February 2016

Pervert back behind bars for breaching order for seventh time

A pervert banned from having contact with children has been jailed for three years and four months after he began a relationship with an unsuspecting woman who had a five-year-old daughter.

It was the seventh time that Lee Rogers had broken the terms of his Sexual Harm Protection Order, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Mr Edward Soulsby, who was prosecuting, said that the 22-year-old had several previous convictions which included a sexual assault on a small boy and also possession of indecent images of children.

Rogers, of no fixed address, admitted breaching his Protection Order and also to breaking the conditions of a 12-month suspended prison sentence, which was for an earlier breach of the same order.

Recorder Tracey Lloyd-Nesling told him on Monday: “You have no intention of allowing the requirements preventing you from doing what you want to do.

“You deliberately wormed your way into the home of this woman who had a small child.

“Your previous convictions seriously aggravates this case.”

Fortunately the Wolverhampton mother, who cannot be named, had not left him alone with her child during the ill-fated relationship.

February 2016

Ex-cop who took thousands of upskirt pictures of schoolgirls is jailed

A former policeman has been caught with 22,000 indecent images of children – most of them that he secretly took himself up the skirts of schoolgirls.

RAF veteran Darryl Clarke, aged 44, used his mobile phone to take photographs of children in Drake Circus and other unknown public places for 12 years.

Clarke also sexually assaulted a three-year-old girl in a house in order to get vile moving images of her, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

Police found so many indecent images of children on his computer and phones that they gave up formally classifying them.

He has been formally charged with possessing 4,000 pictures – but detectives have found an additional 18,000 vile images taken since 2003.

Some were taken while he was serving as a police officer in the Devon and Cornwall force around 2004. He spent 18 months in the constabulary.

Officers have no way of knowing who most of his victims were or where the pictures were taken.

One image shows him shooting up the skirt of a young girl riding in a shopping trolley in Asda.

Jailing him for four years, Judge Ian Lawrie said: “You have a perverted obsession. You are a danger to young women.

“You are a coward for failing to tackle your problems before now.”

Engineer Clarke had only lived in Plymouth since the break-up of his marriage in November 2013, about 18 months before he was finally caught by security guards in Drake Circus.

Clarke also served in the RAF for 13 years.

He was jailed for four years as an extended sentence, which mean he will not be released at the normal half-way stage.

Clarke can only be released two-thirds of the way through the term – and only then if the parole board rule he is no longer a danger to the public. He will remain on licence for another six years.

Clarke, of Revel Road, Higher Compton, admitted sexually assaulting a girl in another part of the country in September 2013.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of taking indecent images of children and one of possessing indecent images of Class C, the lowest category, between 2003 and 2015.

Clarke also admitted outraging public decency by filming up the skirts of adult women in Drake Circus last April.

He finally pleaded guilty to voyeurism by secretly videoing two girls aged 11 and 13 emerging naked from a shower in 2012.

Edward Bailey, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said Clarke was spotted on CCTV filming up the skirts of girls aged between 10 and 12 in Primark in Drake Circus on April 4 last year.

Clarke slipped away but store detectives alerted colleagues in Waterstone’s.

Mr Bailey added that they watched as he used his mobile phone to try and film up the skirts of girls aged three and seven – holding the device behind a book.

He said: “He approached a girl of 15 and did exactly the same.”

Police officers arrested Clarke and seized three mobile phones, containing initially about 100 indecent images of children.

But Mr Bailey said detectives found more and more images and traced some of the victims in another part of the country.

He added Clarke had pulled down the underwear of a three-year-old girl in a bed in order to film her indecently for as long as 17 seconds. That constituted the sexual assault.

Mr Bailey said that he also left a mobile phone filming in a bedroom used by two girls so as to capture them emerging naked from a shower.

He added that Clarke was briefly in the Devon and Cornwall force as a police officer and latterly worked as an engineer based in Reading planning routes for 4G cables.

Mr Bailey said he at one stage told police officers he was only interested in women “from the waist up”.

Judge Lawrie also passed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order limiting his contact with children. He will also sign the Sex Offender Register for life.

February 2016

Builder jailed after sex attacks on three schoolgirls

A BUILDER who carried out sex attacks on three schoolgirls has been jailed for more than seven years.

Brett Westwood, of St John’s Street, Netherton, admitted four charges involving sexual activity with a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity when he appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Andrew Keogh, prosecuting, said the three victims had been aged between 11 and 15 and the offences had been committed by Westwood between 1992 and 2013.

