June 2015

Man thought child sex images were ‘consensual’

A man who admitted possessing images of child sexual abuse told a court he thought it was ok as the victims ‘didn’t look forced’.

Mark Gregg, 21, appeared at Dumbarton Sheriff Court last week from custody to admit to the charge while living at an address in Rhu in August 2013.

Gregg told social workers he at first thought ‘the children involved in the images were older and that it did not look to him that they looked forced’.

Sheriff Hendry presiding interrupted, saying: “It is a matter of the law that children can not consent.”

The solicitor said Gregg accepted there is a victim involved and is aware that a custodial sentence is available for these types of charges.

Sheriff Hendry said: “Your solicitor says the two months you have spent in custody is ‘substantial’, it is not nearly as substantial as the sentence could be.

“Charge one is a serious matter and if you do not know that, it is worrying and would lead me to believe you would do it again.

“I am only just convinced there is an alternative.”

Gregg was sentenced to a community payback order for three years, with three years supervision.

He will have to do 200 hours of unpaid work within six months and is banned from owning a laptop, computer, smartphone, or anything with access to internet or digital images.

Gregg, originally from Basingstoke and now living in Portsmouth, was also put on the sex offenders register for three years and will be fined £250 for his breach of bail.

June 2015

Man, 60 admits child sex abuse of seven boys

A man aged 60 is facing a jail sentence for sexually abusing seven young boys in Doncaster, including one as young as six.

David Jamfrey, of Scawthorpe, Doncaster, admitted 17 sexual offences including sexual assault and sexual activity with a child 

He entered guilty pleas to:

• 11 counts of sexual assault of a male under 13

• Four counts of sexual activity with a male aged between 13 and 15

• One count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16

• One count of attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child

Between January 2010 and May 2014, Jamfrey committed a catalogue of serious sexual abuse against his victims, who were aged between six and 15-years-old.

In May 2014, a concerned parent found her son at Jamfrey’s flat along with two other young boys. Police were called and an investigation began, leading officers to identify a further five victims that Jamfrey had targeted.

Investigating officer Detective Constable David Whitehouse said: “Jamfrey is a dangerous man who deliberately targeted and groomed vulnerable young boys for his own sexual gratification.

“Jamfrey abused the trust placed in him by the families of these boys and subjected them to horrific sexual abuse.

“I pay tribute to the victims who had the courage to come forward and disclose their ordeal to police.

“I am pleased Jamfrey pleaded guilty and accepted responsibility for his sick crimes, thus sparing his victims and their families the further distress of a trial.

“The hearing today marks the conclusion of months of torment for the victims and their families and I hope they can now begin to move forward with their lives, knowing their abuser is behind bars.

“This case highlights the fact that sexual exploitation can happen to boys as well as girls and I would urge any victim of child sexual exploitation, or anyone who has concerns about a child, to report abuse to police so we can investigate.”

Jamfrey was remanded in custody to appear before Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday July 16 for sentencing.

The charges Jamfrey pleaded guilty to today refer to seven victims. The remaining charges will lie on file, some of which apply to a further victim.

June 2015

Sex offender snared by DNA for Leeds schoolgirl rapes in 1970s

A prolific sex offender has been given a further life sentence for the rape 35 years ago of a Leeds school girl after a cold case review found his DNA.

Robert Sneddon was jailed for life in 1982 for a series of appalling attacks on young girls in Leeds and Bradford.

Leeds Crown Court heard Sneddon was still serving his original sentence but had reached an open prison with occasional day leave pending his ultimate release, when further forensic tests were carried out on evidence retained from two attacks in the two cities.

They proved he was responsible for two rapes at Soldier’s Field, Roundhay, and Bowling Cemetery, in Bradford.

Now 62, Sneddon admitted both rapes and was jailed for life with a minimum of eight years at Leeds Crown Court.

Judge James Spencer QC said it was part of a “campaign of rape” that was very likely to impact on any release date.

Sophie Drake prosecuting said the first attack was on July 10, 1979.

A 14-year-old girl was walking along Rooley Lane when Sneddon approached from behind and put his hand over her mouth.

He forced her into the cemetery and on to the ground in spite of her struggling against him.

When she continued to resist he hit her on the head twice before he raped her.

She said she never got over the attack which had affected her whole life.

Miss Drake said the 15-year-old girl was crossing Old Soldier’s Field, in Roundhay, on December 19 1979 when she saw a man walking along a path appear to stumble and he called her over to help him.

He grabbed her arm saying he needed help to walk along the path.

As they neared some changing rooms he was still holding her arm and limping and suggested she look for a stick he could use for support.

But once they got into bushes he grabbed her and put his hand over her mouth and told her if she made a noise he would break her neck.

After his attack she was frightened to be out on her own but had to go in the same area to get to school.

