April 2015

Pervert sexually abused under-age girl

A SEX offender is facing a long jail sentence after a jury convicted him of a series of sex offences committed over a five-year period.

Lee Sean Malcolm Howden, 48, gave an under-age girl money and lifts in his car, Rupert Dodswell, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

He sexually assaulted her on several occasions and also used his phone to covertly take videos and photos of her, and another girl, separately without their knowledge.

A member of his family found the images on his phone and the police were called.

Howden denied behaving improperly towards the first girl and of having any sexual interest in her or the second girl.

He claimed the videos and photos had been taken by mistake and that he gave the first girl money because he liked her.

A jury convicted Howden, of Dene Close, Hensall, near Eggborough, of three charges of sexual assault against the first teenager and three of voyeurism. He had denied all the charges.

Judge Deborah Sherwin adjourned his case while probation officers prepared a report on him including the danger he poses to girls in the future.

His barrister Allan Armbrister said: “The defendant appreciates he is facing a lengthy custodial sentence for these matters” and asked for bail until he is sentenced.

The judge remanded him in custody, saying: “I heard evidence during the trial that the defendant had taken an overdose. I appreciate that was denied by him. I do have concerns bearing in mind what the inevitable sentence is likely to be.”

Howden will be sentenced at Newcastle Crown Court on May 28. The offences were committed between January 2008 and August 2013.

During a five-day trial, the jury heard evidence from both girls and the female visitor.

They also heard that Howden had been admitted to hospital with a paracetamol overdose after he had sent text messages indicating he had done wrong.

May 2005

Pensioner jailed over indecent images of children

A pensioner who was caught secretly filming two young naked girls playing in the Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park has been jailed for 15 months.

Selwyn Cook, 65, of Thornton Heath, Surrey, was spotted zooming in on the girls in July last year.

He admitted charges of making and possessing indecent images of children at Southwark Crown Court on Friday.

Footage of youngsters climbing over the lions statues in Trafalgar Square was also found on his camcorder.

Officers recovered hundreds of illicit images on his home computers.

Earlier this week, the mayor warned parents to be on their guard against strangers using new technology to take pictures of children in public places.

Cook, who has eight previous convictions stretching back 33 years for preying on young girls, was also banned from taking any recording equipment into a public place where children might be playing.

Passing sentence Judge Christopher Hardy said: “You took advantage of young children in public places.

“Children are entitled to privacy and dignity and have the right to play without being interfered with.

“New technology is making it increasingly easier for this type of offence to be committed and is all the more reason why this sort of behaviour has to be discouraged.”

April 2015

Hull man distributed indecent photographs

A man who distributed indecent photographs has been handed a three-year community order.

Gary Walsh, 43, of Shannon Road, east Hull, pleaded guilty to distributing the images, alongside possessing indecent photographs and extreme pornographic images.

He appeared at Hull Crown Court yesterday for sentencing.

Walsh was given the community order with supervision and will also have to complete a sex offender group programme.

June 2004

A PAEDOPHILE who befriended a series of parents in Banbury in order to sexually abuse their young boys has been jailed.

Oxford Crown Court heard that Alan Johnston, 43, of Poolside Close, who has a previous conviction for indecent assault on a boy under 16, gained the trust of the families before starting a campaign of abuse against seven boys, who aged ten and 11 when their ordeal began in April 2000.

They later criticised the sentence and said they were terrified at the prospect of Johnston returning to Banbury when he is released.

Robin Sellers, prosecuting at the court hearing on Friday, said: “From the day he moved into Banbury, the defendant showed a hand of friendship to two of the boys’ parents, introducing himself straight away. He was good at communicating with children and skilful at gaining their confidence.

“It came to the point that the boys were allowed to play computer games at his flat and were going round between three and four times a week.”

Johnston was invited for meals at one of the family’s homes and even went on holiday with them.

“Johnston asked if one of the boys be allowed to stay over in his flat. He said he was lonely and liked having the company.

“It was around this time when a programme of constant regular abuse of two of the boys began,” Mr Sellers said.

Through the first family, Johnston befriended others, often carrying out the abuse with two or three children in the room.

He bribed the boys with computer games, CDs, chocolate and cigarettes and said if they told anyone he would kill himself. Johnston also frightened the boys into keeping quiet by telling them about his previous conviction and by making up a story that he had been in prison and beaten someone up.

The court heard that on one occasion one of the boys cried out for his mother. Johnston had mentioned this to the parents the next day, saying he had had to comfort the boy when he had a nightmare.

