March 2016

Pervert took photos of girls in bathrooms

An IT engineer from Biggleswade who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children from the dark web has been jailed for ten years after he also admitted taking hundreds of pictures using a hidden camera.

National Crime Agency investigators arrested Daniel Praid, 40, outside his home on 27 March 2015. On a computer inside the property they found more than 300,000 indecent images and around 15,000 indecent films.

Many of the files had been downloaded, but in a set of files marked ‘personal’ and ‘peep’ they found a series of images taken by Praid himself using a hidden camera.

The pictures were taken in a variety of places but included images of women and girls getting changed and using the bathroom. One image showed how Praid had used a plastic cleaning fluid bottle to conceal his camera.

Other images showed Praid sexually assaulting an underage girl who he’d befriended some years before.

Chat logs recovered from his hard drive revealed he had been sharing some of these images online with other individuals.

Praid admitted 28 different charges including making and distributing indecent images of children, sexual assault, indecency and voyeurism.

At Birmingham Crown Court on Tuesday 15 March he was sentenced to ten years in prison

March 2016

Pervert who sent ‘explicit’ texts and Facebook messages to teen girl jailed

An Anglesey man became besotted with a teenage schoolgirl and bombarded her with texts and Facebook messages – some of a highly sexual nature.

Andrew Marshall also met with the girl, hugged her and even tried to kiss her.

The 51 year-old, formerly of Newborough but now living in Worksop, was jailed for two years today after he admitted the offences.

Mold Crown Court heard today that Marshall had been grooming the girl for a sexual relationship and that the ordeal had a traumatic effect on her.

Prosecuting barrister Andrew Green said police launched a probe after the victim’s mother found a birthday card from Marshall under the teen’s bed.

An examination of her mobile phone revealed that Marshall had sent her over 100 texts, many of which were “explicit” and “sexual” in nature.

In some of the messages, he referred to her as “my girl” and called her a “minx”.

One message sent by Marshall read: ”Hope you are OK, wish I could kiss your chest better.

Arrested and interviewed, Marshall said that he felt stupid about what he had done.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins said Marshall had shown “little remorse for his actions” and had tried to blame the girl for taking advantage of him for “financial gain”.

The judge added that it was highly inappropriate for a man to send such messages to a child and that it was “obvious” what his intentions were.

Defending barrister John Wyn Williams said that the defendant had ample opportunity to take matters further with the teen but he did not do so.

“At least he did not take a step towards a more intimate relationship,” added Mr Williams.

He said the defendant was fairly naive and immature and accepted that his text messages had been entirely inappropriate.

“He (Marshall) wants me to apologise to the girl and to her family openly in court,”

As well as his prison sentence, Marshall was also ordered to register as a sex offender and told not to contact his victim in any way for the next seven years.

March 2016

Schoolteacher caught with indecent images of children

A Stockton teacher was caught with indecent images of children.

Bishopsgarth School in Stockton said that offences admitted by Caroline Parry are “in no way related to the school or its pupils”.

The 45-year-old appeared at Teesside Magistrates’ Court to admit to possessing 20 indecent photographs of children.

More than three quaters of the images were category A – featuring the rape of children

The former head of English also pleaded guilty to possessing extreme pornography involving an animal.

While the offences took place over a period of six years, Ms Parry was working at Bishopsgarth when she was arrested last year.

Bishopsgarth School in Stockton

A spokesman for the school, based on Harrowgate Lane, Stockton , said: “Ms Parry is no longer employed by the school and we would like to reassure our parents and carers that these offences are in no way related to the school or its pupils.

“Furthermore, we have very robust policies and procedures in place to safeguard and protect children in our care.”

Parry had worked at the school for less than a year, he added.

Paul Power, prosecuting, told magistrates on Monday that Parry was caught after an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA) into another person.

A USB stick belonging to Parry was then seized and the images were found.

Along with the indecent images, it was said that Key Stage Three and Four lesson plans were also found on the device.

A spokeswoman for the National Crime Agency said: “Following an NCA investigation a 45-year-old former school teacher pleaded guilty on March 14 to offences relating to the possession of indecent images of children and associated offences.

“The matter is now in the court process and as such any further comment would not be appropriate at this time.

