March 2016

Jail for Cotswold paedophile who had fantasy to ‘rape a child to death’

A 64-YEAR-OLD former IT worker who planned to have sex with two children has been jailed for five and a half years.

Alan Edgecombe of Orchard Bank in Great Rissington was sentenced for a string of 12 offences at Bristol Crown Court this morning (4).

Last month Edgecombe had pleaded guilty to two separate counts of arranging to meet and engage in explicit sexual activity with two girls aged six and nine.

He had also pleaded guilty to 10 other charges of possessing, making and distributing thousands of indecent photos of children between the ages of four and 12.

Edgecombe had been speaking to two undercover police officers posing as mothers in internet chat rooms between April 2012 and April 2015.

During long email conversations he spoke of raping the children and arranged to meet with both of the woman to have penetrative and non-penetrative intercourse with their daughters.

The first pseudo mother was called Kim, who said she had a six-year-old daughter called Sam.

He had also spoken to a second mother called Claire, who said she had a seven-year-old niece called Mia.

Prosecuting, Andrew Macfarlane, said: “The content of the emails send by the defendant were sexually explicit to say the least.

“He attempted to cultivate the interest of this person whom he thought was as interested as he in the abuse of her children and in particular of the daughter.

“He has a morbid interest in children and has even expressed his desire to rape a child to death and continue to rape her thereafter.”

Examples of these sexually explicit emails were read aloud to the court.

Mr Macfarlane added that while arranging a meeting with Kim, Edgecombe also had boxes full of lubricant, sex toys and lingerie delivered to a post office near where he was planning to meet the family.

Edgecombe was later arrested near Canterbury on April 22, 2015.

Police then searched is home and computers and seized more than 8,000 different indecent images of children.

When questioned over the pictures and chat logs Edgecombe had denied he was a paedophile, saying it was simply “fantasy”.

Judge Richard Smith QC said the offences were too serious for anything other than a “significant jail term”.

“You had no regard for the level of suffering that these two children would have suffered,” he said.

He noted a number of “touching” character references that had been written by colleagues and members of his family.

Mr Smith jailed Edgecombe for a total of five and a half years for all 12 offences. 

He also made a seven year sexual harm prevention order against Edgecombe.

March 2016

Warning to parents! This sex offender will soon be back on the streets

PARENTS are warned that a sex offender with an “ongoing preoccupation with under-age girls” and a string of previous convictions will soon be back on the streets.

Michael Kirkby has admitted sitting on a park bench watching a young girl, has been caught with many pictures of children and has previously been jailed for indecently assaulting girls after luring them to a disused warehouse.

But the 51-year-old, formerly of Freeman Street, Grimsby will be released from jail shortly for a series of new offences – and it is due to the way our legal system works.

As a result of a past offence, Kirkby had been given a sexual offences prevention order designed to keep him away from children, the terms of which ban him from having contact with under 16s or possessing images of them.

However, it was alleged he breached that order on November 1 last year in Grimsby’s Grant Thorold Park and as a result was arrested and remanded in custody.

This week he appeared at the town’s Crown Court before a jury where he denied that breach. The jury accepted his version of events and cleared him.

BUT what they had not been told – because it is not allowed in order to ensure a fair trial – is that Kirkby had already admitted other order breaches, including charges of possessing images of children.

As a result, the judge could only sentence him based on the earlier admissions. That sentence was eight months, and as he has already spent four months in custody, his release from jail is imminent.

The evidence the jury had heard was set out by Katy Rafter, prosecuting. That court was told how a 10-year-old girl noticed Kirkby staring at her in the “baby park” area of Grant Thorold Park. He admitted moving to a bench so he could look at her.

Miss Rafter claimed that, every time the girl moved, he moved as well.

She claimed that Kirkby eventually “plucked up the courage to speak to the girl” and asked her where she lived.

“When she said she would not tell him, he said he would find out one day and would come and knock on her door,” claimed Miss Rafter.

Kirkby continued watching the girl and a male witness saw him talking to her and thought that he was with her.

He noticed that whenever the youngster moved, Kirkby followed her. A witness went to speak to a nearby security guard. The police were alerted and arrived ten minutes later.

