April 2016

Pensioner jailed for child sex offences

A FORMER Bala man has been jailed after being found guilty of historic child sex offences dating back to the 1980s.

Seventy-year-old Jack Davies, of Fengen Road, Plymouth, was jailed after being convicted of five charges of indecent assault and indecency with a child.

Mold Crown Court heard how the victim was aged under 11 at the time, but the assaults still affe­cted her today as a grown woman.

Davies had denied the charges, but was convicted by a jury at Mold Crown Court, sitting at Chester, last month.

On Monday, judge Rhys Rowlands jailed Davies for five and a half years.

Davies was also ordered to register with the police­ as a sex offender for life and a 10-year restraining order not to contact the victim was made.

The judge said that he took into account the def­endant’s age.

He said: “It is clear that your behaviour towards her had a profound and continuing effect on her over the years, and now as an adult.”

The victim had received counselling and was on anti-depressants and described being “robbed of her childhood” in a victim impact statement.

April 2016

Coedpoeth man with 13,000 indecent images on laptops jailed

A MARRIED man insisted to police who seized his computer equipment that there would be nothing illegal on them.

But a court heard yesterday how officers discovered more than 13,000 indecent images of children and there were also movies and extreme images and films involving images of bestiality.

Mark Anthony Wilson, 54, of Heol y Celyn, Coedpoeth, then claimed that he must have accessed them unwittingly.

He was jailed for eight months and ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for a decade.

A 10-year sexual harm prevention order was also made.

Wilson, who had no previous convictions, admitted 12 charges of making and possessing indecent still images and films and extreme still images and films between November 2014 and February last year.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said he had been urged to give Wilson a chance of attending a community internet sex offenders’ course.

“But I am afraid it is far too serious to be dealt with by anything other than an immediate prison sentence,” he told Wilson at Mold Crown Court.

“You appreciate the consequences for you pale into insignificance when you look at the suffering and corruption being inflicted on very young children whose images you were choosing to view.”

The judge said he had reminded himself of the description of some of the images and the appalling nature of the category A ones, the worst possible.

Prosecutor David Mainstone said on February 25 last year police executed a search warrant at the home Wilson shared with his wife. 

He denied any offending and said anything he accessed was legal.

But when the laptops were examined a total of 13,053 still images – 1,100 at category A and 462 movies, including 212 at category A – were discovered. 

More than 7,300 images and 318 films remained accessible and had not been deleted. There were also five still images and nine movies of an extreme nature involving sex acts between humans and animals. 

Search terms indicated an interest in indecent images of children.

Interviewed in December after the images had been found, Wilson refused to answer questions and gave a prepared statement in which he said any indecent images must have been accessed unwittingly.

Henry Hills, defending, said his client was a man of good character who was not in the best of health and who had given up his job as a carer for elderly disabled people to look after his wife who had a degenerative spinal condition.

Wilson accepted that he formed a habit of viewing pornographic images on the internet. 

“This developed into an unhealthy interest and the wholly unacceptable viewing of child porn and extreme pornographic images,” Mr Hills said.

He added the pre-sentence report was positive and the probation service indicated Wilson was someone they could work with and there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.

April 2016

Pharmacist sentenced for downloading indecent images of children

A Dunfermline pharmacist has received a community payback sentence for downloading indecent images of children.

The images were found on computers after a police raid on the home of Alastair Majury.

Majury, 32, now of Ballyholme View, Seacliffe Road, Bangor, Northern Ireland, previously admitted that between September 21 2014 and August 6 2015 at 6 Kintail Place, Dunfermline or elsewhere, he was in possession of indecent photographs of children.

He also admitted that he took or allowed to be taken indecent photographs of children at the same address.

Dunfermline Sheriff Court previously heard that police officers had attended Majury’s home at around 7.15am on August 11.

He was interviewed and admitted to police he had been viewing indecent images of children both at his current address and at Bittern Court, Dunfermline.

He said he started off viewing the images “out of curiosity” and “wanting to find out what the fuss was about”.

An investigation of computer devices in the home found over 650 indecent still images and over 390 indecent movie files involving children aged from two upwards.

When Majury returned to court for sentencing, his solicitor Sarah Meehan said he was a first offender and had now returned to live with his family in Northern Ireland.

“He has expressed a considerable degree of remorse for his actions and made a full confession at interview,” said Ms Meehan.

