June 2016

Registered Peterborough sex offender jailed for twice breaching prevention order

A registered sex offender who twice breached a prevention order has been jailed for two years.

Barrie Day, 60, was visited at his home in Howland, Orton Goldhay, by officers in July 2015 and May this year. On both occasions officers discovered and seized devices that were in breach his Sexual Offences Prevention Order and contained indecent images of children.

Day was given the Sexual Offences Prevention Order following a conviction in 2012.

He pleaded guilty to breaching the order. Today (June 13) at Peterborough Crown Court he was sentenced to two years in prison. He will serve one year in custody before being released on licence.

Detective Constable Sharon Popple said: “Day deliberately and repeatedly breached his Sexual Offences Prevention Order. I hope the sentence acts as a warning to other people who are subject to this type of order that breaches will not be tolerated.”

June 2016

Child rapist handed 25-year extended jail sentence

SEX beast Martyn Frost has been handed a 25-year extended jail sentence after raping a girl and forcing another to perform a sex act on him.

The 48-year-old raped the youngster – and then ordered her to get dressed quickly when they were disturbed.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard both girls have been psychologically affected, with one of them trying to take her own life.

June 2016

Manhunt for child sex offender who may be using Britain’s canal network to evade police

POLICE are hunting for a child sex offender who may be using the Britain’s canal system to move through the country.

Michael Crabb, 53, was jailed for nine years for child sex offences and released from jail on licence on March 17.

He has failed to notify police of a change of address – a condition of his release – and disappeared.

June 2016

Custodial sentence “highly likely” for Redditch pervert

A REDDITCH man has been found guilty at Worcester Crown Court on six charges of making indecent photographs of children.

Andrew Greenfield, aged 52, of Sycamore Avenue, was remanded on bail for a pre-sentence report and ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

The court was told that police went to his house, where he lives with his parents, and found nearly 6,000 images on three separate computers.

Greenfield, a man of good character, who works for Mettis Aerospace, claimed that he had bought the computers second-hand and the images must have been on them before.

He also suggested that the computers could have been hacked remotely.

Greenfield will be sentenced on June 30 and was warned by Recorder Anthony Lowe that a custodial sentence was highly likely although all options would be considered.

June 2016

Sex offender jailed after attacking teenage girls as they travelled on buses

A registered sex offender who attacked two teenage girls as they travelled on buses in Blackburn has been jailed.

Preston Crown Court heard pervert Gregory Murphy struck twice within the space of an hour, preying on the two 16-year-old school girls on the number one bus in Blackburn.

One teenager fled to McDonalds, terrified she was going to be raped.

The other watched as Murphy turned his attention from her and her friends to a group of younger teenagers, who he followed off the bus.

At the time of the sex attacks on May 8, Murphy was serving a suspended prison sentence for attacking another teenage girl on a bus in Bolton.

Judge Pamela Badley, sentencing, said: “These young women were catching buses for their own lawful purposes and you interfered with their right to do so without hindrance.

“Why, at the age of 40, you have found it more difficult to control yourself is something I really can’t go into.”

The court heard the first youngster, who can not be named for legal reasons, was travelling alone at around 8pm when Murphy came up behind her and grabbed her bottom, thrusting his groin towards her.

As the teenager stepped off the bus she noticed Murphy leave behind her and ran into McDonalds for her safety.

But by 8.40pm Murphy was at Blackburn bus station where he sat beside a group of teenagers on a bench, despite there being several other benches free in the area, the prosecution said.

One of the teenagers felt uncomfortable that Murphy was sitting so close and got up to check the timetable, in a bid to put some distance between her and the pervert.

But the prosecution said when she sat down again, Murphy sidled up to be close again and touched her on her bottom.

The youngster thought Murphy was trying to steal from her but when he touched her again she and her friends got on the bus only to be followed by Murphy.

