February 2015

Child rapist jailed for 12 years after he admits series of sex offences against two young girls

Richard Horner, aged 53, raped a teenage girl following abuse which dated back to when she was aged 11.

He also admitted sexually abusing a second girl when she was aged 11 and 12.

In total he pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and 11 specimen charges of gross indecency with children.

Neil Fryman, prosecuting, told how the crimes, which happened during the 1980s and 90s, came to light when his rape victim, severely affected by the abuse, contacted police in 2013.

She told how it began when Horner took her into his bathroom and got her to carry out a sex act on him.

The sex offences happened very frequently and increased in seriousness until he raped her on several occasions, starting when she was aged 14.

When arrested Horner initially denied the allegations, claiming he could not have committed them because he suffered from erectile dysfunction.

But police inquiries led to a second victim coming forward whom Horner had also abused.

Judge Timothy Stead heard how, in 2002, Horner was also convicted of gross indecency with a six-year-old girl.

Robert Elias, defending, described Horner’s offending as “hideous”.

“The effects upon an impressionable child were incalculable,” he added.

He told the court how Horner claimed to have been abused himself as a child and this has resulted in him living a life without “the normal moral compass and rules of behaviour”.

“He used (his victim) as a sexual plaything whenever he thought he could get away with it,” added Mr Elias.

Judge Stead jailed Horner, of Langford Gardens, Daubhill, for 12 years.

Speaking after the sentencing, DC Mike Mather, of Bolton’s child protection unit, paid tribute to the bravery of the women Horner abused, particularly the victim who reported him.

“The crime has had a profound effect upon her, but despite that she has had the courage to see it through,” he said.

“Horner is undoubtedly a very predatory and dangerous man.”

February 2015

Man, 27, avoids prison after admitting sex with 14-year-old girl

A 27-YEAR-OLD York man who admitted having sex with a 14-year-old girl has avoided an immediate prison sentence.

Dean Richard Edwards was 26 when he had sex with the girl, just days after her 14th birthday, after she had run away from her foster home in York.

Edwards, now 27, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child, both of which occurred at a property in Rowntree Avenue, where he was living at the time of the offences, between December 6 and 10, 2013.

York Crown Court heard the girl, who no longer lives in York, was reported missing on December 7, 2013, and police searched the property. Edwards and another man who lived at the address, denied the girl was at the property, but police carried out a search and found her asleep on a sofa in Edwards’ bedroom.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said there was evidence that alcohol and cannabis had been used at the house and the girl was removed from the property.

Mr Dodds said there was an “initial reluctance to participate” in the police investigation against Edwards, and the girl had returned to the house and had sex with Edwards a second time.

Mr Dodds said: “She returned to the premises the next day. Clearly there was a degree of affection between the couple.” The girl told her mother and foster carer about the sex a week after the incidents, and maintained it had been consensual.

Recorder of York Judge Stephen Ashurst, sentencing Edwards, said: “Adults who have sex with children must always receive a prison sentence”, but acknowledged he had spent five months on remand and pleaded guilty before trial.

The judge told Edwards: “You were well over that age yourself and must have known she was well under 16. There was full consent, but because of her age, her consent was irrelevant.”

Edwards was sentenced to 15 months in prison, suspended for two years, and placed on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Judge Ashurst said: “This is not just a token part of the sentencing system. A failure to comply with notification requirements under the sexual offenders act is a criminal offence for which you can be sent to prison for five years.”

February 2015

Paedophile had ‘shoe camera’ to film children in changing rooms

A PAEDOPHILE concealed a camera in his shoe and hid another in a swimming pool changing room so he could secretly film children.

Nick Taylor, 44, was caught filming a ten-year-old girl at an East Yorkshire holiday park as she got changed.

When police raided his home they found a shoe, with a camera hidden inside the toe, which he used to film up girls’ skirts.

Taylor admitted two counts of voyeurism and possessing indecent images at Hull Crown Court

Prosecuting, Philip Evans said Taylor was caught when the girl’s teenage brother saw the camera in the changing rooms in March last year.

Mr Evans said: “He saw a light flickering from the water on the floor.

“Upon further investigation, he saw a camera pointing into the cubicle where his ten-year-old sister was getting changed.

“He also saw a brown bag he associated with the driver of a vehicle outside the swimming pool.

“He went and wrote down the registration number of the vehicle.”

The boy returned to his caravan at the Thornwick and Sea Farm Holiday Centre, in Flamborough, where he was on holiday, and told his father what he saw. He then called the police.

Mr Evans said: “He was so upset he was unable to make the usual video- recorded statement to the police.

“The defendant was known to staff at the holiday park and was seen on CCTV to enter the changing rooms again and emerge two hours later without ever having gone into the swimming pool.”