“His behaviour was uncharacteristic and he is from a good family background.”

Ms Meehan said her client had graduated from Aberdeen University in 2010 but had now lost his job as a pharmacist.

“It’s highly unlikely that he’ll be able to return to that profession,” she added.

Ms Meehan said there had also been a break-down in his marriage with no chance of reconciliation.

Sheriff Craig McSherry imposed a community payback order with two years’ supervision and placed Majury on the sex offenders register.

April 2016

Stoke-on-Trent man guilty of five counts of possession of child abuse images

A Stoke-on-Trent man broke down in tears in court today “ashamed” after being sentenced for possessing child sexual abuse images

Christopher Griffiths, 55, of Falcon Road, Meir Park, Stoke-on-Trent, pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent images and videos being seized from his laptop at his home.

Griffiths had downloaded a total of 10 category A videos, two category B videos, and 11 category C videos between August 4 2015 and December 10 2015, Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard.

Twelve category B still indecent images of children were discovered and 62 category C still indecent images were also found.

Andrew Turnock, defending, told the court a search warrant was executed and police searched Griffiths’ house on December 9, 2015, where they seized his laptop.

Judge Paul Glenn told Griffiths: “You’re a 55-year-old man with a good character, you have now lost that character.

“It’s a concern to me that so many of these images are accessible.

“These are real children being abused for the entertainment of others.

“I accept you’re embarrassed and accept you’re ashamed.”

Griffiths, who was tearful during sentencing, was given a two-year community order and a £535 fine to be paid in 28 days.

He has also been banned from certain activities involving children.

April 2016

Teen downloaded thousands of child abuse images

A TEENAGER who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children was caught when his laptop was sent off for repair.

Bolton Crown Court heard how Carl Stephenson had been bought his Dell laptop as a Christmas present by his father.

But while still under warranty users were unable to access content and it was sent off for repair.

Andrew Macintosh, prosecuting, told the court how, in May last year, a member of staff at MCS Technology in Hampshire was investigating the fault and managed play video footage stored on the machine.

“The video he had chosen showed sexually explicit pictures of young children,” said Mr Macintosh.

He informed his supervisor, police were contacted and Stephen was traced via his purchase receipt.

When officers visited Stephenson’s home in Morley Road, Radcliffe, on June 11 the former Bolton College student admitted he possessed child porn and handed over a Samsung tablet, a mobile phone, a memory card and memory stick.

A total of 19,420 indecent photographs and videos of children were identified. Among them were 212 videos and 506 photographs which were rated as falling into the most serious A category and some of which involved children aged between six and 10 years.

When interviewed by police Stephenson told them he had been accessing porn in the internet since he was aged 14.

“He said he had originally accessed images of adults and then discovered images of children,” said Mr Macintosh.

Stephenson admitted he had become addicted to porn.

The 19-year-old, now of Barlow Fold Close, Bury, pleaded guilty to three counts of making and one count of possessing indecent images of children.

The court heard the apprentice motor mechanic, who wept in the dock, comes from a good family and has no previous convictions.

Nicholas Ross, defending, said: “Much of what he did was committed when he was a youth. This defendant, his family and his parents are devastated.

“He was brutally honest with the police which is encouraging in terms of his rehabilitation.”

He added that Stephenson is remorseful, has an insight into the seriousness of his crime and is aware that, although he has not created the videos and images, the children shown are victims.

Judge Graeme Smith told Stephenson that his offences justified the imposition of a prison sentence, but it would not enable him to have the help he needs and would not protect the public from him in future.

Instead Stephenson was sentenced to a three year community order during which he must participate in a sex offenders’ treatment programme and undertake 20 days of rehabilitation activity.

“It is, by no stretch of the imagination, an easy option,” Judge Smith warned him.

Stephenson was also placed on the sex offenders’ register and a sexual harm prevention order was made which will last for 10 years and includes restrictions on his computer use.

April 2016

Classroom assistant jailed for child abuse images crimes

A former classroom assistant who downloaded nearly 100 movies showing youngsters being sexually abused has been jailed for eight months.

Elland man Robert Souter, 25, lost his job at a Calderdale primary school after his arrest last year and a court heard that as well as downloading films and indecent images onto a MacBook computer he also had photographs of schoolchildren wearing bathing suits on his iPhone.