Miss Drake said after Sneddon was linked to the two attacks he was interviewed last year and said he had “warped thinking” at the time.

She said Sneddon was given life in 1982 for offences including the knifepoint rape of a 23-year-old woman in Roundhay Park, knifepoint sex assaults on three girls in Bramley, indecent assaults on two girls in Calverley, and the rape of another woman in Bradford as well as 13 other indecent assaults taken into consideration on girls under 16.

Kate Batty for Sneddon said he had served years in custody beyond the original tariff set for his life sentence and had addressed his offending behaviour during that time.

He had not admitted the attacks at the time because he was too ashamed.

After the case Detective Inspector Shaun Bartram of West Yorkshire Police’s Major Investigation Review Team said: “Sneddon is a prolific sex offender with an appalling catalogue of crimes against young woman.

“Today’s conviction demonstrates the determination of officers from Operation Recall, West Yorkshire Police’s specialist team who reinvestigate unsolved historic sexual offences, to bring offenders to justice and hopefully provide victims with some sense of closure.

“Sneddon was caught using advances forensic techniques to link him to two crimes which occurred 36 years ago.

“This case should again illustrate the passage of time is no barrier to justice and I hope today’s sentence will provide his two victims with some sense of comfort and reassurance.

“I would like to assure any person who has suffered such abuse that no matter when this happened West Yorkshire Police has specialist officers who will listen and investigate and do all we can to see offenders brought to justice.”

June 2015

A FORMER fish merchant from Hull who sexually abused two teenage girls more than 20 years ago has been jailed for 15 months.

Kelvin Millington, 54, was found guilty by a jury of assaulting one of the victims when she was 15, but the jury was unable to agree verdicts on other similar allegations.

He admitted a sample charge of sexual assault against the other girl before a retrial was due to take place.

She was aged 16 at the time.

Hull Crown Court heard Millington asked the older girl for a kiss before kissing her on the mouth.

John Thackray, prosecuting, said she described this as “not just a peck, but a full-on snog”.

The girl described Millington as “imposing” and the court heard other details of the assault.

Recalling the victim’s account, Mr Thackray said: “She knew it was wrong. He said to her ‘Let’s play a game’ and he tickled her.’

The girl said she was “frozen”.

Mr Thackray said: “He was to say to her ‘You’re good at this game’.

“She did eventually grab his hand and pull it away. He said ‘No, you’re really good at this game. Just a bit longer’.”

Speaking of the impact on that victim, Mr Thackray said: “She struggled to be physical or intimate with her husband. It would affect their relationship for a long time.”

She had also contemplated suicide and suffered from depression, he said.

The other victim said Millington had given her a “slobbering wet kiss” before assaulting her over her clothing.

She had also suffered ongoing effects of the assault, and Mr Thackray said the trial had “brought her memories flooding back and caused additional pain”.

Paul Genney, defending, said Millington had endured a “wretched beginning” and his mother had died when he was 12.

He ran away from home three years later.

Mr Genney said despite that he was a “hard-working man who had built up a business and was a fish merchant for many, many years”.

He said Millington was a “self-made man from a particularly difficult start who had worked hard all his life”.

He said he “drank perhaps far too much, but that was the pressure of the job”.

Inviting the judge to draw back from immediate custody, Mr Genney said Millington was now in ill health and cared for his wife, who suffered chronic arthritis and was unable to dress herself.

But jailing him for 15 months, Judge Mark Bury told him: “I have come to the conclusion that these offences in conjunction are too serious to deal with in any other way than an immediate custodial sentence.”

Millington, of Wellington Street West in west Hull, must also register as a sex offender for ten years.

June 2015

Four Leeds men jailed for sexually abusing 13-year-old girl

FOUR men who were part of a gang who sexually abused a 13-year-old girl in Leeds have been jailed for more than ten years.

They are the latest to be sentenced for committing sex offences against the vulnerable girl in Beeston.

Earlier this month five men were handed sentences totalling 53-and-a-half years after a jury heard how the victim was groomed before being systematically abused and sometimes forced to have sex against her will.

The girl would be given cigarettes and alcohol, contacted via Facebook with demands for sex and picked up in the street and ordered to get into cars with the men.

Convicted by a jury of sexual activity with a child were Farahk Younis, 24, Arshid Younis, 32, and Abid Younis, 35 – all of Cross Flatts Avenue, Beeston – and Shazabe Hussain, 20, of Maude Avenue, Beeston.

Farahk Younis was jailed for four-and-a-half-years

Arshid Younis was jailed for two-years-and-three-months

Abid Younis was jailed for two-and-a-half-years

Shazabe Hussain was sent to a young offender institution for 12 months

For other convictions relating to this – click this link

Junaid Rashid – Leeds – jailed – Conviction here 

June 2015

Keighley man who shared indecent child images is jailed for two years

POLICE discovered a man in Keighley was exchanging indecent images of children with two “like-minded paedophiles” after they were alerted by colleagues in Thames Valley, a judge was told.

