April 2016

A-Level student pretended to be a GIRL to abuse boys online

AN A-Level student pretended to be a girl to lure and abuse young boys online after targeting more than 80 victims.

Thomas Pryce, 19, set up bogus identities to contact youngsters who he befriended before asking for explicit pictures.

Some victims did forward images, believing they were flirting with a girl.

The sickening deception was only uncovered after one boy’s alarmed mum alerted police after discovering her son had been targeted online.

Pryce was eventually arrested at his family home in Hereford.

He admitted 29 offences at Birmingham Crown Court on February 16 and will be sentenced at the same court on May 13.

It is understood Pryce began the abuse more than five years ago.

By pretending to be a young girl he would target teenage boys online and would later ask for indecent images. Some were also persuaded to carry out sexual acts online.

It is understood a number of recorded clips of victims were found during the police investigation.

The probe began after one concerned mum contacted police in September 2013 after discovering her adolescent son had been snared by an unidentified online sex predator.

The mum told how her son had been in contact with a Facebook user with the surname Smith since July of that year.

Pryce, posing as a girl, had asked the boy to send him indecent pictures of himself and in return had sent indecent images of a female.

But when the young victim ended their exchanges, Pryce threatened to publish intimate pictures of the boy.

West Mercia Police investigated and the fake ‘girl’s’ online account was traced to a Herefordshire pub, the family home of Pryce.

But because the pub had free wifi, detectives could not be sure who the culprit was.

The breakthrough came six months later when police discovered the same account used by Pryce had been activated after closing time.

Police arrested Pryce and seized computers and phones for forensic analysis. They discovered he had used multiple bogus online profiles and had targeted more than 80 young people.

At the time of his arrest he was studying A-levels at Hereford Sixth Form College, from which he was suspended last May.

The teenage sex offender pleaded guilty to 29 specimen offences at Birmingham Crown Court on February 16, but it is understood a lengthy police investigation identified more than 80 young people who he had targeted.

The West Midlands Crown Prosecution Service confirmed a number of offences involving other victims will be taken into consideration at sentencing at the same court on May 13.

A spokesman said: “We can confirm that the current charges are specimens. We are currently working with the police to confirm the precise number of victims.”

West Mercia Police declined to comment ahead of sentencing.

August 2013

Teenager who sexually assaulted three girls in Edinburgh jailed for four years

Grant Farquhar, 18, subjected the girls, who are aged between 13 to 15, to a series of sexual attacks between May 2012 and December 2012.

He attacked the young females, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at various addresses in the city.

Passing sentence temporary judge Michael O’Grady QC told Farquhar he had no option but to send him to prison.

He also ordered that Farquhar be supervised by the authorities for four years following his release from prison

Farquhar sexually assaulted one 15-year-old year old girl underneath a stunt ramp at the South Edinburgh skate park in the city’s Southhouse Crescent.

The High Court in Edinburgh also heard how he sexually assaulted another 15-year-old girl and a 13-year-old girl at various addresses in the Edinburgh area between November and December 2012.

The court also heard how he bombarded two 13-year-old girls, who also cannot be named, with a series of “shockingly explicit texts” and Facebook messages.

Judge O’Grady said: “It is clear that these charges are greatly concerning. It is quite clear that you have a preference for sexual activity with females younger than yourself.

“The background report also shows that you have little insight into accepting responsibility.

“I must impose a significant period of custody to protect young women.”

Last month a jury took four hours to find Farquhar guilty of charges of sexual assault, having sex with underage girls and sending sexually explicit and offensive communications.

Farquhar, a prisoner of the Young Offenders Institute in Polmont, Stirlingshire, had entered pleas of not guilty to the charges.

He was also acquitted of rape and physical assault charges. He was also acquitted of a charge which alleged he repeatedly sexually assaulted a 16-year-old boy, who also cannot be identified, at various locations in Edinburgh between December 2010 and August 2012.

February 2016

Barnsley man jailed for 18 years for sexual abuse of girl

A 46-year-old Barnsley man has been jailed for 18-years for sexually abusing a seven year old girl for nearly a decade.

Paul Fury from Wombwell appeared before Sheffield Crown Court on Friday 5 February to receive his sentence after being found guilty of 13 non-recent offences including rape, gross indecency and inciting and female aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity.

The jury heard how Fury subjected his victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to nearly a decade of sexual abuse from when she was around seven-years-old.

