February 2016

Community order for man caught with indecent images of children

PERVERT Steven Crossley downloaded 224 indecent images of children on his computers.

The 32-year-old’s devices were seized after his Blurton home was searched by police. 

They were analysed and contained search terms for child abuse images as well as the images.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard all but one of the images, downloaded between December 2012 and October 2015, had been deleted by the defendant.

Now Crossley has been handed a three-year community order to give him a chance to rehabilitate.

Prosecutor Joanne Barker said police searched the defendant’s home on October 28.

His computers were seized and analysed.

There were 24 category A images – the most serious; five category B images; and 195 at category C. But only one category A image was accessible.

The images were of children as young as three-years-old.

The defendant made full admissions in his police interview.

Miss Barker added: “He said he started viewing such images a number of years ago and simply could not stop.”

Crossley, of Wingate Walk, Blurton, pleaded guilty to possessing indecent photographs of a child and three offences of making indecent photographs of children.

Arif Hussain, mitigating, said the defendant was of previous good character and had an excellent work record.

He added Crossley started downloading the images after becoming ‘extremely isolated’.

Recorder Andrew Easteal said the public interest would be better served by the defendant being rehabilitated so he does not get involved in this activity again.

He sentenced Crossley to a three-year community order with a requirement he completes the internet sex offender programme and a rehabilitation activity requirement for 15 days.

He was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, to run until further order, and he will be on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

Recorder Easteal said: “These are not fake computer-generated images.

“They are real children, suffering real sexual abuse.

“They are abused for people like you, so these people can make money out of these children as well as abusing them.

“It is hard to think of anything more degrading to these children.

“We are supposed to protect children. By engaging in this you have done exactly the opposite.”

February 2016

Airdrie paedophile caught with stash of child sexual abuse images

A CLARKSTON man who was found with a stash of child pornography on his computer is facing jail.

Paedophile Derek Adam, 39, admitted taking, permitting to be taken, or making indecent images of children – some as young as newborn babies.

Adam, whose address was given as a property on Station Road, downloaded more than 1000 photographs of young children over a four -year period between June 2011 and April 2015.

The offences happened on a computer stored in his bedroom. He had no previous offences.

Prosecutor Ann Frances Hilley said: “Police officers in possession of a sheriff’s search warrant attended at Adam’s home. The accused was sleeping and the door was opened by his mother who allowed officers access to the house.

“His computer was examined and pictures of indecent images of children were found. He was detained and taken to Coatbridge Police Office. A full examination of the computer revealed 1006 still and moving images.”

A breakdown of the images revealed that some of them were of the worst rated type and were of females from newborn to the age of 14.

The stash also included pictures of children aged between three and five years old being abused and forced to carry out sex acts, while another included an image of a young girl being abused by an adult.

Defence lawyer Fraser McKinnon said any comments he would make on behalf of Adam would be reserved until the court had obtained reports.

Sheriff Derek O’Carroll told Adam: “This is a very serious matter and custody is a very live option, although I require reports first.”

Sentence was deferred until the end of next month to obtain a full background report and a risk assessment as to the danger Adam poses to children.

He was bailed and put on the sex offenders’ register.

February 2016

Pervert who groomed young girls jailed

A paedophile from Market Harborough who groomed five young girls on social media after he pretended to be a teenage boy has received a six-year jail sentence.

Clifford Howden, aged 36, who worked as a delivery driver in Northamptonshire, persuaded young girls to send indecent images of themselves after he bombarded them with sexually explicit messages.

Northampton Crown Court heard Howden used the MyLOL teen dating website to target victims, who lived in different locations across the country.

Matthew Lowe, prosecuting, said the age of the girls ranged from 12 to 17 years old and they were all contacted by Howden in December 2014 and January 2015 after he set up a fictitious profile for a 15-year-old boy called John.

The court heard Howden, who lived in Corby at the time of the offences, would get the girls to send their mobile phone numbers and he would then pretend to be John’s father ‘Cliff’ and would send sexually suggestive text messages.

Mr Lowe, said, in some cases, he would also introduce a third fictitious character called ‘Kevin’ who would be more aggressive, allowing Howden to “play them off against each other”.

The court heard that Howden told one girl that John had been killed in a car crash, causing her huge upset.

Howden sent pictures and videos of himself performing sex acts to his victims and persuaded the girls to send indecent images of themselves.

Mr Lowe said Howden told one of his victims that he wanted to “take her virginity” and told her she was a “hot underage girl.”

Howden also offered his victims money to have sex with him and, in one instance, offered £1,000 for 30 minutes with one of the young girls.