Michael Smith, prosecuting, said investigations in 2012 into two men in the south showed they had been in contact with a man using the name Bulman 50, who turned out to be Peter Nixon.

He had a good reputation in his community from which he had hidden his depraved hobby, Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday.

Mr Smith said police went to Nixon’s home in Grafton Road in April 2013 and seized computer equipment on which indecent images were then found.

They included 800 at category A, the most serious, 1,100 at Category B and 1,800 at Category C.

Mr Smith said most were in an inaccessible area of a laptop not stored or saved. Also found were chat logs recording his exchanges of images with the two other men.

They discussed where they got their supplies of images from and the use of memory sticks.

Nixon told them he preferred boys to girls.

He had sent around 100 images to one man receiving 160 in exchange and around 46 files to the other man.

“Evidence shows he was sharing and receiving images from like-minded paedophiles,” said Mr Smith.

When questioned Nixon said he was not responsible for taking any of the images involved.

Robin Frieze, representing Nixon, said he had considerable insight into the offences and was genuinely disgusted by his behaviour for which he had already sought help.

He said Nixon was not sending the images on a commercial basis “he was sharing a deviant hobby and swapping with people who already had the same kind of material.”

He said Nixon had done considerable good work within his community and urged the judge to let him receive help without going to prison.

Nixon, 52, admitted 21 charges of possessing indecent images and two of distributing indecent images.

Jailing him for two years, Judge James Spencer QC said the case included images of the “most graphic kind” in substantial quantities.

The judge said in his other life, including voluntary work, he had impressed his community but for every image a child had actually been abused.

“I can’t ignore any of that notwithstanding your other life,” he added.

Mr Nixon was previously connected as pastoral manager with University Academy Keighley and after the case the principal, Linda Wallsgrove, issued the following statement: “At University Academy Keighley we take safeguarding issues very seriously; Mr Nixon has not been present at the academy since April 2013 and we can confirm that at all times University Academy Keighley ensures that the legal obligations are met for all staff.

“It is important to stress that, the alleged offences did not take place at University Academy Keighley and it is our understanding that they do not feature any child who currently attends University Academy Keighley or has attended University Academy Keighley in the past.”

June 2015

Computer programmer who downloaded child abuse images spared prison

AN computer programmer used his own computer to download indecent images of children at his Leamington home.

James Watson, of Avenue Road, at the time, also had images of extreme pornography, a judge at Warwick Crown Court has heard.

The 44 year-old had pleaded guilty to 15 offences of making indecent images of children and possessing extreme porn.

He was sentenced to eight months in prison suspended for two years, with supervision for the whole period, and was ordered to take part in a sex offender treatment programme.

Recorder Martin Hurst also made him subject to a sexual offences prevention order and ordered him to register as a sex offender for five years.

Prosecutor Mark Phillips said last summer police acting on information they had received went to Watson’s home in Avenue Road.

They told him they had reason to believe he had indecent images, and he immediately said they would find them on both his computer tower and on his laptop, which were seized.

When they were examined, officers found over 1,000 still indecent images of children and more than 350 movies showing children, and even some featuring dogs.

Watson had obtained all of the images through a file-sharing website, but he said although he had downloaded them in that way, his own files were closed, so they could not be accessed by anyone else.

One of the standard requirements under a sexual offences prevention order was the person should allow the police to inspect any computer to which he has access.

Sentencing Watson, who has since moved to Gloucester, Recorder Hurst told him: “I am sure you are bitterly ashamed and embarrassed to be here.

June 2015

North Wales Police officer admits trying to arrange a child sex offence over the internet

A North Wales Police officer has admitted trying to arrange a child sex offence over the internet.

James Calveley Evans, 33, from Maes Pennant, Mostyn, Flintshire, appeared at Mold Crown Court on Friday.

He also pleaded guilty to three charges of distributing child sex images and three charges of possessing child sex images.

One charge relates to the grooming of a 12 year-old girl for sexual purposes.

He has been further remanded in custody pending a pre-sentence report and will be sentenced in September.

Evans, who has been suspended as a North Wales Police constable, thought he was corresponding with a child by email, but it was an undercover police officer.

He admitted to the court he had attempted to arrange or facilitate a child sex offence in February.

But he denied a second similar offence in March, which the prosecution had agreed to lie on file.

Evans was also found to be downloading and distributing child sex abuse images and was found to have 607 photographs and 16 video images.

Judge Rhys Rowlands told him custody was inevitable and that it would “simply be a matter of the length of the sentence”.

