March 2014

Man warned he may be facing prison for grooming and sexually abusing a boy

A 29-year-old man has been warned he may be facing prison for grooming and sexually abusing a boy from the Bradford area.

Adam Greenhough pleaded guilty to three offences against the 13-year-old at Bradford Crown Courtyesterday.

He admitted meeting a child following sexual grooming between January 1 and 31, 2011, and two offences of sexual activity with a child, between January 3 and 31, 2011.

Greenhough, of Mixenden Court, Halifax, stood trial last year for five alleged offences involving the boy but the jury was discharged part-way through the case.

He faced a retrial yesterday but the hearing was abandoned after the Crown accepted his guilty pleas to three charges.

Greenhough’s barrister, Edward Bindloss, said his client was of previous good character and had asperger’s syndrome.

He asked for a six-week adjournment for probation and psychological reports.

“He understands the risk of an immediate custodial sentence,” he said.

Judge David Hatton QC adjourned sentence until May 9.

March 2014

Teacher coaxed boy into flogging him

A teacher who lured a pupil into a bizarre sex game has been brought to justice almost 25 years on – after the Jimmy Savile scandal prompted the victim to come forward.

Edward Beetham, a former head of year at Buile Hill High School in Salford, enjoyed an impeccable reputation until his dark secret came to light.

Manchester Crown Court heard that back in the early nineties, he won the trust of a vulnerable eleven-year-old before coaxing the boy into flogging him. The teacher, then 38, stripped down to his underpants, lay on his bed, and urged the ‘bewildered’ youngster to beat him as hard as he could on the privates with a piece of bamboo cane.

Beetham, 60, of Sunny Drive, Prestwich, was spared jail after admitting indecency with a child.

Stuart Duke, defending, told court: “He has lost his good character. He has gone from being a a genteel, retired schoolteacher playing petanque to somebody who will be monitored by the authorities – it has been absolutely devastating for this to come back and haunt him.”

Philip Curran, prosecuting, told court that the victim had no father figure, and looked to ‘strict, no nonsense’ Beetham to protect him from bullying. Beetham was the boy’s humanities teacher as well as head of year, and ran an after-school gardening project which led to the boy visiting him at home.

Mr Curran told court that on one occasion the boy and the teacher were in the greenhouse at his home, when he asked the boy to find a ‘chunky bamboo garden cane’ and told him, ‘if I’m bad you can cane me upstairs in my bedroom’,

Describing the incident, Mr Curran said: “The defendant lay down on the bed in the shape of a star lying on his back. He encouraged him to whip him, to hit him with the garden cane, the defendant was naked except for his white shorts. When it was over he was given chocolate cookies.”

On another occasion, the boy was encouraged to shoot Mr Beetham with a gat gun. Although there have been no other complaints, the victim recalled another pupil asking him: “Has he got you to whip him yet?”

Beetham was arrested in February last year after his victim was prompted to tell all by the sex crimes inquiry surrounding the late DJ Jimmy Savile.

Judge Patrick Field QC, sentencing, made Beetham subject to a two-year community order, with a requirement to attend a sex offenders’ programme, after concluding that despite the breach of trust, the offence was‘isolated’ and not not the worst of its type, adding that he took into account his ‘conduct as a teacher, but for this event’.

The judge told Beetham: “You developed and encouraged a relationship with (the victim) – this appears to me, at least in part, grooming behaviour, enabling you to lure him into your bedroom where you invited an undoubtedly bewildered child to beat you for your own sexual gratification.”

March 2014

CUMBRIA CHILD RAPE MAN JAILED FOR 13 YEARS

Robert Clark, of Kirkbride, near Wigton, was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14 and raping the girl when she was under 16.

The offences happened between September 26, 1982 and September 21, 1983.

Clark, 52, was convicted following a trial at Teesside Crown Court in Middlesbrough last month.

Clark was sentenced to 13 years in prison following the verdict.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

The prosecution against Clark was brought by the Crown Prosecution Service North East who worked with Durham police during the investigation.

A spokesman for the CPS North East told the News & Star after the verdict: “We are pleased with the sentence passed on Clark.

“Victims of such crimes can be assured that the CPS will work with police to build a robust case against those who have committed historic sexual offences.

“It is important that the victims of such crimes can see that justice has been served, so that they might gain a measure of closure on the traumatic events of their past.”

March 2014

Sex offender scared of jail faked his own death and fled to Thailand for 10 years

A sex offender fearing jail faked his own suicide and fleeing to the other side of the world for 10 years – but today a judge told him the charge didn’t even carry a prison sentence.

Mold Crown Court heard that Idwal Glyn Jones panicked after being charged with fondling the breasts of an 11-year-old girl in 2004.

He left his clothes, shoes and some pills at the edge of a deep lake, a judge was told.

Police spent hours with underwater search teams looking for his body in the lake at Dorothea Quarry in the Nantlle Valley, Gwynedd

But later investigations showed that he was alive and well and had been living in Thailand for almost 10 years.

He appeared in court today after he was extradited under an European arrest warrant – but he wasn’t jailed.

Despite everything he had done to try and get out of it, a judge told him that the guidelines did not suggest a prison sentence.