The court heard that Clifford did attempt to meet up with the victims but was unsuccessful.

On one occasion, he had agreed to meet one of the girls at Wicksteed Park in Kettering but she failed to show up.

Howden was finally arrested after the sexually explicit messages were uncovered by the parents of another young girl he had contacted.

Analysis of his three mobile phones revealed he had made internet searches for ‘schoolgirls’ ‘rape fetish’ and ‘school fun’.

Matthew Kirk, mitigating, said Howden was a man of previous good character and had been going through a tough period in his life when the offences occurred after his father died.

Howden pleaded guilty to 14 charges including grooming, attempting to meet a child and attempting to arrange child prostitution. He also admitted possessing an indecent image of an 11-year-old girl.

Recorder Sally Hancox, sentencing, said she believed Howden posed a “high risk” to young girls.

She said: “In the methodology and the continuation of the deception you are and will remain a person of high risk towards young women.”

Howden, of Mill Road, Market Harborough, was sentenced to six years in custody with an extra four years on licence. He must serve at least two thirds of his prison sentence before he is eligible for parole.

He will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.

February 2016

Man jailed over grooming teenage boys

A predatory paedophile from Cornwall who preyed on vulnerable teenage boys was caught after a police sting operation, a court has heard.

Police became aware that the 29-year-old from Helston had been meeting teenagers from Camborne and offering them money for sexual acts.

Daniel John Hendra, of Coronation Place, was finally caught after officers set up a Facebook account for a fictional 15-year-old boy.

After thinking he had groomed the boy for sex, Hendra travelled to meet him at a supermarket in Bodmin – only to be faced by police officers.

Sentencing him at Truro Crown Court today, Judge Simon Carr said: “You present a serious risk of significant harm to others.

“You are a very dangerous predatory paedophile – and will be one for life.”

Referring to a pre-sentence report, Mr Carr added: “Throughout that report, you form the view that you’re the victim. You show no remorse or empathy of what you’ve done.”

Hendra pleaded guilty to three counts of attempting to pay for sex with a person aged under 18, attempting to meet a child following grooming for sex and possession of two indecent images.

Prosecutor Sean Brunton said the first offence began in 2011, when Hendra was aged 25, when made contact with two 14-year-old boys and arranged to meet them at a car park in Camborne.

Mr Brunton, added “When they met, the defendant asked if they ever wanted to do something for money, implying a sexual favour.”

He said he paid the two boys £10 each to take their tops off while Hendra took pictures.

Mr Brunton said Hendra also asked how much one boy wanted to sit with him in his car or to perform oral sex on the boy.

The police were alerted when one of the boys told his mother and a search of Hendra’s computer and mobile phone revealed images of a sexual nature including a naked child aged 10 to 12 and a naked teenage boy.

Mr Brunton said that in 2013, Hendra made contact with two different but also vulnerable boys from Camborne, aged 16 and 17.

Although above the age of sexual consent, the teenagers were below 18, the threshold permitted for paying for sexual relations.

“Both boys were in difficulties and had fallen out with their parents,” said Mr Brunton.

“He gave them gifts and sometimes gave them cannabis. When he was with them, he made it quite clear that he was a homosexual and would play up to them.”

He said Hendra performed oral sex on one of the 17-year-olds at a house in Truro for £20.

When the teenager tried to stop contact with Hendra, Mr Brunton said: “The defendant started to pester him and sent him text messages that he would tell his girlfriend and show indecent images of him.”

Hendra was then arrested in September 2014 but said the sexual relations had been consensual.

The court heard Hendra was caught in the fake Facebook police operation while on bail in February 2015.

Defence barrister Ramsay Quaife said Hendra had submitted guilty pleas to the charges against him and had spared his victims the ordeal of having to give evidence in front of a jury.

Speaking to the judge, he said: “It may be from these admissions, your honour can affirm that this man has learned the error of his ways and has to stay away from young boys.”

Mr Quaife handed in two work references that said Hendra was an industrious, conscientious and well-liked member of staff.

Hendra has been held in custody since October and Mr Quaife added: “Since being in prison, and he’s been there long enough to reflect, he’s kept himself busy.

“He’s been working and showing others how to work. He’s not just sat in his cell for 23 hours a day.

“He is trying to make the best of it and move on with his life.”

Hendra was sent to prison for six years and told he would not be eligible for parole for 4 years. He will then remain on licence for a further 6 years.

He was also given two further prison sentences of two years and 18 months to run concurrently.

