January 2014

Takeaway staff jailed after young girls were groomed

A girl of 12 was raped after she and her friends were sexually exploited by three men, a court heard.

Takeaway restaurant workers Mohammed Hussain, (pictured above) Shah Miah and Harris Uddin were jailed after a court heard how they groomed the vulnerable youngsters for their own sexual gratification.

The men were driving home from work in the early hours of the morning when they spotted the girls – two aged 12, one aged 13 and one aged 11 – in Cross Flatts park, Beeston, Leeds.

Leeds Crown Court heard the girls were frightened of going home because they had stayed out long past their parental curfew. Miah, 28, struck up a conversation with the girls before persuading them to go back to his home nearby in Woodview Street. The men offered the girls cannabis and played pornographic films before two of the girls were taken upstairs.

Hussain had sex with one of the 12-year-old girls as the victim asked him to stop during the attack. Uddin tried to remove the trousers of one of the girls but stopped when she asked him not to. All three men were arrested later the same day, in March last year, after police were informed.

Hussain pleaded guilty to rape and was jailed for six years and eight months. Uddin pleaded guilty to sexual assault and was jailed for 12 months.

The court heard Hussain, 28, and Uddin, 30, were in the country illegally as overstayers. They face deportation to the India after completing their sentences

Miah pleaded guilty to facilitating the commission of a sexual offence against a child. He was jailed for 18 months.

The court heard Miah is also serving a four and a half year sentence for sex offences against three other children.

Det Supt Pat Twiggs, Head of Crime for Leeds District, said: “These men preyed on these vulnerable young girls in a premeditated way to sexually exploit them. The circumstances of the offences included grooming behaviour leading to the appalling sexual abuse of victims that were clearly underage.

* Rape Crisis freephone helpline: 0808 802 9999

January 2014

Trainee primary school teacher, 22, had 1,400 indecent children pictures on computer

TRAINEE primary school teacher, Jolan Hall will have to find a new career after 1,400 indecent images of children were found on his computer.

The 22-year-old was said to be deeply embarrassed when police raised his student flat in Cardiff and found the images.

Gloucester Crown Court heard Hall, of Upper Common, Aylburton, was completing his degree in primary education at the University of Wales when he was caught.

He admitted 10 counts of making indecent images of children and two charges of distributing them.

Prosecutor Nick O’Brien said he was supplying them to others on a non-commercial basis to people who had given him similar images.

He said: “The matter that would cause the public most concern is at the moment of his arrest he was training in Cardiff as a primary school teacher.

“A search of his room was carried out and his lap top was seized.

“It showed he had been communicating with a number of people.

“He was cooperative with police and he gave them his password.”

The court was told Hall had 925 of the least serious images, but 11 of the worst.

Defending, Joe Maloney said Hall had hoped to become a teacher and had a degree in primary education.

Judge William Hart said that would never happen now.

Mr Maloney said: “He is 22 and he has never been in trouble before.

“There became a police descent on him in lodgings that he shared with others at university – it was particularly embarrassing for him.

“He has been open about his thoughts and he recognises that he has issues that need addressing.”

Hall was sentenced for a two year community order with supervision and will have to attend the Thames Valley Sexual Offenders Programme.

He was ordered to sign the sexual offenders’ registers and was made subject to a sexual offenders’ prevention order for five years.

Judge Hart said: “I regard this as both a serious and sad case.

“Serious because it involved you making or downloading from the internet and you have shared these images with other, like-minded people.

“The Thames Valley Sexual Offenders Programme is very intensive. It makes people face up to the reality of what they have done and it does in many cases have some positive outcomes.”

He told Hall: “I bear in mind you are only 22 and you were training to be a teacher.

“There is no indication that that was to give you access to children for unlawful purposes, but you have dashed any such hope of that career.

“Your studies and degree have all been rendered null and void.

“I think you are capable of staying out of trouble.”

January 2014

Paedo sex beast who ruined girl’s life sells art online

A vile paedophile is now making a living by selling creepy prints to customers — including unsuspecting parents — on auction website eBay.

Self-styled ‘artist’ John Mold, also known as John Muir, slammed his front door in our reporter’s face yesterday when our team approached him at his rural Co Leitrim home.