The conditions of the sexual offences prevention order were discovered and Kirkby was arrested.

He denied speaking to anyone, although he admitted he must have been at the park for two or three hours.

“He was adamant he had not spoken to her,” said Miss Rafter.

He claimed the girl “would not speak” because she was “running around with friends”.

The other matters, which he admitted, were discovered after his home was searched.

Mobile phones were seized and there were 29 images of children. They included children at a fairground and youngsters modelling clothes in a catalogue as well as pictures and a video clip from the film Billy Elliot.

Kirkby’s previous convictions include being jailed for six years in 1993 for indecently assaulting girls after taking them to a disused warehouse.

He had been given a conditional discharge in 2012 for possessing hand-drawn images of children.

Craig Lowe, mitigating, said Kirkby had been in custody since his arrest. The images he had were not indecent but he was banned from possessing any of them.

Judge Mark Bury told Kirkby: “You have an ongoing preoccupation with under-age girls.”

The original order had been designed to keep him away from children but he breached it.

“You have continued your preoccupation with young children,” said Judge Bury.

Kirkby was jailed for eight months but, because he had spent nearly four months in custody, was expected to be released shortly.

March 2016

Man admits possessing dozens of indecent images of children

A 59-year-old Woodford Halse man has been ordered to complete the sex offender’s programme after he admitted viewing indecent images of children.

Roger Wirtz, of Sidney Road, pleaded guilty to three charges of possessing indecent images of children when he appeared at Northampton Crown Court on Friday.

Wirtz admitted possessing 35 of the most serious category A photographs, 12 category B images and 57 category C.

The photographs were uncovered after officers seized his computer hard drive after a search of his address on July 25, 2014.

Claire Howell, mitigating, said her client was “deeply ashamed” of his actions.

His Honour Judge Rupert Mayo said the court took these types of offences extremely seriously as the children in the photographs and videos had been subjected to harm and sexual abuse.

Wirtz was given a three-year community order and must complete the sexual offender’s treatment programme. Wirtz will have to sign the sex offender’s register and will have to notify police about any change of address in the next five years.

March 2016

Former Gobowen man sent to prison for sex offences

A 24-YEAR-OLD man, who collapsed upon hearing he would receive a custodial sentence, was told by a judge he still posed a high risk of danger to children after sentencing him to three years in prison. 

Matthew Shane Evans, 24, of Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury, admitted 15 charges, including inciting or causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and making and distributing indecent images. 

The offences took place in Gobowen between 2012 and 2014. 

Judge James Tindal admitted he had considered a heavier sentence of five years, but took into consideration Evans’s guilty plea and other mitigating factors, including mental health problems and his age. 

But he explained to Evans, who exchanged pictures and sexual messages with children between 13-17 over social media sites, why he received a prison sentence and not a community order, because of the harm he caused to his online victims. 

“Essentially, you tricked eight different children from 13-17 into sending you pictures of themselves and then you distributed them,” said Judge Tindal, who also called the defendant a ‘troubled young man’. 

“This was a cynical abuse of their trust, either for your gratification, or for others, or both. 

“The harm you caused was not only to the children you abused, but by holding over their heads that you would release them, that added salt to wounds.

“An experienced probation officer indicated you pose a high risk of harm to children, despite your young age. 

“They show someone who was prepared to exploit and abuse children for their own gratification, and then to partly blackmail those children. 

“I am troubled about these offences, and that you present in a way of giving compliance but that children might still be at risk from you. 

“Everyone needs to understand that however compelling mitigation is, which is demonstrated by reduction of sentence by two years, this sort of behaviour is immensely serious.” 

The case was delayed as Evans received treatment in the cells when he collapsed in the dock at Shrewsbury Crown Court today (Friday). 

A distressed Evans was led away to begin his sentence.

He is expected to serve up to half of his sentence and half will be on licence, while he will sign a sexual harm prevention order, and will be prohibited from having unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16 for a minimum of six years.

March 2016

Online stalker, 47, blackmailed victim and pretended to be 15

AN online stalker blackmailed one of his victims by threatening to send nude photos of a girl to her gravely ill grandmother, York Crown Court heard.

