February 2015

Scunthorpe man had 790 indecent images of young boys –  community order given

A FORMER butcher who had 790 indecent images of young boys was told he had “serious distortions in his thinking” by a crown court judge.

Peter Hopper, 63, of Avon Road, Scunthorpe, admitted one charge of possessing indecent images of children and three of making indecent images of children.

Prosecuting at Grimsby Crown Court, Richard Butters said the possession offence related to 57 images found by police on a Compaq PC in Hopper’s living room after officers executed a search warrant at his home on March 27 last year.

A further 212 inaccessible indecent images were found on that computer, while 384 inaccessible images were found on an Aptiva computer and 137 more were on a Packard Bell PC.

Mitigating, Anthony Farrell said Hopper worked as a butcher for 22 years and also worked for the Royal Mail.

He had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty to the offences at the first opportunity.

Sentencing, Judge Kate Buckingham told Hopper: “You should recognise that there are serious distortions in your thinking that have allowed you to commit these offences.

“You must address these, otherwise you may very well be back before the court and going to custody.”

Hopper was given a three-year community order with supervision and a requirement that he completes the sex offender treatment programme.

He was also made the subject of a five-year sexual offences prevention order, will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years and was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £60.

February 2015

Barrow mental health nurse jailed for grooming and sexually abusing schoolgirl

A MENTAL health worker from Barrow, who groomed and sexually abused a 15-year-old girl, hid the “darker side” of his character from friends and colleagues, a court heard.

Joseph Kaye, a trained mental health nurse working at Furness General Hospital, was sentenced to 30 months in jail at Preston Crown Court on Friday for a total of seven sexual offences.

Kaye, 27, of Strathaird Avenue, Walney, pleaded guilty to three counts of causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, three counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of meeting a child following grooming.

Ms Rachel Woods, prosecuting, said the defendant’s crimes had come to light last year when the victim’s mother discovered several indecent messages from Kaye on her daughter’s phone.

She had received messages over a period of several months which had become increasingly sexual.

Kaye had sent a message to the girl to say she looked “very pretty” in a photo she had posted on social media and later met up with the victim.

Ms Woods said Kaye had kissed and touched the teenager over her clothing, but she pushed him away saying his behaviour was inappropriate.

Mr Brian Williams, defending, referenced numerous testimonials which described the defendant as caring, hard working and helpful.

Mr Williams said: “It is 99 per cent of his character. He has lost his job, he accepts he is likely to be removed from the register of people who can practice in this field.

“All he worked for and enjoyed has gone as a result of his stupid behaviour. It is almost inexplicable because he was in a relationship.

“He behaved entirely inappropriately. He was entirely wrong.”

Judge Pamela Badley said those who knew the defendant were deeply surprised by his behaviour.

She said: “What they didn’t know was this darker side of your character, one that wasn’t content with your life and wanted a 15-year-old girl.

“It was not one incident, it was effectively a campaign by you. It went on because you wanted her to crack and you wanted her to engage in this way.”

Kaye was told he will be on the sex offenders register indefinitely and he will also be the subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

March 2011

Man jailed for child sex assaults

A MAN has been jailed for child sex offences in Bolton.

Liam Gore, aged 20, of Hazel Grove, Farnworth, has been jailed for four years and four months at Bolton Crown Court.

The sentence includes an unrelated offence of affray that happened in August 2010.

He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offender’s Register for life.

He pleaded guilty to raping a 12-year-old girl and engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl at an earlier hearing.

In August 2007, Gore had sex with a 12-year-old girl. She later told her mum and social services and police were told.

In August 2009, Gore engaged in sexual activity with a 14-year-old after spending the afternoon drinking alcohol with her.

He was arrested within a few days of the offence after the girl’s mother found out what had happened and called police.

Det Cons Stuart Round, based at Bolton CID, said: “This has been a long and difficult process for both families and hopefully they can now begin to put this behind them.”

February 2015

‘He watched children being raped for his pleasure': Teacher jailed after being caught with 4,393 indecent images

A geography teacher has been jailed after admitting possessing thousands of indecent images of children, some as young as two.

Married father of three Stuart Robert Rees, 51, wrote to the judge to explain his behaviour, speaking of the material as his “temptress”.

