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Joseph Bateson – Toomebridge

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March 2004

Sex offender gets 11-year term

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A man described in court as an “ideal father and husband” has been jailed for a total of 11 years for a string of sex offences two decades ago.

Father-of-three Joseph Bateson, 39, committed the offences when he was in his teens and early 20s. His victim was just six when the abuse began.

Bateson, of Cairnmorn Road in Toomebridge, was given consecutive sentences of six and a half years for a serious sexual offence and sentences totalling four and a half years for gross indecency and indecent assault.

At his trial in January, Bateson was convicted of 18 sex offences against the victim, who was his neighbour and a friend of his younger brother.

Bateson showed no emotion when he was sentenced at Belfast Crown Court on Friday.

The judge said the victim had been subjected to “relentless abuse” which was “vile and depraved in nature” and which robbed him of his childhood.

The victim waived his right to anonymity saying the sentence sent out a message to both abusers and victims.

“This is a sad day for everybody really. I don’t feel any gloating or happiness. I feel sorry for him and his family,” he said.

“I hope this helps other victims to come forward and sort their lives out a bit better.”

The victim, who has four children, said he wanted to put what happened behind him.


Adam Tilley – St Columb Major

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February 2014

Loner targeted girls on the internet

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A LONELY, friendless teenager, who sexually groomed underage girls he met on Facebook before becoming abusive when they refused to comply with his demands, has been jailed.

Adam Tilley, 19, targeted three girls aged 13 and 14, befriending them on the social networking site, meeting up with two of them and sexually touching one of them.

Truro Crown Court heard on Friday that Tilley, of Trekinning Holiday Park, St Columb Major, exchanged a series of explicit messages with each of the girls, who cannot be named for legal reasons.

Philip Lee, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said the first girl met Tilley through Facebook when she was 14 in August 2012 and she met up with him in Falmouth.

He asked her to have a conversation with him while she performed a sex act but she hung up.

The second girl, who was also 14, received the same request from Tilley after being “lured into an exchange of explicit sexual texts”, Mr Lee said.

“The text messages became sexual; she said that she did not really understand them,” said Mr Lee.

“He started to ask her to meet him but she was unwilling and he then became aggressive in his texts and abusive, accusing her of sleeping around, calling her a slut.”

The third girl was aged 13 when she met Tilley through Facebook in August last year and the pair met up on three or four occasions, engaging in sexual activity during one of those meetings.

“When interviewed he admitted his relationship with that young girl, knowing her age, admitting meeting up with her but initially denied sexual touching,” said Mr Lee.

“When later interviewed he admitted the sexual contact she described and admitted that he was contacting other girls at the same time.”

Terry Eastwood, for the defence, said Tilley had moved to Cornwall in 2010 with his mother and stepfather but had no friends and had turned to Facebook to try to meet people.

He said: “There are some disturbing aspects to his behaviour, namely the threats and targeting of young girls. With respect to him, he is a rather immature 19-year-old and quite a lonely young man.”

Tilley previously admitted meeting one girl following sexual grooming and sexual activity with her.

He also pleaded guilty to causing or inciting two other 14-year-old girls to engage in sexual activity.

Mr Lee said Tilley had been reprimanded by police in 2011 when he was aged 17 for similar behaviour.

Sentencing, Judge John Neligan said: “The courts are here to protect young ladies, even from themselves.

“We are dealing with young adolescent girls who, at that sort of age, for all sorts of reasons, can become infatuated, and if they are led along that path by an older boy then disaster can strike and we are here to protect them.”

Tilley was sentenced to 12 months in a young offenders’ institution and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for ten years.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for the same period.

Nigel Backhouse – Swinefleet/Goole

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Update: Backhouse was released from prison in November 2013

February 2013

Farmer jailed for sexual offences against a young female child

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A Goole pig farmer at the centre of a wind farm development has been jailed for child sexual offences

Nigel Backhouse, 47, of Narrow farm, Swinefleet falsely implied his victim was a gold digger for raking up old allegations at a time when he could be coming into a substantial amount of money from a wind farm on his land

Backhouse thought he had got away with his offences of historic sexual abuse when he used to live in Goole. However it haunted him when the victim attacked him in the Wetherspoons pub in Goole on christmas eve in 2001. He did not recognise her, so she repeatedly punched him in the face

Backhouse could not go to the police, because he finally realized why the girl had attacked him. A confession would turn his life as a respected pig farmer upside down 

Backhouse escaped justice until last year when the victim made an official complaint

The police turned up on his doorstep to investigate the allegations, finding him married with two young boys

The girl told the jury that she was sexually assaulted by Backhouse when he babysat her. She said he exposed himself to her and would watch her getting out of the bath. She said he also took her hand and placed it on his privates

The victim the court that on her 12th birthday, he said he wanted to kiss the birthday girl and climbed into her bed and molested her. 