In March 2015 his victim, now an adult, called South Yorkshire Police and told them about the abuse.

Fury was interviewed and later charged with multiple child sexual offences.

April 2016

Former marine admits inciting child into sexual activity

A former Royal Marine has pleaded guilty to a series of sexual offence charges relating to children

Ronald Fairhurst from Boldon who is in his 50’s pleaded guilty to two charges at Newcastle Crown Court in April 2016.

Attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

April 2016

Selly Oak man found guilty of sexual assault of a young girl

Twenty six-year-old Lee Copestick sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.

Copestick, who had been residing in Selly Oak, was charged with one count of sexual assault on a female child under the age of 13 at Birmingham Crown Court.

On the 1st April 2016 he pleaded not guilty to the charge, however, on the 18th April 2016 after a short trial, the jury found him guilty as charged.

Mr Lee Copestick was sentenced to 3 years imprisonment and ordered to sign on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely.

April 2016

Staffordshire prison officer caught with child abuse images

A south Staffordshire prison officer has lost his job after being found with child abuse images

Police swooped on the home of Christopher Parkes shortly after he had returned from the night shift at Oakwood Prison in Featherstone, Wolverhampton Crown Court heard.

Officers had been tipped off that the 43-year-old father of two was among those who had been in contact with a man who had been transferring files containing indecent images of children to some Skype account holders.

Interrogation of the other man’s computer equipment showed that he had been in touch with somebody using the name latenightguy1 on April 3, 2014 and had later sent indecent images of children to that person, said Mr Trevor Meegan, prosecuting.

Inquiries revealed that latenightguy1 was the alias of Parkes and police visited his family home in Holcroft Road, Kingswinford, in July last year.

His computer equipment was seized and checked by experts who discovered 74 indecent images of children – both moving and still – stored on it.

These included two that were regarded as being in the most serious category of this type of pornography. Mr Meegan said these and the other images featured girls as young as five in a variety of different poses.

Parkes, now living in Pinewood Close, Wombourne, confessed to police that over the previous two years he had been chatting to other Skype users about child sex, the court was told.

Miss Diljit Bachada, defending, said: “He was open, honest and transparent with the police and takes full responsibility for his offending. He started viewing images and things got out of hand. 

“He was a prison officer at HMP Oakwood and as a result of this case was disciplined, suspended and has now lost that position.” 

Children’s Services are now involved because of the age of his children, the court heard.

Parkes, who was of previous good character, admitted six charges of making indecent images between July 25, 2012 and July 7, 2015 and was given a three-year community order during which he must complete the Sex Offender Group work programme, which is aimed at stopping a person’s interest in pornography.

Judge Amjad Nawaz told him: “This was really possession of indecent images. You were employed in a responsible employment and were in charge of people, some of whom will have committed similar offences to this. You have now lost that job as a consequence of this investigation. What is worrying is that your children are still very young.”

Parkes, who now works in a warehouse and is being supported by his family, was also put on the Sex Offender Register and made the subject of a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

April 2016

Former BBC executive downloaded indecent images of children

A former BBC executive has admitted downloading indecent images of children in folders named ‘teens’ and ‘candids’ onto a hard drive.

Mark Deitch, 57, of Willden, Bedfordshire, would spend hours of time at work at a talent agency scouring anonymous online forum 4chan for things to download as he procrastinated – and it was enough to crash the internet connection.

He admitted downloading the child images but said they were part of a wider haul from 4chan, London’s Southwark Crown Court heard today.

The ‘prolific downloader’ claims to have been unaware of a folder named ‘pizza’ which contained only indecent images of children.

He was set to face trial but has now pleaded guilty to two charges of making indecent images of children.

At the time of the offences Deitch, who worked for the BBC for 12 years and was responsible for purchasing programmes on behalf of other broadcasters, was working for talent agency Benjamin Management. He used a work computer to download the images before transferring them to an external hard drive.

His computer only came under scrutiny after technicians tried to fix it. Prosecutor Adrian Fleming said the original computer had been wiped so that it could be used by someone else.

This meant investigators could only examine the hard drive and that certain factors – such as a browser search history – were unavailable. They did find a folder called ‘MDX’ which Deitch admitted he may have created because it was his initials and an ‘X’ which could stand for X-rated content.

Mr Fleming said: ‘Within that we [found] a number of sub files including one entitled “pizza”. 

