July 2013

Girl, five, assaulted by pervert

A man is due to be sentenced after a jury found him guilty of sexually assaulting a five-year-old girl over a 10 month period.

Michael Wareing, of Tomlinson Road in Ashton, Preston, denied the offences against the youngster, who lives in the city.

But he was convicted on July 4 after a trial at Preston Crown Court.

The offences against the little girl, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, took place over a period between November 2011 and September 2012, the court heard.

The 59-year-old was convicted of two counts of sexually assaulting her.

However, he was cleared of two counts of inciting a youngster into sexual activity.

Wareing must immediately sign the sex offenders register.

He will next appear before Preston Crown Court on August 2 when he will be sentenced.

Det Chief Insp Jo Edwards, of Preston Police, said: “His offending was over a significant period within this child’s short lifetime and his conviction will has enabled the courts to impose a number of conditions upon him and allow the relevant professionals to robustly monitor his movements in order to minimise the risk of him offending again.

“This case demonstrates our continued commitment to bring dangerous offenders to justice.”

July 2013

Teenager locked up after ‘grooming’ girls for sex

TEENAGER Ross Pickerill has been locked up for three years and three months after he targeted young girls for sex.

The 19-year-old was aged 17 and 18 when he befriended four 13-year-old girls and another aged 15.

“He emotionally blackmailed them by saying he would kill himself if they ended the relationship.”

The court heard one 13-year-old Pickerill had sex with has been left feeling worthless and is now having counselling.

Another victim, also aged 13, would sneak out of her window at night to meet Pickerill.

Ms Punia said: “The defendant would tell her he was going to kill himself and he made her promise never to leave him.”

Pickerill was aged 18 when he had sex with another of the girls.

“He became hostile about a week after the incident and she felt used for sex,” said Ms Punia.

The fourth victim was also aged 13 when Pickerill met up with her, following grooming. The court heard about 800 messages were sent between the two in six days, many being sexually implicit.

Police launched an investigation after those four incidents and Pickerill was arrested and interviewed.

While on bail, Pickerill arranged to meet up with his fifth victim, a vulnerable 15-year-old with learning difficulties, after meeting her on an internet chat room.

Ms Punia said: “He exposed himself and performed a sex act on a webcam and was going to meet her by Newcastle College. She knew the plan was that they would have sex.”

Pickerill, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual activity with a child; meeting a child following sexual grooming and arranging to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Richard Davenport, mitigating, said Pickerill was deeply sorry and wants to apologise to his victims.

“He is not a sexual predator, he is a young man with personality problems,” added Mr Davenport.

Judge Paul Glenn sentenced Pickerill to three years and three months detention in a young offenders’ institution. He will also be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for the same period.

Judge Glenn said: “You targeted young girls for your own sexual gratification.

“You later boasted about the number of girls you were having sex with and bragged about taking the virginity of one of the girls.

“You groomed your victims, you played on the fact you were older.

“You told some you would marry or have a baby with them. You exploited young girls, vulnerable girls who courts have a duty to protect.”

July 2013

Man sentenced for indecent images of children

Simon Goddard, 37, of Stow Avenue, Witney, admitted possessing 71 indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children on March 17, 2011, and making 33 indecent photographs or pseudo photographs of children between October 1, 2009 and May 30, 2010.

Community order made with a 24-day activity requirement and a supervision requirement.

Sexual offences prevention order made banning unsupervised use of the internet. Added to the sex offenders register for five years.

July 2013

Paedophile targeted mum to groom her daughter, 15

A PAEDOPHILE started a relationship with a woman to get close to her 15-year-old daughter, a judge heard.

Paul Mitchell, of East Avenue, Oxford, was yesterday branded dangerous by a judge after he admitted breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

The 42-year-old was jailed for rape in June 1991 and has been repeatedly convicted of sexually assaulting teenage girls.

Tom Godfrey, prosecuting, said he indecently assaulted a girl aged 15 or under in 1987, a girl under 16 in 1999 and two 14-year-old girls in 2001.

He said in July last year he began a relationship with a woman from Liverpool he had met playing computer games on the internet.

The barrister said Mitchell found out the woman had three children, including a 15-year-old girl, and went to stay with the family on a number of occasions.

Mr Godfrey said during these visits the defendant’s focus was on his new partner’s daughter, who he followed around and started texting frequently.