March 2013

My adoptive dad abused me for years but social workers ignored my complaints because he’s gay

Jailed: David Cannon (pictured) was convicted for 30 months for inciting sexual activity with a child

A boy sexually abused by his adoptive father and his gay partner was labelled an ‘unruly child’ by social workers who ignored his complaints for years, a damning report has revealed.

They sent Andy Cannon, now 23, back to the couple’s home despite his protests of abuse, praising the gay man who adopted him as a ‘very caring parent’.

The report accuses Wakefield social services, in Yorkshire, of ‘folly and gross misjudgement’. Mr Cannon, who was wrongly diagnosed with mental disorders and prescribed anti-psychotic drugs, believes he would have been listened to sooner if his adoptive father wasn’t gay.

The case ended last year, after half a decade of legal wrangling, when a court ordered a £25,000 compensation payment to Mr Cannon.

Guilty: David Cannon’s partner John Scarfe was also jailed for abusing Andy Cannon

Mr Cannon, who now has two children with girlfriend, was adopted by David Cannon in 1997.

He and his mother repeatedly complained to social workers about the abuse.

In 2004, he was returned to Cannon’s care nine days after running away and making a complaint about him.

Cannon, 54, and his 31-year-old partner John Scarfe were each jailed for 30 months in May 2006 for inciting sexual activity with a child.

The damning 160-page report by Patrick Ayre, one of the country’s leading experts in child abuse negligence cases, said social services records of his history were “fragmentary” and even censored to keep certain details secret.

Mr Ayre wrote: “That any consideration at all was being given to returning the claimant to his father’s care must be regarded as surprising, in view of the concerns which should have been felt both about the possibility of violence and about the allegations made about sexual advances from Mr Scarfe.”

During his ordeal Mr Cannon was repeatedly plied with Ecstasy and cannabis before being molested by David Cannon and John Scarfe.

His complaints to care workers were ignored and at one stage he was wrongly diagnosed as having mental disorders.

Both men were eventually arrested and charged after Mr Cannon was readmitted to into council care following a domestic incident, at which point he managed to persuade a Forster carer he was being abused.

Cannon, 54, and 31-year old Scarfe were each jailed for 30 months in 2006, for inciting sexual activity with a child.

Following a five year legal battle Mr Cannon was awarded £25,000 compensation after sueing Wakefield social services department over its care procedures towards him over a seven-year period.

Mr Cannon, a father of two now living in Barnsley, South Yorks, waived his right to anonymity to speak publicly about the scandal.

He said: “I’ve got no problems with anyone being gay as long as they don’t do what my dad did to me. That goes for heterosexual couples too.

“The council should have been there to prevent this from happening but they would rather just sweep it under the carpet. Of course I was happy when I was finally listened to and dad and John were sent to prison – but their conviction was a walk in the park compared to what happened to me.

“I have overdosed so many times in the past and I have tried to kill myself at least six occasions after what happened. I had a breakdown about four years ago and still have days thinking that my girlfriend would have a better life without me.

“I was my dad’s sex toy and there were many times that I thought he was going to kill me. Most people when they grow up want a nice house, highflying job and holidays abroad each year – but all I live for are my kids and my girlfriend.”

Cannon was allowed to adopt Andy in December 1997, when the youngster was aged eight. This came despite the fact he had earlier been convicted and put on probation for 12 months for assaulting the boy’s mother, Elaine Moss, possessing cannabis and handling a stolen computer.

Miss Moss had also claimed Cannon had been abusing her son.

A social worker failed to bring the allegations to the attention of the family court and instead called Cannon a “very caring parent who considered his children’s need”.

Further allegations of sexual impropriety were made against Cannon by Andy and his mother after he started dating a gay man in 2002 and again when he began a relationship with Scarfe.

Mr Cannon, who is now expecting a third child with his girlfriend Redeana, 23, said: “I first remember being sexually abused at around nine years old. Dad started seeing men around that time although nothing was explained to me or my sisters that he was gay or bi – his partner was just a man that lived with us.”

“When I told social workers they didn’t believe me. When I got home from school, if my dad was wound up by something I would pay for it with a beating. Then later on he would sexually abuse me.”

On 12 August 2004, Andy was returned to Cannon’s care nine days after running away from home and filing a complaint against him.

Mr Cannon was eventually readmitted to the care of a social services assessment unit on 16 August 2004, following a fight with Scarfe. This time he managed to persuade social workers he was being abused and he was placed with a different foster carer.

Cannon and Scarfe were jailed at Sheffield Crown Court in May 2006 after being convicted of causing or inciting a male child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and taking indecent photographs of a child.

They were ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register and banned from working with children for life. The pair are now understood to be living in the Leeds area.

