April 2016

Paedophile stares at his victim across courtroom as he is jailed

A paedophile who raped and sexually abused a woman throughout her childhood stared at her across a courtroom as he was jailed for 16 years.

Samuel Langton, 56, of Grafton Street, Toxteth , was found guilty of raping his victim when she was 15 and 17 and repeatedly molesting her from the age of seven.

She was in court to hear Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, send him to jail.

But as he was sentencing him the judge had to tell the defendant: “Will you keep your eyes on me and away from where your victim is sitting.”

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Langton threatened to punch the girl, dragged her around by her hair and blackmailed her, so he could continue his sick abuse.

Judge Flewitt said: “You have caused her severe psychological harm. I doubt very much she will ever recover from it.

“Throughout the trial you demonstrated a callous disregard for her well-being.

“You are in denial, you have shown no remorse and you are concerned only for yourself and your own future.”

When questioned by police, Langton told officers: “I didn’t have sex with her – full stop.”

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

Judge Flewitt said: “Her ordeal was made worse still by the suggestion put to her during cross-examination on your behalf that this sexual activity was consensual and she was a willing participant.”

Paul Treble, prosecuting, told the jury the woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been controlled by 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.”

The jury found Langton guilty of four counts of rape and 10 sexual assaults, from when his victim was seven until she was aged 15.

Today the woman told the court she knew what Langton was doing was wrong but felt “controlled and manipulated by him”.

Mr Treble said: “She says the defendant has taken away her childhood and teenage years.”

He said the woman had undergone counselling, suffered from eating disorders and self-harmed.

Mr Treble said she felt scared to go out and paranoid and was “always checking if her home is secure”.

She has little self-confidence, struggles to work and has gone days without sleep, as she is afraid someone might attack her.

Mr Treble said: “She still blames herself for what happened, even though she knows logically it’s not her fault.”

Langton has previous convictions for dishonesty dating back to the 1970s.

Since 2002 he has convictions for drug related offences

Lloyd Morgan, defending, said his client understood he would receive a substantial prison sentence.

Judge Flewitt said: “For a period of approximately 11 years you repeatedly sexually abused and raped your victim for your own pleasure and without any regard to her feelings or mental or physical health.”

The judge imposed indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and restraining orders and told Langton to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

April 2016

Former headmaster avoids jail after admitting assaults on boys

A former headmaster has escaped an immediate jail sentence after he admitted sexually assaulting pupils in his care at an independent boarding school in the 1980s.

John Mash, 79, of Cobham Grange, Surrey was arrested in June 2014 after allegations of sexual assault were made against him by four former pupils. 

The victims told police Mash would enter their dormitories at night and sexually assault boys boarding at the school, St Martin’s School in Northwood, Greater London. 

Mash appeared at Isleworth Crown Court on Monday, February 15, where he pleaded guilty to seven counts of indecent assault on four boys under the age of 14.

He was sentenced at Isleworth Crown Court, on Friday, 1 April to two years imprisonment suspended for two years and a two-year supervision order for three of the counts. 

He was also sentenced to one year’s imprisonment; suspended for two years, for three other counts, to run concurrently.

Mash will also be placed on the Sex Offender’s Register for 10 years and ordered to pay costs of £1,350.

Two counts of indecent assault against Mash were left to lie on file.

April 2016

Man jailed for downloading indecent images of children

A sex offender released on bail for downloading indecent images of children bought a new computer and committed further crimes, has been jailed.

Alan Catherall, 58, appeared at Mold Crown Court today and was put behind bars for 32 months, and ordered to register with police as a sex offender for life.

Catherall of Tan y Bryn, Caergwrle near Mold, also received an indefinite sexual harm prevention order (SOPO).

The court was told Catherall had a history of similar offending and how in 2010 he received a suspended prison sentence and was given a SOPO.

Anna Pope, prosecuting, said police visited Catherall’s home in February of last year and found 120,000 indecent images

There was also cleaning and shredding software to delete files containing indecent material.

Catherall was initially released on bail.

But, when police visited his home again in January this year they found Catherall had bought a new computer which had thousands more indecent images.

