November 2016

Newton Abbot man, 24, admits rape and abuse

A man from Newton Abbot has pleaded guilty to raping and abusing a girl.

Thomas Wilson, aged 24, of Webster Place, Newton Abbot, admitted two statutory rapes, five offences of sexual activity with a child, and two sexual assaults on a child.

Judge Robert Linford adjourned his case at Exeter Crown Court until last month and ordered a probation pre sentence report. He released Wilson on bail

Mr Peter Coombe, prosecuting, said Wilson had entered his pleas on the basis that he believed the girl consented. The guilty pleas to statutory rape were on the basis that the victim was under 13 at the time.

He said the complainant maintains she did not consent but the crown have accepted the plea on the basis that Wilson believed she did

November 2016

Man jailed for 32 years for multiple child rape and cruelty during four-year ‘reign of terror’

A paedophile from Frimley has been jailed for 32 years after a four-year “reign of terror” during which he raped and abused three young children.

After a four-week trial at Guildford Crown Court, a jury found Dean Stuart Talbot-Bailey guilty of eight counts of rape against a child under 13 and seven counts of child cruelty.

On Tuesday (November 22), the 45-year-old was jailed for 32 years for his crimes, which were committed in Surrey Heath borough between 2010 and 2014.

Judge Stephen Climie described Talbot-Bailey’s offending as “a reign of terror”.

Talbot-Bailey was sentenced to 26 years in prison for eight counts of rape against a child under the age of 13-years-old and six years for seven counts of child cruelty.

The sentences are to run consecutively and an additional 12 months was added to his licence period.

Talbot-Bailey was given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and is to remain on the Sexual Offenders Register for life.

November 2016

Paedophile grandfather-of-six caught after 11-year-old secretly filmed his advances

A GIRL of 11 turned amateur detective to trap a pervert who pestered her for kisses and wanted to take photos of her.

David Peckett, 71, asked the child if she liked sex and if she knew the meaning of words of a sexual nature.

The puzzled youngster got a recording device when her family said she might have been mistaken about what Peckett said.

November 2016

Schoolgirl who was sexually abused now scared of ‘everything’

A man who sexually abused a young schoolgirl was given a seven year jail sentence.

Faroukh Yousuf (47) was convicted of three counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13, during two months of last year, on majority 11- 1 verdicts.

He was also found guilty, by the jury at Leicester Crown Court, of causing or inciting the same child to engage in sexual activity, on a majority verdict of 10-2.

Yousuf, of Loughborough Road, Leicester, denied all the allegations claiming nothing indecent occurred and that the child, aged 10, was making it all up.

Philip Gibbs, prosecuting, said the defendant had told the girl not to tell anyone about what had happened.

The victim gave evidence during a six day trial outlining how he had assaulted her and touched her intimately.

On another occasion the defendant exposed himself and tried to assault her.

The incident stopped when somebody else approached the area where they were.

Sentencing, Judge Ebraham Mooncey said: “It’s a case where planning and grooming was involved and an element of manipulation.

“You took advantage of her naivety.

“She says she’s now scared of ‘everything,’ it’s affected her schooling and she struggles.

“She spends a lot of time on her own.

“These things shouldn’t have happened to her in the first place.

“You, for your own pleasure, did those things she has accused you of.

“You said that she was a liar.”

The judge added: “In mitigation, it’s fair to say that before these matters you were a man of hitherto good character.

“I bear in mind your incarceration will have an effect upon your family.”

Yousuf was told he will have to enlist on a sex offender register for life and was placed on a sexual harm prevention order for life.

November 2016

‘Despicable’ New Addington child rapist is jailed

A car mechanic who groomed and raped a young girl who washed cars at his workshop has been jailed.

Frederick Skinner began grooming his victim when she was just 12-years-old.

The 59-year-old offered her pocket money to work at his workshop, where he would brush past her as she cleaned his cars.

November 2016

Raid at home of perverted pensioner uncovers child and animal sex abuse images

November 2016

Former school caretaker jailed after being found guilty of sexually assaulting young girl

A former school caretaker who worked in Staffordshire has been jailed after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl.