He added: “On one occasion he followed her up to her room and she slammed the door in his face.

“After that she asked if she could have a lock on her door, which was duly done.”

Mr Godfrey told Judge Mary Jane Mowat the girl’s mother became concerned about Mitchell’s behaviour towards her daughter.

This included offering to take her out on trips and to a pop concert, as well as telling the 15-year-old he loved her in text messages, he explained.

Mr Godfrey said although nothing happened between Mitchell and the girl, his behaviour suggested “a plan that was thwarted before it got to its completion”.

The barrister also said that the defendant told his former partner he wanted to marry her and she now feels “used and taken advantage of”.

Imran Mahmood, defending, said his client had genuine feelings for the girl’s mother and had intended to marry her.

His behaviour breached his Sexual Offences Prevention Order in four ways – by lying to probation about where he was; by texting a girl under 16; by using the internet without restrictions; and by staying in a house where there was a girl under 16.

He has also repeatedly breached his order in the past. At Oxford Crown Court Judge Mowat sentenced him to three and a half years in prison.

She told him he had shown complete defiance of the court order, which will now continue indefinitely.

Judge Mowat said: “It goes without saying in my view given your record that you are dangerous and potentially a risk to children.

“It is very, very difficult to avoid the conclusion that your reason for starting a relationship with this woman was her daughter.”

July 2013

Bradford paedophile jailed for abuse of boys

A paedophile who subjected two young boys to “truly wicked” acts of depravity over a five-year period has been jailed for more than six years.

Massimo Capazzo’s offending against the boys was brought to the attention of the police after he confessed to some of his crimes last summer.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday Capazzo, 41, who was formerly known as Andrew Collins, had been a member of the Jehovah’s Witness faith.

Prosecutor Sophie Drake said his behaviour had been brought to the attention of the elders at a Bradford place of worship and he was “disfellowed”. She said: “Although he was shunned by the congregation he was still allowed to attend meetings. At that time matters were not brought to the attention of the police.”

But last year Capazzo, of Brookfield Road, Pollard Park, Bradford, walked into a police station and told officers he wanted to confess to clear his conscience because he had committed “a terrible crime”.

Miss Drake described how the Capazzo had plied the two boys, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, with strong alcohol and shown then adult horror and pornographic films.

The court heard that one of the youngsters described becoming “numb” to the sexual abuse and estimated that he had performed sex acts on Capazzo between 40 and 50 times.

Capazzo might also have filmed some abuse and Miss Drake said his offending had had a profound and continuing effect on the boys who are now adults.

In their victim personal statements they described feelings of worthlessness and guilt and Miss Drake said they had needed professional help.

Capazzo, who had no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to a series of sex charges including indecent assaults and sexual activity with a child.

His barrister Yunus Valli said the most significant mitigating feature of the case was the fact that his client had walked in to the police station and confessed his crimes.

He said his client clearly knew what he had done was wrong.

Judge John Potter said Capazzo would receive credit for his admissions, but he noted that when he went to the police he only accepted abusing one of the boys. He told Capazzo that the abuse was a gross breach of trust and instead of respecting that trust he had groomed both boys and then subjected them to serious sexual violation.

The judge said the complainants had both battled, and continued to battle, with the psychological effects caused by the defendant’s “truly wicked acts”.

“This was, Mr Capazzo, systematic child abuse,” said Judge Potter.

The judge jailed Capazzo for a total of six years and eight months.

The defendant will also be subject to an indefinite sexual offences prevention order which restricts his contact with children and he will have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life.

July 2013

Paedophile jailed for 16 years

A PAEDOPHILE rapist who repeatedly assaulted two young girls has been jailed for 16 years.

Winchester Crown Court heard last week that one of the victims was only nine when Stewart Thomas McDevitt, 50, began abusing her.

McDevitt, formerly of Amesbury, denied the abuse when he was arrested in March last year but was found guilty of eight counts of indecent assault and two of rape by a jury sitting at Portsmouth Crown Court following a one-week trial starting on July 2.

He was cleared of a further three counts of indecent assault.

Speaking after the sentencing, DC Darren Ambrose of Wiltshire Police said: “McDevitt preyed on two innocent girls, which had a long-lasting and devastating effect on them.

“They have shown great courage in coming forward and speaking to police and we hope that this case will encourage any other victims of sexual abuse to report it.

