January 2016

Exmouth man who pleasured himself in front of girls in Exeter park sent on sex offenders’ course

An 81 year old man who pleasured himself in front of two teenage girls while sitting on a rock in a park has been sent on a sex offenders’ course.

Brian Bellamy later told police it was not the first time he had done it.

He could not explain to them why he did it but said it was not sexually motivated.

A court heard one of the victims recognised him and they ran off screaming and calling the police.

Prosecutor David Barnes said the girls had been sheltering from the rain under a tree in Northernhay Park in Exeter one day in August.

They saw Bellamy, of Salterton Road, Exmouth, Devon, walking up and down before he sat down on a rock and started rubbing himself.

He then got up with his trousers lowered and walked towards them.

Bellamy told police he was disgusted with himself and had not intended to cause them distress.

His lawyer Caroline Salvatore said Bellamy said:”It is often the case that people who behave in a sexually unacceptable fashion are people who have in turn been victims themselves. This is entirely true of Mr Bellamy.”

She said he had only now revealed lifelong scars of a fractured and abusive childhood – even to his wife of 52 years.

Miss Salvatore said his ‘life was in tatters’ and he was in ‘an emotionally very poor state’.

He admitted committing an act of outraging public decency and Exeter magistrates imposed a two year community order with a sex offenders’ programme and banned him from the park for two years.

He had to pay £145 court costs but no compensation order was made to the victims.

January 2016

Man Sentenced For Indecent child abuse images

A Hove man has been sent to prison for 12 months for offences relating to indecent images of children.

Giuseppe Panto, 53, a waiter, of Portland Road, Hove, was sentenced when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Friday (15 January), having previously pleaded guilty to two offences of making an indecent image of a child, and one offence of possessing an extreme prohibited pornographic image.

The child images comprised 30 videos and 70 still images.

He was required to be a Registered Sex Offender for 10 years and was served with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further court notice, severely restricting his access to computers and children.

The prosecution resulted from an intelligence-led investigation by officers from the Sussex Police Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) who executed a search warrant at Pantos address in Portland Road in October last year. A computer and related devices were seized.

January 2016

Child rapist who befriended girl days after release is recalled to prison

A child rapist befriended a vulnerable girl at a teenagers’ hangout days after his release from prison.

Sex offender Shaun Hills, 25, has now been jailed again after chatting with an underage girl on Facebook.

Shortly after his release, he started going to a Middlesbrough public place where teenagers and young people often met.

He met a teenage girl and falsely told her he had been in prison for stabbing a friend with a screwdriver.

He took her phone number then exchanged messages with her online after setting up a Facebook profile using different surnames.

Matters went no further, but he fell foul of court orders banning him from unsupervised contact with children or changing his name without telling the authorities.

He was arrested when police got wind of his activities, Teesside Crown Court heard from prosecutor David Crook today.

He claimed he wanted to help the girl and act as a “counsellor” for her via Facebook.

He said he was “full of love” but denied any sexual interest.

He was given an extended 14-year sentence – an eight-year jail term and an extended six-year licence period – for raping a boy and other sexual offences in December 2011.

He was released after serving four years in September last year.

His first appearance in court was for a sexual offence in 2004 when he was 14.

Hills, of no fixed address, admitted breaching a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) and sex offender notification requirements.

Due to his reoffending, Hills has been recalled to serve the rest of his eight-year sentence from 2011.

Mr Gaskin said: “It may well be some time before Mr Hills is released from custody.

“He has to prove himself to the Parole Board before he can be released.”

He said Hills had autism, had a “horrendous upbringing” and was a vulnerable man.

Judge Stephen Ashurst said Hills flouted orders designed to protect children and to protect Hills from himself.

He told the defendant: “What concerns me is the speed at which you decided to go to a part of Middlesbrough which you knew was very popular with young teenagers.

“And you did so within frankly a matter of days of being released.

“You went almost immediately to an area that was bound to bring you into contact with youngsters.

“I raise an eyebrow at the suggestion that you were simply wanting to counsel this young girl.

“How you as a convicted sex offender were likely to offer counselling for her is very difficult to understand.”

He said Hills’ actions “raises alarm bells in my mind as to the risk you pose for the future”.

He jailed Hills for 18 months, concurrent to his existing sentence.