“Goodbye,” he barked when asked whether customers should be warned about his evil past.

In 2005, Mold, then 53, was sentenced to eight years in prison for horrific sexual abuse of a teenager.

The pervert, now is in his early 60s, is now hawking prints and paintings through his eBay shop, The1_Jmart.

Charging up to £5 (e6) a print, many of his images portray eyes gazing out at the prospective buyer.

“I bought two prints off him,” one sickened customer, a father of two teenage girls, told The Star.

“I had no idea the kind of sicko I was dealing with until I googled him.

“One of the prints I bought showed these eyes staring out from a forest.

“And that’s what is really creeping me out… it’s as if these are the artist’s eyes — in this case a convicted paedophile — looking out at me and my family.”

After Mold, who is originally from the UK, failed to answer an email we sent to him through eBay, The Star yesterday called to his home — a rural cottage in Rassaun West, Co Leitrim.

A woman who answered the door went to fetch him after being told that our journalist wanted to speak with Mold about his internet prints.

But when Mold came to the door and was informed of his own customer’s concerns, he barked: “Goodbye” before slamming the door

His eBay site was no longer accessible when The Star attempted to view it yesterday afternoon.

Mold’s horrendous sexual abuse of a 13-year-old led to him being jailed for eight years by Mr Justice Henry Abbott in the Central Criminal Court in 2005.

Mr Justice Abbott also directed that Mold be registered as a certified sex offender.

But in invoices sent to customers he makes no mention of his convictions in a lengthy  biography on the site.

Describing himself as an “international artist”, he boasts of having sold images in Ireland, the US, Australia, Canada, France, Gibraltar, New Zealand and the UK.

“Born in the UK, the artist John Mold is now resident in Ireland,” he writes. “Figurative pieces comprise the heart of his oeuvre.”

Mold was found guilty by a jury after a seven-day trial on a total of 40 charges, including sexual assault and attempted rape of the then 13-year-old girl.

He began molesting her after she told him she had been sexually abused as a child by an uncle.

The jury convicted Mold of one charge of orally raping the victim, one of attempted rape and 38 of sexual assault on dates from June 2 to November 11, 1995.

Sergeant Eamonn Sweeney told prosecuting counsel Mr Eanna Mulloy that Mold had no previous convictions.

The victim complained in 2004 about Mold, who denied her allegations to gardai.

The victim, in what Mr Justice Abbott called a “passionate statement”, asked the judge “to try and comprehend the horrendous pain, the absolute shame, degradation and embarrassment” she felt at Mold’s “expertly executed campaign of relentless abuse”.

She wrote: “I had initially thought I would address ‘that thing’ that refers to itself as John Mold but it doesn’t deserve that dignity.

“That thing took pleasure in destroying my young life and never batted an eyelid.

“Every single thing it did was premeditated with a single purpose of gratifying himself with me.

“The evil monster manipulated my parents and me.

“It is most definitely a monster and a monster of the worst kind that preys on children and feeds off their innocence, then watches as the remnants burn.

“That thing had the contempt to come and live in Ireland, picking the barbarically gruesome thing he could do.

“That thing had the absolute arrogance to think he could get away with abusing me.

“How dare he. That thing needs to be put in his place.

“Protect the children of this country from a monster who has the potential to wreak a path of destruction through their lives and put that thing away for a long time.”

December 2005

Sex offender jailed for eight years

An Englishman has been jailed for eight years by Mr Justice Henry Abbott at the Central Criminal Court for orally raping a teenage Leitrim girl in 1995.

November 2009

Brighton driving instructor jailed for child abuse image offences

A bus company driving instructor collected hundreds of horrific indecent images of children on computers.

Barry Catlin, 46, had 549 perverted pictures when he was caught by police after he emailed another suspected paedophile who officers were investigating.

Yesterday he was jailed for 15 months and was banned from working or being alone with children.

He was also banned from having a computer for personal use for ten years, although he can use a computer for work or in a public library, and must sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years.