He admitted three counts of possessing indecent photos of a child and one of possessing a photo of a child with a view to distribution, when he appeared at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court on Monday.

He was also committed for sentence for one count of possessing an indecent image, five of making indecent images and three of possessing extreme images.

None of the photographs related to children at Gwernyfed High School, near Brecon, where he worked as assistant head in the geography department.

Sarah Waters, prosecuting, said police had gone to his home on June 18, 2013, and had recovered computer equipment, which was later found to contain thousands of indecent images.

There were 887 images at category A, the most serious category, 997 at category B, which included a girl aged between two and four, and 2,509 at category C.

There was also a category A movie in a shared folder, which was able to be accessed by anyone with the same software.

“Effectively the world at large,” said Ms Waters.

“People can dip into that hard drive folder and look at it.”

That movie, which was incomplete, possibly as a result of Rees cutting off the downloading, showed a girl aged between seven and nine.

Rees also set up fake personas on social websites, posing as a young girl with access to very young children suggesting that sexual activity had been carried out with babies.

“It is of a particularly indecent, unpleasant and graphic nature,” said Ms Waters.

The court heard that Rees, of Beeches Park, Brecon, had had a distinguished 30-year teaching career, which he had ended on entering his guilty pleas at the magistrates’ court.

He had then gone on to work as a delivery driver for Asda and since giving up that work, when he was due to be sentenced last year, had been involved in a charitable organisation – which he asked not to be made public in court.

Ruth Smith, defending, said that he had been a respected member of the community, involved in the Mid Wales Orienteering Society and had always carried out charity work.

“He has lost his character and reputation. That has had an immense impact not only on him but his family,” said Ms Smith.

“That is a matter which weighs very heavily on him.”

She said that he had the continued support of his wife but his appalled daughters had cut him out of their lives,

Ms Smith said: “[Ree’s wife] has also lost her employment as a result of his actions. She was also involved in the teaching profession.

“They have become pariahs because of this.”

She told the court he had paid privately for help to try to deal with the offending he called “abhorrent”.

Rees wrote to the court detailing the thanks he had received as a teacher.

“You speak of the people who had thanked you. There are thousands of children across the world who would not feel so positively about you,” said Judge Thomas Crowther QC.

“What is mystifying is that a man with such obvious intelligence and insight would want to return to watch real children being raped for his pleasure. For it is men like you who sneak away to furtively watch this stuff that creates demand.

“Nobody collects four and a half thousand of anything unless they are interested.”

Rees was jailed for 16 months and made the subject of a 10-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order limiting his use of the internet.

He will also have to sign as a sex offender for 10 years.

February 2015

Holywell man admits possession of child sex images & ‘dead animal’ porn 

A Holywell man has admitted possessing a shocking cache of child abuse images and pictures of people having sex with dead animals.

Gareth Young, 29, of Pen y Maes Road, pleaded guilty to 11 charges when he appeared at Mold Crown Court today.

He admitted making indecent images and movies by downloading them from the internet, possessing 1,335 indecent images of children, nine movie files of children, and 16 extreme photographic still images depicting in a grossly offensive and disgusting way a person performing intercourse and oral sex with live or dead animals.

But Judge Rhys Rowlands sitting at Mold Crown Court refused to proceed to sentencing and said that the CPS had not prepared to case properly.

No one wanted to view such images, he said, but he said that an agreed schedule of images should have been drawn up so that their classification could be agreed between the prosecution and defence.

He said that he wanted a written explanation why that had not been done.

“I am not going to sentence if the CPS are going to cut corners like this,” he said.

He could end up sentencing on completely the wrong premise.

Young was bailed pending sentence and was ordered to register as a sex offender in the meantime.

February 2015

Paedophile has been locked up at the age of 76 for “evil” sex attacks on young girls in Mansfield

Alexander Rolland, of Westfield Lane, was sentenced to eight years in custody at Nottingham Crown Court.

He will serve half and be released on licence to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and be subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO), banning any unsupervised contact with children.

Judge Michael Stokes QC, who sentenced him on Monday, February 9, told him he had to deal with him for a catalogue of sexual offending against a number of children under the age of 13 years.

