May 2014

Jail for pervert who groomed Burnley schoolgirl over internet

A ‘PREDATORY’ pervert who groomed, abducted and repeatedly had sex with a Burnley schoolgirl has been locked up for five years.

The town’s crown court heard Sydney Topping, 26, first got in contact with the vulnerable girl teenager through a PlayStation interactive game.

They also chatted on Facebook before they met and had intercourse.

She had made her age clear, but Topping, who asked her to send him intimate pictures, later lied to the police and told them he thought she was 16.

Topping had targeted the girl, who was receiving threats from someone else over the internet and was frightened.

He twice took her to his home town of Widnes, where on one occasion, they had two sex sessions at his friends’ houses. The hearing was told the defendant was cautioned in 2010 for sexual activity with a female child – of a similar age to the latest victim – and then failed to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders register.

The defendant was ordered to sign the register indefinitely and was given a sexual offences prevention order, until further order.

He was banned from having unsupervised contact with any female under 16 and the order allows police to monitor his internet use. Topping, of Lodge Road, had earlier admitted meeting a child following sexual grooming, abduction and three charges of sexual activity with a child.

Sara Dodd, prosecuting, said the girl told Topping over the internet she was at school and was a virgin.

In messages he sent the teenager, the defendant repeatedly talked about having sex and coming to Lancashire for that purpose.

She expressed affection for him and he told her he loved her. She asked at one point if they were ‘together’ and Topping said yes.

Philip Holden, defending, said Topping had limited social skills, was poorly educated and presented as being immature for his age.

The barrister said: “There was no coercion or threats. It’s something he very much regrets.”

Judge Jonathan Gibson told Topping: “What you did took a significant degree of planning.

“There is a concerning element of predatory behaviour. Clearly, you were seeking young girls over the internet and grooming them.”

May 2014

Blackburn pervert jailed for abducting girls and raping one of them

A ‘PREDATORY’ man has been jailed for abducting two teenage girls and sexually assaulting one of them.

There were dramatic scenes in court as the father of one of the victims stood up during the hearing and shouted: “He has destroyed my family.”

A judge heard how Zhaid Mohmmed planned to force himself on the 14-year-old after he and Imran Khan spotted the two youngsters walking late at night in Blackburn.

After picking them up in his silver Honda, the girls were taken back to Mohmmed’s house in Chester Street, where Khan raped the other girl who was 15.

While she was being attacked upstairs, Mohmmed, 44, ‘took advantage’ of the other youngster in the kitchen by attempting to kiss her and putting his hand down her pants.

Judge Heather Lloyd, who sentenced Mohmmed at Preston Crown Court, said: “She was understandably fearful. Understandable when one considers what was already happening upstairs.”

The court heard how the girls got into the car after being asked if they wanted a lift because it was cold.

Once inside, the men spoke in their ‘own language’ and the girls were told to keep their heads down so they could not be seen by police.

The pair asked how old the girls were and if they were virgins.

The teenagers were then taken to Mohmmed’s house, where Khan asked if he could use one of the bedrooms.

Father-of-three Mohmmed showed him to one and the older of the two girls was taken inside.

During the trial, the court heard how the youngsters were offered drink and drugs.

They left after the 14-year-old asked Mohmmed to help her get her friend.

Ken Hind, defending, admitted it was not the first time Mohmmed had been involved in an abduction.

He told the court that when the defendant was 15, he was part of a gang that took a girl from a house she was staying in to Blackburn before she was eventually taken on to Birmingham by others.

But the barrister said: “He was involved at a very young age. There are no sexual connotations in this particular case and most importantly of all, it was in 1987.”

He added his client intended to remarry and that his future wife and sisters were in court to support him.

Mr Hind said: “This was an event that was isolated, something that, looking at his life, was totally out of character.

“Whatever happened on that night, he deeply regrets.”

Mohmmed was found guilty of two counts of detaining a child and a further two of sexual activity with a female child under 16.

Imran Khan, 36, of Tenby Close, Blackburn, was also found guilty of two charges of detaining a child and one of rape. He will be sentenced on June 20 to allow for the preparation of a medical report.

The Engage team at Greenbank Police Station, which supports child sexual exploitation victims, was instrumental in the prosecution of the two men.

Sentencing Mohmmed to three-and-a-half years in prison, Judge Lloyd told him: “The circumstances of the victims’ abduction and sexual assault represent sexual exploitation by older men. Sadly, this type of offence is not uncommon.

“You had been out in your car with Khan for hours when you came across these two girls at 3am. You were both seeking other women or girls for sexual activity.

“Even if you did not target these girls specifically, it did not take long for you to start speaking to them.

“Girls such as these walking in town at that time of night are clearly vulnerable. They do not have the coping skills to deal with predatory men like you and Khan.

“Clearly, your intention towards these girls was not innocent. I am quite certain of you intending sexual activity from the outset.

“You did not know what Khan was going to do, but I ask rhetorically, what did you think he was going to do when at his request you showed him into the bedroom?

“I believe your intention was to commit more sexual activity with the girl, but she was able to resist.

“There is no remorse for what you have done.”

