March 201

Alcester former Royal Marine jailed for sexual assault

A FORMER Royal Marine from Alcester who sexually assaulted two teenage girls has been jailed for his ‘dreadful’ offences.

Neil Potter, 55, of Hertford Road, Alcester, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of sexual activity with a child.

He was jailed for 15 months, ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years and made subject to a sexual offences prevention order banning him from working with children and limiting his contact with children indefinitely.

Prosecutor Tim Green said the first incident took place on an occasion when there were a number of guests at Potter’s home.

When he was alone in a room with a 13-year-old girl he put his hand inside her pants as she was lying on a sofa.

The girl did not say anything at the time, but the offences came to light after a 15-year-old girl complained in the summer of last year that Potter had touched her breasts over her top.

The police were contacted, and it later emerged that Potter kept a journal in which he had written about feelings of loneliness and thoughts of wanting to sleep with the younger girl lying naked next to him.

When he was arrested Potter denied touching the older girl’s breasts and also made denials when he was questioned a month later about his younger victim, said Mr Green.

Sean Logan, defending, said Potter had ‘served his country’ as a Royal Marine for six years, but conceded: “There’s not an awful lot of mitigation that can be put forward by Mr Potter, apart from his guilty pleas.”

Urging the judge to pass a suspended sentence, he argued: “If he goes to jail immediately, there’s no offending work which will be done with him. If he receives a suspended sentence there’s a greater element of work and supervision.”

But jailing Potter, Judge Trevor Faber told him: “You know perfectly well these offences are dreadful. A custodial sentence is inevitable.”

April 2016

Northfield man found guilty of sexual assault of a child

Melvin James Cain, aged 63, of Taysfield Road, Northfield was charged on 8th January 2016 with two counts of sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.

The Grandfather of nine pleaded not guilty to the two counts of sexual assault of his victim who was 2-3 at the time.

However, on Monday 11th of April, a jury at Birmingham Crown Court found Mr Cain guilty and he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

A relative of Mr Cain told us “I thought the world of him, never thought he could do something like that, he’s destroyed me, totally ripped me apart”

In conjunction with the 14 year prison term, Mr Cain was also sentenced with a Restraining Order, A Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he will be spend the remainder of his life on the Sex Offenders Register.

April 2016

Malvern pensioner jailed for five years for sexual assault

A Malvern pensioner has been jailed for five years at Worcester Crown Court for sexual assault against two girls.

William Hogan, aged 77, of West Malvern Road, was found guilty after a trial in February.

Prosecutor Walter Bealby said some of the offences occurred more than 30 years ago.

Adam Western, mitigating pleaded for as short a sentence as possible in view of the defendant’s age.

Judge Robert Juckes QC said the jury had found Hogan guilty on what the witnesses had said.

He said Hogan would serve half the sentence before release on licence.

He made a sexual harm prevention order to forbid contact with any person under 18. This will last indefinitely. Hogan must also sign the sex offender register for five years.

December 2011

Teen found guilty of sexual assault

A TEENAGER who groped a 15-year-old schoolgirl has been found guilty of sexual assault by a jury at Worcester Crown Court.

Johnnie Connors, aged 17, of Main Road, Cropthorne, near Pershore, was granted bail and will be sentenced in January.

He was cleared of a second charge of causing the girl to engage in sexual activity without consent.

Judge Patrick Thomas QC warned that it would be “difficult to avoid” passing a custodial sentence.

He ordered Connors to observe an electronically tagged overnight curfew and not to contact any prosecution witnesses. The teenager must also sign the sex offenders’ register.

Prosecutor Peter Grice told the jury that on the evening of June 2 last year, Connors, who was then also 15, was with friends in Abbey Park, Evesham.

The victim was there with her friends at a social gathering, but he told them to go away so that he was left alone with the girl.

Mr Grice said Connors pushed her up against a wall by a rowing club, kissed her face and sexually assaulted her.

The girl’s ordeal ended when her boyfriend and another youth turned up.

Connors ran off but told her to keep the incident a secret or he would get her.

But she revealed what had happened to other people and her mother made her call the police.

