February 2015

Kirkcaldy man had 9,000 indecent images on computer

A Kirkcaldy man who had more than 9,000 indecent images on his computer has received a community payback order.

Craig Herd, 36, of Mitchell Street, admitted that between February 7 2012 and April 19 2014 he took or permitted to be taken or made indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at his home.

He also admitted that between the same dates he was in possession of indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

Herd appeared for sentencing at Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Wednesday.

The court heard there were more than 9,000 photographs in the level one category, 65 at level two and one at level four of the Copine scale, used to rate the severity of such images.

Sheriff Craig McSherry imposed a community payback order with two years’ supervision and restrictions on use of the internet.

The Crown moved for forfeiture of Herd’s computer and this was granted.

February 2015

‘Weirdo’ milkman sexually assaulted young girls in his van – No prison

A MILKMAN who was described in court as a “weirdo” has avoided jail for sexually assaulting three teenage girls in his van.

Terence Donohue, aged 62, was exposed in October, 2013, when one of his15-year-old victims told her mother how Donohue had made sexual remarks to her and touched her, Bolton Crown Court heard.

Yesterday, Donohue, who worked as a milkman for 30 years, making deliveries in his van, was given a three-year community sentence and ordered to take part in a sex offender treatment programme.

Henry Blackshaw, prosecuting, had told the court how Donohue, of Mill Lane, Westhoughton, asked the first teenager if she went to sex parties, touched her leg, and, when she ignored him, described her as “frigid”.

The girl’s mother complained to police and two more victims came forward.

They also told how Donohue had sexually assaulted them in his van on various occasions between September, 2011, and October, 2013.

One girl was asked to take him her mother’s underwear and once, at a petrol station, Donohue put on a pair of disposable gloves and asked her if she wanted to be examined.

His behaviour so appalled a woman at the filling station that she approached the teenager and asked her why she put up with it.

A third 15-year-old victim told police how Donohue had once put a finger in a hole in her leggings and on another occasion touched her breasts, making remarks about their size.

He also quizzed her about her underwear and the teenager told police she regarded him as a “weirdo”.

Donohue had admitted four counts of sexually assaulting three girls, who were aged between 13 and 15 at the time and cannot be identified for legal reasons.

All the assaults took place over the girls’ clothing.

The Honorary Recorder of Bolton, Timothy Clayson, was told how former miner Donohue, who was of previous good character, had been treated for leukaemia in the recent past, and, in 2013, his partner left him.

Judge Clayson said the repeated nature of the assaults made the offending “significantly more serious”.

“Pretty much all of these occasions were accompanied by language which was grossly inappropriate, sexualising these girls and was overbearing,” he added.

Sentencing Donohue to a three-year, supervised community order with participation in a sex offenders’ treatment programme, Judge Clayson described it as a direct alternative to a prison sentence.

“That way the risk of you offending again will be most effectively reduced,” he told Donohue.

“If you fail to attend appointments I am absolutely clear that you will immediately serve a custodial sentence.”

Donohue was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for five years and a sexual offences prevention order was made banning him from contacting his victims or having contact with under 16-year-old girls.

He is also not allowed to live or sleep at the same address as children unless they are relatives and supervised by an appropriate adult, and he must give his offender manager details of any vehicle he drives. The order lasts for eight years.

February 2015

‘Gross betrayal’ – Prolific paedophile doctor guilty of raping young girls at Stoke Mandeville Hospital

Former children’s doctor Michael Salmon has been found guilty of raping and sexually abusing young female patients at Stoke Mandeville Hospital.

The shamed former consultant paediatrician, now 80, was the first person to be charged under Operation Yewtree.

Salmon was convicted of two counts of rape and nine counts of indecent assault against six girls, aged 12 to 18 years at the time, between 1973 and 1988.

He had previously been jailed 25 years ago after pleading guilty in November 1990 to similar indecent assaults on young female patients as young as 12 years old.

The victims had all been referred to Salmon, who was a consultant paediatrician at various hospitals in the Aylesbury area.

The court heard how many of them had felt ‘uncomfortable’ when being examined by Salmon, but believed that he was trustworthy because he was a doctor.

In one case, he took a 16-year-old girl to his home and raped her.

Following the assault, he dropped her off at a bus stop to make her own way home.

Others reported having to kiss Salmon goodbye whenever they finished an appointment with him.

Four victims initially came forward and Salmon was arrested and charged in November 2013.

This was reported in the media and further victims came forward to help support these women.