Alun Williams, defending, said that Catherall could not help himself.

Catherall admitted 13 charges – six of making indecent images, two charges of possessing them, four charges of possessing extreme images and one charge of doing an act prevented by the SOPO, namely having file deleting software on his computer.

Judge Niclas Parry said Catherall had been given chances to reform.

He said: “Despite that support and intervention, in breach of an order made to protect the public, you persisted in accessing a very large number of indecent images.

“I say it repeatedly but it cannot be said too often – what you were viewing was actually happening to those very young children.”

April 2016

Accounts manager caught in under-aged sexting trap

AN ACCOUNTS manager from Leamington who began chatting to a young woman on an adults-only dating website continued their conversations and arranged to meet her after being told she was actually only 15.

In fact the girl Lewis Calder knew as Kayla did not even exist – and when he turned up to meet her he was confronted by someone who passed his details to the police.

Following his arrest the 27 year-old, of Kingsway, pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child under the age of 16 following on-line grooming.

But at Warwick Crown Court he was given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to take part in a probation-run rehabilitation activity.

Calder was also ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years and to pay £425 costs.

Prosecutor Anthony Cartin said the case resulted from ‘a sting operation by a man named Simon Hudson who set up a profile on an adults-only dating website.’

The profile described an adult female in her 20s, and it was only after contact was made by Calder that the fictional character was ‘revealed’ to be a 15-year-old girl called Kayla.

After first chatting on the website, they then began exchanging regular mobile phone messages ‘of a fairly inane nature’ via Whatsapp over a few days in August last year.

There was talk about whether she had a boyfriend, what type of boys she liked and asking for photographs of her, leading to pictures of someone who seemed to be a 15-year-old being sent.

Calder made several references to whether she was real, and also sent her a picture of himself in the bath.

The conversations culminated in an arrangement to meet at Coventry railway station when he had finished work.

He was asked to send a picture of himself so ‘Kayla’ would recognise him, and when asked where to find him, he said he would be in his Audi TT.

But while there he was approached and confronted by Mr Hudson and another person who filmed him and his car.

The recording was passed to the police who arrested Calder at his home shortly afterwards, and he admitted the offence but said he had believed at first Kayla was in her 20s.

William Douglas-Jones, defending, said: “He made full admissions in interview, and his remorse is shown both by that and by his letter today.

“Until these events Mr Calder was a man of good character in full-time employment as an accounts manager. He has a career which has upward mobility – but that career is at risk.”

Sentencing Calder, Recorder Adrian Redgrave QC pointed out that the police had carried out a search of Calder’s home for ‘inappropriate material,’ and had found none, and the probation service consider the risk of any similar conduct by Calder in the future to be low.

April 2016

Ex-police officer in child PROTECTION caught with 2,000 depraved images of children

A FORMER police officer once employed to protect children from abuse was caught with more than 2,000 indecent images, a court heard.

Robert Latham, aged 59, formerly of but now living in Northumberland was part of a child protection team with Devon and Cornwall police, spent five years looking at depraved images.

Some of the pictures involved children being sexually abused, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

The offences were committed after Latham, formerly of Newton Abbot, left the force in November 2008.

Judge Paul Darlow told him: “You, above all, not only as a father but as a police officer previously, with involvement and skills in child protection, would know the misery, suffering and theft of childhood that goes with these photographs.

“You are looking at images of children who must be, by definition, damaged for the rest of their lives. You do so because, as you have described to the probation officer, you are driven by urges and an addiction to see ever more depraved images of a pornographic nature.”

But he suspended his prison sentence, saying that he took into account Latham’s “fall from grace”.

Latham pleaded guilty to four offences of making indecent images of children between November 2010 and August 2015.

It is not known where he was based or his rank – though it is understood he was not a senior officer.

Dr Richardo Childs, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said police traced Latham to his Newton Abbot home through his IP address after a suspected indecent image was uploaded.

He added officers found eight images of Category A, seven of Category B, and 2,067 of Category C on one computer.

Police also discovered nine category still images of Category C on a second device.

