September 2006

Paedophile jailed 30 years after attacks

A PAEDOPHILE who had a failed sex change taught a seven-year-old girl how to pleasure him a court heard.

Ipswich Crown Court heard that pervert David Claydon told the little girl it was “cuddle time” while he lay naked on a bed.

The court heard that the youngster who was repeatedly abused during 1977 and 1978 had no reason to believe that Claydon’s instructions were not normal behaviour until she grew up “permanently damaged” by her experience.

Michael Crimp, prosecuting, said: “At school she could not sit on a chair properly because her vagina was always sore and swollen. She never said a word to anyone”.

Claydon told the little girl he would “cut her mother up and put her in a black bag if she told anyone their “secret”.

Last year Claydon, 63, a former Ipswich taxi driver was charged with two counts of indecent assault and two charges of gross indecency with a child. He was a serving prisoner at the time for abusing a schoolboy.

The court heard that in 1961 Claydon was dismissed from the Royal Navy for committing gross indecency on a male colleague. Then in 2005 he was convicted after a trial of committing seven sexual offences against an 11-year-old boy.

He was jailed for eight years for incitement to commit buggery, indecent assault and gross indecency with the boy.

Claydon took the matter to the Court Of Appeal and had both the buggery charges overturned and his sentence was reduced to just four years. He was due to be released in October 2007.

Judge David Goodin heard that last month Claydon who is a serving prisoner at HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight pleaded guilty to the charges against the seven-year-old girl.

Claydon who represented himself in court said: “I feel very remorseful”.

However Judge Goodin said that Claydon recently spoke to a probation officer and it was reported that: “Mr Claydon does not demonstrate any victim empathy. He totally denies these offences and says someone else must have abused her. He only pleaded guilty because of his current sentence”.

Claydon told the court: “I have changed my mind since that report and I accept my guilt”.

The court heard that because the offences were so dated the maximum sentence that could be passed was one of two years minus “credit” for pleading guilty.

Judge Goodin said: “The offences to which you pleaded guilty were an abuse of the most ugly, disgraceful and indeed persistent nature. They were inevitably damaging and indeed unsurprisingly permanently damaging to this very young and vulnerable victim.

“Words cannot express the revulsion that anybody would feel on reading her account of what you did and the ordeal to which you subjected her to over the years. The age of the offences are such that unusually the maximum sentence available to me is two years in prison. I make no comment on that but it would be significantly longer now”.

Claydon was jailed for 18 months, which is due to start at the end of his current prison term.

He was banned for life from working with children.

June 2015

Wrexham man found guilty of indecent assault in child abuse trial

A Wrexham man has been become the fourth to be convicted by a jury in an historic child abuse trial at Mold Crown Court.

On the seventh day of the jury’s retirement, they found defendant Neil Phoenix, 63, of Windsor Road, New Broughton, Wrexham, guilty of the one charge he faced, indecent assault on a boy at the home of Gary Cooke, who was alleged to have been at the centre of a paedophile ring in the 1980s.

The men were arrested as part of Operation Pallial, a National Crime Agency investigation into allegations of historic sexual abuse.

Phoenix, who denied the charge, was convicted by a 10 to two majority by the jury this afternoon (June 29).

Jury members were then sent home to continue with their deliberations concerning the two remaining defendants, Keith Stokes, aged 62, a former haulier and abattoir manager, from Quarry Hill in Farndon, Chester, and civil servant Edward Julian Huxley, aged 70, from Lower Road, Cookham, Maidenhead, Berkshire.

Stokes has already been found not guilty of one charge of indecency with a child.

Last Friday, June 26, retired teacher and former children’s home owner Roger Griffiths, 76, of Coed Efa Lane, New Broughton, Wrexham, was cleared of a charge of indecent assaulton the main complainant after being cleared of another charge a day earlier.

And last Thursday, June 25, former wrestler and Wrexham sex shop owner Mark Grainger, formerly known as Gary Cooke, aged 64, from Galway Road, Leicester, was convicted of 11 charges of indecent assault, three charges of buggery and two charges of indecency with a child.

David Lightfoot, aged 72, a Wrexham publican in the 1980s from Parklands View, Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, was convicted of six charges of indecent assault on a male, two buggery charges, and one attempted buggery. But he was cleared of a charge of indecency with a child.

Former local radio presenter Roy Norry, aged 55, from Hamilton Road, Connah’s Quay, was convicted of five charges of indecent assault on a male, one charge of buggery and was cleared of one charge of attempted buggery and one indecent assault.

Judge Rhys Rowlands last week told members of the jury he is prepared to accept majority verdicts on the remaining charges.