“These were extremely unpleasant experiences for all the victims,” he said.

Recorder Tracey Lloyd-Nesling told Westwood it was clear there had been a “significant degree of grooming behaviour” in the offences.

The crimes had had a major impact on his victims, stressed the Recorder, as she ruled only a substantial prison sentence was appropriate.

Westwood was jailed for seven years and two months and was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

He must also register as a sex offender for life.

February 2016

Police found indecent photographs on man’s computer

POLICE found more than 770 images of child abuse images after searching a man’s computer equipment, a court heard.

Andrew Smith, 29, of Jackson Road, Scunthorpe, admitted two offences of making indecent photographs of children between August 11, 2013 and March 17 last year.

Andrew Bailey, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that police searched Smith’s home on March 16 last year.

A laptop and an iPod were searched and 776 indecent images of children, including young girls, were found.

He told police: “I have seen some when they popped up” but it was found that he had repeatedly searched for such images.

Richard Lunn, mitigating, said Smith pleaded guilty, made admissions and had no previous convictions.

Judge David Tremberg told Smith: “The children who are subjected to this sort of indecent behaviour, or who are encouraged into it, tend to become depraved and corrupted by it. They are robbed of their innocence. It sometimes takes years before the full effects of this sort of experience comes to fruition.”

Smith was given 15 days’ rehabilitation, a sex offenders’ treatment programme and a five-year sexual harm prevention order. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for five years.

February 2016

Pervert teacher faces jail

A DISGRACED former teacher at Shipston High has been told to expect an immediate prison sentence after he admitted having a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl.

Jonathan Hunt pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to two charges of sexual activity with a child while in a position of trust.

The 52-year-old, who at the time was head of science at the school, also admitted meeting her following grooming, intending to do something which would be an offence under the Sexual Offences Act.

In addition, the disgraced teacher pleaded guilty to three further charges of causing the girl to watch a sexual act, while he was in a position of trust, for the purpose of him obtaining sexual gratification.

Judge Alan Parker said because they were sexual offences, there would have to be a full pre-sentence report on Hunt, now of Somerset Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire.

He adjourned the case for the report to be prepared, and Hunt was granted bail with conditions that he had no contact with the girl and no unsupervised contact with any girl under 18.

Hunt was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender within 72 hours.

And Judge Parker warned him: “The fact that I am ordering that report should not be seen by anyone as I sign that I expect you to receive anything other than a sentence of imprisonment forthwith.”

February 2016

Man found guilty of downloading 1000’s of indecent images of young girls avoids jail

A CRANFIELD man who was caught with thousands of indecent images of young girls escaped going straight to jail today.

Michael Voyce, 56, was told by a judge that he would receive a suspended sentence as he had sought help after the police raided his home.

Prosecutor Mark Hunsley told Luton Crown Court that officers went to Voyce’s home on July 7 last year and seized a Dell Tower computer and an external hard drive.

“On examination of those two devices, indecent images of females aged 5 to 12 were found,” he said.

 Some of the images were graded at Category A, the most serious.

There were: 13 Category A videos and 298 Category A stills; 2 Category B videos and 535 stills, 4 Category C videos and 18,396 stills.

Mr Hunsley said the prosecution accepted some of pictures and movies may have been duplicated as the hard drive had been used to back up material on the computer.

When Voyce, a married man, was first arrested he said he had been viewing only legal pornography. During a second police interview, after the computer and hard drive had been analysed, he said he had been looking at legal pornography everyday and viewed the illegal images “out of curiosity.”

Voyce, of Townsend Close, Cranfield, appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to three charges of making (downloading) indecent images of children.

David Noble, defending, said Voyce was of previous good character and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity. After his arrest, he sought help from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity that aims to prevent child sex abuse.

Judge Stuart Bridge said he was passing a suspended sentence because Voyce had “adopted a responsibly approach to his offending” by seeking help.

He received an 8 month jail sentence suspended for 18 months’ with 12 months’ supervision by probation officers. He must carry out 100 hours’ unpaid work.

For the next 10 years he must abide by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which includes conditions that he registers any device that connects to the Internet with the police and must not install history deleting software.

In addition, he must register as a sex offender and pay £420 costs.

February 2016

Pervert admits downloading indecent child images

A MAN from Wrexham has admitted downloading indecent images of children from the internet.

Stephen Lyons, 63, had denied eight charges and was due to go on trial at Mold Crown Court yesterday. 

But he changed his pleas and accepted what he had done.

A judge adjourned sentence so Lyons could be assessed by the probation service to see if he was prepared to confront “his dark secret”.