The abuse continued for four years, during which time several of the boys started to show behavioural problems.

The abuse only came to light on February 13 this year, when one of the boys did not return home when he should have.

Mr Sellers said: “The police were informed and his father went to look for him.

“His father asked him about his behaviour and it all came out – he said it had happened to him on about 30 or 40 occasions over the years.”

Another boy said Johnston had performed up to 200 sex acts on him and that they were made to watch pornographic videos before the acts were performed.

Johnston was arrested on February 14. When police arrived at his house he had taken an overdose and had to be taken to hospital.

Johnston later pleaded guilty to 20 charges of indecent assault on a male under 16, one of indecency with a child and two serious sexual offences. He asked for 38 other offences to be taken into consideration, but denied two further accusations of serious sexual offences, which will lie on file.

In mitigation, David Bright said: “Johnston is a man who for all his evil has admitted his crimes and avoided putting any of those boys through the additional ordeal of a trial. He seems to have made a sincere effort to comprehend the the deep degree of hurt that he has caused, not only to the boys but also to the parents and families.”

Johnston was jailed for eight years and put on license for a further three. He will be on the sex offender register for life.

Sentencing, Judge Julian Hall said: “I have to make sure you are not at liberty for a long time to commit any offences like this and that after you are released best efforts are made to reform you.

“I am afraid this is probably a way of life now for you.”

After the hearing, Det Sgt Paul Gibbard said: “I am pleased that Johnston has been given a substantial custodial sentence.

“We have taken a very dangerous person off the streets for a considerable period of time and even on release, he will be subject to the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

“We have also shown an extremely vulnerable group of people that we do listen and take such allegations seriously.”

April 2004

Paedophile in party shock

A VOLUNTEER community worker jailed for having more than 7,000 indecent images of children had played Father Christmas at a party for local youngsters, say shocked residents.

John Atkinson, 53, of Cameron Street, Kensington, was jailed for two-and-half years at Liverpool crown court yesterday after pleading guilty to 28 offences of making and possessing indecent images.

Atkinson, who used the alias Simon Dalton, was a volunteer for Kensington Regeneration Project and a respected member of the community.

But the court heard he had a “library of abuse” and perverted framed images of children on the wall of his home.

Now Kensington residents want to know why Atkinson, who had previous child sex abuse convictions, was working in their community without them being aware of his past.

Needham Residents’ Association member Jan Kelly said she met Atkinson four years ago but knew him as Simon Dalton.

Mrs Kelly, 44, said he attended community meetings and was chairman of the crime and safety group in the area which worked with the police.

She said: “He worked with the police to get CCTV cameras up and running.

“Everyone knew him as Simon Dalton. We didn’t know he had a past.

“He was quite a nice man and three years ago we had him as a Father Christmas. He must have thought it was his birthday.”

She claimed Atkinson set up his own group called The Phoenix Group, campaigning for a community centre.

“I feel let down by the police and the law,” she said.

“He’ll probably be out at Christmas. What’s to stop him changing

Doreen Moseley, 53, vice-chairwoman of Needham Residents’ Association, added: “In the news it said he has previous convictions for this type of offence – how could he work in our community?

“The community is dumbfounded. He had been our father Christmas at a children’s Christmas party in the Manor House on Edge Lane in 2001.”

Mother-of-three Sherry Lee, 39, said: “We are disgusted.”

And Phil Hopkins, 43, a sports coach for a community-based project, said: “He got two-and-a-half years but what will he serve? And where will he be housed when he’s out?

“They’ll just move the problem.”

PROSECUTOR Keith Sutton told Liverpool crown court that Atkinson’s perverted lifestyle was revealed last December, as he and his brother sorted through items at their late mother’s Crosby home.

Atkinson often spent time there and his brother found DVDs and CDs with indecent cover photographs of children.

The court was told he informed police who searched Atkinson’s home in Cameron Street and found a vast quantity of indecent images, four of which were framed and hanging on a wall.

On Atkinson’s computer, police found 7,182 pictures of children being abused and more pornography in a safe.

Also found were children’s games, videos of television programmes relating to child behaviour and nappies.

The court heard that Atkinson was convicted of six indecent assaults on children in 1993.

February 2006

A PREDATORY paedophile who repeatedly abused a 12-year-old girl shortly after being released from prison has been jailed for 10-and-a-half years.