“Some children never forget what has happened them and it can affect their relationships when they grow up and want to start their own families,” the judge said.

“It’s evil behaviour and there is no other way of describing it.”

The most serious offence had been Rolland repeatedly sexually assaulting a 12-year-old.

“She was one of four children who you treated in this illegal and disgusting way,” added the judge.

Prosecutor Dawn Pritchard, reading from a victim impact statement, said this girl was “frightened” when Rolland touched her and thought he might be dangerous.

A second victim was aged eight years when she was interviewed by police and told them Rolland touched her.

She said since she had become a “very angry person” and feels scared.

“She is pleased he admitted he touched her,” Miss Pritchard told the court.

“She too wants him to go to prison.”

A third child said he sexually touched her and exposed himself when she was about ten years old.

A fourth girl complained Rolland touched her when she was seven years old.

Married Rolland pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child, six sexual assaults, causing a child to watch a sexual act and observing a person doing a private act.

In 1988 he was convicted of indecently assaulting an 11-year-old girl, the court heard.

Laura Pitman, in mitigation, asked for credit for the guilty pleas Rolland had entered and said he recognised there were issues he needed to addresses.

“He has indicated he will access courses in the prison environment,” she said.

February 2015

Devon cub leader jailed for abusing seven-year-old boy

February 2015

Somerton man to be sentenced later this month after admitting child abuse images offences

A SOMERTON man who admitted a string of offences after being caught downloading child abuse images from the internet has been committed to Taunton Crown Court for sentence.

Somerset Magistrates were told that 63-year-old Mark Robertson had hundreds of indecent photographs and around 50 movie clips portraying children in sexual poses.

But when he appeared in the dock before the court at Yeovil the Bench was told the defendant faced the likelihood of a custodial sentence for his crimes and decided their powers of sentencing were not sufficient

Robertson, of Camden Road, pleaded guilty to eight separate counts of making indecent photographs of children at Somerton.

Prosecutor Christine Hart said that all the offences were committed on various dates between September 28, 2009 and April 30, 2014 at his home in Somerton.

The court heard that they included six images and four movies in the most serious category A. There were also four images in category B and 371 images and 48 movies in category C.

She sad that possession of indecent material in category A could attract a custodial sentence ranging from one year to three years but added that Robertson had no similar previous convictions.

The magistrates ordered the defendant to be committed to Taunton Crown Court to be sentenced on Friday, February 27.

They ordered a pre sentence report to be prepared by the probation service.

In the meantime they released Robertson on unconditional bail.

February 2015

6,761 indecent images of children found on Grimsby man’s computer

POLICE found more than 6,700 indecent photographs of children after searching a man’s computer, a court heard.

Barry Chisnall, 59, of Franklin House, Beechwood Avenue, Grimsby, admitted making 6,761 indecent images of children and possessing four on March 9, 2013.

Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that the images were found after police received information that Chisnall’s computer had been used to access child abuse images

Michael Coley, mitigating, said Chisnall had suffered serious physical health problems.

Judge David Tremberg told Chisnall that people who viewed such images provided tacit encouragement for those who made child pornography, which had a “tendency to deprave and corrupt the child victims”.

His “squalid and potentially harmful behaviour” was not a “victimless crime”.

Chisnall, who had no previous convictions, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence and a two-year supervision order, including a sex offender treatment programme.

He was given a 10-year sexual offences treatment order and must register as a sex offender for 10 years.

February 2015

Pervert found guilty of downloading thousands of indecent images of children

A father who blamed his family after thousands of indecent images were found on a computer at his home, has been convicted by a jury.

Jonathan Weekes, 48, was convicted of all 20 counts relating to the possession of indecent images of children and extreme pornography by a jury at Cardiff Crown Court today.

The jury deliberated for more than three and a half hours before returning all guilty verdicts.

The trial, which began last week, had heard how nearly 6,000 indecent images of every category of seriousness were found on a computer and equipment seized from Weekes’ home.

A police expert told jurors that more than 22,000 references to the phrase “pre-teen” had been found on Weekes’ computer.

Gary Probert, from Gwent Police’s high-tech crime unit, said the obscene search terms included phrases such as “pre-teen hardcore” and “Daddy’s little girl porn”.