Category A images are the most depraved, showing the worst child abuse.

Dr Childs said: “He was employed for several years by the police.”

The court heard he worked for a child protection team – specialist officers who try to stop children from being abused.

Felicity Payne, for Latham, said: “He had a distinguished career in the police some time before these offences.”

She added that he had come across as “genuinely ashamed”.

Miss Payne added that the best way to treat what was described by probation as an “addiction” was treatment in the community.

She said he had already sought help from a support group.

Judge Darlow gave the defendant a 16-month prison sentence suspended for two years. He will remain under probation supervision with treatment to tackle his sexual offending.

Latham must pay £340 costs and £100 victim surcharge.”

The defendant must sign the Sex Offender Register and will be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.

Judge Darlow adjourned consideration of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to protect children and allow police to monitor Latham.

A spokesman for Devon and Cornwall police said: “Robert Latham left the force in November 2008 and these offences were after his employment”.

April 2016

Pervert caught by online paedophile hunter

A lorry driver who thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl in London for sex has been jailed for 2 years after being caught in a paedophile sting.

Nigel Stonebridge, 58, went onto a chatroom called: ‘Young Girls Date Old Men’ where he told a ‘girl’ called Katie May that he wanted her to dress as a school girl, tie her up and have sex with her.

What Stonebridge, a married man from Sandy, did not know was Katie May was a self-styled paedophile hunter called Blakely, Luton crown court heard today.

March 2016

Pensioner jailed for abusing schoolgirl during game of hide and seek in Exeter 

A great grandfather has been jailed for abusing a schoolgirl during a game of hide and seek more than 30 years ago.

Charity worker Robin Wale, aged 70, abused the vulnerable 14-year-old after luring her into woods at Steps Bridge and went on to assault her again at a house in Exeter.

His victim was so frozen with fear she stared at the sky during the hide and seek assault and was unable to tell anyone what he did for more than 30 years.

She finally went to the police after learning he may have access to a friend’s teenaged daughter, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Retired agricultural consultant Wale, originally from Newquay but now of Silver Way, Shobrooke, Crediton, was found guilty at a trial last month of three counts of indecently assaulting the girl in 1982 and 1983, when she was aged 14 and 15.

He was jailed for a total of 27 months by Recorder Mr Philip Mott, QC, who told him:”At the time your victim was frozen with shock and fear. Her impact statement shows the effect this has had on her and her relationships in later life.

“You have been a man of good character for 33 years since these offences with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of your own and that is powerful mitigation but does not alter the seriousness of these offences.

“The significant aggravating features are the disparity in age and the vulnerability of the victim, who was under age and inexperienced sexually.”

During a two day case the prosecution alleged the first assault took place during a camping trip at Steps Bridge in which Wale took two girls into the woods and suggested a game of hide and seek. He sent the other girl to hide and then lifted the complainant’s top and touched her breasts.

On another occasion the next summer he was visiting a house where the same two girls were staying in Exeter.

He touched the girl, now aged 15 over her t-shirt while on a walk by the river and went on to put his hand inside her pants in a bedroom.

Wale denied any inappropriate contact and said he could not even remember meeting the girl until detectives showed him an old photograph during his interview.

May 2015

Born-again Christian refused to swear on bible

A Northern Irish man described as a born-again Christian was challenged at Limerick Circuit Court over his decision to take an oath of affirmation rather than swear on the bible when giving undertakings about his behaviour.

Kenneth Hillyard, aged 55, of Fort William, Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, was in court for breaching a probation order. Hillyard has convictions at Belfast Crown Court dating back to 1994 for attempted rape, indecent assault on a child, and gross indecency involving a child.

Limerick Circuit Court heard Hillyard claimed to be a born-again Christian.

State solicitor Michael Murray asked Judge Tom O’Donnell that Hillyard give a sworn undertaking to abide by conditions which included having no contact with children under the age of 18, his behaviour regarding drink, and his place of residence.

Hillyard told the court he wanted to make his sworn commitment by way of affirmation rather than swear on the bible.

Mr Murray put it to him that he was being disingenuous. Hillyard said he did not understand what Mr Murray was claiming.