Although the iPhone images were not indecent Bradford Crown Court heard that Souter had found them by searching Facebook and Instagram and the Recorder of Bradford Judge Roger Thomas QC described Souter’s possession of those images as “a disturbing background” to his case.

Souter, of Dewsbury Road, admitted possessing 90 indecent movies at the most serious level together with more than 120 other images and movies.

After his arrest he told police he was very sorry for what he had done and described himself as “a hypocrite” because he should have known better.

Solicitor advocate Mark Watterson, for Souter, said he was a 25-year-old man without any previous convictions who had understandably lost his employment.

Souter was sentenced alongside 47-year-old Brian Gillatt, of Maltings, Hipperholme, who was also arrested last year by officers acting on information received.

Gillatt, who had a relevant previous conviction from when he lived in Holland, admitted possessing more than 28,000 indecent images and movies.

The vast majority of the images on Gillatt’s devices were at the lowest level of seriousness.

Jailing both men for eight months Judge Thomas said that they had been caught last year with images of a “very vile and indecent nature” on their devices.

The judge said it had not been a case of casual or random downloading and both men had sought out the foul material.

Each man will not have to register as a sex offender with the police for the next 10 years and they will also be subject to indefinite sexual harm prevention orders.

April 2016

Ex-Antrim council boss Stewart who looked at child abuse images in open-plan office ‘a loner’

A judge has called for medical reports on a council chief dismissed from his post after being caught looking at child sexual abuse images on his office computer in his open-plan office

Judge Desmond Marrinan told the former environmental health chief John Trevor Stewart that given the prospect of his possible imprisonment, “you should not face the decision of the court without that evidence being in place”.

The Antrim Crown Court judge said it was a difficult case in which he was told Stewart felt “driven by urges” to look at such sites, and in the circumstances he would prefer having professional reports on him and his family before sentence.

Stewart, the former head of Environment Services with Antrim Borough Council, from Grannystown Road in Portglenone, will be sentenced in June on a total of 39 charges involving more than 9,000 images of child sex abuse.

The offences, committed over a six-year period from September 2007 until August 2013, include 21 charges of making indecent photos, 15 of possessing them, and three of having prohibited images of a child.

Prosecution lawyer George Chisney revealed 62-year-old Stewart was dismissed after two women in the open-plan office reported him to their line manager after spotting him looking at child sexual abuse sites on his work computer.

The Crown lawyer said police later recovered images of child sex abuse on his Dell desktop work computer and also on his home laptop.

In addition, Stewart, who co-operated fully with police, also handed over a number of computer memory sticks containing downloaded images.

Stewart had viewed the images up to 19,000 times.  

Stewart was regarded as posing a medium risk of re-offending, and that the aggravating feature in the case was his viewing of images during working hours in his workplace.

April 2016

Ex-scout master jailed for sex offences

A former scout master who assaulted a young Scarborough boy in the 1970s and 80s has been jailed for eight years.

Richard Biddick, 76, appeared at York Crown Court for sentencing today (Friday).

He had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to two charges of indecent assault on the pre-teen boy between December 1979 and October 1980.

Biddick, of Baring Road, Croydon, Surrey, learnt of his fate via live video link from a custody suite in Hull Prison.

April 2016

Pensioner sentenced to three years in prison after campaign of grooming

A BROMSGROVE pensioner deemed dangerous by a judge, admitted indecently assaulting a vulnerable woman while sitting between her and her mother, Worcester Crown Court was told.

Allan Slater also showed her a pornographic film and tried to get her to use a sex toy which he kept in a living room drawer. The effect upon his victim now aged 29, had left her frightened to leave her home.

Judge Nicolas Cartwright described a campaign of grooming carried out by 69-year-old Slater, of Elm Grove, Bromsgrove, before he sentenced him to three years jail.

Slater, who pleaded guilty to six charges of indecent assault committed in a period of 18 months, was said to have two previous convictions for sex offences. The first when he was 34 and again in 1987, when he was jailed for 18 months.

Prosecutor Kevin Grego said police had investigated after a complaint by the woman’s father that someone was taking advantage of her.

She described how she would be invited to Slater’s house and he would sit on a settee between her and her mother. He fondled her breasts and genital area with the mother unaware what was going on.

Once when the daughter spilled a cup of tea on her lap, he urged her to take off her trousers. He also persuaded her to lie naked on a bed while he showed a sex film.