The court ordered a lifetime ban on Hendra using social media, telephone or text messages to engage in conversation with anyone aged under 16.

The police will be allowed to inspect his computer at any time and he is not to use a computer that does not keep its browsing history. Hendra will also be listed on the sex offenders’ register.

February 2016

Man admits possessing indecent child images

A man has admitted possessing scores of indecent images of children.

Robert Jackson, 32, appeared at Carlisle Crown Court today (MON).

He entered guilty pleas to three counts of making indecent still photographs of a child.

He also admitted possessing 62 indecent images.

The offences were committed between 23rd April, 2010, and 25th June, 2014.

Some of the images are classed as being in category A – the most serious.

The case was adjourned by Judge Peter Davies, who asked for full background information on Jackson, of Alexander Street, Carlisle.

He is due to be sentenced in April, and in the meantime was remanded on conditional bail.

February 2016

Former councillor pleads guilty to indecent pictures of animals and children

Former Milton Keynes councillor John Hawthorn today (February 23) pleaded guilty to five charges relating to pornographic, indecent and prohibited pictures of children and animals.

Hawthorn, 69, of Aelfric Court, Bedford, appeared at Milton Keynes Magistrates’ Courts today to face two charges of making an indecent photograph/pseudo-photograph of a child, two counts of possession of extreme pornographic images portraying an act of intercourse/oral sex with a dead/alive animal and one count of possession of a prohibited image of a children.

The charges came as a result of a search warrant on Hawthorn’s home in October, 2013, where equipment including a black tower computer was searched.

Police found a total of 50 images on the black tower computer and 49 images on another piece of equipment – this included two images of bestiality with young children.

Hawthorn was also found to possess extreme pornographic images involving a dog.

After he pleaded guilty, his case was sent to Aylesbury Crown Court for sentencing, with a date yet to be fixed. He has been released on unconditional bail until that time.

Hawthorn represented the Stony Stratford ward on Milton Keynes Council between 2010 to 2014 and is a former chairman of Abbey Hill Parish Council.

February 2016

Flasher exposes himself infront of schoolgirls

A flasher exposed himself to a group of Northamptonshire girls and then followed them into a school, a court heard.

Francois Marius, aged 24, of Fulmar Lane, Wellingborough, walked up to two girls who were walking to school on November 18 and pulled down his trousers.

John Hallissey, prosecuting, said Marius then started to pleasure himself while he was staring at them.

The two girls then ran away towards the school and, when they looked behind, they saw he was following them.

A teacher in the school was alerted about Marius’s behaviour and he was seen walking past the school gates.

He then entered the school grounds and was then stopped by the teacher who told him to leave.

Marius was arrested shortly after by police and pleaded guilty to a charge of indecent exposure.

He will be sentenced at Northampton Crown Court next month.

February 2016

Pervert caught with pictures of young girls being raped

A married father of two was caught with videos showing girls as young as three being raped.

John Clack had more than 2300 child sexual abuse images and videos on his home computer and mobile phone when he was arrested after a police sting last year.

The perverted dad told investigators he had “stopped using the home computer to download the indecent images as his children would use it for their homework and social media”.

February 2016

Teacher groomed schoolgirl for sex

A drama teacher has been jailed after grooming a 14-year-old pupil in his school office and smearing her body with NUTELLA during one sexual assault.

Married teacher Andrew Victor Willson licked the chocolate spread off the teenager during a perverted sex session before sending the youngster to catch the bus home. 

On one occasion he pulled her out of a science lesson so they could have sex at a friend’s house, whilst on another he groped her in his school office. 

The teacher even befriended the girls’ parents over their mutual love for Leeds United football club and went to great lengths to ensure the grooming would not be discovered. 

He would give her leading roles in school plays so he got to spend more time with her and would kiss the schoolgirl, who was 14 or 15 at the time, whilst giving her a lift home.

Willson, who was a teacher at Fearns High School in Bacup, Lancashire, was jailed for 20 months after admitting the affair, which took place in the mid-90s. 

February 2016

Man jailed for grooming girl for sex via Social Media

A pervert who used social media to groom a schoolgirl for sex has been jailed.

James Philip Rowe, 30, met the underage girl through a friend and ‘almost immediately’ began grooming her online, the court heard.

Over a two week period, he sent sexually explicit images of himself and urged her to do the same, prosecutor Mark Connor said.

He ‘persistently’ demanded she meet him for sex, sent ‘extremely explicit messages’ and even claimed ‘he wanted her to have his baby’, the court heard

The victim eventually told her mum and police.