Mark Vincent, 47, targeted two North Yorkshire schoolgirls for his sexual crimes and may have subjected the first to years of abuse, starting when she was 13.

He claims she was 15 when he, masquerading as a 15-year-old boy, first contacted her via the internet.

Michael Greenhalgh, prosecuting, said she was 13 when Vincent began bombarding her with messages, phone calls and gifts. When she was 16, he got her to send him nude photos of herself and a video of her performing a sex act, and suggested that they meet and have sex together.

When she tried to ignore him, he threatened to send the photos to her family.

“The grandmother was particularly ill at this time, which he knew about. He said he hoped that made her situation worse,” said Mr Greenhalgh.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, said Vincent’s actions were a form of blackmail.

“These are incredibly serious offences,” he told Vincent. “A custodial sentence of some length is quite inevitable. The only questions are how long, and the extent of your criminality. This has had a profound effect upon her (the first girl) and is continuing to do so today.”

Mr Greenhalgh said the crimes had caused the girl to self-harm and driven her to drink.

Mr Greenhalgh said when police arrested Vincent, he was in a car with another man. Officers found 70 computers and mobile phones in the car or at his house and computer records showed he had a history of “crashing” internet conversations posing as a 15-year-old.

Vincent, of Bedfont Lane, Feltham, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to four charges of having indecent images of the first girl, one of distribution by sending a photo back to her and one of harassing her and one of harassing a friend of hers, whom he contacted after she refused to reply to his messages.

He will be sentenced in April when the judge is expected to hear evidence to decide how old the first girl was when Vincent first contacted her. He was remanded in custody.

Mr Greenhalgh said the girl only realised his real age when he sent a video, claiming it showed him deleting her photographs on his computer and she saw his face reflected in the computer screen.

When her friend refused to send him naked pictures, Vincent threatened to find naked pictures of other girls and send them to her parents, claiming they were her.

For Vincent, Kathryn Stuckey said he had not actually met either girl and had not made any arrangements to do so.

March 2016: Ryan Durston (35) was released in June 2015 after serving half his sentence. He is on licence until February 2017 and is currently banned from the Llanishen and Thornhill areas of Cardiff.

However this week, he was outed on Facebook after he was caught commenting on photos of schoolgirls, and for adding multiple single females with children. He has now deleted his account.

December 2013

Paedophile jailed for abusing 10-year-old girl

A sexual predator has been jailed for sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl and indecent exposure.

Ex-soldier Ryan Michael Durston, 32 from Gabalfa, Cardiff pleaded guilty and was convicted of sexual assault on a child who was aged under 13-years

After being released on bail for this offence, he was spotted by a member of the public who recognized him on Crime-stoppers for masturbating on a train near a young mother who was breast feeding her child.

Following his identification, Durston was arrested and charged with indecent exposure.

His case was heard in Crown Court where he pleaded guilty.

Durston was sentenced to a total of three years and four months imprisonment and was told he must register as a sex offender for a period of ten years.

March 2016

Young woman who was sexually abused by her own dad had ‘childhood taken from her’

A young woman sexually abused by her father when she was aged between 10 and 14 had her “childhood taken from her”, a judge said.

Evil Thomas Ryan, 58, from Marlfield, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, pleaded guilty to 10 sample counts of sexually abusing his daughter

He was jailed for just three-and-a-half years.

The abuse began on November 14, 2003 – the victim’s tenth birthday

The victim, who is now 22, waived her right to anonymity at Clonmel Circuit Court because she didn’t want her father “to get away with what he did, having ruined her life,” prosecuting barrister David Humphries told the court.

In her victim impact statement, she said that things done to her were “unimaginable” .

“A father is meant to protect and care unconditionally for his child and be a role model, but I did not have that luxury.

“Instead I received no childhood, womanhood coming too fast, confusion and not knowing what I had done wrong to deserve the treatment, abuse and violation my dad committed on me.”

Thirteen of the incidents of sexual assault with which Ryan was originally charged allegedly happened at the family home at Wilderness Grove, Clonmel, between November 14 of 2003 and November 14 of 2006, the court heard, while seven more were at Brook Crescent, Clonmel.

A victim impact report by the victim outlined how she still couldn’t come to terms with what her father had done to her.