“The NCA is working closely with Cleveland Police and the local authority to ensure that safeguarding is in place for anyone affected.”

The NCA said any concerned members of the public can contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000.

Parry, of Ryhill Walk, Ormesby, pleaded guilty to two counts of making indecent photographs of children, possessing an indecent photograph of a child and possessing an extreme pornographic image involving an animal.

March 2016

‘Depraved’ child abuser jailed for 14 years

A “DEPRAVED” man who repeatedly sexually abused two young girls has been jailed for 14 years.

John Murden, 58, began abusing one girl when she was aged six and continued until she was 15.

His other victim was abused between the ages of 11 and 13.

His offending left his first victim so traumatised that, as an adult, she contemplated suicide.

March 2016

Man collected sickening images of children & used chat rooms to groom youngsters

A man targeted young girls online after infiltrating chat rooms and encouraged them to engage in sexual activity.

Police found evidence of this as well as dozens of sick images of children when they raided the Milnsbridge home of Matthew Burhouse.

The 41-year-old used the Internet and social media to interact with the girls, who were aged just 15.

At Kirklees Magistrates’ Court , he pleaded guilty to three charges of causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

Burhouse, of Dowker Street, also admitted six charges of indecent images of children and one charge of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

The offences came to light as a result of an investigation by South Wales Police.

This was into a blackmailing plot where a man posed as a young girl to extort money from men online.

Police found email addresses of various people he had been blackmailing, including Burhouse.

They attended at his home where they found indecent images and movies of children on his computer.

They included five category A images, which are the most serious and involve penetrative sexual activity.

There were four category B images, which involve non-penetrative sexual activity, and 14 at category C involving images not falling into the other two categories.

Police also discovered three category A movies, and 18 movies classed as category B.

They found five extreme pornographic images which were grossly offence and portrayed a person performing an act of intercourse with an animal.

The officers found evidence of chat rooms where Burhouse had been messaging schoolgirls.

He asked the girls, who were aged around 15, to touch themselves sexually and describe what they were doing.

Jill Seddon, prosecuting, said: “He used social media and the Internet to incite these girls into sexual activity.”

District Judge Michael Fanning sent Burhouse’s case to Leeds Crown Court for sentencing on April 5.

He told him: “These are serious matters and this court’s sentencing powers are limited.

“It’s appropriate that the wider sentencing powers at crown court are used.”

Burhouse was bailed with the condition that he does not have any unsupervised contact with a child aged under 16, save for inadvertent contact in everyday life.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register and must have to attend at the police station within three days to give his details.

March 2016

Sex attacker abused young girls over 12-year period

A rapist who claimed his victims told “big lies” was jailed today after he was convicted of a catalogue of abuse against children.

Steven Thain (26) molested girls during a 12-year period beginning when he was aged just 13 years old.

Thain was previously ordered to be detained for three years as a 19-year-old but after spending 18 months in custody re-emerged to continue his sex offending.

Thain, of West High Street, Elgin, in Moray, had denied a string of indecency, sexual assault and rape charges during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh. But he was found guilty of a total of eight charges.

The sex predator pulled one victim, aged 14 or 15, into a house in Moray in 2010 and pushed her against a wall and raped her after pulling down her trousers and pants.

During the same year at a different address in the Moray area he attacked a 13-year-old girl and raped her after pulling down her trousers and pants.

Thain’s offending continued up to 2014 when he attacked a teenager at another house in Morayshire. During the assault with intent to rape he offered her money to see her naked body. She was pushed onto a bed and punched and kicked.

He was previously sentenced to detention in 2008 for sex crimes committed against children when a judge ruled that only a custodial sentence was appropriate.

His defence lawyer had argued that the case was exceptional because of his age at the time and said he was a child when the offences were committed.

But in sentencing Thain to three years detention Lord Woolman told him at the time: “The protection of children from sexual abuse is of vital importance to society.”

At his latest trial he told his defence counsel Gary Allan QC that he had “no idea” why victims told the court that they had been abused by him.

He said: “I didn’t do anything wrong. I kept myself to myself. I have no idea why they’ve said those things.”

Advocate depute Ian Wallace asked him whether the women in the case had been lying and Thain replied: “Yes.”