Judge David Hale said that he also took into account that the defendant had been in custody since last August, spending months in a Thai prison where he was said to have little food and was shackled at night.

Jones, 57, who back in 2004 lived at Plas Gwernoer in Nantlle, admitted two charges of sexual activity with a child.

He was placed on a three-year community order with supervision and a community sex offender group work programme.

Jones must register with the police as a sex offender for five years and a five-year SOPO (Sexual Offences Prevention Order) was made.

Judge Hale branded Jones “an extremely stupid and foolish man” for giving into temptation and touching the child as he did on two occasions.

“It has had a profound effect upon her,” he said.

“You were sufficiently scared to fake your own suicide at considerable public expense in terms of the time spent searching for you at the time,” said Judge Hale.

“But you had gone to Thailand where you lived for ten years.”

The judge said the offences were aggravated by the profound effect on the victim and the allegation that he had shown her a pornographic film at the time.

But under the guidelines he could not impose a custodial sentence – certainly not of any longer length than he had already served.

The judge said that the case highlighted the indirect effect that such offences had on victims.

The victim, now in her early 20s, had told how her mother became more protective of her after what had happened, and she had rebelled which had caused all sorts of difficulties.

Prosecuting barrister Andrew McInnes said that in the summer of 2004 the victim disclosed that the defendant had deliberately touched and fondled her breasts on two occasions.

Police went to his home and arrested him, when cautioned he said “Oh my God” and refused to be interviewed.

He was bailed pending a full interview with the victim but on August 7, 2004, his clothing, shoes and a bottle of his prescribed tablets were found scattered about at Dorothea Quarry.

He failed to answer his bail two days later but investigations showed that he had fled to Thailand and that his partner and children had followed him there at one stage.

In 2011 an European arrest warrant was issued and was arrested on August 2 last year.

The court also heard that more than 700 indecent images of children had been found on his computer in 2004 but he had not been extradited for that and could now not be prosecuted for those offences.

Brett Williamson, defending, said that his client was a man of “good character” who had spent 227 days in custody.

He said his time in a Thai jail “had not been easy” and he had been given limited food, which consisted of rice.

He added that the defendant was remorseful and was facing up to what he had done

March 2014

Camping child abuser jailed

A Scarborough man who “groomed” a young girl during drug and drink fuelled camping trips has been jailed for eight years.

Paul Henry Agar, 49, seduced his victim, aged between 14 and 15, during the camping trips, despite his 17-year-old partner being left at home pregnant with their child.

Agar, of Briercliffe, was said at York Crown Court to have made his young victim idolise him before persuading her to agree to having sex and to losing her virginity to him.

The jury also heard that a 16-year-old boy, who became aware of what was going on, was warned by Agar that, if he told anyone, his pregnant partner would kill herself.

Agar, who had denied five charges of sexual activity with a child, two of indecent assault and one of indecency with a child, was found guilty by the jury on Friday March 14 of one indecent assault, and five charges of sexual activity.

He was cleared of one charge of indecent assault, the remaining charge of indecency with a child being withdrawn during the trial.

The offences took place during 2003 and 2004 when Agar was aged around 36 and took up to 12 youngsters, both friends and family, on camping trips to the North Yorkshire Moors and elsewhere, when various drugs and alcohol were on offer to the members of the party.

The court heard that the matters came to the attention of the authorities in 2012 after the woman disclosed what had happened to her husband and initially in a letter from her to her family in which she “poured her heart out”, but which at the time was ignored.

Agar, who couldn’t understand why the allegations had been made, claimed that bar a few cans and cannabis for his own use, no other substances were taken on the trips.

He told the jury that following the break-up of his previous marriage he had started going out with his own son’s former 17-year-old girlfriend, that she had soon become pregnant and that they are still together with their child.

Jailing Agar, Recorder Amanda Rippon told him: “You are a child abuser”.

September 2010

Sex offender walks free despite assaulting two girls

A 38-year-old sex offender has walked free from court despite assaulting two girls.

Anthony Lamb of Bretforton Road, Badsey, near Evesham, was given a “rigorous” three-year community order to help him deal with his problems by Judge Patrick Thomas.

Lamb, who had already spent eight months in jail during the case, previously admitted three offences of sexually touching two girls aged 14 and 12.

He had earlier pleaded guilty to nine charges of having sexually explicit movies of other children, some younger than 10 years old, on his laptop computer.

Sentencing at Worcester Crown Court, Judge Thomas gave Lamb credit for going to his GP for help after he realised that he had a problem.

“You expressed totally inappropriate sexual interest in two young girls where you were in a position of trust,” said Judge Lamb.

“You viewed sexually explicit images of children of a disgusting nature. Were it not for people like you, the abusers would have no need to submit children to this kind of extreme abuse.”

The judge accepted Lamb had been “clinically depressed” at the time of the assaults on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day 2009, and February 2009.

He first assaulted a 14-year-old girl at a house party. Charles Hardy, prosecuting, told the court: “He sat next to her and stroked her leg. When she told him to stop he moved his hand to the top of her leg squeezing the inner and outer thigh.”

The next day he again assaulted the girl, this time in a bedroom, touching her breasts under her top.