Rowe, of Belgrave Road, Macclesfield, initially told police his account had been hacked, but later admitted four child sex offences including:

Two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity

• Meeting a child following sexual grooming

• Arranging or facilitating to commit a sex offence against a child.

But Warrington Crown Court also heard that Rowe was already a convicted sex offender who in 2013 had admitted encouraging sexual activity with a child after he was caught writing letters to an underage girl while in prison for theft offences.

Jailing Rowe for three years, Judge Nicholas Woodward said: “Despite knowing she was under 16, and at one point believing she may be 14, you instigated contacted on social media.

“That almost immediately became blatantly sexual.

“You tried to meet her but she was reluctant. You persisted and pursued her, sending pictures of yourself and asking her to send sexually explicit images of herself to you. You then made it clear you wanted sex.”

Rowe was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, restricting his contact with children for 10 years.

June 2013

Ex prisoners relationship with underage girl

A man who wrote some letters to a underage girl whilst he was in prison has been put on the sex offenders register

James Phillip Rowe, 27 had struck up a relationship with the girl shortly before he was sent to prison for theft offence.

Rowe of Macclesfield pleaded guilty to encouraging non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl who was under 16 years old

The prosecutor said ” Her mother had given evidence, that from September 2012, her daughter had been writing to someone called “J” who was in prison at the time

The man concerned was James Rowe, who was 26 at the time. Rowe was jailed again for a separate theft offence in January this year

February 2016

Rotherham abuse trial: Six guilty of sex offences

Brothers Arshid, Basharat & Bannaras Hussain 

A gang of four men and two women, including three brothers, have been convicted of serious child sexual abuse crimes over more than 10 years in Rotherham in the first such trial since the Jay report into extensive child exploitation in the town.

They targeted 15 vulnerable girls, one as young as 11, and subjected them to brutal and degrading acts between 1987 and 2003.

Karen MacGregor and Shelley Davies

The abuse was orchestrated by Arshid Hussain, 40, who was found guilty of 23 counts including multiple counts of rape and indecent assault in addition to false imprisonment, abduction of a girl, and aiding and abetting rape.

Now in a wheelchair after he was shot in the stomach, he was not present in court to hear the verdicts. He was connected to the court from his home by video link but slept throughout the return of verdicts.

Hussain’s brother Basharat was found guilty of 15 counts including multiple counts of indecent assault, indecency with a child and threatening to kill a brother of one of his victims.

A third Hussain brother, Bannaras, pleaded guilty to 10 offences before the three-month trial started. His pleas can be reported for the first time.

Qurban Ali was found guilty of conspiracy to rape

Their uncle Qurban Ali was found guilty of one charge, conspiracy to rape.

Karen MacGregor, 58, lured two of the victims into her house, befriending them and behaving like a second mother but then forcing them into sexual relations with men who would hang around the house

She was convicted of conspiracy to rape, false imprisonment and procuring one of the women to become a common prostitute.

Shelley Davies, who had been portrayed by her barrister as a victim, lived with MacGregor for a time and was found guilty of procuring one of the victims to become a common prostitute, and false imprisonment.

One of the victims described MacGregor’s house as like something out of the fairy tale Hansel and Gretel, inviting to begin with but soon descending into terrifying sexual crime.

She told the jury how she felt MacGregor was like a second mother, listening to her problems, buying her food and clothes. But within days she was assaulted.

She was plied with vodka and after passing out awoke to find a man abusing her.

Hussain was a known criminal in the town with a string of convictions. He was described by the prosecution as “domineering and in some instances brutal” to his victims, sometimes using them as sex slaves to settle his debts.

He denied sexual activity with eight of his nine victims and said sexual relations with the ninth, which started when the girl was 14, were consensual.

But the jury heard he passed the lead victim around among his brother and friends and arranged for her to be abused in flats, garages and houses in the Rotherham area.

She was also bundled into the boot of a car and taken to Tottenham in north London where she was forced to have sex with five men to clear his debts. She was in the care of the local authority at the time.

The violence against her became regular and no one in her care home expressed concern when she returned bloodied or shaken from encounters. The jury heard that Hussain climbed up the drainpipe at a children’s home to get to one of his victims.

Five of the girls became pregnant as a result of the abuse, two at the age of 14. Two of them gave birth.

Basharat Hussain’s first victim was just 12 when he picked her up from a children’s home and forced her into oral sex.

She described the “awful conditions” she lived in and how she was lured to Blackpool by two of his friends, locked up in a room above a restaurant and made to “pay her way” with sex. Basharat groomed another victim by showering her with gifts including perfume and mobile phones.