Hills is banned from chat rooms, social networks and dating websites under the indefinite SOPO, which governs his contact with under-16s and internet use.

December 2011

Darlington pervert jailed for raping young boy

A RAPIST is starting an eightyear jail sentence for a catalogue of sickening sex attacks on a young boy.

Shaun Hills must also serve a six-year period on licence on release after a judge deemed him a significant risk to children.

Hills, of Headlam Road, Darlington, denied abusing the youngster, but was found guilty of 15 charges after a trial at Teesside Crown Court in September.

Reports from psychiatrists and a probation officer concluded the 21-year-old was a high risk to children, and he came close to being jailed indefinitely.

Judge Tony Briggs said his recent acceptance of some wrongdoing had saved him from imprisonment for public protection.

In a letter to the court, Hills apologised to his victim and said he was sorry for what happened and the ordeals he had endured since.

The boy was forced to give evidence during the trial, and Judge Briggs said: “The jury clearly found him as impressive a witness as I did.”

The attacks began when Hills was ten and only ended when his younger victim realised the abuse was wrong after a sex education class at school. When it was going on, Hills told him it was normal behaviour.

 Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, said the boy was still haunted by what had happened to him.

Judge Briggs told Hills: “It is perfectly plain when the offending started he just did as he was told… you were manipulative and dominant and just used him as and when. It is as serious as it can get.

“You lack the mitigation of a guilty plea, and even now you are only partly admitting minor sexual activity.

“It is a matter for you to take such help as is offered. If you do, you can look forward to some sort of future. If you do not, it is more misery.”

Hills was convicted of every charge he faced – ten specimen counts of rape, four of indecent assault of a child and one of indecency with a child.

His barrister, Dan Cordey, said: “The court can have the hope for the future that he is somebody who can mature and come to terms with what he has done.”

January 2016

York man who had 2,500 indecent photos and videos of children is spared jail

A SEX offender who for four years downloaded images of children being sexually abused has escaped a prison sentence.

William John Cowbrough, 31, had more than 2,500 indecent pictures and videos of youngsters, some as young as five years old, on two laptops, a mobile phone, a hard drive and a tablet, said Paul Mitchell, prosecuting at York Crown Court.

He had been searching for similar images on the internet and had installed specialist software to remove the images and conceal his activities.

Cowbrough, formerly of Danebury Drive, Acomb, and now of Franklin Road, Harrogate, pleaded guilty to six charges of having illegal indecent images of children.

Judge Guy Kearl said: “I need to look at the future safety of children. It is a simple task for me to lock you up.”

But Cowbrough would be released in six to 12 months’ time, when he may relapse into his old ways and he had shown that he was motivated to change.

So instead, he gave him a three-year community order including a sex offenders’ rehabilitation course.

Given what you have done, it seems to me the public and particularly children are better served (by the community order),” the judge said.

He also put Cowbrough on the sex offenders’ register for five years and made him subject to a sexual harm prevention order restricting his use of the internet and making him subject to police supervision, also for five years.

He ordered him to pay £425 prosecution costs and warned him that if he reoffends in the next three years, he will be brought back before the crown court and sent to jail.

Mr Partridge said the offences had cost Cowbrough his marriage and he had no previous convictions.

Mr Mitchell said police raided Cowbrough’s Acomb home on March 11, 2015, and found two laptops and a mobile phone. They also found documents showing that he had computer equipment being repaired at a Middlesbrough shop, went there and found the hard drive and tablet.

January 2016

Two men jailed for subjecting schoolgirl to string of sexual offences

Two men convicted of subjecting a schoolgirl to a catalogue of sexual offences have been sentenced to a total of 13 years in prison.

Przemek Zukowski (25), of Fosse Road, Leicester, was jailed for seven years after being found guilty of five counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child, causing actual bodily harm and battery at a trial.

Pawel Repich (24), also of Fosse Road, was handed a six-year sentence following his conviction for sexual assault by penetration and actual bodily harm.

January 2016

Face of St Helens paedophile locked up over vile child abuse

This is the face of a St Helens paedophile jailed for sexually abusing two young girls.

David Sands, 59, was locked up for 14 years for “systematic and repeated” abuse while he was living in Eccleston Park, near St Helens.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that both the victims, who are now adults, had been left traumatised and suffering flashbacks.

One described how she lost her childhood and “feels alone all the time”. The other victim said she gets with herself for not coping and feeling upset.