“McDevitt has continued to deny any involvement but the jury found him guilty and the prison sentence imposed today reflects the vile nature of his crime.”

McDevitt, now of Barne Barton, Plymouth, was also made subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

July 2013

Ice cream seller jailed over sex acts with underage girls

An ice cream seller from Merseyside, who indulged in sex acts with two under-age girls he met at a village show in Wales, has been jailed for five years.

Gary Young, 47, of Livingstone Road, Leasowe, Wirral, was branded a danger to young girls by a judge.

He admitted five charges of sexual activity with two girls aged 14 and 15.

Earlier charges of rape, which he denied, were dropped.

At Mold Crown Court, Nicholas Williams, prosecuting, said that the victims had been drinking wine before they arrived at the show.

They sat on chairs by the ice cream van and Young, he said, identified his targets – two vulnerable girls at the time without adult supervision.

Their parents were already at the show.

Young began to question them intimately, asked if they were “innocent”, he said that he was 39, gave them cigarettes and bought them a bracelet each.

Young gave his phone number to them and said they would meet up later.

He took them in his ice cream van to an isolated wood where the offences took place in August last year.

He did not mention he had met them when their frantic parents later approached, looking for them.

Judge Philip Hughes extended Young’s licence period by three years because he said that he regarded him as a dangerous offender.

He was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for life. An indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) was also made to curb his future activities.

The defendant had no previous sexual convictions but during a previous investigation he had admitted to the police that he had been sexually attracted to two 15-year-old girls.

Judge Hughes said that it was clear that Young had an unhealthy interest in young girls.

The judge said that it would have been clear to the defendant that the girls had been drinking alcohol, one had been physically sick, but he had taken advantage of them.

He had asked them intimate questions, he had given them gifts, gave them his mobile number, and bought them more alcohol.

Judge Hughes said: “You were plainly grooming them for sex.”

Young then drove them off in the ice cream van to an area where he thought he would not be disturbed and sexually assaulted both of them.

The judge told him: “You simply used the two girls, one after another, to satisfy your lust. You were old enough to be their father.

“Your position as an ice cream seller from a van gave you extra opportunity to contact young girls.”

Zillah Williams, defending, said that the offences would cause concern but stressed that the rape allegations had been dropped.

July 2013

16 year old girl knifed 58 times then burnt by ‘The Demon’ barman David Minto

Evil barman David Minto was yesterday convicted of stabbing to death a petrified 16-year-old girl in a frenzied attack at a hotel.

Minto, 23, was jailed for life after knifing child care student Sasha Marsden 58 times, sexually assaulting her as she lay dying or was already dead, then burning her body in an alley.

The killer – who nicknamed himself Demon – used Facebook to lure Sasha to the hotel where he lived and worked.

A court heard that when she rejected his sexual advances at the property, she was stabbed in the head, neck and face with a kitchen knife as she tried to flee.

Sasha’s grief-stricken mum Jayne said: “For his sexual gratification he’s robbed us of saying goodbye to her. He’s robbed us of everything. I can never forgive him.”

In a victim impact statement heard in court, Jayne and Sasha’s dad Gary said: “Each wound you inflicted upon Sasha has stabbed at the heart of each and every one of her family.”

They added that the way she died “will haunt us for the rest of our lives”.

Minto enticed Sasha to the hotel on January 31 on the pretence of giving her a job as a cleaner.

The killer probably attacked her from behind because 48 of the stab wounds were to the back of her head, Preston crown court heard.

Minto wrapped her body in carpet underlay, a duvet cover and a bin liner before taking it to the alley behind the property in Blackpool, Lancs, and setting it alight.

Sasha’s injuries were so severe she had to be identified by DNA from her toothbrush

The Recorder of Preston, Judge Anthony Russell QC, said yesterday: “You murdered her in the most brutal fashion.”

Telling Minto he must serve at least 35 years, the judge added: “You are a very dangerous and evil man.”

Neighbours spotted the burning body but thought it was a mannequin until Minto pointed out it was a person.

Police then found the victim’s blood on Minto’s clothes and throughout the hotel owned by his girlfriend’s family.

The killer, found guilty of murder, claimed he and Sasha, who lived with her parents in Staining, Lancs, had sex at the hotel before she left unharmed.

Minto said she must have returned unnoticed and was killed by someone else.

He said he removed her body from the hotel because blood makes him queasy.