Judge O’Donnell said he was satisfied about the affirmation by Hillyard. Addressing him, the judge said: “I don’t want to see you again.”

Hillyard replied: “I don’t want to see you again, sir.”

April 2016

Computer repair staff shopped customer with child abuse images on laptop

PERVERT Stephen Tideswell was caught downloading indecent images of children – after taking his computer in for repair.

The 48-year-old took the device into a computer repair shop because it kept shutting down.

But a week later, staff at the shop called police to say they had found indecent images of children on the device.

The defendant was arrested the same day.

He admitted viewing the images, saying his relationship had broken down and he was feeling depressed.

 Now Tideswell has been handed a suspended jail sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Prosecutor Paul Farrow said the defendant took his computer to a shop to be repaired on May 6.

Mr Farrow said: “He said it kept shutting down and he wanted somebody to look at it.

“On May 14, a member of staff at the shop found indecent images of children and it was handed over to the police. The defendant was arrested.”

The computer was analysed and was found to contain 31 still images at category A – the most serious; 22 at category B and 13 at category C. And there was one movie at category A and one at category B. All the images were accessible.

In his police interview, Tideswell said he viewed pornography and he saw images of children while visiting a site.

He said his relationship had broken down and he had started drinking a lot. He said he viewed the images, at first out of curiosity, but then continued to view them.

And he confirmed he was the only person to use the computer.

Tideswell, of Anderson Place, Norton, pleaded guilty to five charges of making indecent images of children.

Paul Hiatt, mitigating, said the defendant, a machinist for 20 years, has no previous convictions and is a carer for his elderly mum.

He asked the judge to give Tideswell a chance.

Recorder Stephen Thomas sentenced Tideswell to six months in prison, suspended for two years, with supervision.

He was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

Tideswell was also told to pay £500 costs.

Recorder Thomas said: “I am satisfied that you are remorseful and are sorry for what you have done.

“The fact remains there were some disturbing images of children on your computer. Some were as young as five years old. That is an aggravating feature in my judgement.“

April 2016

Serial sex offender jailed for an extra six years

A sex fiend who admitted attempting to rape a nine-year-old girl was on bail for attacking a vulnerable teenager at the time of the offence.

Steven Partridge, 24, was sentenced to eight years behind bars and three years on licence in March last year for abducting and attempting to rape a child in an alleyway in Park Lane, Westcliff.

It has now emerged he was on police bail for raping a teen in Folkestone, Kent, at the time of the offence in November 2014.

He took it is an opportunity to move to York Road

Although he admitted the Southend offence, Partridge denied raping the teenager in Folkestone.

He was convicted by a jury following a trial.

Canterbury Crown Court heard he was living in Folkestone at the time of the offence, and was drinking vodka with a vulnerable 19-year-old girl on a park bench before putting his arm around her on the way home.

He asked her to undress but, when she refused, he raped her before apologising and walking away.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Simon Wilkinson told Partridge: “You were convicted of a sexual assault which preceded the grave rape offence.

“You committed these acts while you were under the influence of alcohol. You also have a dreadful criminal record.”

His previous convictions include having sex with a 13-year-old girl in 2007, and engaging in sexual activity with a ten-year-old girl when he was 15.

The judge ruled he will now serve a 14 year sentence and serve an extra six years on licence.

April 2016

Paedophile avoids jail term after being convicted of SIXTH child sex crime

A paedophile from Trowbridge with a history of child sex crimes has avoided jail despite being convicted for a sixth time.

Sidney Hare, 88, (pictured above in 2006) escaped a life sentence in 2006 for the repeated rape of two young sisters over a decade after a court was told he had ‘late stage’ bowel cancer.

He got a seven-year jail sentence – and last week was back in court where he admitted another historic child sex offence, molesting a girl, aged ten, in 1981.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the victim – now a woman in her 40s – was walking past Hart’s house with her sister.

He offered the sister money and sweets but then told the other girl he had nothing else in his pockets and took her upstairs to go through the pockets of other clothes.