Jailing Sands, who still denies the offences took place, Judge Graham Morrow, QC, said he was satisfied that the abuse began when they were both “extremely young”.

The court heard that he began to sexually abuse one of his victims when she was just four years old and the other when she was six. His behaviour continued over a four or five year period.

Sands, now of Swanlow Lane, Winsford, who has no previous convictions, was convicted of 19 offences, some specimen counts, including indecent assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual assault.

Before the police were notified about the offences last year the youngest victim confronted Sands but he denied her claims and, during his trial, alleged they were fantasists making false claims for financial reward.

Judge Morrow ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life and imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning unsupervised contact with under 16-year-olds.

January 2016

Paedophile abused boy in shopping centre toilets

A PAEDOPHILE from Worcester has been jailed for five years for sex offences against a 12-year-old schoolboy in city centre public toilets.

Christopher Cole committed the offences with the boy on two occasions at the toilets in Crowngate shopping centre, Worcester Crown Court heard.

The first time, he “dragged” the boy, who has learning difficulties, into the cubicles and the second time he lay in wait for him on a school day and threatened to hit him if he did not take part, the court was told.

Cole, aged 56, of Wakeman Street, Worcester, was found guilty of four charges of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity unanimously by a jury after a three day trial.

He was cleared of four similar charges after the jury decided it had only happened on two occasions. Cole denied meeting the boy but was picked out in an identity procedure.

Niall Skinner, defending, said Cole had left his job at Homebase as he had come into some money so he was financially stable and had paid off his mortgage.

He “wandered around Worcester occupying his time as best he could” at the time of the offences between August 31 and December 25, 2013, Mr Skinner told a sentencing hearing.

He said Cole had no direct means of contacting the boy after he carried out the first offences so he could not have arranged to meet him again.

The boy had been in his school uniform so Cole would have known roughly where he would be during the school term, Mr Skinner said.

“It is difficult to escape the conclusion that he must have returned to the scene hoping to see him to commit further offences against him,” Mr Skinner said.

The boy told police he had been “dragged” into the cubicles near the bus station the first time and the second time, he went in because Cole had threatened to hit him, the court heard.

Recorder Rachel Brand, QC, said the boy had been in his school uniform and was clearly under 16.

Cole, she said, had been “seeking an opportunity” to see him again after the first time.

He was struggling to with his own sexual maturity and had found it difficult to talk about the offences afterwards to adults.

It was not yet clear how much of an effect the assaults will have on him, she said.

Cole was jailed for a total of five years.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years or until further order because the boy had been approached in a public place.

January 2016

Man jailed for passing on indecent images of children for the second time

A Derbyshire pervert got two years jail for passing on child abuse photos – just as he did for an identical offence in 2007.

Glyn Roberts, 52, defied a court order which banned him using the internet at home, a court heard on Monday.

He was caught by police after using a phone to download images from the internet and exchanging some, said Kevin Jones, prosecuting.

He co-operated with officers who found 260 images in the most serious category, said Kevin Jones, prosecuting. Movies were also discovered.

Warehouse worker Roberts of Beech Avenue, Alfreton, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing images. He also admitted breach of an order barring use of the internet away from work.

Recorder Helen Malcolm QC told him: “The most serious and significant is you distributed it to other people. It seems that with making, possessing and distributing I am constrained to send you back to prison.

“You had a Sexual Offences Prevention Order before, began again and continued for a couple of years with precisely the same behaviour,” she said at Nottingham Crown Court. She urged Roberts to get help in tackling the problem.

The recorder heard that Roberts was in court in February 2007 for 17 offences of having indecent images and distributing them. The prison sentence was two years.

James Horne, mitigating, said Roberts had been extremely helpful to police and told the court: “He went over and above the information the officers had available at the time they were asking questions.

“He tried to identify other people he had been in contact with.”

Because his initial prison term was under three years, Roberts could not be enrolled for a course which helps offenders avoid committing child porn offences.

But he had asked to be allowed to undergo the rehabilitation and had been able take part in the opening section of the work. He lived with his sister and had been hit hard by her death, which left him feeling lonely.

Mr Horne urged the recorder to put Roberts on a three-year programme run by probation officers, rather than send him back to prison. It would be “no soft option.”

He told the court: “In the long run, it will be for the benefit of society to address the issues of his offending behaviour.”