Officers arrested Taylor the following day and then raided his home in Eastville Road, Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

There, they found recording equipment, including a “device inserted into a shoe” which “enabled the defendant to take up-skirt shots”.

They also found 5,500 indecent images of children. Some victims were as young as 18 months old.

He confessed he had been filming in the changing rooms, both when the girl was there and when he had been in there for two hours the next day.

In mitigation for Taylor, Paul Norton told the court he was the main carer for his wife, who is seriously ill.

Arguing for a suspended sentence, he said: “The effect of immediate imprisonment would have a devastating impact on her.

“He has demonstrated real remorse.”

Sentencing Taylor to six months in prison, Judge Michael Mettyear said: “Turning to the voyeurism, it was sophisticated, planned and a serious breach of trust.

“The only matter which makes this case somewhat more difficult than normal for me is that your wife is very, very ill and you are her main carer.

“But for that factor, I would be passing a considerably longer sentence, however, she is the one who is going to suffer most by your imprisonment and I want to do all I reasonably can to shorten that suffering by her.”

Taylor was given a sexual offences prevention order for five years and must sign the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

February 2015

Four year old rape victim gives evidence in court – Child rapist jailed for nine years

A Folkestone man who raped a four year-old-child on Christmas Eve when he was drunk has been jailed for nine years after his victim gave evidence clutching a teddy.

Sam Strange, 23, had denied three sex offences but a jury took four hours and 21 minutes to convict on a majority of 10:2.

Now Judge Heather Norton told him: “This was an extremely serious offence perpetrated on a vulnerable and defenceless young child.”

He was also placed on the Sex Offender’s Register and made subject to a Sex Offences Prevention Order for life.

The court heard how Strange, of Mead Road, Folkestone, had visited the boy’s mother on Christmas Eve.

The boy then told his mum what Strange had done to him when she questioned him two weeks later. Strange was then arrested on January 27.

The victim, who is now aged five, was called to give live evidence during the trial at Canterbury Crown Court – one of the youngest called to give evidence during a trial.

Hugging his teddy bear and wearing blue hoody, the toddler, sat in a special room next to an intermediary – a language specialist – and a member of the witness support team.

Earlier the judge and two barristers had met the child just minutes before he gave his evidence via a special CCTV link to the courtroom.

As a result, the judge and lawyers took off their robes and wigs.

Judge Norton later told the jury the child had a “particular hatred of wigs and doesn’t like us having them”.

Earlier in a video made by police and shown to the jury, the child told how he was sexually assaulted by Strange.

Prosecutor Eloise Marshall said the attacks were revealed when the child pointed to a doll and said he had been assaulted by Strange.

After the video with the allegations was played to the jury, the child was asked questions by the barrister representing Strange, Stephen Earnshaw.

The judge told the jury: “Mr Earnshaw won’t be asking many questions and among the things he won’t be asking is putting to the child that he is lying or anything like that which he might ask an adult witness.

“That is not because he has nothing to ask because there is probably lots of things he would want to ask but current thinking that when the issue is whether this happened or not it would be wrong to challenge the witness.”

The judge then asked the child his age and then Mr Earnshaw asked just five questions and received mainly one word answers.

The witness was thanked and allowed home.

Later Strange denied sexually assaulting the child.

Investigating officer Det Sgt Matthew Jones said: “This was a very serious offence on a vulnerable young person.

“Strange refused to admit what he had done, which meant putting the boy through the ordeal of giving evidence in court, which I commend him for.

“I hope now, he can put this behind him and continue to live a life like any other child would.”

February 2015

Computer shop owner is jailed for child abuse images

A computer shop owner has been jailed for sending ‘revenge porn’ and then using his high tech skills to try to cover up his crime.

Luke Eames set up in business at a shopping centre in Ivybridge despite having a previous conviction for downloading child abuse images and being subject to a court order which controlled his own access to the internet.

He used a false name to get round the Sexual Offenders’ Register set up a Facebook account which he used to send a send a picture of an ex partner to a friend of hers.

The image showed his former girlfriend posing in underwear when she was aged just 16 but Eames tried to doctor the data on the file to suggest it was taken after she turned 18.

He produced a modified version and presented it to police at court but it took their experts just days to realise that it had been altered.

Eames, aged 23, was featured on the BBC’s Newsbeat programme in 2010 as an example of a young person who had overcome poor GCSE results to start their own business.

He ran Conker Computers in the Glanville Mill centre in Ivybridge and when police found fresh child abuse images on his personal desktop and laptop he claimed they must have been infected by files from customers’ machines.

He finally admitted that he had been downloading images showing very young children being forced to take part in sex acts.