December 2015

Teen who had sex with an underage girl and kept indecent pictures of her escapes jail sentence

A REDDITCH teenager who had sex with an underage girl and kept indecent pictures of her on his computer has escaped a jail sentence.

Michael Stokes, now aged 19, of Exhall Close in Redditch, was 16 when he had a relationship with the 15-year-old girl, Worcester Crown Court heard.

Shane Crawford, prosecuting, said the girl had ended their relationship because Stokes had been controlling and manipulative and stopped her seeing her friends.

Stokes did not take it well and had hacked into her Facebook account, Mr Crawford said.

He had also persuaded her to send him indecent pictures of herself which police found on his computer.

Stokes was first interviewed in November 2013, and told police he had thought the girl was over 16 but he now accepted he knew her real age, the court heard.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child and four of making a small number of still and moving indecent images, mostly in categories B and C.

Lee Egan, defending, said the 15-year-old had agreed to having sex and the pictures were sent during a “sexualised conversation” on the internet.

Stokes, he said, had Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and was still emotionally immature.

Judge Abbas Mithani QC, said the girl had been too young to give her consent to sex but he had taken into account the fact they were in a relationship.

He gave Stokes a community order for 18 months with supervision and a requirement to attend 25 days on a specified programme to address sexual offending.

November 2016

Pensioner goes to prison for abuse dating back 50 years

Justice has finally caught up with a Viewpark pensioner who was jailed for a year for child abuse which began half a century ago.

John Weir (75), of Laburnum Road, was sentenced at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

He had denied six charges of indecent assault and lewd conduct involving three young girls, but was found guilty on all counts after trial before Sheriff David Bicket.

The offences happened at houses in Harthill and Carluke.

It’s believed one of the victims was as young as nine when Weir abused her in the mid-1960s.

The other two girls were aged between 10 and 12 when they were targeted in the 1970s.

Weir also abused one of them later when she was a teenager.

Sheriff Bicket said only a prison sentence was appropriate. The sheriff also ordered Weir’s name to be put on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

August 2011

Redditch estate agent downloaded hundreds of indecent child images

A REDDITCH estate agent confessed that he was “excited” when he downloaded more than 800 indecent pictures of children from the internet.

Martin Collins told a probation officer: “It was like watching a car crash. You know it’s wrong but you can’t stop watching.”

Collins, 36-year-old father-of-one, was arrested at his office in Redditch last October and two laptop computers at his home in Briar Close, Evesham, were searched.

Prosecutor Paul Whitfield said this revealed 817 images. There were 673 of level 1, 46 of level 2, 25 of level 3 but 73 of more serious level 4.

Collins, who pleaded guilty at Worcester Crown Court to having the pictures, was given a three-year community order and told to attend a sexual offending group programme.

A sexual offences prevention order was made and he must register as a sex offender for five years.

Mr Whitfield said Collins first said that he was looking for adult porn when child sex images “popped up.”

But he later admitted that he became curious and an obsessive viewer because of the excitement it gave him. Children aged from three to teens were featured.

Defence counsel Martin Steen said the case had brought “total misery” to Collins, who had lost his family, home and job. He was of previous good character and had immediately been honest with police.

He added: “He wears his heart on his sleeve. He is an emotional man and regrets what has happened.”

Judge Alistair McCreath viewed some of the pictures in court. He told the weeping Collins: “These didn’t just pop up on your computer. You went looking for these and some have a high level of depravity.”

The judge said the worry was that people who looked at such images could be tempted to carry out offences on children.

If he sent Collins to jail, he would be mixing with dangerous paedophiles.

Judge McCreath said had a difficult choice but felt that a community order would be in the interests of protecting children rather than imposing custody.

September 2016

‘Porn addict’ downloaded thousands of indecent images

A SELF-confessed porn addict from Worcester who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children has been ordered to undertake a sex offender rehabilitation course.

Police raided the home of Owen Mackenzie in November last year and found more than 3,500 images including some of girls as young as six, Worcester Crown Court heard.

They had been put on his trail after Avon and Somerset police arrested another man for child porn offences and found a communication with Mackenzie, Robert Price, prosecuting, told the court.