Backhouse took the stand during the trial and tried to lie his way out of a conviction. He claimed he had never been in the bedroom with the girl and that he had no sexual interest in girls under 16 years old

Crown barrister Mark Kendall said although the girl did not report the attack to police at the time, a crucial piece of evidence was from a school teacher who the girl had confessed to

He said the teachers evidence showed an independent witness at the time supported the girl who wanted to keep it confidential

Backhouse was found guilty of three counts of indecently assaulting a child aged under 16 years old after a three day trial at Hull crown court

Judge Mettyear jailed him for 18 months and ordered Backhouse to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years 

Wayne Bateman – Darlaston/Willenhall/Walsall

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April 2013

Pervert who abused schoolgirl jailed for three years

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At a hearing at Wolverhampton crown court, Wayne anthony Bateman pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a female child and assault causing occasioning actual bodily harm against a female

Bateman, 36, an unemployed alcoholic and frequent drug user sexually abused the schoolgirl over a period of 18 months. The victim was aged just 13 and 14 years old at the time.

The other offence he admitted to, involved a physical assault on a 21 year old female

Pervert Bateman grew up in Darlaston but also lived in Willenhall and Walsall. Bateman was described as violent in past relationships with females.

Bateman was sentence to three years imprisonment, placed on the sex offenders register for ten years, and disqualified from working with children for life

Philip Loutfi – Orford

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February 2014

Convicted Orford paedophile caught out in police sting

A CONVICTED paedophile was caught out trying to groom under age girls in a police sting.

Philip Loutfi, aged 28, of Grasmere Avenue, had been using the internet to chat to a 13-year-old girl named Lucy before his messages became more graphic.

But Lucy was actually a pseudonym adopted by a Metropolitan Police officer created to catch out paedophiles.

Warrington Crown Court heard on Friday how it was not the first time Loutfi had been sentenced for such offences.

Gordon Hewell said: “In 2008 he was 22 and had offences of sexual grooming on the internet which led to sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl against him.

“He was handed two years and eight months in prison.”

In March last year Loutfi logged onto a chat room, first pretending to be a 15-year-old boy from Manchester before revealing his true age of 27 at the time.

And over the course of two months his messages turned more explicit and included sending indecent images and live videos.

David Rose, defending, said: “At the outset he has been completely frank about his offending.

“He has, while in prison, tried to make the best of it and engaged in everything he can.

“His concern is that he has let his family down again.”

Sentencing him to two years in prison each for attempting to engage a child in sexual activity and breaching his sexual prevention order to run concurrently, Judge Roger Dutton said: “Engaging and inciting young girls to be involved in sexual activity is a serious matter.

“In this case it was a sting, there was no young girl but you were doing everything necessary to encourage contact with a child.

“You have serious convictions previously for involvement with sexual matters.

“The probation officer is clearly very concerns about ideas you have, the way you present yourself and the risk you present to others in the future.”

Christopher Pratt – Leeds

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February 2014

Leeds pervert’s ‘nudist’ excuse over child abuse pictures

A PERVERT tried to explain away having naked photographs of children on his mobile phone by claiming he was from a family of nudists, a court heard.

Chistopher Pratt was caught with the images despite being the subject of a sexual offences prevention order banning him from possessing them.

Leeds Crown Court heard Pratt was given the order along with a suspended prison sentence in 2005 after he pleaded guilty to offences relating to him being in possession of over 800 child porn images.

Stephanie Hancock, prosecuting, said Pratt was arrested on November 14 last year in relation to a different matter. During police interview he was asked questions about his mobile phone.

Miss Hancock said: “He admitted that there were images of naked children in among some pictures of family nudists.” The mobile phone was seized and found to contain a total of 25 illegal images.