Mohmmed, whose most recent address was given as Boardman Close, Bolton, will also be on the sexual offences register for life and has been made subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

He is now barred from working with vulnerable adults or children

March 2014

Man abducted and raped girl in Blackburn

A MAN has been found guilty of abducting two schoolgirls and raping one of them.

After more than four hours of deliberations, a jury agreed that Imran Khan, 36, had picked the youngsters up in a car driven by Zhaid Mohmmed, 45, in Blackburn town centre, taking them to a house where they were both ‘sexually exploited’.

Khan was found guilty of raping a 15-year-old girl.

Mohmmed was convicted of sexually assaulting the rape victim’s 14-year-old friend after they were deliberately separated at the house in Chester Street, Blackburn.

The pair had denied all the allegations.

Robert Golinski, prosecuting at Preston Crown Court, had told the jury: “They were offered drink and drugs then separated by the men, each of them taking one of the girls.

“The prosecution say this was a deliberate policy by the defendants to get each of the girls alone.”

The 14-year-old girl was then assaulted by Mohmmed, of Boardman Street, Bolton, while the other, who was 15, was raped in an upstairs bedroom by Khan, of Tenby Close, Blackburn. It had been put to the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, that she made up the rape allegation to get out of trouble at school, which she had strongly denied

Khan was found guilty of rape and two counts of abducting a child. Mohmmed was also convicted of two charges of sexual activity with a child and two of abducting a child.

Judge Heather Lloyd adjourned sentencing until May 9 to allow for the preparation of reports.

May 2014

Andoversford pervert jailed for 20 years for repeatedly raping a young girl and child cruelty

A middle-aged carpenter has been jailed for 20 years for repeatedly raping a young girl and child cruelty.

Patrick Moran, 50, was convicted at Gloucester Crown Court last week of four sample offences of raping the girl over the course of three years, from when she was just six years old.

He was also found guilty of three offences of sexual assault of a child underthirteen, six offences of assault of a child under thirteen by penetration and one of cruelty to the girl as well as two offences of cruelty to a young boy during the same period.

The offences all occurred between December 2009 and March last year.

Moran, of Templefields, Andoversford was only found out when the mother of the girl tried to kill herself, the court heard.

She revealed to social workers that Moran had been regularly abusing her. His violence towards the young boy was then also revealed as enquiries progressed.

Bespectacled Moran, wearing a dark suit and open neck white shirt, sat silently as the judge passed sentence.

Judge William Hart said “That girl was a child who, like all children, deserved to be treasured and protected and not abused for your own depraved sexual reasons.

“The impact of this will colour the whole of the rest of her life. Any abuse of this extreme sort on one so young is a burden she will struggle to bear indefinitely.

“I regard this as a case where the child was particularly vulnerable because of her extreme youth, where the rapes were repeated and sustained over a period of three years and took place countless times.”

Defence barrister Jane Rowley said he Moran maintained his denial of all the offences.

She said Moran he had been a hard-working man who had made a positive contribution to society, apart from when he served a borstal term as a teenager, for an offence of violence.

She asked the court to take into account that Moran had no sexual offences in his record and only an offence of violence a long time ago as a teenager for which he served a borstal term.

Moran will have to serve 10 years before being eligible for parole. He will also have to sign the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.

May 2014

Portadown sex offender sent to jail for 10 years

A Portadown man has been sentenced to a total of 10 years in prison after he was found guilty of 19 sex charges.

Henry Martin Joseph (Harry) Creaney (57), of Churchill Park, appeared at Craigavon Crown Court on April 25 
for sentencing.

The defendant had pleaded not guilty to the offences which dated back to a period between June 23, 2002 and October 1, 2004 and involved three victims.

Twelve of the charges were gross indecency with or towards a child, while the remaining seven were indecent asssault on a female.

The defendant was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register and on the Independent Authority Safeguarding (ISA) barring list, a list of individuals unsuitable for working with children and/or adults.

He was also disqualified from working with children under the Sexual Offences Prevention Order until 2021.

At a previous hearing in August 2013 at Craigavon Magistrate’s Court, Creaney’s solicitor had claimed his client was under a death threat from an ‘active organisation’ and asked for a ban on his name being published

in the press. He said the defendant had received confirmation of the threat through the police. The solicitor argued any reporting in the press would heighten the risk to the defendant.

He also argued that publication might lead to the identification of the injured parties.

However, Deputy District Judge, Mr Liam McStay, refused to grant the order, saying he did not see that publication would lead to the identification of the victims or that the reporting was going to heighten the threat.


May 2014

Sex offenders course for man after child abuse images find

A MAN has been told to go on an internet sex offenders’ course after police found child pornography on a computer.

The court heard how officers checking a website found the address of John Butcher and checks revealed he had downloaded indecent images of children.

Butcher, 63, of Albert Road, South Woodham Ferrers, admitted seven charges of making indecent images when he appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court.

Judge Anthony Goldstaub QC did not jail him but said the best sentence would be a community one as this would be the best way to rehabilitate Butcher.

The court also heard how Butcher was taking steps to deal with his interest in pornography.

