner and children left him.

October 2014

TEACHER admits sexually abusing young boys during school lessons and attempting to rape a pupil

Kenneth Savage, aged 65, of Barnes Avenue, Fearnhead, pleaded guilty to 30 counts of child abuse at Chester Crown Court on Monday.

The court heard how the paedophile regularly touched, assaulted, and on several occasions attempted to abuse four boys in a campaign that lasted for eight years.

It is believed Savage was a teacher at a school in Warrington when the attacks happened between 1972 and 1978.

The defendant would target his young victims – boys aged between eight and 14 – while they were under his direct care on school property, and during lessons.

Indecent assaults were carried out in school toilets, in a gym store, during a sex education lesson, in a music room, during PE lessons, and in the school library

The court heard Savage would touch the boys sexually.

Savage also abused children in his car, and on a school trip to the Lake District.

The defendant pleaded guilty to attempted buggery between 1972 and 1975, the victim aged between nine and 11.

The court heard he attempted a similar attack on the same boy on two other occasions.

Wearing a blue suit, white shirt and glasses in court, Savage remained expressionless in court when answering ‘guilty’ to each count.

The court heard Savage has already been prosecuted in 1984, for abusing pupils while working as a teacher.

Savage claims he would have told police about other victims at that time, but was stopped from doing so.

Michael Davies, defending, said the defendant gave names of victims to police, but after giving 10 names, ‘was told to stop’ as the police had enough evidence to convict him.

“He says he would have gone on, said Mr Davies.

“He made it clear there was more to come.”

“I have asked the prosecution to check but they don’t have the records to either prove, or disprove that.

“If the police hadn’t said stop he would have confessed to everything, including buggery, in 1984.”

Jane La Grua, prosecuting, said she could confirm ‘some’ victims were named by Savage in 1984, but could not confirm if he was stopped from giving further names.

Judge Roger Dutton called for a pre-sentence report before sentencing Savage.

The next hearing will take place on November 3 at Chester Crown Court.

October 2014

Pervert caught with disgusting images of very young children being abused – Suspended sentence

A SHIFT worker who began filling his leisure time watching child abuse images on his computer was caught with disgusting images of very young children being abused.

A court heard that when questioned after police raided his home in Gathurst Lane, Shevington, Philip Leyland admitted using peer-to-peer software to view such images without paying.

And he also admitted that he sometimes copied the images onto discs so that he could then watch them on his “big television screen”.

When forensic experts examined his computer they recovered 25 images, including three movies, some in the most serious category.

Sentencing the 55-year-old, Judge Andrew Menary, QC, said that although not a great many images were found some involved very young children involved in various forms of sexual activity including bondage and penetrative activity with adults and other children.

He said that Leyland had admitted that in recent years he had “developed an unhealthy interest in child sexual images”.

The case was another example of how the internet allowed easy access to such images. “It has led someone like you, an otherwise perfectly respectable man, to commit offences of this kind.

“The consequences for you are obvious, the loss of your good name and in all probability your marriage and your liberty has been put at risk.

“Both you and others like you must understand that offences of this type will always be regarded as serious given the shocking abuse of children necessarily involved in the production of such images and the encouragement given to this evil by willing customers like you.”

Judge Menary said that it was a personal tragedy for Leyland who is genuinely remorseful and has shown some insight into his behaviour.

He sentenced him to four months imprisonment suspended for 12 months, placed him under supervision for 12 months and ordered him to carry out 150 hours unpaid work.

Leyland was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for seven years.

Leyland, now of West Mount, Orrell, had pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images.

Sarah Phelan, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that police armed with a search warrant raided his then home on April 24 this year.

Leyland, who has no previous convictions, was at home but his wife and daughter were out.

He admitted the computer was used for normal family purposes but he also used it to view child porn.

He said he sometimes burnt discs so he could watch the images on his television set.

After watching them he would delete them and snap the discs to prevent his family finding them.

September 2014

Man jailed for abuse of seven-year-old boy at park and swimming pool in Bristol

A FORMER Downend man has been jailed for two years after a jury convicted him of tying up a youngster and sexually abusing him.

Richard Wilmot preyed on the boy, who was as young as seven, in assaults at locations including a swimming pool and a park, Bristol Crown Court heard.