Eames, of Davis Road, Dartmouth, admitted two offences of breaching the sex offenders register, taking, and distributing an indecent image of his ex partner, possessing indecent images of children and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He was jailed for a total of 34 months by Judge Phillip Wassall at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him:”You used a false name on the internet in direct contravention of the order and sent a girl of 15 an indecent image of a former friend which was taken when she was 16.

“They knew each other and eventually it was revealed to the police who seized your computer equipment and found indecent images of children.

“That was in itself a very serious offence with the obvious aggravating feature of your previous convictions.

“It doesn’t end there. In trying to construct a defence you stated the photograph of the 16-year-old was taken when she was 18.

“You are the proprietor of a computer shop and used your skills alter the underlying data and change the date on the photograph to make it appear it had been taken two years later.

“The devious way you went about using a false name on the internet to carry out these activities means they must result in immediate custody.”

Mr Brian Fitzherbert, prosecuting, said Eames was subject to restrictions on how he used the internet because of a previous conviction for downloading indecent images.

He said he breached it in July 2014 when he tried to get in touch with a former girlfriend on Facebook, who blocked him under his own name.

He set up a new Facebook account in the false name of Jack Winsome and used it to try again. When she blocked this attempt he sent an old photograph of her in underwear to a 15-year-old female mutual friend.

Police found a total of 33 indecent images of children on a tower and a laptop they seized from Conker Computers.

Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Eames now acknowledges he has a problem that needs addressing and would be better receiving treatment in the community rather than sent to jail.

He said:”There is an element of immaturity. This young man comes across as being younger than his years. His attempt to throw the police off the scent was seen through quickly.

February 2015

World renowned musician & teacher jailed for 11 years for sex attacks against female pupils in soundproof rooms

A world renowned musician and teacher at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music has been jailed for 11 years for sexually assaulting and raping young female pupils in soundproof rooms, where nobody could hear their screams.

Philip Pickett, 64, of Lyneham, Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire, who taught music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, was found guilty of two counts of rape and two counts of indecent assault during the 1970s and 1980s.

A sixth form student was 16-years-old when she was indecently assaulted and raped by Pickett in 1978. She prompted the investigation following the Jimmy Saville scandal. Pickett also raped a 21-year-old woman in the same year and indecently assaulted a 17-year-old in 1984.

Pickett was sentenced to 11 years in prison at the Old Bailey for his crimes described by Judge Wide as a “gross abuse of trust”.

“Philip Pickett, you have been convicted by the jury of a number of exceptionally serious sexual offences against a young woman and two schoolgirls.

“In each case there is the aggravating factor that this was a gross abuse of trust.

“You were this woman and these schoolgirls’ teacher to a degree they were in awe of you, especially the schoolgirls, and, as far as they were concerned, this was specific targeting of a vulnerable victim, a girl you were teaching and you had power over who would be reluctant to complain and most unlikely to complain.

“There is the location of the offence in practice rooms at the Guildhall School of Music – sound-proofed, dark, you turned the lights out.

“Even if they shouted, they could not be heard, as you knew well, having got them on their own and shut the door.

“The impact of these very serious sexual offences must have been very great indeed.

The Guildhall School of Music and Drama have co-operated fully during the investigation and safeguarding measures are in place to protect pupils of the school.

Detective Superintendent Maria Woodall said: “Philip Pickett used his position of authority as an accomplished professor to abuse young talented women who were vulnerable due to their age and the fact they were students of his.

“He knew how difficult it would be for them to report his crimes to the school or to the police.

“These are appalling crimes and I would like to pay tribute to the victims’ tenacity and bravery during the investigation.

“I hope they can take solace in knowing they may have stopped more young women being attacked, and others may now feel able to come forward.”

“Philip Pickett’s access to young women over such a period of time means that there could be more victims that have yet to come forward.

“I would urge these people to contact the City of London Police.”

February 2015

Army veteran jailed for 18 years for sexually abusing girls as young as four years old

An army veteran who served his country in Northern Ireland has been caged for 18 years for sexually abusing girls in Peterborough as young as four years old.

Alan Burgess (65) of Seymour Place, Paston, Peterborough, carried out the horrific abuse on four different girls over a 14 year period.

He was found guilty of 19 separate counts at a trial at Peterborough Crown Court – but despite overwhelming evidence he continues to deny the offences.

Today he was locked up at Peterborough Crown Court, and showed no remorse for the years of abuse he carried out.

The jury was told he had become friends with one of the girl’s mother and gained her trust before babysitting on numerous occasions. He had also bought the girl gifts and paid for activities.

However, in 2013, the victim came forward and reported the abuse she had suffered at the hands of Burgess in her childhood.

As a result of inquiries, police officers also discovered three further victims that Burgess had targeted in a similar way, by gaining the trust of their parents and even helping them out financially.

When he was arrested police seized a computer, and found nearly 7,000 indecent images of children. They also found a video tape of footage he had shot of a young girl in a street.