The court heard a total of 138 images ranging from one to five on the seriousness scale were found when Butcher’s computer was checked.

They showed images of yoiung girls aged between seven and 14, prosecutor Carolyn Gardiner said.

The judge told Butcher he must attend the internet sex offenders’ programme run by the probation service.

He was also given three years supervision, a 40 hour unpaid work order aand put on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

May 2014

Predatory paedophile whose identity police once tried to keep secret is jailed again after he tricked his way into shop jobs so he could meet children

• Gavin Shaw, 54, ignored ruling banning him from mixing with children

• Paedophile with 40 year history of abuse did not tell employers of his past

• He worked as a volunteer in shops so he could meet young customers

• Jailed for 18 months for order breach and throwing gas cannister at police

• Has previously been given jail sentences totalling more than 40 years

A predatory paedophile whose identity police once tried to keep a secret has been jailed again after he tricked his way into shop jobs so he could meet children.

Gavin Shaw, 54, was arrested after he ignored a ruling banning him from mixing with children by moving from town to town, getting jobs in shops so he could meet young customers.

While working on a voluntary basis at one shop, Shaw, from Nelson, Lancashire, gave one little girl a toy and money as he sat her on his knee, and later became friendly with a boy.

Shaw, who has a history of child abuse spanning almost 40 years, was caught after officers visited him at home during a routine risk assessment and found out about his job.

As he was being arrested Shaw began to damage his computer and hurled an illegally held CS gas cannister at police, saying: ‘You might as well lock me up for that as well.’

It emerged the shopkeeper who gave Shaw a job knew nothing of his background.

Burnley Crown Court heard Shaw had convictions for sex offences dating back to 1975 and had been sent to prison seven times. He had previously tricked another shopkeeper into giving him a job in a different town

Four years ago, Shaw was made subject of a ten year Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) after it emerged he was pretending to be a council officer, dressing up in a high-visibility jacket with his name on it to win the trust of children.

At the time police backed a legal application made by Shaw’s defence team to keep his identity a secret amid fears he would fall victim to vigilante attacks.

The application was turned down when sex abuse victims argued that the public had a right to know about his activities.

Shaw, once described as a ‘clever child predator’, is now starting an 18 month prison sentence after he admitted breaching the SOPO and possessing a prohibited weapon for the discharge of noxious liquid or gas.

The court heard he had convictions for gross indecency, indecent assault and attempted serious sexual offences, and had previously been sentenced to prison terms of seven years, six years, four years and 41 months.

The SOPO was imposed in Shaw’s former home town of Blackpool in 2010 just weeks after his release from jail when it emerged he had been adding children as young as 12 as friends on his Facebook page.

At the time police found Shaw with a bag of cuddly toys, which he said were for friends who had children.

The children – all under sixteen – were present when he went to their homes, leaving parents – who had been friendly with him – ‘horrified’ when they found out about his background. The order banned Shaw from working or associating with anyone under 16 unless supervised, with the prior approval of social services officials.

However, in 2012 Shaw was arrested again after moving 40 miles to Morecambe where he was spotted persuading youngsters to get into the back of his van.

He had befriended the children after getting a job at a shop in the seaside resort without telling his employers about his criminal record.

A local support worker, who had some concerns about Shaw, saw three or four children getting into the back of his van and called the police. It emerged he had taken a child to the beach and had bought him a Manchester United money box. as well as taking pictures of him.

In October 2012 Shaw was jailed for 16 months, but after his release moved 54 miles to Nelson and got a job at a shop in the town – again keeping his criminal history a secret from his new employer.

Although he was not paid, he regularly worked at the shop and would look after it unattended.

Charles Brown, prosecuting said: ‘The prosecution would say there are elements of grooming in these particular circumstances.’

Robert Elias, mitigating, said Shaw had not been convicted of molesting a child for 10 years, and that he had ‘moved on’ from adolescent boys to gay men.

‘He robustly denies having any sexual motive with the two children,’ said Mr Elias.

‘He didn’t seek them out. They came into the shop when he was there. He does have a human need to seek companionship and friendship.

‘He knows and is resigned to a custodial sentence. He doesn’t consider himself to be a threat to children, but that is not the view of the probation service.’

Sentencing, Judge Jonathan Gibson said Shaw was assessed as ‘high-risk’ and told him: ‘Court orders are there to be obeyed. 

‘The sexual offences prevention order is there to protect children.’

October 2012

Paedophile spent time with children

A sex offender has been jailed for breaching the terms of an order banning him from having contact with children.

May 2014

Former school care worker, who was found dead after being questioned over abuse claims, was convicted paedophile

Kesgrave Hall School in 1988

A 62-year-old man found dead after being arrested on suspicion of indecent assault at Kesgrave Hall school was a convicted paedophile, it can be revealed.

Kenneth Wheatley was also the most recent of the 20 arrests made in the large-scale National Crime Agency (NCA) inquiry into alleged historic abuse at north Wales’ children’s homes.

Previously known as Kenneth Scott, the former Kesgrave Hall care worker was sentenced to eight years in prison in Leicestershire in 1986. He was jailed following convictions for buggery and gross indecency.