Later that year, he assaulted a 12-year-old girl as she lay on a sofa watching television, “pushing his hand up her trouser leg” said Mr Hardy. The girl raised the alarm a few days later when she was at school.

March 2014

Jail for man who got 14-year-old schoolgirl pregnant

A MAN who ‘took advantage’ of a schoolgirl and got her pregnant has been jailed.

Christopher Dawe, aged 27, of Trusthams, Broadwindsor, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child and was ordered to be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

The schoolgirl was 14 when it was discovered she was pregnant by Daw

Dorchester Crown Court heard that the offences took place just months after Dawe had been served with a Child Abduction Warning Notice in relation to contact made via social media with another young girl.

Prosecutor Mark Ashley said that in the case relating to the most recent offences, the alarm was first raised by the teenager’s father in November 2012, but the youngster denied any contact had taken place.

Dawe was arrested in November last year and admitted the contact when he was presented with DNA evidence showing he was the father of the schoolgirl’s child.

In mitigation, Tim Shorter said: “Mr Dawe has to accept, and does accept, that regardless of the extent of a relationship between them, she is the victim and must be treated as the victim.”

Judge Roger Jarvis sentenced Dawe to three years’ imprisonment on each count, to be served concurrently.

He ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and made him subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) to be in place until further notice.

Judge Jarvis said: “Even though you are before the courts for the first time I can see that earlier in time to these offences you had come to the attention of the authorities because a Child Abduction Warning Notice had been issued in July 2012.

“After that, once again, you came to the attention of child services when a referral was made in September 2013.”

He added: “At the time of these offences you were a mature man and she was little more than a child.

“Her feelings about you seem to have been confused.

“Certainly you took advantage.”

March 2014

Luton Man Guilty Of Causing Brain Damage To Toddler

A Luton man has been told he faces a long time behind bars for causing injuries to a 3-year-old boy, which he may never recover from.

29-year-old Ryan Parker left the child with brain damage that means he cannot see properly and his speech and language have been harmed.

The court heard the boy’s grandmother noticed an enormous amount of bruising to his face, eye and forehead. He was taken to the Luton and Dunstable hospital, where medical staff found more than 50 bruises, abrasions, scratches and pinch injuries.

Prosecutor David Matthew warned the jury of 7 women and 5 men about the photographs of the boy’s injuries that they were to see during the trial.

He said: “Some are pretty horrific. You are going to be looking at some really horrible things. You are going to have to brace yourselves.

“The most serious injury is the brain injury. His brain hasn’t fully recovered. He still cannot see right, his speech and language have been harmed and he has not come on emotionally. He did him so much damage the boy is unlikely ever to fully recover.”

Parker claimed the boy, who can’t be named for legal reasons, had slipped onto a radiator.

The 29-year-old from Butlin Road in Luton was convicted of cruelty to a person aged under-16 between November 4th and 12th November 2012 and two charges of grievous bodily harm with intent.

He was cleared of a third charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, admitting causing grievous bodily harm.

After the jury returned their verdicts, he admitted possessing indecent images of children, some of which were at Level 5 the most serious.

He, and a woman defendant, will be sentenced once pre-sentence reports have been prepared.

Judge Stuart Bridge said: “I want a full assessment of the level of risk Mr Parker poses so that I can consider how long a period of custody he must service. It could be an indefinite sentence.”

He told Parker: “You have been convicted of causing appalling violence to a three-year-old. You will be sentenced for a very long period of imprisonment.”

March 2014

Dunfermline man collected hundreds of indecent child images over five-year spell

A 55-year-old Dunfermline man was caught with more than 1,200 indecent images of children on his computer.

At Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court on Tuesday, Garry Ellicott, of Sycamore Grove, admitted collecting the images between 2008 and 2013.

In June 2011 police received information regarding website sales of DVDs purporting to contain indecent images.

It was discovered that an IP address relating to Ellicott had access to an address purporting to sell the DVDs.

When they searched his house they were told the accused had attended a computer course and changes were made to his hard drive.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia told the court that Ellicott had 1,120 images graded at level one, 31 images at level two, 22 images at level three, 44 images at level four and one image at the most serious level five.

Ellicott admitted two charges that between January 7 2008 and April 19 2013, at an address in Rosyth, he had in his possession indecent photographs of children, and that he took or permitted to be taken or made indecent photographs of children.

Sheriff Max Hendry deferred sentence until May for reports.

March 2014

Man sent texts to 14 year old girl

A man who had sex with a 14-year-old girl continued sending her texts to persuade her to take part in sexual activity even after he was told her age.

Reece Checkley had denied two charges of sexual activity with a child and a jury at Warwick Crown Court found him not guilty after accepting he did not know she was only 14 when he had sex with her.

But the 21-year-old of Wentworth Road in Rugby was convicted of a further charge of inciting the girl to engage in sexual activity even after her mother had left him in no doubt she was under-age.

Checkley was remanded in custody until next month for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on him.

Prosecutor Jonathan Dunne had told the jury in 2012 the girl’s mother found a mobile phone on which there were inappropriate text messages between Checkley and her daughter.

So she went to see him and left him in no doubt her daughter was only 14, but later found another phone which made it evident the relationship had continued, and reported the matter to the police.