When the complainant made allegations to police last year, officers visited Wilmot and found him in possession of blue nylon rope.

The 33-year-old, now of Glogan House Hostel in Bridgwater, denied eight charges of indecency with a child but a jury found him guilty after a seven-day trial in August.

Jailing him yesterday, Judge Euan Ambrose told him: “You were bigger than him and you used that to your advantage.

“It involved hitting, headlocks and twisting his arm.

“You used rope to restrain him. As he says, you had all the power and the control.”

Wilmot was told to register as a sex offender indefinitely and given an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order, banning him from unsupervised contact with youngsters or unchecked internet use. He was barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.

During the trial the jury heard Wilmot tied his victim to a tree in a park near Emersons Green and molested him.

The complainant reported the abuse last year, when he found out Wilmot was serving a prison sentence for making indecent images of children. 

May 2013

Jail for pervert who broke court orders

A PAEDOPHILE who persistently flouted court orders by downloading child porn has been jailed.

Richard Wilmot had received cautions, community orders, a suspended prison sentence and a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) for his obsession with young boys and girls, but when police paid him a visit in January, they found he was once again indulging himself.

Avon and Somerset police have refused to release a picture of the 32-year-old, of Stonebridge, Clevedon, despite him being jailed yesterday for 16 months, plus 12 weeks for the suspended sentence he breached.

Describing the images as “abhorrent”, Judge Michael Roach said: “You’ve been in front of the authorities for this type of offence too many times now.”

Prosecuting at Bristol Crown Court, Fiona Elder told how Wilmot was first on the police’s radar in 2008, when he was cautioned for possessing indecent images.

In July 2011, for similar offences, a community order and five-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order with a number of conditions was imposed in a bid to stop him offending again.

But, last April, he breached that order and was given a 12-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, as well as being ordered to participate in the Thames Valley Sex Offenders programme.

On January 30 this year, police went to his house with a warrant to seize his computer and Wilmot told them straight away that there were images of children on his laptop.

He also told them there was a box under his bed containing indecent photos. There, officers found children’s clothes and pictures of children cut out of magazines.

Police examined the laptop and found 328 indecent images of children, six of which were of the most serious category – category five.

Wilmot admitted three charges – breaching the prevention order, possessing indecent images and making indecent images.

Judge Roach imposed a total of 16 months in prison for the three new offences and activated the suspended sentence, which he has already served on remand.

He imposed a new, indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order, which includes a ban on any contact with people under 18, unless supervised and authorised by parents, guardians and social services. He also ordered that he could only use the internet if he was willing to surrender his computer or phone to police whenever they asked to check it.

Mitigating, David Maunder said his client had a “very deep rooted problem”.

October 2014

Ex-pub landlord jailed for appalling sex offences on a child

A former Whitstable publican suffered a massive heart attack within hours of being convicted of a string of appalling sex offences on a child.

Craig Rafferty – who once ran the Fountain Public House – was rushed to hospital after his heart stopped three times.

He was then placed in an induced coma for two weeks while surgeons fought to save his life.

Now the 43-year-old, who has made a recovery, was returned to Canterbury Crown Court to face judicial as well as divine punishment!

Rafferty, of Medway Avenue, Yalding was jailed for 15 years after being told he had imposed “the worst possible cruelty of sexual abuse” on his victim.

The former caravan park owner had wept as the prosecutor Simon Taylor outlined details of his appalling historic attacks.

But the judge dismissed them as “just crocodile tears” from a man “without shame or remorse”.

The jury had convicted him on seven sex abuse counts which took place in Ashford, Seasalter, Tankerton and other areas of Kent.

His victim told the jury how the vile pervert would “rub against me like I was a woman” and would ignore the youngster’s anguished tears.

Judge James O’Mahony told Rafferty: “You carried out every possible form of sexual abuse imaginable..leaving your victim feeling disgusted and being treated like an object for your of sexual gratification by threatening him and assaulting him.

“This was a regime of cruel abuse and you robbed him of his childhood.

“He was left feeling ashamed and dirty and you have shown not one shred of remorse.”

John O’Higgins, defending, said that after the jury’s verdict he was “struck down by a very serious illness”.