Roberts had written a letter outlining his “regret, remorse and shame,” added Mr Horne. All the porn and equipment must be destroyed.

January 2016

Man, 61, admits sexually abusing a boy in Bradford

A MAN aged 61 has pleaded guilty at Bradford Crown Court to ten charges of sexually abusing a boy.

John Henderson, who committed some of the offences at a house in Bradford, today admitted three offences of indecent assault on a male person and seven counts of indecency with a child under 14.

The abuse took place between the late 1990s and 2004.

Henderson, of Neville Street, York, will be sentenced on February 11 after the preparation of a report from the probation service.

Judge Colin Burn rebailed him with a condition not to contact his victim.

Henderson was ordered to immediately sign on the sex offenders’ register.

He had denied the offences but pleaded guilty on the day of his trial.

January 2016

Highland barman admits downloading child sexual abuse images

A barman has admitted using his boss’s wifi internet connection to download child abuse images.

43-year-old Ian Legg of West Terrace, Ullapool, downloaded a total of 122 videos and 2,490 photographs of abused children aged between three and 15 between July 15, 2012 and February 25, 2015.

Fiscal depute David Morton told Inverness Sheriff Court that Legg had been working as a bar supervisor at the Frigate Bar and Bistro in the Wester Ross fishing village since May, 2014.

Mr Morton said: “On February 25, 2015, police received intelligence that someone was using the premises’ IP address to download indecent images of children.

“Legg resided alone in staff accommodation above the bar and that staff were aware of the password to access the wifi so they could pass it on to customers.

“Police found and seized two computers in his accommodation and he told officers at the time that they would find something not pleasant on them.

“The computers were subsequently analysed and the videos and still were found.”

The court heard 38 of the videos were of the most serious scale of abuse, involving male and female children aged between six and 14. Mr Morton said that in total, they ran for more than 48 hours.

Of the still images, 113 were of the most serious.

Sentence was deferred for background reports until March 7, but has been put on the sex offenders’ register in the meantime.

January 2016

Man who had 18,000 indecent images of children has been jailed for 16 months

A Gillingham man who had close to 18,000 indecent images of children has been jailed for 16 months.

Aaron Langley, 32, was caught out when Kent Police received information indecent images were being uploaded to the internet from his home address.

The Paedophile Online Investigation Team seized computers and equipment from his former home in Imperial Drive last January, where he was also arrested on suspicion of being in possession of indecent images of children.

January 2016

Pervert jailed after exposing himself to schoolgirls

A PERVERT who exposed himself and performed a sex act while he sat in his car as children were making their way home from school in Leamington has been jailed.

Andrew Mingaye had pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual activity in the presence of a child, claiming he had an alibi and was being wrongly accused by the police.

It was only on the day of his trial at Warwick Crown Court that he admitted being responsible and pleaded guilty to an alternative offence of exposure.

Following an adjournment for a report to be prepared on him, the 29 year-old of Rylands Close, Leamington, was jailed for six months and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.

Prosecutor Raj Punia said on a Friday afternoon in March last year a 12-year-old girl and a friend were walking along Gainsborough Drive on the Sydenham Estate on their way home from school.

The girl noticed a stationery black Renault car, and as she and her friend continued walking the car moved off and then pulled up in a layby ahead of them.

Then as they walked past it the girl glanced in – and could see that the driver, Mingaye, had exposed himself and was looking at them as he performed a sex act.

Seeing a woman on the opposite side of the road, the girl and her friend crossed over, and Mingaye drove off.

The girl told her mother what had happened when she got home, and the police were informed.

Mingaye was arrested two weeks later after an officer recognised his vehicle, but denied the matter.

In a second interview he admitted being there in his car, and that he exposed himself, but said he thought the girls were 14 or 15 – and replied ‘no comment’ when told they were only 12.

And despite his admissions in the interview, he pleaded not guilty to the charge of sexual activity in the presence of a child – claiming in a defence statement that he had an alibi and had been wrongly accused by the police.

At a pre-trial hearing Mingaye maintained he was not responsible for the act – and it was only on the day of his trial in December that he admitted responsibility.

He had entered his plea on the basis that he had not deliberately intended the girls to see what he was doing.