Pratt, of Grahamthorpe, Bramley, Leeds, pleaded guilty to five offences of possession of indecent images of children and one of breach of a sexual offences prevention order. James Littlehales, mitigating, said his client had admitted the offence at an early opportunity.

He urged judge Penelope Belcher to impose a community punishment so Pratt could receive treatment. He said Pratt had attended courses after his first child porn convictions eight years ago but said they were less intensive than the progammes now available.

Judge Belcher made Pratt the subject of a three-year community orderduring which he must attend a sex offender treatment programme.

The judge said she was faced with a “stark choice” because Pratt would not receive treament if she sent him to jail.

She added: “My public duty is better served by you attending courses.”

Daniel Reid – Haydon Wick

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February 2014

Child molester jailed for two and a half years

A MAN who molested a five-year-old girl when he was drunk after a Christmas party has been jailed for two and a half years.

And Daniel Reid’s solicitors have also been blasted for telling him his intoxicated state could be a defence to the charge.

As a result of their advice, the 29-year-old pleaded not guilty to the charge meaning the youngster was told she would have to give evidence at Swindon Crown Court.

But just days before the trial was due to take place a new lawyer spotted the error and told him he had to admit what he had done.

Reid had been drinking heavily at the works do on Tuesday December 11, 2012, when he stayed over at the home of the little girl.

After going to bed he got up during the night, went into the child’s room and got into her bed.

The youngster woke when he was there and he removed her pyjama bottoms and pants and indecently touched her.

He went back to where he was sleeping and in the morning the child told him what had happened during the night.

Chris Smyth, prosecuting, said although Reid told the girl’s family what she had said, he insisted he could remember nothing because of his state.

When he was questioned by police he refused to answer their questions and pleaded not guilty when he first appeared before a judge.

But before a jury could be sworn in on the first morning of a trial Reid, formerly of Haydon Wick, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child under 13.

Lauren Soertsz, defending, said her client was appalled at what he had done but said it had been an isolated incident.

“It was an aberration, clearly a criminal aberration as it has led to him being in the dock of court one at Swindon crown court,” she said.

“He talks of his disgust at his behaviour. He is aware of the consequences. It was committed while he was drunk. The way he behaved towards the child is not indicative of the man he was and still is.”

She said he should be entitled to full credit for pleading guilty as he had been given incorrect advice by his solicitor that being drunk was a defence.

“He went to a solicitor in order to obtain advice. The advice he was given, essentially, it was thought that this was a specific intent case and that therefore the defence of intoxication was available to him and he was given that advice.

“Against the background of a man who was disgusted that he could indulge in this type of behaviour, in being told that he had a defence that would go in some way to enable him to accept in someway what he had done and cling to.”

She said a letter was also written to tell prosecutors that the young girl would not be cross examined, but it never arrived.

When she took over the case she said he explained he had no defence and a letter was written to the court by the solicitors explaining their mistakes.

Judge Douglas Field said: “I am going to sentence you on the basis that you are a man of hitherto good character and that this was an isolated incident and that you have shown considerable remorse.

“The effect on this little girl has been profound, the effect on her family has also been profound and it is all at your door. You are responsible.”

He added: “Never in my career have I had a letter from a lawyer explaining I should be giving someone full credit because they haven’t advised a client properly.

“It was made quite clear to you from your first appearance in court that the judicial view was you had no defence. I was expressing myself plainly at the ground rules hearing.

“I think it would be wrong for me to give you full credit on the basis that your lawyer gave your wrong advice. You had the choice of taking that advice.”

He also told him he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Ashley Williams – Garndolbenmaen

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February 2014

Man admits sexually assaulting young girl

A MAN is facing a lengthy prison sentence after he admitted sexually assaulting a young girl.

Ashley James Williams, of Garndolbenmaen, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault. Because his victim is under 13 years old, the starting point for the 31 year old’s sentence will be five years in prison.

Appearing via videolink from Altcourse Prison, in Liverpool, Williams showed no emotion as he spoke to confirm his name and guilty pleas.

Prosecutor Wyn Lloyd Jones told the Caernarfon Crown Court, on Monday, that he would offer no evidence in relation to a fifth charge, that of taking an indecent photograph of a child, and that the matter would lie on file.