“There was a serious question mark for a time over his survival after suffering a heart attack in prison when his heart failed three times.

The seriousness of his condition was reflected by the fact he was in an induced coma for two weeks.”

The barrister said Rafferty now needed “powerful” medication to deal with his ongoing heart problems which is also affecting his memory.

He added that some may conclude that for Rafferty to  “suffer so gravely” could be viewed  as a form of “divine punishment”.

September 2014

Abergele man “addicted” to child abuse images jailed for two years

A MAN “addicted” to child abuse images had sent an image of a fully-dressed youngster who was known to him to a paedophile, a court heard. 

Martin Morland-Hine, aged 33, of Holland Drive, Abergele, suggested he had engaged in abusing this child but later he told police this was simply “bravado” to obtain more images from this stranger, the prosecution said at Caernarfon crown court. 

Morland-Hine was jailed for two years, placed on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, and a sex offenders’ prevention order was also made. 

He admitted 16 charges involving the making, possessing and distributing of indecent images and having an indecent photograph for show. 

Judge Philip Hughes said there were 1,740 still images and 40 videos. 

He remarked that Morland-Hine had an “unhealthy and worrying interest.” 

Prosecutor Richard Edwards said police had searched his home in May and seized a mobile phone and computer equipment. 

Chat logs were discovered about child porn. The defendant had agreed to swap photographs. Morland-Hine suggested he was interested in girls aged 13, and he had used Dropbox to store images. 

Mr Edwards added that Morland-Hine said he became addicted to porn and then indecent images of children. Among those found were pictures of children as young as two years old. 

Defence counsel Michael Whitty said Morland-Hine was “deeply ashamed” and embarrassed by his behaviour. 

He became addicted to adult porn after his relationship broke down and it developed into looking at more extreme images. 

March 2009

Sex abuser is locked up

A SEX abuser who preyed on vulnerable youngsters has been jailed for 32 months.

Graham Edwards, 48, was found guilty of indecency and sex assaults involving three teenagers at a house in Port Glasgow between January 1996 and December 2000.

Jailing Edwards, of Methil Road, Port Glasgow, at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday, judge Lord Bannatyne told him: ‘Sexual abuse of children is always a serious matter. Two of the girls were already from damaged backgrounds.’

Edwards was also told his name would remain on the Sex Offenders” Register indefinitely.

A trial at the High Court in Paisley in February heard how Edwards carried out a string of sickening sex crimes involving the girls over four years.

These included a sexual assault on a 17-year-old girl at his 40th birthday party.

He was convicted of three separate charges of lewd and libidinous practices towards one girl between 9 January 1996 and 19 April 1999. She was just 14 when Edwards” abuse began.

Edwards was also found guilty of two charges of using lewd and libidinous practices towards a second teenage girl between 1 January 1996 and 6 August the following year.

She was 13-years-old when Edwards” abuse began. He was also convicted of assaulting a 17-year-old girl between 1 June 1999 and 31 December 2000, offences which included the birthday party incident.

October 2014

Man jailed for raping woman, child cruelty and sexually assaulting dog

A Canterbury man who subjected a woman to a series of sickening sexually attacks also indecently assaulted a dog

Sean Keen, who was found guilty by a jury of three sexual attacks and four counts of child cruelty, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment at Canterbury Crown Court

The series of attacks were often when Keen was under the influence of alcohol and he admitted during police interview that he often ‘blacked out’.

He was jailed at Canterbury Crown Court for 18 years by a judge who described him as a sex obsessed ‘tyrant’. 

The court heard how Keen became a member of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness and practised at the temple for ten years before the attacks. 

Despite vowing to remain celibate and refrain from drinking, he took up a five-can-a-day lager habit and violently raped a woman on several occasions. 

He also forced a dog to perform a sex act on him, and sexually abused children whih inluded exposing his genitals to a child

Keen was convicted of three counts of sexual assault and four cruelty charges. 

During his trial in August, the court heard how one victim said Keen had treated her like a prostitute. 

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Michael Seddon of Kent Police, said: “Just what the victims in this case went through over a period of time is unthinkable and the fact Keen refused to admit his guilt at the earliest opportunity meant they had to go through it all again in a trial.