There the pervert pushed her on to the bed and climbed on top of her, simulating intercourse while pawing at her over her clothing before she fought him off.

Mr Meeke said: “She didn’t tell anyone about it, as people didn’t in those days.

“It wasn’t for some years, until she saw him at a birthday party about 20 years ago, that she first told anybody about it. Then, more recently, she has reported the matter to the police.”

When questioned, Hart was frank about what had happened and said he recalled the girl’s name and her coming to his house.

Hare, who now has an address in Trowbridge, pleaded guilty to one count of indecent assault and was given an 18-month community rehabilitation order.

The court heard how Hart had abused numerous youngsters since the 1970s.

His first conviction was in 1973 when he received a suspended sentence for two indecent assaults on young girls aged eight and nine years old.

In August 1981 he was put on a two-year probation order for indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

Two years later he received another suspended sentence for abusing the sister of the young girls he raped.

In 2004 he was jailed for 12 months for indecent assaults on an eight-year-old girl dating from 1995 and 1996.

He was jailed for seven years in 2006 after admitting the rape and abuse of two sisters which began when they were aged four from 1974 to the end of 1983.

That hearing was told he had advanced cancer of the bowel, asbestosis and a heart pacemaker which had to be refitted every six months.

Nicholas Clough, defending, said the indecent assault was not the worst and was carried out on top of the victim’s clothes.

He said Hart was now in his later eighties, had two forms of cancer and probably would have received a probation order had the matter been dealt with at the time.

He said: “Not only would it be harsh on a man of his age to go to prison but when he came out he would probably be homeless.”

Judge Peter Blair QC told Hare: “I have to punish you for something you did 35 years ago.

“In reality if it had been reported back then I expect you would have had probation as the sentence.”

He also ordered Hart to register as a sex offender for five years, although he has to register for life under his last sentence.

August 2006

Child rapist jailed….30 years after abusing girls

PREDATORY paedophile Sidney Hare has been jailed for seven years after a court heard he raped two young girls when they were four or five years old.

The evil pervert was told he would have got a life term for systematically abusing the girls over a number of years were it not for him being 79 years old.

Hare was appearing for sentence on child abuse charges for the fifth time in 33 years, though he has only been jailed once before.

Adam Vaitilingham, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the grandfather lived in Thorne Road, Eldene, when the offences took places in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The girls, now women, would visit the middle-aged Hare at his house.

“This was as great an abuse of trust as there could be,” Mr Vaitilingham told the court.

“He pretended to be a friend and enticed the girls to his garden to play with his tortoise and let them sniff the leaves of a mint bush he kept.

“Month after month, year after year, he abused them. They each say he raped them on a number of occasions.

“When the girls were four or five years old they each recalled being raped by him.

“One of them recalled holding a doll as the father-of-four had sex with her in the bedroom of his house.

“Both also said that he repeatedly indecently assaulted them by touching them.”

Mr Vaitilingham said the victims felt they would be blamed if they mentioned what had happened to them.

He said when one of the girls was about 10 she realised Hare had not abused her for a while.

It is thought that tallied with him being convicted of abusing another girl, who was four at the time.

The court was told that that was one of four previous occasions on which he had been charged with child abuse.

In 1973 he received a suspended sentence for two indecent assaults on young girls aged eight and nine.

Then in 1981 he was put on a two-year probation order for indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

Two years later he received another suspended sentence for abusing another girl.

In 2004 he was jailed for a year for indecent assaults on an eight-year-old girl in 1995 and 1996.

Hare, of Croft Road, Old Town, admitted two counts of rape and eight of indecent assault between January 1974 and the end of 1983.

Jonathan Simpson, defending, said his client realised he faced jail and would probably die behind bars.

He said Hare has advanced cancer of the bowel, asbestosis and a pacemaker which has to be refitted every six months.

He had managed to survive his previous period in prison, Mr Simpson said, but added: “Whatever sentence your honour passes, whatever the figure, is going to be a life sentence. It will result in his death in prison.”

He said his client had a poor upbringing, as he grew up in care homes from the age of six months to 14 years.