They found 3,384 moving and still images of girls as young as six or eight at category C, the least serious, 284 moving or still images at category B and five at category A, the most serious. Mackenzie pleaded guilty to all three charges.

The 32-year-old had put in searches for the child sexual abuse images and downloaded the images between April, 2006 and December, 2015.

He also installed software to try and hide them, Mr Price said.

Mackenzie made a full confession to police and said he had looked at online porn for sexual gratification and out of boredom.

He also admitted talking to others in chat rooms about the material, Mr Price said. He had stopped when he got married.

Nicholas Roberts, defending, said Mackenzie admission of his addiction to porn had a grave impact on his relationship with his wife.

He had also lost his job as a consequence and the offending would make it more difficult for him to find future employment, she said.

Judge Nicholas Cole said the offences were serious but the number of images found fell into the lower end of similar cases that come before the courts.

He said a prison sentence would be too short for Mackenzie to get the treatment he needed so the most appropriate sentence was for a 36 month community order with requirements to complete twenty days rehabilitation and the group sex offenders work programme.

Mackenzie was also given a sexual harm prevention order restricting his use of computers for ten ten years and has to register as a sex offender for five years.

He was also ordered to pay £250 towards costs.

October 2016

Sex offender stamped on his fingers as he tried to climb out of Worcester canal

A HOMELESS convicted sex offender seen pushing another man into the canal in Worcester and then stamping on his fingers as he tried to get out has been jailed.

Witnesses saw David Pace pushing Peter Middleton into the canal near the retail park at Tallow Hill on the morning of February 20 this year, Worcester Crown Court heard.

John Brotherton, prosecuting, said witnesses heard a commotion and saw two men arguing by the side of the canal.

“They were facing each other and the bigger man, Pace, pushed the smaller man into the canal,” Mr Brotherton said. “He was submerged and then resurfaced and as he tried to get out, Pace stamped on his fingers.”

Mr Middleton eventually scrambled from the canal, the court heard.

Pace pleaded guilty at the start of a trial to one charge of assault causing actual bodily harm and also to breaching a criminal ASBO which is due to run until February, 2018.

Amanda O’Mara, defending, said Pace had been a heroin addict since his mid-20s.

He had started drinking after being made homeless because he was on the sex offenders register and unable to live in the home of a family member with children.

She said he had been in custody for five months since the offence.. He had become much healthier and intended to continue to tackle his addiction on his release.

Recorder Sam Mainds said he was concerned that Pace would have nowhere to go when he came out of prison and hoped arrangements could be made with the probation service to ensure he could live with a family member.

Pace, he said, was a lifelong heroin user who had survived and he urged him to stay clean.

“For pity’s sake, you’re going to kill yourself if you go on,” he said to Pace.

He was given a sentence of 11 months for assault and three months concurrent for breaching the criminal behaviour order, a total of eleven months, which would result in him being released almost immediately

June 2014

Child abuse images offender named

December 2016

Man sentenced for child sexual abuse images

A man that was found with more than 500 indecent images of children has been given a nine-month jail sentence suspended for two years. He was also placed on the sex offenders register

Police raided Paul Hicks’ home after they became aware he was swapping and distributing indecent images of children. His laptop was seized.

Hicks, 59 of St. Margaret’s Drive, Sprowston admitted possessing the indecent images and possession of 30 extreme images of pornography 

December 2016

JAILED: Former DJ rubbed cream on teen boy’s ‘private areas’ while he slept

A FORMER DJ who sexually abused a 14-year-old boy while he was sleeping has been jailed for five years.

Stephen Marsters carried out the assault at his former home in Burnley after gaining the boy’s trust over their shared appreciation of music and computer games, Burnley Crown Court was told.

Marsters, who also worked as a courier, denied charges of sexual assault and sexual assault by penetration but was found guilty by a jury.

The court was told the assaults took place on April 5, last year, when the boy, who can not be named for legal reasons, was sleeping over at Marsters’ house.

The court heard Marsters, now of Skinner Lane, Bradford, asked the boy if he could give him a massage but the victim declined.

When the victim went to sleep Marsters began to rub cream on his ‘private areas’.

The victim awoke when Marsters began to touch him sexually and the boy got up and locked himself in the bathroom, the court was told.