Further charges were brought against Salmon in May 2014.

Investigator Emma Barlow, who was designated to the case, thanked all the witnesses for ‘having the courage to come forward, face their abuser and tell the court what happened to them many years ago when they were child patients’.

She said: “I would like to also thank the strength of the women who were the witnesses from an earlier conviction of Salmon in 1990.

“They gave evidence to the court this time for matters they thought had been put to rest 25 years ago.”

Det Sgt Malcolm Wheeler from the child abuse investigation unit said: “Salmon was a prolific sexual offender who abused his position of power in order for his own sexual gratification.

“As a consultant paediatrician, he preyed on young girls who had been referred to him for a variety of health issues.

“They trusted him, they believed him, because he was a doctor and they thought he was trustworthy.

“On a number of occasions, he carried out unnecessary internal examinations on young girls.

“Although they felt uncomfortable at this, they didn’t feel able to tell anyone because they believed the examinations must have been necessary.

“Some of the offences were committed while the child’s parent was just outside the room.

“They have had to live with his actions their entire lives and it is only because of their bravery that Salmon now faces a long time behind bars.

“He never admitted any of these offences and when asked about these offences, denied carrying out any internal examinations and claimed the victims were lying. “He was categorically shown to be lying over the last few weeks at Reading Crown Court.

“If you have been the victim of sexual abuse or know someone who has, then please get in touch with us.

“This conviction shows that even if the offences were committed decades ago, we will listen to you and we will do everything to make sure offenders are brought to justice.”

Adrian Foster, chief crown prosecutor for CPS Thames and Chiltern said: “Michael Salmon has been convicted today of offences which are particularly shocking due to the abuse of his position as a doctor taking advantage of the female patients in his care.

“His crimes were extremely traumatic for his victims who should have expected his support rather than this gross betrayal of their trust.

“Michael Salmon used his status to molest these vulnerable young girls and women who felt unable to complain as he was a doctor, and many of whom only bravely came forward after seeing other cases in the media.

“I hope they now feel that justice has been done.”

Salmon, of Park Lane, Britford, Salisbury, was also cleared of one count of rape, two counts of indecent assault and two counts of using an instrument to procure an abortion.

February 2015

Ross man jailed for possessing child sex photos

A ROSS-on-Wye man has been jailed for possessing child sex photos.

Michael Lord, 47, of High Street, pleaded guilty to four counts of making indecent photos or pseudo-photos of a child and two counts of possessing indecent photos or pseudo-photos of a child. He also admitted breaching a restraining order.

Lord was jailed for 16 months at Hereford Crown Court last Friday.

Judge Toby Hooper said there were four pictures at category A, the most serious, and 13 at category B.

He said Lord had been in and out of jail for sexually related offences.

He said that although he had not committed a direct-contact offence since 1997, children would have been exploited in the making of the images.

Judge Hooper said he re-offended despite being on sex offender treatment programmes four times. Lord was put on the sex offender register for 10 years and given a prevention order.

Jonathan Collier, the investigating officer, said: “We take such offences very seriously. I hope this sentencing indicates West Mercia Police’s priority of protecting people from harm and bringing offenders to justice.”

February 2015

Judge’s anger at ‘predatory sex offender’ who thought he was ‘untouchable’

A judge has today blasted a ‘disgraceful’ and ‘very dangerous’ predatory sex offender who preyed on girls as young as 12.

Billy Byrne, 22, of Rowland Way, Aylesbury, was found guilty of a string of sex offences after a five day trial.

He preyed on three girls and groomed them via texts and Facebook, pestering them to send him naked photos of themselves and asking them to have sex with him.

He had unprotected sex with one of the victims when she was 15 in a farmer’s field.

Judge Francis Sheridan, sitting at Aylesbury Crown Court, told him: “You are a thoroughly predatory paedophile and I think you are very dangerous.

“Your mother cherished you as her blue-eyed boy and you thought you were untouchable, but the law is dead against you on that.

“I find it quite unbelievable what you were prepared to do to put pressure on young girls as young as 12, 13, 14 in order to have your wicked way with them.

“You displayed disgraceful arrogance in walking away from those very vulnerable and helpless young girls, leaving them with no feelings whatsoever.

“There is heartache on both sides. There are no winners in a case like this.”

Family members were heard crying in the public gallery and on leaving the court.

His mother said: “I’m a mess, make sure you put that in the paper!”