June 2015

Teacher who had sex with a pupil has been jailed for over 3-years

28-year-old Kevin Rich formerly of West Street, Gravesend, admitted three counts of abusing a position of trust when he appeared before Maidstone Crown Court on 15th May.

On Thursday, 25th June, he appeared before the court again and was sentenced to 3-years and 4-months in prison.

Rich was teaching in a Dartford school when he struck up a friendship with a 15-year-old student.

The pair exchanged messages via social media sites and on one occasion in June last year he met the girl and had sex with her.

The offences came to light when a friend of the girl alerted her mother to the relationship.

Rich was interviewed under caution initially, but denied any involvement with the student, claiming she had a crush on him.

Further evidence came to light and Rich was arrested where he refused to answer questions. Due to evidence that the officers established along with CCTV of Rich and the student at a pub where he bought her alcohol and they spent the evening playing darts, he was charged with these offences on 10th February this year.

Rich has been ordered not to contact the victim and must also sign onto the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Officer in charge of the case DC Fleur Hardie, said: ‘Rich preyed on a young girl who had been entrusted into his care. He completely abused the position he was privileged to be in for his own self-gratification.

His victim and other witnesses have been brave in coming forward and helping us to secure this conviction.

I hope the sentence will give the victim a sense of closure and allow her to move on with her life.’

June 2015

HER father was supposed to protect her from harm – but he stole her childhood in the most terrifying way

Caroline (The victim’s new surname has not been used to protect her identity) was just 11 years old when her depraved dad John Farmer raped her in the family home.

He subjected her to a catalogue of vile crimes including sneaking into her room to assault her while she slept and forcing her to perform sex acts on him.

When he had finished with her, he would call her his “special princess” and tell her she could tell nobody otherwise she would be taken away.

When she was 12, Caroline raised the alarm at her school, but though it put an end to the abuse, the schoolgirl was not believed and authorities failed to take action.

It was only decades later that Caroline plucked up the courage to report what happened and bring her dad to justice.

The mum-of-four was in court to see the 71-year-old sentenced to 12 years in jail for rape and sexual assaults over a two-year period.

Caroline said: “It is your dad, the one man in the whole world you should have 100 per cent trust in and who you believe would never hurt you.

“When I was finally able to speak out, it was like a huge dark cloud had been lifted off my shoulders. It was no longer a dirty secret that was swept under the carpet.”

Caroline, who has an older sister and two brothers, said family life had always been normal.

“We were just a normal family doing normal family things. Like any other kids, we would jump into bed with mum and dad in the morning. You’d think nothing of it at that age.”

However one morning, her innocent care-free life ended.

“I had woken up and climbed into mum and dad’s double bed like any other time. Mum was downstairs making breakfast at the time. Dad pulled me towards him and started play fighting with me but all of a sudden, he put his hands under my nightie and touched me.

“I felt complete disbelief and fear. Afterwards you just freeze, you become numb.”

Terrified, Caroline hoped the abuse by her controlling father would never happen again, but it did, and it got worse.

“I was in his bed one morning having cuddles and he started tickling my back.

“The next thing I knew, he forced himself on top of me and raped me.

“I just wanted it to stop. It was painful.

“I looked at him and no longer saw my dad. Instead of guarding me from the monsters, dad was a monster.”

Caroline describes losing interest in life as her living hell continued for two years in the family home in Fritham Road, Harefield, as well as in Wales when her dad abused her on a family holiday.

Farmer, who worked as a labourer, often abused his daughter after tucking her in at bedtime and once even sneaked into the bedroom she shared with her sister at night and sexually assaulted her while she slept.

“Every time he would just get up, walk away and carry on as if everything was just totally normal. He’d never say a word about it, as if it never happened.”

It was at school in February 1979 that Caroline plucked up the courage to tell her teacher what had happened to her.

She explained: “I was sent home with mum and remember feeling so frightened, I was clinging on to her hand. When we got back I was sent up to my bedroom.

“There was a heated conversation downstairs between her and dad. He admitted to her he’d touched me as if a kiss and a cuddle and that was it.

“I was called downstairs, but I didn’t say anymore. Mum said it had been a misunderstanding and walked me back to school.

“Knowing what I know now, I feel so let down by the school.”

Caroline’s mum and dad divorced shortly after Farmer had an affair and though initially hurt that her mother did not protect her, she now feels she too was brainwashed by his lies.

For years, the horrific abuse took its toll on every aspect of Caroline’s life.

She married four times and at one stage became so depressed she became alcohol dependant, lost her job and unable to cope with the mental trauma, got in trouble with the police and became so low she even tried to take her own life before a stint in rehab.

“I remember one time my daughter asked me did I remember when I lost my virginity and I couldn’t answer her. I felt sick.”

It was her husband and the support of her older brother Steve that finally gave her the strength to report her dad’s evil crimes two years ago.