The prosecutor said they must have told “big lies”. Thain responded: “Yes, big lies.”

Thain had been on bail but following his conviction was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next month.

The trial judge Lord Armstrong said a course of criminal conduct extending from 2002 to 2014 was involved in the “grave charges”.

He told Thain that he was considering imposing an extended sentence, involving imprisonment followed by a period of supervision.

The judge called for a background report, including a risk assessment, to be prepared on him before sentencing. Thain was placed on the sex offenders’ register.

March 2016

Shrewsbury Boys’ Brigade helper sexually assaulted young boy

A man indecently assaulted a young boy while working for the Boys’ Brigade at a church in Shrewsbury in the 1980s, a court heard.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was the fourth boy to come forward and make a complaint about Richard Ainsworth during his time with the brigade at United Reformed Church in Coleham Head.

But he had already been dealt with for the other three – by way of a probation order in 1984 and cautions in 1999 and 2007 – and avoided a jail term again when sentenced for the latest complaint at Shrewsbury Crown Court yesterday.

Judge Robin Onions told Ainsworth he would have received a jail term of between three and five years if he had been sentencing him for all four assaults.

He did jail Ainsworth for two years.

But after hearing the 64-year-old defendant, now living in Colwyn Bay, had not offended since being booted out of the brigade in the late 1980s, the judge suspended the term.

Mr Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said Ainsworth indecently assaulted the boy making the latest allegation in a corridor of the church some time between 1984 and 1987, when the victim would have been aged between nine and 12.

Mr Anthony Potter, for Ainsworth, said his client had not committed a similar offence for 30 years after leaving the brigade.

“He feels awful about what he has done and perceives it as a sin,” Mr Potter said.

Ainsworth was sentenced to two years in prison, suspended for two years. He will remain under the supervision of the probation service and was also ordered to pay £250 towards court costs.

March 2016

Toxteth man found guilty of string of rapes and sexual assaults

A Toxteth man was found guilty of a string of rapes and sexual assaults against a woman when she was a child and an adult.

Samuel Langton, 56, of Grafton Street, denied ever having sex with the victim when questioned by police.

But DNA evidence proved he was lying and the Langton then claimed he began having consensual sex with her when she was aged 17.

Langton denied five counts of rape , 11 sexual assaults and a charge of intimidating a witness during a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

After 11 hours of deliberation, a jury found him guilty of four counts of rape and 10 sexual assaults, on a majority of 10 to 12 on each charge.

Langton was found not guilty of raping the woman when she was 16, sexually assaulting her when she was six, and witness intimidation.

However, he was convicted of raping the woman when she was 15 and 17, and sexually abusing her from the age of seven until she was 15.

Langton, with short grey hair and wearing a grey sweatshirt in the dock, showed no emotion as the verdicts were returned.

Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, told the defendant: “There will inevitably be a very long prison sentence.”

During the trial, Paul Treble, prosecuting, said the woman had never consented to sex with Langton.

He said: “Let’s not make any mistake, this isn’t about sex. It’s not sex as normal consenting adults would know it. This is about control and domination. It’s about power.”

Mr Treble said the woman recalled the last rape, which was before she went for a job interview.

He said she told police she was wearing pink knickers, which were recovered and revealed Langton’s DNA.

Langton denied touching the woman inappropriately, touching her sexually or raping her.

He told officers: “I didn’t have sex with her, full stop.”

When shown the DNA evidence, Mr Treble said Langton replied: “No, it couldn’t have happened”, “it’s not me” and “I don’t know how it’s got there”.

Mr Treble said: “There seems to be a suggestion now he was engaging in consensual sex with her and that’s how it got there.”

Judge Flewitt said he now needed to consider whether Langton was a dangerous offender, as set out in law.

He adjourned sentencing until April 1 and remanded him in custody.

Langton shouted “love you ma” to a woman sat crying in the public gallery as he was led down from the dock.

A 17-year-old co-defendant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denied attempting to pervert the course of justice by “offering witnesses money to drop the case”.

He was alleged to have offered the victim £8,000 and another woman £3,000 to retract their statements, but was found not guilty by the jury earlier today.