Terence Thatcher, 38, made contact with the mother of the girl over an internet chat site and “charmed” his way into her life, said a judge.

That was less than four weeks after being released early from a four-year sentence for indecent assault.

He learned immediately that she had a daughter, and although he did not meet the girl for almost a year he subtly groomed her by sending her expensive presents, while conducting a long distance relationship with her mother, Luton Crown Court was told.

Then on the first day he met her he set up a hidden video camera to film her undressing, said prosecutor Mark Wyeth.

Within days he was indecently touching her and was then repeatedly abusing her and photographing her at holiday homes he rented.

He even took her and a young friend to a Busted concert, but then made the girl feel obliged to do something for him in turn for the treats he was giving her.

The court heard that while in prison the last time he had undergone sex therapy work, and was on prison licence with strict conditions, which he appeared to be complying with.

But when the fresh allegations came to light, police seized six computers he had access to and found more than 10,000 indecent images, including some of the victim of his sex abuse.

There were a further 170,000 images that had not been possible to examine.

Thatcher, who was housed in Biggleswade on his release from prison in June 2003, pleaded guilty to six charges of sexual assault between July 2004 and January 2005. He asked for 35 offences of taking and making indecent images of children to be taken into consideration.

Mr Wyeth said Thatcher’s last sentence included a six-year extended licence which was intended to protect young girls after his release from prison.

Judge John Bevan QC told him last Thursday that he must first serve four-and-a-half years of that sentence before starting a six-year sentence for the new offences.

He will then be on licence for a further six years. He will also be subject to restrictions on his contact with children for the rest of his life.

The court was told that the girl and her mother lived abroad and Thatcher told her he could not travel to see her because he was on probation for attacking an 18-year-old boy. He assured her he had never been to prison.

Judge Bevan said: “If you had told her the truth she would never have let you anywhere near her daughter.

“Through lies and charm you worked on the affections of the girl’s mother and then set about grooming her daughter.

“You are an active, persistent, predatory, dangerous abuser of children. You made no real attempt to resist your urges and in my view you remain a danger to young girls.”

Thatcher also had a previous conviction in 1993 for indecent assault, and another for sending obscene material.

Mr Wyeth said that in his police interview Thatcher admitted he was attracted to naive girls aged 13 to 18, but images on his computer included many of much younger children.

December 2006

Paedophile jailed again

A CONVICTED Lynn paedophile was caught chatting to two ten-year-old girls just hours after he was released from prison for breaching a sex offenders’ order.

John Aldridge was spotted by an off-duty police officer asking the girls their names, ages and addresses in Tower Street, Lynn, on August 30.

In Lynn Crown Court on Friday, the 55-year-old former teacher, of King Street, was found guilty of “associating” with the girls and was jailed for 18 months.

A jury of seven men and five women took just over an hour to unanimously convict Aldridge of breaching the terms of a sex offenders’ order imposed after two previous indecent assaults on teenage girls in the 1990s.

On reaching their verdict after a four-day trial the jury were told Aldridge had twice been convicted of breaching the order before.

The court was told Aldridge was cycling through Lynn on August 30 heading for the railway station, when the offence occurred.

On the stand he told his barrister Robert Dalling he had needed to inflate a tyre, so he stopped at a bench on the corner of Regent Way.

Theresa Bradley, a civilian employee at Lynn Police Station, was standing across the road and recognised him.

Aldridge said: “As I was starting to pump the tyre I heard a small voice behind me. The words were something like ‘Do we know that man?'”

He said the girls had been sharing a bike and he asked them to go away.

“I said it loudly because I wanted the policewoman to hear it so she could be a witness for me,” he said.

“I knew it was not a good situation – I had got a policewoman, CCTV cameras and the police station right there. I didn’t want to have these children anywhere near me.”

He said he cycled away but the two girls followed him. He was arrested moments later by four police officers on County Court Road after Mrs Bradley had radioed the station to report the incident.

Under cross examination from prosecutor Hugh Vass, Aldridge insisted his previous convictions – for six indecent assaults on teenage girls at Hunstanton’s Oasis Leisure Centre and two more in a Bath swimming pool – were wrong.

Mr Vass suggested: “You are a cunning, devious and furtive individual, are you not?”

Aldridge told him: “I would have to have an IQ smaller than my shoe size to have begun committing offences with a policewoman, CCTV cameras and a police station nearby.”

He said he had been a schoolmaster for eight years and “wouldn’t harm a hair on a child’s head.”