“On behalf of Kent Police, I would like to praise those victims for showing and displaying a great deal of courage in reporting truly terrible and frightening experiences of their lives.

“I am pleased the overwhelming wealth of evidence we were able to providence was enough to convince a jury that Keen was guilty of these heinous crimes.

“I hope this gives confidence to any victim of this type of crime that we take it incredibly seriously, offer support and use all powers available to us to ensure those responsible receive justice for their abhorrent actions.”

October 2014

Pervert previously jailed for sex attack on vulnerable woman spared prison after downloading child abuse images

A FORMER care home worker previously jailed for a sex attack on a vulnerable woman has been spared another prison term for downloading child-abuse images.

Iain Blake, from Hastings Road in Pound Hill, was sentenced at Crawley Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday.

At an earlier hearing Blake pleaded guilty to a charge of making nine indecent photographs of children – with “making” referring to downloading the images rather than taking them himself.

The children in the photos ranged in age from 6 to 14.

The court heard Blake accessed the images on a USB dongle given to him by a former colleague.

Police discovered the photographs on May 3, 2013, when they searched the 32-year-old’s computer at his home.

Prosecutor Melanie Wotton had previously told the court: “Police accessed Mr Blake’s computer as part of the conditions of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order [SOPO] in place for a relevant previous conviction and they found there were nine images of an indecent nature.

“The images were of young people exposing parts of their genitals. The photographs were low level, there was no sexual activity or penetrative action.”

The SOPO was put in place because Blake was jailed for 18 months in October 2008 having pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a woman who was not in a position to refuse consent.

Blake targeted the victim when she was alone in her room at a care home and locked a colleague out of the building so he could launch his attack in secret.

However, the colleague found another way into the building and caught Blake, who was a part-time solider with the Territorial Army at the time, carrying out a sex act on the middle-aged woman who was blind and had profound learning difficulties.

The judge who sentenced Blake for that crime ordered the SOPO, meaning officers maintain contact with the defendant and he cannot be employed in a role which involves him being alone with vulnerable women.

While admitting he did download the photographs Blake said he did so unwittingly.

Jill Joyce, defending, claimed at an earlier hearing that Blake “immediately” tried to delete the images.

She said: “My client was bought a computer in April 2013 and shortly after police requested to look at the contents on it. He willingly allowed them to search the computer.

“Previously, while working at Poundland, Mr Blake had been given a memory stick and when downloading items from it onto his computer, these images appeared. He immediately made attempts to delete them and there has been no sharing of the photographs.”

Sentencing had previously been adjourned to allow mental health experts to give advice to the court on whether Blake was fit enough to serve a jail term.

While magistrates deemed the offence serious enough to impose a custodial sentence they agreed it could be suspended.

Blake was handed a 20-week prison sentence, suspended for 12 months.

He will also be monitored through an electronic tag for six months with a home address curfew in place between 8pm and 5am.

October 2014

Man jailed for child sex crimes

A man has been jailed for a series of sex offences with a child.

Stephen Anthony Lock, 39, has been sentenced to eight years behind bars after being found guilty at Lincoln Crown Court of seven counts of sexual activity with a child and found not guilty of one count of rape.

The crimes happened between 2011 and 2012 at an address in Lincolnshire and at Lock’s home address in Leicester. The victim was 14-years-old at the time.

When sentencing Lock Judge John Pini QC said he had clearly groomed the young victim and had shown no remorse for his actions. Lock even claimed in evidence that the young girl was lying.

He is the worst kind of sexual offender who not only subjected his victim to horrific offences but then tried to cover them up with lies, putting her and her family through the most unimaginable anguish.

I am incredibly pleased with the jury’s verdicts and the judge’s sentence but there really are no winners in this case. For the young girl and her family this has been a terrible time and they now have to start trying to rebuild their lives.

I want to commend the courage of the victim in this case, without her evidence and bravery we would never be able to take this dangerous offender off the streets and make sure he can’t repeat these offences. Without the whole family’s patience, cooperation, and support of the prosecution we would never have been able to get this conviction. We are incredibly grateful to them.

October 2014

Convicted child sex pervert breached Order banning him from leaving Lancashire

A SEX offender working for the RAC breached a court order which banned him from leaving Lancashire for even a day without telling the police – and which was described by a judge as ‘very odd and bizarre’.