The 12th victim endured horrific abuse at the hands of Basharat who would slap, punch, kick and spit at her. He called her a slag, threatened to harm her family if she did not go out with him and said he would burn her brother’s house down.

He told her he had shovels in the boot of his car and she could dig her own grave. He also threatened to kill her brother.

The defendants

Arshid Hussain, 40, High Street, East Cowick, Goole, was convicted of 23 of the 28 charges he faced, including indecent assault and rape.

Basharat Hussain, 39, of no fixed abode, was convicted of all 15 charges he faced, including two counts of rape.

Bannaras Hussain, 36, of Bridge Close, Goole, pleaded guilty before the trial to 10 charges including rape, indecent assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Qurban Ali, 53, Clough Road, Rotherham, was convicted of conspiracy to rape, but cleared of three other charges including rape.

Majid Bostan, 37, Ledsham Road, Rotherham, was acquitted of one charge of indecent assault.

Sajid Bostan, 38, Broom Avenue, Rotherham, was acquitted of seven charges, including four counts of rape.

Karen MacGregor, 58, Barnsley Road, Wath, South Yorkshire, was convicted of of conspiracy to procure prostitutes and false imprisonment.

Shelley Davies, 40, Wainwright Road, Kimberworth Park, Rotherham, was found guilty of conspiracy to procure prostitutes and false imprisonment.

The trial is the first of its kind since Prof Alexis Jay published her damning report into child sex exploitation in Rotherham, which said 1,400 children had been abused by gangs of mainly Asian males in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013.

The end of the trial is expected to have far-reaching consequences, with two follow-on police investigations and legal actions:

• The IPCC said it had launched 55 separate investigations into how South Yorkshire police dealt with victims, in one of the biggest inquiries into potential neglect of duty and corruption in recent policing history. The police watchdog said that 46 misconduct notices had already been served on 26 officers, and warned the figure could increase.

• The National Crime Agency (NCA) has launched what it has described as the “largest criminal investigation of its kind in the UK” into grooming in the South Yorkshire town, with 9,000 lines of inquiry. The NCA said it currently had a total of 23 designated suspects but added that it had “hundreds of potential suspects still to investigate”. So far it said it had identified and recorded 57 serious sexual offences.

• A Sheffield solicitor, David Greenwood, said he was acting for 65 women who were planning to sue Rotherham metropolitan borough council. He is also planning legal action against South Yorkshire police.

February 2016

Mansfield child abuser back in court

A child abuser from Mansfield is back in court – facing three new charges of sexually assaulting a little girl.

John Kenneth Lett, 64, of Arran Square, denies the allegations which took place between January 2011 and October 2013.

Nottingham Crown Court heard that Lett abused the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, when she was aged between five and eight.

The accusations came to light when the victim’s mother discovered his previous convictions.

The court was told that in November 2013 Lett pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a child and taking a picture of her which he shared on the internet. He was also found in possession of a large number of pictures of prepubescent girls.

In a statement, the girl’s mother said she thought Lett was ‘a pleasant, family orientated man’ who had visited the family home to help with DIY jobs.

In October 2015 she found out about Lett’s previous conviction and quizzed her daughter.

The girl’s response prompted her to call the police and the jury heard a recording of the 999 call in which her daughter could be heard crying in the background.

The mother said: “She kept saying ‘He’s going to get me.’ In my opinion she was frightened. I asked her if John had made threats. She said he told her not to say anything.

“I thought John could be trusted. He seemed like a genuinely nice family man.”

The girl’s father told the court he left her with Lett during the school holidays when he had to attend the doctors, but could not remember how many times this happened.

PC Nicola Limbert cross-referred dates of the girl’s school holidays and her father’s medical appointments and found six dates in August 2011 and August 2012 that matched.

She told the court she had interviewed Lett on October 13 and 14 last year and on both occasions he denied sexually touching the girl or ever being alone with her.

Stephen Kemp, prosecuting, said: “It started when she thinks she was four or five. The defendant told her not to tell anyone about it.”

Mr Kemp said: “Her mother asked her if he had ever taken any pictures of her. She just grunted and denied it. Her mother thought that she looked horrified.

“Her mother asked her if he had ever touched her. At that point she began to scream.

“She said it had happened every time he had been left alone with him. It was clear that she was frightened.

“She kept telling her mother ‘He’s going to get me.’ The prosecution says that fear was planted in her mind.”

Mr Kemp said that Lett told police he had ‘regularly sat with the girl and helped her with her reading.’

He denied touching her and having any sexual interest in children more generally.