Defending, Clare Thomas said her client was a loner who had been brought up in care and was not looking forward to the prospect of prison.

Miss Thomas said: “The defendant knows that the only sentence for him will be one of immediate custody.

“He has been to prison before in 2001 for an affray.

“His particular concern is if the other inmates find out what he is in for.

“He is somewhat of a loner. He doesn’t really like mixing with other people.”

The court was told Marsters has a previous conviction for an indecent assault on a boy in 1998.

As well as imposing the custodial sentence Judge Andrew Woolman made Marsters subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order banning him from having unsupervised contact with anyone under the age of 16.

Judge Woolman said: “You began to groom your victim over several months to get him to spend time with you.

“I understand from Miss Thomas you have had a difficult life.

“But that doesn’t justify you abusing a 14-year-old boy for your own sexual satisfaction.”

November 2016

A Shropshire man downloaded thousands of indecent images of children on the morning his computer was seized by police, a court heard.

Officers found thousands of still images and videos of child abuse on a hard drive and a computer seized from the home of Phillip Cuckson.

The 69-year-old, of  at Furlongs Road, Cleobury Mortimer, admitted six charges of making indecent photographs of a child when he appeared at Telford Magistrates Court on October 19.

Appearing at Shrewsbury Crown Court, he was given a 12-month suspended sentence, which will remain in place for two years.

Cuckson was ordered to complete a 60-day rehabilitation programme and 100 hours of unpaid work.

He will also have a notification requirement for 10 years and be under a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

Police attended Cuckson’s home on April 19 in relation to another matter.

Miss Laura Hobson, prosecuting, said Mr Cuckson “seemed agitated” and was keen to take a hard drive with him saying he needed to take it to work.

The hard drive and a computer tower were seized and examined where police found thousands of images which were contained in a “well managed folder system” on the hard drive

There were different folders for girls and boys and images of children ranging from the age of four to 16 and were believed to date from November 8, 2013, to April 19, 2016, the court was told.

On the computer, police found that during the morning, the computer had been seized it had been used to access a website from which thousands of images had been downloaded, mainly of girls aged from eight to 12.

There were 214 still images in the most serious category and 11 videos, 179 still images in a lesser category and 11 videos and 4,777 still images and 21 videos in the category of lowest seriousness.

Sentencing, Judge Jim Tindal said Cuckson had already been taking steps himself to receive treatment.

He said: “You have had an interest in pornography and over time it has become clear you want something more extreme.

“The harm in this offence is not simply that it is something that can lead to actual sexual abuse against children.

“But every image you click on fuels a demand for the sexual abuse of children.”

Cuckson was also ordered to pay costs of £340 plus a victim surcharge.

September 2016

Pervert admits taking/making indecent photos or pseudo photos of a child

A man who made indecent images of a girl was caught after the pictures were discovered on a memory card he sold, a court heard.

Brian Griffin, 44, appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted taking or permitting to be taken or making indecent photos or pseudo photos of a child.

The offence took place between October 20, 2014, and January 9, 2015.

Griffin, who was made subject to the notification requirements of the sexual offences act, also failed to appear in court on May 17 this year.

The court was told Griffin had created the indecent images by superimposing the child’s head on to an adult female’s body.

Fiscal Depute Lidia Sim told the court: “On January 9 last year the accused sold the SD card to Cash Generators Ltd on George Street.

“When the manager examined the card for resale purposes he found indecent images of a child.

“He immediately called the police and later that day handed over the card.”

Griffin’s address was searched and the SD card was examined.

A folder was found on the card which was consistent with it being used with a camera found at Griffin’s address.

In total, 14 pseudo images were found.

The court heard the images comprised of two hard copy pictures which had been placed in a particular way. There was also handwritten text underneath two pictures.

Sheriff William Summers deferred sentence on Griffin, described in court papers as a prisoner of HMP Grampian, until next month for a background report.

December 2016

Indecent images charges admitted 

A 22-year-old man has admitted making indecent photographs and possession of prohibited images of children.  

Dairmuid Joseph John Keyes, Centenary House, Victoria Street, Belfast, pleaded guilty to 16 counts of making indecent photographs of children.