Burnley Crown Court was told Jason Kolignion was jailed for three years at Sheffield Crown Court on March 28, 2012 for sexual activity with a girl under 16 in Rotherham in 2010.

He had also received an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which prohibited him from leaving the police force area in which he was living, unless he informed a nominated officer.

But Kolignion had been been working for the motoring organisation, standing outside service stations, trying to attract new members to join.

That work and further employment had taken him to Yorkshire and Greater Manchester and he had not told Lancashire police.

Kolignion is now back behind bars, after being recalled on licence. Judge Beverley Lunt gave him 28 days in custody for flouting the SOPO, but suggested he take legal advice about the order.

Kolignion of Lydia Street, Accrington, admitted leaving the force area where he lived without contacting the nominated officer, on August 19 and September 2 and had been committed for sentence by magistrates. He was in court on his 44th birthday.

Prosecutor Stephen Parker said police monitoring Kolignion went to his address on September 3. His phone and car sat nav showed he had left the area on a number of occasions.

He was arrested on suspicion of breaching his SOPO and claimed he had been unsure of the terms.

The defendant said police had seen him on an earlier occasion, but he could not recall a discussion about the terms of the order.

He said he had worked for the RAC for eight weeks, but had given it up about five weeks before. Kolignion said he had got further employment which had taken him to Bradford, Skelmersdale, Manchester and Leeds and he had not told the police. Mr Parker added the order was ‘very restrictive’.

James Heyworth, for Kolignion, said: “What he appears to be doing, at the time of the breaches, is undertaking legitimate employment. He wasn’t going to these locations with the intention of committing further offences. He has accepted that puts him in breach.”

Judge Lunt said: “The idea he can’t drive across the border I find very bizarre. He should perhaps be applying to the court to look at the SOPO again.”

A company spokesman said:  “It is a requirement for all candidates to make a full disclosure of any criminal convictions. The individual falsely claimed to have no previous convictions however it is our policy to carry out a full criminal record check on all self-employed direct sales agents.

“As soon as we received the criminal check we acted immediately to terminate his agency agreement and removed all company property from his possession. He worked for us for less than three weeks.”

January 2001

October 2014

Paedophile businessman jailed after victims speak out

A respected businessman and family man who led a double-life as a sex beast preying on young boys in Herne Bay could have been stopped by police years earlier.

Bob Nunn, 65, of Beltinge was the former boss of plumbing firm Anchor Plastics, who this week unmasked as a paedophile who systematically abused his victims in the 1980s and 1990s while masquerading as a pillar of the community.

But as the horrific details of his predatory reign were played out in court, it emerged both the police and Crown Prosecution Service missed opportunities to bring Nunn to justice earlier.

In 1988 he was caught by police pleasuring himself in his van and heavy petting with a teenage boy sitting next to him in his school uniform.

Staggeringly, the officer who stumbled across the sex act chose not to arrest Nunn, leaving him free to abuse that same boy for a year.

Then in 2004, another of Nunn’s victims, James Bailey, reported he had been abused as a teenager, but was told there was not enough evidence to pursue a conviction.

It was only in 2012, when the first boy, then 40, reported his abuse to police that justice finally caught up with Nunn, who was jailed for 12 years.

But Mr Bailey, who only learned of the van incident in court, says Nunn – who was famous for his Christmas lights display in Reculver Road – should never have been allowed to carry out his crimes for so long.

He said he was disgusted at the policeman’s failure to act: “I can’t get my head around how a system that’s supposed to protect you can do that. He was a policeman – he’s supposed to serve and protect. Who was he serving? Who was he protecting?

“How can you catch a bloke doing that with a young lad and let him off? It’s disgusting.

“If he’d been properly dealt with then I might not have had to go through what I did for so long. I might have still had a childhood.”

Tragically, when Mr Bailey did pluck up the courage to report the abuse to police nine years ago, the CPS ruled there was not enough evidence to prosecute.

It was only in May 2012 that justice started to catch up with Nunn when another of his victims contacted police after watching the Panorama documentary that exposed paedophile presenter Jimmy Savile.

He was the same boy who had been in the van when Nunn was caught by the officer, but holds no grudge against the police.