The 40-year-old sat close to the 16-year-olds but when a group in their early teens got on the bus, his attention turned to them and he got off the bus at the same stop.

Two days later the youngsters reported the incident to the police and Murphy was arrested, the court heard.

Murphy, of Gladstone Street, Great Harwood, said he could not remember the attacks as he had been drinking and had not taken his medication but when faced with CCTV evidence he did not dispute what was said about him.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault and was sent to the higher court to be sentenced.

Judge Badley said: “Pests like you take advantage of people, you know decent people are reluctant to go to the authorities.

“On a previous occasion you have been given the opportunity – undoubtedly because you pleaded guilty and expressed remorse.

“The time has come when this has to be an immediate sentence of custody.

“Young women and all people who are taking public transport should be protected from people like you who are looking at them as sexual victims.”

She jailed Murphy for 12 months and activated three months consecutively of his previous suspended sentence.

June 2016

Trainee teacher from Bradley had 700-plus indecent movies

POLICE found traces of more than 700 indecent movies of children on computer equipment belonging to a trainee teacher, a Wrexham court heard.

Wasim Husain, 31, of Glanllyn Road, Bradley, had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to possessing 10 category B moving images and three in category A between April 2010 and November 2015. 

But Justin Espie, prosecuting, told a sentencing hearing at Wrexham Magistrates Court that evidence of 774 deleted movies had been found.

The file names were indicative of indecent images of children, Mr Espie said.

Magistrates were told they had to consider the potential effect on the children as a potential aggravating factor and Mr Espie said the file names were “indicative of being towards the higher end of the scale”. Husain had also “been in a position of trust at a school with a view to becoming a teacher”, Mr Espie said. 

Although the matter was just within their sentencing powers, magistrates adjourned the case to Mold Crown Court on June 19.

June 2016

Dad jailed for shaking crying baby daughter so hard she was brain damaged

A FATHER has been jailed in Hull for losing his temper and shaking his 10-week-old daughter so hard she has been left with serious brain injuries.

Thomas Johnson, 25, assaulted the baby as she cried uncontrollably from colic in her Moses basket. He moaned of being in an unhappy relationship and being over-worked and tried to set about “saving his own skin” by refusing to explain to medics how she might have acquired brain haemorrhaging.

Mark McKone, prosecuting at Hull Crown Court, said the baby – who the Mail has chosen not to name – was 71 days old on September 11 last year when her father assaulted her.

Johnson was described by the mother as kind, caring and loving when their baby arrived. She said the baby had suffered from colic which led to her crying and made her difficult to settle.

Mr McKone told the court how Johnson had gone to work complaining he had a painful abscess under a tooth.

He returned to the family’s home in Church Street, Swinefleet, near Goole, and took his partner to work expecting her to finish at 10pm.

“He took his daughter to a pub leaving her in a car seat while he had 1-2 pints of beer before returning home,” said Mr McKone. “He texted his girlfriend saying she was fine several times. He telephoned her at 8pm, crying, saying she has gone rigid and floppy.

“A paramedic said he saw Johnson with his head in his hands and he was crying. The paramedic said she (the baby) was pale and not moving. She was given oxygen at the scene and taken to the accident and emergency unit.

“The baby was diagnosed as fitting and frothing at the mouth. She had extensive brain damage with a bilateral haemorrhage. The doctors considered the injuries were consistent with a sudden acceleration and deceleration of her brain within her skull.

“Johnson said he found her stiff and having a fit in her Moses basket. He denied hitting or shaking her.”

Johnson, who gave his address in court as Meredyke Road, Luddington, near Scunthorpe, pleaded guilty to one charge of causing grievous bodily harm. He denied a separate charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent. In his basis of plea, he accepted he had taken hold of her Moses basket and shaken it vigorously.

He said he did not intent to cause serious injury but accepted his behaviour was reckless.

The court heard how following the baby’s injuries, Johnson went off the rails and drank heavily, picking up a conviction for drink driving in November last year and losing a job. He also twice breached a community punishment.