“The prosecution says that claim is demonstrably untrue,” said Mr Kemp.

Lett said he had attended a sexual offenders’ therapy programme and was not attacted to children.

The trial continues.

February 2016

Teen admits possessing indecent photos of children

A TEENAGER from Burley-in-Wharfedale has admitted possessing indecent photos of children.

Oliver Vause, 19, appeared at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday, where he indicated guilty pleas to 16 charges of possessing indecent photos of children.

The charges involved six moving images and 494 still images, ranging from category A to category C in terms of severity, and were committed between November 1, 2013, and May 13, 2015.

Bespectacled, heavily-built Vause, of Midgley Road, pleaded not guilty to a single charge of distributing an indecent photograph of a child – a category A image – between December 26 and 27, 2014.

Vause, who has a thin beard and was dressed in a black jacket and trousers, white shirt, patterned tie and brown shoes, was granted bail with conditions of residence, that he does not use the internet to contact children and not to possess any device capable of accessing the internet, unless it retains a history of use.

February 2016

Paedophile who moved to Australia to escape justice turns himself in

A paedophile who moved to the other side of the world to escape justice from his heinous crimes has handed himself in.

Wayne Veevers changed his name and moved to Australia in a bid to “flee his disgusting past”, a court has heard.

The 36-year-old from Runcorn, presented himself at Runcorn Police Station last year and revealed to officers he was a wanted man.

He finally decided to confess to a string of sick offences committed against a girl of junior school age more than 10 years ago.

On Monday he pleaded guilty to one count of rape , four of indecent assault on a child and one of gross indecency with a child at Warrington Crown Court .

Prosecuting Paulinus Barnes said Veevers presented himself to police on November 24 last year

He had “heard word” that his victim had confided in someone about the depraved abuse she had suffered which dated back to 2000.

Mr Barnes told the court: “He said ‘I want to confess, I want to do the right thing’.

“He was so disgusted at what had happened that he changed his name and said ‘I just want to die’.”

Veevers had targeted the young child over several years when he was a young adult. The rape was the final offence to occur.

Judge Nicholas Woodward said he was satisfied Veevers has expressed “genuine remorse”, though added it was clear he had displayed elements of grooming .

In mitigation, Mr Barnasco said Veevers was “tormented” by what he had done and in the past had tried to distance himself from the offences by moving abroad, changing his name and “almost adopting another persona because he believed Wayne Veevers is such a horrible person.”

Veevers was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order with conditions relating to his contact with children.

February 2016

Child rapist jailed for 12 years

A man who was convicted of 13 charges including child rape and sexual abuse has been jailed for 12 years.

John Foley, 71, from Hurlford, East Ayrshire, carried out a series of sexual and physical attacks on children and two women dating back to 1973.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that the offending ended in 1993 and there had been no repetition since.

A judge said, however, there was no alternative to custody. Foley was also placed on the sex offenders’ register.

Jailing him, judge Lord Kinclaven told Foley: “The court requires to mark the seriousness of the offences.”

“You have been found guilty by the verdict of the jury of a catalogue of serious offences.”

The court heard that one girl was raped between the age of eight and 11 by Foley at an address in Ayrshire during occasions between 1973 and 1976.

Foley also assaulted a different child when she was aged between one and three and grabbed her by the hair and swung her round in the air.

He exposed himself to another little girl when she was aged five or six.

He also carried out sex acts on a girl from the age of about nine and threatened to kill her mother if she revealed his abuse.

Foley also repeatedly struck and punched a boy and hit him with a belt and held his hand in the flame of a lit gas cooker, burning him to his severe injury.

He assaulted another girl who was repeatedly punched in the face, grabbed by the hair and kicked and hit with a belt.

Another girl was made to undress while he watched and was shown pornographic videos and forced to take part in sex acts.

She was also grabbed by the hair and dragged into a bedroom and repeatedly punched and kicked.

Foley also attacked two women, both of whom were repeatedly punched and kicked during assaults.

February 2016

Harpenden pervert pensioner hoarded child abuse images

Serious child sex abuse images were found on the device of a pensioner who mended computers for other elderly residents at his block of flats.

Leon Horwood, 77, who lives in Hickling Way, Harpenden, told the police he had been sent them by man in Australia he knew as Fossil, Luton Crown Court heard on Monday.

Prosecutor Nigel Ogborne said the police went to Horwood’s flat after a tip off from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children in the United States that four indecent images of children had been sent to his email address.

They forced their way in because Horwood, who is partly deaf, did not hear them knocking. Asked about the large amount of computer equipment in the flat, he told the police he fixed computers for other residents.