Caroline, now 48, contacted Hampshire charity Southampton Rape Crisis who supported her to get justice.

Farmer, of Bye Road, Swanwick, was arrested and charged with rape and indecent assault, but he pleaded not guilty and Caroline had to prepare herself not only for a trial, but also to be cut off from family members.

“I was 100 per cent frightened to speak out. When I did, it felt like I was finally free, but it wasn’t easy.

“On Facebook I’ve had abuse from family members – I was called a prostitute, a drama queen, a liar.

“It did really hurt me but it makes me appreciate the people who do love me.”

In May, the trial began at Southampton Crown Court and adamant to look her abuser in the eye, Caroline took to the witness stand where she relived every detail of her nightmare.

Five days later the jury found him guilty of one count of rape and seven counts of indecent assault.

Earlier this month, Farmer was sentenced to 12 years in prison and is on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Caroline explained: “There was no remorse on his face at all. I didn’t care if he got a year or a hundred years, I just wanted justice. After months of sleepless nights and seeing his face in nightmares, I felt like I could finally breathe again.”

As the victim of a serious sexual crime, Caroline was entitled to lifelong anonymity, but in an act of incredible bravery, she has decided to waive that right in order to give others hope that there is life after rape.

“It takes so much courage at any age to speak out to know if you are going to be believed but not talking about it, means it festers inside.

“If you do nothing, it will eat away at you and it will destroy you.

“Once you make that first little contact, you feel like you have taken control of your life again.

“I’ve become a strong person now. I feel empowered.

“I can’t call him my dad. I say I don’t have a dad if anyone asks. John Farmer saw me as a victim but he didn’t count on me being a survivor.”

Investigating officer DC Alison Humby, from Western CID, told the Daily Echo: “Hampshire Constabulary will always endeavour to investigate all reports of non-recent sexual abuse in a thorough and compassionate manner.

“The victim in this case is an extremely brave person. She has shown strength of character and I’ve seen how, over the last two years, she has been able to move on in her life.

“Farmer committed a series of appalling sexual offences against his daughter when she was aged between 10 and 12 years old.

June 2015

Man with kinder egg inserted up his bottom caught flashing near primary schools

A drug dealer caught pleasuring himself near two primary schools was locked up after a judge rubbished his claim he was just applying cream to his groin.

Michael Akpabio, 27, was first seen by a teacher and her colleague exposing himself in the front seat of his car in Wandsworth, southwest London, on October 1 last year.

The headmaster was alerted and police were called.

Minutes later a shocked female motorist caught him carrying out a solo sex act outside another Wandsworth school, Southwark Crown Court heard.

Jonathan Black, defending, claimed Akpabio, had merely been rubbing cream into his genitals after suffering a motorbike accident.

He said Akpabio had admitted two counts of exposure ‘in the face of immense embarrassment and shame’.

Akpabio was serving a suspended sentence at the time after being caught in possession of 12 grams of cocaine which was hidden in a Kinder Egg stashed in his bottom.

Jailing Akpabio for a total of 18 months, Judge Anthony Leonard said: ‘You do not go to put cream on outside two schools consecutively on two occasions.

The schools were Ravenstone Primary School in Balham and Fircroft Primary School in Tooting.

‘The offences themselves are very disturbing. You were sitting in your car outside or very close to two schools.

‘While you have previous convictions and are in breach of a suspended sentence, this is your first sexual offence.

‘The least possible sentence is such that you will go to prison for a period of nine months on each of the two counts that will run concurrently.

‘In respect of the breach of suspended sentence, you will go to prison for a further nine months.’

Akpabio was jailed for nine months for exposure with nine months consecutive for breaching his suspended sentence.

The nine month sentence for breaching his suspended sentence will be served consecutively bringing his total sentence to 18 months.

Akpabio, of Malvern Close, Mitcham, south London, admitted two counts of exposure.

He will serve at least half of this sentence before being released on licence.

June 2015

Man sentenced to 17 years’ imprisonment for child sex offences

A man has been sentenced at Oxford Crown Court to 17 years in prison for 20 sex offences against children.

Philip Spriggs, aged 51, of Oxford, was found guilty by jury after a week and a half trial.

He was found guilty of:

• Eight counts of rape for which he was sentenced to 17 years in prison each, to be served concurrently;

• Three counts of rape of a child under 13 for which he was sentenced to 17 years in prison for each, to be served concurrently;

• One count of attempted rape of a child under 13 for which he was sentenced to 17 years in prison, to be served concurrently;

• One count of sexual assault of a child under 13 for which he was sentenced to three years in prison, to be served concurrently;

• One count of sexual assault for which he was sentenced to three years in prison, to be served concurrently;

• Two counts of assault of a child under 13 by penetration for which he was sentenced to eight years in prison and 11 years in prison, to be served concurrently;

• Two counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity for which he was sentenced to 13 years in prison for each count, to be served concurrently;

• One count of assault by penetration for which he was sentenced to eight years in prison, to be served concurrently;

• One count of making indecent photos (found guilty by unanimous jury) for which he was sentenced to one year in prison, to be served concurrently.