Gordon Stables, for Johnson, said he was plainly fearful of admitting what he had done and was ashamed for causing the injury to his “beautiful daughter.”

“It has had a devastating effect on the whole family,” said Mr Stables. “He has to live with it, as does the rest of the family. He told me, ‘It breaks my heart. It haunts and tortures me.’ He was described as kind, caring, and helpful father. He was a proud dad and would do anything he could. This was a momentary loss of control. Regret is not an adequate word to describe how he feels. If he could turn the clock back he would.

“The relationship with her mother is permanently over. It has no future.”

Nine months on, the girl is said to be behind her normal development milestones and has permanent injuries. She is unable to sit unaided, is not yet on solids or developed signs of correct eyesight. She has the abilities of a three-month-old child.

Jailing Johnson for two years, Judge David Tremberg told Johnson: “She was your first and only child. While the court has heard and read about the stress you were under, an unhappy domestic relationship, long working hours, fatigue and physical discomfort and a baby suffering colic, in my judgment, none of those matters come close to justifying what you did.

“You played a part in bringing her into this world. In doing so, you accept and are implicitly placed, in a position of trust – to ensure the welfare of that child. Society expects no less. She was one of the most vulnerable members of society. When she would not stop crying it was incumbent on you to control yourself. Instead you shook her. It seems she will be severely affected by the consequences of what you did for life.

“This case is an unmitigated tragedy. There are no winners. There only losers. You said you would do anything for your daughter. Unfortunately, your remorse took longer to display itself than your anger did. Unfortunately, having shaken her, you did not tell the doctors what had happened. While it may not have affected the final outcome, it would have demonstrated that you cared about her. In the weeks, hours, and days later you were to tell a lot of lies. In my judgment this is a bad case of its type standing at the very top of the sentencing band.

“I know custody will be a shock for you.”

June 2016

Terminally ill pensioner, 74, could die in prison after being jailed for sexual abuse of girl

A terminally ill pensioner could die in prison after being jailed for four years for historic sex abuse.

Adrian Smith has a lung condition, cancer and heart disease and a life expectancy of two to three years.

The 74-year-old, of St Barnabas Close, Warmley, denied wrongdoing but was convicted by a jury of two indecent assaults on a youngster aged eight.

Judge Euan Ambrose told him: “The offences were when she was young and at a vulnerable and profoundly formative part of her life.

“They had significant effects on her life. A sentence of significant length may be one from which you would not emerge.”

Smith was told to register as a sex offender indefinitely. The court heard Smith put his hand inside the girl’s underwear and groped her.

She recalled how it “felt horrible”, and remembered his breathing and staring at wallpaper hoping the abuse would end.

She recounted a second incident in which Smith groped her again, but stopped when the crack of a floorboard heralded someone coming.

The offences caused her to have significant issues trusting people, the court heard, and led her to be especially protective of her own children.

Jennifer Tallentire, defending, said her client’s wife left him when she heard about the allegations. She said her client had to deal with physical as well as emotional challenges.

Miss Tallentire said: “He is as much as he can be prepared. He has a lung condition and he is in the last phase of his life.

“She was undoubtedly vulnerable at the time in her life.”

Investigating officer Det Con Louise Macpherson said: “Adrian Smith was predatory in his offending and took advantage of time he spent alone with the victim.

“He refused to accept responsibility for his actions and the harm he caused this victim and she was forced to relive her horrific experiences in court.

“We’ll always investigate sexual offences no matter how long ago they were committed and as this case proves, we’re able to achieve justice for victims of non-recent offences.

“I’d like to thank the victim for her bravery and for supporting the investigation from the start and while she’ll never get over her ordeal, I hope this conviction will help her move forward with her life.”

April 2016

Rapist jailed for 16 years

A Wigan man has been jailed for 16 years for raping and sexually assaulting a young girl.