The case was adjourned so reports could be prepared ahead of sentence. Williams will be sentenced at Mold Crown Court on Monday, 10 March.


James Bentley – St Albans

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February 2014

St Albans man sentenced for possessing more than 11,900 indecent images

A man who was caught photographing teenage girls outside a secondary school in St Albans has been sentenced for downloading more than 11,900 indecent images of children.

James Bentley, of Hopground Close, St Albans, admitted to “liking looking at young girls” after police found indecent images and movies of teenagers when they searched his home.

Officers had become aware of the 38-year-old following a report from students at Beaumont School that a man was sitting in his car outside the premises and taking photographs last February.

When they approached Bentley in the same spot the following morning he was arrested for a public order offence which triggered the raid at his property.

As well as 11,905 still images and movies rated at level one – the lowest level – 40 at level two, six at level three and 19 at level four, a Beaumont School prospectus was also discovered under his bed.

Prosecutor William Noble told St Albans Crown Court last Thursday: “He had admitted he found the girl on the front of the cover attractive and agrees she was 14 or 15 and had kept the prospectus for his own gratification.”

During a police interview Bentley also said he had taken photos of pupils outside Loreto College and Oakwood Primary School, and had been gathering pictures and footage of females for around 20 years.

Mr Noble added: “He was surprised by the number of level one images but put candidly said if you had been doing it as long as he had the amount was probably correct.”

He had an additional 58,000 images and 600 movies of girls and women “going about their daily business” at St Albans Central Library where he had worked for 15 years and at public parks and gardens.

Bentley, who subsequently lost his job at the library when his behaviour came to light, also explained on one occasion he had asked a colleague to pick up some leaflets and photographed her while she bent down.

Kate Smith, defending, asked the judge to take into account his early guilty plea to seven counts of making indecent images of children and three of possessing indecent images of children.

She said: “He recognises not only the impact of his behaviour on the community and on himself but on those closest to him.

“This serves as further motive for him not to reoffend in the future.”

Judge Marie Catterson passed a three-month community order with a supervision requirement and Bentley must complete a sex offender treatment programme.

She said: “It is clear from the [pre-sentence] report that you do recognise the need to radically alter your behaviour and address its cause.”

He was also handed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order lasting for 10 years, which comes with a number of conditions including not to take photographs of anyone without their prior permission and prohibits him from having unsupervised contact with a child under 16 unless a parent has given permission and knows about his conviction.

Trevor Keppel – Margate

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February 2014

Margate man who sent teen girl sex message via Facebook spared jail

A 37-year-old Margate man who sent a disgusting sex message to a teenager via Facebook has been spared jail.

Trevor Keppel also admitted stroking the girl’s leg causing his victim “fear, confusion and real anxiety” Canterbury Crown Court was told.

Keppel, of Trinity Square, has now been ordered to attend a sex offender’s programme to tackle his problems after admitting sex assault and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Judge James O’Mahony told him that he would now have to sign the Sex Offender’s Register.

He added: “You sent explicit messages through Facebook. You are now a sex offender and this will take a great deal to live down.”

 

Kevin Ford – Craigneuk/Motherwell

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February 2014

Just a supervision order for child sex pervert

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Two teenage girl’s targeted by a Craigneuk sex pest have spoken of their relief at his sentencing.

The pair were aged only nine and 13 respectively when Kevin Ford made disgusting comments to them on separate occasions across a five year period.

The Wishaw girls were preyed upon by pervert Ford at an address on Craigneuk’s Flaxmill Avenue.

To his first victim,then aged just nine – who was in bed at the time of the offence – he whispered: “I know you are awake. Don’t kid on that you aren’t. Come to my house and I’ll show you what a good time is. I can’t wait till you are 16 and you can come and lie in my bed.”

Some years later Ford told the other girl he loved her and invited her to his house.

In explicit language, he told the then 13-year-old that he would like to have sex with her.

At Hamilton Sheriff Court yesterday (Tuesday) 29-year-old Ford – who now lives in Motherwell – was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for three years, over the course of which he will remain under the supervision of social workers.

While his two now teenage victims were keen for him to be put behind bars, both spoke of their relief at seeing their word against Ford held up in a court of law.