Spriggs was given an additional seven years on licence, and was placed on the sex offenders register for life.

The offences took place between 2007 and 2014 in Oxford.

Spriggs was arrested on 23 October 2014 and charged the following day.

June 2015

Former police officer guilty of Wrexham child sexual abuse

A former Metropolitan police officer has been found guilty of historic sex offences in North Wales.

At the end of a two month trial at Mold Crown Court, a jury considering the cases of seven defendants charged with sex abuse in the Wrexham area in the 1970s and 80s have returned with a further verdict.

Former police officer Julian Huxley, 70, who at the time worked as a civil servant at Wrexham Barracks, has been convicted of two charges of indecent assault on the main complainant, by a 10 to two majority.

The case against him has been adjourned for sentence.

Jury members have now further retired to continue their deliberations in respect of the final defendant Keith Stokes, 62, a former haulier and abattoir manager, from Quarry Hill in Farndon, Chester.

Stokes has already been found not guilty of one charge of indecency with a child.

Yesterday (June 29) the jury found defendant Neil Phoenix, 63, of Windsor Road, New Broughton, Wrexham , guilty of the one charge he faced, indecent assault on a boy at the home of Gary Cooke, who was alleged to have been at the centre of a paedophile ring in the 1980s.

The men were arrested as part of Operation Pallial , a National Crime Agency investigation into allegations of historic sexual abuse.

Phoenix, who denied the charge, was convicted by a 10 to two majority by the jury.

Last Friday, June 26, retired teacher and former children’s home owner Roger Griffiths, 76, of Coed Efa Lane, New Broughton, Wrexham, was cleared of a charge of indecent assault on the main complainant after being cleared of another charge a day earlier.

And on Thursday, June 25, former wrestler and Wrexham sex shop owner Mark Grainger , formerly known as Gary Cooke, aged 64, from Galway Road, Leicester, was convicted of 11 charges of indecent assault, three charges of buggery and two charges of indecency with a child.

David Lightfoot, aged 72, a Wrexham publican in the 1980s from Parklands View, Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, was convicted of six charges of indecent assault on a male, two buggery charges, and one attempted buggery. But he was cleared of a charge of indecency with a child.

Former local radio presenter Roy Norry, aged 55, from Hamilton Road, Connah’s Quay , was convicted of five charges of indecent assault on a male, one charge of buggery and was cleared of one charge of attempted buggery and one indecent assault.

 

April 2011

Hartlepool man spared jail over indecent pictures

A DAD who downloaded indecent pictures of children to his computer was given a community order in a bid to stop future offending.

A Teesside Crown Court judge said locking up Christopher Raymond White for a short time would not help to manage any risk he posed.

Prosecutor Christine Egerton said the 43-year-old’s home was searched and computer seized on December 16, 2009.

He had downloaded 98 images. The majority, 54, were at the least serious level in law but 44 were at more severe categories. He told police the images appeared as “pop-ups” on his screen but then admitted he had clicked on them to look.

Judge Howard Crowson said White deleted the images rather than stored them, before investigators were able to recover them. There was no evidence that any images were passed on.

White, of Maxwell Road, Hartlepool, admitted 16 charges of making, and one of possessing, indecent photographs of children between June and December 2009.

Charlotte Eastwood, defending, said White made full admissions, showed remorse and was disgusted with his own behaviour. She added White, who had no previous convictions, would welcome a sex offender treatment programme.

He had a steady work history, suffered from a bad back and depression, and was now on jobseeker’s allowance and doing charity work.

Referring to sentencing guidelines, Judge Crowson said: “I could imprison you but it would be for a relatively short period of time.”

He decided a two-year community order with supervision and a sex offenders’ treatment programme was a “more productive” sentence. White also received an indefinite sexual offences prevention order governing contact with under-18s, possession of computers or mobile phones and use of the internet.

June 2015

42-year-old man jailed for having sex with schoolgirl

A LOWER Gornal man who had sex with a schoolgirl has been jailed for 38 months.

Matthew Southall, of The Straits, paid no heed to warnings from the mother of the 15-year-old to stay away from her daughter.

Judge Amjad Nawaz told Southall he was not suggesting all that happened had been “one-way” adding, “You know you should have stopped but you didn’t.

“You knew full well there was a significant difference in your ages and you should have known better. You quite clearly flattered this girl.”