Sentencing, Judge Sean Enright said Burgess ‘could not contain himself’ once he had gained his victim’s trust.
He said: “The evidence shows there was an intense sexual interest in prepubescent girls over a very long time.

“The images show that very clearly.”

The court was told Burgess served in the army for a number of years, and was also a delivery driver. He had not been convicted of any other offences before the trial.

DC Mark Andrews, who investigated, said: “Burgess targeted vulnerable girls with difficult backgrounds, families with financial troubles.

“He would develop the trust of the mothers by offering his services as a babysitter. He would then buy the girls gifts, and take them out.

“Once he had gained the parents’ trust the abuse would start.

“All of the victims showed huge amounts of courage in giving their evidence at court and should be commended. In particular, the information provided by the victim who first reported Burgess to us helped identified the other victims and safeguarded them from potential further abuse.

“Burgess’s crimes were truly despicable and the seriousness of his offending is reflected in the sentence handed out today. I hope the victims can now begin rebuilding their lives in the knowledge that justice has been done.”

Judge Enright also put a sexual offences prevention order in place for the next 25 years. He will also have to sign the sex offenders register.

He was found guilty on seven counts against the first victim including one count of attempted rape and a number of counts indecent and sexual assault.

He was convicted of one count of sexual assault against a nine year-old girl four counts of sexual assault against another girl aged 11, and three counts of sexual assault against a further girl, who turned eight over the period concerned.

Burgess was also found guilty of possessing 32 indecent images of children, including two at level 5, the most severe level; making 6,998 indecent images of children, most at level 3 but five at level 5; and making an indecent image of a child, namely video footage of an unknown girl.

February 2015

Man avoids jail over sex offences against 12-year-old boy

A former Doncaster man has been given a suspended jail sentence after pleading guilty to historic sex offences against a young boy.

Adam Burley, 44, who now lives in the Isle of Man, was given a two-year suspended sentence after pleading guilty to buggery, gross indecency and indecent assault at Bradford Crown Court.

A spokesman for South Yorkshire Police said the offences had taken place in Doncaster between 1986 and 1989 against a 12-year-old boy.

February 2015

Datchworth man had almost 200 child-abuse images

A man has admitted possessing almost 200 child-abuse images

Stuart Hay, 67, of Raffin Close in Datchworth pleaded guilty to six charges of making indecent photos or movies of children, and possession of 193 images.

He also admitted a charge of possession of two “prohibited images” of children.

The images ranged from category A, the most serious, to category C, magistrates in Stevenage heard on Monday (February 16).

The offences took place on or before February 26 last year in Knebworth.

The case was committed to Cambridge Crown Court on a date to be set for sentencing.

Hay was released on bail on condition he does not have any unsupervised contact with children under 16.

February 2015

Teacher found guilty of abusing schoolboy in the 1980s

A teacher has been convicted of abusing a teenage boy in the late 1980s.

David Gutteridge, 60, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault at a retrial at Harrow Crown Court on Tuesday. He will be sentenced on March 13.

Gutteridge was a teacher at Orley Farm Preparatory School in South Hill Avenue, Harrow in the 1980s.

The victim was aged between 14 and 16 at the time of the assaults.

Between 1986 and 1988, Gutteridge, who was a family friend, would invite the victim to his flat at weekends and ply him with cigarettes and alcohol. He would then ask the victim to watch pornographic videos, before abusing him.

The abuse came to light when the victim, now in his late thirties, confided in his wife about the abuse he had suffered as a boy. The victim subsequently went to the police.

Gutteridge was arrested at his home address in Kent in September 2013 and subsequently charged with indecent assault on a boy under the age of 16.

The first trial took place last September and ended in a hung jury. The retrial started on February 1.

Detective Constable Claire Harrison of the Metropolitan Police’s Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said: “The victim has stated that the abuse has had a significant detrimental effect on his life due to what happened to him in his formative years.

“I would like to pay tribute to his courage and strength in coming forward and standing up in court to tell his story.”

February 2015

Weobley paedophile jailed for 14 years for abusing young children

A “DEPRAVED” sex offender has been jailed for 14 years after a court heard how he “ruined” the lives of a brother and sister he groomed and abused more than 30 years ago.

But the victims – who both read powerful statements to the court about the devastating effect he had on their lives – believe John Bishop got off lightly, one saying he wanted to “slowly kill” him.

“We’re disappointed because the sentence doesn’t totally reflect the seriousness of his crimes,” said the male victim, now in his late 40s.

“He could have got life for just one of his offences, but the judge said that, because he pleaded guilty and avoided us having to give evidence, it should be reduced – and we don’t agree with that.”