He swooned in the dock and held the back of his hand to his brow as Judge Jeremy Richards sentenced him to the minimum term of 18 months imprisonment.

Judge Richards said: “It is a breach which was carried out on the very day you were released from the last custodial sentence passed by the courts. I think it is more likely than not that you did not set up the meeting with the children and you were not on the lookout for children. It was opportunistic rather than calculated.

“Childhood is one of the most important times for any being. Children are entitled to be and feel safe. Their innocence is to be treasured. Their trust is to be envied. It must be the duty of any civilised society to ensure those children are protected. They are, after all, the future of all of us.

“It seems to me that you are unable to come to terms with the situation you currently find yourself in.

“You are an educated man in denial about this conviction and I have little doubt you do not accept the verdict of this jury.”

The judge turned to the jury and added: “In this risk-averse society I do hope children are still going to be allowed to go out on their bicycles.”

March 2006

Paedophile optometrist struck off

An optometrist whose computer contained around 600 pornographic images of children has been struck off.

The images were found when police raided the London home of Ashley Gould in 2004. Investigations discovered 457 still images and a further 142 moving ones.

Later, in July 2005, he pleaded guilty at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court to five charges of making an indecent photograph of a child and two counts of having indecent photographs of children.

On July 29 2005 he was convicted and subsequently sentenced to a three-year rehabilitation order with a requirement to attend the sex offenders programme as directed and to sign onto the sex offenders register for five years.

Although Gould admitted his conviction at last week’s fitness to practise hearing, he claimed that the panel should not strike him off, arguing that his conviction did not prevent him from practising as an optometrist.

Gould had worked at a London practice until October last year when he was given a six-month interim order suspension.

He told the hearing: ‘I accept having images of males under the age of 18 – and they were serious, repeated offences. I appreciate the gravity of the behaviour.’

However, he said his motive in looking at the internet sites was ‘an expression of curiosity’. However, his testimony did not impress the GOC‘s panel which decided his offences and sentence impaired his fitness to practise.

Corinna Kershaw, chair of the committee, told him: ‘The committee found the offences for which the registrant was convicted were very serious and would be rightly so regarded by any reasonable person knowing all the material facts.

The committee accepted that there was mitigation in the registrant’s case, particularly his plea of guilt, which was reflected in the sentence that he received.

‘However, bearing in mind the gravity of convictions and the fact that he is subject to supervision and a requirement to attend a sex offenders programme, the committee concluded that the only way to protect the public, maintain public confidence in the profession and the profession’s own confidence in its proper professional standards was to erase the registrant’s name from the register.

‘To reflect the fact that the registrant has not completed his sentence, including the sex offenders programme found by the court to be necessary in his case, the committee ordered that the registrant be suspended from the register with immediate effect and that this suspension shall last until such time as the period for appealing the erasure order has expired or any appeal in this matter has been determined.’

July 2005

Pervert used sign-in name “Paedo Guy” to swap info with other paedophiles

A paedophile caught using an internet chatroom has been jailed for 10 months after a judge refused to accept he had acted out of curiosity.

Leicester Crown Court heard how James Joseph Banacek, then 19, used the sign-in name “Paedo Guy” to swap information with other perverts.

He also passed on an indecent image of a 12-year-old girl and gave details of a sickening stash of porn stored on his home computer.

He pleaded guilty to five charges of making indecent images of children and six offences of possessing indecent images of children.

Banacek (21), who committed the offences between June and December 2003, also admitted an offence of distributing indecent photos.

Balraj Bhatia, prosecuting, said police uncovered the haul of paedophilia when they raided Banacek’s home in Stafford Avenue, Melton.

The court heard that when officers tried to gain access they were delayed by the teenager’s father, who insisted his son was asleep.

But when they finally made it upstairs they found he was trying to destroy compact discs and files that contained vile images of abused children.

Police found a total of 83 images of abused youngsters stored on the equipment, include moving images of young children being molested.

At first Banacek claimed somebody had hacked into his computer and placed the files there.

Passing sentence, Judge Philip Head said the images represented “very, very serious child pornography.”

He ordered Banacek be placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

June 2005

Paedophile jailed for 11 years

A ONE-time social services director has been jailed for 11 years over a catalogue of sexual attacks on children dating back over 30 years.

Ronald Hall and an accomplice preyed on his young victims while running a children’s home during the sixties and seventies in South Manchester.