March 2016

Glenrothes man jailed for filming young girls in swimming pool changing rooms

A man who filmed young girls in cubicles next to him at a Fife swimming pool changing over a period of months, has been jailed.

Richard Schickhofer place his mobile phone in his shoe then pushed it under the partition to secretly record naked youngsters as they changed at the leisure center in Glenrothes.

A shocked 15-year-old girl spotted a camera pointing at her from inside the shoe on the floor and kicked it away, leading to Schickhofer’s sick behaviour being exposed.

However, the nursing student later tried to put the blame on the design of the changing rooms which allowed him to carry out the secret filming.

Police discovered videos of kids undressing on seized mobile phones and a computer taken from his home.

Another girl, initially unidentified, was revealed because a police officer investigating the video evidence knew her.

Schickhofer (24), of Muirfield Drive, Glenrothes, admitted that on March 10 last year at Michael Woods Sports and Leisure Centre, Viewfield, Glenrothes, he operated equipment with the intention of observing a girl then aged 15, by placing his mobile phone in his shoe and placing them under a changing room partition to record her in a state of undress.

He also admitted that on numerous occasions between December 14, 2014 and March 10 last year at the same centre, he operated equipment with the intention of observing unidentified female adults and children by placing video recording equipment under the changing room partition to film them in a state of undress.

Dunfermline Sheriff Court previously heard that a girl had gone to the pool with a male friend at 6pm on March 10.

After swimming, she went into a cubicle to get changed. She locked the door and began drying herself. She was still in her swimsuit. She looked down and saw a dark coloured shoe.

The shoe had been placed into her cubicle under the five-inch gap at the bottom of it and the girl saw a mobile phone was in it. The girl kicked the shoe away.

She told her friend what had happened and they spoke to a lifeguard, who said he thought he may know the man’s identity and later helped police trace him.

Computer equipment was later taken from his home for examination along with two mobile phones which were seized from him.

Three videos were found, showing females changing and some victims are still unidentified.

One video file was dated December 14, 2014 and showed a girl drying herself in a cubicle. Her age was assessed as between 14 and 18 years.

A second video file was dated March 10, 2015, lasting 67 seconds and showed Schickhofer in a cubicle, adjusting a recording device and pushing it into a booth with two females, one an adult and the other an undressed girl aged 12-15 years.

Another video was on his mobile phone, lasting over nine minutes. Again Schickhofer was seen adjusting the device and camouflaging it with an item of clothing. He pushed the device back and forward into an empty cubicle, adjusting it.

A girl aged 15 then entered the cubicle, locked the door and removed her swimsuit. The girl’s age could be confirmed as a police officer analysing the film knew her.

The court heard Schickhofer was originally from Austria but had lived in Glenrothes for several years. He was a student at Fife College and had hoped to pursue a career in nursing but had now left his course.

When Schickhofer appeared for sentencing yesterday, it emerged that he had blamed the design of the cubicles for the offences.

Sheriff Charles MacNair said, “You put part of the blame on the design of the changing room but the blame is entirely on you.”

He added that such offending is becoming easier to commit because of technology and that sentences should deter those tempted to commit similar crimes.

He jailed Schickhofer for nine months. He also made him subject to a sexual offenders protection order banning him from mixed changing areas for ten years.

Schickhofer was also placed on the sex offenders register for the same period.

March 2016

Sex offender jailed for raping schoolgirl he lured back to his home

A predatory sex offender dubbed ‘Prince’ has been jailed after raping a schoolgirl he lured back to his house.

Uwayemwen Osagie also plied another girl with booze before attacking her in a busy restaurant

He pleaded guilty to one count of raping a child and one count of sexually assaulting a child.

The depraved 32-year-old has now been sentenced to 10 years and nine months in jail by a judge.

Osagie met his first victim who was aged 15 when she was with friends outside a takeaway in November 2013 and one of them recognised him.

He suggested that they go back to his house for drinks and got a taxi with them.

Once there he offered to give the victim a tour of the house whilst the others went to the shop.

He showed her to his bedroom before he locked the door and raped her.

During the attack, the victim’s friends returned and began banging on the door as they heard her cries but Osagie was not deterred.

Then in January 2015, Osagie met a 16-year-old girl in a restaurant in Bolton with a friend and began speaking to her.