He said prohibited images included cartoons or fine art drawings depicting sex acts with children, or even characters from The Simpsons performing sex acts, were found. Videos found on Weekes’ computer varied in length between 30 seconds and 10 minutes. The extreme pornography did not include children.

Weekes, of Citadel Close, Tredegar, had denied any knowledge of how the images came to be found on the computer – saying a number of other members of his family also had access to it.

Weekes had told the court: “It was only at the second or third interview at the police station I saw them. I was shaken up because they’re disgusting.”

But his brother, son and stepsons all told the jury of seven men and five women that it had not been them who had downloaded the images.

Prosecutor James Wilson told Weekes: “You have done everything to try and distract and divert blame from you.

“You have allowed your sons to go into the witness box and suffer the indignity of having to deny downloading child porn because you’re not man enough to admit what you’ve done.”

Weekes had replied: “I haven’t done it.”

But his account was dismissed by the jury, which convicted him of a total of 17 counts of making an indecent photograph of a child, one of possessing thousands of indecent images, another of possessing prohibited images of a child and one of possessing extreme pornographic images.

The charges related to a nine-year period between 2003 and July 2012, when police searched his home.

The act of downloading prohibited images is classified as “making” them, under current laws.

The jury found him guilty by a 10-2 majority on the 17 counts of making indecent images. He was convicted unanimously on the remaining three charges.

Weekes, who had been on bail during the trial, was remanded in custody.

He will be sentenced at a later date, with Judge Philip Richards ordering that a pre-sentence report be compiled.

February 2015

 ‘Addict’ with 130,000 indecent images of children showing depraved scenes of sex and sadism avoids jail

An internet porn addict who downloaded nearly 130,000 indecent images of children has been spared jail by a judge.

The photos and movies, some showing depraved scenes of sex and sadism, were discovered during a raid on the Stafford home of Robert Bagdi.

Judge Mark Eades told the 49-year-old he had a ‘dark secret’.

Stafford Crown Court heard how Bagdi stored the images on a desktop computer and two laptops.

Mr Neil Ahuja, prosecuting, said there was a range of ages of children being abused, from pre-pubescent upwards. His browsing history revealed he had been deliberately scouring the internet for child pornography, with search terms including ’12-year-old girls’.

Bagdi, of Sandon Road, admitted five charges of making indecent images of children involving a total of 127,379 still photos and 40 films.

The court heard that the downloads covered a period between November 2012 and January last year. A search warrant was executed on his home on January 25, 2014.

At court, Bagdi was handed a three-year community order and told to undergo a sex offender treatment programme as an alternative to an eight-month prison sentence.

Judge Mark Eades told him: “You have a dark secret and you fulfil it in private at home where no-one else can see.

“You think it’s a private affair, but it isn’t, it involves young girls being abused.

“That’s the problem with this sort of offending, it leads to all sorts of unpleasant and nasty crimes.

“You are the end user of an industry where hundreds of thousands of these pictures are provided on the internet for people like you.

“Just think of the scale of what you had on your computer.

“You are addicted to internet porn and young children.

“You are beginning to face up to your problem but there is still some way to go.”

Along with the community order, Bagdi was also ordered to pay £535 costs and £60 victim surcharge.

February 2015

 Pervert avoids jail despite ‘sharing’ sick images of child abuse online

A WHITCHURCH man who used online chatrooms to share images of vile child abuse has escaped an immediate jail term.

Phillip Williams wept in the dock when he was told he would receive a suspended sentence for possession and distribution of sexual images of children, including some aged just one-year-old.

The 29-year-old had pleaded guilty to 11 counts, covering a two-year period, after his flat was raided by police on April 11 last year.

Rob Welling, prosecuting at Winchester Crown Court, said the period covered Williams’ “descent” into chatrooms, speaking to men “who professed an interest in young children”.

He said: “In particular, it was with a man called Alex who appeared to relate to Williams his abuse of his 10-year-old stepson.

“Williams and this man called Alex rather revelled in descriptions of what had been done and what may be done.”

Images that Williams received from Alex were then passed on to others, the court heard.