See also – Rosehill/Broome House/Mobberley Boys School

Hall later became the assistant director of Manchester Social Services, with hundreds of young children under his care.

A jury at Manchester Crown Court found the 67-year-old guilty of 18 counts of sexual assaults on children on Monday.

Ian Gray – Hall’s deputy between 1972 and 1976 – was also convicted in March of similar sexual offences against children in Manchester and in the West Midlands and was sentenced to 14 years in jail.

An earlier reporting restriction on Gray means that only now can we publish details of his crimes.

The evil duo’s depraved attacks were uncovered in a joint police and social services operation codenamed Cleopatra, which was launched in 1997 after a number of victims came forward.

They found that Hall – who before his conviction had moved to live in Northumberland – molested children in his car, at a number of houses he owned, during holidays and in a Manchester theatre.

Four of Gray’s victims were abused as a warden at a South Manchester children’s home, others were attacked at a centre in the West Midlands.

As the operation unravelled the extent of Hall and Gray’s crimes, 20 police officers and six social services investigators were assigned to the case, which looked at 60 care homes in Greater Manchester and two in the West Midlands.

January 2004

Paedophile jailed for computer images

JEFFREY Lloyd’s girlfriend shopped him to the police after discovering filthy child abuse images on his computer.

The 39-year-old had downloaded indecent and abusive pictures, showing sexual acts between adults and children.

Lloyd, from Middlewich Road, Northwich, was rumbled by his girlfriend’s 10-year-old daughter who pushed a button on his computer only for pictures of children to appear on the screen.

She alerted her mother who checked the computer and found that a number of websites depicting child pornography had been visited recently.

These included references to child rape and sexual encounters of a 13-year-old.

Chester Crown Court heard the sordid details on Friday as Lloyd was sentenced to six months in prison for possession of child pornography.

Prosector Wyn Lloyd Jones told the court that Lloyd had begun a relationship with the woman in late 2002. Ironically, he had met the mother-of-four through the Internet.

But on February 5 last year his interest in child pornography was exposed by his girlfriend who contacted the police.

Lloyd was arrested at Morrison’s distribution centre in Rudheath, where he worked, and he admitted knowledge of the offence. Police seized his computer and discovered that Lloyd had down-loaded a file-sharing program which allowed other Internet users to view files that Lloyd himself had obtained from the web.

A total of 20 obscene pictures was found, including five depicting acts of intercourse between adults and children under the age of 10.

Mr Lloyd Jones said: ‘When he was online, these 20 images were available to other users around the world.’

Lloyd admitted downloading the child pornography and knew it was an offence, said Mr Lloyd Jones.

Defending barrister Tom Fitzpatrick explained that there was only a tiny number of images and that they had been deleted as soon as he had seen them.

However, Judge Stephen Clarke said the court had to act on a matter which involved acts of rape against children.

‘People such as yourself are playing your part in the exploitation of children because without your interest in these sites they would not exist,’ he said.

‘We need to protect children from yourself and those who use them in this revolting way.’

Sentencing Lloyd to six months in prison, plus a further two years on licence, Judge Clarke added: ‘Though these images are small in number, they are of such seriousness that an extended sentence is needed.’

Lloyd’s name was also put on the sex offender’s register for a period of seven years.

July 2006

‘Violent paedophile’ caged for six years

A MANSFIELD man branded a ‘violent paedophile’ by a judge has been jailed for six years.

Derek Bazeley (41), of King Street, sexually abused a 12-year-old girl and beat a young boy with a spiked belt.

The girl told police he threatened her with a belt and told her if he went to prison he would come back and kill her, Nottingham Crown Court was told on Friday.

February 2006

Paedophile Protest

ANGRY protesters gathered outside a court hearing on Friday where a convicted paedophile pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl.

Michael Alan France, 40, was allowed to leave the court building from the back door to avoid the crowd, who planned to pelt him with flour and eggs.

France, formerly of Wilton Estate, pleaded guilty to sexually touching a girl under 13 at Batley and Dewsbury Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

He was released on conditional bail and will be sentenced at Leeds Crown Court at a later date.

France was convicted of four charges of gross indecency with a child and two of inciting gross indecency with a child in 1998 and was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Because of these previous convictions France has to remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register until 2008.

The family of his latest victim said they wanted information on sex offenders to be made public knowledge.

The girl’s mother said: “If we had known what he had done we would never have let our kids go round to his house, and we would have made sure he was never on his own with them.”

The girl’s stepfather was recently arrested for putting up inflammatory posters and spent six hours in custody.