Catlin, of Bonchurch Road, Brighton, who worked as a driving instructor for Brighton and Hove Bus Company, admitted 19 offences of making, distributing and possessing indecent images between June 2005 and December last year.

He was caught by detectives investigating another case of indecent images who discovered material sent by Catlin to a suspect.

January 2014

Youth club child sex abuser jailed for 20 years

A youth club volunteer who locked young girls in a computer room and abused them has been jailed for 20 years.

Mark Chudley of Mount Pleasant Road, Brixham, was found guilty of two counts of rape, three of false imprisonment, gross indecency against a child and nine counts of indecent assault.

He repeatedly raped one girl between the ages of three and six-years-old, Exeter Crown Court heard.

A judge said Chudley, 39, had stolen the childhoods of his victims.

The court heard he ensured the silence of his main victim by telling her he would kidnap her and that she would never see her family again if she revealed his attacks.

‘Life ruined’

Judge Erik Salomonsen said: “These offences were intentional. You planned them and deliberately targeted a vulnerable victim in abuse of your position of trust. There were multiple victims.

“The victim of your rapes has written a moving account of the consequences of your criminal conduct. She has panic attacks, feels run down and believes her life has been ruined.

“She feels as if she lost most of her childhood and has never been able to get over this.”

During a trial in December, the first victim told how she and two friends had been lured into a computer room at a youth club in south Devon and then abused.

The court heard that Chudley locked the girls in and refused to let them out unless they complied with his demands.

Chudley claimed all the allegations were either fabrications or arose from misunderstandings.

January 2014

Anger after pervert set free from prison – despite being given potentially life-long sentence

A YOUTH given a potentially lifelong sentence for having sex with an under-age schoolgirl on his 18th birthday has been freed by top judges.

Dale David MichaelTrim, now 25, had “consensual sex” with the 13-year-old in Poole Park after a party where they had both been drinking, the Appeal Court heard.

“They spent the rest of the night together at his bedsit,” said Lord Justice Laws.

Trim admitted unlawful sexual activity with the 13-year-old at Bournemouth Crown Court in October 2007, and was ordered to be detained indefinitely for public protection.

He had a previous conviction for indecently assaulting two little girls aged seven and eight when he was 13 years old.

And he was once described as a “predatory paedophile” in a psychiatrist’s report.

Trim was viewed as a “dangerous” offender, and the sentence – which was almost identical to a life term – meant he would only be freed once the Parole Board was convinced the threat he posed to society had passed.

The sentencing judge passed the tough sentence after telling Trim: “I have a nasty feeling that you have paedophile tendencies”.

But Lord Justice Laws said that assessment was “partly based on speculation” and noted that Trim, from Blandford, had made good progress during his six years in custody.

The judge, sitting with Mr Justice Globe and Judge Paul Batty QC, said Trim was now seen as presenting a “medium” risk of future harm and that could be managed in the community.

He overturned the indefinite sentence, substituting a two-year community order and strict supervision requirement, with conditions that “he should live as directed by the probation service”.

But Claude Knights, the chief executive officer of children’s charity Kidscape, expressed concern over Trim’s release.

“This individual showed predatory tendencies from an early age and went on to engage in unlawful sexual activity despite earlier convictions,” he said.

“He appears to have attended a treatment programme during his six years in custody, but continues to be assessed as a ‘medium risk’ of causing future harm.

“This is not a reassuring verdict for the community in which he will live.

“It is to be hoped that the supervision and monitoring that he will require will be applied stringently and coherently by the different agencies that will be involved.

“We know only too well how resourceful and devious those with predatory tendencies can become when circumstances make this possible.

“It is imperative that no child is put at risk by the presence of this individual in their community.

“The safety of children is paramount.”

January 2014

Paedophile jailed for molesting young girl on video

FOR two years he had kept his shame a secret.

Unknown to his wife, Philip Cant had recorded a 80-minute video of him molesting a young girl who he had lured to a room where he had set up cameras to film them.

The youngster had legitimately posed for pictures to help the paedophile and his wife promote their children’s clothing business.

Cant kept the video, which also showed shots of the girl semi-naked, on a computer memory stick for future viewing for his own sexual gratification.

And he got away with it – until he worked abroad as an engineer in Belgium.