He told the 42-year-old it was clear there had been a “degree of planning” in the offending.

Southall admitted sexual activity with a child and he was told he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Samantha Powis, defending told Wolverhampton Crown Court that Southall was deeply sorry for what had been a “moment of madness”.

June 2015

Former Meir Heath newsagent jailed for historic sex offences against schoolboy

PERVERT Ian Clark has been jailed after he indecently assaulted a schoolboy.

The pensioner, a former newsagent in Meir Heath, was in his early 40s when he sexually abused the youngster.

But decades later the victim felt strong enough to contact the authorities and the defendant was prosecuted.

The 67-year-old denied four offences of indecent assault but was convicted of all charges by a jury at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court earlier this year.

Now Clark has been jailed for five years and placed on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

Prosecutor Raj Punia said the abuse spanned a three year period from 1988 to 1991.

Miss Punia said: “The defendant persistently abused the teenager.

“There was a grooming element by this defendant when he gave the boy money and sweets.”

The court heard the victim was left feeling angry and began taking drugs and self-harming.

Delroy Henry, mitigating, said a custodial sentence will have a significant impact on the defendant.

He added Clark, formerly of Cameron Walk, Stone, has health issues and has resigned himself to the likelihood he will spend the rest of his days in custody.

Judge David Fletcher also made Clark the subject of a five year Sexual Harm Prevention Order which prevents him living with a male under 16 or having unsupervised contact with a boy under 16.

Judge Fletcher said: “You took the boy into your home and you took him out in your car. It was those places where the offences occurred.

“You gave him cigarettes and sweets by way of some form of inducement.

“Matters came to a head when you suggested he pose for a friend of your’s wearing only underwear. At that point he started to realise things were not as they should be.”

The judge said the victim was embarrassed when giving evidence at the trial.

Judge Fletcher added: “You have got away with your offending behaviour for decades and now the moment of reckoning has arrived. The blighted life of your victim is something I will and do take into account.

June 2015

Betting shop manager downloaded indecent videos of children and a baby being abused by adults

A betting shop manager who downloaded videos of young children being abused by adults has been spared jail.

James Andrew Edwards was arrested after police executed a warrant under the Protection of Children Act at his home on Petre Crescent in Rishton.

Burnley Crown Court heard how 14 videos – including nine of the top category A – were found in the recycle bin on his computer and included footage of children aged ‘from teens down to about five years old’ being abused by adults with one featuring a young baby.

Edwards, 28, pleaded guilty to 14 counts of making indecent images of children.

Stephen Parker, prosecuting, said officers executed the warrant on June 11 last year and when confronted by police Edwards said: “I download a lot over the internet. There’s stuff on my computer in my recycle bin. I didn’t do it intentionally.”

Mr Parker told the court: “His explanation was that he was trying to look for a particular porn video that he had seen years ago.

“He couldn’t remember the name of it and so had been searching for it in the various tags since then that he remembered from the original clip.

“[The search terms] did return some child pornography but that had not been his intention of his search.

“If he saw stuff that had child porn on it and ended up looking at it then he got rid of it by putting it into the recycling bin of his computer.

“He said it was not his intention to keep those videos. He said he had been looking at pornography nearly every day and he was interested in general hardcore and rough porn.

“He maintained he didn’t get any sexual gratification by the images of children.”

James Heyworth, defending, said Edwards, who has worked as a betting shop manager for more than four years, deserved full credit for his early guilty plea and is of ‘previous good character’.

He said: “He spent a lot of time on the internet with legitimate porn, downloaded files and found oneself ultimately crossing the line. He has had to accept that and the shame that goes with it.

“It’s a sad day for his parents and supportive family to see him in the dock. He comes from a good family and is well thought of within his family and friends.”

Judge Beverley Lunt told Edwards he had a ‘serious problem’.

She warned him because he had a ‘sick interest in the type of pornography he was searching for in the first place’ he needed ‘professional’ help to stop him re-offending.

Sentencing, she said: “It’s not to your credit that you say you came across these images when looking for particularly unpleasant pornographic sites and videos yourself.

“To those who didn’t know what you were doing in private, you were a respectable man, son, brother and friend.

“You are a working man but you are exposed now and that can’t be ignored as being part of your punishment.

“You seriously have a problem here and I truly believe that without professional help the evidence suggests that you may re-offend in this manner again.”

He was given a three-year community order with a supervision requirement, ordered to attend the internet sex offenders treatment programme, given a five-year sexual harm prevention order and made subject to police notification requirements for five years

June 2015

Jail warning to former RAF man, 73, who sexually abused boys in 1970s

A PENSIONER who sexually abused two young boys in Swindon in the 1970s has been warned to expect a lengthy jail term.