The two exchanged numbers and the following night when the girl and her friend missed their bus home, Osagie offered to pay for her to get a taxi if she came and met him at the restaurant again.

They obliged and went to the restaurant where he encouraged them to drink whiskey, even becoming aggressive when another man tried to intervene.

The girl asked Osagie to order her a taxi home but he said he could not hear her due to the loud music and took her to a quiet corner of the diner where he sexually assaulted her.

Osagie of Holmeswood Road, Bolton pleaded guilty to one count of child rape and one count of sexual assault against a child and was jailed for 129 months by a judge at Bolton Crown Court.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offender’s register indefinitely.

March 2016

Paedophile sentenced to five years imprisonment

A PAEDOPHILE was jailed for making more than 3,000 indecent photos of children and plotting a sexual offence against a young girl. 

Simon Veale, of Edmunds Road in Banbury, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday after the judge branded him “a danger to children”.

He was sentenced to five years in prison, plus six years on extended licence (time meant to protect the public from him).

In 2014 Veale tried to initiate sexual activity with a girl under the age of 13.

Between July 2012 and March 2014 he made 2,349 indecent photos of children on a mobile phone, and in the decade prior to that he made 677 indecent photos on a computer.

He emailed 42 of the videos and videos to 23 other paedophiles between August 2011 and March 2014.

March 2016

JAILED: Pervert who traded secret snaps of wife online for sick images of children

A husband who secretly took explicit pictures of his wife then traded them online for indecent images of young children has been jailed.

Suhaib Akhtar, 33, of St Marks Road in Wolverhampton, took the photos of his wife without her knowledge and then offered them up on chat app KIK in return for the sick images.

His crimes only came to light when his distraught wife found the pictures on his mobile phone and contacted police.

They discovered over 100 photographs of children engaged in sexual activity, 28 of which were in the worst category.

Six of those had been distributed to other users of the app while three in the second worst category were also shared by Akhtar.

He pleaded guilty to three count of possession of indecent images of children and three counts of distributing indecent images.

Jailing him for two years at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Patrick Thomas QC said: “Courts are going to keep saying this until people listen; the kind of photographs you not only received but also distributed are photographs of children, often very, very young children, being grossly and horribly abused.

“The thought that any human being could derive a level of sexual satisfaction looking at such photos, thereby participating in such abuse, is deeply, deeply shameful.

“The children here are young and there are very disquieting features of the photos themselves.

“But the way you came about them, frankly, by abusing your own wife, using those explicit photographs to get photos of children, and then distributing them, is very serious.

“You have got to go to prison.”

Akhtar was jailed for two years for distributing six category A photographs.

He received no separate penalty on the other charges he admitted.

Alex Warren, prosecuting, said the defendant’s wife contacted police on November 5 last year.

He said: “She had found naked and sexual photos of herself, the existence of which she was unaware.

“He had shared them on the KIK app on his phone and the defendant’s wife was very upset and concerned to find these pictures existed and had been shared that way.”

However it was only when police seized Akhtar’s phone his twisted purpose became clear and the 128 images of children were uncovered on his phone.

Mr Warren said detectives had also uncovered conversations on the app which Akhtar had with other users.

He said: “He specifically asks for images of young girls and he trades sexual photos of his wife in order to receive indecent images of children in return.”

Akhtar was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for an indefinite period of time.

March 2016

Pervert jailed for making Far East sex films with young boys

A man who directed his own sex films from his North Wales home after paying children abroad to engage in sex acts has been jailed for six years.

Loner Lee Roberts, 32, told boys as young as 11 in the Philippines what to do in highly sexualised chats over the internet and filmed what they were doing to each other and with older men.

Some of the films were distributed by him, Mold Crown Court was told.

Roberts, of Windsor Drive in Kinmel Bay, trembled in the dock as he was jailed for six years after he admitted two charges of inciting a child to engage in penetrative sex acts.

He had previously admitted other charges of incitement, possessing and making indecent images and films, and distributing two of them, at the local magistrates’ court and had been sent to the crown court for sentence.

Roberts, who described himself as a lonely man, was ordered to register for life as a sex offender and a seven year se.ual harm prevention order was made to curb his future activities.