The abuse of the 12-year-old girl started in July 2004.

The court heard France began by kissing the girl on the cheek and telling her he loved her and was there for her if she needed a father figure and wanted someone to talk to.

It then progressed to kissing on the mouth and touching her breasts through her top.

Prosecutor Miss Clodagh Maguire said when arrested France admitted most of the charges and told police he could not help himself.

The girl’s mother said she has been devastated by the abuse. She now lives out of the area with relatives.

France’s current address was not revealed during the hearing. The magistrate said the address, which France is bailed to, should be kept a secret to prevent other residents from being harmed.

France’s parents’ home in Carlinghow has been targeted by vandals.

His estranged family have also moved out of their home.

December 2005

Paedophile jailed for two years

A PAEDOPHILE has been sent to prison for two years and three months after admitting two counts of sexually assaulting two girls under 13 in Winsford.

Once Michael Carl Appleton comes out of prison he will be monitored for a total of 63 months.

Appleton, who moved to Flintshire from Ways Green, Winsford, appeared at Chester Crown Court last Wednesday.

He had originally appeared on October 18 when he had changed his plea and admitted the offences.

DC Louise Henson, who worked on the case, said: “This was a particularly traumatic case for the victims and I applaud the bravery they have shown throughout the investigation.

“I hope they gain a little comfort from the fact that Appleton is now behind bars and I hope they can at least begin to make a start on getting on with their lives.”

DC Henson said sexual offence cases could be complex and difficult to investigate. But she said she wanted to reassure victims that it did not mean police were not equipped to deal with them.

She added: “I hope this case sends out a clear message to victims that there is help available.

“I hope it also sends out a clear message to the minority of sexual offenders that they cannot and will not get away with these type of crimes.”

June 2006

New ruling on paedophile who went free

A convicted paedophile allowed to walk free from court might be put behind bars after all.

Nelson Doe, 61, of Hillside, Patching, near Worthing, pleaded guilty to three charges of “sexual activity” with an under-age girl last month.

But after hearing a glowing character reference from Doe’s daughter, Judge Thorpe told him at Chichester Crown Court he would not be sent to jail unless he re-offended in the next two years.

The Crown Prosecution Service submitted an appeal to the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, who has passed the sentencing to the Court of Appeal. A hearing is expected in a few weeks’ time.

The mother of Doe’s 15-year-old girl victim said it was “brilliant news”.

She said: “I hope he goes down for a long time but we’ll just have to wait and see.

“He should have been jailed in the first place and the last few weeks have been horrendous.

“He has been so arrogant about being out and about, laughing in the face of justice, and it’s been so upsetting for my daughter. The sentence undermined the seriousness of the crime and made it look as if it was all a big lie.

“She felt she put herself through the whole process for nothing. I’ve had to tell her what she did was right and the authorities recognised what he did was wrong. Unfortunately the punishment didn’t fit the bill.”

The trial heard Doe admitted twice having sex with the girl and intimately touched her between September 2004 and September 2005.

He was expected to be jailed for two years but instead Judge Thorpe sentenced him to 51 weeks in custody, suspended for two years, and ordered him to pay £700 costs.

Doe was put on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and disqualified from working with children.

His daughter Emma Doe, 32, told the court how well Doe had brought her up, along with her two brothers and sisters, after their mother left him. He had to stop working shortly afterwards after suffering injury in a car crash.

Sentencing Doe, Judge Thorpe said: “You have escaped prison by a hair’s breadth because of your daughter. This is a remarkably lenient sentence.”

The girl, who self-harmed for two months and ran away after details of the abuse were revealed to her family, said afterwards she felt let down by the justice system.

She said: “If I knew what I do now I wouldn’t have gone ahead with the case. He’s still free to go and do it to other people.”

The sentence sparked outrage among children’s charities. Kidscape spokeswoman Nikki Kerr said: “I am shocked, horrified and disgusted. This man who has abused a child is a nasty piece of work and has practically got away with it.”

We would like to clarify Nelson Doe, 64, of Durrington Lane, Durrington, is not connected or associated in any way to the case of Nelson Doe, 61, of Hillside, Patching.

March 2004

Paedophile had indecent pictures of children

A PAEDOPHILE who down-loaded more than 100 sexually explicit photographs of girls aged as young as 11 has escaped a jail sentence.

Ivon Roberts, 41, from Burgess Close, Stapeley, downloaded the images after paying to join a web-site peddling child abuse images.