A colleague found the stick, discovered the images and called police in Antwerp. They arrested Cant and notified colleagues in England.

Cant admitted assaulting the girl and keeping the images.

Gavin Sumpter, prosecuting at Southampton Crown Court, said: “He admitted in interview he was a paedophile and had been since he was 15-year-old, with a preference for girls aged between six and eight.”

Cant, 55, of Myrtle Road, Southampton, pleaded guilty to two charges of sexual assault and four of making an indecent image. He received a four-year jail term with a six-year extended licence.

The court heard Cant had two significant previous convictions. In 1972 he admitted sexually abusing an eight-year-old and in 1989 he had committed gross indecency with a five-year-old.

Sentencing, Judge Derwin Hope said: “You have acknowledged you can’t be alone with young girls and not abuse them. You pose a significant risk of causing significant harm to the public.”

The judge ordered Cant to be placed on the sex offenders’ register and the subject of a sexual offences prevention order, both indefinitely.

In mitigation, Neil Fitzgibbon said Cant was ashamed of his behaviour and had referred himself for psychological assessment to try to combat his desires.

January 2014

Flasher walks free from crown court

A pervert who exposed his genitals to a woman and committed sexual offences involving two young girls has been allowed to walk free from Nottingham Crown Court after sentencing last week.

Chesterfield magistrates’ court originally heard on Monday, August 12, how Brian Worthy, 65, of Brentwood Road, Bamford, Hope Valley, admitted committing the offences.

He appeared at Derby Crown Court during proceedings but his case had been repeatedly adjourned until sentencing on January 24, at Nottingham.

District Judge Andrew Davison had told Worthy during the magistrates’ hearing: “The facts are shocking and distressing. It’s disturbing. There were a number of incidents in a short period of time.”

Worthy, who used to work in the pub trade, pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity between June 1 and 5, and guilty to the same offence with another girl on July 17.

He also pleaded guilty to intentionally exposing his genitals to a woman in a park in Bamford on July 2.

Defence solicitor Steve Brint said during the magistrates’ hearing that Worthy’s behaviour was new and needed “nipping in the bud”.

He added Worthy would have struggled to cope in prison. The magistrates’ court had heard how there was no penetration or any actual contact involved. Worthy was sentenced to a three year community order with supervision and was made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order placing him on a sex offenders’ register.

January 2014

Crewe man jailed for sex offences with underage girl

A Crewe man was jailed today at Chester Crown court for having sexual intercourse with a 14 year old five times over the course of four weeks which started back in November of last year.

27 year old Benjamin Peter Montague appeared in the dock today to receive his punishment on five counts of sexual offences that took place Mid November to December 9th 2013.

The offences started when Montague befriended the girl on a social networking site, they began corresponding with each other using private messages. He eventually asked the youngster to meet up with him at Queens Park, to which she agreed, the meeting took place on November 28th.

After they had spent some time in the park, Montague drove her to his home in his own car, where he asked her to perform oral sex on him in a downstairs room at the property. The court was told that on the very same day he took the girl upstairs to a bedroom where they had full sexual intercourse.

Another meeting took place at his house, early in the morning of December 9th. He made arrangements with the girl to pick her up near her home and drove her once again to his house for intercourse then casually dropped her off at school afterwards. 

The parents of the girl were alerted when a teacher overheard the girl telling her friends in class about where she had been that morning. Cheshire police were also informed. 

After many interviews the girl admitted to police that he had told her on numerous occasions that he loved her and told her that he was going through a hard time as his mother was ill, he told the girl it helped him to talk to her about things he was going through.

When he was bought in by police, he denied in his interview that he had instigated the meetings and said it was the girl who asked him to meet her. He then changed his mind at his hearing on January 3rd and admitted that it was him who asked her for the meetings.

He said he knew full well that the girl was only 14 years old.

The judge read out a letter of apology that Montague had sent into the court previously, it stated that he was sorry and that he wished he had listened to his head and not his emotions. The letter also went on to say he thought the girl had a body of a 14 year old, but the mind of a 21 year old.