“From when this started, my dad told me this was normal.” She told how when she would lie in bed each night crying “scared and petrified, horrified of when he would approach, touch and abuse me next”.

She continued: ”The feeling of being alone, lost as a young child haunted me by day and night on top of sleepless nights and flashbacks which are a permanent reminder to this very day and into my adulthood, something that I will carry into my future.”

She said the issue has affected her friendships, family, “and most of all me”.

Her mother and brother were with her in court and she said that, in her eyes, “I do not have a father” and will never be able to forgive him for the abuse, sexual and emotional, she suffered at his hands.

“I hope his guilt horrifies, tortures and abuses him as he did to me and for that I do not apologise.”

She has suffered from depression and been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, felt “lost and abandoned” in school and has since moved to Waterford where she is now in college.

“No justice or sentencing will erase the memories of my abuse and the trauma suffered in those years. If anything, those years will be my life sentence,” she said.

Judge Thomas Teehan sentenced Ryan to five years after outlining a number of aggravating and mitigating factors. He said the victim “has had her childhood taken from her and that is an appalling thing to do to a human being”.

He suspended the last 18 months of the sentence.

Speaking outside the court the victim urged sex abuse victims to speak out.

“There’s always support there, no matter where they are, be it male or female it doesn’t matter, there’s always support there no matter what.”

March 2016: Hyland will be released this month

July 2015

Father jailed for attacking 4-week-old girl

A father has been jailed after he viciously attacked his 4-week-old baby daughter leaving her with a fractured skull.

20-year-old Andrew Kevin Hyland from Birkenhead appeared at Liverpool Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to inflicting grievous bodily harm on the child.

However the court heard that Hyland had denied any wrongdoing for six months after the incident.

Because of his denials, the child was removed from the mothers care and placed into temporary foster care until February 2015.

The baby spent 10 days in hospital where she had a full skeletal Xray, CT scan and head X-ray which revealed the fractured skull.

Hyland was sentenced to a total of two years in prison

The baby has now made a full recovery

March 2016

Vile child-abducting rapist loses appeal

A prisoner jailed for 15 years for the rape and sexual assault of a woman whose child he abducted in the has lost an appeal taken against the State after it emerged his solicitors’ calls were recorded in prison.

The case was taken by Michael Murray (44), formerly of Killiney Oaks, Killiney, Dublin, who was jailed at the Central Criminal Court in 2013 for 15 years for rape, attempted rape, oral rape and aggravated sexual assault, child abduction, threats to kill or cause serious harm, false imprisonment and theft.

Murray, whose High Court case against the Irish Prison Service and Minister for Justice was dismissed last July, had sought injunctions restraining prison authorities from intercepting his calls, certain declarations and damages.

Dismissing his application last July, Mr Justice Séamus Noonan said it was beyond dispute that the recording of Murray’s telephone calls was “inappropriate and ought not to have occurred”.

There was however, “undisputed evidence” that the calls weren’t accessed. Similarly, evidence was unchallenged that the recordings were made inadvertently, the judge said.

Murray’s appeal against the High Court’s decision was dismissed today/yesterday(FRIDAY) three days after it was opened in the three-judge court.

Giving judgment, Mr Justice George Birmingham said the court as in complete agreement with the approach taken by Mr Justice Noonan.

The application was “without substance” and the appeal “without merit,” he said.

Murray was “not prejudiced or otherwise adversely affected in any way whatsoever. It is entirely clear that calls were recorded inadvertently, that calls were not accessed and that steps have been taken to ensure that what went wrong in the past will not be repeated”.

Mr Justice Alan Mahon and Mr Justice John Edwards agreed with their colleague’s judgment.

Costs were awarded against Murray who uttered insults at the judges as he was lead away.

Inmates in Irish prisons fill out a form entitled “Application for Phone Calls” which permits them to list up to 12 contact numbers, the contact’s name and their relationship to the prisoner, the High Court found.

The form states that the “the first number must be your solicitor” and “all calls except those to the Samaritans and your solicitor will be monitored and recorded”.

Murray had drawn particular attention to two phone calls to his solicitor on July 23 2013, on the evening before day 21 of his trial, during which he discussed privileged matters in relation to his defence.