On Friday last week it emerged that Wheatley’s body was found on a railway linenear Barnsley two days after he was arrested by Suffolk detectives as part of their inquiry into alleged abuse at the former Kesgrave Hall boarding school.

Wheatley, of Cliffe Crescent, Dodworth, Barnsley, was also interviewed and arrested on suspicion of two alleged indecent assaults in relation to the NCA’s Operation Pallial.

They were said to have taken place in north Wales in 1976 against a boy then aged 13 or 14.

Wheatley was found dead on the rail line between Dodworth and Silkstone Common on April 12, after being released on police bail.

He had been arrested on suspicion of the indecent assaults on April 10 along with a 65-year-old former teacher at Kesgrave Hall in relation to abuse claims by former pupils.

The ex-teacher currently lives in the Pontefract area of west Yorkshire. He is on bail until August 22.

An inquest into Wheatley’s death has been opened and adjourned pending the conclusion of a British Transport Police investigation.

Suffolk Constabulary last week announced that a third man, who lives in north Norfolk, has been arrested in the Kesgrave Hall abuse investigation.

Claims against a 68-year-old man date from the 1970s to the 1990s. Police have said the suspect was a member of staff at the school, but not a teacher. He is on bail until September 1.

The arrests are as a result of a long-running investigation by Suffolk Constabulary into allegations by ex-pupils at the former boarding school.

The inquiry began early last year after complaints resurfaced in December 2012.

Originally Suffolk police conducted an investigation in 1992 after allegations of physical abuse were made. The inquiry led to four care workers being suspended after a complaint by another member of staff.

However, no charges were forthcoming and the quartet were re-instated after being suspended pending the outcome of the investigation.

Kesgrave Hall was closed as a boarding school in 1993.

Click this for Former teacher jailed for sex offences

Alan Stancliffe had been convicted, in 1982 and again in 1999, of indecently assaulting four boys at Kesgrave Hall School where he had been a teacher from 1978 to 1980.

Stancliffe also received a prison sentence in 2007 following a further conviction of 3 indecent assaults against a former Kesgrave Hall School Pupil (1978 – 1980)

In December 2012, former pupils of the school described the abuse they had suffered there during the 1980s, and called for a new investigation

May 2014

North Yorks pervert jailed for child sex offences

A PERVERT who asked a young child for a pair of her used knickers and was found with a stash of sickening indecent images has been jailed for more than four years.

Julian Pike, 48, bought cigarettes and alcohol for his young victims in an attempt to groom them for his sexual gratification.

However despite admitting two counts of inciting sexual activity with a child and 13 counts of possessing/making indecent images, he was said to remain in denial about his offending and believed he had done nothing wrong.

Pike was wheeled into the court room at Teesside Crown Court in a wheelchair and sat passively throughout the proceedings against him.

The court heard how the mother of one of his two underage victims had raised concerns about Pike’s inappropriate conduct with her daughter.

The girl said Pike described piercings he had on his penis when he gave her a lift in his car and also contacted her via Facebook to complain that she had not thanked him when he bought her cigarettes.

When the girl said she would, Pike replied: “Ok, but I expect tongues”.

Pike, of Lowfield, Gayle, Hawes, North Yorkshire, also asked the girl for her underwear. When her mother confronted him he claimed he had been drunk during the exchanges and had forgotten how old the girl was.

In another incident the defendant bought alcohol for a young girl at a music festival and insisted he walk her home.

Putting his arm around her, he said she was special and also told her how he lost his virginity at 14.

The girl went to her grandmother’s house and locked herself in a toilet in a bid to get away from him.

When Pike was arrested on May 18 last year at his home a number of indecent images and videos were found on his computer.

Goatee-bearded Pike was said by his barrister Robert Mochrie to be in poor health and suffering from a degenerative disease.

Mr Mochrie claimed boredom had accounted for some of his conduct as he was unable to get out and about.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton said Pike was a significant danger to young girls and had a “predatory interest” in them.

The judge said some of the images seized from Pike were of the grossest kind. He added: “The fact you remain in denial is deeply disturbing.”

He said he took into account Pike’s medical condition and his lack of previous convictions and the least sentence he could pass was four years, three months in total. Pike will also be made subject to a sexual offences prevention order and sign on the sex offenders’ register.

Detective Constable Steve Alderson, of North Yorkshire police, speaking after the case, said: “I would like to thank the victims in this case for having the bravery to come forward.

“I hope they feel that justice has been done and they can now move forward with their lives.”

May 2014

Sex pest karate instructor faces jail for preying on under-age girls after starting relationships with their mothers

A karate instructor faces jail after being found guilty of sex offences against underage girls, who he targeted by starting relationships with their mothers.

Former firefighter Seb Coe, 38, denied three sex acts and three of incitement.

But a jury took just two and a half hours to find him guilty after a two-week trial.

Coe, of Stratford-upon-Avon, was also convicted of three counts of exposure after he flashed at neighbours from a bedroom window.

The pervert – sacked by West Midlands Fire service for downloading porn on a work computer – sent thousands of texts to his young victims, Birmingham crown court heard.