Lyons pleaded guilty to six charges of making indecent images of children by downloading them from the internet; one count of possessing 302 images; and one charge of possessing an extreme image depicting an act or oral sex between a person and an animal between October 2011 and December 2013.

In his basis of plea, he said while looking for legal pornography he had come across unlawful material which he never sought to keep, but which were retained within the computer.

Judge Geraint Walters said Lyons had made certain admissions in interview.

He took into account that there was only one image at category A – the worst kind. 

One was at category B and the remainder were category C.

The judge said Lyons’ approach was consistent with somebody who would not quite bring himself to accept what once did happen and he sought to find an explanation with the computer or a virus or something of that sort.

But the fact Lyons had now admitted the offences might be the first step towards seeing whether, instead of sending him immediately to prison, a better course might be to help him 

with the dark secret that he had lived with.

The probation service would find out whether he was the kind of man who was willing to confront that issue.

Andrew Green, defending, said that his client was prepared to engage with the probation service.

Sentence was adjourned and Lyons was bailed in the meantime.

February 2016

Pervert sentenced for making indecent photos

A SCUNTHORPE man has been sentenced for making indecent photos.

William Macdonald, 62, of Stanley Road, pleaded guilty at Grimsby Crown Court to four counts of making indecent photos.

He was given a 12-month sentence, suspended for two years, curfew and electronic monitoring for three years, a rehabilitation activity requirement for 10 days and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Macdonald was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and has to participate in the sex offenders’ treatment programme. He was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £100.

February 2016

Paedophile has jail time increased after ‘wasting court’s time’ with doomed appeal

A paedophile who was jailed for horrific sex abuse against a boy has failed in an appeal against his conviction – and had his jail time increased by top judges.

George Randles, 61, of Norbury Court, Miles Platting, sexually assaulted and raped the teenage boy.

The crimes only came to light 20 years later when Randles was convicted at Manchester Crown Court of rapes and indecent assaults.

He was jailed for 11 years in September 2013 – but continues to claim he is innocent.

Randles launched a challenge to the guilty verdicts before three top judges at the Court of Appeal in London.

But they took just minutes to reject Randles’ hopeless appeal bid and to land him with extra jail time as a punishment for wasting the court’s time.

Judge Sarah Munro QC said Randles’ appeal should never have been brought and that a month already served should not count towards his jail term.

His case had ‘no prospect of success’, said the judge, sitting with Mr Justice Cooke and Lord Justice Treacy.

The court heard Randles had abused the boy when he was a teenager, molesting and raping him.

However, it was not until 2010 that the victim made a complaint to police .

Randles claimed that his trial was unfair because his lawyers had not been up to scratch.

He also criticised the contradictory nature of some of the victim’s evidence.

But the appeal judge rejected all of the complaints as ‘meritless’.

She said: “It is quite clear from the transcript from the trial that the trial judge accurately set out the law and extremely fairly summarised the evidence.

“In all the circumstances therefore, these applications are dismissed.”

February 2016

Wheelchair-bound 87-year-old paedophile escapes jail sentence

A MAN thought to be Britain’s oldest active paedophile has escaped a jail sentence – because of his ill-health.

Clifford Dodshon, 87, is wheelchair-bound and needs help to breathe because of pulmonary disease.

He was arrested after discussing the kidnap and rape of a four-year-old girl on an internet chatroom.

Police found five computers with pictures of child abuse when they raided his North Yorkshire home.

He used the name ‘Incest-Plus’ and trawled the internet looking for other paedophiles to chat to.

Teesside Crown Court heard today (Thursday, Feb 11) how he came to the attention of online investigators in 2013.

Officials from The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOPS) alerted police.

They were worried he had been involved in sexual activity with a child, said prosecutor Chris Baker.

Dodshon, from Melsonby, told cops: “I’ve never done anything like that, but I have talked about it.”

A total of 2,500 pictures and movies – showing girls as young as two a were found on his computers.

His lawyer, Julian Gaskin, told the court the pervert pensioner was “genuinely full of remorse”.

Judge Tony Briggs imposed a 12-month prison sentence, but suspended it for two years.

He told Dodshon: “For a significant period, you were accessing disgusting material on the internet.

“The evil of it, of course, is the apparently insatiable market means children are going to be abused.

“As far as my recent experience is concerned, you are the oldest offender by some significant margin.”

Dodshon will also have to sign on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

He pleaded guilty to 22 charges of making indecent images of children and one of possessing them.