Jim Crook, Wakefield Council’s interim Corporate Director for Wakefield Council’s Family Services, said: “We are very sorry about what happened and have apologised. We have learned from his experiences and have improved our services. Staff at a very senior level in the service remain in regular contact with Mr Cannon.”

He added the council’s processes for adoption and for dealing with allegations were robust and based on the principle of treating everyone the same, whatever their background.

June 2015

Man who plied schoolgirls with drugs before raping them is jailed for 19 years

A sexual predator who preyed on young girls by plying them with drugs before raping them has been jailed for 19 years.

Woody Bray introduced his impressionable victims – as young as 11 – to cannabis to appear “exciting and charismatic” before having sex with them.

The court heard Bray, 28, “manipulated the girls’ feelings to suit his own desires” and raped two of them

Bray, of Levan, Cornwall, denied charges relating to 11 sexual offences against four under-age girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons, but was convicted on all counts.

Sentencing at Truro Crown Court, judge Simon Carr said: “Approaching them at 11, 12 or 13, you seemed exciting and charismatic to them because you were an older adult.

“One of the first things you did was to supply them with cannabis.

“You did that quite deliberately to induct them into your world … you knew precisely how old they were and how impressionable they were.”

During the trial one of the girls described seeing Bray as the “coolest person” she had ever met when she first started spending time with him aged 11 or 12, in the summer before she started secondary school.

Now an adult, she told the court how he raped her when she went to tell him what a disgusting person she now thought he was.

The girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: “I wanted to tell him I thought he was a bad person and he should not do things to young girls any more … in the morning he raped me.”

Nigel Wraith, for the prosecution, said Bray lived at various addresses at the time the girl knew him, including in squats in Penzance and Newlyn and on a farm near St Just.

He gave her cannabis, kissed her, asked her for oral sex and had intercourse with her when she was aged 13 – an incident classed as rape because of her age.

He raped her for the second time when she was 14 or 15.

Mr Wraith said a second girl was also 11 or 12 when she met Bray. She was 13 when she had sex with him and he gave her drugs to smoke.

He introduced a third underage girl to cannabis, had sex with her and raped her on one occasion.

He also gave a fourth girl cannabis and touched her sexually on two occasions but did not have intercourse with her.

Giving evidence, Bray claimed not to have been able to remember who one of the girls was when the police first asked him about her.

He admitted he had sexual relations with two of the girls, but only after they were 16.

He denied any sexual contact with the other two.

Bray was accused of two counts of rape and one of sexual activity with a child in relation to the first girl.

He was accused of three counts of sexual activity with a child in relation to the second and two of the same in relation to a third. He also faced one charge of raping the third girl and two of sexual activity with a child in relation to a fourth girl.

Mary McCarthy, for the defence, urged the judge to impose as moderate a sentence as possible so that Bray, still a relatively young man, would have “light at the end of the tunnel” in terms of his release date.

June 2015: Gary Dove is now living in Bracknell but also visits family regularly in Blackpool

July 2009

Easthampstead man jailed for abducting and sexually abusing learning difficulties girl

An Easthampstead man has been jailed for abducting and sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl with learning difficulties.

Gary Dove, 42, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday to four and a half years for child abduction, four months for one count of sexual activity with a 14-year-old child and six months for a second count of sexual activity with a 14-year-old child, to all run concurrently.

Dove, formerly of Pondmoor Road, had previously admitted all three charges.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for seven years and a sexual offences prevention order was given, banning him from remaining unsupervised with any child under 16 years except a relative, and from working with children under 16 years.

The victim was reported missing to police on Friday, January 2, this year and was found the same day with Dove at a hotel in Blackpool, where she had been taken without parental consent.

While in the hotel Dove committed a sexual act with her. The other charge of sexual activity relates to an offence committed at Dove’s home in December 2008.

Summing up Judge Zoe Smith said: “This is a very serious case of an abduction of a vulnerable child.”

January 2006

Youth jailed for rape of nine-year-old

A JUDGE has jailed a teenager for four years and ordered him to register as a sex offender for life after hearing how he raped a nine-year-old girl and abused another.

Ricky Merry, aged 19, of Willow Close, Chapel End, Nuneaton, will be on licence for three years after his release.

Merry had pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court in August to raping a nine-year-old girl. He also admitted indecent assault and sexual assault, and the case was adjourned for reports. 

But before he could be sentenced a newspaper report was seen by the parents of a second victim who came forward after the girl was questioned about why she was cutting out the article.

The girl told her mother of two occasions about four years ago when Merry had touched her.

Merry has since pleaded guilty to three indecent assaults on that girl in about 2002.

Prosecutor Simon Ward said those offences had remained a secret for quite a long time.

Gerard Quirke, representing Merry, said: “He is not very forthcoming about why he did this. It may be that at 15 he was experimenting, but three or four years on he must have known that it was wrong.”