Speaking about the incident, he told the Gazette: “He [the officer] did the best he could do and put a stop to it without making a big thing out of it.

“I don’t hold any grudge against the police.

“Society was a very different place then. There was widespread serious child abuse and a blind eye was turned to it. You’ve only got to look at Jimmy Savile.

“I played it down to the police at the time. I was scared of it all. I was terrified of the effects it might have.

“I didn’t say to him [the officer] ‘you must help me’.”

As she jailed Nunn for eight attacks on the two teenage boys, Judge Heather Norton described the officer’s decision not to take action against him in 1988 as “inexplicable”.

Nunn would later tell a probation officer that the incident had “acted as a wake-up call” for him not to commit further offences, but that was a lie.

Judge Norton told him “you continued to commit offences for several more years”, adding the damage he had caused his victims was “incalculable”.

Placing him on the Sex Offender’s Register for life, she added: “The sentence – no matter how long – will never make up for what you took from these boys.”

Speaking after the sentencing, DCI Andy Pritchard said: “The sexual abuse of children is a particularly abhorrent crime and the sentence imposed in this case reflects the severity of the crimes committed by Nunn.

“This case is a reflection of how the nature of policing has changed over the decades and highlights how we will thoroughly investigate historic offences when new evidence comes to light.

“In the current case the investigating officer has managed to identify previous reports, piece them together and offer a compelling case to the court.

“The victims in this case must be commended for their bravery in coming forward and I hope that the significant custodial sentence imposed will allow them some closure and help them move forward with their lives.

“Kent Police will do everything possible, even if the crimes were many years ago, to bring offenders before the courts and stop them committing these crimes against other children.”

The Crown Prosecution Service was asked to comment on the case but failed to respond.

October 2014

Paedophile, 65 viewed images of child abuse on-line, but avoids prison

A PAEDOPHILE who downloaded indecent images of children has avoided a prison sentence.

Brian Stretton, 65, was caught after Essex police investigated a website from where he had been downloading images.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard that one of the children in the images found was aged eight years old and another 10.

Police also found 200 pictures of extreme pornography on his laptop.

Prosecuting, Tammy Mears said Stretton only admitted his guilt to police when they confronted him with evidence from his laptop and then he said that he had been looking at the pictures ‘out of curiosity’ not to get sexual kicks.

The court heard Stretton had begun to search for the images after chatting with young girls online, and Judge Roger Hetherington said police had already given warnings to the families involved.

Simon Moger, defending Stretton, told the court: ‘This defendant was motivated by a combination of curiosity, naivety and in some aspects, an underlying interest in the sexual content of these images.’

Stretton pleaded guilty to eight counts of possession of indecent images of children.

He also admitted four counts of extreme pornography featuring bestiality, which he had viewed on November 26.

Mr Moger said: ‘The picture of this defendant is a somewhat isolated and vulnerable individual which in some extent led to these offences being committed in the first place.

‘He appears to be a man who has spent a number of years avoiding problems in terms of his general health, mental health and that sort of thing.’

He said Stretton, who is previously of good character, had become lonely and depressed after his marriage broke down and that he stood to lose his home if he was sent to prison.

Judge Hetherington sentenced Stretton, from Wingfield Street, Buckland, Portsmouth to a three-year suspended prison term.

Stretton was ordered to attend a Sex Offenders’ Treatment Programmes.

He was put under supervision for three years.

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

His name will remain on the register for five years.

October 2014

Child molester who was fined for first sex attack on young girl went on to claim more victims

A child molester who went on to claim more victims after his first paedophile attack was punished with a fine has finally been jailed – almost 30 years on.

Gary Gilleney, of Holborn Street, Brimrod, Rochdale, first abused a little girl in London in 1985.

Back then, under a sentencing regime dating back to the 1950s, he was ordered to pay a £100 fine for offences of indecent assault and gross indecency.

The ex-serviceman, who was dishonourably discharged from the Army as result of that conviction, would go on to abuse two more ‘highly vulnerable’ children when he was living in Manchester council estates in the 1990s.

Now Gilleney has been jailed for six years after admitting six sex assaults against the two victims from the 90s, who cannot be identified for legal reasons.

He was arrested after the offences came to light last year.

Manchester Crown Court heard one of the newly-discovered victims was just seven when she was abused by Gilleney.