Both calls were made from lines other than the designated solicitor line, number one.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Noonan said Murray had not put any evidence before the court to demonstrate the slightest prejudice arising from what appears to have been a “technical infringement at best of his rights”.

Once the prison authorities became alive to the inadvertent recording, Mr Justice Noonan said, steps were immediately taken to rectify the position.

Mr Justice Noonan said there was no ongoing or threatened infringement of Murray’s rights in this matter.

No declaration was required to vindicate his rights and no issue of damages could arise.

Accordingly, he dismissed Murray’s application and awarded costs against him.

The Central Criminal Court had heard that Murray lured his female victim into an apartment by telling her that an elderly woman was dying inside and needed her help.
He tied her up and assaulted her before taking her son away abandoning him in a city centre square late at night. He returned to the flat where he drugged and raped his victim.

The offences all occurred February 12th and 13th, 2010 in a Dublin apartment. Murray denied the charges, however he was found guilty on all counts by a unanimous jury decision.

May 2007

Paedophile scout leader jailed

A scout leader and a Lancashire County Council IT specialist who downloaded images of child sex abuse has been jailed.

Neil Hooson claimed he viewed the images purely for “research purposes”, but a judge at Preston Crown Court told him he had to go to prison as the children depicted being sexually abused were so young.

Hooson, 35, of Watering Pool Lane, Lostock Hall, pleaded guilty to 22 offences of possessing obscene photographs of children – some 292 images, of which 13 were ‘level five’, the most serious.

Joanne Shepherd, prosecuting, said police investigating paedophilia chatrooms seized Hooson’s computer from his then-home in Walton Avenue, Penwortham.

On it they found images he had viewed and tried to delete of babies being abused.

The court heard Hooson had been a scout leader in Bamber Bridge, and an IT technician with the county council for five years, and defence counsel Mr Christopher Hudson called him to the witness box to give evidence.

Hooson told the court that, after an incident when he was a boy, an image he saw led him to seek information on the type of people who accessed such sites.

He said he had not paid any fee and added: “I thought I had deleted them. It was purely for research, there was never any sexual gratification involved.”

Mr Hudson said Hooson was at present suspended from work and anticipated being sacked. His involvement with the scout movement has now ended.

Mr Hudson said there was never any question, after police investigations, of inappropriate behaviour during his involvement with the scouts, and asked the judge to suspend any prison term.

But Judge Andrew Gilbart QC said he could not suspend the five-month prison term because of the seriousness of the case, and he also passed orders disqualifying Hooson from working with children and from owning equipment capable of downloading images apart from computers used for work.

Hooson’s name is on the sex offenders register for seven years.

A Scout Association spokesman said: “He has betrayed the trust placed in him by parents, by other volunteers and by the Scout Movement.”

June 2011

Man jailed for six years for rape of Accrington girl

A MAN who raped an Accrington schoolgirl when he was aged 16 has today been jailed for six years.

Zak O’Brien, now 21, was said to have grabbed the girl’s arms and told her ‘come on, don’t be chicken’.

His victim only came forward three years after the attack when she heard that he was about to be released from a young offenders’ institute.

O’Brien, at the time living in Accrington, had a record for violence and dishonesty, but no previous convictions for sex offences.

O’Brien, now of Firbank, Bamber Bridge, was convicted by a jury of one specimen count of sexual assault on a child and one charge of rape.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

The defendant had denied the allegations and claimed he had never had sex with the girl.

The court had been told how the attack took place during the school summer holidays.

The girl said O’Brien started talking to her and kissing her and she didn’t know what to do.

The victim thought the defendant had been drinking as she could smell alcohol on his breath.

She had not told anyone what had happened as she was scared she would not be believed, the court heard.

The hearing was told O’Brien was arrested in detention in January last year, questioned and claimed the allegations were untrue.

Louise Kitchin, for O’Brien, said he was struggling to come to terms with the jury’s verdicts.

March 2016: Has changed his surname and is now called Philip John Lowe

February 2010

Chorley after-school club sex abuser spared jail

A man who sexually abused two pupils at an after-school sports club in Lancashire has been spared a jail term.