But he continued to send the girl texts inviting her to commit further sexual activity with him and on one occasion he was found in a state of undress at the home of one of the girl’s relatives with whom she was staying at the time.

Mr Dunne said when he was arrested Checkley, who had a long list of previous convictions but none of a sexual nature, at first ‘lied his head off’ and then gave various dates for when he said he found out her age.

And in his evidence during his trial he told the court he did not know the girl’s age when he had had sex with her, and claimed the texts were not intended to get her to perform further sex acts with him.

March 2014

Teen jailed for sexual abusing young schoolgirl

A JUDGE has ordered medical reports to be forwarded to the governor at a young offenders institution after he jailed a teenager for sex offences.

Michael Vivian, described as a vulnerable man, was jailed for 20 months at Southampton Crown Court for sexually abusing a girl.

Prosecutor Simon Jones said the offences came to light when the victim reported to the nurse at her school she was being abused and she in turn contacted the police. Vivian made a full and frank confession when questioned.

Vivian, 19, of Dyer Road, Shirley, Southampton, admitted sexual assault, assault by penetration and causing a child to watch a sexual act on a pornographic film to obtain sexual gratification.

In mitigation, Dave Storry described the teenager as a talented photographer who wanted in a career in photo journalism. He had suffered a troubled childhood and at the time felt isolated. He had been aware of the age gap and the gravity of what he had done.

Passing sentence, Judge Peter Henry, who read probation and psychiatric reports about Vivian, said girls of the victim’s age were particularly vulnerable. “She was confused about what was going on and fearful.”

In addition to the jail term, Vivian was placed on the sex offenders register and banned from working with children.

March 2014

Man found guilty of a third count of raping a child under 13 years – Trial continues…

Yesterday afternoon a jury found John Saxton, of West Reading guilty of a third count of raping a child under 13 years

Throughout the day a jury of five men and six women has  been bringing in further verdicts in the trial of the 71-year-old West Reading man.

Yesterday the jurors found John Saxton, of Southcote Road, guilty of one count of sexual assault and not guilty of one count of rape of a girl under 13 years before being allowed more time by judge Peter Ross to come back with majority verdicts on the remaining counts.

Jury comes back after more than 14 hours in sexual offences trial with two verdicts out of 13  

At 1pm yesterday Saxton was found guilty of two further counts of raping a child by majority verdict and one count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity – a unanimous decision.

The jury had at this stage been deliberating for 18 hours and 22 minutes.

Then at 2.20pm the jury came back to deliver  another majority verdict on a further count of rape.

The jury still has to deliver verdicts on two other counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of rape, two further counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual activity with a child.

All the counts involve one girl who cannot be named for legal reasons.

The jury was sent home but will continue deliberating today.

Saxton’s bail was revoked and he is now remanded in custody.

March 2014

Tenterden man faces jail for child sex abuse

A TENTERDEN man must wait to hear his fate after pleading guilty to seven charges of sex abuse with a child.

Derek Lee, 54, of Pittenden in Tenterden, was warned he will almost certainly be jailed after his sentencing was adjourned at Maidstone Crown Court today (March 19).

Lee pleaded guilty to one offence of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and six of sexual activity with a child. The offences were committed between 2012 and 2013.

Two other charges of sexual activity with a child were left on the court file after Lee pleaded not guilty to them.

His sentencing was adjourned for four weeks for reports to be made.

Judge Martin Joy, said to Lee : “You have pleaded guilty to serious sexual offences with a child.

“The court is required by law to assess the danger you pose but you must understand a custodial sentence is almost inevitable in this case.”

March 2014

Jailed: ‘Obsessive loner’ who planted bomb in postbox and sent child abuse images to schools

AN “obsessive loner” has been jailed for planting a homemade bomb in a post box and sending child abuse images to schools in Bolton.

Iain Merrick, aged 39, waged a long-running harassment campaign against the Royal Mail because he believed his mail was being sent to other addresses.

The grudge against the postal service resulted in Merrick targeting postal workers, publicly claiming one was a paedophile.

Judge Martin Steiger QC, sentencing, said: “It escalated to be a ruthless, relentless and ingenious wage against local postal workers.

“The defendant used his high intelligence and technical sophistication to wage it.”

The homemade bomb that was left in a postbox by Iain Merrick

Vanessa Thomson, prosecuting, said Merrick’s behaviour started off as being a “nuisance” but became “sinister” when apostman discovered a makeshift bomb while emptying a post box in Winter Hey Lane In Horwich on April 15, 2011.

The Army’s Royal Logistics Corps was drafted in to help and the area had to be cordoned off.

Ms Thomson said the package was found to contain two nails, wires, a bulb, a battery and a circuit.

Match heads, fish hooks and razor blades were also found.

Ms Thomson said: “If the circuit was completed it would have burned fiercely with the potential of causing injury to the person holding the device.”

The court heard that it could have “certainly caused injury to whoever came into contact with it”.

During the spring of 2011 stickers started appearing around Horwichnaming a postal worker as a convicted paedophile, the court was told.

Months later, in October, 2011 six Bolton schools, St Joseph’s High School, Leverhulme Park Primary School, Lostock Primary School, High Lawn Primary School, Oxford Grove Primary School and The Valley Primary School received two indecent images of children.