Prosecuting barrister Sion ap Mihangel explained how through another operation it had been discovered back in 2012 that young males in The Philippines were being exploited by people from the UK who paid them modest amounts of money to engage in sexual acts over the Internet.

Roberts was found to be one of the men paying for such activities.

The judge, Mr Recorder Jeremy Jenkins, said that Roberts had over a protected period of time been “corrupting young people” in another part of the world via the Internet.

Acting on information received, police executed a search warrant at this home in November 2014 and analyses of computer equipment seized revealed that he had been sending money via transfer to people predominantly in The Philippines.

“Further investigation showed that money was being paid to young boys, some as young as 11 years of age, to perform sexual acts which you directed,” he said.

Interviewed, Roberts accepted paying children £20 to engage in such practices and said that he was a lonely individual who had done “some stupid things”.

He accepted transferring cash via Western Union from his HSBC account to the boys and requested them to indulge in sexual acts.

He said he sent £20 to young boys to engage in sexual acts with each other and with adult males and recorded some of them, although he claimed that the penetrative acts had been simulated.

March 2016

Pervert jailed after downloading over 5,000 child abuse images & videos

A STOURBRIDGE man who downloaded more than 5,000 sickening indecent films and photographs of children including eight-month old babies has been jailed for 30 months.

Brett Clewes also targeted two women he knew to take indecent photographs and took another up the skirt of a young girl in Stourbridge town centre, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

The 43-year-old, of Finchfield Close, was described as a “socially inept” man with few friends and Recorder Abigail Nixon told him: “Without sexually depraved people like you there would be no demand for these indecent images.”

She said he was clearly someone with “perverted sexual tastes” and added: “Women of all ages are at risk from your perverted needs. It is clear your tastes range from babies to children of almost adult age.”

The Recorder said the offending went on for nearly nine years until Clewes, a man of previous good character, was finally arrested and she stressed she was convinced it would have continued had he not been tracked down by police.

Christopher O’Gorman, prosecuting, said intelligence was received by officers about Clewes using a website based in Russia which was used by people with a sexual interest in children.

People using the site were making comments about their shared interest in paedophilia and when officers went to Clewes’ home they seized his computer equipment which was found to contain the indecent images.

He later pleaded guilty to seven charges of making indecent images of children and one of taking an indecent photograph of a child. He also admitted recording a person in a private act and four charges of possessing indecent photographs – and was told he must register as a Sex Offender for the next ten years.

March 2016

Magician jailed for 14 years for sex attacks on schoolboys

A magician has been jailed for 14 years at Cardiff Crown Court for sex attacks on schoolboys.

Mark Davis, 55, wooed single mothers to get close to their sons – and “dazzled” them with magic tricks and celebrity autographs.

He worked as both a children’s entertainer and a stage manager at a youth theatre in Cardiff where he was able to gain the trust of mothers and their children.

A court heard Davis became a “father figure” to young boys between the ages of nine and 14 who had an interest in acting, and “wormed his way into their lives”.

He promised them trips to London to visit the EastEnders set and gave them autographed pictures of celebrities.

March 2016

Babysitter jailed for 40 counts of child sex abuse

A child rapist who met his victims after advertising online as a child carer has been jailed for ten years.

Michael Ponzo quickly earned the trust of his victims’ families before sexually abusing at least five children aged between six and 12.

As well as performing a series of sickening sex acts on the extremely vulnerable youngsters the 20-year-old scout leader also filmed some of it.

And while only the four boys and one girl have been identified as victims, police found scores of other images and films he had made of children being abused stored on his phone and laptop.

Officers also recovered email conversations he had with other paedophiles where they were talking about sharing their vile footage.

Mark Worsley, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the parents of three of the victims met him via a site called childcare.co.uk.

He said a disabled single mum contacted him in December 2014 and after he passed the relevant checks he came and helped her with her six-year-old son.

But she became suspicious when they spent so much time alone in the boy’s bedroom and the lad eventually disclosed that Ponzo had made him watch porn on his phone.

Over a similar period of time a couple with two boys, aged eight and six and with special needs, also met Ponzo through the website.

Although he got on well with the children they became concerned when one of the children started talking about sex, revealing Ponzo had told him about it Both families contacted the police and when the defendant was arrested at the home he shares with his family his phone and computer were seized and looked at.