Byrne’s first victim was just 12 when he met her at a friend’s sleepover in early 2010 and they exchanged numbers.

The pair became friends on Facebook and Byrne persitently asked the victim to send him naked photographs of herself.

Byrne then pestered her for sex, saying ‘he could do things to her’ if she ‘would do things to him’.

The contact came to an end when the victim began a new relationship and made this known on Facebook.

His second victim was 14 when Byrne asked her to meet him at the Edinburgh Playing Fields in Southcourt – known as The Eddy – in December 2011, but as it was dark and raining she refused.

He then asked her to meet him in Mandeville Park to ‘hang out, to kiss, to have sex’, and she agreed.

On that occasion, the pair enaged in sexual activity but did not have full sex.

Byrne met the victim’s friend and asked for her phone number, and she agreed because ‘she was happy someone was interested in her and tell her they loved her, and she didn’t want to p*** him off’.

He asked the victim to meet him again in September 2012 when she was 15. This time he had unprotected sex with her in a farmer’s field, but the jury heard how the victim became worried that she was pregnant and confided in a teacher at school.

On New Year’s Eve 2012, the victim’s parents were told that Byrne had had sex with their daughter and the police were called.

When police arrested Byrne and seized his iPhone and laptop, they found text messages, Facebook messages and WhatsApp where Byrne talked graphically about sex.

When the laptop was examined by police, more than a thousand indecent images were found, including six which are classed as category A, the most serious level.

Byrne’s third victim was also 12 when she first met him in 2007 but they did not begin a relationship until she was 14, which spanned the time when Byrne was 17 and 18.

Again he pestered her to send him nude photos of herself and she described how she eventually ‘cracked’ and sent him naked photos when she was 14 and 15.

Though she stopped this when the relationship ended, she was subjected to a further ordeal when Byrne sent the indecent images on to others.

Byrne will be remanded in police custody and is awaiting a psychiatric assessment.

He has been placed on the sex offenders’ register and will next appear at Aylesbury Crown Court on March 20th.

Jude Francis Sheridan added: “I have paid tribute to the care and attention the jury has taken on this case.

“This was a disgusting and horrible case for any jury should endure, but you have worked diligently from start to finish.

“I am going to excuse you from jury service for the next 10 years to show the court’s gratitude. Thank you.

Byrne was found guilty of:

> three counts of sexual activity with a child

> one count of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography

> eleven counts of possessing indecent photographs of a child

> one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image

> four counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child

He was cleared of one count of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography.

February 2015

Skelmersdale sex offender jailed for breaching sexual offences prevention order

A sex offender who failed to tell his partner that he had sexual convictions was jailed for ten months.

When Ryan Thomason from Skelmersdale was jailed for three years for a serious sexual offence involving a 13-year-old girl in 2009 a Sexual Offences Prevention Order was also made.

This order, lasting seven years, meant he could not have unsupervised contact with under 16-year-olds or live under the same roof unless he had express permission from their parents knowing of his sexual offending history.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that when police called at a house on December 27 last year to execute a warrant under the Dangerous Dogs Act they checked the residents. They found that they included Thomason, two children and their mother, who was his girlfriend, said Stuart Mills, prosecuting.

They uncovered details of the SOPO and found he had not informed her about his criminal history.

28-year-old Thomason, was jailed on Tuesday for ten months after pleading guilty to breaching the SOPO and also breaching the terms of the Sexual Offences Register by failing to notify a change of address.

The court heard that he had been accused of breaching the SOPO on an earlier occasion by having contact with a 14-year-old girl but that offence was dropped after she made a statement saying she had misled him telling him she was older. He was on licence from jail at the time and was recalled.

Michael Hagerty, defending, said that Thomason had pleaded guilty and his girlfriend is still in a relationship with him.

February 2015

Man jailed after admitting abduction and sexual activity with a 13 year old schoolgirl

An illegal immigrant has been jailed for six years after abducting and having sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl.

Davinder Singh, 30, began seeing the youngster, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claiming he thought she was 18.

The relationship quickly developed and the pair became an item and had regular sexual activity.

Singh was then told via Facebook of her young age but rather than ending the relationship, he continued to see the girl.

The delivery driver even told her she was ‘sexy for a 13-year-old’ and the pair planned on moving in with each other.

Singh pleaded guilty to four of eight charges, including sexual activity with a child, abducting a child, and non-penetrative sexual activity with a child.

Singh stood only to plead to the charges, which had to be explained to him via an interpreter at Taunton Crown Court.