Williams and the man called Alex would either pretend to be children, talking “about what they would do to one another,” or talked about the abuse of the 10-year-old “stepson”, Mr Welling said.

He added: “It appears that the defendant gained pleasure from what it was that Alex had done.

“Of course, we do not know whether what was described is true, but then again neither did this defendant.”

Officers found scores of images and some videos on Williams’ iPhone, a computer tower and USB sticks, the court was told.

Priya Dave, defending Williams, said her client admitted what he did in an interview with officers, and entered guilty pleas at the earliest opportunity.

Williams had also sought help for problems with drink and drugs, which she said might have contributed to his use of the chatrooms, he added.

Judge Keith Cutler said society would be better served if Williams was made to attend 35 hours of a sexual offender treatment course, rather than for him to go straight to jail.

He sentenced him to 18 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a sexual offences prevention order.

Williams, of Newbury Street, will remain on the sex offender register for 10 years.

February 2015

Mynydd Isa pervert secretly filmed stepdaughter schoolgirl in bath and on toilet

A railway engineer secretly filmed his 15-year-old stepdaughter undressing, washing and going to the toilet, a court heard today.

Martyn Darlington spied on Jade Walsh using cameras he set up in her bedroom and the bathroom of the family home in Rhyl, North Wales. 

The court heard that police found 38 video files of the schoolgirl, which all appeared to have been taken at a time when she was around 15 years of age.

The 39-year-old was today jailed for 14 months at Mold Crown Court after he admitted building up a collection of more than 25,000 indecent photographs and videos of children as young as six.

Prosecuting barrister Karl Scholz said 105,000 more images were found which involved scantily clad young girls in bikinis and underwear but which were not subject to criminal charges.

There were also 365 videos and the prosecutor said that 183 stills and 82 films were at the worst category A.

Hehad 38 films which related to the teenage girl he had recorded using covert cameras.

Darlington, of Penymaes, Mynydd Isa near Mold, was jailed for eight months after he admitted three charges of voyeurism dating back to 2013 — with a consecutive six-month sentence for 14 offences of possessing indecent still and movie images of children.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years and he was made the subject of a 10-year SOPO (sexual offences prevention order) to curb his future use of the internet and his contact with youngsters.

Mr Scholz said Darlington’s partner became concerned at the amount of time he appeared to spend alone behind his computer screen and when he was out, she got friends around to help her see what he had stored in various files and folders.

The indecent images downloaded from the internet were found, the police were called and he was arrested.

He admitted downloading images from the internet for some four years.

Guy Dodd, defending, said that his client was a man of no previous convictions of exemplary character who had worked throughout his life.

He was a land surveyor and railway construction engineer who had worked away a lot during the week and at weekends.

“My client does not wish to make excuses,” he said.

But by the nature of his employment he felt very lonely and isolated, had little or no sex life, he started to look at adult porn, and stumbled across a site which featured child porn.

He realised that he should have stopped at that stage but stupidly began to look at the images on a fairly regular basis.

“He did not initially think that he was doing anything seriously wrong.”

Mr Dodd said his client had not bought cameras specifically for the voyeurism offences but said he already had them to fit on to remote control cars.

The judge said that he had to take account the “quite unacceptable” delay in the case because the defendant had been arrested and admitted what he had done in October 2013, but it had taken a long time to get to court.

He had filmed a schoolgirl for his own sexual gratification.

Judge Rowlands said that it had been “a pretty vast collection” of images of some very young children.

“On any view, this was quite depraved behaviour on your part,” the judge said.

It was aggravated by the fact that the victims in the some of the sexual abuse images from the internet were very young and some were “particularly bad”.

On the schoolgirls 16th birthday, a camera which had been installed pointing towards her bed, was discovered.

Her mother confronted Darlington about it, and he claimed it had been put there to ‘check she was not being sexually active with any boyfriends that might come round’.

He disconnected the camera, but retained the memory card which contained videos of the girl, the court heard.

Referring to a victim impact statement written by the girl, Mr Scholz said she questioned what his motives might really have been in the period of time she lived with him when she might have given him a kiss or a hug.

The court heard how Darlington, a railway construction engineer, also subscribed to paying websites which allowed him to access images of children.