Philip Masterson, 25, of St Gregory’s Place, Chorley, admitted three counts of engaging in sexual activity with the young boys.

One of the offences was committed in a school staff room.

At Preston Crown Court, Judge Norman Wright considered jailing him for up to 12 months but gave him a community order after probation service advice.

Masterson, who pleaded guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing, was involved in running the club at a Chorley secondary school, the court was told.

The first offence took place in April 2008 when he grabbed an 11-year-old from behind in a darkened side room.

The boy said Masterson pulled his trousers down and then his own as Masterson pressed against him, Paul Cummings, prosecuting, said.

Eight months later the same boy was targeted in the staff room.

In January 2009, Masterson abused a second boy, 14, who was helping him to collect games equipment from a store room.

The schoolboy was pushed against a wall by Masterson, who groped him.

Judge Wright told Masterson: “These offences are aggravated by the fact that you were in a position of trust at the time.”

He said he faced two options – either to send him to prison for up to 12 months or a “more constructive approach” of a community order.

A pre-sentence report from the probation service said time on a sex offenders’ treatment programme would be more beneficial to Masterson and the public.

Judge Wright said: “It is clear to me you are a young man who is quite immature, someone who has not yet learned how to build relationships, and it seems has mixed emotions about your sexuality which you have not addressed.”

Masterson was given a three-year community order and must attend the sex offenders’ treatment programme for 60 days.

He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years and banned from working with children for life.

February 2016

Pervert, 71, must register as sex offender

A PENSIONER who molested a girl when she was 12 years old has been warned to expect a jail term.

David Harrod, 71, must now register as a sex offender after admitting groping the child in February last year.

Harrod had been due to face trial by judge and jury later in the month after denying three counts of sexual assault of a child.

Yesterday the case was brought back before a judge and Harrod, of The Croft, Urchfont, changed his plea to a single charge.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court that the defendant accepted squeezing the girl’s breasts and groping her below the waistline, both over clothing.

“There is a degree of breach of trust as he was a family friend,” he said.

He said that when he is sentenced the Crown will drop the other two charges, which relate to similar allegations when the girl was younger.

Robin Shellard, defending, said: “He is an elderly man of previous good character. I would ask for a pre-sentence report.”

Judge Tim Mousley QC adjourned the case to February 24 to give the probation service time to see him and released him on bail.

He said: “Whoever sentences you will have to consider an immediate custodial sentence, this crosses the custody threshold. You, Mr Harrod, should expect an immediate prison sentence.”

August 2012

Killer loses appeal bid to reduce jail term for schoolboy murder

A 20-year-old man who was jailed for life for the brutal murder of schoolboy Jack Frew has lost a legal bid to have his 18-year minimum jail term cut.

Craig Roy (pictured above) admitted stabbing 16-year-old Jack 20 times and slitting his throat in woods in East Kilbride in May 2010, but had denied murder.

He was found guilty of the charge after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow.

Roy claimed to have no memory of the killing, which took place after he had cheated on his boyfriend with Jack.

Lord Clarke, who considered the appeal with Lord Brodie at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh, said: “We have reached the conclusion that the appeal against sentence must be refused.”

The senior judge said that because of the issues canvassed in the case and its sensitivity, they would give their reasons for the decision at a later date.

Roy was convicted in February of murdering Jack at woods near Wellelsley Crescent and Mossneuk Road, in East Kilbride, on 6 May 2010.

His trial heard how Roy, who was then aged 17, had carried out a frenzied attack on his fellow pupil at the town’s Duncanrig Secondary School.

The court was told that Roy was in a relationship with Christopher Hannah, but had had sexual contact with Jack.

Before going to the meeting in the woods, he had armed himself with a knife.

Roy claimed that he just wanted to scare the teenager, who he claimed was blackmailing him.

He also claimed that he could not remember any details of the fatal attack.

Roy was convicted after the jury rejected defence claims that he should be convicted of the lesser charge of culpable homicide on the ground of diminished responsibility.

Trial judge Lord Doherty told Roy in sentencing him: “You carried out a brutal, sustained and merciless attack.”

Roy lodged an appeal against the 18-year minimum term. His solicitor advocate John Scott QC argued that when compared with other cases, the punishment part looked “out of place”.