Singh, of Coriander Drive, Churchdown, Gloucester, was found not guilty of two counts of sexual activity with a child, while another two counts of the same nature lie on file.

Evidence revolved around emails sent between the pair, with the two discussing their sexual activities, their love for each other, and how they planned to run away.

Key emails unravelled Singh’s case – he argued she had always denied being 13 years old, which the new messages contradicted.

The emails continued, even though he now knew her age, with the two talking how how their relationship would develop.

Prosecuting, David Sapiecha, said: “The intention was clearly to carry on the sexual relationship knowing her age.

“She was a very vulnerable girl. It is clear from the emails that she was somebody looking for a relationship.

“She took a childlike view on it and might have seen sexual activity as a way of achieving it. There was clearly a degree of planning.”

Singh met his victim last May on dating site Evow, before driving to the girl’s foster home in the Mendips the next day.

They had sex in the back of his van and her house that night

Singh said she was ‘very sexy for a 13-year-old’ and that he would ‘get in trouble’ for seeing her.

They continued to have sexual relations following the revelation that night though, and more sexual activity later that week at his house, although not penetrative.

Singh was finally caught on May 25, when the pair were found by police in one of Singh’s friend’s vans, as they attempted to get clothes from the girl’s sister in Swindon.

At the time of the crimes, Singh was here legally, having moved from India in 2009/2010 to study in London, before extending his student visa twice.

That expired in August last year while he was in custody and should he have been found not guilty, would have been deported.

February 2015

Pensioner detained in hospital under Mental Health Act over child sex offences

A Huddersfield pensioner has appeared in court over child sex offences.

And now the man who exposed himself to children in Holmfirth has been ordered to be detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act.

Roy Shaw, 68, was unfit to plead to charges against him but was tried by a jury atLeeds Crown Court last year who found he did the acts alleged going back to 2013.

Those involved two offences of indecent exposure, four of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and two of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The jury heard Shaw, who has no legs, would be outside his home in Field Road, Holmfirth in a wheelchair or going around the local area and parks in a mobility scooter when he exposed himself or asked children if they wanted to touch his penis.

The court heard today that since the finding against him Shaw has been in hospital being assessed and psychiatrists have concluded he suffers from front temporal dementia which has caused a personality change.

Judge Sally Cahill QC ordered he be detained under section 37 of the Mental Health Act and that it be without time limit under section 41.

A bed is available for him at a hospital in Blackburn.

February 2015

Carnmoney man jailed for child sex offences

A Carnmoney man has been sentenced to six months in jail for engaging in sexual acts with a schoolgirl.

Ryan Large, from Fairhill Drive, appeared at Laganside Courts on Thursday, February 5, where he pleaded guilty to a total of six charges.

The 25-year-old was convicted of causing or inciting a child under the age of 13 years to engage in sexual activity, intentionally engaging in a sex act in the presence of a child and exposure.

A further charge of engaging in a sex act in the presence of a child aged between 13 and 16 years was left on the books.

November 2011

Driving instructor convicted of sexual activity with a 14 year old boy

A PERVERT driving instructor who had sex in a shed with a 14-year-old boy he met online did not rob him of his innocence, a court was told on Tuesday.

Solicitor Michael Chapman, defending Michael Reat (39), argued the youngster had already lost his innocence and Reat was not the first man who had visited him or the shed concerned.

Reat, of Oakdene Court, Culloden, pleaded guilty at Inverness Sheriff Court in October to committing an act of gross indecency with the boy between December 9 and 13 last year and sodomising him. He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

On Tuesday he was also sentenced to three years probation, to be of good behaviour, supervised by social workers and attend a sex offenders programme.

Sheriff Margaret Neilson told Reat his actions had been reckless in the extreme and her aim was to protect other vulnerable people from such offending.

Procurator Fiscal Ron Phillips had previously told the court the sex was consensual with the boy, who he described as vulnerable, and the offences took place on two successive days.

Reat, who was married, was easily traced by police because he had used his driving instructors vehicle with all its livery and a triangle on the roof to go to the scene of the offences.

Mr Phillips said the boy had personal health issues including obsessive compulsive disorder and depression from being bullied at school.

He said: Reat could be regarded as a predatory individual to pose a danger to such vulnerable juveniles and the way this complainer acted left him open to such abuse.

Mr Phillips told how last December Reat and the boy came into contact through the website Gumtree, which advertises goods for sale but also allows people to seek partners.