He said Merry was ashamed and very worried that he did it.

Sentencing Merry, Judge Marten Coates told him he was being sentenced on the basis that on each occasion he knew what he was doing was wrong.

“The far more serious offences are those on the second indictment when she was nine and you were ten years older.

“You went to gratify yourself with a person who was in a defenceless situation.”

January 2012

Tweedmouth man jailed for sex offences

A Northumberland man has been jailed for six years after being convicted of a series of historic sexual offences.

Michael James Mason, of Dean Drive, Tweedmouth, was charged with 11 counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.

Mason, 39, pleaded not guilty to the charges in November but was found guilty of six indecent assaults and an attempted rape by a jury in December.

He was jailed at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday.

Detective Constable Alan Bogle, from Berwick CID, said: “This has been a distressing case for the victims. They have shown great courage and maintained their dignity throughout the trial while having to relive traumatic events from their childhoods. Mason has shown no remorse for his actions during this whole investigation and I think that’s been reflected in the sentence handed out today.”

June 2015

Man jailed for nine years for raping and sexually assaulting schoolgirl in Wirral

A man has been jailed for nine years today for sexual assault and rape of a teenage girl in Wirral.

Andrew Smith, 47, who lives in Lancaster but is formerly from the Wirral area, has been convicted at Liverpool Crown Court of eight counts of indecent assaults against a child under 16 and one count of rape of a child under 16.

The sexual assaults began 15 years ago.

They took place in the Moreton and Hoylake areas of Wirral.

The victim gave evidence in court and described how she was groomed and abused and isolated from her family and friends.

Investigating officers traced five of her old school friends who gave compelling eyewitness accounts of the grooming and sexual abuse from Smith.

They described how they witnessed Smith kissing, touching and even having sex with the victim.

Detective Mike Gallagher from Merseyside Police’s Birkenhead CID said: “Andrew Smith is a manipulative man who preyed on an innocent young child when she was at a vulnerable stage of her life. This prosecution shows that he did not get away with it in the end and is now facing a long time behind bars.

“The victim’s bravery in coming forward and giving her evidence has been outstanding and absolutely crucial for a jury to find him guilty. She found the courage to report what had happened to her to the police and has been supported by us, the CPS and other agencies throughout the process.”

June 2015

Man jailed for 13 years for raping 4-year-old girl

A child rapist stood motionless in the dock as he was jailed for 13 years for forcing a four-year-old girl to perform sex acts on him

Paul Flynn raped the girl on two occasions whilst another young child was present in the room

A judge sitting at Reading Crown Court told the 33-year-old he had attacked a “sweet little girl”

Wearing grey jogging bottoms and a t-shirt, Flynn of Westbourne Terrace, West Reading was sentenced after a jury found him guilty of two counts of rape of a child aged under 13-years-old

The court heard Flynn orally raped the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in 2013.

Judge Angela Morris reminded Flynn – who sat cross armed in the dock – that his victim was an innocent child.

She said: “I saw her on the video recording and she is a sweet little girl and she should of been allowed to have her childhood free of any sexual encounters”

“You corrupted a child who should of been sexually naive, that in my view is a very serious matter indeed. I cannot even begin to imagine the psychological or emotional harm to her in the future when she begins to come to terms with what you did to her at such a tender age. I can only hope that the memories are short lived from her perspective”

The court also heard that Flynn had already served a three-year community order after he admitted sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl

Flynn was sentenced to 13-years imprisonment, extended for five years on licence 

He was acquitted of four further counts of rape of a child under 13 years.

A sexual harm prevention order was also passed for an indefinite period.

April 2015

A 33-year-old Reading man has been convicted of a serious sexual assault on a child.

Paul Flynn, of Bath Road in Reading, was found guilty on Friday, April 17 of two counts of raping a child under 13 after a week-long trial at at Reading Crown Court.

Flynn orally raped the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, in 2013.

He was acquitted of four further counts of rape of a child under 13 years. 

Investigating officer Detective Constable Victoria Hunt, from the Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: “I would like to commend the bravery of the victim in coming forward and speaking to police about what Flynn did to her.

“Thames Valley Police takes all reports of this nature extremely seriously and we have specialist trained officers to help victims make a report.

“I am pleased that Flynn has been found guilty for these despicable offences and can look forward to a lengthy prison sentence.”

Flynn will be sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday, May 29.

June 2015

Face of  paedophile jailed for raping a 12 year-old girl he groomed on Facebook

This is the face of a railway engineer jailed for more than eight years after raping a 12-year-old girl he had groomed on Facebook.

Louis McNally, 22, of Salisbury Road, Wavertree, sent the child sexually explicit texts and pictures and repeatedly asked her to come to his flat.