In a statement, she told court the ordeal made her feel like she ‘never had a proper childhood’, saying: “He used to threaten me that if I ever reported the abuse and he went down, he would come and get me after he was released.

“As a child I believed it and I was frightened.

“I couldn’t sleep at nights.

“I have no self-esteem.

“It’s affected my relationships since becoming an adult. I’m shy of my own body and suffer from flashbacks.”

The other victim, who came forward last year, was 13 when he plied her with cannabis and molested her.

In a statement she said she ‘doesn’t trust anyone any more’, and has been ‘depressed for years’.

Both women described crying themselves to sleep as a result of what Gilleney did to them as children.

Gilleney’s defence barrister said he had been ‘damaged’ by his own childhood.

He told the court: “He is genuinely confused and remorseful about what he has done.

“It’s not a remorse that comes in floods of tears, but there will follow, one hopes, a period of reflection and introspection.

“This is an unsophisticated person, prone to urges he neither understands nor can control.

“It may be easy to suggest he is simply an evil man and it may be there’s some truth in that, but it’s more complex than that.”

Judge Martin Rudland, sentencing, told Gilleney: “You corrupted your victims’ formative years.”

October 2014

‘Depraved & evil’ paedophile jailed for 18 yrs for 5 counts of rape on girl aged under 13 yrs old

A ‘DEPRAVED and evil’ former Helston man has been jailed for 18 years after being found guilty of raping a young girl and depriving her of her innocence.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was left traumatised by 48-year-old Karl Reader’s offences against her, Truro Crown Court heard yesterday.

Reader, who used to live on Bulwark Road, raped the girl, who was aged under 13 on a number of occasions from 2003 onwards.

Giving evidence, the girl described that she had been frightened to tell anyone about what had happened and that she had been a “small, innocent little girl”.

Reader, who also had sexual activity with a schoolboy, denied that he had done anything with either child.

On Wednesday, the jury found him guilty of five counts of rape in relation to the girl.

He was also convicted of one charge of sexual activity with a child, one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child in relation to the boy, all in 2005 and 2006.

The court previously heard Reader, of Queens Avenue, Highworth, Swindon, told the boy that he was bisexual and sent him vulgar texts, which progressed to him saying he wanted a threesome with the boy and another boy.

William Sellick, prosecuting, said at one point Reader offered the boy money to have sex with him and on another occasion put his hands inside the boy’s boxer shorts and touched him inappropriately.

Christopher Smyth, defending, said Reader was in poor health and had suffered two minor stokes in recent years.

He added that he had been working voluntarily on a charity market stall for the past three years which had raised £24,000 for a hospice in that time.

Sentencing Reader, Judge Christopher Harvey Clark, QC, said he hoped the young girl would be able to move on with her life but that what he had done to her at a tender age would be a “distressing scar” that she would carry for the rest of her life.

He said: “Karl Reader, you have been a practising paedophile.

“The convictions brought in relatively swiftly by the jury reflect the depths of your evil depravity.”

Judge Harvey Clark said that Reader had groomed the teenage boy by buying him presents and giving him money for small jobs.

“He remains lacking in self confidence and unable to sustain a long term relationship with another person,” he said.

Of the girl he added: “You deprived her of her innocence; it was a despicable thing to do.”

Reader was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order

October 2014

Rochester man convicted of on-line sex offences

A man has been convicted of masquerading as a woman on the internet and encouraging young boys to carry out sexual acts via webcams.

Kevin Ford, 26, of Rose Street in Rochester, was convicted after a trial at Maidstone Crown Court on October 2.

In August 2012 police received two reports from parents of teenage boys who had discovered that their sons had been speaking on Facebook and Skype with a woman going under the name of ‘Sarah Sawyer’.

The parent noticed that ‘Sawyer’ was only Facebook friends with young boys, and then found an email asking their son to carry out sexual acts via webcam.

Investigation by officers from Kent Police’s paedophile and online investigation team identified Ford as a suspect and he was arrested on August 30.

Through material seized by officers, they were also able to identify and speak with additional victims.

A total of 52 male victims aged between 12 to 17 were spoken to, and 21 were willing to provide evidence.