Keyes also admitted three charges of having prohibited images of children.

The defendant pleaded guilty when he appeared last Friday at Craigavon Crown Court.

The offences are alleged to have happened in the county court division of Craigavon in January to May, 2015.

The case was adjourned to Craigavon Crown Court on February 10 next year so that a pre-sentence report can be prepared.

The defendant was remanded to appear back at court in Craigavon on continuing bail.

December 2016

Pervert tried to blackmail girl into having sex with him

A pervert who used indecent photos of an underage girl in a failed attempt to blackmail her into having sex with him has been jailed.

James Hewlett admitted two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two of possessing indecent images of the same underage victim, taken during webcam chats.

The 56-year-old grandfather was jailed for four years when he appeared before judge Robert Juckes QC at Worcester Crown Court on Friday, December 2.

Hewlett of Carlisle Road, Ronkswood, Worcester, came to the attention of police after the 15-year-old complainant’s mother reported him.

The mother had previously confiscated her daughter’s mobile phone, although she obtained a second and contact with Hewlett continued.

Abigail Nixon, prosecuting, said around 400 messages were exchanged between defendant and complainant between December 28 last year and January 2 this year.

On January 2 the complainant’s mother found her daughter communicating with the defendant via FaceTime and said ‘leave my daughter alone!’, causing Hewlett to immediately hang up.

The court heard how the defendant asked the complainant to take her clothes off via Skype.

“She had told him not to take photographs of her naked but she was aware he had done that,” said Miss Nixon.

Hewlett tried to arrange to meet with the complainant.

Miss Nixon said: “She had refused to do so, saying her parents would not let her. He was persuasive and threatened to show the pictures he had taken of her.”

In a victim personal statement the complainant said she had been ‘scared to leave the house’ and was ‘frightened of bumping into him’, telling police her GCSE results had suffered.

Judge Juckes said the offences were ones for which the public had a ‘great abhorrence’.

He said: “In this case the age disparity was very great. Your victim was only 15. The effect of this upon her has been exactly that which one would predict. It has completely taken from her her self-confidence.”

He added: “A significant aggravating factor is that when she resisted your attempt to get her to meet you, you effectively tried to blackmail her by using the photographs.”

Judge Juckes sentenced him to four years in prison for each of the counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, nine months for possession of the indecent images at category A and three months for those at category B. The sentences are to be served concurrently.

A sexual harm prevention order was made, preventing Hewlett having contact with children between the ages of 11 and 16.

He must also sign the sex offender’s register.

December 2016

“Sexual predator” who preyed on children is behind bars

Guildford Crown Court have jailed a man found guilty of a string of sexual offences against children.

38 year old Daniel York of Avondale Court, Churchfields, London, has been handed a prison term of 28 years.

York appeared in court on September 16 and was found guilty of a total of 28 charges for multiple child sex offences against nine girls.

It follows a Surrey Police investigation into offences between 2008 and 2013.

The offences, which took place between 2008 and 2013, included:

• · paying for the sexual services of a child

  · inciting a child to engage in sexual activity

  · the making, taking and possession of indecent images of children.

York later pled guilty on October 6 to further offences involving nine girls. 

The court heard that York would take on the disguise of various male and female personas and engage with girls over instant messaging. He incited them to engage in sexual activity and send indecent images of themselves over webcam or by instant messaging. In the course of his offending he would also use internet sites such as Gumtree and target girls to groom, meet and pay for sex.

December 2016

Ipswich man spared jail for child abuse images offences

A businessman has been spared prison after admitting filming up women’s skirts in supermarkets and making indecent images of children.

Timothy Church, of Whitton Church Lane, Ipswich, pleaded guilty at Ipswich Crown Court to two charges outraging public decency and four indecent child images offences.

The 47-year-old also admitted two further accusations of possessing 726 images of extreme pornography involving animals.

Three other charges – one of possessing extreme pornography and two of making indecent images of children – were withdrawn.

Prosecutor Michael Crimp said there were 64 still images and 18 moving images on Church’s electronic devices which were taken under the skirts of women.

These were taken on a mobile phone which had been put in a shopping basket.