Technicians did not appear to have very much difficulty in finding that folder – when they went in they were simply trying to fix a problem.

‘This file “pizza”, in which approximately half of the images were found, was – in the Crown’s submission – a fairly obvious place within the MDX folder.’

The file contained 80 indecent images of children and no other content. These images were part of about 33,000 files stored on the external device, almost all of which are thought to be pornographic.

Mr Fleming noted that the ‘creation date’ on the files ranged for vast periods of 2013 and 2014 and suggested that this may mean that Deitch added files to the device on a number of occasions.

April 2016

This monster from Derby sexually abused three girls – one was just seven years old

A “MONSTER” who sexually abused three girls – one from the age of seven – has been jailed for 23 years.

A judge told Steven Green he was an “extremely dangerous” man.

Green, of Warner Street, Derby, was found guilty by a jury of 23 counts of child abuse, including three rapes.

Through tears, one of Green’s victims stood up in Derby Crown Court and told her abuser: “You are a monster… I know you need to be behind bars for a long time because you are the most dangerous person I know.

“The truth is, what you did to me destroyed me. You took everything from me. You took my childhood, you took my innocence, you took my confidence from me. I spent my life having to keep this dirty secret.”

But before sitting down, the woman who is now in her 20s, told Green she forgave him, and said that did not absolve him of his crime but relieved her of the burden.

The judge imposed an extended licence period, which last until 2044.

Following the sentencing hearing, Detective Constable Dan Burns, investigating officer in the case, said the first victim had reported the abuse in 2013.

He said: “It’s taken a lot of investigation but all the victims have shown great resolve through all the time it’s been investigated and put through the court, ultimately, with them all having given evidence at trial.

“It has resulted in a substantial sentence for a man who the judge has described as dangerous, and we hope this will give some comfort and closure to the victims, who were very young girls when the offences were committed against them.

“Derbyshire police has specially trained officers who investigate these very serious offences and to support people who wish to come forward to report them.”

ONE VICTIM’S STORY

A brave victim of child abuser Steven Green stood up in court and told him: “You have ruined my life.”

The woman said to Green, who has been jailed for 23 years: “I used to ask God ‘why me?’, was I really a bad kid? Did I do something that made me deserve it?

“You have ruined my life and I have so many issues because of you. Some days I even hate to be in my body and I feel physically and mentally disgusted.”

But she concluded, by saying: “I forgive you. I forgive you for all those years of abuse. I forgive you for all the years you made me feel I deserved what you were doing. I forgive you for all the lies you’ve told to and about me – because forgiveness is nothing to do with absolving you of your crime but is everything to do with relieving myself of the burden of being a victim, letting go of the pain and transforming myself from victim to survivor.

“I hope that you will, some day, be honest to yourself and be able to admit what you are and what you have done because it’s an illness you have. Just sadly an illness you allowed to become you and define who you are, when you should have got help and that’s what you’ve got to live with.”

Following the hearing, the woman, now in her 20s, said: “Being abused makes you feel alone and isolated. Your biggest fear is that no-one will believe you. But the police provide bridges for you and the chance to tell your story. They help you get through it.”

Green’s third victim, who is also now in her 20s, said that since being abused by Green at the age of 13 she had suffered from anxiety and severe depression.

“For a long time, I thought it was my fault it had happened,” she said.

“I thought it was something wrong with me and since then I seem to have been used by men – it’s given me a weakness to be abused by people.”

April 2016

Jarrow teenager who had sex with two underage schoolgirls is spared jail

A South Tyneside teenager who had sex with two underage schoolgirls in the space of a week has been spared jail.

Jonathan Craggs engaged in sexual intercourse with the victims – who were just 13 and 14 at the time – despite being fully aware of their ages.

The 18-year-old’s crimes came to light after the mother of the 13-year-old girl became suspicious about her involvement with an older person and contacted police.

Craggs, of Stirling Avenue, Jarrow, pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15 at South Tyneside Magistrates’ Court.

DJ Elsey handed Craggs a one-year jail term – but agreed to suspend the term.

Paul Anderson, prosecuting, said: “These are two offences against two different young girls.

“The offences originally came to light after the mother of the first girl became concerned about Facebook and other social media messages which led her to believe her daughter was having contact with older people.

“She made further inquiries and her daughter admitted having a boyfriend who was 16, but said nothing happened.