Charlotte Kenny, prosecuting, said the girl stayed out all night on March 2 without her parents’ permission.

When she came home her worried dad confiscated her mobile phone and discovered lewd Facebook messages, in which McNally asked her to come to his flat and promised to pay for a taxi.

Her dad then searched her bedroom and found another phone, containing sexual text messages.

Miss Kenny said: “He found them so distressing he had to stop reading.”

The girl admitted she had sex with McNally and said she had been to his flat three times.

She said the first time she went with a friend, who had encouraged her to kiss him.

The victim said she went to his flat again on her own and stayed the night, when they talked and listened to music. But on the third occasion, she said he had got into bed with her.

Miss Kenny said: “She said he got on top of her and she told him ‘no I can’t’. He said ‘don’t be silly, why are you talking like that?’”

She said the girl asked for a taxi home but he refused, got on top of her again and raped her.

Her dad told police and McNally was arrested and interviewed on March 6.

He claimed he had never met the girl in person and that she was a Facebook friend with whom he had phone sex.

McNally said she was in love with him and made up a story because she was jealous of his relationship with another girl.

However, he later admitted rape of a child under the age of 13.

The girl’s dad described his anger and difficulty coming to terms with what had happened.

Miss Kenny said: “He feels his daughter’s innocence and childhood was taken away.”

McNally’s does have a previous conviction of sexual assault when he was aged 11-years-old

He was also sent to a young offenders institution for a firearms offence in 2011.

The judge said McNally was “very persistent” when trying to get the girl to come to his flat, adding: “There was a clear element of grooming here.”

McNally shook his head in the dock as he was jailed for eight years and three months and told to sign on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

June 2015

Convicted paedophile jailed for sexually assaulting baby

A convicted paedophile has been jailed for three and a half years for sexually assaulting a one-year-old baby who had been left in his care while her parents went out drinking.

Michael O’Brien (46) committed the abuse against a backdrop of severe neglect and physical abuse by the child’s parents. The court heard there was no clean clothes, electricity or food in the house at the time, although food was kept in the freezer for when social workers came for inspections.

Last month, O’Brien was released from a 12-year sentence imposed in 2008 for the sexual abuse of two children who were under the age of six. In 1993 he was jailed for four years for the aggravated sexual assault of a 60-year-old woman during a burglary of her home.

Describing the assault as “a vile and monstrous act” against a child whose parents had failed in their duties, Judge Sarah Berkeley said O’Brien had undergone treatment programmes in prison to lessen his chance of re-offending in future, but he needed to do more.

Suspending 18 months of a five-year jail term, she ordered that he continue to undergo treatment in prison and co-operate with the probation services on his eventual release.

O’Brien with a last address in Co Limerick pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to sexually assaulting the baby at her home in the west of Ireland between April 2005 and October 2006. He was convicted by a jury earlier this year.

During an earlier sentencing hearing, a local garda told prosecuting counsel Anne Rowland BL that when the baby was born her parents brought her home, handed her to her 10-year-old sister and told her that she had to look after her.

The older sibling told gardaí on many occasions she returned home to find the baby in a car seat in front of the television while the parents were out drinking.

In 2005 the parents returned to the house drunk with O’Brien. From then on O’Brien regularly stayed in the house and babysat the children.

The older sister told the trial that she was afraid of O’Brien and would lock her and her siblings in a room when he was there.

One day she came home and found O’Brien sexually assaulting the baby in the sitting room. The 10-year-old grabbed a poker and hit O’Brien, telling him to get away from her sister.

When the children’s mother returned home she beat the 10-year-old with the poker as punishment for hitting O’Brien. The child was too afraid to tell her mother about the sexual abuse.

The children were later taken into care where the older sister told gardaí about the sexual assault while detailing the neglect they faced in the house.

A foster parent for the children told the trial that most of them were not toilet trained and they did not know how to use cutlery or a toothbrush.

An examination of O’Brien’s victim showed apparent physical evidence of the sexual abuse and O’Brien was arrested and interviewed. He admitted babysitting the children sometimes but denied sexual abuse.

Judge Berkeley said the apparent physical harm had not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt to be caused by the abuse, so she could not take it into consideration when passing sentence.

Defence counsel Geraldine Fitzpatrick SC said her client now accepts the verdict of the jury. She said O’Brien left school early and worked steadily as a butcher and farm labourer. She said he has no contact with most of his family since his previous conviction.

Ms Fitzpatrick asked Judge Berkeley to consider “the light at the end of the tunnel principle” and allow O’Brien a chance to rehabilitate himself for his eventual release.

She also asked the judge to consider the social stigma and publicity associated with sexual abuse cases but conceded this was a lesser mitigating factor for someone with O’Brien’s convictions.