Miss Punia added Mingaye had previous convictions for exposure in 2008, when he had whistled at a woman and her 13-year-old daughter as they passed his home and then exposed his naked body to them, and for sending an indecent message in 2013 when he had performed a sex act during a Facetime video call.

Lisa Hennessy, defending, said Mingaye had been happily married for the last nine years.

She explained: “He is subject to periods of great stress. He has suffered from depression, and at times of great stress this behaviour emerges.”

But she said Mingaye was now in the middle of a course of counselling he had arranged himself, and he and his wife are saving for the deposit on a house and hoping to have a baby.

“He has been very frightened by the prospect of custody. He feels nothing but shame.”

But jailing Mingaye, Judge Alan Parker told him: “In the pre-sentence report it is said you have remorse. I find that very hard to believe. You have tried to delay the consequences of your disgraceful behaviour.”

January 2016

Pervert who had 9,000 images of child abuse avoids prison

A pervert was found to have downloaded more than 9,000 indecent images of children on computers at his Leeds home, a court heard.

David Jackson, 46, had also access images of animals being sexual abused.

Leeds Crown Court heard police executed a search warrant at Jackson’s home on March 16 after receiving information.

Jackson was at home at the property at the time.

A laptop and other equipment was seized and taken away for analysis.

Philip Adams, prosecuting, said over 9,000 abusive images were discovered. A total of 49 images and one movie was at category A – the most serious level of offending.

The prosecutor said many of the images featured children aged as young as three-years-old.

A total 14 images featuring animal were discovered.

Jackson, of Parkside Crecsent, Meanwood, pleaded guilty to five offences of possessing indecent images of children and one possession of extreme pornography.

Michael Walsh, mitigating, said Jackson had no previous convictions and had pleaded guilty at an early stages.

Mr Walsh said his client had been frank with a probation officer about his offending.

Mr Walsh urged judge James Spencer, QC, to consider following the recommendation of a report calling for Jackson to be given a community punishment so he could receive treatment to address his offending.

Jackson was made the subject of a three-year community order during with he must take part in a sex offender treatment programme.

January 2016

Derbyshire sex offender is jailed for deleting internet search history – again

A CONVICTED sex offender breached a court order just weeks after being released from prison.

John Pilkington, 77, was originally in court for “sexual matters” in the 1980s and 1990s, Derby Crown Court was told.

In March last year, he was given a community order for possessing indecent images of children.

He was told he must obey a sexual harm prevention order, which included not possessing any software that could delete his internet search history.

Pilkington, of Rush Leys, Long Eaton, first breached the order in June by installing a “cleaner” on his computer, the court was told. He was given a 28-day prison sentence and released on October 22.

But, when police went to the defendant’s home on November 25, they discovered he had installed another “cleaner” on his computer.

Jailing Pilkington for four months, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “You cleaned your computer, ensuring that nobody was then able to follow the history of what you had been searching.

“It came shortly on the heels of having served 28 days for exactly the same thing.”

Pilkington admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Simon Stevens, in mitigation, said Pilkington had told him that he had “poor memory” and sometimes “poor comprehension”.

However, Judge Shant said she did not accept this was the case.

She said: “I take the view it was a deliberate breach. You knew exactly what you were doing.

“And you must understand the way the court enforces such orders is by taking any breach very seriously indeed.”

Mr Stevens told the courts that the Community Sex Offender Group Work Programme Pilkington had been ordered to attend in March last year had not yet begun and so his client had not yet had the benefit of any of the help.

Judge Shant instructed that, when Pilkington was released from prison, he would continue on the community order.

January 2016

Sex offender convicted after extradition from Tenerife

A sex offender who was extradited from Tenerife has been found guilty of historic offences against a child.

Andrew Richard Logan, formerly of Clayton-le-Moors, was arrested on the Spanish island where he was living in May last year and brought back to the UK. 

The 44-year-old pleaded not guilty to sexual assault, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

However, he was found guilty of all the offences, committed more than a decade ago, following a trial at Preston Crown Court.

Logan, who lived at San Miguel de Abona on the island, will appear at the court for sentence on February 26.

Speaking after the trial, Detective Inspector Julie Cross said: “He was arrested in Tenerife in May last year and then taken to Madrid and charged with numerous offences and following the trial has been convicted of all of them.

“Unfortunately they were only reported to us in 2009 and it’s taken a long time to reach the point were he could be brought back into the country.