Raymond Clarke, 73, had pleaded not guilty to five counts of indecent assault and a one of a serious sexual assault.

But following a trial at Swindon Crown Court a jury took just three hours to find Clarke guilty of all the charges.

Clarke, who had a career in the RAF, carried out the serious sexual offence against a boy, who was under the age of 14, in the three years to May 1974.

He also indecently assaulted the boy on four occasions during the same period as well as committing a similar offence on another boy, who was under 18, some time in 1970.

Judge Tim Mousley QC adjourned the case to give Clarke, now of Lydney, Gloucestershire, time to get medical reports.

The court was told that he had heart problems and was on the waiting list for an operation at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

The judge told him: “You have been convicted on clear evidence by the jury of six very serious offences.

“Not withstanding your age and state of health you must expect a prison sentence of some length.

“You will come back to be sentenced by me in a couple of weeks time on a date to be fixed.”

Granting him bail on condition he does not contact the victims he added: “That is no indication that you will not be sentenced to an immediate prison sentence.”

The pensioner will also now have to register as a sex offender with the total time he must continue to do so determined by the ultimate sentence.

June 2015

Man sentenced for child sexual exploitation

Darryl Howe (28/05/1994) of Hartford Gardens, Timperley was found guilty at Manchester Crown Square of one count of child abduction, one count of inciting a child to commit a sexual act and two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child.

He has today – Tuesday 30 June 2015 – been sentenced to 33 months in prison and placed on a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 15 years.

In early 2014, Howe met a 14-year-old girl from Nottingham online and sent her explicit photos of himself and encouraged her do the same.

Later that year in August 2014, Howe met a 15-year-old girl from Greater Manchester over Blackberry Messenger (BBM) and, despite knowing her age, pursued the girl and groomed her into having a sexual relationship with him.

After concerns were raised to the police, he was given a warning under the child abduction act but continued to contact the girl, encouraging her to go missing from home, which led to his arrest. 

Police later learned he had been in a sexual relationship with the girl and was subsequently convicted.

July 2015

School janitor escapes prison sentence despite stash of child abuse images and animal abuse porn

A SCHOOL janitor who was caught with a vile stash of child abuse images and animal porn escaped a prison sentence yesterday.

Depraved Alan Morgan, 58, admitted downloading more than 100 video clips featuring kids as young as three, including some that were described as “masochistic”

He was arrested at Castlehead High, in Paisley , during the school’s lunch break after cops who were acting on a tip-off raided his flat in nearby Orchy Crescent and found the sickening footage.

Morgan was ordered to carry out 300 hours of community service, banned from using the internet and forced to register as a sex offender when he appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday.

Sheriff Thomas McCartney told him: “These are serious offences and I have considered carefully all of the information contained in the reports.

“I have decided I can appropriately deal with these matters with a sentence which is a direct alternative to a custody.

“I have made it clear this is a direct alternative to a custodial sentence and any breach will result in a significant prison sentence.”

Police uncovered Morgan’s stash of indecent images during a raid in November last year.

The footage featured adults abusing children and animals and date from the time he was working at Castlehead High.

Morgan’s Facebook page shows him pictured with young children and lists his employment as ‘school janitor.’

Yesterday, his lawyer Tony Callahan told the court his client has been threatened online and is anxious to undergo treatment for “the problems he accepts he has.”

Mr Callahan added: “He has already suffered significant losses, not only employment, but also social activities, including the local choir, and also had threats on social media.”

Morgan showed no emotion as sentence was passed in court yesterday.

He has been told to comply with a Community Payback Order and will be supervised for three years.

In addition, Morgan must not make contact with anyone under the age of 16 without prior consent and must take part in a rehabilitation programme for sex offenders.

His progress is scheduled to be reviewed on September 19.

Last night, Renfrewshire Council confirmed Morgan was suspended from his job when his crimes came to light and was later sacked.

A spokesman added: “We can confirm that a janitor was suspended and subsequently dismissed in relation to this matter.”

June 2015

Ex-Cleveland firefighter jailed for 18 years after taking girl, 9, to truck stops to be sexually abused

A former Cleveland firefighter who took a nine-year-old girl to have sex in toilets with truckers was jailed for 18 years today.

John Brumpton told the child’s mother that he was giving her swimming lessons and he used to wet her hair before returning her home.

But he drove her to the Scotch Corner Truck Stop near Darlington, County Durham, where she was subjected to abuse over a protracted period.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough Judge Simon Bourne-Arton QC sentenced Brumpton, 66, to an extra three years “to reflect the involvement of other men” in the historic offences which happened decades ago.

Brumpton, a Cleveland firefighter for 17 years, was convicted after a trial at Teesside Crown Court after giving complete denials of the victim’s story.