Mr Simpson said: “Clearly that is the time when children are made, children are shaped, children are educated. Whatever happened to him happened in care homes.

“He is an uncomplicated man. He has had gainful employment. He had the comfort and luxury of a wife until she died about 14 years ago.

“His children and their children, his grandchildren, have taken differing views of his offending behaviour.”

Speaking about the testimony of the victims, Judge John McNaught said: “Nobody except anyone with no heart could read those statements without nearly being reduced to tears.

“If you were a younger man I would have no hesitation to pass a life sentence as you have shown yourself over the years to be a real menace to children.”

April 2016

Pervert collapses after being confronted by paedophile hunters

This is the dramatic moment a pervert collapsed on camera when he was confronted by paedophile hunters as he waited to meet a 14-year-old girl.

David Hanson, 45 of Benwell, Newcastle fell to the floor when he realised the teenage girl he thought he had been communicating with was in fact the Dark Justice group.

Hanson exchanged more than 750 WhatsApp messages with the ‘girl’ before arriving to meet her near Newcastle’s Centre for Life.

He was carrying a rucksack containing a toothbrush, toothpaste and condoms.

Bizarrely, after being confronted by the group, he claimed he was “100 per cent behind” their cause and asked if he could join.

Hanson was given a three-year community order and he was also given a ten-year sexual harm prevention order after pleading guilty to one count of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Anne Richardson, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court how Hanson, from Newcastle, contacted the fake profile of an 18-year-old girl called Amanda on dating site Badoo.

Dark Justice – posing as Amanda – then messaged him saying she had lied about her age and she was 14-years-old.

But Hanson asked for her mobile phone number and continued to message her as the conversations became more sexual in nature.

Among the messages sent by Hanson were “Good baby no sex until know each other better” and “I touch u and u touch me if ur ready”.

Hanson was confronted on July 21 last year, four days after the messages began.

“That didn’t deter you, you then exchanged mobile numbers and communicated on WhatsApp. When you arrived you were confronted by Dark Justice, it was clear you were shocked when confronted.

“It seems you have lived a lonely, isolated existence since that time. You have lost everything including your job and your home. It’s clear you are ashamed.”

Hanson with beard outside court

April 2016

Man sentenced over child sex offences

A Worthing man has been sentenced after admitting 11 sex offences involving young children.

John Lelliott, 72, of Western Place, Worthing, was sentenced to a total of four and a half years imprisonment when he appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday March 31.

He had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to:

• Three offences of causing or inciting sexual activity online

• Three offences of distribution of indecent images of children

• Three offences of making indecent images

• One offence of possessing a prohibited image

• One offence of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

He pleaded not guilty to a further offence, of attempted voyeurism by secret filming of a young girl and the prosecution did not proceed with that charge.

Lelliott will be a registered sex offender for life and was served with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to last until further order of the court, severely restricting his use of the internet and his access to children.

The prosecution followed an intelligence-led investigation by the Paedophile online Investigation Unit of Sussex Police.

April 2016

50-year-old man who groomed teenager is jailed

A 50-year-old man travelled from his home in Yorkshire to Rugby where he sexually abused a 15-year-old he had groomed over the internet.

Despite the trauma of her ordeal, when she believed the police were not doing enough to catch her abuser, the victim took steps to track him down.

At Warwick Crown Court, Peter Reynolds, who was living in Harrogate at the time, was jailed for ten years.

He had pleaded guilty to inciting the girl to take part in sexual activity, meeting her following sexual grooming, and six charges of sexually assaulting her.

Sentencing Reynolds, who also admitted possessing and distributing indecent images of children as young as six months old, Recorder Gareth Evans QC ordered him to register as a sex offender for life.

Prosecutor Grace Hale said that in May 2013 a 15-year-old Rugby girl made contact with Reynolds on a chat website, and on that first occasion they chatted for two hours.

She found Reynolds, who was using the name Paul and whose face was not visible, to be ‘a very nice person,’ and after that they texted and chatted daily on their phones.

The girl considered Reynolds to be ‘really kind and supportive,’ and began to feel under an obligation to him.