June 2015

Priest abused boys at church training college

A retired priest is facing jail after admitting sexually assaulting three teenage boys.

Colman McGrath abused two trainee priests at Blairs College in Aberdeen and went on to indecently assault another teenager he was tutoring at his chapel in Langside, Glasgow.

The abuse only came to light years later and in June last year McGrath – who retired in 2006 – was interviewed by police about his conduct. Last week, at Glasgow Sheriff Court, McGrath pled guilty to three charges of indecent assault between August 1972 and September 1982.

It is the second conviction of a Blairs priest for abuse carried out there during the 70s and further deepens the sex abuse scandal which has engulfed the Catholic Church in Scotland.

In 1996, Father Desmond Lynagh was sentenced to three years for his abuse of a 14-year old student while working as a teacher at Blairs in 1974.

The victim would later accuse Cardinal Keith O’Brien of covering up the crime before the cardinal, leader of Scotland’s Catholics, retired over his own sexual misconduct at the college.

McGrath was ordained as a priest in June 1962 and taught trainee priests at Blairs for 16 years. He was then based at St Helen’s Presbytery in Langside until 1984.

Prosecutors detailed how he targeted three teenage boys in a series of assaults, involving him asking them to undress before spanking them.

He also gave one boy an oiled massage after telling him to undress.

The abuse came to light in 2014 when one of the victims contacted the Catholic Church and reported the incidents. Sheriff Kenneth Mitchell deferred sentence until next month and continued bail.

Blairs College, which closed in 1986, has become central to the church’s abuse scandal.

O’Brien was rector of the seminary from 1980 to 1985 before being made Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh.

He was head of the institution when, it has been alleged, he made sexual advances to a 19-year-old trainee priest.

June 2015

Pervert jailed after filming boys changing at swimming pool

A pervert who spied on two nine-year-old boys as they got changed at an Amersham swimming pool has been jailed for 12 months.

The victims of self employed musician Robin Bowman spotted him holding a phone under the frame of the cubicle they were changing in at the Chiltern Pools to film them getting undressed, Aylesbury Crown Court was told.

Bowman told the boys he “didn’t know” what he was going to do with the footage he had just shot, before asking one of them if he could see his penis.

The court heard the 64-year-old, of Trevor Gardens, Ruislip, admitted to probation officers he had committed numerous similar offences but had never been discovered until he was caught in the act on May 16.

After being rumbled Bowman attempted to leave the swimming pool as if nothing had happened, the court was told, but was apprehended by the centre manager after he gave chase on foot. Bowman said “lots of strange things happen in changing rooms” when questioned about his actions by staff, the court heard.

Bowman initially denied what had happened when interviewed by police but he pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and to voyeurism during an earlier court hearing, after officers discovered the video in the deleted items section of his phone.

He was jailed for a total of 12 months, ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for the next ten years and made the subject of an order that bans him from having unsupervised contact with under 16s, having a phone or camera capable of storing digital images or videos, and from entering changing facilities at sports clubs where children are present.

Judge Kristina Montgomery said Bowman admitted to the probation service he would seek “sexual stimulation from young boys changing”.

Passing sentence, the judge said: “You approached them in the pool to give them some tutelage in diving. You hoped it would endear them to you and you to then, so that you might go about what had by then become your habit.

“When they went to the cubicle they quite understandably, and without any embarrassment, shed their trunks ready to change. You were in the adjacent cubicle, anticipating that moment. You filmed those boys in their naked state.

“When asked what you were going to do with the footage, you gave the frankly troubling reply that you did not know.

“Had you been dextrous enough, or the story been different, you would have continued to film throughout the entire episode. Your intent was you would have a souvenir of what had happened.

“They remained, for some time afterwards, extremely distressed as they realised they had met the very man teachers and adults warn them against contact with.”

She added: “The manager is to be commended for the way he sought you out and detained you, and sought the footage you recorded.”

June 2015

Paedophile convicted of 20 child rapes jailed for 22 years

A MAN who sexually abused a girl from when she was aged just six-years-old has been jailed for 22 years.

David Church, 43, of Carden Avenue, Halton, was brought to justice following an investigation by Leeds district safeguarding unit.

Church was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court after being found guilty at an earlier hearing of 30 offences, including 20 counts of rape.

The court heard the offences started just days after the victim’s sixth birthday in what a judge described as “a campaign of sexual abuse”.

Between the ages of 11 and 17 she was raped on numerous occasions.

She later told a friend who encouraged her to report the abuse to the police.

Church was arrested and given bail with conditions not to contact her but he contacted over the internet and offered her money and gifts. Church was also convicted of perverting the course of justice.

Det Insp Dave Cowley, of Leeds district safeguarding unit, said: “Church was responsible for a prolonged and systematic catalogue of abuse against a vulnerable young girl over a number of years.