He said: “It is important to acknowledge this case represents a tragedy for Jack Frew’s family in the loss they have suffered and continue to suffer.”

Mr Scott said there was a degree of premeditation in the circumstances of the offence, but not for what happened.

He said: “He felt that taking the knife was the only way to get his point across.”

“The appellant felt his personal life and circumstances were under threat, and in particular his ongoing relationship with his partner.”

Mr Scott also argued that insufficient weight had been given to Roy’s personality traits and pointed out that he was under 18 at the time of the killing.

March 2016

Hull man Jamie West, 21, breached police warning to meet pregnant girl, 15

A MAN who had sex with an underage girl has been convicted of child abduction after ignoring a warning to stay away from her.

Jamie West, 21, was caught with the 15-year-old at his home after she told him she was pregnant with his child.

Click this link for more on this story

March 2016

Paedophile caught with huge stash of child sexual abuse images/movies

A paedophile has walked free from court with a comminity order after police found over 21,000 indecent images and movies on his computer 

Andrew Dodds (38) of Kenton, Newcastle upon Tyne  was charged with possessing, making and distributing indecent images & videos of children ranging from category A (the most indecent) to category C

He pleaded guilty to all charges.

After the police inspected his computer, they found and seized 42 DVD discs which contained:

• 250 category A pictures.
• 500 category A videos.
• 500 category B pictures.
• 20,000 category C pictures.

Dodds was sentenced to 8 months which was suspended for 2 years.

He was given a 2 year community order and told he must register as a sex offender for a period of 10-years

March 2016

Paedophile walks free from court 

A paedophile has escaped a prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 9-year-old girl and exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl

35-year-old Steven David Oates who also uses the surname Monteith of Priory Avenue, Whitley Bay pleaded guilty to:

• Sexual assault on a child under the age of 13

  Engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under the age of 13

The court heard that Oates was babysitting a neighbour’s nine-year-old daughter whilst the mother went to attend an important appointment. The girls mother told police that she considered him to be trustworthy as he looked after his disabled sibling.

Oates put a DVD on for the child and sat next to her to watch it. It was at this time that Oates sexually assaulted the terrified girl by placing his hands down her trousers. He repeatedly molested the girl until she ran out of the room and locked herself in the bathroom.

The young girl told her school teacher two weeks after the sickening attack after members of the NSPCC visited the school to talk to the pupils about the ‘Speak out, Stay safe’ campaign

The court heard that a second victim – a 10-year-old girl – was bribed with a bag of crisps by Oates to look at his penis after he exposed himself in front of her.

Oates originally denied both offences but two weeks before his trial was to begin, he pleaded guilty to the charges he faced, which meant the young victims did not have to endure a trial.

November 2014

Irish-born priest John O’Reilly guilty of child sexual abuse in Chile

A Chilean court on Tuesday sentenced Father John O’Reilly to just four years of probabation after finding him guilty of abusing a young girl last month.

O’Reilly was the leader in Chile of the Legionaries of Christ, one of the most powerful and wealthiest religious congregations inside the Catholic church.

His crimes were committed between 2007 and 2009, at the Cumbres School, one of the most exclusive private institutions in the South American country.

Despite the sentence being much lighter than the 10 years in jail than the prosecution asked, lawyer Lorena Parra praised the court’s decision. “Behind this investigation, there is a family that now can rest,” said Parra.

O’Reilly, who did not attend Tuesday’s hearing, was also included in the National Record of Pedophiles, which prevents him being or working near children and public office.

He will also have to pay one Chilean peso compensation, about US$0.002, to the victim’s family, which requested this amount of money as a “symbolic” gesture.

His legal team has 10 days to analyze the sentence and appeal it. Father O’Reilly has always maintained his innocence.

O’Reilly was born in Ireland and arrived to Chile in 1985, and developed strong relations with the business community.

His sentence is another blow to the Legionaries of Christ, whose founder, the now deceased Mexican Marcial Maciel, was accused of raping several minors.

Maciel died on 2008 in United States and despite all the accusations against him, he never set a foot in jail or was investigated for his crimes.