The photographs contained the names of two postal workers.

Police, fearing the workers were involved in child abuse started to investigate and both workers were visited by police.

Both people named Merrick when asked whether anyone had a grudge against them.

The defendant also posted mail to his and a neighbouring home in the names of six Royal Mail workers.

Police raided Merrick’s home in Cheriton Gardens, Horwich, in October, 2011, and discovered a pen drive containing terrorist-related material and indecent images of children, including the images sent to the schools.

Files included information about starting fires with electric timers and an “anarchist’s cookbook”.

Notebooks containing instructions about how to make improvised explosive devices and how to search for components were also found.

Police found more than 1,000 indecent images of children ranging in severity from one to four – five is the most disturbing level.

Manchester Crown Court heard one of the victims has since moved out of the area and changed her job.

Both were said to be left very fearful after Merrick used Facebook and other websites to obtain information and photographs of them.

Benjamin Myers QC, defending, said Merrick is an “unremarkable man of fragile character who reacted in an unjustifiable way”.

He said medical reports found he suffered from no mental illnesses or personality disorders but had traits of Aspergers syndrome and obsessive behaviour.

Merrick was convicted by a jury of sending an explosive substance and 21 counts of of possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

He continues to deny the crimes, despite being found guilty in December last year.

Judge Steiger said: “This campaign caused intense distress, not only to employees but also to the schools and their staff who opened the revolting images sent.

“It must have been perfectly obvious this was a wicked thing to do.”

He added: “Merrick, in my judgement, can be described as an obsessive loner but someone who is highly intelligent – one who takes his interests to extreme lengths.”

The police and the military were praised for their work dealing with the crimes.

Merrick was jailed for seven years for sending an explosive substance, and he must spend five years on licence when he is released.

Merrick was ordered to sign he sex offenders’ register and given a lifetime sexual offences prevention order.

March 2014

Victim speaks out after his female abuser is jailed

A son has spoken about rebuilding his life after his adoptive mother was jailed for a decade-long campaign of abuse against him.

Joseph Robinson was just 18 months old when Jean Pamela Robinson, 62, of Belmont Road, Ashton, started a decade long campaign of abuse, which included beatings, being left without toilet facilities and being locked in total darkness.

Joseph, who is now 27 and a father himself, says he is only just starting to rebuild his life now the 62-year-old is starting a 12-month prison term after pleading guilty to two charges of wilful assault.

He said: “It started when I was adopted at 18 months old and went on until I was 11. She did awful things to me, and I used to wonder why she hated me so much.”

Mr Robinson said the abuse all took place in the home he shared with Robinson in Belmont Road.

He said: “She’d lock me in my room with just a mattress on the floor.

“She’d take the lightbulb out of the light so I’d be in total darkness and there weren’t any toilet facilities, so I’d have to go to the toilet in the room. Then she’d beat me for that.

“I used to cry into my pillow, wondering what I’d done to deserve it.”

Joseph said he has been diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder that leaves him unable to work, and said it is down to his traumatic upbringing. He also said his experiences have made fatherhood tougher.

He said: “I can’t bear it when my partner tells the children off, even though she is right.

“She says I am way too soft and as I had nothing, I give them too much, but I’m getting there. I often think even my own children don’t like me sometimes because of my low self esteem.”

An investigation into the crimes began in 2011 after Mr Robinson went to police. The abuse took place over a 10-year period between 1988 and 1998.

Police investigating the case said the accounts of abuse and neglect were “deeply moving”.

He said: “At that point I decided I wanted to do something because my life was so affected. I’m on disability benefits, I’ve self-harmed, I’ve been in psychiatric unit and my life is in tatters.

“The whole time she was acting like a pillar of society, and was a member of the local church.”

Robinson was sentenced to 12 months in prison on Tuesday at Preston Crown Court.

Mr Robinson said: “I feel good, I feel that justice has been done, though I’d have liked to have seen a longer sentence.”

Detective Sergeant Jamie Lillystone, who led the investigation, said: “This was a complicated and deeply moving case.

“The victim was a very young, vulnerable child who was systematically abused and neglected over a number of years by his adoptive mother. This has greatly affected the victims life and it is still having an effect today.

“It is a testament to his strength of character that he has persevered with his search for justice. A great number of witnesses also came forward which assisted with the case.

“Although the offences happened many years ago, this sentence will show that the courts take the abuse of vulnerable adults or children very seriously regardless of when or how it occurred”.

March 2014

‘Dad’s got away with it…..’

We sat cross legged on the gym floor and as the woman began to speak, giggles ripped around the room. 

But I wasn’t laughing. As we received our first school talk about the bees and the birds. I could feel nausea welling up inside me.

Because now I understood what was happening to me at home, and just how wrong it was.

For as long as I can remember, my father had raped me whenever he got the chance. And as my mum worked nights, those opportunities came often. I hated it but dad terrified me into silence.

He’d say: “Don’t tell a soul or i’ll go to prison and our family will be split up”

One night, I returned home and helped with my housework but my mind was racing.

When it was time for bed, dad said: “Everyone to bed except Fiona. She can stay down stairs with me”

With love and affection in short supply in our house, the others glared at me enviously as they tramped up stairs.