The court heard he had lured other girls to the hotel when he knew it would be empty.

September 2002

Ten years for pervert

A SEX beast who raped two girls was jailed yesterday for 10 years. 

James Leslie, 51, from Macduff, Banffshire, was also put on the sex offenders register at the High Court in Inverness after he admitted a catalogue of offences. 

Leslie began sexually abusing the girls in the 1980s when they were aged nine and 12. 

He admitted seven charges, including two of raping the girls and four of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour. 

Judge Lord Bonomy told the divorced father-of-four his reign of terror had done “untold damage” to his two victims.

Update – July 2013: Released in 2000. Currently living in Raunds

1998

Corby man jailed for sexually abusing a young girl

A Chemence glue factory worker from Corby who had previously been found guilty of sexually abusing a seven year old girl has been sentenced

Peter James Allanson, (pictured above) formerly of markham walk, Corby was handed a three year prison sentence, when he appeared before Northampton crown court

Allanson was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register once he has completed his sentence

November 2011

Jail for child abuser

July 2013

Facebook sex offender ‘living in fear’ in jail

A 20-year-old man who groomed young girls with explicit sexual messages on Facebook has been sent back to a young offenders institution where he lives “in perpetual fear”.

Alex Preece contacted six girls aged 13 or 14 and met two of them on separate occasions. He kissed one and grabbed a second girl’s breasts, Michael Conry, prosecuting, told Worcester Crown Court.

Preece, of Moat Crescent, Malvern, admitted 14 sexual offences, including grooming and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He had contacted five girls initally, starting when he was 17 in 2011.

All of the girls he targeted were too distressed and embarrassed to tell anyone and the offences only came to light when explicit messages were seen by other members of a girl’s family.

He was arrested and given a sexual harm order but he also admitted breaching this when he contacted the sixth girl. Preece sent pictures of himself on a webcam committing a sexual act. He also made explicit suggestions to them about sexual activity and suggested they send pictures of themselves.

All of the girls had initially lied about their age because the minimum allowed on Facebook is 16, Mr Conry said, but they had all soon made Preece aware of their real ages and he continued to send them messages.

Adam Western, defending, said Preece had been in a young offenders institution since his arrest for the breach four months ago.

“It is his first taste of custody and he is living in perpetual fear,” Mr Western said. “There is no vulnerable offenders wing and he knows others who have committed similar crimes have been attacked.” Mr Western said a report showed Preece had a moderate to low risk of re-offending.

Judge Michael Cullum said one of the girls had described how she had been a “confident, happy-go-lucky” 13-year-old until Preece entered her life but now she had lost her confidence and did not like herself. “It could have a lifelong effect,” he told Preece.

Preece was given two years and eight months in custody minus the time already served. He will have a sexual offences prevention order for 10 years which will restrict access to children under 16. He will also have to sign the sex offenders register for life.

July 2013

Landlord had indecent images of boys aged two years old

A LODGER called police after seeing his landlord viewing porn on his computer, Worcester Crown Court was told.

An investigation showed there were 314 indecent images of children, said prosecutor Samantha Forsyth.

The majority were boys aged about two years old.

Lionel Wright, aged 55, of Averill Close, Broadway, pleaded guilty to nine counts of making indecent images.

He was given a three-year community order, told to attend a sex offender course for three years and sign on as a sex offender for five years. He is also barred from working with children.

Miss Forsyth said most of the images were low level and there was no evidence of distribution. Jason Patel, mitigating, said Wright regretted the shame he had brought upon his family and there was minimal risk of reoffending.

But Judge Richard Rundell said the victims were the children. “You only have to look at their eyes to realise the ordeal they have gone through,” he said. “This is not a victimless crime.”

July 2013

Taxi driver sentenced to 16 years for raping 14 year old schoolgirl

A CABBIE who raped a 14-year-old girl in his taxi was sentenced to 16 years in prison today.

Terence Collins, 61, of no fixed abode, was found guilty of raping the teenager, as well as a 20-year-old woman who got into his taxi after a night out last year, following a trial in May.

The court heard that the “sexual predator” had molested the girl for two years before attacking the woman.

He is said to have driven a “disco cab” to attract young women.

Collins (pictured above) in his taxi

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Peter Johnson called the perverted cabbie “a callous and intelligent man who knew exactly what he was doing, one who enjoys control over women.”

He added: “In my judgement, you will represent a danger to females while you remain sexually active.”