“A short time after, the girl brought the defendant to her grandmother’s address and she found he was 17 at the time.

“Her mother became suspicious and called police.

“In interview, the girl admitted having sex with the defendant, but said it was consensual.”

The court heard Craggs had sex with a 14-year-old girl just days later.

Janice Hall, defending, said Craggs had not ‘deliberately sought out’ the girls, but knew them through his network of friends.

She said: “There was no coercion, no exploitation or even any alcohol consumed.

“There is no evidence of grooming or manipulation.”

District Judge Elsey said: “Because your victims were too young to consent, these offences are clearly so serious that only a custodial sentence could be justified.

“But I can suspend that sentence as you pleaded guilty and there was no coercion and at the time you were also not an adult.”

Craggs was given a 12-month sentence – suspended for 24 months – and 120 hours of unpaid work.

He must also notify police of any changes in his details for the next 10 years and pay prosecution costs of £80 and an £80 victim surcharge

December 2012

Jailed for sex texts to teens

A court has heard how schoolgirls were targeted by a man who asked them for sexual favours after he found their mobile phone numbers on Facebook.

Nathan Redgrave, 20, from Gors Avenue, Townhill, sent lewd text messages to two teenage girls after he found their numbers on the social networking site and also contacted a friend of one of the girls, asking her to have sex with him.

Redgrave admitted eight counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and another count of meeting a child following sexual grooming.

Swansea Crown Court heard in December 2011 he exchanged explicit text chats with two girls, who were school friends, before one raised the alarm with her parents, leading to his arrest.

While he was on bail for those offences, Redgrave breached his bail by contacting another girl.

He met up with his third victim in Swansea’s Quadrant shopping centre in December 2011 but they lost contact for about a month before Redgrave texted her again, asking her for sex.

She later agreed to meet him at McDonalds in Swansea, but left and reported him to police.

When he was arrested, Redgrave told police the girl, aged 14, had been “bugging” him.

Judge Paul Thomas said Redgrave had acted in a “deliberate and cunning” way.

He sentenced Redgrave to 30 months in a Young Offender Institute and put him on the Sex Offenders’ Register indefinitely.

April 2016

Plymouth man with more than 1,000 indecent images of children AVOIDS JAIL

A MAN caught with more than 1,000 indecent images of children has avoided going straight to prison.

Daniel Reeves, aged 33, had some of the most vile pictures seen by one experienced police officer, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

He was handed a suspended prison sentence with sex offender treatment at Plymouth Crown Court.

Judge Ian Lawrie spoke of the “monster” within him.

He added: “I could send you to prison but that does not deal with the problem.”

Reeves, of Rothesay Gardens, Crownhill, pleaded guilty to 12 counts of making and possessing indecent images of children between 2013 and 2015.

He was twice caught with child sexual abuse images on computers and phones – the second time while on bail for the first.

Mr Lewin, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said he was caught on one occasion with 333 indecent images of Category A, the most depraved bracket. They included pictures of children as young as three.

He also had 238 Category B images and 810 Category C pictures.
Mr Lewin said that the second search revealed he had 17 indecent images of different categories.

He added that some of the images were among the worst seen by the experienced officer who had to classify them.

The court heard that the defendant was caught up in a national crackdown on internet paedophiles.

Judge Lawrie told the defendant he should reflect on the misery that viewing indecent images of children caused.

Reeves was handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for two years. He must complete an internet sex offender course and a separate probation activity.

April 2016

Brighton man jailed over offences involving indecent images of children

Antony Smith, 45, currently unemployed, of Montpelier Road, Brighton, was sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment when he appeared on court bail at Lewes Crown Court on Friday (22 April), having previously pleaded guilty to three offences of making a total of 249 indecent images of children, and of distributing an indecent image of a child.

He will also be a Registered Sex Offender for life, and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for ten years severely restricting his access to children and computers.

The prosecution followed an intelligence-led investigation by the Sussex Police Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) who arrested Smith at his home on 19 March 2015.

A laptop, other computer related equipment and a mobile phone were seized. He was released on police bail later that day after being interviewed.

None of the images are believed to be of local children.

Smith had also been chatting on-line to other offenders about the sexual abuse of very young children.

One of the offenders he had chatted with has since been convicted and sentenced, last year, as part of an National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into a group of men who were sexually abusing very young children and video streaming this for other people to watch.