This material included photographs of girls as young as six, some naked and some in bikinis and underwear, posing provocatively.

Defending Darlington, Guy Dodd said: ‘He was a man of exemplary previous character. That was until he developed an extremely unhealthy interest in internet porn over four years.

‘He spent most of the week, and some of the weekends, away from home and did feel very isolated and lonely on occasions.

‘He had little or no active sex life due to the nature of his job and having to work away and this led to him looking at adult porn sites which in the end became pretty obsessive

‘He stumbled across a site that featured a child pornographic image. He realises he should have stopped at that point and not taken it any further.

‘All this became fairly normalised in his mind. He didn’t think he was doing anything seriously wrong.’

Darlington admitted three counts of voyeurism and 14 counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Judge Rhys Rowlands described his behaviour as ‘serious and disturbing’ and ordered him to sign the sex offenders register as well as making him subject to a ten-year sexual offences prevention order.

Jailing Darlington, the judge said: ‘In any view this was utter depraved behaviour on your part.

‘On examination of the material from your home revealed a vast collection of photographs and videos of young children and your step daughter in her home, dressing, washing and using the toilet.

‘You treated her as your daughter and she treated you as her father. I’m dealing with a very bad breach of trust.’

Speaking after the case, Ms Walsh said: ‘I’m livid with the sentence. He should have got five to ten years. It’s definitely not long enough after everything he’s put our family through.’

February 2015

‘Dangerous’ child sex predator jailed for eight years

A PAEDOPHILE who preyed on young girls over the internet has been jailed for eight years.

Tony Allison used a webcam to film himself committing a sex act while his victims watched and also persuaded one young girl to send him a picture of her breasts.

The 41-year-old, of Baldwin Street, Easington Colliery, County Durham, attempted to arrange a meeting with one of the two complainants in order to have sex with her. But the teenager did not turn up.

Allison was convicted after a trial of five counts of indecency with a child, three offences of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one charge of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

Prosecutor Christine Egerton told Teesside Crown Court that Allison groomed the girls and also lied about his age in order to win their trust.

During his trial the jury were told of his previous convictions for possessing indecent photos.

Paul Cross, mitigating, said some of the offences dated back to 2003 and earlier.

He said: “It was a piece of behaviour dating from a particular period of his life.”

The barrister said he wished he could argue that Allison was a reformed character, but he conceded he could not.

Judge Tony Briggs said Allison had been “sexually obsessed” with contacting young girls over the internet. The judge agreed with a report that said he was a danger to children and posed a high risk of causing sexual harm.

He told him: “You admitted that you are a devious and manipulative man who is prepared to be quite unpleasant to get what he wants.

“Both of these girls thought you were younger and both were targeted by you because of their age and persuaded to witness your sexual activity or themselves engage [in it].”

Judge Briggs said he was quite satisfied that Allison intended to have sex with the second victim, which he regarded as a serious escalation of his offending.

The judge sentenced Allison to five years prison with an extended three year period, making eight years in total.

He will also have to report his whereabouts to police and is made subject to an indefinite sexual offences prevention order.

February 2012

Man who groomed girl, 14, for sex sent to jail

A 41-year-old man who had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl has been jailed for four years.

Warren Bernstein groomed the child, giving her a mobile phone to maintain contact, Leicester Crown Court was told.

Even after being arrested and bailed, Bernstein, of Cranmer Street, West End, Leicester, continued to see her.

Philip Gibbs, prosecuting, said the victim’s mother found letters and text messages indicating sexual activity had taken place and contacted the police.

The girl was a willing party in the sexual relationship. She would sneak out at night to see him, leaving a pillow under her bedclothes to make it look as if she was asleep.

Bernstein also suggested the girl slip her mother sleeping pills to she could sneak out of the house more easily, although that was not done, said Mr Gibbs.

Bernstein pleaded guilty to five counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Hammond said: “He was a sexual predator. He knew she was forbidden fruit and used her for his own sexual gratification.

“It was utterly wrong for him to suggest (in the pre-sentence report) that she seduced him.

“He told a probation officer he didn’t love her and it was just sex.

“He’s old enough to be her father. He should have said no and kept saying no.