He was said to have got to them by starting sexual relationships with their mothers.

One 14-year-old revealed how Coe’s texts became flirty before he sent an obscene picture of himself.

He later told her he fantasised about having sex with her and pop star Rihanna.

It was only when she complained to police it emerged that he had also sent explicit texts to two other young girls.

Coe showed no emotion as the guilty verdicts were announced.

A former fire service colleague, who asked not to be named, told the Birmingham Mail: “His character really came out in all this.

“He would really charm women. He was a charmer. He didn’t have much of a reputation in the service other than for his antics with women.

“But we never suspected him of anything like this.”

Coe, who was cleared of one charge of voyeurism, will be sentenced on June 13.

May 2014

Two year sentence for Leybourne pervert who posed as woman and asked man to abuse a child on a webcam

A pervert has today been sentenced to two years in prison after he asked a man to abuse a child on a webcam. 

Mark Fowler was arrested in June last year when police seized computer equipment from his home in The Rushes, Leyboune, and discovered incriminating evidence. 

Data showed the 44-year-old set up a fake online profile under the guise of a 39-year-old woman with a 15-year-old daughter, and had engaged in sexualised conversations about child abuse. 

The offender was talking to a man in America, on an instant messenger, when he asked him to abuse a child while on a internet camera.

Fowler told officers from the child exploitation investigation team, that people would send him indecent images but he wasn’t interested in the pictures.

He was charged with seven counts of making indecent images of children, one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one count of distributing an indecent image.

Fowler, who no longer lives in Leybourne, pleaded guilty on Monday, March 3.

He will be now be subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

DC Mark Bennett from Kent Police said: “Fowler wasn’t satisfied with just looking at images of children being abused; he actively encouraged another to abuse their own child.

I am grateful that the child exploitation investigation team was able to put a stop to this, and working with colleagues in the USA take steps to protect another child from further abuse.”

May 2014

Anglesey: Jail for three men over historic sex abuse of girl, 8

Three men who sexually abused a young girl have been handed lengthy prison sentences in Caernarfon Crown Court.

A jury heard the men – Owen Hefin Williams, 71, Robert Hughes, 58, both of Gwalchmai, Anglesey and William David Darbyshire, 52, of Skegness but formerly from Gwalchmai, had “separately but sequentially” abused the girl from when she was eight years old until she was about 14. 

Williams, who was found guilty of six indecent assault charges, was jailed for six and a half years.

Hughes and Darbyshire, who had also denied the offences, were jailed for six years and four years respectively.

Judge Merfyn Hughes QC told the men: “The jury has convicted each of you of sexually abusing a young child separately but sequentially.

“There is no evidence you were aware what had previously happened.”

He described Williams as a “dangerous paedophile” who had corrupted the girl and “taken full advantage” of her.

“You groomed her carefully and she gained your trust.

“Despite the things you did to her, she looked forward to meeting you.

“You have previous convictions for similar offences and this aggravates these offences,” the judge added.

Darbyshire, the judge said, had abused the girl from a very young age and had threatened her to prevent her from telling her father of the abuse.

He told Hughes he was responsible for serious abuse of the girl.

Prosecutor Andrew Green said the matters started when the woman, who is now in her mid 40s, was aged eight.

The offences came to light in December 2012 when she gave police a videotaped interview.

Mr Green said the effects of being abused as a child had been “devastating” and added she had been “robbed of her innocence”.

“It has left her confused about relationships with other men.”

He said after the complaint was made police arrested and interviewed all three men.

“Darbyshire denied he had ever indecently assaulted the woman in the way she described or at all. Hughes also denied abusing the girl.

“Williams admitted being a delivery van driver on Anglesey and answered all police questions until the woman’s name was brought up.

“At that point he answered ‘no comment’ to all questions about her,” he said.

Barristers for all three men urged the judge to consider the length of time since the offences were committed.

John Wyn Williams said Owen Williams accepted a custodial sentence was inevitable but pointed out his age and health problems.

Anna Pope, for Darbyshire, said he was a teenager at the time and although he had committed further offences since then these were not of a sexual nature.

Hughes, his barrister Kim Halsall said, had not offended for more than 20 years and was regarded by his employers as hardworking and industrious.

Upon their release from prison all three men must sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

May 2014

Babysitter who sexual assaulted a 9 yr old boy was convicted paedophile

A man with a long history of sexual offences has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a nine year old boy he was babysitting.

Michael Carroll, 57 years old, of Maberley Crescent in South Norwood was found guilty of two counts of a breach of a previous Sexual Offences Prevention Order, and one count of sexual assault on a boy who was aged under 13.

The jury took just 2 hours 10 minutes to reach an unanimous decision

Carroll was already subject to the sex offenders register for life and subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order from 2004 which lasts to 2019,  when he committed the latest offences in June, last year

Carroll was described in court as a “Very high risk sex offender who had a sexual desire towards young boys“

He has four previous convictions for sexual offences, dating from 1989. His youngest victim was just six years old. He also has two previous convictions for breach of his sexual offences prevention order.

Carroll was remanded in custody, and will be sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on 16th June 2014.