Although Smith was not involved in the abuse of children himself, he in effect contributed to their abuse by chatting with abusers and by downloading and distributing images of abuse of very young children

April 2016

Pervert jailed for downloading child abuse images from online “swap shop”

A Southport man who downloaded almost 2,000 child abuse images and distributed some to other perverts was jailed for 20 months today.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that police raided Adam Butler’s home after police investigated a website being used as “a swap shop” for deviant images.

His email address was one of those that came to light during the investigation so officers went to his home and seized his computer equipment, said Peter Hussey, prosecuting.

When the three laptops and a hard drive were forensically examined experts found 1885 indecent images of children, mainly in the least serious category but with 250 in the most serious.

It was also found that 102 images had been distributed to others via Yahoo Messenger, including 25 of the most serious type. 

When first interviewed after the raid on June 18, 2014 he made no comment and when re-interviewed after the forensic analysis he denied looking at child porn and said someone must have hacked his computer.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Butler’s wife was also initially interviewed as a potential suspect but was not charged after investigations eventually showed her work patterns as a nurse meant she could not have been involved with the images.

Meanwhile however she was suspended for her job and is still under that suspension.

Butler, 32, of Harwood Road, was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was made for the same period of time.

He had pleaded guilty to seven offences involving downloading, possessing and distributing indecent images.

April 2016

An Ashford flasher – who frightened schoolgirls at bus stops – has been ordered to do 80 hours of therapy to deal with his sex offending.

Churchgoing Michael Lewington, 26, struck three times in September last year exposing himself to young girls.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how one of his victims was so terrified she called her mother for help.

Lewington, of Sir Bernard Paget Avenue was arrested last year and has spent six month on remand awaiting sentence.

He has now pleaded guilty to two charges of indecent exposure and one of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child.

A third charge of exposure, which he denied, has been ordered to remain on the file.

Judge James O’Mahony told him he carried out the attacks for sexual gratification..but “why you did remains a mystery”.

He said the courts had a duty to “protect kids from this kind of appalling, disgusting behaviour.”

Lewington was given a 15-month jail sentence suspended for two years and ordered to take part in treatment sessions.

Prosecutor Anthony Hook told Canterbury Crown Court how between September 2 and 26 last year, Lewington had walked up to schoolgirls at bus stops in Ashford and dropped his trousers.

On September 13 in Langley Drive he went to within a metre of a young teenager and performed his vile act.

She called her mother on her mobile phone and her father later arrived and went looking for the sex pervert.

Mr Hook said the incident was also witnessed by other teenage girls who reported him acting unusually.

On September 26, he stood in front of a young student at another bus stop, making coughing noises until she looked up.

“She felt extremely uncomfortable and realised he was touching himself. She pretended to make a telephone call and ran off along the road and telephoned her brother.

“She was left shocked and felt very distressed, “ he added.

April 2016

Lincoln paedophile jailed after filming himself sexually abusing young children

A paedophile who filmed himself sexually abusing young children and then posted the videos on the internet has been jailed for four years.

Colin Halstead was caught as a result of an operation carried out by police in New Zealand into a paedophile group using instant messaging to exchange illegal images.

Richard Sheldon, prosecuting, said that police discovered that one of the members of the group was using a computer from Halstead’s home address in the Lincoln area.

Halstead was found to have placed a number of videos depicting himself abusing children as well as further illegal images of youngsters being abused.

Mr Sheldon said that Halstead confessed after he was arrested in November last year saying he committed the offences after becoming depressed.

Lincoln Crown Court heard that Halstead had no previous convictions for sexual offences but as an 18-year-old had expressed “inappropriate thoughts about children”.

Halstead, 45, currently of no fixed address, admitted charges of sexual assault, taking indecent photographs of a child and distributing indecent photographs.

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

April 2016

No prison for pervert who had 20,000 indecent photographs of children

A Stevenage man has been given a suspended jail sentence after he admitted taking an indecent photograph of a child and possessing almost 20,000 more.

Stevenage Magistrates’ Court heard on Wednesday that David Breen, of Jessop Road, had made a ‘category C’ photograph of a child – defined as one involving ‘erotic posing’ – on or before January 13 last year.

The 56-year-old was at that time found in possession of 19,831 more such images, as well as six prohibited movies and 23 prohibited images of children, and three movies portraying bestiality.