On a silver tower computer, the police found 62 images and 22 movies at Category A, the most serious level. There were 37 images and 7seven movies at Category B and twp images and 10 movies at Level C, the least serious level.

There were also 10 images of extreme pornography.

Horwood pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children.

Andrew Kerry, defending, said: “He is at a loss to understand the connection with the United States. He said they had been sent to him by a man he knew as Fossil in Australia. It happened for a short period some time ago.”

Judge Barbara Mensah said the offences were “vile and horrible” and made a two year Community Order with twp years’ supervision.

Horwood must register as a sex offender and abide by the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the next five years as well as paying £455 costs and a £60 victim surcharge.

February 2016

Truro man looked at images of children as young as five being raped and abused

A TRURO man who looked at images of children as young as five being raped and abused has been jailed.

Jason Williams, 37, was arrested on June 7 last year after police acted on information they had been given and searched his home, Truro Crown Court heard last Friday.

Philip Lee, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the officers seized a laptop and a hard drive for forensic examination and it was found that Williams was also in the process of growing cannabis.

Mr Lee said Williams had 22 plants and said he was growing them for his own use.

In interview he admitted that he had been viewing child abuse images for about four years and that he used peer-to-peer software, which he had installed initially to download music but had later used to search for child abuse images.

He said he was sexually aroused by the material.

“He asserted to the police that he posed no risk to children … and denied that he had deliberately shared any of those images,” said Mr Lee.

The court heard the photographs downloaded by Williams to his computer included images in all of the categories used by police to classify such material, including 167 images in the most serious category.

Williams, of Prospect Place, admitted four counts of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornographic images.

He pleaded guilty to producing the Class B drug cannabis.

Williams, who was representing himself at the hearing because of the cost of hiring a lawyer, declined to say anything in mitigation.

Sentencing, Judge Simon Carr said: “You pleaded guilty are the earliest opportunity and have admitted from the beginning that you have for many years been downloading [child porn.

“Children are raped and abused around the world for your entertainment; those children would not be abused but for people like you who download this type of imagery.”

Williams was jailed for a total of 12 months.

February 2016

Pensioner who sexually abused a schoolboy in 1980s jailed

A pensioner, who sexually abused a schoolboy more than 26 years ago, was jailed for four years.

Alan Pople, 73, pleaded guilty to two indecent assaults and a serious sex offence upon a boy, aged between 13 and 15-years-old.

 Leicester Crown Court was told that Pople was in his 40s when he befriended the victim at a fair in Western Park, Leicester, and groomed him before abusing him.

Gary Short, prosecuting, said Pople would also pay the teenager between five and 20 pounds for sexual activity, about three times a week, between 1988 and 1990.

The court heard that in 1996, Pople, of Coneygrey, Fleckney, was jailed for two years for an offence of gross indecency with another young boy, in 1994.

He has not committed any offences since then.

The court heard that the victim still remains “angry and disgusted,” by what happened.

In a victim impact statement, he said: “I hate him for what he did to me.”

Judge Nicholas Dean QC told Pople: “To a certain extent it seems to me you must be a victim of your own sexuality.

“You grew up when people with your proclivities would not be tolerated.

“You were involved in the corruption of two young men, and in 1996 were sentenced to imprisonment, with the realisation, by you, that you had done real harm.

“I accept what was said in the psychiatric report that you very much learnt in the 90s that your behaviour was wrong and since then you haven’t repeated this type of behaviour towards young men.

“What I have to deal with you for today does not mean you represent any sort of threat to boys or young men now.

“What you did to (the victim) was profoundly wrong.

“You groomed him and persuaded him to involve himself in sexual activity entirely inappropriate for a boy of his age.

“He didn’t realise until he was 16 or 17 that what happened was wrong and it made him feel disgusted with himself.

“This type of activity does real harm and has done real harm to him.

“You accepted your guilty when you were spoken to by the police.

“To prison you will have to go.

“There was a significant disparity of age, significant grooming, payment was involved and he was targeted by you because of his addiction to gambling machines at that time.”

Helen Johnson, mitigating, said that when jailed in 1996, Pople had time to “reflect on his life” and changed his behaviour.

She said: “He’s someone who has led a sad and an isolated life.

“He acknowledges his conduct is something that needs to be punished and he’s insightful about his behaviour and the effect it has had.”

Pople was told his address will remain on a sex offender register for life.

February 2016

Schoolgirl rapist who was caught after 28 years has jail sentence increased

An evil rapist who evaded justice for almost 30 years after a sickening attack on a schoolgirl has had his jail term increased.