But he then became more demanding and became increasingly insistent that they should meet, pestering her to do so for about a month before she agreed.

He drove to Rugby, and after they met up she wanted to back out and be taken home but Reynolds drove her elsewhere and abused her.

The girl did not report it then, but the police were contacted after she told someone in October what had happened. Officers attempted to contact ‘Paul,’ but were not able to do so.

So the girl, who Miss Hale said did not think the police were doing enough, sent Reynolds a Facebook message which led to him phoning her and she was able to pass his number to the police.

By then he had moved and officers eventually traced him to an address in Stockton-on-Tees and he was arrested.

The police also seized his computer on which they found indecent images.

Reynolds’ victim read out her own victim impact statement. She told the judge: “What happened to me has devastated my life.

“I feel really angry towards this man. I’ll never forgive him. I want him to feel guilty for what he did every single day.”

Matthew Barnes, defending, said: “I can inform the court, and her, that he does. Mr Reynolds took full responsibility for his actions by putting in guilty pleas. He is resigned to his fate.”

Jailing Reynolds, Recorder Evans told him: “It’s clear to me that, albeit she contacted you, you were very much the person who was in charge of what went on.

“You were grooming her from the very beginning.

“She was vulnerable because of her age. In many ways you have ruined her future.”

April 2016

Man admits Leicester park sex attack on young boy

A 32-year-old man has admitted the imprisonment and serious sexual assault of a young boy in a Leicester park.

The child, who was under 13, needed medical treatment following the attack by Ajay Jetha last year.

Jetha changed his plea to guilty moments before his trial was due to start for serious sexual assault and photographing the attack.

He also admitted possessing 85 indecent images of children and will be sentenced on Tuesday.

Jetha had previously admitted some offences relating to the vicious attack on the boy, known only as Child A, in the park near Knighton Lane East.

The boy was attacked in Wash Brook Nature Park in Leicester

At Leicester Crown Court on Monday, Jetha changed his plea to guilty to all 10 counts including false imprisonment, five counts of sex offences against a child under 13, actual bodily harm and three of taking indecent images of a child.

He also admitted nine separate charges of making indecent images of children by downloading them on to his mobile phone, and one of possessing 85 indecent pictures of children.

Judge Nicholas Dean QC, who remanded him back into custody, said: “You’re intelligent enough to know you now face a very long period in prison.”

Magistrates have previously ordered Jetha’s address should not be released for fear of a vigilante attack.

In a statement released after Jetha’s guilty plea, Child A’s parents said: “Finally, after making our child and our family wait all this time we are pleased that he has pleaded guilty and spared our son the trauma of having to go through the horrific details of what happened to him all over again.”

Det Insp Tony Yarwood, who led the investigation, praised the boy’s bravery and said it was “the most significant factor” in leading to Jetha’s arrest.

“Jetha left his home address with, it appears, the sole and deliberate intention of finding a child to attack and assault for his own gratification,” he said.

“The evidence gathered against him… was overwhelming, and it was the sheer weight of that evidence that I believe helped persuade him to plead guilty.”

Update: Released and living in Beckenham

October 2006

Rapist who ‘groomed’ girl of 13 gets 8 years

April 2016

Women and girl, 13, targeted in sex offender’s two day campaign of attacks

A sex offender who targeted four women and a 13-year-old girl during a two day campaign of assaults on Wolverhampton streets has been locked up for two and a half years.

John Knapp struck when the women were going to or from work while the teenager was delivering papers, the city’s Crown Court heard.

The 24-year-old inappropriately touched his first victim after walking behind her on Bilston Road on the outskirts of the city centre on September 25.

Police were called and he was warned by the officers and told to leave the area.

But on October 5 he launched a similar attack on another woman as she walked across Sainsbury’s car park in the city and shortly afterwards exposed himself to a third woman who managed to get into her parked car and lock it before he reached the vehicle after following her into Oxford Street close to the city centre, said Mr John Brotherton, prosecuting.

Later that day he performed a sex act in front of the teenage paper girl in Gower Street, All Saints.