Breen was charged with making an indecent photograph of a child, possessing indecent photographs of a child, possessing pornographic images portraying intercourse with animals, and possessing prohibited images of a child. He indicated a plea of guilty when he appeared at Stevenage Magistrates’ Court on March 14.

On Wednesday he was given a 14-week prison sentence, suspended for two years, with an added supervision requirement throughout that time.

The court ordered him to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months, and placed him under a sexual harm prevention order – meaning that he cannot alter or delete the internet history on any device he uses, use any ‘incognito’ or private mode, or possess any device that can store digital images or movies.

The court also imposed a notification requirement for seven years, meaning that Breen will have to notify Stevenage Police Station of any change to his name or address within three days, any address where he intends to stay for a week or more, any intended foreign travel at least a week in advance, and of any occasion he has been at least 12 hours in a household or private place where someone younger than 18 stays.

Finally, Breen was ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge, and £85 in costs.

A destruction order was issued for Toshiba, Compaq and MSI laptops, a white USB stick and a Seagate external hard drive.

April 2016

Man with disgusting sexual tastes who repeatedly refused to stop offending

A SEX offender who refused to stop looking at photos and videos of children being sexually abused has been jailed for four years.

Police kept confiscating Mark Christopher Johnson’s laptops but every time they did so, he bought another one and downloaded yet more illegal videos and pictures of children, said Reginald Bosomworth, prosecuting. On one raid, officers also found £2,000 worth of cocaine.

When he appeared before York Crown Court, Johnson admitted 38 charges relating to hundreds of images of children of different ages being abused, some of them categorised by police as being in the most serious category of three. They showed children of different ages.

He had already served ten months for similar offences imposed in 2010.

Recorder Dafydd Enoch QC said: “By the standard and tastes of ordinary fair-minded folk, your sexual tastes are disgusting. You simply don’t care about the rules, either legal rules or moral rules. You play by your own rules. I am afraid today you are going to have to play by the rules of the court.”

He gave him a four-year prison term and put him on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order restricting his use of the internet and ownership of computers, both for life.

Johnson, formerly of Sutton Way, Clifton, pleaded guilty to 30 charges of downloading indecent films and photos of children, three of possessing extreme pornography, one of having a prohibited image of a child, three of breaching a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) by having a laptop without police consent, and one of possessing £2,000 of cocaine.

Mr Bosomworth said Johnson was made subject to a SOPO in 2010 when he was jailed for 19 charges of having indecent images of children. The order banned him from having a laptop without police knowledge.

But on September 29, 2012, police called to his then home in Cromer Street, Clifton, to deal with a domestic incident, found an unauthorised laptop with illegal images and evidence that he had been actively searching the internet for sexual images of children. The laptop was confiscated. Johnson claimed another man was responsible, but changed his plea to guilty on April 13, 2015 and was granted bail pending sentence.

A fortnight later, police again searched his house and found the cocaine, another laptop and more images of children being abused. He denied being responsible but changed his plea on the day of trial on January 22, 2016.

In the meantime, acting on a tip-off, police raided his home again, this time in Sutton Way, on October 9, and found a third laptop with yet more illegal images. He skipped bail but was arrested on October 31 and has been behind bars ever since.

April 2016

Child abuse pics were ‘not dreadful’ – judge tells Cradley Heath man, 61

A 61-year-old pervert who had 358 extreme images of child abuse and bestiality on his laptop has been told they were not ‘dreadful’.

Stanley Pienaar, of Unit Drive, Cradley Heath, appeared at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Thursday, where he was sentenced to five years on the sex offenders’ register and issued with a 24-month community order with a rehabilitation requirement of 50 days.

He was also ordered to pay £200 towards the costs of the prosecution, to be paid in instalments of £5 a week for 44 weeks and his laptop was also ordered to be forfeited and seized.

The court heard how Pienaar claimed he had accessed the images out of curiosity and only did so because he was impotent and needed ways to improve his sex life with his partner. Police were alerted to Pienaar’s perversion when his former partner, accessed his laptop in May 2015 and came across 50 to 60 of the images.

When police seized the computer, they found 358 extreme images of children, as well as animals, and 64 so-called category C images.

Category C images are defined as ‘images of erotic posing’, according to the Protection of Children Act 1978. They also accessed Pienaar’s internet search history which included extreme search terms for images with young girls.