The girls said: “He’s not in jail, but at least he has been found guilty and sentenced for what he did. That was the main thing.

“We both remember what he said to each of us very clearly.”

The 13-year-old said: “I didn’t know what to do. I was really scared. I was only nine at the time it happened. I was upstairs asleep when he came up.

“I could hear someone there in the room but I just kept facing the wall and didn’t turn around, pretending I was sleeping.

“I didn’t want to say anything at the time. I knew he shouldn’t have said what he did and that it was completely wrong, but I felt I couldn’t speak up about it.”

However, last summer the younger of the two girls confided to a relative that she had been targeted by Ford.

It was then the other girl found the courage to speak out about her ordeal four years earlier.

The older victim, now 15, recalled: “It started for me when I was sitting in a back garden last summer.

“He commented on my shorts and asked me why they were so short. He then ran his house key along my leg.

“When I noticed scratches he’d left on my skin I said: ‘Look at those scratches you’ve put on me.’

“He responded: ‘Don’t worry– you’ll get more when you’re older.’

“He told me he thought I was really pretty and that he loved me, and he asked me to come to his house.

“It was after that he walked past and told me he wanted to f*** me.”

Sheriff Small last month found Ford, who continues to deny both charges, guilty at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

On Monday he described Ford’s acts as “totally distasteful and unpleasant”. However, he believed that neither was “significantly serious” enough to require a jail term.

The girls said: “It was hard being too scared to say anything.

“We were embarrassed by what had happened.

“But thankfully by speaking up we have seen justice done.”

The relative said: “What was most important here was that the girls – who went through so much in coming forward to report what had happened – were believed.

“He’s now on the Sex Offenders’ Register and is accepted for what he truly is.

“Hopefully by being as brave as they were in telling what had happened to them, the girls will encourage any other young people to come forward if they find themselves in a similar situation.”

Paul Dent – Usworth

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February 2014

Washington pervert talked pregnant nurse into abusing very young children and sending him photos

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A WEARSIDE paedophile encouraged a pregnant nursery nurse he met over the internet to abuse two children and send him the sickening pictures.

Depraved Paul Dent was sent photos by Marie Raison of her sexually touching a baby of eight months and a girl of five.

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Click this link for our profile on Marie Raison

Registered sex offender Dent, of North Avenue, Usworth, and Raison, 25, met on an internet dating website and began sex chat.

Raison was pregnant with another man’s child when she committed the offences between May and July last year.

When Dent, 29, was arrested in July by Northumbria Police he told the officers he was trying to see how far she would go.

Both pleaded guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court in East London, to two charges of conspiracy to commit sexual activity with a child and one charge of conspiracy to take indecent photographs of children.

They were each jailed for six years, while Dent will serve an extra 12 months after triggering a suspended sentence from 2012.

Three counts of encouraging and assisting in the commission of an offence, two of sexual activity with a child and eight of possession of indecent photographs of a child were all left to lie on file.

Detective Constable Nancy Smith from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said the offences were carried for Dent’s “sexual gratification”.

She added: “Throughout the investigation the woman has blamed others around her but all of the evidence was gathered.

“The sentence handed down reflects the gravity of the offending.”

Prosecutor Charlotte Newell said Dent told Raison, Whalebone Lane South, Dagenham, Essex, he wanted to visit her and made it clear that his sexual fantasies included sex with children.

Their scheme was only discovered when a friend of Raison’s found the messages on her phone.

Officers began investigating and arrested Raison.

They found messages on her phone from Dent asking the woman to sexually abuse two children. There were also images on her laptop of children being sexually abused.

When Dent was arrested, he said he was angry about the ratio of men to women that had been convicted of child sex offences and had amassed the messages to see how far she would go.

Ian Whitehead – Cambridge

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Convicted pervert who abused boy has appeal dismissed

The appellant (W) appealed by way of reference from the Criminal Cases Review Commission against conviction on six counts of indecent assault on a male child.

The case against Whitehead was that from 1987 to 1989 he had indecently assaulted the complainant (C), who was then aged 12 to 14 years. C was the son of Whitehead’s friends and neighbours.

Whitehead was a travelling salesman, then in his forties, and had taken C away on trips, which included overnight stays, on which the same bedroom was used, and had, on occasion, taken C to his home.