The victim had earlier told Worcester Crown Court that the “rage” he felt still overwhelmed him at times and he lived “with a desire to harm and slowly kill Bishop”.

“I consider him the most evil man I’ve ever met,” he told Judge Robert Juckes QC.

Former cider company worker Bishop, of Burton Gardens, Weobley, who is disabled from childhood polio, admitted four serious sexual offences against the male victim when he was 14 and 15 in the early 1980s, and seven counts of indecent assault against him between 13 and 15.

The 65-year-old, pictured, also admitted two sex offences against the boy’s sister, who was 12, in the late 1970s.

Matthew Brook, prosecuting, said Bishop gave the boy cannabis and sometimes offered him money, although none was handed over. Once, he took semi-naked photos of the boy, who feared for years they would be shown to others.

Mr Brook added that the boy only recently, because of recent changes in attitudes, felt confident enough to report the abuse to the police.

The girl had felt “ashamed” she had let Bishop get away with what he was doing to her for so long and tried to deal with it by locking everything away in her mind, said Mr Brooks.

The male victim told the court: “In the words of my mother, Bishop ruined my life, a sentiment which I wholeheartedly agree with.

“I believe he ruined my schooling. I know that, during my teens, I was seen as a bad lad and at times I behaved badly.

“I can’t understand why nobody questioned why I was behaving as I was.

“When I was 19 I became a father of a son that I’ve not been a father to.

“My son was born and I was completely off the rails and had an abiding fear that I would harm my son because I read somewhere that people who had been abused become abusers and I was terrified of what I might do.”

He added that he still carried the shame of what Bishop had done to him after grooming him and his family and described his abuse as “disgusting and depraved”.

“I reject all forms of love because I am overwhelmed by murderous thoughts towards Bishop,” he said.

His sister told the court the abuse repulsed her, but she “lived in a little girl’s fantasy world” and believed Bishop had loved her. It had damaged her education and led to her having a string of unsuitable relationships.

Lee Marklew, defending, said that Bishop’s offending had taken place from 1976 to 1982 and he had otherwise led a “blameless and industrious life”, working at cider companies.

He added that Bishop, who suffered polio as a toddler and was now crippled by the effects as well as osteo-arthritis, wanted to an offer an “apology” to the two victims.

Judge Juckes said the victims had given their statements to the court with “great dignity and sadness” and had expressed the “sense of rage” they felt towards Bishop.

“I cannot put right the wrong that has been caused in the sentence that I pass – the statements that I have been read cannot determine the sentence I pass,” he said.

“But I can express the anger and public outrage for this kind of abuse of children.”

The judge said Bishop had groomed the boy and seduced the girl.

Telling Bishop that he would serve half his sentence in jail and the rest out on licence, the judge added that he had to balance punishment against the fact that the defendant had pleaded guilty, which prevented victims of abuse from suffering again by having to give evidence.

Judge Juckes added he had to give credit for the plea and Bishop’s otherwise good character but said: “It may be you have very little to look forward to in the rest of your life.”    

February 2015

Photographer built portfolio of indecent images

An amateur photographer from Llechryd built a portfolio of indecent images of children, a judge heard on Friday.

Nigel Wyndham Yates, aged 49, of 13 Maes y Deri, admitted possessing 87 images said to be “more of a the naturist type” than what was usually seen at Swansea crown court.

Police found the images on a computer.

Some of the photographs appeared to have been taken on beaches, added the judge.

Yates had worked as a car park attendant at Poppit Sands and Newport beach.

Judge Heywood said the images had been discovered after police searched Yates’ then home at Glasfor, Llanfrannog.

He had been a keen photographer and was a member of a local camera club. Although police also took away a large amount of camera equipment they did not discover any other indecent photographs.

The images, added Judge Heywood, seemed to be of people posing naked.

He said he noted that Yates’ had a previous conviction for a sexual offence but it was “a long time ago.”

Yates was made the subject of a three year community order and a five year sexual offences prevention order. He was also ordered to register with the police as a sex offender and to pay a £60 government surcharge.

February 2015

Pervert took photos of Ayr & Prestwick schoolgirls during their lunch breaks

A PERVERT has been taking photos of young schoolgirls in Ayr and Prestwick town centres 

Paul Liney took shots of 13 and 14-year-olds in their school uniforms while they were on lunch breaks.

The 48-year-old, of Prestwick Main Street, told police he had made a habit of it, Ayr Sheriff Court heard last week.

Depute fiscal Scot Toal described how the creep, who lives in Prestwick Main Street, prowled both towns repeatedly.

Two Ayr Academy pupils, aged 13 and 14, were left terrified after the stranger appeared out of nowhere in Ayr’s High Street and Newmarket Street on December 2 and November 26.

Mr Toal said: “The girls were out for lunch at 1.40pm in the afternoon of December 2. The accused approached and stopped in front of them. He was taking photos on his phone.