He said Reat replied to an advert placed by the boy and in subsequent discussions the youngster revealed his age.

Reat asked him to send a photograph but when the boy said he had no phone credit Reat credited him with £10. The correspondence between the two ended with them meeting on successive nights at a garden shed at the boys home where the indecent acts took place.

Mr Phillips said the pair later talked online about what had happened and the boy told him he suffered physical discomfort from one of the sexual acts.

The following week, family members became aware of a change in the boys demeanour and one relative installed software on the youngsters computer and traced a number of homosexual conversations between Reat and the boy.

The fiscal said Reats home was later searched and his computer examined.

Mr Phillips said Reat made a full confession. But the boy, who was embarrassed, only gave a fuller disclosure of what had happened after Reat had appeared in court.

February 2015

Guilty plea to string of child abuse image charges

A Broadstairs man caught with child porn when he was living in Harlow, Essex, in May last year  pleaded guilty to a string of charges yesterday and must now wait to hear his fate.

Sentencing at Chelmsford Crown Court has been put off until later this month.

Stig Enok Vatland, 43, who at the time was living at Torkildsen Way, Harlow, but who has since moved to  Albion Mews, Broadstairs, was remanded until  February 23 for sentencing after his appearance at Chelmsford Magistrates Court. He was granted unconditional bail until then.

He admitted six separate charges of downloading indecent images on or before  May 23 at Harlow, one of 210 moving images and two further “roll-up” charges of downloading moving images.

February 2015

Care home worker jailed for 16 years after abusing young boys in the 1990s

A care home worker and army cadet leader has been jailed for 16 years for abusing young boys.

Thomas Bean, 67, was convicted by a jury of 22 counts of indecent assault and two offences of attempted rape.

Cardiff Crown Court heard the offences were committed in the 1990’s when Bean targeted three boys.

The offences took place at a care home in Cardiff, at Bean’s own home and away at an army cadet camp.

In victim impact statements, two of the boys, now men in their 30s said they would never be able to get over what he had done to them.

One wrote that he had been traumatised all over again by having to relive what happened to him in court when Bean denied the offences and took his case to trial.

He said for two decades he had suffered in silence, trying to hide what had been done to him.

“You were supposed to look after me. I trusted you and the council trusted you but I was part of your sick games, he said.

“You are the lowest of the low and you made me relive it. I can never forgive you.”

All three had had to face telling a jury the intimate details of their sexual abuse and had been cross examined on their evidence.

Another, again addressing his statement directly to his abuser, wrote: “I have tried to live with what you have done to me for 20 years but it is always on my mind.

“The only reason you wanted to spend time with me was to sexually abuse me.

“Then I was too young to understand, thought you were being friendly but you were manipulating me.”

Matthew Roberts, defending, said there was another side to Bean and many boys he knew at that time still held him in high regard.

He said Bean, of Newport Road, Cardiff, was a husband and father and “others will suffer too by him being in prison”.

Judge Philip Richards said such was the extent Bean’s depravity and readiness to use young men for his own sexual purposes, that it was necessary to impose a sexual offences prevention order to keep him away from boys in the future when he is released from his 16-year term.

He said the boy who Bean indecently assaulted repeatedly and attempted to rape had been sensitive and intelligent and was caused anguish and pain which was bound to have a lasting effect on him.

The judge described the assaults on the other two boys as a catalogue of abuse.

“You were supposed to be caring for them but you carried out a campaign of indecency against them both.

“You groomed them, inviting them to your home and introducing them to games and modes of transport of which they had no experience.

“The city of Cardiff trusted you to look after them but you decided to abuse them and used your army connections to advance your depravity when they were meant to look to you to teach them right from wrong”.

Bean, who had no previous convictions, will be on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

February 2015

A JURY has found a Bristol man guilty of two indecent assaults on boys

Robin Somers, 26, had been accused of six sex offences, dating back to when he was a teenager and his alleged victims were also boys.

He was found guilty of two of them yesterday.

The jury at Bristol Crown Court had already been directed to return a not guilty verdict on an allegation that Somers simulated sex on one complainant by trial judge Alan Large, for legal reasons.

Somers, of Stothard Road, Horfield, faced a further five charges of indecent assault involving a second boy.

The jury found him guilty of two of the remaining charges.

The second complainant told police Somers made him engage in sexual acts, some of which were extremely painful.

Rupert Lowe, prosecuting, told the jury: “The boy told police that to him it felt ‘secretive and exciting’.”