The complaint to the police was not made until 2000. The prosecution case was that C had been sexually assaulted persistently during the trips and at Whitehead’s home, by being masturbated to ejaculation by Whitehead.

In interview, Whitehead denied that any indecency had taken place.

At trial, he did not give evidence, but relied on his answers in interview. C was thoroughly cross-examined at the trial and his evidence was fully summarised to the jury.

The judge directed the jury that they were perfectly entitled to convict Whitehead on C’s evidence alone but only after having first carefully assessed his reliability as a witness, and taking account of inconsistencies in his evidence.

Whitehead was subsequently convicted. Whitehead contended that the judge had erred in his summing up by failing to direct the jury that they had to be satisfied that the prosecution had established a case to answer before drawing any inferences from Whitehead’s silence.

He submitted that, because of that defect in the summing up, it could not be known what role Whitehead’s silence had played in the decision to convict, and that it was possible that the jury had reservations about the reliability of C’s evidence and had used Whitehead’s silence to shore up that evidence.

Whitehead contended that his conviction was, accordingly, unsafe.

HELD: Appeal dismissed

If a jury was sure of the reliability of a complainant’s evidence, corroborated or not, reference to a defendant’s silence was unnecessary. Parliament had intended that a jury should be entitled to bear silence in mind in cases in which it had not already decided upon guilt.

Clearly, the jury should start with a consideration of the evidence and not with the defendant’s silence.

It had to conclude that it was sufficiently cogent to call for an explanation before considering the implications of the defendant’s silence.

Having crossed that threshold, the jury was entitled to consider the defendant’s silence, as a further evidential factor, and in the context of the evidence as a whole.

In the instant case, the judge had given the plainest direction that Whiteheads’s failure to give evidence could not on its own prove his guilt, and there was no real possibility that the jury had failed to approach the case correctly. Accordingly, Whiteheads’s conviction was safe.

Mark Sullivan – Overtown

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February 2014

Pervert pleads guilty to possession of indecent images of children

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An Overtown man has pleaded guilty to having child abuse images on both his laptop and his mobile phone

Mark Sullivan, 26 was found to be in possession of indecent images of children aged as young as three years old after a raid on his Orchard street home in May last year

Police confiscated a laptop from the address – which Sullivan shares with his fiance – before also seizing his mobile phone

Across both devices, investigating officers discovered a total of 18 still and moving images

Each of those was rated at categories four and five on the copine scale. Level five is the most extreme in nature, and includes torture, sadism and rape

Unemployed Sullivan admitted the charges against him when he appeared at Hamilton sheriff court on Friday

Police also discovered software for peer-to-peer file sharing, which allows users to upload and download content

Five names found within Sullivans laptop included references to girls aged both 5 and 7 years old

Police also found still images that featured boys aged between 3 and 13 years old on his mobile phone

Sullivan was placed on the sex offenders register and was banned from the internet and was also banned from being in contact with anyone aged under 16 years old

He will be sentenced on March 25th at Hamilton Sheriff court

Paul Mason – Newbury

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February 2014

Man admits possessing indecent images of children

A NEWBURY man has appeared before town magistrates charged with possessing indecent images of children.

Paul David Mason, aged 49, of Aintree Close, appeared last Thursday to admit formally four charges of making a number of indecent images of children between September 15, 2006, and November 30, 2011.

He also admitted two charges of possessing extreme pornographic images.

Stephen Collins, for Mr Mason, said: “His computer was analysed and a small percentage were found to be in the higher categories.

“He made full admissions to police.

“Having discussed this matter with (Claire French, prosecuting) and your learned legal adviser, I submit that the number of images is such that this should go straight to the Crown court to be finalised.”

The court heard that Mr Mason is currently required to sign in at Newbury police station.

Presiding magistrates Sue Campbell ordered pre-sentence reports to be prepared on Mr Mason.

Mr Mason will be sentenced by a judge sitting at Reading Crown Court on March 18.


George Fairhurst – Preesall/Cleveleys

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February 2014

Old pervert jailed for sexually abusing a schoolgirl

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A pensioner who took advantage of a vulnerable schoolgirl has been jailed for more than four years.

Preston Crown Court heard George Fairhurst believed he was in a relationship with his 15-year-old victim and would regularly meet up with her and text her.