“He walked past the girls and they could see the camera option open on his phone.

“They were alarmed and worried by his behaviour.”

The teens told police officers who tracked down Liney and asked whether he had images of Ayr Academy children on his phone.

He admitted his device contained the pictures.

Liney told cops: ‘It is a habit I have got into. I know it is wrong. I am trying to stop,’ Mr Toal told the court.

Earlier last year – between August 1 and October 27 – he targeted another pair of 14-year-old school pupils in his home street in Prestwick.

He repeatedly took photos of them without permission – causing fear and alarm.

Sheriff Scott Pattison added Liney to the sex offenders register and ordered reports to be prepared.

Sheriff Pattison said he believed there was “a significant sexual element in both offences.”

Liney – who appeared unshaven in the dock – is due back in court next month.

In the meantime he has to comply with strict sex offender rules.

February 2015

Liverpool pensioner jailed after abusing young girls

The grim past of a Liverpool paedophile who preyed on young girls today caught up with him.

Barry Potts, 65, was jailed for seven years at Liverpool Crown Court for a string of historical sex offences.

Potts, of Bridgemere Close, Fairfield, exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl during the 1980s and committed a number of offences against another young girl in the 1970s and 80s.

He was convicted of six counts of gross indecency and one count of sexual assault after a trial.

DC Rebecca Robinson from the force’s specialist Unity Team said: “Potts is a long-standing sex offender who abused people’s trust and robbed two young girls of their innocence and the happy childhood that everyone has the right to expect.

“His victims have found the courage to finally speak out and report his crimes and I would like to pay tribute to their dignity and bravery.

“Time should never be a barrier to obtaining justice and I hope today’s sentence gives both his victims some sense of closure and vindicates their decision to come forward.

“Merseyside Police takes every report of sexual offences extremely seriously, whether or not they are recent, and has dedicated officers within the force’s Unity Team who are specially trained to both thoroughly investigate allegations and make sure that those reporting them are properly supported.”

People can call officers in the force’s Unity team on 0151 777 1382. Information can also be passed to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.

February 2015

Dessert bar owner guilty of sex act with 14-year-old girl

A Sheffield dessert bar owner has been found guilty of ordering a teenage girl to perform a sex act on him in his kitchen.

Rassam Ali, who runs Rassam’s Dessert Bar on Staniforth Road, Darnall, invited a 14-year-old schoolgirl to his premises after it had closed and undressed in front of her.

The victim, now aged 15, and her friend started going to Rassam’s in about September 2013 after hearing about how nice his milkshakes were.

The incident occurred towards the end of 2013.

Ali, aged 24, of Staniforth Road, was found guilty of sexual activity with a child by a unanimous jury at Sheffield Crown Court.

He will be sentenced on March 13.

December 2008

Former Foulford Primary School teacher who admitted downloading “chilling” child abuse images has been jailed for a year

Police found 27 indecent film files of children on James Moyes’ computer while investigating an allegation that he had sex with a schoolboy.

In one clip, a girl of about three, whose hands had been bound, was sexually abused.

Sheriff Ian Dunbar described the material as “horrifying and quite chilling”.

Moyes (33), of Main Street, Kinglassie, admitted downloading the images at his former home in Tarmachan Road, Dunfermline, between 26th October 2006 and 20th July 2007.

It was there that he bedded a 14-year-old boy he met on a social networking website. He was released in July, seven months into a 12-month sentence.

During the investigation police seized a computer.

Depute fiscal Azrah Yousaf told Dunfermline Sheriff Court officers went to Moyes” house armed with a search warrant.

‘The computer was taken possession of and when examined at a later date it was seen to contain these images,’ he said.

Defending Moyes, solicitor Marjorie Socha insisted her client had not subscribed to any website and there was no question he was involved in the distribution of child pornography. She said the images were downloaded from free websites.

‘He lived with his parents until 2006,” Ms Socha told the court. “It would appear that at that point he began to address issues regarding his own sexuality. He had clearly had significant problems facing up to that in the early part of his life.”

Ms Socha added Moyes was sacked from his job and held no prospect of ever working with young people again.

Before sentencing, Sheriff Dunbar told Moyes: ‘This type of offence is one which society regards very seriously and for very good reason.

‘The description given of one of the clips is to me both horrifying and quite chilling.

‘While I accept you didn”t pay for it or distribute it, the fact you saw fit to download it is in my mind serious.

‘In considering all the factors and weighing up everything that has been presented to me, I have reached the conclusion offences of this sort must be met with a custodial sentence.’

He jailed Moyes for 12 months and said he would be placed on licence for a further two years upon his release from prison.

An order preventing him from working with children would also be sought and his name added to the sex offenders” register for seven years.