The allegations were said to have happened when Somers was a young teenager.

Somers told the court he was born and bred in Bristol and after first attending a school in Lockleaze he became a weekly boarder at a boarding school.

He said he was on medication as a child and was diagnosed with ADHD as well as dyslexia

Somers said he left school with seven GCSEs and started a motor mechanic course but did not complete it.

He described how he had lived with a girlfriend in Weston-super-Mare for a year, before returning to live with his mother in Bristol.

Virginia Cornwall, defending, asked him if he carried out any indecent acts with the second boy.

Somers said: “I don’t recall anything. I didn’t do anything sexual at all to him.”

Mr Lowe said there was a delay in the reporting the alleged abuse.

But he told the court youngsters may put sexual abuse on them to the back of their minds so they don’t have to keep thinking about it.

He also said complainants might not be good recalling dates when they were children.

Somers will be sentenced on a date to be fixed.

February 2015

Wolverhampton rapist gets 17 years for sex attacks on girl aged just 7

A man from Wolverhampton who repeatedly raped a young girl has been jailed for a total of 17 years.

The girl was only seven years old when she first fell victim to Timothy Wren’s ‘appalling catalogue of sexual abuse’.

Wren had been convicted by a jury at Wolverhampton Crown Court following a trial. He faced six charges of raping the girl.

During his sentencing the judge praised the victim for coming forward to report what had happened and awarded her £500 out of public funds ‘for the courage she has shown’.

Sentencing Wren at Stafford Crown Court, Judge Michael Challinor spoke directly to the victim, who cannot be identified.

He said: “You must understand this was not your fault – the fault lies entirely with Wren. I hope you can see justice has been done in this case and it will help you get over these events.”

The judge said no-one could forget the girl describing to the jury her rape ordeal.

He told Wren, aged 49 and of Holloway Street: “You have been convicted after a trial of a catalogue of appalling sexual abuse. You began to use her as a pure sexual object… and your grooming of her became so complete by plying her with money and gifts.

“This was a ghastly introduction to sex. What you have done may echo throughout the rest of her life.”

Along with the jail term Wren, who had denied all the charges, was also ordered to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and barred from working with children, also for life.

Mr Robert Cowley, defending, said Wren had been convicted of offences against one individual.

He added: “The reality for him now, at his age, by the time he’s served the custodial element he’s not going to be of an age when he can repair and rebuild his life.

“He will find it very difficult to find employment again because of these convictions and when he’s released from custody he will live his remaining days lonely, isolated with very little means at his disposal.”

February 2015

Soon-to-be wed man groomed 15-year-old girl for sex – Jailed

A MAN who was about to get married persuaded a 15-year-old girl to carry out sex acts while he watched via his computer – and carried on grooming her even after his wedding.

But Sean Warren’s marriage was short-lived – because his wife walked out on him after his perverted activity came to light, a judge has heard.

Warren, aged 24 of Bracebridge Street, Nuneaton, was jailed for four years by the judge at Warwick Crown Court who also ordered him to register as a sex offender for life.

He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to meet her following sexual grooming.

Prosecutor Tim Sapwell said that Warren, using the name Dave Kirk, and the girl began exchanging messages through an online message site in February last year.

At first Warren, who was engaged at the time, used a photo which ‘looked rather younger’ than his 23 years, although he did later post a more mature one.

The girl told him from the outset that she was 15, and he told her he had seen her in her school uniform.

He asked her to be his girlfriend and to send him nude photographs of herself, which she did, sending him three or four fully nude pictures, and he sent her a similar number of himself.

Their contact progressed to live Skype video chats which would last for hours at a time – and although a lot of their chat was about ordinary day-to-day matters, Warren accepted that 40 per cent of it was sexual.

They would spend most of the weekend on Skype, during which Warren would get the girl to perform sex acts on herself, which she did up to 60 times.

Warren, who got married during the course of their online contact, also performed sex acts in front of the camera.

They arranged to meet at Liverpool’s Lime Street station, planning to go to a hotel to spend the night together – but the girl later said that did not happen after he told her he did not have enough money.

Following his arrest Warren said he had planned to have intercourse and oral sex with the girl, but ‘got out of it’ because he thought they needed to get to know each-other – and because it was ‘problematic,’ with him being married by then.

Mr Sapwell pointed out that as well as her age, Warren knew the girl was vulnerable because he was aware she had tried to commit suicide because she was not getting on with her parents.