The Catholic church forced him to relinquish all public duty in 2006

October 2014

An Irish-born Chilean priest was found guilty on Wednesday of sexually abusing a child in his care at a religious school in the capital, Santiago.

The court found that John O’Reilly, who moved to Chile from Ireland in 1985, had abused the pre-teen girl behind closed doors at the private Colegio Cumbres in the affluent neighborhood of Las Condes between 2007 and 2009.

“The tribunal has established beyond all reasonable doubt that … O’Reilly resolved to carry out actions of a sexual nature via body contact with a school student,” said Judge Maria Teresa Barrientos.

O’Reilly, who denied the charges, will be sentenced next month.

Prosecutors have requested that he be sent to prison for 10 years.

The school where the abuse took place is part of the network of the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative religious order whose founder was revealed to be a fraud and pedophile who had fathered several children.

The Catholic church retains a strong influence in conservative Chile, but cases like this of abuse and other crimes by priests have shaken confidence in recent years.

In 2011, powerful priest Fernando Karadima was found guilty by the Vatican of abusing teenage boys over many years.

The criminal case against him collapsed and the church ordered him to live a life of prayer and banned him from celebrating public mass.

Another priest is under investigation for the forced adoption of babies after telling single mothers their infants had died.

Argentine-born Pope Francis has vowed zero tolerance of clerics who abuse minors, after scandals in a number of countries over many years.

The authority of the church in O’Reilly’s native Ireland, in particular, has been rocked by investigations into past clerical sex abuse and state-abetted cover-ups at Catholic-run schools and institutions, labeled places of fear and neglect in a 2009 official report.

December 2006

Teenager jailed for sexually abusing young girl

A teenager has been jailed after pleading guilty to sexually abusing and raping a seven-year-old girl.

Sheffield Crown Court was told that unemployed Martin Bolton of kendray, sexually assaulted and raped the young girl almost daily over a 18-month period.

Bolton threatened to kill his young victim to ensure her silence

He was sentenced to an indeterminate (open ended) sentence and will only be released when the parole board feel that he poses no further risk to children

March 2016: Bolton is currently in Seagrave open prison in Lincolnshire, and is likely to be released later this year.

March 2016

Vicar facing jail after admitting indecent assault against a boy

A shamed vicar has pleaded guilty to four counts of indecent assault against a boy in the 1970s.

Leonard Skinner, 79, of North Tyneside , is now facing a possible jail sentence after pleading guilty to the four offences.

Skinner, of Brighton Grove, Whitley Bay, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 14 and two counts of indecent assault on a boy aged under 16 at Highbury Magistrates’ Court.

The offences are understood to relate to when Skinner lived in the south of the UK. He moved to the region following his retirement in 2001 where he has performed “stand-in” duties at local parishes.

Now church leaders in North East have apologised for Skinner’s actions and asked for any other potential victims to get in touch.

The Archdeacon of Northumberland, the Venerable Geoff Miller said: “We offer an unreserved apology to the survivors of the appalling abuse by the Reverend Leonard Skinner and acknowledge their courage in coming forward.

“The Diocese of Newcastle treats all allegations of sexual abuse with the utmost seriousness and expects the highest standards from its clergy, including in retirement.

“As soon as the diocese was told that Leonard Skinner was under investigation by the Metropolitan Police, he was immediately prevented from carrying out any further duties in church.

“Leonard Skinner moved to North Tyneside after he retired from his last post as Priest-in-Charge of a parish in 2001.

“In line with common practice for retired clergy, he was given the Bishop of Newcastle’s ‘Permission to Officiate’, meaning that he was authorised to lead worship in support of the full-time clergy in local parishes.”

The court heard that Skinner, who had been working as a vicar in Grange Park, Enfield between January 1970 and May 1980, befriended a child and had, over a period of time, gained his trust. The abuse happened between January 1972 and June 1975.

A third party reported the allegations against Skinner to police in October 2015 and subsequently detectives from the Sexual Offences, exploitation and Child Abuse Command began investigating.

Skinner was interviewed under caution on 24 November 2015 and subsequently charged on Thursday, 28 January.

Skinner is due to be sentenced at the Blackfriars Crown Court on Friday, 11 March.