Moyes was fired from his £25,000-a-year job at Foulford Primary School after he admitted committing homosexual acts and acts of gross indecency with a 14-year-old boy he met on social networking site Faceparty.

Despite being fully aware of his victim’s age, Moyes took the boy to an Edinburgh cinema, then to his home where the boy agreed to go to bed and engage in consensual sex.

Fife Council later sent counsellors to Foulford Primary and Beath High School, where many of Moyes’ former pupils are now taught.

February 2015

Heacham pensioner had more than 6000 indecent images of children – Avoids prison 

A 70 year-old pensioner who was found with more than 6000 indecent images of children has been given an 18 month suspended jail term and placed on the sex offender’s register.

Jude Durr, prosecuting at Norwich Crown Court, said that police seized computer equipment from the home of Thomas Healey following a raid on April 4, last year, and found he had downloaded 6441 indecent images of children and also had 12 prohibited indecent cartoon images.

Healey, who appeared in court in a wheelchair, of Lodge End, Heacham, admitted making indecent images of children and possessing prohibited images.

After hearing he had a number of health problems, Recorder Maureen Baker imposed a 18 month jail sentence suspended for two years.

He was also placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years and made subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

She said that despite his initial denials, she said he had got some sort of sexual gratification from the images.

Andrew Cogan, for Healey, said he had a number of health difficulties and deserved credit for his guilty plea.

“He is a 70 year-old man.”

February 2015

Convicted child molester jailed for befriending families who he met at church so he could gain access to their children

A sex offender has been jailed for befriending families who he met at church so he could gain access to their children.

Richard Cassidy offered a job and loaned money to one family and was so successful in winning their trust that they invited him to Christmas dinner.

He did not tell them anything about his past as a convicted child molester who has been to jail before for using the church as a way to meet and groom families.

He joined the Mount Olive Ministries in Coffinswell, Newton Abbot, and posed as a lonely man in search of support.

He also ran his own building business in South Devon and offered work to one of his fellow worshippers, who he also lent money to.

He spent Christmas Day with the family. He carried their children on his shoulders and at one stage was left alone with them as the parents were busy cooking in the kitchen.

Cassidy has a history of lying about his past so he can gain access to children. He was originally jailed in 1985 for abusing children

He was jailed again in Nottingham in the 1990s for abusing a girl after meeting her family at church.

He worked at a holiday park in Dorset where he offered a home to a single parent and then took indecent photographs of their six year-old daughter.

In 2009 he was jailed in Truro after being spotted talking to children in a rock pool at a beach and it was found he had also been grooming families who he met at a Methodist church.

His pattern of grooming was so marked that he was made subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which required him to tell police public protection teams as soon as he joined a congregation.

He was also banned from unsupervised contact with any child and with lending money or offering a home to any parent, because he had used both these methods to befriend families in the past.

Cassidy, aged 51, of Old Torquay Road, Paignton, who has also used the surname Salisbury, admitted five offences of breaching a Sexual Offence Prevention Order and was jailed for two years by Judge Phillip Wassall at Exeter Crown Court.

The Judge told him:”This was grooming behaviour, not only of children but families. Once again you joined a church and began to befriend families within the church with young children.

“You loaned them money, as you have done in the past, lending a total of £670 in four different advances altogether.

“You groomed families so you could gain access to children. Whatever your motive, the issue is the risk you posed. You drove right through the heart of the order.

“It was a direct breach of the order. You were doing precisely what you were ordered not to do in a way which put the public at risk.

“You were left unsupervised with the children when the parents closed the kitchen door. They were completely unaware you were a convicted sex offender.

“The gravity of this offence is the grooming of a family who unsuspectingly put their children at risk from a known sex offender. That risk is too high and is unacceptable.

“Anyone who breaches an order with grooming behaviour in a persistent way must be met with severe punishment so the public can have confidence in them.”

Mr David Bowen, prosecuting, said Cassidy was subject to a specially adapted SOPO which had been modified to reflect the methods he used in previous offending.

It included a prohibition against lending money to any parent of a young family and a requirement to dell police the name and address of any church he attended more than twice.

He said he had offered loans in December and January to the family and been left alone with their two children briefly after being invited to their home.

Mr Paul Dentith, defending, said the father of the family had approached him and asked him for work as a builder and purpose of offering loans was help them out by advancing wages.

He said there was no prohibition on him visiting the family but he found himself in breach of the order when left alone and unsupervised with the children when the parents closed the kitchen door to prevent cooking smells filling the house.

He said the children had been interviewed by police and there was no suggestion that Cassidy had tried to do anything inappropriate.

February 2015

Pervert groomed underage girls at disco he set up

PERVERT Danny Taylor-Foote groomed teenage girls asking them for sex through his under-18s disco night.