Matters came to light after the girl confided in her older sister who in turn told their mother, and the police were contacted.

And when she told him that Social Services were going to be visiting the family, Warren instructed her to make sure all pictures of him were deleted from her phone – and when his phone was later seized it was found to have been re-set.

In a statement the girl said the power Warren had over her ‘cannot be over-estimated,’ adding: “My concern for him over-rode my concern for myself and my family. I now realise he had a manipulative power over me.”

Nick Devine, defending, said: “The consequence of this two-month period of behaviour has been the complete destruction of his life for the foreseeable future.

“His very short marriage has now broken down. His wife has left him.

“He was working at the time. He has given up his job, but would not get it back anyway now.

“He was as frank as he could be when he was interviewed by the police. He has no real explanation for why he embarked on this behaviour.”

Jailing Warren, Judge Alan Parker told him: “This is very serious, given the amount of time, in terms of hours, you spent in persuading the girl to behave in this way and attempting to meet her after the hours spent on this grooming behaviour.

“The pre-sentence report says you are at a high risk of harm to female children, but I have no basis to conclude you are a significant risk of serious harm.

“You were, I accept, entirely candid with the police and pleaded guilty at an early guilty plea hearing.”

February 2015

Immigrant who sexually assaulted young boy in Grosvenor Centre toilets jailed for 21 months

A Somalian man sexually assaulted a young boy in the toilets of the Grosvenor Shopping Centre in Northampton less than two weeks after he had been released from an immigration removal centre has been jailed for 21 months

Abdigani Diirshe, aged 40, of no fixed abode, appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Friday after he admitted touching the boy, who was wearing a school uniform, while he was standing at the urinal.

The court heard that Diirshe deliberately stood next to the boy when he entered the toilets in the shopping centre on December 16.

Dominic Woolard, prosecuting, said, after the boy finished urinating, Diirshe sexually assaulted him

Mr Thomas said: “The young boy did not move during the incident as he was worried about what the man was going to do to him.”

Mr Woolard said Diirshe was challenged by a security guard but left the scene without being detained.

The court heard that Diirshe was arrested the next day after he was seen loitering close to the Grosvenor Centre toilets.

In interview, Diirshe, who is a Somalian immigrant, claimed he had no recollection of the incident as he had been drinking heavily.

He told officers that he had no sexual interest in chidlren but had gone to the toilets to try to find an adult man to have sex with.

Judge Rupert Mayo, sentencing, said Diirshe’s behaviour ws “clearly predatory.”

He said: “This was not simply an opportunist crime. I’m satisfied there was a degree of planning that puts it in the higher sentencing category.”

Diirshe, who had only been in Northampton a couple of weeks after being released from The Verne immigration removal centre, was given a 10-year sexual offenders prevention order.

The order prohibts him from being in a public lavatory if a person under 16 years old is in attendance and bans him from loitering within 10 metres of a public lavatory.

February 2015

Foster carer who molested a teenage girl he invited to his home to do chores has been jailed for six years

David Annett, 63, ignored the girl’s repeated protestations as he pulled down her trousers and underwear and lifted up her top and bra.

She eventually fled Annett’s home in Sheerness and her boyfriend, who had been waiting outside, noticed she was crying.

Having been told what had happened he then urged her to report it to police.

The boyfriend’s actions were commended by a judge at Maidstone Crown Court who said his swift reaction led to traces of Annett’s DNA being found.

However, the court heard Annett initially denied the allegations and it was not until his second appearance at crown court that he admitted three offences of sexual assault.

Annett, of Second Avenue, shook in the dock as sentence was passed.

Judge Michael Carroll told him he viewed the first incident as the most serious, but thereafter Annett had “persisted” when it was obvious he was causing his victim distress.

“She was telling you to stop and you didn’t. Your behaviour on this day was sustained.”

On determining the length of sentence that should be imposed, Judge Carroll said he had taken Annett’s age, health and previous good character, in particular his role as a foster carer, into consideration.

The court heard that after the offences in October 2013 he had suffered a stroke, and was now separated from his wife.

Upon his release Annett must sign on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

Prosecutor Simon Taylor said when the girl arrived at Annett’s home expecting to do some chores for payment, she was told that there were in fact none to be done.

He then hugged the girl, squeezed her bottom and told her how pretty she was before putting his hand down her trousers.

“She told him to get off her,” said Mr Taylor. “But he knelt down, pulled down her trousers.