Eric Darby, who held the job at the school for 10 years, was sentenced to five years in prison yesterday. Retired Darby, aged 74, had denied four offences of sexual assault on a child under 13 but was found guilty by a jury.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard how Darby’s ‘considerable time’ at the school had made him into a well-liked local figure. The abuse, which took place in May last year, did not happen at the school.

November 2016

Paedophile jailed for 23 separate child sex offences

A Basingstoke man has been jailed for 20 years for sexually abusing three children over the space of 15 years.

Steven Beddoes, of St Peter’s Road, in South Ham, was found guilty of committing 23 different offences against two girls and a boy.

The offences included rape, attempted rape, indecent assault, and indecency with a child, and all took place in the Basingstoke area between 1999 and 2014.

Beddoes, 46, denied each of the 24 offences put against him during his trial at the end of August at Winchester Crown Court.

And following a guilty verdict, Judge Susan Evans sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment at the same court on Friday, November 18, with an extended licence period of six years.

He was also ordered to be placed on the sexual offenders register for life

October 2016

Milton Keynes man sentenced to seven years for sexual offences against children

A Milton Keynes man has been jailed for seven years for sexual offences against children.

At Leeds Crown Court on Monday (October 17), Graham Dartnell, 58, of Dunvedin Place, Hodge Lea was sentenced for a string of offences.

Following a joint investigation with West Yorkshire Police and Lancashire Police, Thames Valley Police also arrested 41-year-old Paul Bailey of Alconbury Crescent, Thornton Cleveleys also in connection with sexual offences against children.

Dartnell, from Milton Keynes, was found guilty to one count of conspiracy to make indecent images, three counts of sexual assault of a female child under 13, one count of cause/incite a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The offences took place between January 1, 2014 and December 30, 2015 in Belle Isle, Leeds.

Dartnell was arrested on December 30 last year and again on April 25, 2016 and charged on July 18.

Accomplice Paul Bailey was sentenced to a total of two years and six months imprisonment – he pleaded guilty at the same hearing to one count of conspiracy to commit a sexual act with a child and one count of possession/distribution of indecent images.

November 2016

Man who sent indecent Snapchat photos to teenage girls is spared jail

An offender who sent indecent images of himself to girls under 16 through the social media site Snapchat has been spared a jail sentence.

Instead, Robert Shewan Groat, 26, of South Road, Lerwick, has been ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work after he appeared in the Lerwick dock for sentence.

Groat was handed the hours by Sheriff Philip Mann as part of an 18-month community payback order.

He will remain on the sex offender’s register throughout the duration of the order.

Groat previously admitted sending the images to four girls.

He intentionally caused girls aged between 13 and 15 to look at a sexual image of himself naked or wearing only his underwear – and pictures of his genitalia.

The incident happened between 1st July and 16th August 2014.

Groat also admitted causing a 16-year-old girl to look at a sexual image of himself wearing underwear, and with himself exposed between 1st and 31st August 2014.

The offending started after one of the girls added Groat to the social media site, which allows people to post pictures, to communicate with him about a rowing team he was starting up.

The incidents happened in Bressay and elsewhere in the isles.

Sentence had been deferred for reports, and Groat was warned that the court would be considering all sentencing options.

But Sheriff Mann was today persuaded Groat could be handed a community-based disposal.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said Groat had co-operated fully with the court, adding it was “clear from the start” the matter would be resolved.

He said contact was made with the families of the complainers at a very early stage, and apologies had been tendered.

Mr Allan said Groat had been assessed as being at a low risk of re-offending.

He said Groat was “immature for his years” and had suffered from a “very low mood” because of what was going on in his life.

“He’s really had to leave where he was living and try to find a new life. The stigma of his appearance in court for these offences is something he will have to work very hard to throw off.”

The agent said Groat had accepted his responsibility for what had happened, and had pleaded at a very early stage.

Sheriff Mann told Groat: “This was a very, very serious series of offending. It was quite unacceptable to subject these young girls to the photographs you sent to them via Snapchat. It’s all the more serious because these girls contacted you for entirely innocent purposes. Whether you were intoxicated or not, you took advantage of that, so it is a serious matter.”

However, the Sheriff said Groat was a first offender and, on that basis, could be sentenced without the imposition of a custodial sentence.