The 22-year-old appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court and admitted four counts of inciting two underage girls into sexual activity.

The court heard Taylor-Foote had met the girls two years ago through a night he had co-organised called Rekless, which was specifically for under-18s.

The night was at Pure Nightclub, in Guildhall Walk and attracted hundreds of youngsters.

Taylor-Foote began messaging his victims through a Facebook group set up to promote the night before moving over to his personal account to hide his deception from the other organisers.

The teenage girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the incidents had a lasting effect on their lives, leading them to fail exams and affecting their physical and mental health.

Statements from the girls were given to the judge. They said they felt particularly aggrieved as Taylor-Foote had gone on to have a successful career opening hair salons, while they had felt held back by the lasting effects of his actions.

One girl, who was just 13 when the pair met, said the relationship had taken a sinister turn when she turned 14.

Taylor-Foote, who had lied about his age when they first met, saying he was 18, would take her in his car to Southsea and Eastney seafront and pester her for sex acts. He led her to believe that she was his girlfriend and arranged to take her to Brighton for the weekend for her 15th birthday, knowing that she was still at school.

Taylor-Foote admitted kissing and touching her over her clothing, but said the relationship did not develop further.

The other girl, who was also 14 when Taylor-Foote began suggesting sexual activity to her, met him through the disco night’s Facebook group.

He would send her messages on the social network asking for sexy pictures.

She complied and sent pictures of herself in provocative poses in underwear, which were found when police arrested him in May 2013 after the previous relationship came to light.

Taylor-Foote’s defence Elisabeth Bussey-Jones said: ‘Mr Taylor-Foote is acutely aware that he has made grave errors.’

Judge Sarah Munro QC said: ‘Your treatment of them has had a devastating effect on their home life and on their education. They rightly feel that while you have a successful business they are yet to reach their full potential.’

Taylor-Foote, of Stubbington Avenue, North End, Portsmouth pleaded guilty to the four counts.

Judge Munro sentenced Taylor-Foote to two years in prison for the four offences, suspended for two years. She said: ‘This is the chance you need and it is a chance to put all this behind you.’

Taylor-Foote must sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years and attend 100 days of a Thames Valley Sex Offenders Group Programme.

He must also pay £1,000 in court costs and he was given a Sexual Offenders Prevention Order preventing him from contacting girls under 16 online.

Abuse caused lasting damage to both teenagers

ONE of the teenage girls groomed by Taylor-Foote said she was so upset by the abuse she tried to kill herself.

She was embarrassed about sending pictures of herself in underwear to him, after she felt pressured into doing so, and didn’t know where to turn for help.

In a statement, she said: ‘One evening I walked to the footbridge at Fratton railway deciding that I wanted to jump on to the tracks and take my own life. It was only because a man grabbed me that I didn’t jump.’

As Taylor-Foote originally pleaded not guilty to the charges, only admitting the four counts on the first day of trial, the two girls were prepared to give evidence, which added to their stress.

The other girl said in her statement: ‘Since being told I would be giving evidence I have suffered depression.

‘He was aware of what he had done and could have pleaded guilty a lot sooner and stopped a lot of this unnecessary pressure and worry.’

Det Con Paul Stenton praised the victims for their bravery.

He said: ‘Taylor-Foote targeted young women, vulnerable due to their age. He used his position to gain their trust.’

January 2010

Serial rapist’s 18-year sentence upheld

A sex predator jailed for raping two schoolgirls more than 30 years ago has had his 18-year sentence upheld – despite pleas for mercy due to his failing health.

Norman Battersby, aged 64, was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court last February after he was convicted of 18 counts of rape – and other offences of indecent assault.

Battersby, of Greenwood Crescent, Wickersley, Rotherham, consistently denied guilt, and has shown no remorse, London’s Appeal Court heard.

Lord Justice Maurice Kay, sitting with Mr Justice David Clarke and Mrs Justice Sharp, said it was one of the worst abuse cases he had seen.

It involved repeated rapes of two vulnerable schoolgirls – one of whom was smeared with excrement and nearly forced into prostitution.

Both victims were traumatised by their ordeals, which had blighted their childhoods, and only came forward to accuse him when they were grown women in their 40s.

Battersby’s legal team acknowledged the 18-year term was “within the sentencing guidelines”, but urged the Appeal Court to grant a heavy cut because of his fragile health.

Battersby has suffered two mini-strokes in the past, and is on a cocktail of medication to control high blood pressure, arthritis and glaucoma. But Lord Justice Kay said the 18-year sentence was fully deserved for this “horrendous catalogue of abuse”.

Battersby’s medical condition was “not uncommon to a man of his age”, observed the judge. He added there was no reason to show mercy to a man who had committed such “appalling” crimes.