I thought: If only they knew.

As dad raped me, I turned my head and focused on the tv until the ordeal was over.

Afterwards, dad sent me to bed.

As years of abuse passed by, I became withdrawn and shy. But when I turned 15 years old, I craved the carefree life my friends enjoyed.

I asked to go to the local roller disco and was shocked when dad agreed.

There, a boy asked me to dance. Afterwards we arranged to meet again.

Dad was furious, but mum encouraged me to go.

With her blessing I dressed up and went to the bus stop.

As I waited, dad pulled up in the car with a face like thunder.

He dragged me in through the passenger door and punched me twice. Once in the face and once in the stomach.

Then he drove me home, took me to my room and smashed my prized record player.

I could bear it no more.

I went to the bathroom and took as many pills as I could find. 

My older brother found me and fetched my mother but my dad refused to let a ambulance to be called

Instead I was given cup after cup of black coffee until I was violently sick.

Next day, life went back to normal.

One Saturday morning, I came back downstairs to find the house empty except for my dad

Where is everyone? – I asked.

Dad said: “They’ve gone to our new home. You are going to stay with me until he sell this house”

That night, dad moved me into the bed he had shared with my mum, as if I was his wife. I felt enveloped in despair

Two months later, we left our home in Ireland and joined the rest of the family in Derby

Life got a little better. I enrolled in college, joined a swimming club and took a work replacement at a locomotive factory

But dad would pick me up on my lunch breaks and take me home to rape me.

Then something happened that changed everything. I began going out with a boy called John

After college, I’d skip swimming club and spend hours with John with him at his place. We had sex and for the first time in my life, I enjoyed it. 

In the dead of the night, I packed a small bag and ran away to John’s. I found a job and got myself on my feet.

In time I broke up with John but I was free. Years passed and I didn’t think about my father. 

In fact I pushed my memories so far back in my mind, it was though it had never happened.

Then I started having flashbacks

I was a grown woman now and I didn’t fear dad anymore. With the encouragement of my doctor, I made a full statement to the police back in Ireland

An investigation began and as a result my family stopped speaking to me.

One day there was a knock at the door. I opened it, to find two police officers.

They told me dad would not be charged

They said: “There is not enough evidence”

It was my word against his. And dad had won

I shut the door and realized something. I was never going to get justice.

I told myself: You have just got to get on with it

In time I rebuilt the relationship my family and moved back to Ireland. It was as if the abuse had never happened.

More than 20 years passed of me just getting on with it. But I couldn’t smother mu feelings completely

I began writing a secret dairy about what had happened to me. It helped me to see things more clearly and I felt sick and tired of living life a lie

Now I made a decision. I knew times had changed and that allegations like mine were investigated more thoroughly than in the past. I contacted the local sexual assault centre and spoke to a policewoman

I made another full statement and a second investigation began

Two years past and two of my siblings agreed to testify. I learnt that one remembered details that corroborated my story, and another had hidden in the wardrobe and seen dad rape me

I was stunned. For all these years, I thought I’d shielded my siblings from the truth, and at least one of them knew.

One day, the police woman handling my case called.

She said, “Your father has handed himself in and has admitted everything”

I cried with relief

In January this year, supported by my husband Jim, I went to the central court in Dublin, where my father Patrick O’Brien, 72, of OLd court avenue, Bray, County Wicklow admitted 16 specimen charges of rape and indecent assault on me between 1973 and 1982

As I sat in court, my stomach was in knots

Dad didn’t look at me. With his gaunt face and walker, it was hard to believe this man had brought me so much misery.

The court heard dad had first raped me the night before my first holy communion and it became as frequent as having dinner

He later admitted abusing me at least once a week for 10 years and said it “became normal”. He said he knew it was wrong but kept doing it. 

Mr Justice Paul Carney said it was: “One of the most serious cases of serial rape of a daughter”

He sentenced dad to 12 years in prison, but SUSPENDED 9 of them

I was relieved to see dad behind bars but was disappointed at his lenient sentence. He would be free in 15 months.

January 2013

Sex offender who raped daughter gets bail revoked

The bail of a convicted sex offender sentenced to 12 years for the rape and indecent assault of his daughter has been revoked.

The judge apologised to Patrick O’Brien’s victim, and expressed regret for the stress caused.

O’Brien, from Bray in Wicklow, admitted the rape and indecent assault of his daughter, over a ten-year period.

He had been released on bail pending appeal, after nine years of the sentence were suspended.

However, on Thursday, Mr Justice Paul Carney he said he accepted that the procedure he adopted in the sentencing was “inappropriate” and something he should not have done.

The judge said that, having designed the sentence, he was concerned that he might be giving too much weight to the health of O’Brien.

He said he thought to express the gravity of the case but also thought to take in the health situation of O’Brien and other factors.

However, he did not want to take the responsibility on his own and wanted to share the burden with others.

Mr Justice Carney said he wanted to get the involvement of other judges as quickly as possible so he certified the case for appeal.

He said he did not want anyone to say that O’Brien had walked, however, people were able to say that.