“Courts have a duty to protect young girls from themselves.”

In mitigation, the court heard that the victim appeared mentally older than her years.

Bernstein also spared her the ordeal of giving evidence in court by pleading guilty.

The defendant, who has no previous convictions for sex offences, accepted what he had done was wrong, the court was told.

He was banned from working with children and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order forbidding unsupervised contact with children under 16.

June 2006

Cross dressing sex offender sent to jail after ‘graphic’ plot

A SEX offender who plotted in prison to molest an unsuspecting young woman has been jailed for two years and banned from wearing women’s clothing.

Liverpool crown court heard reports from a psychologist and a probation officer showed Paul Williams, 39, presents a high risk of sexual harm to women and children.

His previous convictions include indecent exposure, indecent assault, outraging public decency and burglaries during which he stole women’s clothing.

Judge Brian Lewis said: “This was a sinister and persistent plot to exercise your sexual depravity.

“You wrote letters from your prison cell to your girlfriend whom you involved in this process.

“You have a long standing interest in female clothing which is one of the indicators of the risk you present to the public.” Williams, of Old Chester Road, Rock Ferry, Wirral, was released from jail in January 2002 on licence and began a relationship with his girlfriend, who is now 24.

He stole clothing belonging to her, including underwear and other items which he defaced with obscenities or destroyed.

He was recalled to prison in February the next year. He was arrested in October 2004 when 1,500 pages of “graphic and disturbing” letters and a photograph of the proposed victim were discovered.

Williams, who is due for release in October next year, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit sexual touching.

He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

A Sexual Offences Prevention Order bans him from wearing women’s clothing, shoes, wigs and make-up and being in the company of anyone under 17.

February 2015

Man jailed for child sexual exploitation in Rotherham

A Rotherham man has been jailed for child abduction and trafficking offences after luring three girls – two aged 11 and one 13 – to his flat from a park.

The girls were playing in a park in Eastwood when Vejuhadin Ghorbani, aged 37, of Park Mount, Rotherham, lured them into his car last September, plied them with alcohol and trapped them in his flat.

He offered one girl £20 for sexual favours and made repeated references to sexual acts.

The youngsters were reported missing when they failed to return home that night and a large-scale police search was launched.

The girls escaped from left Ghorbani’s flat the following morning after finding his keys while he slept.

Ghorbani admitted two counts of abduction and one count of trafficking for sexual exploitation involving the three girls.

Detective Constable Paul Rooney said: “This man preyed on these young, vulnerable girls, the effect this had on them should not be underestimated.

“I would like to praise them for coming forward and reporting their ordeal to police and for the courage they have shown throughout this process.

“I would also like to thank the families for their trust and confidence in to secure this conviction and the local community for their help with the search.

“It is some small consolation for the victims and their families that Ghorbani has pleaded guilty and not forced them to relive their ordeal in court.

“We utilised trafficking legislation as we felt that most accurately described the actions of this man.

“This is a great tool to help us tackle crimes against children and young people. We hope that by securing this conviction we are sending a warning to those still choosing to exploit young people.

“South Yorkshire Police is committed to tackling all forms of child abuse and child exploitation and would encourage victims anyone with information about offences being committed against children to report it to us.”

February 2015

Bromfords School, Wickford female teacher jailed for phone sex with pupil

AN ENGLISH teacher at Bromfords School in Wickford has been locked up for a year for having phone sex with a female pupil.

Helen Carter, 40, of Homerton High Street, east London, admitted four counts of sexual activity with a child, three counts of causing or inciting sexual activity with a child by position of trust and one count of making an indecent image of a child.

The charges relate to a girl who was aged between 13 and 17 and cannot be named for legal reasons.

The court heard how Carter incited the girl to send topless photos, encouraged her to perform a sex act on social media and incited her to send sexually explicit messages.

Carter was jailed for 12 months, six of which will be spent on licence, and she will be put on the Sex Offenders Register for a decade.

Prosecutor Nneka Akudola told Basildon Crown Court this morning, how Carter developed a close friendship with the girl.

She said: “Around the time of February 2014 she [the victim] became closer to her teacher.

“She would spend increasingly more time with her during break times and after school.