Mr Jasvir Mann, defending, said: “He lived a solitary life that led him to drink heavily which he had been doing before this offending. He did not target anybody in particular.”

Knapp from Gower Street admitted three sex assaults, one of exposure and one of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child and was jailed by Judge James Burbidge QC who told him: “This was a catalogue of offending against women going about their lawful business in which you targeted random strangers. You have no mental health issues but display an anti social trait.”

April 2016

Former youth worker branded an ‘evil monster’ as jury finds him guilty of child abuse

A FORMER youth centre volunteer has been branded an “evil monster” after he was convicted of sexually abusing two young girls.

Wheelchair-bound Reginald Lane, 82, attacked the youngsters when he was aged in his mid to late 70s, some years after stepping down from his role at the Bourne Valley Youth Centre.

One of the girls’ fathers has now spoken out about the impact of Lane’s abuse.

“I’m just glad the girls were brave enough to come forward and tell their families what had happened,” he said.

“For Lane to drag them both through a trial just shows exactly what kind of person he is.

“He only cares about himself.”

Lane helped out at the youth centre and associated play group from the 1970s until around a decade ago.

His convictions are not related to his work at the centre.

The defendant had denied 13 counts relating to the abuse of the children.

However, on Friday, April 1, he was convicted of a number of the offences by a jury sitting at Bournemouth Crown Court.

A majority of ten jurors to two convicted Lane of assault on a girl aged under 13 by penetration and four counts of sexual activity with a child.

The defendant was convicted unanimously of three counts of sexual activity with a child.

He was cleared of one further count of assault of a child under 13 by penetration and four further counts of the sexual assault of a child aged under 13.

All of the counts upon which Lane was cleared were ‘multiple incident’ charges alleging 20 or more incidents per charge.

The defendant, of Rossmore Road in Poole, committed the offences against one of the victims on dates between February 2009 and February 2012.

The second was targeted between January and March 2013.

Lane sat behind a table in court rather than in the dock as the trial progressed.

After the verdicts were delivered, he begged a judge to consider his medical history before putting his head on the table and bursting into tears.

April 2016

Police discover vile child abuse images on man’s computer

A man who was caught downloading images of child abuse ten years after being jailed for doing the same thing has walked free from court.

John Fielden was sentenced to eight months in prison with a two year extended licence in May 2003 after he admitted having the vile pictures on his machine.

But in January 2014 police again raided the 55-year-old’s home and seized his computer along with three usb drives, Swindon Crown Court was told.

And as well as finding just 977 indecent images of children they also discovered that he had installed software which had successfully destroyed the machine’s history.

The program removed traces of what had been viewed from un-allocated clusters of the hard drive, which is where data remains after the user has deleted it.

Colin Meeke, prosecuting, said while the vast majority of the pictures found were at the lowest level, he said three were of the worst kind and four in the middle category.

“The also found a file shredder which boasted it was able to ‘remove files from your hard drive without fear they would be recovered’,” he said.

“No files were found in un-allocated clusters: it had done its job.”

When he was questioned by the police he accepted that the computers and storage media were his, but then refused to answer questions.

Fielden, of Kirkstall Close, Toothill, admitted two counts of possessing indecent images of children.

The court heard he was jailed in 2003 after admitting 14 counts of making indecent images.

James Burke, defending, said “He is 55 years old with a good work record as a forklift truck driver.

“He managed to tell me he knows it is wrong, he knows he shouldn’t be doing it but he wants help to deal with this in the future.

“He instructs me his marriage is on the line. Currently his wife knows about this and is with him and would no longer be so unless he sorts this out. He does recognise that he has got a problem.”

Passing sentence Judge Peter Blair QC said “You have pleaded guilty and made a clean breast of things when you were asked about these further allegations.

“You have got the aggravating feature of your previous convictions but I have come to the conclusion that the best thing for the public as well as yourself is the sentence that is recommended by the probation service.”

He imposed a two year community order with supervision, a 72 day Thames Valley Sex Offender Programme and 75 hours of unpaid work.

As a result of the sentence he must also register as a sex offender for five years and also abide by a sexual harm prevention order restricting his liberty for that period.