On sentencing the judge said that he could not ignore the fact that the girl was underage and gave Montague one years imprisonment for each count, he will have to serve two and half years in prison and then will be released on licence for the remainder of the term. 

A relative of the girl spoke outside the court and said “I feel relieved after hearing the sentence but as a grandparent I don’t feel that this was enough, however at least he is off the streets now and he wont be able to put anymore families through this. It is going to take time for us to move on as a family and we will do our best to try and get over this difficult time.

January 2014

Paedophile asked ten-year-old girl to dare him to remove shorts in swimming pool

A 37-YEAR-OLD Warwick man shocked a ten-year-old girl in an open air swimming pool by asking her to dare him to take off his shorts, a court heard.

The distressed girl ran to tell her grandad what he had said and, as a result, Richard Pawsey of Edmonds Close, was exposed as a paedophile who had downloaded hundreds of indecent images of children onto his phones.

Prosecutor Julian Kesner told Gloucester Crown Court staff at Cheltenham Lido confronted Pawsey and told him to get dressed while the police were called. As he changed he hid his two mobile phones in a toilet cistern because he knew he had child porn images on them and did not want to get caught.

Mr Kesner said the following day Pawsey tried to persuade a friend to go to the lido and retrieve the phones for him. But the friend decided instead to call police. Officers found the phones in the cistern and initially they would not work.

But when they had been dried out they were checked and more than 450 indecent images were found.

Mr Kesner said 292 images were the least serious Level 1. Another 42 were Level 2, there were 67 Level 3 and 62 Level 4 pictures. One video clip at Level 4 was also found.

At the time of the offences Pawsey was already required to sign the sex offender register after being cautioned by police for an assault on a girl under 16, Mr Kesner said. He had breached the order by failing to notify police of a change of address.

Pawsey admitted a charge of using threatening behaviour with intent to commit a sexual offence on 11th May last year.

Mr Kesner said this entailed Pawsey going up to the ten-year-old girl in the shallow end of the lido and engaging her in conversation. He asked her where she lived and also asked for her mobile phone number, which she couldn’t remember.

Then he whispered in her ear three times: “Do you dare me to take my shorts off?”

“The girl became quite distressed at that and burst into tears,” Mr Kesner said.

Pawsey also pleaded guilty to possessing a small amount of mephedrine, an illegal class B drug, and he admitted 10 charges of possessing indecent images of children.

Defence barrister Con Fernandez said of his client: “He is a very sad and ineffectual man. He is very isolated. He had been in a long-term relationship for several years and then discovered his partner was having an affair.

“Within a month of that he lost his job and got into financial difficulty and was evicted from his home. 

“Until that point his life had been reasonably good. He spent three weeks living in a tent and then a bedsit surrounded by Eastern Europeans who do not speak the language.

“During this period of vulnerability he was introduced to drugs and he started taking mephedrone.

“Add to that the difficulties he has with hearing and an injury resulting from an incident where he jumped from a first floor window – he has not had the best time of late.

“He very much regrets these offences and in particular any distress he may have caused the child. He wants to do something about his problem.”

Judge Jamie Tabor QC sentenced Pawsey to a three-year community order with a requirement to attend the Thames Valley Sex Offender programme. He also ordered him to pay a £60 surcharge

January 2014

Paedophile snared after trading images of children with undercover cops online

A SEX offender who told police he was “wired differently” has been caged after trading images of abuse online with undercover officers.

Mark Luscombe, 29, was snared after asking an American officer – posing as the father of an 11-year-old girl – to assault his daughter live via webcam for him.

He ‘paid’ for the request with around 50 images depicting the abuse of children.

Luscombe, of Manor Road in Verwood, also said he wanted to “try a five-year-old”.

The officer then alerted police in the UK, who also corresponded with Luscombe.

The defendant, who went under the username BADMOMLOVER, told the British officer that he wanted to abuse his fictional children, who he was told were aged four and six.

He even arranged to meet the children at a branch of McDonald’s, but when police feared he was backing out of the meeting, they raided his home in December and arrested him.

He then voluntarily admitted to officers that he had been in a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old girl from Dorset, and took indecent photographs of her on his mobile phone.