Mr Justice Carney said that when he tried to get the case to the Court of Criminal Appeal he was not canvassing a reduction in the sentence, but wanted experienced minds to see if he was giving excessive weight to the health of O’Brien.

He said the way was now clear for the DPP to appeal the leniency of the sentence or for O’Brien to appeal the severity of the sentence.

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said while he could not comment on the case, he could understand why people were “disturbed” by it.

January 2013

Paedophile pleads guilty to 16 charges of the rape of his daughter then walks out of court 

A CHILD rapist who admitted abusing his daughter for ten years walked free from court yesterday after a judge granted him bail to appeal his prison sentence.

Mr Justice Paul Carney suspended the last nine years of a 12-year term imposed on Patrick O’Brien, 72, despite describing his crimes as “one of the most serious cases of serial rape of a daughter”.

Judge Carney remanded him on continuing bail, ordered the appeal hearing be expedited and granted continuing legal aid.

O’Brien, of Bray, Co Wicklow, pleaded guilty to 16 charges of the rape and indecent assault from 1973 to 1982.

The abuse began when he raped the victim on the night before she made her First Holy Communion.

In a statement to media outside the court, the victim — who waived her right to anonymity — admitted she was crushed by the ruling.

She said: “He raped me for ten years and he walks out of here today. I feel like the system has done it to me too. This is my second time going back at this and trying to get this to court.

“It’s been proven that I’ve been telling the truth. Last week I felt great, I was vindicated and I was told I was telling the truth. He admitted it. He pleaded guilty. For him to walk out of here today without serving one day, just one day, it’s just devastating. We’re totally devastated by the whole thing.

“I don’t know what his health is like. I have a feeling it’s being exaggerated to a great level. But I was more upset that the judge said he has been a good character and proven himself over the years.”

O’Brien initially denied the allegations and told gardaí she was making them because “I was very hard on her because of the way she was dressing”.

He later admitted abusing her at least once a week for 10 years and said it “became normal”. He said he knew it was wrong but kept doing it. He told gardaí: “I’m sorry for what happened, especially her, because she was good to us.”

March 2014

Predator sent sex abuse pictures of 14 year old girl

An internet predator secretly stayed in a schoolgirl’s bedroom before sending graphic pictures and videos of his abuse of the victim to others.

Mark Fordham originally posed as a teenage boy on an online chatroom where he got in contact with the underage girl.

She said she was a 14-year-old schoolgirl and Fordham, 43, told her that he found her “sexy”.

Fordham initially met the girl in the centre of Edinburgh and conceded his true age. He tried to kiss her but she pushed him away.

They continued to communicate and met up and he gave her a card for her 14th birthday entitled “to my very special girlfriend on your birthday”.

Unemployed Fordham, who came from the Cambridge area, had moved to Edinburgh last year and offered to buy the girl anything she wanted and on one occasion insisted she take £30 from him.

Fordham, of no fixed abode, began abusing the girl and took her to the address of his former partner in the city where he had sex with her.

He claimed the girl was a relative who had nowhere to go. His ex-partner felt uneasy about what was going on and asked him to leave, but he ignored her.

When she left the flat the following day she hid an MP3 player in a shoe and put it on record. She listened to the recording that night and heard groaning noises.

Advocate depute Jane Farquharson told the High Court in Edinburgh: “In the course of the recording the accused was heard to say to the victim something about losing her virginity.”

The woman confronted Fordham and the girl about what she had heard but they denied it was them. She asked them to leave the flat.

The girl revealed to friends that she had sneaked Fordham into her bedroom at her home in West Lothian.

The prosecutor said: “He was staying there unbeknownst to the victim’s father or his girlfriend.” She added he did not live there continuously over the period.

One friend of the girl found him hiding behind a wardrobe in her bedroom after the family dog betrayed his presence.

Fordham’s involvement with the girl ended in November last year, but in contacting her through an online app he pleaded with her to take him back and told her; “U ken how much I love your wee body.”

In December last year the girl was due to spend the night with grandparents and her father and grandmother went into her bedroom, which they normally never entered, where they spotted a bag with men’s clothing. Her father pulled a suitcase out of a wardrobe containing papers and other items belonging to Fordham.

The girl revealed to her grandfather that she had met Fordham through a chat room on an app that she had downloaded and police were contacted.

When Fordham was detained his phone was seized and videos found on it revealed some of his sexual abuse of the girl.

In the days before his arrest he was found to have been sharing images with others through messaging services, one of whom had contacted him asking to “trade yng girl pix” Fordham sent him pictures of sex acts.

Fordham admitted breaching child protection legislation and sexually abusing the underage girl between July and November last year.and making indecent photos. he also pled guilty to distributing indecent photos of a child in December.

Fordham, who appeared in court with the aid of crutches, was placed on the sex offenders’s register by judge Lord Bannatyne, who remanded him in custody for the preparation of a background report ahead of sentencing next month.

March 2014

Nephew of disgraced Jimmy Savile speaks of his shame as it emerges he is a convicted paedophile who was jailed for assaulting a schoolgirl

The nephew of disgraced television star Jimmy Savile has today revealed that he is a convicted paedophile who abused a teenage girl.