He also stripped off when showing adult movies and encouraged the woman to touch him, which she refused. When first interviewed by police, he denied he had behaved inappropriately.

Lee Egan, for Slater, said he had replied to a text invitation to go to the woman’s home. He suggested that the only harm was psychological not physical. He was now taking medication for his health and other problems and had made instant admissions about his conduct.

The judge said a report from the probation service had assessed Slater as dangerous, and he agreed. One of the worst features of the case was that the assaults had taken place in the presence of the mother.

He made an order restraining Slater from having contact with his victim for a period of seven years.

April 2016

Man jailed for sexual offences in Edinburgh

A man responsible for a number of sexual offences in the East of Edinburgh has been jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh today.

Craig McGlynn was sentenced to seven years in prison for offences including indecent assault on five victims aged between 10 and 16.

The assaults all took place between 1997 and 2008 and were reported to police several years later.

As a result of extensive inquiries by Edinburgh’s Public Protection Unit, 46-year-old McGlynn was detained and subsequently charged in August 2014.

April 2016

Former church worker that sexually abused two young boys two decades ago jailed

A man is facing a prison term for sexually abusing two young boys while he was a church worker in Coventry more than 20 years ago.

Francis Ward pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to six charges of indecently assaulting one boy over a period of about five years from 1988.

Ward (65) of Granville Square, Edgbaston, Birmingham, also admitted one charge of indecent assault in relation to another boy on a date between 1985 and 1987.

Both boys were under 14 years old when Ward, who was a church worker at All Souls Church, Chapelfields, Coventry, at the time, sexually abused them.

His barrister Graham Henson revealed: “Since these offences he has been to prison twice for this type of offending.

“These admitted offences are at the lower end of the scale, and they are also very old. He has now been out of trouble for 12 or 13 years.”

Requesting an adjournment for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on Ward, he added: “I am going to seek to persuade the court that, serious as these offences are, he should not be sent to prison.”

Recorder Adrian Redgrave QC accepted: “I would not feel it right to sentence him without a report.”

He told Ward: “I shall adjourn your case so a detailed pre-sentence report can be before the court, which will tell the court a great deal more than I know at the moment about what was behind these offences, what has happened in relation to your previous convictions, and what has happened in your life since.”

But Recorder Redgrave warned him: “You will know the sort of sentence which these offences normally attract.”

Ward, who will be sentenced a the end of the month, was granted bail with conditions that he does not have contact with any child under the age of 16, does not enter the All Souls Church premises, and co-operates with the probation service.

April 2016

Sheffield man, 20, jailed for raping 12-year-old girl

A Sheffield man has been jailed for six years for raping a 12-year-old girl.

Robert Green, 20, of Emerson Crescent, Sheffield, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court today (Friday, April 8) after pleading guilty to rape at an earlier hearing.

Green was arrested in Sheffield in August 2014 after his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told police she was raped in the Norfolk Park area. Forensic evidence tied Green to the crime.

Acting detective inspector Shafiq Rehman from the child abuse investigation unit said: “Green has accepted responsibility for his actions, meaning his victim does not have to face the distressing prospect of reliving this horrific crime before a court.

“This does not, however, detract from his heinous behaviour and he is now behind bars for his crime. I hope that today’s result allows the victim the chance to begin her recovery.”

April 2016

Neighbour reported Darlington paedophile to police after hearing drunken confession

A PAEDOPHILE was snared when his knowing wife forced him to confess to her friend the crimes he had committed a decade earlier.

Darlington man Mick Lawson is starting a prison sentence of more than ten years after his perverted past caught up with him.

The 62-year-old groomed and abused a schoolgirl and was told by a judge: “She has been deeply affected by what you did to her.”

Lawson’s wife knew about the abuse but never went to the police about it, prosecutor Ian West told Teesside Crown Court.

It was not until she had been drinking with a friend at the couple’s home that the secret emerged in December 2014.

She had told her neighbour months earlier she had something important to tell – but refused to expand on the revelation.

But after the three of them had a booze session, she challenged the convicted sex offender: “Tell her what you’ve done.”

Lawson – also convicted in 1992 for fondling the breasts of a schoolgirl – blurted out an admission he had abused a child.

The friend went to police that night, and last night she maintained: “I did absolutely the right thing, without a doubt.”