He pleaded guilty to agreeing or facilitating commission of a child sex offence, five counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child, sexual activity with a child, and seven counts of making indecent photographs of a child at a previous hearing at Bournemouth Crown Court.

He also admitted the possession of three extreme pornographic images involving animals and adults today before being sentenced.

The former ground worker, who was applying to join the Royal Navy, was sentenced to a total of five years behind bars this afternoon.

Sentencing, Judge Samuel Wiggs said: “It cannot be said that these offences are out of character because you told police when the investigation was taking place that you were wired differently and had been attracted to children for a considerable length of time.”

January 2014

Devon school IT adviser and sports instructor admits sending sex texts to girl

A school consultant has admitted encouraging a 15-year-old girl to take part in a sex act with him after he sent her suggestive texts and Facebook messages.

Robin Toy, who worked as an IT adviser in schools around Tiverton until his arrest last year, is also an amateur sports instructor.

He has been warned he could face jail after admitting sending the suggestive messages to a 15-year-old girl in the autumn of 2012.

His case had been listed for trial at Exeter Crown Court but he pleaded guilty to one of three counts and his case was adjourned for pre sentence reports.

Toy, aged 29, of Courtney Road, Tiverton, admitted inciting a 15-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity between October 1 and 7. The charge relates to a suggested act of oral sex.

He denied two further charges including one of inciting the same girl to have full sex with him and these are not being pursued by the prosecution.

The charges arose out of an exchange of Facebook and text messages which he says were never intended to be taken seriously.

Mr Adrian Chaplin, prosecuting, said Toy accepted activities which amounted to encouraging sexual activity but it is agreed on all sides that there was no chance of them being acted on.

He said:”The suggestions were taken as genuine by the complainant but we can safely say that no sexual activity would have occurred because the young woman in question would never have agreed to it.

“He has pleaded guilty on the basis that sexual activity was highly unlikely and this is common ground. It is the matter of suggestion and the difference in age that creates the mischief in this case.”

Miss Sarah Hornblower, defending, said Toy had maintained the same stance as he had when interviewed by the police but now accepts that his suggestions could be seen as amounting to encouragement.

She said he has never contradicted the complainant’s account of what happened and would not have required her to be cross examined if the case had gone to trial.

Judge Phillip Wassall told him:”I am not going to look at the sentencing guidelines. That will be for whoever sentences you for these offences, but they do attract a custodial sentence on the face of them.

“The court will have to consider that and any other sentencing options put forward and all options will be open to the Judge. It may be a custodial sentence has to follow.”

January 2014

PREDATORY RAPIST JAILED FOR 14 YEARS

A man who raped a girl in the 1980s and assaulted another in the 1990s has been jailed for 14 years.

David Wright, 50, subjected a teenage girl to nine indecent assaults, two rapes and an attempted rape, in the late 1980s.

He was found guilty on all 12 charges following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday 27 January 2014.

He was also found guilty of three counts of indecent assault against another teenager in the late 1990s.

Wright, formerly of Alfred Street, Kirkby in Ashfield, was sentenced on Tuesday 28 January 2014, to 13 years in prison plus a further year to run consecutively. He will sign the sex offenders register for life.

Wright, who was a crane driver at the time of his crimes in the 1980s, preyed on the first girl by giving her lifts home. But instead of taking her to safety, he took her to a car park and raped her in the back of his van.

He went on to carry out several other assaults against her but she kept her silence because she was too scared of Wright, who was described in court as aggressive and a bully.

DC Alice Dingwall said: “Wright’s predatory behaviour culminated in horrific attacks on vulnerable teenage girls.

“I hope this sentence sends the message that we will robustly investigate historic crimes such as this and will do everything in our power to bring people who prey on youngsters to justice.”

If you have suffered abuse in the past and want to tell someone you can contact police in confidence on 101.

January 2014

Kirkcaldy pervert sent women indecent images of children

A Kirkcaldy man sent women indecent images of children and asked them to send sexual pictures to him.

Liam Hooley used his phone to send the women images of children performing sexual acts, as well as sexual pictures of adults.

He pretended to be a female called Michelle and a man named Dave when he contacted the women.