“She said no but Annett didn’t desist…she kept asking if she could go. He then lifted her top and bra, told her she had nice boobs and then kissed her nipple.”

The court was told Annett denied any sexual contact after his arrest but traces of DNA linked him to the offences.

It was at this point that Judge Carroll praised the victim’s boyfriend, and criticised Annett for not owning up to what he had done at the first chance he had.

“The boyfriend should be commended for having the good sense to urge her to go because these swabs were taken very soon thereafter,” he said. “And it’s a bit surprising the defendant did not plead guilty at the earliest opportunity.”

Shaffiq Amin, defending, said Annett had suffered serious consequences of his own stupidity.

“It was a spur of the moment thing. He doesn’t know what came over him and he has lived to regret it.”

February 2015

Tamworth man jailed for sending ‘sexually explicit’ texts to 12-year-olds

Picture taken in 2010

A TAMWORTH man who sent sexually explicit text messages to young schoolgirls has been jailed for three years by a judge.

Loner Bredwell Stroud came in to contact with three 12-year-olds via a chatroom, Stafford Crown Court heard.

Over a period of a few weeks he sent them around 1,200 texts, despite being warned off by one of the girls’ parents.

Stroud, aged 34, of Caledonian, Tamworth admitted four charges of inciting a child under the age of 13 to sexual activity.

In a basis of plea accepted by the prosecution, Stroud said he was at first unaware of the ages of the children and had no intention of arranging any meetings with them.

Along with the jail sentence he was also ordered to register as a sex offender indefinitely.

Judge Michael Challinor told him: “You did become aware they were only 12 and you continued with inappropriate text conversations with them.

“They are only children and they must be protected from men like you in a century when this sort of communication is becoming all the more common.

“You demonstrate a lack of maturity. You are lonely and socially isolated, the likelihood is you would feel more comfortable speaking in a sexual way with youngsters than with those of your own age.”

But the judge added that there must be deterrent sentences for those who message children in a sexual way.

February 2015

Man in naked photo pleas to schoolgirl

A MAN bombarded a 14-year-old girl with hundreds of text messages and urged her to send him naked photos in a “disgraceful” crime, a court heard.

Christopher William Hill, 23, befriended his victim on Facebook after his father pointed her out in a pub with the words: “She looks to be girlfriend material.”

Hill knew her age but repeatedly urged her to send him nude photographs, and sent her 514 text messages in the space of a week, York Crown Court was told.

She refused, but did send pictures of herself in her underwear – until her mother saw the contents of her mobile phone and went to the police.

Barrister Andrew Semple, for Hill, said his client never spoke to the girl, but acted after his father pointed her out.

His father, Barry Hill – an ex-policeman and the steward of Pickering Conservative Club – now felt a “great deal of guilt”, the court heard.

Hill was spared jail, but expects to have to leave his home town of Pickering, because he has been spat at in the street and assaulted since details of his crimes were published.

Judge Michael Mettyear said his conduct was “disgraceful” and “akin to grooming” and that a probation service report raised “concern” about him. He said: “One cannot predict what would have happened if she hadn’t had a strong character. But I must sentence on what actually happened.”

Hill, of Park Street, Pickering, pleaded guilty shortly before he was due to stand trial for attempted possession of indecent photos of an underage girl.

He was ordered to undergo a sex offender treatment programme and three years’ supervision. He must pay £500 prosecution costs, will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years and was banned from the pub for four years.

The court heard the first contact between Hill and the girl was when he sent her a Facebook “friend request”. She responded and told him through the website she was 14. He then persuaded her to send him her mobile phone number through Facebook and started the photo requests.

When she reluctantly sent one of her in her underwear, he requested ones of her topless and she responded with more in her underwear. Between April 13 and April 19, 2010, she sent him ten pictures and he sent her 514 text messages.

January 2015

Lancashire Police find missing sex offender

A missing sex offender who allegedly breached the conditions of his release from prison has been found.

Paul Hope formerly of Porter Street, Deepdale, Preston was jailed for 32 months in 2010 after being convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16.

Hope was also accused of theft and three offences of attempting to obtain cash from the mother’s account following the incident at a house in Blackpool.

The case was one of the first investigated by Operation Aquamarine, a specialist police team set up in September 2008 to deal with sexual offences.

He is subject to regular monitoring and checks and allegedly failed to return to an agreed premises in Blackburn, Lancashire on Thursday.

Hope, 30, was wanted on recall to prison.