Mr Gaskin told Judge Briggs: “He tells me he is genuinely full of remorse.

“He has lost his good name, and just cannot believe he has been so stupid at the end of his life.

“I hope I can convince you to step back from immediate custody because of his guilty plea and ill-health.”

February 2016 – Has now been released

March 2013

Worcester man jailed for abusing girl 33 years ago

A WORCESTER man has been jailed for six years for sexually assaulting a young girl more than three decades ago

John Roberts, aged 51, formerly of Fox Drive, was sentenced today at Worcester Crown Court for three counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14.

He has also been disqualified with working for children and will have to sign the Sexual Offenders Register for life.

The counts relate to three occasions in 1979 and 1980 when he sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl.

The offences came to light when his victim contacted West Mercia Police in January.

Detective Sergeant James Bayliss of Worcester CID said: “These were horrendous crimes and among the most serious that could be classified as indecent assault.

“If Roberts had been charged under current legislation one of these offences would have been classified as rape.

“Roberts took advantage of a position of trust and used it to abuse a young girl. She has carried this burden her whole life and finally got the courage to contact the police more than 30 years later and tell us what happened to her.

“In this case we have been able to get Roberts imprisoned within three months of the victim contacting us, not least because he admitted the crimes immediately and pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

“While not all investigations will be this quick, I want to reassure any victims of historic sexual abuse that have not come forward, they can contact the police no matter how long ago the offences took place.

“If you do get in touch with West Mercia Police, you will be treated with respect and consideration, we will investigate your report and where possible we will pursue prosecutions.”

February 2016

Wealthy accountant fined £15,000 after being caught with child abuse images

A wealthy accountant has been fined £15,000 as a sheriff told him he should help fund the fight to catch other paedophiles.

Malcolm Kerr was told his money would go into the public purse to help investigate others like him who downloaded child pornography.

Kerr, 68, was allowed to walk free in Wednesday, but was hit with a massive fine after a court heard how he led a “privileged” life as a chartered accountant around the world.

Sheriff Lindsay Foulis said: “He is a man of not inconsiderable means and one can make one’s point with the imposition of a considerable monetary penalty.”

Kerr, 68, Easter Ballachraggan Farm, Dunkeld, admitted downloading child sexual abuse images at his home in Dunkeld between March 25 and June 15 2013 and having illicit images between March 2013 and November 2014.

Sheriff Foulis noted that Kerr had worked in Vienna, Paris, California and Switzerland during his career in finance and earned a pension of £2,500 per month.

February 2016

Child rapist jailed for 19 years

April 2008

Youth sentenced for girl’s murder

A 17-year-old youth who “brutally” stabbed and battered his ex-girlfriend to death in north London has been sentenced to life at the Old Bailey.

Danielle Johnson, 17, was beaten with a brick and repeatedly stabbed behind garages in Palmerston Road, Wood Green, in May 2007.

Mark King-Bromley, from Palmers Green, north London, admitted murder.

In a statement Danielle’s father Wesley Johnson said the sentence will not be able to “null the pain of our loss”.

Mark King-Bromley was ordered to serve a minimum of 12 years.

The court heard King-Bromley, who was in a new relationship but was still having sex with Danielle, attacked her after a row because he thought she was “harassing” him.

She died in hospital 11 days later from chest and head injuries.

Mr Johnson said Danielle’s siblings, four brothers and a baby sister, are “still grieving” a year since the “brutal” attack.

“The years given to the defendant are just a number. No amount of years will be able to null the pain of our loss,” he said.

“Danielle will never come back to us no matter how many years given to the guilty. The only consolation is that the guilty person is behind bars for a long time.”

Sentencing the youth Judge Stephen Kramer said: “This was a terrible and brutal outburst of violence using a weapon you had deliberately taken with you with tragic consequences.

“You could not cope with what you perceived as harassment from Danielle and you could suppress your anger no longer.”

February 2016

Two jailed for ‘sadistic’ abuse at Coventry childrens care home

Two men have been jailed for abusing children at a care home in Coventry more than 30 years ago.

70-year-olds Alan Todd from Warwickshire and Kenneth Owen from Lincolnshire – absued nine children at Wisteria Lodge in the 1980s.

Todd, who sexually abused two of his victims and taunted a vegetarian child with the carcass of a dead rabbit, was jailed for eight years and eight months for his “grotesque” ill-treatment of children.

Owen verbally and physically abused children with Todd, including locking them in “time out” rooms for hours.