David Allen, 50, had denied the allegations involving the girl, spanning seven years, but was convicted today (Friday) after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

He also denied sexually assaulting a woman in November last year while on bail for abusing the young girl and was also convicted of that offence.

Nicola Daley, prosecuting, told the court that on November 3 last year the woman victim called at Allen’s home. They chatted and drank alcohol and he gave her some “poppers” and then began to sexually molest her.

Jailing Allen, of Derby House, Scholes, Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said that he had robbed his young victim – who she described as very “dignified” while giving evidence – of her childhood and innocence.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Allen, who has no similar previous convictions, still maintains his innocence.

He was convicted of one offence against the woman victim and 22 against the child, involving rape, sexual assaults and inciting her to engage in sexual activity.

Miss Daley told the jury that the offences against the girl, which began when she was nine, came to light last year after she confided in her boyfriend while drunk. As a result the police were informed and he was arrested.

He was ordered by the judge to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

November 2011

Bangor teenager, 18, had indecent images

AN 18-year-old man found with indecent images on his phones was yesterday ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.

Tristan George Gregory Wilcox, 18, who lives at a care address in Bangor, had already pleaded guilty at Llandudno Magistrates Court to two charges of making an indecent photograph or pseudo-photograph of a girl aged about nine in Llandudno between December 1 last year and August 4 this year.

He also admitted making 10 more indecent images of children in the town between the same dates.

He appeared at Llandudno to be sentenced for making the images which were level one out of five levels, and therefore the least serious category.

Prosecutor Diane Williams said Wilcox had handed a phone to a friend who had passed it to his partner. She looked at the images and became “so concerned” that she deleted them but the matter was reported to the authorities.

Defending Wilcox, solicitor Megan Lovelady accepted that three phones had relevant images on them.

She said the defendant was a vulnerable young person who is immature. She added: “He has learned a valuable lesson from coming to a police station and being in court.”

District Judge Andrew Shaw gave Wilcox a two-year community order with supervision. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register and given a sex offences prevention order for five years. It prevents him doing paid or voluntary work with boys or girls under 16 without prior consent from a police officer.

November 2007

Man jailed for child sex grooming

A 41-year-old man from south Cumbria who sent obscene pictures to a 15-year-old girl’s mobile telephone has been sent to prison for a year.

David Taylor of Thornfield Place, Grange-over-Sands, was also put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Appearing at Carlisle Crown Court he pleaded guilty to grooming the girl for sexual purposes.

The court heard that he bombarded her with explicit messages and sent “utterly revolting” pictures.

In response the girl sent him texts which the judge said were “of a very explicit sexual nature”, the hearing heard.

Taylor admitted the offence on the basis that his behaviour would have resulted in the “inappropriate touching” of the girl, but would have stopped short of full sex, the court heard.

June 2016

Child sex abuse images man from Cefn-y-bedd jailed for 18 months

A MAN who admitted downloading and distributing terrible child sex abuse images told a judge he did it simply to try to catch paedophiles.

But Judge Rhys Rowlands rejected the claim as “patent nonsense” and said it was an explanation he had heard several times before.

It was a claim that was “doing the rounds” at the moment, he said, adding that the defendant had probably picked it up on the internet.

Stuart Roy Kearn, 42, of Mold Road, Cefnybedd, admitted 13 offences of making images by downloading them from the internet, possessing them and distributing them.

He had more than 2,700 images and 430 films and possessed extreme images involving sex between humans and animals and was jailed for 18 months, ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years, and was made subject of a 10 year sexual harm prevention order.

The judge said at the start of yesterday’s sentencing hearing at Mold Crown Court he was not prepared to sentence Kearn on the basis that he got no sexual gratification from it and the defendant was called to give evidence.

He told the court that at the time he had suicidal thoughts, feared there were paedophiles in his area, and when asked what he would have done if he found one he said “beat him to a pulp, I don’t know”.