Among the hundreds of indecent images of children police found pictures and movies of him repeatedly abusing the three boys.

They also recognised a brother and sister of concerned friends, but other children in the images could not be identified.

Also on his computer he had used search terms like ‘Kiddies getting changed’ as well as sending messages to other perverts about sharing material.

Ponzo, of Colbrook Road, Coleview, admitted two counts of rape, 13 of sexual assault of a child under 13 and 25 making or possessing indecent images of children.

In a victim statement the disabled mum of the first victim told how her son had been changed by the abuse he had suffered, turning him from a happy lad to an angry child.

She said: “I seem to have lost my caring little boy. I believe this is due to what he went through.

“He locks himself in his bedroom when he come home from school. He also does this at weekends.”

And the mother of the brothers said one now self harmed saying: “He cut at his hair and eye lashes so he didn’t look so pretty.”

Both mums said they had placed a great deal of trust in Ponzo, which he had taken advantage of to abuse their children.

Alistair Grainger, defending, said his client had made full admission to police, had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and was still a young man.

He said he was 18 or 19 at the time of the offending and clearly needed help, but urged the court not to impose a life sentence saying: “There is always that prospect or hope that someone might change.”

Jailing him Judge Tin Mousley QC said “Once the police investigation had begun it was obvious you had abused at least five children that could be identified.

“Your offending became more extreme as you got older and it culminated in the rape of a boy and a girl.

“Each of the children was particularly vulnerable. You grossly abused a position of trust. You planned what you did. It was repeated, you groomed each one of them by words and by showing them pornographic images.

“You knew that they were wholly innocent and that they did not know what they were doing was wrong and on occasions you recorded what you were did by photograph or video.

“I find it difficult, perhaps impossible to imagine what affect your abuse will have upon these children.”

He said although he had no previous convictions he said he used his ‘good character’ to get into positions of trust.

Jailing him for ten years he told him he would serve two thirds before he could be considered for parole.

And when he was released his licence would be extended by another five years and he must register as a sex offender for life and can never work with children.

March 2016

Grandfather jailed for amassing huge child abuse images & bestiality library

A Dursley grandfather who spent more than 15 years compiling a ‘library’ of many thousands of child sexual abuse pictures was jailed for a year at Gloucester crown court today.

Frank White, 66, of Garden Suburb, Dursley, pleaded guilty to five offences of possessing indecent images of children aged three to 15 as well as extreme pornography depicting bestiality.

He had two previous convictions for indecency offences involving a boy in 1969 and a girl under 14 in 1992 but despite those was said to have been a good father and grandfather.

Jailing him, Judge Jamie Tabor QC told White: “There are quite plainly two Frank Whites. There is the Frank White who was an excellent father, according to your son Daniel, bringing up your children properly and being no danger to them, supporting them even in adulthood to get their business’s going, and being a loving and caring husband to your wife of 44 years.

“Then there is the other side of the coin. Quietly and secretly downloading these images for over 15 years, putting them into libraries. Sometimes disguising them and sometimes quite brazenly putting on stickers which said what was on them.

“Also, you are not a man with an unblemished record.

“And you knew when you viewed these images that there was a real child suffering real distress when the pictures were taken. People like you encourage men to abuse children in they way they did. If there was no market for these images they woudn’t do it.”

As well as the 12 months jail term the judge made an indefinite sexual harm prevention order against White and ordered him to sign the sex offender register for the next ten years.

Prosecutor Sam Jones said police raided White’s home on March 29 last year after receiving information that his computer had downloaded a Category B indecent image via Google Plus.

Officers found two Dell tower computers and a collection of CD-Roms which all contained indecent material.

In total there were 160,000 images on the devices and disks but police checked only just over 13,000 – enough to satisfy themselves that he had a significant amount of illegal material.

There were 650 of the most serious Category A images, 978 category B and 12,300 Category C. There were also 18 ‘pseudo’ cartoon images and 11 of extreme pornography involving animals

March 2016

Tip off led to indecent images of children find

A pervert who uploaded indecent images and films to an Instagram account he created was caught after police received a tip off from the National Crime Agency.

Officers subsequently searched Stuart Wood’s home and found indecent material on a laptop.