He said Collins had shown “not one shred of remorse”, and called him “dangerous”.

Collins had pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and one of sexual assault involving the woman, forcing both of his victims to relive their ordeals in court.

But the jury found him guilty on the second day of deliberations.

As he was sentenced, Collins, who worked for Boscombe-based Star Radio Cars and held a private licence from 2002 until March last year, looked straight ahead and did not flinch.

Fears about the cabbie’s behaviour were raised before he was revealed as a rapist.

Other taxi drivers had become concerned about him taking “unsuitable” images of young women and uploading them onto a social networking site.

John Tye, chairman of the Bournemouth Taxi Trades Association, became so worried he voiced concerns about recording equipment in vehicles when he attended a council Licensing Board meeting in June 2011.

During the trial, Carolyn Branford-Wood, prosecuting, said Collins grabbed his teenage victim when she was walking home from Bournemouth town centre and forced her into his cab to rape her.

Senior Crown Prosecutor Julia Woodward described Collins as “every woman’s worst nightmare” and praised the bravery of the victims.

July 2013

Trial for woman over attack on child-killer Theresa Riggi

A woman is to stand trial accused of slashing child-killer Theresa Riggi (pictured above) with a razor blade in Scotland’s only all-female prison.

Angela Hamilton is alleged to have disfigured Riggi for life by cutting her face with the blade.

She allegedly pulled the child killer’s hair and repeatedly struck her face and head with the razor.

The alleged attack took place in Riggi’s cell, at Cornton Vale Prison, near Stirling, on 19 November 2011.

Riggi, 49, originally from California, United States, who is serving 16 years at the prison, after admitting to stabbing her three young children at their home in west Edinburgh, had to be taken to hospital after the attack. She had used three separate knives to stab each child eight times

Hamilton, 40, denied the charge against her and is set to stand trial by jury at Falkirk Sheriff Court next week.

Theresa Riggi killed her three children, eight-year-old twins Austin and Luke, and their sister Cecilia, five, in August 2010, stabbing each of them eight times.

She then allegedly tried to cover up their deaths with a gas explosion, before trying to kill herself by leaping out of their second-floor flat

She had moved to Edinburgh with her children from Skene, Aberdeenshire, following the break-up of her marriage to the children’s father, Pasquale Riggi.

The High Court in Edinburgh heard that Riggi had been a protective mother who was involved in a custody battle with her estranged husband over access to the children.

Riggi was originally charged with murder but later admitted culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility.

Lord Bracadale described the killings as “truly disturbing” and “grotesque”.

Another inmate in Cornton Vale, a 22-year-old woman, was charged with assaulting Riggi last October by allegedly throwing her down a flight of stairs, but the case was dropped in June when the Crown Office said there was insufficient evidence.

April 2011

Theresa Riggi jailed for killing her three children

A mother who admitted killing her three young children at their Edinburgh home has been jailed for 16 years.

Theresa Riggi, 47, had pleaded guilty to a charge of culpable homicide on the grounds of diminished responsibility. She was originally charged with murder.

Her eight-year-old twins Austin and Gianluca and their five-year-old sister Cecilia were found dead at their flat in Slateford Road on 4 August 2010.

They were found with stab wounds after a suspected gas explosion at the flat.

The family had moved to Edinburgh from Skene in Aberdeenshire following the break-up of her marriage to the children’s father, Pasquale Riggi.

In a statement, read out by a spokesman from Victim Support Scotland outside the High court in Glasgow, Mr Riggi said: “The horrific manner in which my children died will leave an indelible mark on the rest of my life. As a father, my natural instincts were geared towards safeguarding my children from the dangers of this world.

“It pains me to the core that I was unable to protect them from the selfish, brutal and murderous act that ended their lives so unfairly.

“There is no justification for this heinous crime, repeated three times, nor is there any sentence that can provide justice for the overwhelming loss of three lives and the subsequent painful grief and devastation caused to surviving family and friends.”

Passing sentence at the High Court in Glasgow, Lord Bracadale said: “The result of these acts is a devastating family tragedy. The father of the children, Pasquale Riggi, and the wider family have been left utterly bereft by the loss of the children.

“And you, who had a genuine but abnormal and possessive love of your children, have lost them and are brought to this sorry pass.”

He said that while Riggi’s responsibility had been diminished, she was still responsible for her actions.