In his depressed and suicidal state, he said he thought of “taking one with me” but agreed he had not called to police to inform them what he was doing.

He said that looking back now it made no sense and the judge agreed it did not.

Judge Rowlands said it was about the fourth time he had heard that version of events in the last month. “It is clearly doing the rounds,” he said.

Kearn had received such material, stored it no doubt to look at later, and had also distributed it to others. His explanation made “no sense at all,” he said.

Judge Rowlands said the defendant was no doubt sorry for the position he had put himself in and the consequences for him were serious.

But they paled into insignificance to the suffering and corruption inflicted on the young children who had been photographed and filmed. 

“This was quite depraved behaviour on your part,” the judge told him.

He said Kearn appeared to be in complete denial.

It had gone on for three years and the case was aggravated by the young age of the children and the appalling nature of some of the images.

Ffion Tomos, prosecuting, told how the children in the images and films were aged from two upwards.

Kearn was arrested when a warrant under The Protection of Children Act was executed at his home in March last year.

The images were found on a laptop, two USB drives and nine CDs; there was peer to peer file sharing software and email addresses had been set up to share and distribute images.

Interviewed, he claimed he was doing it to trap paedophiles online.

Philip Clemo, defending, said it was an extremely sad case of a man who suffered social isolation and trauma after the breakdown of his marriage.

He knew that custody was quite inevitable, particularly after his explanation had been rejected by the court.

Kearn was a man who had no relevant previous convictions and would find custody extremely hard. “It will be devastating for him,” he said.

June 2016

Pervert found with over 5,000 indecent images of children warned he could face jail

A pervert who was found with more than 5,000 indecent images of children has been warned he could face jail.

58-year-old Christopher Moores, of Manchester Road, Haslingden, pleaded guilty at Burnley Crown Court to three counts of making indecent photographs of children between 2008 and 2015.

They included 961 category A images – the most serious – 1,092 category B and 3,071 category C images.

Moores, 58, also pleaded guilty to distributing indecent photographs of children and was bailed for sentence on July 6.

Judge Jonathan Gibson granted Moores conditional bail and warned him he is now subject to the police notification requirements.

He said: “You will get proper credit for your pleas in due course.

“Having pleaded guilty to a distribution charge you must know that is a serious charge, as well as the others of course, and so a custodial sentence is a distinct possibility.”

June 2016

Teesside loner shared indecent images of children

A LONER who shared indecent images of children with paedophiles to “feel important” was last night starting an 18-month prison sentence.

Jordan Shipman was said by his lawyer to be isolated and spent too much of his life talking to strangers in chatrooms and on social media sites.

He was arrested at his home in a Thornaby, near Stockton, after experts spotted he had been sending child abuse pictures and videos to Youtube.

An examination of Shipman’s computer showed he had uploaded 138 images, and a further nine were found on the 22-year-old’s mobile phone.

Teesside Crown Court heard yesterday that he told police he had started communicating with others online about eight months before he was arrested.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said: “The root of this offending behaviour lies in Mr Shipman’s low self-esteem. He has been bullied all his life.

“He finds comfort spending time on his own in his home address, having little interaction with anyone. He has never had any sort of relationship other than those online.

“It is quite clear he has spent far too much time on social websites. When he found out that these other people had an interest in such images, he sent them to feel important.”

Shipman, of Mansfield Avenue, Thornaby, admitted charges of making and distributing indecent images of children.

Judge Stephen Ashurst also put him on the sex offenders’ register for ten years, and imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which limits his internet use.

The judge told him: “You also downloaded images of children and you say in your pre-sentence report that you did not get any sexual satisfaction from doing that.

“Whether that’s true or not, you must have known that some of the images were particularly disgusting, and distributing and passing them into other people is a serious crime.”

June 2016

Man, 63, admits child sex abuse

A 63-year-old Wigan man has admitted a string of child abuse crimes.