Ford was later charged with counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Det Sgt David Shipley said: “Despite a massive amount of evidence against him Kevin Ford continued to deny responsibility, never offering a single explanation of who else could have left all this evidence across the multitude of items belonging to him or that he had used. By refusing to accept responsibility he has left countless victims and their families in limbo, waiting to see if justice would be done. It demonstrates a very real lack of insight into the distress that he has caused, and shows that there is no remorse for his actions.

“Online child sexual exploitation can be every bit as serious as that which occurs offline; it targets those who are the most vulnerable in ways that can have long lasting effects. Kevin Ford has been found guilty on overwhelming evidence and now needs to face the consequences of his actions. I would like to pay tribute to all of the victims that we identified, and the support that their families have provided in what must have been a very difficult period of time. I hope this conviction brings closure. To those that continue to use the internet to sexually exploit children, I say this – stop what you are doing and get help. Your actions are damaging to children and Kent Police will work tirelessly to bring you to justice and protect the most vulnerable in our society.”

Ford will be sentenced on November 6.

October 2014

Pervert filmed young girls with hidden camera pen

A man with “disgusting sexual fantasies” who filmed young girls with a hidden camera pen in Staines has been jailed for nearly five years.

Christian Sanders was caught after sending indecent images of children to a friend, who notified the police.

Guildford Crown Court was told on Tuesday (September 30) that most of the images found on the hard drive of Sanders’ computer were produced in Ottershaw between 2005 and 2011.

Sanders, 36, faced a total of 20 charges, including 10 counts of producing indecent images of children, three counts of distributing indecent images of children, four counts of voyeurism and two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon.

Prosecutor James Fletcher told the court that those photos included 1,366 images at the least severe level, ranging to nine images at category five – the most serious.

Some of these images were downloaded from the internet and others Sanders had filmed with a hidden “pen-style” camera, without his subjects knowing, Mr Fletcher said.

He said: “Relating to the distribution of images, six images were distributed to another person’s phone via the defendant’s phone to a friend. It was that friend who then contacted the police and that led to a search of the defendant’s premises and the seizure of the defendant’s computer and discovery of a range of images.”

The court heard that the voyeurism charges related to incidents in Staines involving the images he had produced with the pen camera. The prohibited weapons charges related to two CS gas canisters found at Sanders’ home.

On a further charge relating to possession of a cattleprod stun gun, the crown offered no evidence and a not-guilty plea was recorded, as the item is not a prohibited weapon.

At a plea and case management hearing last year, Sanders admitted several of the lesser counts, confessing further charges on December 19 2013. When he was due to stand trial on September 1 this year, he entered guilty pleas to the remainding charges.

Judge Noel Lucas QC read from victim impact statements from two of Sanders’ victims, who were both filmed while under the age 16.

He read: “She was humiliated and disgusted, completely shocked. The whole experience has left her completely devastated, violated and she has lost her trust in people.”

The other girl’s statement spoke of Sanders’ “disgusting and unhealthy sexual fantasies” that “make her skin crawl”.

Judge Lucas said: “As well as what he has done, his actions have had a pretty significant effect on the victims.”

Sanders, of Coles Mill Close, Holsworthy, Devon, was sentenced to four years, eight months for each of counts five to 10, all to run concurrently.

For counts one to four, he was given 12 months each, running concurrently with each other and concurrently with the four years, eight months.

For each of counts 11 to 13, Sanders was given eight weeks, for counts 14 to 17 he was given 10 months for each and for counts 18 to 20 he was given six months for each count, all to run concurrently with each other and with the four years and eight months.

A forfeiture and destruction order was made on the pen camera and Sanders’ hard drive.

Sanders was also made subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, which prevents him from accessing the internet unmonitored and associating with children and from taking photographs of children.

October 2014

A former Oxfordshire secondary school teacher has been found guilty of historic sex crimes against boys

Roger Kerr, 52, of Surbiton Hill Park, Surbiton, Surrey, was found guilty of one count of indecent assault on a male under 16 and two counts of indecent assaults on a male 16 and over.

The charges relate to assaults on boys in the late 1990s to early 2000s, when Kerr was a teacher at a school in the county.

He will be sentenced at Aylesbury Crown Court on November 7 and is currently being remanded in custody.

October 2014