“The effect of the diminished responsibility is to reduce these crimes from what would have been exceptionally wicked crimes of murder to what are still very serious crimes of culpable homicide,” he said.

“The number and nature of the stab wounds to each child is indicative of a truly disturbing degree of violence which, in order to bring about the deaths of three children, must have been sustained over a significant period of time. It is difficult to envisage the physical commission of such acts.”

He added they were “ghastly and grotesque acts”.

He sentenced her to 18 years in prison but reduced it by two years due to her early plea. The sentence will be backdated to August last year.

He recommended Riggi be deported at the end of her sentence.

Last month, the High Court in Edinburgh heard California-born Riggi had been a protective mother who was involved in a custody battle with her estranged husband over access to the children.

The couple had spoken on the telephone 48 hours before the children were found dead.

During that conversation Riggi asked her husband if he was going to take the children away, to which he replied that she had left him no choice.

Riggi replied: “Say goodbye then” and then hung up the phone.

The court heard how the violinist stabbed each of her children eight times.

Witnesses said they saw Riggi on the second-floor balcony “screaming loudly” before climbing on to the railings. She then intentionally fell head-first from the balcony.

Defence QC Donald Findlay told the court that Riggi had been under a huge amount of stress at the time of the killings and suffered from a collection of personality disorders.

He said she was “wholly devoted” to her children and feared they would be taken away from her.

Mr Findlay said: “However irrational and however insane, that was the world as Theresa Riggi saw it.

“Killing them was the last gift she could give them.”

Det Supt Allan Jones, of Lothian and Borders Police, said: “This has been a very sad case in which the lives of three beautiful young children were cut tragically short.

“Mr Riggi, who lost his loved ones through their untimely death, and his family and friends are very much in our thoughts.

“It was a difficult inquiry for everyone involved and I would like to commend the professionalism of all those who worked on it.”

July 2013

Paedophile who stopped abuse ‘as a new year’s resolution’ jailed

A PAEDOPHILE who sexually abused a young boy has been jailed for four years.

Kevin Hole had indecently assaulted a two-year-old boy on an occasion between July 2001 and July 2002, Bolton Crown Court was told.

And then, last year, he also sexually assaulted a boy, who was then aged 12 or 13 on several occasions.

Hole, aged 29, of Fairview Drive, Adlington, and formerly of Horwich, pleaded guilty to indecent assault, two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13 and two counts of sexual activity with a child.

Lindsay Thomas, prosecuting, said the offences came to light when the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, told his mother that Hole and been touching him sexually.

In a statement to the court the mother said the abuse has had a devastating effect.

The boy was said to feel angry and upset about Hole’s behaviour.

Police were called and Hole admitted his crimes at the first opportunity.

Alexandra Simmonds, defending, said such an admission is relatively rare and Hole had even been candid with compilers of a pre-sentence report, revealing that he had told the child not to tell his mother about the abuse.

She added that Hole had stopped his abuse at the end of last year, of his own accord, as a “new year’s resolution” to himself, two months before the teenager spoke out.

Sentencing Hole to prison, Judge Elliot Knopf told him: “You knew what was happening and persisted in doing it, it would seem, without any hesitation.”

He placed Hole on the sex offenders’ register for life and made a sexual offences prevention order stopping him from having contact with boys under the age of 16 or living in a property with a male aged under 18.

A restraining order was also made preventing him having contact with his victim and he was barred from working with children or vulnerable adults.

July 2013

Police find 600 indecent pictures of children on man’s laptops

A PAEDOPHILE was snared by specialist online police when he tried to access a corrupted website.

Stephen Dalley, 56, of Commercial Road, Gloucester admitted 13 counts of accessing pornographic images showing a sex act with a horse, explicit animation and images of children under 13.

More than 600 images were found on his two laptops after police searched his home where he lives with his wife.

Dalley admitted he had been viewing the material online since 2009.

In his defence, Dalley claimed the breakdown of his previous marriage and difficulties with his current relationship had been contributing factors to his behaviour. He also claimed to have suffered domestic violence as a child.

His Honour Judge Jamie Tabor QC spared Dalley jail. He said a nine month sentence in an open prison would not give him the treatment he needs and instead subjected him to a two year supervision order.

Dalley has also been placed on the sexual offenders register for five years, given a 10 year sexual offences prevention order and told to pay £500 costs.