He was found guilty of serious sex assault, five charges of indecent assault and two of indecency with a child, all specimen offences.

Brumpton, a recovering prostate cancer patient, called out to his wife and family members as he was led away: “I love you all.”

Prosecutor Paul Cleasby read out the victim’s impact statement given to police 24 hours earlier in which she said: “No child should be subjected to what I have endured.

“I have taken what happened to me into my adult life, especially after having children.”

Dan Cordey, defending, said that Brumpton would find jail difficult and he would be a relatively aged man when he was released.

He added: “He served in the fire service for 17 years, and he is somebody who is extremely well-regarded by his family and friends.

“He, by his convictions, has lost all that and must live with the stigma gained by his offending.

“He had just started to settle into retirement and enjoy time with his wife and wider family. He knows now that he will not be able to do that.

“He knows that he cannot expect sympathy from this court, and given his reaction to the verdicts yesterday he is somebody who is a broken man.”

The judge said that Brumpton’s sex abuse was as serious as could be imagined.

Judge Bourne-Arton added: “It was for your own personal sexual gratification and also offering her to others for their own sexual deprivations.

“I do find that others were involved and that you solicited others to take part in sexual encounters at the Scotch Corner Truck Stop and made her watch pornographic videos.”

The judge said that Brumpton had been able to enjoy a happy life for the years that his crimes remained a secret, but the victim’s life had been completely changed.

Brumpton was jailed for 18 years and he will have to register as a sex offender for life.

July 2015

Sex fiend posed as young boy to incite unwitting young girls to send him indecent images

An East Sussex sex fiend who posed as a young boy to trick unwitting young girls into sending indecent images to him has been jailed.

Convicted sex offender Alan Bull, of Upper Church Road, St Leonards, used Facebook and live webcam software to incite the young girls into sexual activity over the internet.

The 31-year-old appeared at Hove Crown Court on Friday (26 June) and was sentenced to a total of five years and four months in prison.

He admitted at a previous hearing two counts of possession of indecent images of the girls, one count of making indecent images of one of them, breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) imposed after a previous such offence, and causing or inciting one teenage girl to engage in sexual activity.

He will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life.

The mother of an 11-year-old girl who fell victim to Bull’s despicable crimes said: “I feel very angry towards Alan Bull. I am angry that he just randomly chose my young daughter to do this to and took away her dignity.

“I think she will get over this but it will take a very long time. I don’t think that it will ever leave her completely.”

Detective Constable Chris Milner said; “Our investigation began in December last year from an initial report from a mother of one of the victims that her daughter had been asked on Facebook to send indecent images by a young man, who turned out to be 6’6″ and 23-stone Bull, a convicted sex offender who was masquerading as a young boy to incite young girls to pass him indecent images. Some of this interaction included live video over the Internet.

“We then traced two other victims, aged 11 and 14, who had also been contacted by Bull, and who had also been deceived into exactly the same types of exchanges.

July 2011

Rotherham Council worker jailed for string of child sexual offences

A FORMER Rotherham Council worker has been locked up for serious sex offences.

Gareth Craven (30), an ex-lighting technician at Rotherham Civic Theatre, was jailed for four years at Sheffield Crown Court this week for six offences.

Craven was convicted after a trial of two charges of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 16 and four charges of sexual activity with a child under 16 which were committed in 2009.

Craven, of Tranmoor Lane, Armthorpe, Doncaster, was also sentenced to a two-year licence period.

He was banned from working with children, placed under a sex offender prevention order and put on the sex offender register.

A Rotherham Borough Council spokesman confirmed that Craven was suspended at the time the allegations came to light and voluntarily left his job, ahead of the case reaching court.

July 2015

Former Dudley photographer jailed for sexual activity with schoolgirl

A FORMER Dudley photographer has been jailed for four years after he engaged in sexual activity with a schoolgirl.

Craig Styles was told his actions had clearly had a damaging effect on the 15-year-old’s life when he was sentenced at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

The 36-year-old who now lives in Hereford, had denied engaging in sexual activity with a child but was found guilty by a jury after they retired to consider the evidence at the end of his trial.

Jonathan Baker, defending, told the court that Styles – a man of previous good character – had committed the offences at a time when his life was “spiralling out of control”.

David Jackson, prosecuting, told the jury there was an “element of grooming” towards the schoolgirl.

Judge John Wait told Styles he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life

July 2015

Former teacher and convicted sex offender jailed for another three years for sexually abusing three pupils

A former teacher and convicted sex offender has been jailed for another three years for sexually abusing three pupils.

Seosamh O’Ceallaigh (63), also know as Joseph Kelly, continues to deny abusing the children at Scoil Colm in Coolock, Dublin and rejects the guilty verdicts of the jury.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that as well as being a teacher in Dublin, he was also heavily involved in Irish Language colleges in the west of Ireland.