The crime came to light and was reported to the police when he asked a grand daughter to get the girl’s contact details on Facebook.

Fairhurst, 65, a married man from Preesall, but who has been living on North Drive, in Cleveleys, was jailed for four years and two months.

He had pleaded guilty to nine offences of sexual activity with a child, plus three of taking indecent photographs.

Paul Cummings, prosecuting, said the girl was vulnerable.

Around the same time, suspicion had been caused by Fairhurst being seen to hand over some cigarettes to the girl. The girl’s father warned him not to do that.

Fairhurst went on to be arrested. He told police he had met the girl while out walking his dog. After that, they went on to meet regularly.

He initially said he thought she was 16. He accepted knowing she was still at school.

The court heard he had committed sex offences in the past. Chris Hudson, defending, said: “He is a naive man. At the start he wasn’t aware of her age.” Fairhurst was ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for 10 years.

Duncan Morgan – Abercarn

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February 2014

Predatory sex offender jailed after grooming underage girls for sex

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A predatory pervert who groomed schoolgirls for sex has been jailed for six years.

Duncan Alistair Morgan, 24, pressured two girls into having sex and abused two others after becoming an “attraction” to them, Newport Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jeremy Jenkins said the complaints against Morgan dated back to February 2011.

A police investigation, launched in June last year, uncovered evidence that Morgan was using his age to groom underage girls, he said.

“It became apparent from information that had been obtained that the defendant was associating with much younger children,” said Mr Jenkins. “It proved to be an attraction for these girls. He appeared laidback and cool, to use some of the expressions.”

Mr Jenkins said the first girl was at home when she was followed to an upstairs bedroom by Morgan who kissed her and put his hand down her trousers.

“He told her to forget about what happened and no-one else needed to know about it,” he said.

Mr Jenkins said Morgan targeted another underage girl by sending her flattering messages over Facebook.

“They were complimentary and designed to gain her attraction and her confidence,” he said.

He said Morgan, after convincing the girl to have sex with him over a car bonnet, sent a flurry of text messages offering to apologise.

A third victim, he said, was targeted for sex in a toilet.

The last victim had been drinking alcohol, but awoke to find Morgan with his hand down her trousers, he said.

“He took full advantage of his age and relative experience and independence to groom and attract these young girls,” said Mr Jenkins.

Morgan was arrested but denied all but one of his crimes to police, he told the court.

“He maintained that the girls were not telling the truth and denied, in some cases, that he knew of their ages.”

The case came to trial, but on the second day, Morgan, of Bridge Street, Abercarn, entered guilty pleas to the remaining charges.

Hugh Wallace, defending, said Morgan’s pleas had prevented the victims from having to give evidence.

Mr Wallace said Morgan, who pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child, had penned a letter to Judge Daniel Williams outlining his difficult upbringing and expressing remorse.

“That must have been a difficult letter for him to write but he wrote it and it shows the life he’s had thus far has not been a pleasant experience.”

Jailing Morgan for a total of six years and three months, Judge Williams told him: “Your behaviour is properly described by the author of the pre-sentence report as predatory.

“Young girls have been put under pressure by you to have unwanted sex with you. They can never regain that which they have lost.”

Speaking after the hearing, Gwent Police Detective Sergeant Sarah Goodchild said: “We are pleased to see Duncan Morgan sentenced for the crimes he committed today.

“He consistently and deliberately befriended children then went on to sexually assault them. The impact of his crimes will undoubtedly have a long-lasting effect on the victims in this case, but it was their bravery in having the courage to come forward and give evidence that saw him brought to justice today.”

Robert Collier – Poole

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February 2014

Man downloaded more than 1,000 indecent images of children after marriage problems

A MAN downloaded more than 1,000 indecent images of children after accessing online porn because of problems in his marriage.

Robert John Collier, of Winston Avenue in Poole, admitted 17 charges relating to the level one photographs between March 2010 and December 2011 at Bournemouth Magistrates’ Court in January

The court heard that the 46-year-old had turned to internet pornography after the deaths of his mother and stepfather and continued fights with his wife.

Ron Nickless, defending, said: “He clicked on pop-ups (on porn websites) and there has been an immediate download of material straight into his computer, which he had not accessed.”