Michael Johnson was sentenced to four years in custody in 1986 after admitting five counts of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

The former nightclub owner today revealed that he had served two-and-a-half years of the  sentence and claimed he had been completely ‘rehabilitated.’

He also expressed his own ‘self disgust and shame’ at the crime.

Mr Johnson, now aged 67 years, was among family members who decided to remove the headstone from the former Radio 1 star’s grave after the allegations of sex abuse came to light.

In a family statement they said they were ‘reeling’ with shock about their uncle’s past.

Today he said: ‘As a member of Jimmy Savile’s family, I too shared their feelings of disappointment and was appalled at the level of allegations made toward him after his recent death. 

‘This has been a burden for me and my own immediate family since that time and have had to deal with the circumstances and devastating affects in my social domestic and business life and notwithstanding the more devastating affects on those that have been victims of Jimmy Savile.

‘My and my family burden now continues, in having to prepare this statement which refers to my own past of nearly 30 years ago when I served a 2.5 year sentence for a sexual offence against a 14 year old female.

‘I cannot stress my own self-disgust and shame together with the huge sorrow I have for that person.

‘Since my release I have been properly rehabilitated and with my forgiving family, have continued to live my life socially and from a business perspective, to the best of my ability whilst attempting to draw an underscore in that period of my life.

‘I sincerely hope that I am allowed to continue my life in peace in the community and not have to face the traumas of the past anymore and the family connection with Jimmy Savile which has devastated us, and those who admired him, prior to the allegations of the past.’

Mr Johnson’s own wife claims she was kept completely in the dark about her husband’s convictions until they became embroiled in a custody battle.

‘Social services carried out an assessment and, to my horror, their report revealed Michael had gone to prison in 1986, before I knew him, for sexual offences against a child,’ said 54-year-old Karen who lives in Loughton, near Milton Keynes, Bucks.

She said that she had visited ‘Uncle Jimmy’ with her husband a number of times during their marriage.

‘Uncle Jimmy always gave me the creeps.

‘Once he kept asking me to sit on his knee and he was grabbing me. It was disgusting.’

Mr Johnson is a director of city property company. He once ran the Talk of the Town nightclub in The Point in Milton Keynes.

Ms Davison said she met Mr Johnson in 1995 and that he actively pursued her while still married to another woman.

They married in 2004 before separating just two years later after Mr Johnson walked out in 2006.

She claimed she only learned of her former husband’s history of sexual offending after their relationship had ended.

As a result she called social services who carried out an assessment on her former partner and this later concluded that he was a low risk.

March 2014

Shocked woman found indecent images of children on partner’s phone

A PERVERT was reported to the police after his shocked partner found indecent images of children on his mobile phone and computer.

Paul Robson had trawled internet sites for sick pictures and even stole some personal intimate photos from an adult female friend’s phone.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the 35-year-old initially claimed other people were responsible for downloading the filth.

It was not until he was due to stand trial that Robson finally confessed to storing the images and having a sexual interest in children.

He was told by Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, QC: “You knew what these images were, you knew you had them, and where they were.

“You said firstly you stumbled across the images and eventually acknowledged a sexual interest in children. You clearly need help.

“The troubling aspect if your case is that it has taken you a significant period of time to recognise that which you have done.”

The court heard how Robson’s partner first saw sexual images on his mobile phone, and he confessed to visiting adult porn sites.

Two years later, the woman found indecent pictures of children on his lap-top and took it to a computer shop so experts could examine it.

She later threw him out and handed the machine to police, who found he had also stashed women’s underwear, said prosecutor Paul Reid.

Yvonne Taylor, mitigating, said the long distance lorry driver had finally acknowledged his problem and needs help to address it.

Robson, of Gulliver Road, Hartlepool, was given a three-year community order with probation supervision and sex offender treatment.

Judge Bourne-Arton also imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order which will limit the former soldier’s future internet use.

Robson admitted 16 charges of making indecent images of children, and one of possessing indecent images of children at an earlier hearing.

March 2014

Watchet man faces jail after admitting making child abuse videos

A PAEDOPHILE has admitted making dozens of sexual videos and photographs of young children.

Michael Powell, 27, had at least 46 videos and 11 images stored at his home in Watchet and shared them with others.

Powell, of Helwell Green, pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent photographs of a child and 12 counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child when he appeared at Taunton Crown Court this week.

The court heard that Powell’s illegal activity took place between March 2011 and April 2012.

Powell was also charged with possessing an extreme pornographic image relating to sexual activity with an animal, which he denied.

During the brief hearing on Monday (March 17), Gordon Richings, acting on behalf of the Crown Prosecution Service, said the pleas were accepted, meaning the denied charge is likely to lie on file.

Powell appeared in the dock wearing a black suit, white shirt and red and white striped tie.

He spoke only to confirm his name and to enter pleas to the 19 charges.

Patrick Mason, defending, said his client was of “previous good character” and requested a pre-sentence report is prepared detailing Powell’s background to assist when the judge passes sentence next month.

Judge David Ticehurst told Powell: “Let me make clear that all options are open to the judge who sentences you, including an immediate prison sentence.

“No promises are being held open to you just because I am adjourning it for a pre-sentence report.”

Powell was granted bail and is due to appear next at Taunton Crown Court on April 15.