O’Ceallaigh of Beal An Daingin, Carraroe in Galway was convicted by a jury last month of sexually abusing or indecently assaulting the three boys at various locations including in the classroom, in his car and on school trips between 1977 and 1994. He had denied the charges.

Due to the law in place during the earlier abuse, the maximum sentence available for those offences was two years.

He is currently serving a ten year term imposed last year for grooming, raping and sexually abusing a young girl between 1982 and 1992.

During sentencing a Central Criminal Court judge said that he found it hard to hold tears back at some stages during the victim’s account of the effect the abuse had on her.

The victim told that trial that when the man raped her at the age of 12 he treated it as a cause for celebration and told her he had finally achieved something he had been trying to do for a long time.

The three year term imposed today will begin after he completes his ten year sentence.

Today Detective Garda Jonathon Kelly told a sentencing hearing that the earliest abuse of a pupil happened when the victim was eight years old in 1977 and that it went on for a year.

O’Ceallaigh would call the boy up to the front of the class and “suggest things to him.” He would then put pebbles in the child’s pocket and retrieve them while fondling the victim’s genitals. He would also whisper to the child and nibble his ear.

On other occasions the teacher would bring the child for drives up the Dublin mountains. He would have the boy sit in his lap and pretend to steer the car while he “fondled” him. Other abuse would occur in the car on the way to Scoil Colm football games.

Prosecuting counsel Paul Carroll BL presented evidence that O’Ceallaigh was responsible for first aid in the school. He used this excuse to have one boy come into the classroom and drop his trousers before fondling him.

O’Ceallaigh abused a third child on a school trip to Galway. Several schoolboys were staying in a relative of O’Ceallaigh’s one night. The teacher had one of the boys strip naked while he also stripped.

The teacher then molested the boy before taking his hand and “showing him how to masturbate”, the court was told.

Victim impact reports were read on behalf of the three victims. One man described how he used alcohol to try and forget the abuse and destroyed his life with drinking.

The second man said that he saw the abuse as “a truly shameful secret” but that it never broke him because of the support he had from his family. He said he hopes his evidence will stop O’Ceallaigh from abusing further victims.

The third victim said he still cannot believe what was done to him and that it is horrible to think that O’Ceallaigh will one day probably walk free.

“I will never forgive him for the extreme shame and trauma he had inflicted upon me,” he wrote.

Defence counsel Patrick McGrath SC said he is limited in what he can say in mitigation as O’Ceallaigh does not accept the verdict of the jury. He submitted that his client has a large number of health problems including heart disease and depression.

Counsel handed in references from O’Ceallaigh’s family and friends and said that he retains the support of his wife. He asked Judge Patrick McCartan not to add to the ten year term he is serving.

Judge McCartan said O’Ceallaigh abused his position of trust and authority as shown in the “harrowing” victim impact reports.

He noted that the teacher didn’t deny the allegations himself in court but instructed his counsel to accuse the victims of lying during cross-examination.

July 2015

Chesterton pervert tried to meet ‘child’ after sexual grooming online

PERVERT Philip Owen tried to meet up with a child after grooming him sexually online

The 52-year-old was caught after investigators pretended to be a 14-year-old boy on an adult dating website.

Despite being told four times in the opening exchanges that he was talking to a 14-year-old Owen began using sexually explicit language.

He asked if the boy was gay and went on to send pictures of a penis.

Owen agreed to meet the ‘boy’ in Nantwich but was instead met by investigators.

Police arrested him the next day at his Chesterton home.

Now Owen has been handed a three year community order at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court

Prosecutor Paul Farrow said Owen was ‘flushed out’ by investigators in May 2013.

Mr Farrow said: “The investigator and the defendant started to converse using the instant messaging service.

“They chatted over four days. The conversation was sexual and explicit. He mentioned he was 14 and the defendant replied, ‘Why are you on here if only 14? Have you ever been with a lad?’ The defendant said, ‘Would you like to go with a guy.”

Owen sent a picture of a penis. Mr Farrow said: “He said he would pick him up and they could have some fun. He suggested it would be better if he came to him as he could stay the night.”

They arranged to meet in Nantwich but Owen was met by investigators.

He was arrested the next day.

He said he travelled to meet the boy because he was concerned about him.

He said he had no sexual interest in children

Owen, of Wolstanton Road, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming and two offences of publishing an obscene article.

Nicola Bell, mitigating, said the defendant was drinking to excess after suffering bereavements. She added the public would be better served by Owen receiving help from the probation service.

Judge David Fletcher sentenced Owen to a three year community order with supervision and a requirement to complete the community sex offenders’ group work programme.

He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order.

And he will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years.