John Breeze pleaded guilty to 17 offences and had already admitted six others.

Sentence has been adjourned until later this month and Judge Stephen Everett said: “The issue of dangerousness has to be considered.”

The admission came as another Wigan man found with almost 3,000 indecent images on his computer walked free from court.

Breeze, of Downall Green Road, Ashton, had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to six offences of possessing more than 11,500 indecent images of children.

He has now admitted seven offences of indecently assaulting two boys, one aged 10 and 11 and the other aged under 16 and seven offences of taking indecent photographs of them.

Those offences occurred between May 1998 and August 2000. Breeze additionally pleaded guilty to three offences of taking indecent images of another boy in June 2002.

Breeze, who appeared at Liverpool Crown Court via video link from Walton Prison, was further remanded in custody to await sentence on June 24.

June 2016

Pervert had indecent images of children

Wigan magistrates heard that 2,792 indecent images of girls aged between eight and 13 were discovered on 67-year-old John Bolger’s computer after the National Crime Agency alerted the police that several indecent photos had been uploaded to the internet via an email address in his wife’s name.

Officers made the discovery after a warrant was executed at Bolger’s home on Prestbury Avenue, Winstanley.

Tess Kenyon, prosecuting, said: “In interview Mr Bolger admitted clicking on an email link and downloading five images of young girls in stockings and suspenders but said he had deleted them immediately.

“He said he was horrified to find that they had been uploaded to Google Cloud after he received an email telling him his account had been blocked.

“When the electrical items seized from his address were examined, 2,792 images of category C were located. The children in the images were aged between eight and 13.

“It was put to him in interview that the children were obviously between those ages and he accepted that he had searched on the internet for terms including ‘naughty schoolgirl pictures’.

“He stated in interview that he was deeply ashamed of his actions.”

The court heard that Bolger, who was described as a retired professional, had no previous convictions but that the offence had occurred between March 2008 and February 2012.

Ged Fraser, defending, said: “He is ashamed of his conduct and of course to find himself before the court.

“He has lost his good character which was dear to him and necessary through his working life. It is a great shame when someone of his age loses their good character.

“He has been charged with making indecent images but this refers to the uploading and as I understand it, on a Google Mail account so that documents can be accessed from different devices it stores items on a cloud-based service.

“This is what has happened on four or five occasions but when Mr Bolger realised what was happening he stopped doing that. He did not intend to distribute images on the internet.”

Bolger pleaded guilty to one count of making indecent images of children at an earlier hearing.

He was given a 12-week sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to complete a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was also made subject to a notification requirement, meaning he has to inform the police of any changes to his address or other personal details, for seven years and to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £80.

June 2016

Pervert 41, pretended to be 16 to say ‘rude’ things to 11-year-old girl on Facebook

A man aged 41 pretended to be a 16-year-old boy and made “disgusting” sexual suggestions to a girl of just 11 while chatting to her on Facebook.

He said sexually-charged “rude things” to her and, when the girl’s “horrified” mother discovered the conversations, she felt “sick and angry”, a court heard.

Stephen Hodson, of Kingsway, Cleethorpes, admitted causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity between April 24 and October 3 last year.

Stephen Hodson, of Kingsway, Cleethorpes, admitted causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity between April 24 and October 3 last year.

Andrew Bailey, prosecuting, told Grimsby Crown Court that the girl accepted a friend request from Hodson on Facebook after she wrongly thought he was a friend of her brother.

They spoke on Facebook for several months without problems but he started to say “rude things” that made her feel uncomfortable.

He asked her: “Are you a good girl or a bad girl?” and “I bet you’ll do rude things when you are older.”

The girl did not engage in the sexual conversations. He asked her if she was alone and if anyone else could see the conversations.

Hodson asked her for a photograph of her face but the girl refused to send one. He told her he was 16 years old.

He did not arrange to meet the girl and she blocked him on Facebook but the conversations came to light when her mother found them on the girl’s iPad.