“The victim had to give her account and evidence of the attacks, which isn’t the best thing and she did extremely well.

“Hopefully she will now be able to get some closure as a result of the verdicts and Logan will get a custodial sentence that merits the awful offences he committed.”

January 2016

Pensioner jailed for sexual abuse of two young girls

A PENSIONER convicted of the sexual abuse of two young girls has been jailed for five-and-a-half years.

David McConnell preyed on the children when they were aged between eight and ten, simulating sex with one and improperly touching both.

Bristol Crown Court heard the abuse occurred in South Gloucestershire and was initially not reported

McConnell, 72, whose address was given as Dartmeet Avenue in Plymouth, denied wrongdoing.

But a jury found him guilty of three indecent assaults and four gross indecencies of one girl, and three indecent assaults and one gross indecency of a second girl.

Judge William Hart told him: “It has lived with them and coloured their lives ever since.

“How much harm it has caused them is impossible to establish in medical and psychiatric terms.

“Their victim impact statements make it clear that difficulties in their later lives were contributed to by what you did to them.

“Anyone watching (one of the complainants) could see the indelible mark that child abuse leaves on a person.

“You have led a blameless life before and since and you have not revisited the dark place you went to.”

The judge conceded, though, that the abuse was not the worst case of its kind.

He recognised no physical injury was caused and matters did not escalate.

McConnell was told to register as a sex offender indefinitely and barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.

The jury was told McConnell touched the girls improperly and got them to touch him.

Both victims penned moving victim impact statements in which they outlined to the court the deep impact of the abuse.

One of the complainants described how she was left unable to be around decent men, and she had turned to drugs when growing up in the hope of forgetting what happened.

She was convinced she contracted a physical condition as a result of the abuse and had also suffered anxiety and depression.

She also stated that she hadn’t wanted to give birth to a baby boy as she was too scared of what he may grow up to be.

Her statement read: “He took not just my innocence but years of living.”

The second complainant said she felt “cold and numb” when she was abused as a child, abuse described by McConnell at the time as “our secret”.

She said she was initially unable to stand up to men in relationships, and tried to deal with the abuse by putting it to the back of her mind, locking it away and throwing away the key.

She also cited how she suffered depression as a consequence.

She went on to describe the trauma of being put through the trial process, how at first she couldn’t even step into the court room and how she contacted police and said she couldn’t go through with it.

She said: “If I could have run away when the usher came to get me I would have done.”

Adrian Chaplin, defending, said: “This is a man of hitherto good character. He is 72.

“He has made arrangements so that his absence is no more of a burden to his current partner than he can help.

“As a man the age he is the experience of prison is not going to be a walk in the park.

“His absence from his extended family is something he will feel keenly.”

January 2016

Man working near Mold tried to blame another for indecent images of children

A MAN employed at a outward bound centre, working with children between the ages of seven and 17, blamed another man when indecent images of children were found on a computer hard drive.

That other man was traced, arrested and questioned but protested he had nothing to do with it.

Christopher Saunders then produced letters and a text message to the police which he said were from the other man threatening him to take responsibility for the images.

But Mold Crown Court heard yesterday how Saunders, 29, had written them to himself. His fingerprints were found underneath the sticky tape on one of the letters.

The text message had come from a pay-as-you-go phone which had only been used to send the threatening text and which came from the same mast as the defendant’s own phone, not from the areas of the country where the other man lived.

Saunders, now of Rowley Regis in the West Midlands admitted 12 offences of making indecent images of children by downloading them off the internet, possessing a total of 838 images back in 2013, and then perverting the course of justice.

Prosecutor David Mainstone said at the time Saunders was employed at the Kingswood outward bound centre at Colomendy near Mold. 

A co-worker asked to loan his hard drive to watch a film but found the naked images of children.

Management were informed, the defendant was interviewed but he said the hard drive belonged to another man who had done some work for a nudist site. He was suspended and later dismissed and the police were informed.

Police carried out an investigation and located that man in Somerset where he was arrested and interviewed and said he had nothing to do with it.

In January 2015 Saunders produced a number of letters which he alleged the other man had sent him, together with a text message.

They were of a threatening nature telling Saunders to take the blame and gloating that the other man had won. Police did not accept the letters at face value and carried out a further investigation which showed Saunders had written the letters.