The court later heard that on one of the images Church could be heard describing how such photos could be taken.

Mr Crimp said something like 1,500 child porn images were found on various devices after police carried out a search warrant at the company director’s home in October last year.

However, some of these were duplicated.

There were 147 unique images of children at Level A – the most serious category. There were also 197 unique images at Level B and 323 at Level C – the least serious grading.

Eight different moving images of child pornography were found.

The court was told Church had no previous convictions.

Karim Khalil, mitigating, said of Church: “He has presented himself as a model citizen.”

The court was told the consequences of an immediate custodial sentence would be severe, not only for Church, but for others including those who worked for him.

Mr Khalil added: “He accepts what he did was entirely wrong.”

Judge John Devaux said none of the victims of Church’s filming have been identified.

Church was sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months. He was also ordered to undertake 120 hours of unpaid work.

Church was told he must pay £1,200 costs and must register as sex offender for 10 years. A 10-year sexual harm prevention order was also made.

December 2016

Bexhill man jailed for child sex offences

A man has been jailed for 13 years for child sex offences, including running a website showing sexual abuse of a girl under the age of 16.

Richard Hunt, 47, unemployed, of Collington Avenue, Bexhill, appeared at Lewes Crown Court on Friday (December 2) having pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to a total of 14 offences.

Police said these included:

• Facilitating child sexual abuse images

• Inciting a penetrative child sex offence

• Inciting the taking of indecent images of children

• Attempting to arrange a child sex offence

• Money laundering

• Possession and distribution of indecent images of children

• Possession of extreme adult images

• Possession of prohibited images of children.

He was sentenced to 13 years’ imprisonment with an extended licence supervision requirement of two years after release.

Hunt will not be eligible to be considered for parole for at least eight years.

He will also be subject to sex offender registration for life and was issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), severely restricting his access to children and use of computers.

Hunt was also issued with a Sex Offender Travel Order banning his travel out of the UK for a period of five years after release.

In sentencing Hunt, Judge Paul Tain said: “It is absolutely clear there is truly significant risk posed by you to the public. “These are the most repellent examples of degrading behaviour towards children that a judge could hope to see.”

The prosecution followed an intelligence-led investigation by the Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) of Sussex Police.

The officer in the case, DC Martin Harmer, said: “The investigation into Hunt originated from intelligence found on the computer of a US suspect.

The intelligence indicated that Hunt had exchanged indecent images of children with that suspect. “We executed a search warrant at his home address in June 2012 and Hunt was arrested and interviewed. “

The forensic examination of his computer equipment and online accounts identified that Hunt possessed more than 10,000 indecent images of children and was exchanging these with a large number of people online. “He also engaged in extensive chat with others in which he encouraged them to sexually abuse and photograph children known to them. “One of the abused children was identified by our team as a German national.

It transpires that Hunt was instrumental in running a website dedicated to the horrific sexual abuse of this girl at the hands of a family friend there for some 10 years. “The website charged for images of the girl and Hunt managed the payment and administration of the site.

December 2016

Hotelier, 57, in disgrace after admitting that he raped a child

A former Skegness hotelier will be sentenced in the New Year after he admitted a charge of child rape.

Paul Parker, 57, admitted three child sex offences on a boy when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court by video link today (Monday, December 5).

Parker, formerly of Skegness Road, Chapel St Leonards, but now of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to a charge of raping a boy aged under 13 between September 2007 and September 2012.

He also admitted two charges of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity between the same dates.

Earlier this year Parker admitted charges relating to another young boy.

They were four charges of indecent assault on a male person and a charge of indecency with a child on dates between January 1997 and January 1999.

He also admitted making an indecent image of a child between 18 September 2013 and 30 September 2014.

Robert Underwood, prosecuting, said the second victim was identified after police seized a computer belonging to Parker.

Judge Michael Heath told Parker he would receive a prison sentence and adjourned sentence for a report on him by the probation service.

The judge told the court: “I can not sentence him without a report from the probation service which tells me if they consider him to be dangerous or not.

“Then I will have to consider if I think he is dangerous.”

Parker was remanded in to custody until he is sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court on January 6.