He is banned from using a computer unless under police supervision and was also ordered to take part in a Thames Valley sexual offenders rehabilitation programme.

Judge Tabor warned the programme would not be pleasant. “You will have to examine the dark corners of your mind, places where you will not want to go,” he said.

“There has been a steady stream of defendants like you who have been caught looking at these kind of images for their own gratification. And there is a common theme.

“Many are married, not young, but of good character.

“This is wrong and this is evil, behind the camera there is a little boy or girl who has been outrageously abused.

“Without people like you, there would not be a market for it.”

May 2013

Teenage girl raped on way home to family’s £2.5m mansion by serial offender after getting stranded outside nightclub

• Arshad Arif raped a 17-year-old as she tried to get home from a night club

• She borrowed his phone and he put her in a taxi then raped her in a flat

• The rape bore similarities to another attack he was convicted of in 2004

• He had been out of prison for just over two years when he carried out the second rape last November

A convicted rapist attacked a schoolgirl after targeting her when she lost her friends on a night out.

Arshad Arif, 28, raped the 17-year-old as she tried to get home to her family’s £2.5million mansion after becoming stranded outside a nightclub with no money or phone.

The rape was a chilling re-enactment of an attack Arif carried out on a girl of the same age in 2004. He was convicted and jailed for five years in 2006 after admitting the crime.

He had been out of prison for just over two years when he carried out the second rape last November.

He was remanded in custody after being found guilty of raping the teenager twice and is awaiting sentencing.

A jury heard that Arif lured the 17-year-old into a taxi in the early hours of the morning and took her to a park in Slough, which was miles from her home, and raped her twice.

The drunken girl eventually escaped, jumped over a wall at the nearby home of an elderly couple and hammered on the door to raise the alarm.

The rapist was caught because the girl had asked to use his phone to call home and police were able to trace him through his number.

Jury members heard that in 2004, Arif had approached another drunken 17-year-old in the early morning, under the pretence of taking her home, and raped her in a flat.

On Thursday they took less than two hours to reach unanimous guilty verdicts on each of the two counts of rape.

In a recorded police interview heard in court, his distraught victim said: ‘I just felt like I’m going to die. It’s just hard to believe it actually happened, that I would get away.’ 

The petite girl said the taller, stronger Arif had pushed her down and made her perform a sex act on him while threatening her.

‘If I didn’t do it, I was going to be raped,’ she said. ‘In the end it was both.’

The eight women and four men on the jury at Reading Crown Court had heard how his latest victim had been on a night out celebrating a friend’s birthday with nine girls when she became separated from them on November 25 last year.

The girl was stranded in the cold and wet outside Oceana nightclub, in Watford, Hertfordshire, for about an hour, drunk, with no phone or money and wearing just a small black dress and high heels.
She used strangers’ phones to try to call her own phone, which was in a bag with her friends, but nobody answered.

She also tried to take a taxi home but was dropped back within minutes when the driver realised she had no money.

Arif, who was on his own in the town, then joined her and several other people who had sought shelter from the cold in a doorway. CCTV footage shows them walking off together.

At 3.15am, the girl’s parents – both successful professionals – were woken by a call from Arif’s mobile phone to their home landline.

The girl said: ‘Mum, it’s me. I don’t feel well and I’ve lost the others. Can you come and get me?’, Within five minutes the concerned mother was on the road, yet when she got to Oceana her daughter was not there and she raised the alarm with police.

The tearful woman told the court: ‘I went looking for her in bins, in alleyways. There’s a large pond behind Oceana and I was looking to see if she had drowned in there.’ 

Meanwhile Arif, who runs a mobile phone and watch business, and the girl were in a taxi heading to his hometown of Slough, Berkshire.

As they arrived at a park, the driver noted the girl did not want to leave. She was then pushed and carried through the park to a remote spot and attacked.

As Arif led her out afterwards, she seized the chance to escape and ran to the home of pensioners Michael and Barbara Georgiu. Arif ran off to his nearby home.

Arif was identified by his mobile phone number and arrested. 

Detective Sergeant Lucy Deane said: ‘This man is a dangerous predatory offender who needs to be locked up to ensure the safety of young women who find themselves, through no fault of their own, in vulnerable situations.

‘He literally hunted this victim down – identifying her vulnerability and taking the worst kind of advantage imaginable.’