Anna Pope, defending, said it was accepted Saunders was in an extremely serious position. He had dug himself a hole which became deeper and deeper as the proceedings continued.

The most serious offence was perverting the course of justice where an innocent man was arrested as a result of the defendant’s actions.

Mr Recorder Timothy Petts said Saunders had caused an innocent man considerable distress. He had manufactured the evidence to try to get the other man into trouble and had wasted police resources.

A message had to be sent out that people who tried to blame others for their own offending could only be dealt with by a custodial sentence, he said.

Saunders was jailed for a total of 66 weeks, placed on the sex offender register for seven years and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made.

January 2016

Pensioner admits indecency charges at Shrewsbury toilets

A 78-year-old man has admitted leaving indecent photographs of children and children’s underwear in public toilets in Shrewsbury.

January 2016

Police support officer jailed for two years over crystal meth and indecent photos of children

A judge said he was horrified after jailing former Reading police community support officer James Wicks for two years for possessing indecent images of children and drug possession.

Wicks, 35, of Kirby Drive in Bramley, was employed by Thames Valley Police (TVP) for three years between October 2012 and October 2015 and was based within the Reading local police area. 

He was convicted of six counts of the possession of indecent images of children, one count of the distribution of indecent images of children and one count of being concerned in the supply of the class A drug crystal meth.

Judge Andrew Barnett said: “This case horrifies me.

“There is no room for this in society – such ghastly pictures of young children suffering on which your satisfaction depended.

“It is a tragedy that I have to deal with you – a 35-year-old person with no previous convictions and who has held down many responsible jobs in the past. The best thing is that you pleaded guilty early but due to the depravity of the offences I have to give you an immediate custodial sentence. “

Wicks was arrested on June 10 last year, before being suspended while the criminal investigation and misconduct proceedings took place.

He then resigned from the force on October 5 and was charged with the offences 10 days later.

He pleaded guilty to the offences at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday, December 9 and was sentenced on Wednesday, January 20.

This was broken down as follows:

• two years in jail for the distribution of indecent images of children

• 12 months’ imprisonment for possession of category A indecent images of children

• six months’ imprisonment for possession of category B indecent images of children

• four months’ imprisonment for possession of category C indecent images of children

• 12 months’ imprisonment for being concerned in the supply of a class A drug offence.

These sentences are to run concurrently so in total Wicks will serve two years in prison.

Wicks will also be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order after his release.

January 2016

NHS scientist wins asylum to UK then rapes young girl ‘patient’

A SCIENTIST who worked for the NHS after being granted asylum in Britain faces jail after repeatedly raping and abusing a young girl he pretended he was medically examining.

Cameroon-born Andong Ashu, 45, began abusing his victim when she was just 11, with the assaults becoming more serious until he started raping her.

Ashu, who came to the UK as a refugee in 2002, warned his victim that nobody would believe her if she complained because she was “only a child”.

A court heard he also attempted to bribe her with £10 and £20 payments in a desperate bid to maintain her silence.

But after suffering years of abuse the girl eventually plucked up the courage to go to police and report the scientist.

The married father of three collapsed in the dock at Hull Crown Court as a jury found him guilty of 11 sexual offences following a five-day trial.

The jury took six hours to convict him of four counts of rape and seven sexual assaults on Monday.

The jury took six hours to convict Ashu of four counts of rape and seven sexual assaults

Ashu fell against the front of the dock when the verdicts were read out and had to be assisted by a custody officer.

His distraught wife – a careers teacher – broke down, sobbing hysterically in the public gallery.

The court heard how Ashu grew up in an English-speaking community in Cameroon but faced persecution from French speaking countrymen.

After fleeing the country and leaving a partner and child behind, Ashu was granted asylum in the UK.

He was awarded a grant so he could to attend university, where he gained a science degree.

That led to work in NHS laboratories, where he was tasked with monitoring blood samples at hospitals in Portsmouth before moving to work in Sheffield.

The NHS scientist was found guilty following a five-day trial

After being granted citizenship in the UK he had also met his future wife, a fellow English speaking Cameroonian.

They had two children.

Despite the conviction, his wife has vowed to stand by him.

Following the trial, Ashu, of Manchester, was remanded in custody and warned by the judge he faces a prison term of seven years when he is sentenced later this month.

But officials have said that because he has been granted citizenship he cannot be deported when he is released.