When police searched his home in St Kilda Crescent, they found an phone hidden under his mattress.

At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Hooley admitted that on January 31 last year, at St Kilda Crescent, he distributed or showed indecent photographs of children.

He also admitted, between October 1 2012 and December 7 2012, sending text messages and photographs of a sexual nature to a 20-year-old woman and requesting that she send photographs of a sexual nature back to him. He also admitted that, between January 12 and January 31 last year, he sent similar text messages and photographs of a sexual nature to a 19-year-old woman.

Sheriff Max Hendry said: “Until today you had no previous convictions. You now have convictions that I suspect will live with you for a very long time and perhaps haunt you.”

Hooley was released on bail and sentence was deferred for reports.

January 2014

Paedophile hung eight-year-old victim over Sunderland bridge to warn her off talking

PERVERT Clarence Underwood’s victim today broke her silence after the pensioner paedophile was jailed for nine years.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told how she had suffered nightmares and panic attacks for 50 years following the abuse she received as a child.

Underwood, now 70, is beginning his nine-year sentence after confessing to six specimen charges of sexual assaults.

His victim said: “I have lived in fear of him for almost 50 years and last night, for the first time in my life, I slept with the light off.

“I’ve had nightmares and panic attacks all these years. But today it all ends.”

Pervert Underwood ensured his victim’s silence by telling the then-five-year-old Sunderland schoolgirl that she was to blame and issuing sinister threats.

She said: “When I was about eight years old he took me to the Queen Alexandra Bridge, dangled me over and warned me, if I told, he would drop me over.”

Decades later, the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, finally found the courage to break her silence.

When confronted by detectives in 2012, Underwood branded her a malicious liar.

But before the case got to trial the now 70-year-old confessed to six specimen charges of sexual assaults.

The victim said: “Up until this point, I’ve lived my life in fear.

“This week, for the first time I can remember, I’m not afraid any more and you know what, it’s a lovely feeling.

“I couldn’t even go to court to face him because I’d been so scared.

“Now, I feel nothing about him; he’s dead to me. Even after everything that’s happened, he’s never acknowledged what he did or tried to apologise for it.”

Newcastle Crown Court heard this week how Underwood had “stolen” the victim’s childhood.

Judge Jeremy Freedman told him: “That is the reality. You took away her childhood.

“You exacerbated the situation by maintaining denials right up to the last moment so she had to face the prospect of giving evidence in court and through your lawyer being called a liar.

“For everything you did you blamed her, saying it was her fault and issued threats.”

The victim told police she had not initially realised what Underwood was doing was wrong.

Prosecutor Jonathan Devlin said: “The defendant would tell her it was her fault.

“She felt ashamed of herself, she had problems sleeping, felt different from other children.”

The victim said the traumatic memories of what happened to her affected her whole adult life and ruined her marriage.

She said: “Now, today, feels like the first day of the rest of my life.”

The court heard Underwood, who later moved to Church Road in Liverpool, has not been in trouble before or since the offences and is in poor health.

He must sign the sex offenders register and abide by the terms of a sexual offences prevention order for the rest of his life.

January 2014

Child sex predator George Owen faces prison sentence

A man has been remanded in custody after he admitted sexually abused four young children over an 11-year period.

George Owen, 66, attacked the children mainly at properties in Prestwick, South Ayrshire, and Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, between 1971 and 1982.

He was caught in 2012 when a daughter of one of the victims confronted him.

At the High Court in Glasgow, Owen admitted five charges of acting in a lewd and libidinous manner. Sentence was deferred for reports.

Paul Brown, defending, said Owen, of Holytown, North Lanarkshire, had wanted to avoid a trial in order to spare the victims giving evidence.

Judge Lord Turnbull placed Owen on the sex offenders’ register and told him: “You have been convicted by your plea of predatory sexual behaviour directed at children and perpetrated over a lengthy period of time.”

The court heard that the first victim was only five years old when Owen began attacking her.

He also started abusing an eight-year-old boy around the same time.

A second boy was also targeted – beginning at the age of five. This included a sex attack at a swimming pool cubicle in Ayr.