Judge Alan Parker also jailed Kenneth Owen for four years and two months after describing the physical and psychological ill-treatment of male and female residents at Coventry’s now defunct Wisteria Lodge Children’s Home as systematic and wicked.

A month-long trial at Warwick Crown Court heard that Todd and Owen, both aged 70, operated as a “two-man team” to intimidate and belittle children who were locked in “time out” rooms for hours at a time, verbally abused and often beaten.

Todd, of S in Lincolnshire, was found guilty of five cruelty charges relating to five of nine complainants in the case.

The defendants accused a total of nine victims of “collusion” after officers from West Midlands Police’s Public Protection Unit began an inquiry into claims made by a 42-year-old woman in 2013.

But Judge Parker told the defendants: “There is, in my judgment, nothing that either of you wouldn’t say or do in order to seek to avoid the consequences of your behaviour.

“You were residential social workers or outreach workers and used your positions in order to physically abuse male and female residents.

“The regime and conduct that you were both responsible for was nothing less than a regime of terror.

“You were meant to protect children and yet you abused your respective positions to terrorise and cower some of the most vulnerable children that Coventry City Council were entrusted to protect.”

The judge, who ordered Todd to register as a sex offender, added: “The abuse of a child by any adult in any circumstances whatsoever is profoundly wicked.

“In truth it’s barely comprehensible to right-thinking people but what happened here goes far beyond the depths of wickedness and depravity which inevitably characterises the abusive behaviour of an adult upon a child.”

February 2016

Child abuse teacher jailed after ‘lenient’ sentence overturned

A teacher who abused a young girl nearly 50 years ago has been jailed after senior judges overturned an “unduly lenient” suspended sentence.

Gordon Gamble, 64, of Filching Road in Eastbourne, East Sussex, has now been jailed for three-and-a-half years.

Gamble was found guilty of acts of gross indecency with a child between March 1967 and March 1970, beginning when he was 15 and the girl was nine.

The Court of Appeal said he should have been been jailed in November.

The judge who imposed a two-year suspended term at London’s Snaresbrook Crown Court referred to a number of factors including that the offences were committed when Gamble was a teenager.

He was also acquitted of seven of the original 10 counts, had no previous convictions and had worked as an “exemplary teacher of distinction”.

Jailing Gamble, Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas said judges sentencing in historic cases must guard against any temptation to make decisions because of what had happened in the intervening years.

Referring to the victim, he said: “She has lived with this matter for close on half a century.

“It has clearly had a most devastating effect on her life.”

February 2016

‘Committed paedophile’ jailed for six years for offences against children

A 22-year-old who had never been in trouble before was jailed for six years after a judge branded him “a committed paedophile”.

Defendant Craig Skitrall, of Church Street in Connah’s Quay, would remain a risk to children until he confronted his difficulties, said Judge Geraint Walters.

He was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for life – and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order was made.

Skitrall admitted a total of 17 charges – sexual assault and sexual activity with very young children, and possessing and making indecent images by downloading them from the Internet on to his mobile phone.

The judge – sitting at Mold Crown Court – said that Skitrall would have to be managed very carefully on his release, but had admitted what he had done and appreciated that he needed help.

Prosecuting barrister Andrew Green told how the defendant invented “a blindfold game”.

He got young girls to count his fingers and other items – and he would get them to touch him indecently as part of the game.

The images were found when his mobile phone was checked.

When first confronted, he said that he was “not weird”.

But interviewed by police, he admitted what he had done.

He said that he had found himself sexually attracted to young girls, had acted on those feelings.

Simon Killeen, defending, said that his client had no previous convictions.

The images were mainly category C – with only one at the worst category A.

His client was himself vulnerable, was very depressed and who had turned up in court in an unkempt state.

He was cut off from friends and family and was isolated – he had not left his flat since the last court appearance, which was why he had missed an appointment with the probation service.

“He has admitted what he has done, admitted that he has a problem, and he wants assistance with it,” said Mr Killeen.

Judge Walters said that the defendant had committed serious sex acts against young girls, all aged under 13.

“It was very good fortune that what you were doing ending up being revealed in the way that it was because I have no shadow of a doubt that had it not, you would have continued abusing these children for a considerable period of time,” he said.

“I can safely come to the conclusion that although you are still only 22, until you confront your difficulties you are going to remain a risk when it comes to children.

“Despite the fact that you are only 22, you are already a committed paedophile, in my judgment.”

The defendant, he said, would be well advised to start confronting his difficulties in custody where there were courses available and he would have to be managed very carefully on his release.