The conversations made the mother “feel sick and angry”.

Richard Hackfath, mitigating, said Hodson led a lonely and isolated life and had suffered health problems with serious physical difficulties. He had been bullied at school because of these.

“He spends too much time by himself and has found an outlet by use of the internet which has led him into serious criminal behaviour,” said Mr Hackfath.

“It is not suggested there was any attempt to make direct face-to-face contact with the complainant.

“There is no suggestion that he has tried to set that up and no suggestion that he has been asking for indecent photos of her.”

Hodson was “naive” but had no previous convictions. He had a caution for assault from 2008.

Recorder Tahir Khan QC told Hodson: “You pretended that you were 16 years old and the two of you chatted over a number of months.”

The girl’s mother was “horrified” when she found the Facebook conversations and was “sick and angry at what she saw, as any parent would be”.

He added: “The things you said to this 11-year-old girl were disgusting and entirely inappropriate.

“As a man of mature years, you should have known that what you were doing was quite wrong.”

Hodson was given a three-year community order, including a sex offenders’ treatment programme, and a sexual harm prevention order for life, banning him from contacting the girl and restricting his contact with other children.

He was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years and must pay a £60 statutory charge

June 2016

Undertaker jailed for sexually abusing young girls

A undertaker who sexually abused young girls has been jailed.

Michael Coggins, 68, of Church Street, Alcombe, Somerset, abused three girls in Hove between 1980 and 1986.

Appearing at Hove Crown Court last week, he admitted 18 offences of indecent assault and gross indecency against the girls who were aged between seven and 16. 

Coggins was jailed for four years, placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

June 2016

Cotswold clergyman admits molesting underage girl

A vicar who served in the idyllic parish where the TV show Father Brown was filmed today admitted molesting a girl more than 40 years ago.

Cotswold clergyman Grahame Humphries, 71, stepped down as vicar of Blockley and Bourton-on-the-Hill in October 2012.

Married Humphries indecently assaulted the girl in the early 70s while serving as curate at St Michael’s Church in Wandsworth, southwest London.

Humphries was ordained more than 40 years ago and also served as curate in Slough as well as working in North Warwickshire, Norfolk and Lichfield.

He admitted indecent assault at Kingston Crown Court today but insisted he only kissed the girl on the lips.

Patricia May, prosecuting, said: “The defendant admits that on one occasion he kissed the victim on the lips but asserts that was all that he did.”

Ms May said the Crown do not accept the plea on this basis so a judge will hear evidence next month before passing sentence.

Adjourning the hearing until July 13, Judge Judith Coello said: “The court is going to hear evidence then from both you and the complainant.

“The court will then determine for itself the facts in this case.”

Humphries, of Lees Heights, Charlbury, Oxfordshire, admitted indecent assault against a girl, under the age of 16, between 1971 and 1972.

He was granted unconditional bail ahead of the next hearing.

June 2016

‘Porn addict’ shared child abuse images

A self-confessed pornography addict who admitted possessing and distributing child abuse images has been placed on the sex offenders register.

Damien Bancroft shared the photographs and videos from addresses in Dundee and Forfar over a four-and-a-half year period.

A court was told that the 36-year-old could not explain why he had distributed the material to others.

Bancroft will be sentenced at Forfar Sheriff Court on 3 August.

Depute fiscal Trina Sinclair told the court that police officers, acting on information, found more than 600 still images and 16 videos on two laptops and also on a mobile phone.

Miss Sinclair said Bancroft admitted to police that he was a pornography addict, having started watching adult material at the age of 19.

He accepted that he had downloaded and shared images with others but could not explain why that included indecent images of children.

Bancroft admitted taking or making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children between 14 May, 2011 and 20 October, 2015.

He further admitted distributing indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children.

Sheriff Pino de Emidio continued Bancroft’s bail and placed him on the sex offenders’ register in the interim.