The married father-of-two then copied a number of the photo-graphs onto a CD which he hid amongst books in his study.

He was caught following an operation by American police targeting the owners of US firm Landslide Incorporated, which ran the so-called Lolita site.

They found Roberts’s name, address and credit card details on the firm’s database and passed evidence to Cheshire Constabulary.

Roberts, who owned a railway construction firm, was sentenced after pleading guilty to six counts of possessing indecent images.

A further 10 charges of making indecent images of children had been ordered to lie on file following an earlier court hearing.

Chester Crown Court heard Roberts kept 136 pictures of naked girls aged 11, 12 and 13, on a disc labelled Intercity which he viewed repeatedly over a year.

Wyn Lloyd-Jones prosecuting, said: ‘He admitted the images had a potential to arouse him. ‘

Mark Le Broq, defending said his client was a of good character, had no previous convictions and pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity.

Since his initial court appearances Roberts’ business had collapsed as a result of the publicity and he had lost his home.

He is now living in a separate house to his wife and children and surviving off £63 incapacity benefit he due to depression.

Mr Le Broq said:’ His fall from grace has been quite considerable.’

Judge Stephen Clarke retired to view the images.

Judge Stephen Clarke confiscated the CD and Roberts’ Dell laptop computer and listed his name on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the next five years.

He said: ‘These cases involve the exploitation of the young. When they are photographed, whether they look happy or not, they are being physically, emotionally and mentally abused.’

June 2010

Finchley man facing 14 years for 5-year sexual abuse of young girl

A PAEDOPHILE who groomed and sexually assaulted a young girl over a five-year period has been jailed for 14 years today.

John Reed, of Finchley, pleaded guilty to 11 counts including filming himself having oral sex with the girl, and taking photographs of her in “various states of undress” aged as young as nine.

The unemployed 49-year-old failed to appear at Wood Green Crown Court for his sentencing today, after refusing to leave his prison cell this morning.

Many of the incidents happened when the victim was aged between eight and 13. He used drugs and booze to coerce her into the sexual acts.

She had never told her family of the abuse, which was only uncovered when police raided Reed’s home in Coppetts Close, after he had been caught looking at child abuse images on the internet.

On the “numerous” PCs seized they discovered a file with the victim’s name on it, which contained a video of Reed engaging in oral sex with the girl aged just 12. Cannabis plants were also growing at the address.

In mitigation, defence barrister Fride Hussain told the court: “He pleaded guilty, there must inevitably create a great deal of shame that releases.

“One reason he is not here is he may not be able to confront the great many people in court. The plea of guilt is the first step and the first time he has ever admitted it’s so terribly wrong.

“He needs to have a good look at himself and address the issues that led him to do what he did.”

She said his guilty plea, despite coming on the morning his trial was due to start, should act as a mitigating factor in the case.

A victim impact statement given to the court told how she had been affected mentally and sexually, and the abuse had led to bouts of depression and a battle with “self-medication” with drugs to help her cope.

The girl, who was in court to hear the sentence, wept as judge Recorder Oliver Davies QC listed the roll call of vile crimes he admitted to, leaving four other counts on file.

Sentencing the judge said: “They are about as serious offences of a sexual nature as you can imagine. You only have to look at the victim impact statement to see the effect it’s had upon her.

“It includes the familiar damage and injury caused by sexual abuse from a very early age. She describes the feeling of being robbed of her virginity, depression, experiences of recall caused by triggers that occur in everyday life.

“It’s impacted the conduct of her relationships and has led her, through this unhappy situation, to self medicate. I can only imagine what it was like for this child to carry the burden of what had occurred for so long, keeping it to herself.”

He added: “Any offences that involve the violation of a person and jeopardises their healthy sexual and mental development is about as serious an injury as you can inflict on a person, let alone a child.”

He ordered 14 years imprisonment for the count of oral rape, with the other offences receiving sentences between six and twelve months to run concurrent to that.

April 2015

A CONVICTED paedophile who carried out sex attacks on schoolgirls in Dudley and Stourbridge has been locked up for nine years.

Judge Amjad Nawaz at Wolverhampton Crown Court told Anthony Showell he would be on licence for a further four years and warned him he would only be allowed back into society when authorities felt he was safe.

He told the 58-year-old: “I am in no doubt you represent a real danger to young girls.”

The Judge said Showell had shown a degree of determination, planning and bravado in committing the crimes against two vulnerable victims.