Lawson was immediately arrested, and his second victim – who had tried to bury her ordeal – was contacted by detectives.

She told in a statement how her shock turned to anger towards her abuser, and said: “The last year has felt like a total blur.”

Despite his drunken confession, Lawson pleaded not guilty to a string of sexual offences and was due to face a crown court trial.

He failed to turn up on the first day, but the judge started the case and mother-of-four Mrs Beck gave evidence.

A recording of an interview with the victim was also played to the jury and she was due to be cross-examined the next day.

But Lawson arrived at court on the morning, and following discussions with his barrister, changed his pleas to guilty.

Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC, jailed him for ten years and two months, and told him: “The abuse was quite clearly persistent.”

The judge added: “It was persistent and progressive, because you took every opportunity to carry out that activity.

“You set out to groom her and abuse her to satisfy your selfish lust . . . You obviously thought you had got away with it.

“You have led a life unaffected by what you did. She has not. She has been deeply affected by what you did to her.”

Defence barrister Robin Denny said the only thing in Lawson’s favour were his guilty pleas which saved his victim from having to give evidence.

Mr Denny said: “There is not a great deal of remaining mitigation. There was no attempt to issue some blame elsewhere.”

Lawson, of Gladstone Street, Darlington, admitted four charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, three of sexual activity with a child and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

April 2016

Pervert from Derby groomed victim, 11, to send him indecent images

A PERVERT who groomed an 11-year-old girl online has been sentenced to two years in prison.

John Higgins, who was living in Alvaston at the time of the offences, pleaded guilty to causing a child under the age of 13 to create pornography and a charge of making an indecent photograph of a child.

The 30-year-old, of Halifax Road, Sheffield, appeared at Derby Crown Court and was sentenced to two years in prison for the first offence, with ten months to be served concurrently for the second.

Higgins must sign the Sexual Offenders Register for ten years and a sexual harm prevention order was imposed for ten years.

He had met the girl, who lived in Newcastle, on a chat and dating app called Say Hi and had lied about his age. He engaged in sexual conversations and encouraged her to send him indecent images.

April 2016

Pervert caught with child sexual abuse images on phone

PERVERT Phillip Parkes downloaded indecent images of children as young as three-years-old.

The 27-year-old dad looked at the images on his phone in the three-and-a-half months before his arrest.

Police executed a warrant at the defendant’s Chell Heath home and recovered a total of 48 images on a mobile found in his bedroom.

There were three images at category A – the most serious, 12 at category B and 33 at category C. Some had been deleted.

The images were mainly of girls aged three to five but some were aged up to 15.

Now Parkes has been handed a two-year community order at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Prosecutor Adam Watkins said police executed a search warrant on June 25 at an address in Bishop Road, where the defendant lived with his mum.

Mr Watkins said: “Police retrieved the images from a Motorola phone found in his bedroom. He was the registered subscriber.

“The images were all stills, rather than movies.

“They were downloaded in the three-and-a-half months before his arrest.”

The defendant declined to answer any questions in his first police interview.

But in his second, after the phone had been examined, he claimed he received the images from an ‘online friend’. He said he intended to block that friend but never got round to it.

Parkes, who now lives in Blackpool, pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children.

Frederick Powell, mitigating, said the defendant accepted he downloaded the images.

Judge David Fletcher sentenced Parkes to a two-year community order with a rehabilitation activity requirement for 50 days and a requirement to complete the ‘Maps For Change’ project.

He was also made the subject of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the sex offenders’ register for the same length of time.

Judge Fletcher said: “You must never forget when you are looking at or downloading these images of children that they are real children.

“They have been vilely exploited somewhere in the world so that people like you can have a look at the images.

“Can you imagine a situation where children were being made to do what the images of the children you had on your phone were made to do? It is beyond comprehension for most decent people.

“I do not think for a minute you thought about that. But hopefully with assistance over the next two years you will be able to realise just how harmful your behaviour is.”

Parkes must also pay £870 costs.

April 2016

Foleshill man pleads guilty to making and possessing over 6,000 indecent images of children

A Coventry man has admitted making and possessing more than 6,000 indecent images of children.

Stanley Bettles pleaded guilty to six charges – three of possession of indecent photographs of a child and three of making indecent photographs of a child – at the city’s magistrates court.

The 59-year-old, of Jenner Street, Foleshill, created a total of 6,185 indcent images – both still and moving – between December 2013 and March 2015.