November 2016

Plymouth man with child abuse images ‘wanted to be caught’

A man with more than 200 indecent images of children wanted to be caught, a court heard.

Disabled Keith Griggs, aged 51, left the vile pictures on his mobile phone, where they were seen by a carer.

Plymouth Crown Court heard that he had been cautioned for an identical offence in 2010.

Handing him a suspended prison sentence, Judge Paul Darlow said: “I really hope you come to realise the certain psychological damage, if not physical damage, done to the children who are victims of this sort of pornography.

“These young children are robbed of their childhoods.”

Griggs, of Manor Street, Stonehouse, pleaded guilty to four offences of possession of indecent images between September 2015 and this June.

He also admitted to possession of prohibited images of children – usually vile cartoons.

Mike Brown, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said police investigators found six images in Category A, the most severe class showing adults abusing children.

Griggs also had 22 pictures of Class B, 207 in Class C and 44 prohibited images.

The defendant, who has a leg in a brace and uses a walking frame, was allowed to sit in the well of the court rather than the dock.

Griggs was handed a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 30 days of one-to-one probation supervision to tackle his offending.

He will have to sign the Sex Offender Register for a decade, pay £250 costs and £100 victim surcharge.

November 2016

Former Northwood School teacher found guilty of sex attack on pupil

A former Three Rivers teacher has been found guilty of a indecent assault on a schoolgirl

Anthony John Pryor, 73 of Pinner, Middlesex was found guilty of one count of indecent assault on a girl under 16 years of age on Friday November 11 after a four-day trial at Isleworth Crown Court.

The offence happened in 1992 when Pryor was employed as a maths teacher at Northwood School, on Pinner Road, and the victim was a pupil aged 15.

A former pupil who knew the victim told the Observer: “The sentence was what she was expecting. I think she is just glad that it is all over more than anything else.

“Something about him made us uncomfortable. He tried to be friends with his pupils but we always thought he was smarmy.”

Pryor was sentenced to six months imprisonment suspended for 18 months. He will also have to sign the Sex Offenders Register for seven years and has been ordered to pay costs of £1,200.

The allegation was reported to police in 2014 and an investigation began by officers from Child Abuse Investigation Team from Hillingdon and Ealing Boroughs.

November 2016

Man back in front of magistrates pleads guilty to possessing indecent images

A dad who swapped indecent images of children on a social networking site and claimed he did so in a bid to frame perverts has been caught viewing such pictures again.

Several years ago, when Gary Ashby was 31 and lived in Chatham, he downloaded more than 1,000 indecent images on his computer, including one of a three-year-old being raped.

Ashby, formerly of Yarrow Road, had posed as a 13-year-old girl to set up a fake account and used a tag name of Jessica Rabbit.

When police raided his home they found 1,135 level one images, seven level two images, 19 level three images and six level four images – the second-most serious – on his laptop.

He admitted three charges of making indecent images of children when he appeared before magistrates in Medway and was handed a 12-month suspended sentence and was put on a sexual offences prevention order for seven years, which banned him from accessing the internet and meant he would be monitored by police.

Speaking after his conviction, Ashby said: “There was no intention of gratification. I found these people on the site and wanted to stop them doing what they were doing.

“I made a mistake, I went about it completely the wrong way, I made a bad judgement, it’s ruined my life, I’ve lost my job, I’ve really shot myself in the foot. I am not a sick individual, none of this was ever done to get a thrill or for sexual gratification.”

Earlier this month however, Ashby, who is now 34, found himself back in front of Medway magistrates, after being charged with four counts of being in possession of indecent photographs.

Ashby, now of Ford Place, in Ford Road, Wrotham Heath, pleaded guilty to all four charges when he appeared in the dock.

Magistrates were told in total Ashby had 96 indecent images ranging from Category A to C with C being the lower range of seriousness. Since his first conviction categorisation has been re-classified.

The bench decided to adjourn the case and sent it to Maidstone Crown Court to be dealt with. A date for Ashby’s sentencing is yet to be fixed and he was granted bail until then.

As part of his bail conditions Ashby is not allowed to be in possession of a device capable of accessing the internet and is not allowed to access Twitter.