He added: “You displayed predatory behaviour. You befriended families who had children and you betrayed their trust.”

He said Showell had groomed one victim over a period of time to get sexual gratification and his thinking had been “warped” in what was a “disturbing” case.

The Judge said previous prison sentences for similar offending had done nothing to deter Showell from carrying out sex attacks on children and his offending had badly affected their young lives.

Showell had been working as a barman in a Stourbridge pub when he sexually assaulted his first victim who was just nine – Tim Harrington, prosecuting, said.

The girl had kept what happened to herself until finally revealing the abuse to a friend but by then Showell had fled the area when it became known he was a sex offender.

He then turned up in the Dudley area where he found work in a social club and he then befriended another young girl who was “deliberately targeted”.

Mr Harrington said Showell was showing kindness to the 15-year-old when she was in fact being groomed for sexual activity and it was only after she confided in her mother that he was arrested.

There were a total of 30 crimes on his record, the prosecutor added, and 11 related to sexual offending.

Showell, who was jailed for two years in 1998 and then for six years in 2004, committed the latest offences in breach of a Sexual Offenders Protection Order, said Mr Harrington, which ruled he should have no contact at all with young girls under 16.

Mr Harrington added: “This is a man who took advantage of the situation he was in. There was a significant degree of planning and grooming in his offending.”

Gurdeep Garcha, defending, said Showell had spared his young victims the ordeal of having to give evidence with his guilty pleas.

He added: “He has already indicated he deserves to be in prison. There is a very real prospect he will never be allowed back into society. Measures in the past to protect victims have not stopped him.”

Showell, now of no fixed address, admitted five charges involving sexual activity with a child and serious sexual assault and the Judge said reports prepared for his sentencing made “frightening reading”.

April 2015

April 2015

Co Down man had more than million child abuse images

A Co Down internet pervert who admitted downloading more than a million images of children being abused has been remanded into custody and warned that he faces “an inevitable” jail term.

Refusing to release 37-year-old Simon Hosick on bail at Downpatrick Crown Court, Judge Piers Grant said he would sentence him this Friday.

Hosick, from the Lower Balloo Road in Groomsport, is facing a jail sentence after he pleaded guilty to:

1. 20 Offences of making and possessing indecent images of children

2. Possessing 10,001 prohibited images of children

3. One further charge of having an image of extreme pornography

– with all the offences occurring on various dates between December 4 2007 and March 7 2013.

Prosecuting lawyer Laura Ievers said while the indictment disclosed just over 10,000 images had been uncovered on computer hardware, police had in fact found “more than a million images” but added that due to time constraints, officers from the PSNI E-Crime unit were unable to assess them all and instead took what she described as “dip samples”.

The images and offences were initially uncovered by Bangor-based computer firm Pentech Systems after Hosick left his computer with them for an upgrade in March 2013, the court heard.

Ms Ievers said their staff called the police who then obtained a search warrant for Hosick’s home which they raided later the same day, seizing a laptop, computer tower, external hard drive as well as memory stick and pen drives.

The lawyer said a candid Hosick admitted at the scene “you will find indecent images of children on them” and during later police interviews, he confessed that he had deleted some of the offensive material before leaving his machine with Pentech Systems.

Hosick also admitted that he had “shared” some of the files but the lawyer said there was “no evidence” he had been paid for that, and that while it was not possible to ascertain the dates or numbers of files sent, “it is nevertheless an aggravating feature of the case”.

The seized items were further examined in April last year and Ms Ievers revealed that as well as the still and moving images of children being abused, with an age range of between four and teenagers, police found “other indicators of an interest in children”.

Hosick had 128 movies and photographs at levels four and five which, according to legal guidelines, depict penetrative sexual acts involving children, often with elements of sadomasochism.

She said there were multiple Word documents, including one penned by Hosick, involving sexual fantasies about children.

Further interviewed by police, Hosick “expressed shock at the volume of indecent material but he readily accepted his responsibility”.

The lawyer added there was no evidence or suggestion that Hosick had actually committed a sexual offence against a child.

Defence solicitor Darren Duncan said it was clear from the various reports written about Hosick that he had a “troubled background” and how there was “an unusual attitude” in his family to matters of sex.

Mr Duncan said while Hosick had been assessed as a medium risk of reoffending, he submitted it was “significant” that Probation had indicated a willingness to work with him and had recommended he participate in the two-year community sex offenders’ programme to address his various issues.