Mr Nickless said Collier originally told police he had not downloaded the images because he hadn’t realised they were on his hard drive.

“He is extremely devastated and worries about the effect this will have upon him and his family, and the consequences of what will happen, particularly if there is any publicity.”

A pre-sentence report compiled ahead of Collier’s sentencing predicted his chances of re-offending are “one per cent”.

For the charges of making indecent photographs of children aged between eight and 14 years, magistrates sentenced Collier to a three-year community order.

The defendant required, under supervision, to participate in the Thames Valley Sex Offender Groupwork Programme for 60 days and register with the police at Poole for five years. Costs of £85.

Victor Seymour – Reading

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February 2014

Man admits committing sexual offence on schoolgirl

A man admitted committing a sexual offence on a schoolgirl at Reading Crown Court on Monday.

Victor Seymour, 31, admitted one count of causing or inciting a child under 13 into sexual activity.

The charge relates to an incident with a 12-year-old girl between March, 2 and March 5, last year.

Seymour, of no fixed abode, denied at an earlier hearing a charge of sexual assault on a child under 13. The Crown Prosecution Service offered no evidence for this charge but asked that it lie on file.

Seymour was remanded in custody until Friday, March 28, when he is due to be sentenced.

Warren Hilts – Selsey

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February 2014

Selsey paedophile jailed for indecent images

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A PAEDOPHILE who showed ‘an abhorrent disregard’ for the welfare of young children has been jailed for five years.

Warren Hilts, 40, who at the time lived in a caravan at West Sands Caravan Park, in Mill Lane, Selsey, pleaded guilty to 21 counts of distributing and possessing indecent/abusive images of children and inciting sex offences against children online.

Sentencing at Chichester Crown Court today (February 21), judge Claudia Ackner said: “You take no responsibility for and show no insight into the harm or misery that you cause a vulnerable section of society.”

Many of the images and videos seized from Hilts’ computer showed children in ‘clear and immediate distress’, according to Judge Ackner.

She added: “Without people such as yourself downloading or distributing such material there would be no market for such things.”

She gave him a nine-year sentence for the most serious offence, of which he would spend five years in prison and four years out on extended licence.

He received two-year sentences each for five other counts of inciting sex offences.

He received a four-year sentence for nine other offences of possessing and distributing the images and a 12-month sentence for all the others.

These will all run concurrently.

He was also made subject of a sexual offences prevention order, barred from working with children and his laptop will be destroyed.

“Your actions have contributed to a very serious abuse of children who are unable to look after themselves,” said Judge Ackner.

She told Hilts he assumed the persona of ‘instigator’, encouraging very serious sexual activity with young girls, sometimes children and often related to the person Hilts was encouraging.

Judge Ackner said because of his guilty plea, which he entered in January after initially pleading not guilty, he would serve two-thirds of his sentence.

‘Very little to look forward to’

Speaking in mitigation, Victoria Maude described Hilts as a man ‘who has absolutely nothing’.

“What little he had before his arrest is now gone,” she said, adding: “These are extremely serious offences, to which he chose to change his plea by contacting those instructing me. I would ask the court to give him some credit for those pleas and to take into some consideration that he doesn’t have any previous convictions for anything like this.”

The court heard Hilts moved to the UK from Canada in 1997 and was married for 16 years.

“His marriage has broken down,” said Miss Maude, adding: “He has very little to look forward to.”

Psychiatric reports showed Hilts had no mental illness that was treatable or diagnosable.

“There doesn’t appear to be any network of support available to him either through friends or relatives,” she said.
“He’s 40 years old and up to last year had never come before the courts.”

‘Obstructive’

Hilts was arrested following an investigation by Hertfordshire Constabulary, who uncovered links he had with another predatory sex offender.

This man was arrested the day before he planned to assault his five-year-old daughter.

When his computer was analysed, it was found he had been in contact with someone who went by the screen name Badger Hilts. Investigations linked the account name to Hilts, in Selsey.

When police visited him at West Sands in April, 2012, they found his dog was called Badger.

He was ‘obstructive’ to police and gave them the wrong password for his email address three times.

He was charged last year, originally pleading not guilty, but changed his plea in January.

A search of his computer revealed hundreds of indecent pictures and videos. These have now been destroyed.

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