Steven Hearl, 63, of Hunters Walk, Erdington , had savagely attacked the 16-year-old in Alvechurch in Redditch in 1987.

The teenager was walking home alone when the monster forced her from the path into a field where he raped her.

Hearl evaded justice until a cold case review in 2015 when DNA advances linked him to the crimes.

He admitted rape, attempting another serious sexual offence and two counts of indecent assault and was caged for six years and four months at Worcester Crown Court on November 24 last year.

But Paul Jarvis, on behalf of the Solicitor-General, Robert Buckland QC, told the Appeal Court that the sentence was nowhere near tough enough.

The victim had suffered physically and emotionally and had also been ‘subjected to abuse’ by people who ‘disbelieved’ her, the court was told. She also still had anxiety and recurring nightmares.

Hearl told a probation officer he had been drinking alcohol and was ‘angry at the world’ when he committed the ‘spur of the moment’ crimes.

He accepted the attack was ‘disgusting and evil’ and said it had ‘weighed greatly on his conscience for over 25 years’.

Martin Butterworth, for Hearl said of the sentence: “If it is lenient, it is only barely lenient not unduly.”

But Lady Justice Macur said the impact on the victim as ‘extreme’ and ruled Hearl’s original sentence was ‘unduly lenient’ and upped it to eight years.

After the case, the Solicitor General said: “This must have been a horrifying attack for Hearl’s victim who was a teenage girl walking alone at night.

“Having considered the facts of this case, I felt that the sentence was unduly lenient and took the decision to refer it to the Court of Appeal.

“The impact on victims of rape and sexual assaults cannot be underestimated and it is essential these crimes are appropriately punished.”

February 2016

Flintshire man spared jail after sex with 13-year-old girl he befriended on Facebook

A MAN aged 19 who had sex with a girl aged just 13 after he befriended her on Facebook was spared immediate custody yesterday because of his own problems.

A judge said that Dylan Thomas Shone, now 20, would be unable to cope in custody.

But Judge David Hale warned Shone never to be so stupid again – because his condition would not save him from custody if he re-offended.

Shone, of Maes y Dre Avenue in Flint, initially faced three charges of penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13 dating back to May last year.

At an earlier hearing, he admitted two charges involving intercourse and oral sex but denied another charge, which was allowed to remain on file.

The court heard the girl was aged 13 and not 17 as suggested by the defendant.

Shone received an eight month youth custody sentence suspended for two years and was placed on 60 days rehabilitation.

He was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for the next ten years.

Judge Hale told him it was a serious sexual offence to have intercourse with a child under 16.

The legislation was there “to save girls from themselves.”

He said: “They find it hard growing up too and to protect them the law requires that you ensure that they are 16.”

Shone had taken advantage of a young girl and he must have known she was under 16.

“She was interested in you, there is no doubt about that,” the judge said. “You did not prey on her in that sense.”

But the responsibility was his to ensure he had no sexual contact with a child under 16.

Having read reports on him, 

the judge said it was clear Shone had his own problems and he would find it very difficult in custody.

While the case was “near the edge”, his condition was a compelling reason not to send him immediately into custody.

“But you must understand that the problems that you have will not help you if you commit offences like this again. 

This is a real warning to you. You must never do anything like this again.”

Prosecuting barrister Paulinus Barnes told Mold Crown Court Shone befriended the girl on Facebook and they began exchanging messages and later text messages.

She made it clear how old she was and they continued to communicate through Facebook and Snapchat and he asked her to meet up.

Shone asked her if she would be “in the mood” when they met and sent her pictures of himself, including his private parts.

They exchanged naked photographs and he sent one photo of himself indulging in a sex act upon himself.”

When they met they had sex, she made it clear that she was 13 and they used a condom which she had. On the second occasion they had sex it was unprotected.

It was as a result of the unprotected sex that she asked a school nurse about a pregnancy test and the police became involved.

Interviewed, he claimed she looked and acted 17 but police found a message on his phone speaking of possibly having “a free house after school.”

Defending barrister Owen Edwards said it was his client’s case that he believed she was 16 at the time they first had sex and he had closed his mind to the obvious by the time they had sex the second time.

He had the support of his family who had attended court. 

But the judge said it was clear from the body language of some of them in the public gallery that they “clearly do not think that he ought to be here.”

Mr Edwards said Shone had found it helpful to speak to the probation service.

Shone had been dealt some “summary justice” by someone who took matters into their own hands after being told about his guilty pleas.