Wood at first denied any responsibility for the images following his arrest in January last year, but later relented in a second police interview, making full admissions to the crime.

The 48-year-old, of Holystone Drive, Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, was described by Recorder Ben Nolan, QC, as having an “unsettling problem” and a “fascination” for the sort of images he admitted possessing.

March 2016

Highland man “addicted” to child abuse images jailed for 27 months

A man who claimed he was addicted to child pornography has been jailed for 27 months for sharing his sickening images.

Martin Nicolson was told that Sheriff Margaret Neilson said she had no option but to jail him because he had distributed the images.

Last month, he admitted downloading and distributing child pornography between October 2015 and February 2015,

The 24-year-old of 97 Altan Place, Culloden, had videos and images of boys as young as five being sexually abused on his computers when he was living in Staffin on Skye.

Police had been tipped off by the National Online Child Abuse Prevention Team that indecent images had been accessed.

Fiscal Roderick Urquhart told the court that police obtained a warrant and seized computer equipment on March 26 last year.

Mr Urquhart added; “He admitted then that there may be indecent images. Initially a few videos and images were found and he told officers he did not know who had sent them to him. He was interviewed by police and he said he had become depressed and physically sick viewing them and felt it was an addiction.

“He further stated that he was willing to seek any professional assistance, medical or otherwise, to cease the addiction.”

“Subsequent examination of two computers revealed 63 videos and two dozen still images, some mostly involved young boys as young as nine and others were of young girls as young as five engaged in sexual activity.”

Mr Urquhart said that the communication software, Skype, had been used to send and receive the material.

“There was also evidence of him trading the images and that he had distributed a total of 13 videos.” Mr Urquhart went on.

An analysis of both laptops revealed 41 videos and 12 indecent images.

Nicolson’s solicitor Hamish Melrose said Nicolson was a first offender and references were available from family and a family friend which painted an entirely different picture of the person before the court.

“They were stunned on hearing what has been happening. He comes from a good family and a supportive community in the north of Skye.”

Sheriff Neilson also placed Nicolson on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

March 2016

Vile images of children found on pervert’s laptop

A BEDWORTH man who had indecent images of children on his laptop computer and on his tablet has been ordered to register as a sex offender.

Roger Atkins pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children by downloading them.

Atkins, aged 66, of Tom Ellis Court, Hayes Lane, Exhall, was given a three-year community order, with supervision, and ordered to register as a sex offender for five years and to pay £535 costs.

Prosecutor Alex Warren said the police executed a search at Atkins’ home in February last year, and he was arrested and his laptop and tablet were seized.

“Indecent images of children were found on both, although not in vast numbers,” he said.

“Also found was an internet search history suggestive of attempts to obtain such images.”

Mr Warren pointed out that there was just one category A image showing a girl aged 13 to 15 engaged in a penetrative sex act, and one in category B of a girl of a similar age involved in non-penetrative sexual activity.

The remaining 25 images were in category C, showing children aged from four or five upwards in naked or indecent poses, but without any sexual activity depicted.

When he was interviewed Atkins, who had no previous convictions, admitted viewing ‘nudist photos’ of children.

Commenting on the delay in the case getting to court, Judge Alan Parker observed: “He was arrested over a year ago and confessed in interview.”

Marcus Harry, defending, asked the judge to follow the recommendation made in a pre-sentence report, in which Atkins indicated that he was getting rid of his internet access.

Mr Harry explained: “He says he plans to cancel his internet connection; but it’s tied in with his phone account, and he didn’t want to cancel that until the proceedings were over so he could have contact with his solicitors.”

Sentencing Atkins, Judge Parker told him: “You were arrested over a year ago, which I recognise is a long time, and you pleaded guilty at a relatively early stage.

“But you showed, I am afraid, a high level of deviancy in being attracted to images of this kind.

“As many in your situation do, you minimise the extent of your interest; but the number of images is, mercifully, relatively few.

“My only interest is to create a situation where children are protected from the likes of you, and if I thought that was best achieved by sending you to prison, I would not hesitate in doing so.

“But having read the report and seen that there are areas of your life which need to be challenged, I’ve come to the conclusion that the recommendation the probation officer makes is the right one.”