Judge Daniel Flahive said that Carroll will be given a lengthy custodial sentence with the possibilities of both a life or an indeterminate prison sentence as options.

The family of the child were very happy Carroll was found guilty and said: 

“I can’t believe that this has happened to our family. We had no idea that this man who we had grown to trust and accepted as part of our family, was a sexual predator. He groomed our family to access our children. We are absolutely disgusted that this registered sex offender wasn’t monitored efficiently, allowing this to happen”

“We are extremely proud that our son knew that he could tell us something so degrading at the first opportunity. Today our son became a hero.”

May 2014

Former GAA coach sexually abused 5 schoolboys

A former Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) coach has been convicted of a series of sex assaults on schoolboys in the Republic of Ireland.

Ronan McCormack, 71, was found guilty of 53 out of 54 charges of indecent assault on five boys aged between nine and 13 years.

The offences happened in the 1980s when he was 39 to 44-years-old.

The father of three girls conned families into believing some of them could stay safely at his home.

McCormack, a farmer from Cuppanagh, Cloonloo, County Sligo, who coached the under-12 team at Eastern Harps GAA Club in nearby Keash, abused boys on trips to the Croke Park sports stadium in Dublin.

At Sligo Circuit Court on Tuesday, he was convicted of indecent assaults in his home, in his car, at a breakfast table in his kitchen, on fishing trips and on lakes and rivers.

On one occasion, while umpiring an under-12s football game, he indecently assaulted one of the goalkeepers on the football pitch while the rest of the team was up the field.

The jury of 11 men and one woman heard that the offences were committed between October 1981 and August 1986.

During that time, McCormack coached four of the boys for the under-12s team. The fifth became known to him through a family friendship. All of the parents trusted him with their boys.

Championship Medal

The first witness told how the coach persuaded him when he was 11 years old to examine a county championship medal in his darkened bedroom and then sexually assaulted him for the first time.

The coach then drove him home to have tea with his mother.

McCormack was also accused of indecent assault against one victim when he was aged 10 at a football pitch near his home and when he was 11 after they had been to Croke Park.

One of the victims, now aged 43, told of being sexually abused several times as a 12-year-old before two Croke Park games in 1983. He was indecently assaulted at the coach’s home before the Donegal-Galway semi-final and before the All-Ireland final between Dublin and Galway.

“I would have to stay over at his house the night before because he wanted to get to Mass before going on the train,” he said.

He added that before the semi-final, McCormack arrived in a bedroom naked and climbed into the bed beside him with the words: “Don’t be shy.”

Then the coach indecently assaulted him a number of times during the night.

The sexual assaults were repeated the following month on the night before Dublin’s win over Galway.

Two of the victims are now aged 41 and two are 43. The fifth is 38 years old.

Judge Petria McDonnell rejected a prosecution application that McCormack be remanded in custody when she was told that he needed time to deal with family affairs before he was sentenced.

He was remanded on bail for reports and is due to be sentenced on 17 June.

May 2014

Former charity worker jailed for teen sex assault

A CHARITY worker who sexually assaulted a young girl and took pictures of her naked friend with his mobile phone has been jailed for two years.

Anthony Nunn also had dozens of indecent pictures of children on his laptop computer and visited websites with names such as ‘little virgin teens’.

Teesside Crown Court heard that the 70-year-old put his hands down the trousers of the young complainant, rubbing her bottom, and took her hand placing it next to his penis.

He also put his hands under her breasts and told her she was “beautiful”.

Nunn, whose offending occurred in the Northallerton area, worked for a York-based charity and received a character reference from one of its representatives.

He had been of previous good character and was described as having led a completely blameless and positive life up until the point his offending occurred.

Prosecuting, Tamara Pawson said Nunn was arrested on January 12 last year over the sex assault. Police discovered pictures on the defendant’s phone of the victim’s friend, while further indecent images were found on his laptop.

Nunn said he saw the child once in a blue moon and was “not a dirty old man”. He also claimed he had initially been looking for adult pornography on his computer when officers quizzed him about some of the search terms and websites he had been using.

He denied taking naked pictures of the schoolgirl’s friend and said he did not know how they came to be on his phone.

Nunn, now of West Royal Drive, Shipley, West Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to sexual assault, two counts of taking indecent photos and four offences of possessing indecent photos.

Rupert Swift, mitigating, said he had been a man of good character and had entered guilty pleas to the majority of the charges he faced, albeit on the eve of his trial.

Jailing him for two years, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton told him: “You have a very unhealthy interest in young girls and what aggravates the situation is that you remain in complete and utter denial.”

The judge said Nunn gave the impression of not having caused any harm at all and had no insight into the impact of his behaviour.

Speaking of the victim, he said: “She cannot sleep, she does not feel safe. Everywhere she looks she sees you.

“You have ruined that young girl’s life and it is only to be hoped that time is a healer.”

Nunn will have to register with police as a sex offender for the next ten years and was also given an indefinite sexual offences prevention order.

December 2010

Child rapist evaded justice for years

A RAPIST evaded justice for 25 years because Jehovah’s Witnesses did nothing when told about his child sex abuse, a court heard.