Owen’s final victim was aged between eight and 10 when she was abused.

Prosecutor Bill McVicar told how Owen escaped justice for decades until a daughter of his first victim challenged him about the abuse in late 2012.

Owen then went missing, but police eventually discovered him in Dunoon, Argyll and Bute.

He told officers that his “past was catching up with him” and that he had “needed to get away”.

January 2014

Pervert admits possessing 500,000 indecent images of children

A man has admitted possessing almost 500,000 indecent images of children – many at the worst levels of depravity.

David Iggo, 58, was arrested in front of colleagues at the Scottish Maritime Museum in Irvine after police raided his home in nearby Kilwinning.

He admitted downloading indecent images, possessing extreme pornography and breaching bail conditions.

At Kilmarnock Sheriff Court, sentence on Iggo was deferred for reports and he was remanded in custody.

The court heard how the former chief officer in the Merchant Navy had been working as a technical supervisor at the Maritime Museum when he was caught.

When police first searched his home, Iggo admitted having illegal images and told officers: “There’s going to be stuff. I really don’t like talking about it, to be honest.”

The court was told that Iggo had shared material with others, with some files tagged “young rape” and “child erotica”.

About 22,000 of the pictures were described in court as being at the worst levels of depravity.

After being charged and bailed on the condition that he had no devices capable of internet access, police from a sex offender monitoring team called at Iggo’s home and found a laptop computer.

He told officers: “I may as well tell you now, they’ll find more images like they found last time.”

Forensic experts discovered more illegal pictures and web searches including the phrases “prison sentences for child porn”, “sex offender treatment in prison” and “file erase software”.

Iggo admitted downloading indecent images, possessing extreme pornography and breaching bail conditions banning him from the internet between November 2010 and November 2013.

He has since lost his job at the Scottish Maritime Museum.

April 2010

BEBO paedophile locked up

A PAEDOPHILE tried to seduce two young girls he met by posing as a teenager on Bebo. 

Brian McLeod, 24, snared his victims after befriending them on the social networking site where he pretended he was 16. 

After gaining the trust of the girls, aged 12 and 13, he sent them sexually explicit messages by computer and mobile. 

He then met them at their homes in Irvine, Ayrshire, where he kissed one and tried to grope her friend, Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard. 

McLeod, of Stevenston, was jailed for 21 months after he admitted two charges of lewd and libidinous behaviour.

November 2011

Treffgarne man sentenced for possessing indecent and pornographic images

A 22-YEAR-OLD man from Treffgarne has avoided a jail sentence after admitting 17 offences relating to indecent and pornographic images.

Hasan Nur appeared before Judge Keith Thomas at Swansea crown court last Friday.

He had previously pleaded guilty to possession of more than 1,500 indecent photographs of children as well as ten charges of making indecent images of children.

He had also admitted six charges of possessing extreme pornographic images involving animals.

Nur was given a community order which includes a three year supervision order and a requirement to complete a sex offenders group programme.

January 2014

Sky Sports presenter Ross McFarlane spared jail after being caught with child abuse images for SECOND time

Sky Sports presenter Ross McFarlane has been spared jail after downloading child abuse images for a second time.

The former golf pro was caught looking at images of young girls just four months after he was convicted of a similar offence.

A court heard the 52-year-old dad was depressed over his divorce when he searched for “pre-teen models”, “drunk teens” and girls as young as seven.

In March 2012 Satellite TV sport presenter McFarlane was convicted of making indecent images of children. He was given a community order and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order. Months later, tracking software on his laptop showed he was again visiting grotesque websites. Prosecutor Graham Smith said police found more than 180 sick pictures.

McFarlane, who became a professional golfer in 1979 and won the 1997 Deutsche Bank Open of Europe, admitted making indecent images and breaching the earlier order. His lawyer told the court: “His employer was previously unaware of these proceedings so he does not think he will have a job much longer.”

The judge at Aylesbury crown court told him: “You have children. How would you like it if they had been treated like this?” Watched by his ex-wife, McFarlane, from Stoke Poges, Bucks, was given a 10-month suspended sentence, banned from contact with under 16s without parental permission and put on the sex offenders’ register.