Judge Nicholas Webb, sentencing Pienaar, said: “You became deliberately in possession of a number of images of children.

“The reasons you gave to the police and the probation service in a way makes this case tinged with sadness. Some images this court has to hear of sometimes are dreadful and cause gross human suffering. These however, are not. Some children in the images are in fact clothed and in sexual poses, wearing leotards and the like. There are no aggravating features in this case and so I do not believe it is necessary to deprive you of your liberty.

“One can call the images disgusting, but they are not as extreme as some of the images the court sometimes has to deal with.

“You must attend your appointments as and when required. If you do not attend you could be in breach of your order and come back to court. Then the court may have another view about your sentencing.”

The court heard how Pienaar, who walks with the aid of a walking stick, was married to his partner in 1987 before splitting from her in 2003. She had later moved back in.

April 2016

Man jailed for downloading hundreds of child sex abuse images

A MAN who admitted having a “fascination” with underage teenage girls has been jailed over his collection of indecent images of children.

Leslie Stoddart, a married man of previous good character, downloaded hundreds of images from the internet over a period of six years.

But his interest in such material only came to light after police, armed with a search warrant, visited his home on April 23 last year.

Durham Crown Court heard that, “acting on information”, the officers removed various items of computer equipment.

Stoddart, who assisted in the search, made immediate admissions, conceding he had been secretly looking at the images for several years, while also corresponding on-line with the people who sent the material.

He admitted having posed as a young girl in on-line chats as part of a sexual fantasy.

Paul Rooney, prosecuting, said examination of the contents of the various devices revealed a total of 710 offending images, mostly in the least serious category, but 27 in the top bracket, including seven containing moving footage.

Mr Rooney said the ages of children being abused ranged from three to 13, despite the defendant’s claims that his main interest was in girls aged 14 to 16.

“Of concern to the Crown is the random taking of photographs of teenage girls in public by the defendant,” added Mr Rooney.

Forty-seven-year-old Stoddart, of Fairfield, Woodland, near Bishop Auckland, admitted seven counts of making an indecent photo of a child.

John Turner, mitigating, told the court: “The enormity of what he has done is appreciated by him.

“He’s ashamed and it will take time for the full impact of what he has done to sink in.

“He has the insight that there is horror and pain for those who feature on these images.”

Mr Turner said the defendant, a clerical administrator in the National Health Service, would lose his job due to the conviction, as well as his good name in the community in general.

Jailing him for eight months, Judge Christopher Prince said the message must go out to men seeking such material from the internet of the potential penalty for doing so.

“My primary function in cases like this is the protection of children from the making of images such as these.”

Stoddart was also made subject of registration as a sex offender and a sexual harm prevention order, both for ten years.

The order prevents him trying to communicate with any child aged under 16, and puts prohibitions on his future use of the internet.

February 2011

Man jailed for kidnap attempt

A KIDNAPPER who targeted terrified Lymm schoolgirls has been jailed for a minimum six years.

Christopher Greenwood, of Oak Road, Lymm, was found guilty of two offences of attempted kidnap and one offence of kidnap by a majority jury verdict at Chester Crown Court last month.

The 48-year-old was ‘utterly insistent’ throughout the trial he had not committed the offences but admitted the truth to his mum and family, who had supported him throughout, after the trial.

Greenwood tried to entice two girls, aged 11 and 12, into his car while they were walking along Bridgewater Street in June last year.

He made inappropriate sexual suggestions to them before offering them a lift.

The girls ran home to alert their families.

The following day Greenwood grabbed a 14-year-old girl who was walking along Rushgreen Road, Lymm and forced her into his car.

The girl broke free and managed to raise the alarm. A 12-year-old witness called 999.

Lisa Judge, defending, said: “Members of the public gallery who have an emotional link to this case will be screaming why the defendant put their girls through a trial.”

She added that Greenwood was weighing up a ‘balance’ between the victims and his family.

Greenwood had been jailed twice for indecent assault including a case in 2005 involving an 11-year-old girl which had similarities to the incidents in Lymm.

Judge Thomas Teague described Greenwood as ‘highly-manipulative’ and ‘predatory’ with ‘a thirst for pubescent girls’.

He said he thought it was no coincidence that the second attack happened on the same day as the Lymm May Queen festival.

Judge Teague said: “You anticipated a greater number of young girls to be out on that day in Lymm.

“It drives me to the conclusion you are extremely dangerous.”