Anthony Burns, aged 54, was confronted with his crimes against a young child in the 1980s but no action was taken by the religious organisation.

Burns repeatedly abused a girl as young as nine years old, from 1977 until 1984 when she revealed what had been happening.

Burns, of Back Road, Wisbech, in Cambridgeshire, denied four charges of indecent assault, attempted rape and rape but was convicted after a trial.

The abuse took place in the 1970s and early 1980s in Eastbourne and Northamptonshire. He was jailed for 11 years and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Judge Charles Wide QC said: “It is very unfortunate the Jehovah’s Witnesses community dealt with a complaint in 1984 in a wholly inappropriate way, seemingly more concerned with their own reputation than doing justice, but I acknowledge they were very different times.

“I sincerely hope their processes have been changed radically since then. It is because of their involvement that these matters were not reported. You were challenged at the time by two witnesses and could have made a clean breast of it but you did not and during the trial, you had the gall to accuse them of lying about it.”

May 2014

Oldham man jailed for rape and having sex with a child

A man has been jailed for historic sex offences against two teenage girls.

Peter Britain, 33, of Failsworth, Oldham, was sentenced to 13 and a half years atManchester Crown Court in Minshull Street for offences committed in 2007 and 2008.

He was found guilty after a trial of three counts of rape and two counts of sexual activity with a child.

The offences came to light after one of the victims told her partner what had taken place and Britain was arrested in February last year.

Justin Hayhoe, Senior Crown Advocate for CPS North West said: “Peter Britain was well aware of the ages of his young victims when he deliberately targeted them.

“I would like to offer my thanks to the victims for reporting the abuse to the police and then supporting the prosecution case. They were able to give their evidence to the court from behind screens so they would not have to come face to face with their abuser.

“Britain denied the offences ever took place throughout the case, but thanks to the victims compelling evidence, the jury convicted him of the offences committed against them.

“The CPS and the Police are dedicated to bringing before the courts anyone who commits sexual offences against children and will support the victims of such offences in any way possible.”

May 2014

‘My suffering at hands of abuser without a soul’

The victim of a paedophile who abused children as young as five over a 26-year period says her attacker “is not human”

Brian Fawcett, 66, was jailed for 20 years at Leeds Crown Court after a complex police investigation into historic crimes dating back to 1975.

Stacey Foster, originally from Morley in Leeds, has waived her right to anonymity to speak about the impact of the crimes on her life and to encourage other victims to come forward.

The 29-year-old was a teenager when Fawcett molested and raped her at his home in Drighlington.

She said: “He’s soulless, he has no conscience. He doesn’t care who or what he hurts.

“He’s so cold, it’s as if he’s not human. I don’t know how people can do the things he does and not feel anything. He used to sit there and laugh, he’s just evil through and through.”

Ms Foster, who now lives in South Wales, met Fawcett, of Fairfax Avenue, through a boyfriend when she was 15.

She said he began by making lewd comments, but quickly progressed to physical attacks. On one occasion he assaulted her in his garden.

She said: “It got to a point where he had this hold over me.

“He told me that if I ever spoke out about it he wouldn’t go for me – he would go for the ones I love.”

Having moved away from Leeds, Ms Foster spoke to police last year after other victims reported being attacked by Fawcett as children.

He was found guilty after trial of 26 offences including buggery, rape and indecent assault on four children aged five to 17 between 1975 and 2001.

He was also convicted of indecent assault against a 25-year-old woman.

Ms Foster, a full-time mother of four, said her life had been “a complete mess” in the years since her abuse. “I’m waiting for the healing process now. There’s a lot of years to make up,” she added,

“I’ve spent all these years, every day thinking about him and what if I saw him again.

“Now that he’s gone, there’s this big empty space in my head that I don’t know what to do with. I’m having to retrain my thoughts.

“I used to wake up screaming or sweating from having nightmares, It sounds strange to say, but I’ve been having normal dreams for the first time.”

She has never met the others who came forward, but expressed her gratitude to them for reporting their abuse.

She added: “I know there are others out there who haven’t come forward and I think they should.

“If there’s one thing I could say to them it would be that it’s over now and hopefully we can now start to rebuild our lives.”

Det Insp Lawrence Bone, of Leeds District Child Safeguarding Unit, said the successful prosecution of Fawcett should encourage other victims.

He said: “Fawcett was responsible for a sustained pattern of sexual abuse against vulnerable young children over a number of years.

“The significant sentence he has received reflects the seriousness with which offences of this nature are treated by the courts.

“We hope the fact he has now had to answer for his crimes will provide some degree of comfort to his victims.

“This was a lengthy and complex investigation which required a very sensitive approach from specialist safeguarding officers.

“I hope it will help to encourage any other victims of similar offences to come forward.”

May 2014

Why was internet predator not jailed? Fury after Oxford graduate’s husband goes free despite grooming hundreds of girls

Using the name ‘Tim Stone’ and this picture of him as a younger man, Storey forced girls to film themselves

A Facebook paedophile who is described as ‘every parent’s nightmare’ has escaped being sent to jail.

Timothy Storey, 34, appeared the perfect middle-class husband yet groomed hundreds of children on the social networking site. 