November 2016

Former prison officer sentenced at Norwich Crown Court after admitting possession of indecent images

A former prison officer has been sentenced after admitted possessing indecent images of children.

Christian Kerr, 30, of Marryat Road, Norwich, was given a six month jail sentence, suspended for 24 months after he previously admitted three charges of making indecent images of children.

Kerr, who appeared at Norwich Crown Court on Monday, was also ordered to undertake a rehabilitation activity requirement for 60 days and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for seven years.

The charges relate to indecent images and videos of children which he had downloaded.

Kerr was a serving prison officer at the time of his arrest in April.

November 2016

Teacher convicted of grooming three school girls for porn fuelled sex-fest and romp on wife’s wedding dress

A TEACHER who had slept with a student on his wife’s wedding dress during an all-night “sex fest” is facing jail.

Music master Simon Ball, 42 of Greenwich has been convicted of grooming three girls, aged 13 to 16, before abusing them at a boarding school.

He bedded one victim in a chapel and in his bedroom before having sex on his wife’s bridal gown on the floor of his spare room.

As the grooming continued he would “sneak” into her house and have sex in her bedroom with her parents asleep upstairs.

Today a jury found Ball guilty of four counts of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust and he faces jail.

A jury is still deliberating over a further four counts of abuse against the victims, now all adults, from their time as pupils at a boarding school.

During his trial Peterborough Crown Court heard one victim had a “sex fest” with the teacher after watching pornography at his house.

She told police: “I remember him putting pornography on while we were in the living room and it was just like, it was just a sex fest. It was sex all night.

“There was a time, I think it was that night and this is going to make me feel and sound awful.

“He asked me to have sex on his wife’s wedding dress and we did. He got it out and he laid it on the floor and we had sex on top of it and he put it back in the cupboard.”

The girl, who was convinced she loved Ball, continued: “I just remember the whole way through the relationship I hated his wife. I absolutely hated her.”

The victim also told how she was “jealous” when he started foreplay with her pal then joined in with a threesome when he beckoned.

His then wife told the court how her husband had asked her to lie to police and tell them she’d thrown away her dress.

She also said how the couple split up after she came across a text from one of his students when she had gone back to the house and found his phone on the side.

Ball left the school amid a probe into his conduct but he was given a positive reference and got a job at a Cambridgeshire school only to be suspended following fresh claims.

Ball was found guilty of four counts of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust.

He had previously admitted five counts of sexual activity by a person in a position of trust, plus five similar offences at his previous school and four indecent assaults.

The jury has yet to reach a verdict on four counts of indecent assault and a further count of engaging in sexual activity while in a position of trust between 2001 and 2004.

November 2016

Burnham man used Tinder in bid to get 15-year-old to perform sex acts

A mechanic used Tinder, Instagram and Snapchat in a bid to get a 15-year-old girl to send him naked photos of herself.

Shaun Stone, 23, from The Vines, in Marsh Road, Burnham-on-Crouch, pleaded guilty to causing or inciting the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, to engage in sexual activity and send him indecent images of herself when he appeared in Chelmsford Crown Court on Tuesday (November 22).

Judge Christopher Morgan heard that Stone started speaking to the under-age girl on social media on January 2 of this year, asking her to carry out sex acts on both him and herself, and was only stopped when the girl’s mother spotted the explicit messages.

Katie Armstrong, mitigating, said: “The defendant did not purposefully go out to seek a 15-year-old girl. He was going on Tinder and Facebook to communicate with people. It was initially Instagram and then Snapchat.

“He did make full admissions in his interview. The conversation only lasted for 15 minutes, even though he accepts the impact it could have had. It is on the cusp of grooming but it hasn’t gone as far as grooming.

“He carried on the conversation even though he knew she was 15. He asked would she go with someone if there was a three-year age gap, leading her to believe he was 18 and he accepts that. In no way, shape or form is he attracted to children. This is just something that went too far.”

The court heard that Stone lost his job as a mechanic in Burnham after his initial appearance in Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court last month, and also suffers from mental health issues.

“He has lost people in his life,” Ms Armstrong continued. 

“The reason he went on Snapchat is because he is an isolated person and hasn’t ever had many friends and doesn’t socialise with anyone of his own age. He has had suicidal thoughts.