“You think you need help. About that, you and I agree,” the judge told him.

The victims would have to live with what he had done to them the judge added.

“It is not a question of getting up tomorrow and forgetting all about it.

“As they grow older they will try and reason why it happened, all sorts of thoughts will cross their minds. It is not going to go away. That is the effect of what you have done. Custody is inevitable. No one could suggest otherwise.”

February 2016

Paedophile trawled online dating websites to find children to abuse

A predatory paedophile who trawled online dating websites to find children to abuse is facing jail.

James Smith’s plan was to find vulnerable single mums – then use the relationship to get close to their kids.

He used the Plenty of Fish website to track down potential targets and used a host of different identities including Steven Smith and Richard Noble to allow him multiple accounts on the site.

But all this was just a front to meet youngsters he later subjected to vile sexual assaults.

His perverted scheme allowed him to target two innocent victims including a five-year-old girl he assaulted outside her primary school.

Smith, from Grangemouth, began talking to one woman after messaging her and arranging to meet after she attended T in the Park in July 2012.

They met in Falkirk before he spent the night at her house and began a relationship with her.

He was then introduced to her four-year-old son who he later subjected to a sick sex attack.

The relationship broke down in early 2013, but the boy later told his dad Smith had assaulted him and the police were called in.

Smith (32) was arrested and bailed on the condition he stay away from children, but started another relationship in 2014 with a woman from Motherwell and abused her daughter.

Smith denied two allegations of sexual assault between January 2012 and 2015 and stood trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court last week – but a jury took just 20 minutes to convict him.

The children gave evidence by video link.

The five-year-old told the court he had molested her in a car as he dropped her off at school.

She said: “He would say ‘tickle tickle’. He done that three times. I was sad and my mum was crying and said he was going to get the jail.”

The mother of the four-year-old boy said: “I left him to watch my son so I could go to work. I had no reason to think he would do what he did to my son.”

Sheriff Thomas Millar deferred sentence on Smith for background reports but placed him on the sex offenders register.

February 2016

Airdrie dad faces jail after being caught with child abuse images stash

A middle-aged Airdrie paedophile who was snared with a stash of child abuse images, some at the most severe level, is facing jail.

Dad-of-two Alexander Leishman, 55, of Lady Wilson Street, Gartlea, pled guilty at Airdrie Sheriff Court last week to having the indecent photographs of young children.

The offence took place at his home over a five-month period between November 2014 and April 2015.

Grey-haired and smartly-dressed Leishman, a first offender, sat shame-faced in the dock as prosecutor Agnes Meek revealed the full extent of his crime.

Ms Meek said: “At 7.45pm on April 28, 2015, police in possession of a search warrant and acting on information that indecent images of young children were being downloaded from Leishman’s home address went to the house.

“Members of the cyber crime unit examined his mobile phone, personal computer and laptop and found indecent images on each.

“They were seized and Leishman cautioned and charged. When questioned he made no comment. A full examination of all of the devices was carried out and the images categorised.”

The court heard that there were more than 300 images found on one device, 223 on another, more than 200 on a third and a total of 47 video moving images.

The photographs were of children aged from as young as three to 14. The images contained were of all three categories, including the worst type.

Sheriff Morag Galbraith deferred sentence on Leishman until March 8 for a background report, including a assessment of the danger he poses to children.

He was put on the sex offenders’ register and released on bail.

February 2016

Pervert admits taking pictures of sex act in front of baby

A 60-year-old Chirk man took photographs of himself performing a sex act in the presence of a young baby.

David Phillip Francis also admitted charges of making indecent images and films by downloading them from the internet, as well as distributing them.

Francis, of Bronywaun, Chirk , appeared at Mold Crown Court today via a live television link from Altcourse Prison in Liverpool.

He originally faced 11 charges but the prosecution added further charges and today he pleaded guilty to a total of 18.

The firner woodworker admitted engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a baby, and making indecent images of the child on his mobile phone.

Francis admitted that he caused a child to look at an indecent image and incited a child to engage in sexual activity.

He admitted possessing 867 indecent still images of children, 985 indecent movies of children and 67 extreme images involving sex acts between humans and animals.

Alun Williams, defending, said that his client was a man of no previous convictions.

He asked for a pre-sentence report and said that clearly the issue of dangerousness needed to be considered.

Judge Gaynor Lloyd said that was “highly appropriate” and granted an application by prosecuting barrister Simon Rogers to remand the defendant in custody pending sentence.

Sentence has been adjourned so that the issue of dangerousnes can be assessed.