By posing online as a privately-educated teenager, he persuaded girls as young as 12 to film themselves naked for his twisted pleasure.

Storey, who is married to an Oxford-educated lawyer, would threaten to tell the girls’ parents if they tried to end the vile abuse.

Despite being convicted of eight child sex charges, he was given only a three-year rehabilitation order.

MPs and charities said the ‘appalling’ sentence sent out a terrible message to the young victims brave enough to give evidence against him. The case was last night referred to Attorney General Dominic Grieve by Tory MP David Burrowes.

He said: ‘The sentence is woefully inadequate and out of touch with the increasing dangers of online sexual abuse.’

The MP has backed the Mail’s campaign for automatic blocks on online porn unless adults opt out.

To his family and friends, Storey was an ordinary young man with a love of beer and cricket and married to the love of his life. He and the 26-year-old high-flier had a dream wedding at St Paul’s Cathedral in 2010.

Behind the facade he was secretly spending hours on Facebook, posing as a wealthy and sporty prep school teenager called Tim Stone.

On his fake Facebook profile, Storey claimed he left Dover College – an independent boarding school which charges up to £27,000 a year – in 2011.

Dozens of teenagers can still be seen as his friends on Facebook, many of them posing in provocative clothing.

Storey lists ‘sexercise, girls and naughtiness’ among his interests.

The police investigation began last year when a 14-year-old girl told officers a Tim Stone had sent her sexual images via Facebook two years earlier.

She said he asked her to send sexual images in return. Officers at Scotland Yard’s specialist child exploitation unit quickly discovered that Storey was responsible for the account.

When police raided his home they discovered he had falsely amassed almost 800 Facebook friends, all of them girls aged under 18.

He had sent hundreds of private messages to them asking them to send him explicit images of themselves and sent images of his genitals in return.

They discovered another victim, a 13-year-old girl, was encouraged to set up a Skype account which he used to make her strip and display intimate parts of her body. The girl said she was scared and believed Storey knew where she lived and would tell her parents.

The girl confided in a 13-year-old friend who told Storey to back off. But, in a chilling twist, this girl and another friend became his victims too.

After raiding Storey’s home in Peckham, South East London, police discovered more than 3,000 saved pages of Skype chat which helped them identify further victims.

Seventy-two indecent images of children were found on a laptop and on Storey’s Blackberry mobile phone.

He admitted eight counts of inciting children to engage in sexual activity and two counts of making indecent images of children.

Storey, who is originally from Folkestone, Kent, was sentenced to a 36-month sex offender’s programme at Woolwich Crown Court on Monday.

He was also handed a sexual offences prevention order, which is similar to an Asbo, and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years.

Under the latest guidelines, the maximum penalty for inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity is 14 years behind bars.

This is reduced substantially if there is no physical contact. But Mr Burrowes said: ‘The impact of predators on child victims is the same whether online or in person. Sentences should reflect that equivalence.’

Priti Patel, another Tory MP, said: ‘It is appalling that such a soft sentence has been given for what is overt internet grooming and dangerous behaviour that threatens the safety of our children.

‘This reflects the failure in our criminal justice system when it comes to dealing with the internet.

‘We need firm and clear sentences to be handed out to individuals who are clearly abusing youngsters in such a horrific and vile way online.’

Detective Inspector Neal Burton, who investigated the case, believes Storey claimed many more victims.

‘He is every parent’s nightmare, exploiting and abusing children over the internet,’ he said. ‘The victims showed much courage in coming forward to report his activities and helping to bring him to justice.

‘He is a serial sex offender who I believe may have abused other victims who have not yet come forward and spoken to the police or confided in anyone else.’

The case is the latest to highlight the frightening trend of paedophiles using Facebook and other sites.

The Government has been warned that social networking and webcams are handing predators direct access to the bedrooms of naive children.

May 2014

Pervert jailed after sexually abusing young girl

A pervert has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years for sexually abusing a girl.

Derek Lee, of Pittenden, Tenterden, confessed to his crimes shortly before he was due to stand trial at Maidstone Crown Court.

He admitted six offences of sexual activity with a child and one of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, committed in 2012 and 2013

May 2014

Northampton man jailed after downloading 250 indecent images of children and sex act with animal

A 19-year-old who admitted possessing hundreds of indecent images of children and an extreme pornographic image of bestiality has been jailed for 17 weeks.

Zach Pugh-Brooks, of Northfield Road, Duston, Northampton, was arrested after he started chatting to a 13-year-old girl on Facebook.

Northampton Magistrates’ Court heard officers were called to Pugh-Brook’s address after the girl’s mother saw the sexually explicit messages and became suspicious.

Stella Moses, prosecuting, said officers found almost 250 indecent images of children on Pugh-Brook’s laptop and his mobile phone. They also found one image of a person performing an act of intercourse with an animal.

The court heard that Pugh-Brooks told officers he did not believe he was doing anything illegal as the images were “freely available on the internet”.

District Judge Tim Daber, sentencing, said Pugh-Brooks behaviour had demonstrated a “very worrying pattern of behaviour”.