“She would regularly go to school earlier and come home later and remain in the classroom.”

Carter came into teaching late in life after getting a degree in English and taking on admin jobs, the court heard.

Miss Akudola explained how this was Carter’s first full-time teaching job, which she started in September 2012.

The court heard how the victim’s sister became concerned at the amount of time she spent with her teacher and then found sexually explicit messages sent by Carter on her iPad in April 2014.

Acting head teacher Martin Coulson was notified about the relationship and informed the police, who arrested Carter at the school on May 23, 2014, the hearing heard.

She was immediately suspended from her post at the Grange Avenue school.

Miss Akudola added that the girl had sent messages to Carter that wished her a happy birthday, adding that “she would make a cake for her one day.”

She said: “Another message [sent to Carter] said ‘when we are living together we can wake up in each other’s arms and smear each other with cake.’”

Miss Akudola said the pair’s relationship developed when the girl added Carter on social media picture sharing site Pinterest.

She said: “She [the victim] told Carter ‘I like you’ and Carter responded in similar terms.

“They began messaging through Telegram messenger and agreed to use a self-destruct button to delete messages.

“She [the victim] said that using the facility had been Carter’s idea.

“It was at that stage when they were communicating that the girl said they would have phone sex.

“They would act out scenes of what they would do together if they lived together.

“She thought Carter was masturbating during these times although in interview she accepted she didn’t know if she was or not.”

Mike Warner, defending Carter, told the court the defendant “has not tried to challenge any of the facts.”

He said: “She accepts that she was masturbating during some of these conversations on Telegram.

“While there was incitement it appears that there wasn’t a determined effort that these conversations would end in mutual masturbation.”

Sentencing, judge Jonathan Black said: “In my view, your behaviour towards this child in your care constitutes a gross abuse of trust.

“She developed a trusting relationship with you based on what she perceived as support for difficulties she discussed with you.

“You were fully aware, through your training and experience as a teacher, of her vulnerability and yet you chose to exploit it in this case.”

February 2015

Pervert had sexual images of children and animals

A PERVERT is facing a jail sentence after downloading sexual pictures of children and animals.

William Levy admitted taking, or permit to be taken, indecent images of children at his home in Tranent, East Lothian, over a 17-month period.

Levy also pleaded guilty to possessing extreme pornographic images depicting sex acts between humans and animals over a three-year-period.

Levy admitted the two charges during an appearance at Edinburgh Sheriff Court today.

A plea of not guilty to a third charge of possessing indecent photographs of children was accepted by the Crown.

Levy pleaded guilty to taking or permit to be taken, or make, indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at his home address between 31 October 2012 and 25 March 2014.

He also admitted possessing extreme pornographic images depicting in an explicit and realistic way bestiality between 28 March 2011 and 25 March 2014 at his home address.

Sheriff Michael O’Grady QC placed Levy on the sex offenders register and deferred sentence on the 49-year-old to next month.

February 2015

91 year-old Ex-Birmingham PE teacher found guilty of sexually abusing 13 boys

A 91-year-old former Birmingham PE teacher has been convicted of sexually abusing13 boys over three decades.

A jury at the city’s crown court found Marcus Marcussen guilty of 25 charges of indecent assault after deliberating for almost 12 hours.

Marcussen was found not guilty of five charges of indecent assault and three of indecency with a child.

The findings of guilt relate to 14 victims.

The jury failed to reach verdicts on two other indecent assault charges and have been given a majority direction by Judge Nicholas Webb in relation to those counts. He said he would accept a verdict from 10 of the jurors.

Birmingham Crown Court had previously heard that Marcussen, of Rochford, near Tenbury Wells, taught at Ilmington Road Comprehensive School in Weoley Castle between 1945 and 1983 before retiring.

Sarah Buckingham, prosecuting, said he “hid behind a veneer of respectability” and that the abuse happened during PE lessons at the school and at a swimming club called the Square Club in Weoley Castle.

Pupils were made to strand on chairs, while the teacher abused them and were also made to swim naked.

They were also made to take part in naked during scuba diving lessons, when the defendant would watch them underwater through a diving mask.

Judge Webb adjourned sentence until Friday morning and allowed the 91 year-old bail.