“He is extremely close to his grandmother and would hate to think this has damaged his relationship with her.

“It can’t be said he didn’t receive any sexual gratification from this, but he doesn’t enjoy a sexual relationship at all. He just enjoys talking about it.”

Passing sentence, Judge Morgan said: “You asked this girl to engage in oral sex with you. You also asked whether she could photograph herself.

“As your counsel has conceded, you received sexual gratification. You came across the victim on social media and started a conversation with her.

“You have developed a limited and closed relationship with the opposite sex and it was against this background that this happened. There is evidence that this would have continued without protection from the girl’s mother. Your sexual gratification came from the nature of the conversation.

“There is no mitigation for the conversation lasting only 15 minutes. It was only when the mother of the child engaged in the conversation and effectively brought it to an end by saying ‘I will call the police’ that you stopped.

“It is suggested on your behalf that there is no grooming, but the grooming comes from your suggestion in the conversation that the victim looked older than she was, that she looked 17 or 18. In those circumstances it is far more likely the child will engage in the activity being incited.”

Stone was handed an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and must also carry out 20 days of rehabilitation, 150 hours of unpaid work and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for an indefinite period of time.

November 2016

Former Liverpool councillor uncovered as sick paedophile in police sting

THIS paedophile thought he was going to meet and sexually abuse a three-year-old girl at Heaton Park – but was instead met by police

A twisted paedophile’s secret life of depravity was exposed when he was snared in a police sting in Heaton Park.

Former Liberal Democrat chair and Warbreck councillor Richard Roberts, 66, travelled to Manchester from Liverpool believing he was meeting a fellow child molester, who was going to hand over his three-year-old granddaughter for him to sexually abuse.

November 2016

Middle-aged paedophile jailed after trying to meet an 11-year-old for sex

A 55-year-old man from Chatham will spend three years behind bars after he tried to meet a child for sex online.

Alan Gibson of Rowan Lea Road, Chatham, was arrested by officers in September after travelling to Queenborough via train. He had travelled to the area with the intention of meeting an 11-year-old girl for sex.

Gibson was later charged by Kent Police with one count of arranging the commission of a child sex offence.

He pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court and was sentenced to three years and four months on Wednesday, November 23.

A sexual harm prevention order was also made for 10 years and he was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Detective Constable Kinga Hammersley from the pedophile online investigation team said: “We proactively target people who view indecent images of children, abuse children or use the internet as a way of seeking opportunities to commit offences against children using various methods.

“In this case we intercepted a man who purposely travelled to Queenborough with the intention of abusing a young child.”

November 2016

Pervert jailed for filming in showers at showing championships

A man who filmed a girl in the showers during the British Show Pony Society winter championships has been sent to prison for 14 months.

Lee Mark Grovell of Silverbirches, Brunel Road, Fairwater, Cwmbran pleaded guilty not only to voyeurism, but also to three counts of making indecent images of children, and possessing an extreme pornographic image.

The 46-year-old was caught filming in the Arena UK shower cubicles on Sunday, 27 March, by working hunter competitor

“I happened to look down, and there was a phone, underneath the dividing partition, videoing me,” 

“I shouted, but the person didn’t say anything. I thought maybe it was a teenager messing around, but got worried when there was no response.”

She came out of the shower and confronted Grovell.

“I realised he wasn’t a teenage boy – I hadn’t thought it would be a middle-aged man,” she said.

“I went off at him and gave him a few profanities; I called him everything under the sun.

“The worst thing was that I could cope but he didn’t know who it was in the shower, how old I was or anything, it could have been a child.”

Sophie reported Grovell to BSPS officials and he was taken to the police station.

“I had to spend the last day of the show giving statements,” Sophie said.

“It turned out he had two phones and although he was smug at first, that changed when they found the second one.

“He had indecent images of children, and a sickening video of him with a horse. But police said they couldn’t recover the video of me. He could have deleted it but there’s no knowing.”

She did not have to attend a trial, as Grovell pleaded guilty, and her victim statement was read out on her behalf, at Lincoln Crown Court last Monday (14 November).

“I’m just shocked; you think you’re safe at a horse show and then to have this happen, I’m glad he’s in jail now,” she said.