They included images in each of the three offence categories, including 861 of the worst kind; category A.

Bettles also admitted possessing 77 images – once again across all three categories – in April last year.

He will be sentenced at Warwick Crown Court with a date still to be set.

Bettles was given conditional bail which includes having no unsupervised contact with anyone under 16 years old and no internet access unless in a public place, such as a library or job centre.

August 2006

Judge attacks sex offender policy

A senior judge has criticised the system of automatic early release for convicted sex offenders.

Lord Hardie spoke out as he sentenced a Lanarkshire man to six years for abusing a young boy.

The High Court in Glasgow heard James Steele (28) committed the offence months after being released early from a jail term for abusing two other boys.

The judge ordered that Steele should be closely supervised for a further 10 years on his release.

Steele had been sentenced to eight years in September 2000 for abusing two youngsters.

The judge in that case gave him an extended sentence of four years to be served in the community while he was being monitored by social workers and police.

But Steele was out after only four years and eight months.

During the court appearance for the latest offence, it was revealed that Steele groomed a family while he was on licence so he could sexually abuse their 12-year-old son.

The court heard on Friday that the family had no idea that Steele was a convicted paedophile until social workers warned them not to allow him near their child.

However, the warning came too late because Steele had already sexually abused the boy two weeks before.

Lord Hardie said the case illustrated the dangers associated with the system of automatic release of prisoners introduced by the then government in 1993.

He said the issue was shortly to be examined by the Scottish Parliament.

The judge said: “In considering alternative proposals the Scottish Parliament may wish to consider the circumstances of this case from which it is clear that any decision to release prisoners must be based upon an assessment of risk undertaken after the prisoner has completed a substantial part of the sentence imposed by the court.

“Such decisions cannot be taken when sentence is pronounced.

“Moreover adequate resources must be provided to any alternative system to ensure full risk assessments and proper monitoring following release to be undertaken.

“The absence of such safeguards will result in the public being exposed to unaceptable risks from prisoners released prior to the end of the sentence imposed on them.”

A Scottish Executive spokespoerson said: “The reforms build on the proposals from the Sentencing Commission’s report on early release and will mean that all offenders will be under restrictions for their entire sentence.

“The legislation to deliver these changes will be introduced to parliament shortly.”

Currently, under the Prisoners and Criminal Proceedings (Scotland) Act 1993, offenders sentenced to less than four years are automatically released after serving half of their prison sentence. Those sentenced to four or more years may be released on licence at the halfway point if directed by the Parole Board. If not, they can be released after serving two thirds.

Lord Hardie ordered the sentence on Steele to begin when he has completed the three years and four months of the unexpired portion of his last sentence. 

Steele, from Cambuslang, admitted a charge of using lewd, indecent and libidinous towards the boy on 12 April this year in a wood at Bargeddie, Coatbridge.

April 2016

Man preyed on teenage girl with learning difficulties

A man has admitted sex offences involving a teenage girl with learning difficulties.

Christopher Woakes, 31, contacted a number of underage girls on social media, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

He sent a 15-year-old girl explicit images of himself before meeting her near her home, where he engaged in sexual activity with her.

Woakes, of Portbury Grove, Bristol pleaded guilty to meeting a child following sexual grooming, non-penetrative sexual activity with a child and penetrative sexual activity with a child.

He was remanded in custody and is due to be sentenced on 23 May.

The court heard he encouraged the teenager from Suffolk in August to tell her parents she was meeting a teenage boy.

They became suspicious and alerted the police.

Woakes’ true identity came to light in November when he repeatedly tried to contact the girl, sending her a mobile phone through the post and loitering outside her home.

He was arrested at his home address in Bristol and a number of computers and devices were seized.

Analysis of his computers and phones by Suffolk Police uncovered a number of illegal images of children.

They also found Woakes had tried to contact children in a number of countries.

April 2016

Six years for sexually assaulting schoolboy

A New Stevenson man has been sent to prison for six years for sexually assaulting a teenage boy.

James Frame, of Stevenson Street, was found guilty following a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court and returned to the court on Monday for sentencing.

The 32-year-old was convicted of assaulting the boy, who was 14 at the time of the first attack, over a 12 month period between February 2014 and February 2015, at his home and addresses in New Stevenson and Holytown.

Frame was also placed on the sex offenders’ register.