November 2006

Rapist gets five years for attack on teenager

A teenager who raped a 17-year-old virgin after offering her a lift home and then went on the run from police has been sent to prison for five years.

Arshad Arif, then 19, pulled up to talk to two girls who were hanging around outside a kebab shop in Market Place at around 2.30am on October 1, 2004, Reading Crown Court heard.

He and his friend offered to drive them home and after dropping one of the girls off in Spencers Wood he took the other one to an address in Chester Street, West Reading, to smoke canabis, prosecutor Gareth Branston told the court.

There, Arif, now 22, and the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, smoked some “skunk” and he then tried to kiss her.

She tried to fend him off and said she wanted to go home before he became very aggressive, Mr Branston said.

He told the court: “Arif pulled up her top and fondled her breasts and started licking and kissing her neck.

“He got more aggressive and pinned her down to the bed.”

He then pulled her knickers to the side and raped her while the girl was shouting she didn’t want to have sex, the court heard.

The girl left the house and was found crying and trembling by passers-by later that night in Pangbourne Street.

When arrested, Arif said he did not have sexual intercourse with anyone that night and then when released on bail he went on the run for 18 months.

Arif, of Belfast Avenue in Slough, was arrested in April this year and pleaded not guilty to rape but then changed his plea two days into his trial at Reading Crown Court.

Olive Lycourgou, defending said that Arif avoided police because he was young and he had “panicked”.

She said he had changed his plea during the trial because he accepted what he had done and did not want the girl to have to go through the “trauma” of taking the witness stand.

Ms Lycourgou said the rape was not as violent as the prosecution had made out because he had put a condom on.

She said Arif and the girl had been kissing, that she had helped him put a condom on but then changed her mind at the last minute.

The lawyer added Arif accepted that the girl had not consented but asked the judge to consider it was an isolated mistake by a young man of previous good character.

Arif – who had a strict religious upbringing – had showed genuine remorse and had brought “great shame” to his family, Ms Lycourgou said.

Judge Gordon Risius said Arif had committed a serious offence by forcing himself on a girl who had said no and ordered him to serve five years behind bars.

July 2013

Former café owner John Sterckx targeted girl, 13

A FORMER café owner cried in the dock as he was jailed for sexually exploiting a vulnerable 13-year-old girl online.

John Paul Sebastian Sterckx had a “voyeuristic” interest in the girl from York who had been abused by other men, said Paul Cleasby, prosecuting.

He got the child to send him indecent photographs of herself and encouraged her to describe her previous sexual encounters over the internet.

Over four months they exchanged 1,780 text messages most of which were highly sexual and talked about having sex with her even though he knew her age, that she went to school and lived with her parents, said Mr Cleasby.

Police found 52 pictures of the girl on his phone, six of which experts classed as sexually very explicit.

There was a 24-year age difference between them and they never met. He lived in Wales and she in York.

The Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, told Sterckx: “It must have been apparent to you that the child you were speaking to on line was a damaged child. She was vulnerable to being exploited.”

Sterckx, 37, of Rhoose, Barry, pleaded guilty to three charges of inciting or engaging a child to engage in sexual activity and seven of possessing indecent pictures of a child.

He was jailed for 15 months, put on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and made subject to a ten-year sexual offences prevention order restricting his use of the internet.

His barrister David Dixon told York Crown Court he was a family man who had had a “catastrophic lack of judgement.” He had met the girl through an adult dating website where she had initially described herself as 18, but accepted he knew her real age.

He had “hidden” online from stresses and financial pressures caused by the collapse of his cafe business which had left him more than £100,000 in debt including large amounts to his father-in-law and other relatives.

For two periods of four weeks when his personal stresses eased he had not sent the girl any messages, the court heard, and Sterckx accepted he needed help.

July 2013

Pervert’s sentence upheld

A paedophile who performed a sex act in Oldham town centre only yards from unsuspecting children can have no complaint about his jail term, top judges have ruled. 

Martin Lawless (57) of no fixed abode, used a computer at Oldham library to access seemingly innocent images of children, before committing the offence in public moments later in August last year.

Lawless was jailed for 40 months at Manchester Crown Court in January, after he admitted outraging public decency and five breaches of a sexual offences prevention order. 

Two senior judges at London’s Court of Appeal on Friday, rejected the sex offender’s sentence challenge, saying he had a “long-term, pervasive, sexual interest in young children” and deserved his punishment.