January 2014

School gates sex predator’s jail term reduced

A PERVERT who repeatedly abused a ten year old schoolboy has had his prison sentence cut – because a judge changed his mind. 

Mohammed Sheeraz was caged for three years at Worcester Crown Court in August last year after he was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child. 

Just two weeks later, however, the judge increased Sheeraz’s sentence to four years behind bars, plus another two years on extended licence in the community after his release. 

He said it was because he had had “second thoughts” after reflecting on the potential danger posed by the obsessed predator to children. 

But on Friday lawyers for the 31-year-old took his case to London’s Criminal Appeal Court, where three top judges reinstated the original threeyear term, concluding that the “dramatic” increase in sentence could not be justified. 

Lord Justice Davis, sitting with Mr Justice Blake and Judge Keith Cutler QC, explained that Sheeraz had “entered into some kind of obsession or infatuation” with the youngster, loitering outside his school and grooming the boy. 

He “touched the boy sexually”, said the appeal judge, also making him strip naked to perform degrading sex acts. 

Sheeraz had persisted in contacting the youngster, despite police warnings to desist, but steadfastly denied having done anything wrong. 

The pervert, of Elmfield Gardens, Worcester, suggested he was the victim of a conspiracy, said Lord Justice Davis. 

Upholding his challenge, however, the appeal judge said: “We do not think the judge was justified in increasing the sentence so dramatically”. 

June 2014

Sex offender asks to be sent to prison –  because he couldn’t control his urges

A ‘high risk’ sex offender asked to be sent to jail – because he couldn’t control his urges.

Lee Chapman, 28, was handed a 24-month sentence at Aberdeen Sheriff Court with a 12 month extended sentence on his release, after he was caught with indecent images.

Chapman’s defence agent Stuart Murray told the court: “His position today is that he still struggles to control his urges. Urges which brought him to this place today.

“It’s his position that he does not wish to receive any disposal in the community and is asking the court to impose a custodial sentence.”

In 2009, the High Court in Edinburgh heard Chapman, of North Anderson Drive, Aberdeen, pinned down a young boy and performed a sex act on him – before warning him he would get a “hiding” if he told anyone.

At the time the court heard that Chapman told police he was scared of being alone with children as “he did not know what he may do”.

However he was sentenced to 100 hours of unpaid work and ordered to take part in the sex offenders programme after admitted the sexual assault on the primary-aged boy.

Chapman previously admitted possessing indecent images of children and permitting photos or pseudo photos to be made, or taken.

Chapman had been caught with a total of three images – one of which was at level four, the second most severe category.

The offences took place between November 5 and December 13 last year.

Chapman was also described in a social work report as being a “high risk” re-offender.

Fiscal depute David Bernard told the court that the Crown was also seeking a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

At Aberdeen Sheriff Court, Sheriff Graeme Napier told Chapman that due to his attitude towards the matters, custody was the only option.

A Sexual Offences Prevention Order was granted for five years.

Chapman, a prisoner of HMP Grampian, will also be on the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period.

June 2014

Pervert walks free from court after sexually assaulting 8 year old girl

A Mansfield Woodhouse man has walked free from Nottingham crown court with a suspended sentence after sexually assaulting a young girl.

Unemployed Mark David Finney had previously pleaded guilty at a trial in February to sexual assault on a child aged under 13 years old.

The child, who we cannot name for legal reasons was just 8 years old when Finney abused her sexually. The sexual assault took place last year when Finney was aged 30 years old.

Pervert Finney was not jailed and instead recieved a sentence of 6 months imprisonment, suspended for 24 months

He was ordered to complete a community order for 24 months with a supervision requirement

Finney was also placed on a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) for 5 years

Nottingham crown court also issued Finney with several orders:

1) Not to reside in the same household as a female under the age of 16 years old unless in the presence of a adult who is aware of his conviction

2) Not to have any unsupervised access to any female child aged under 16 years old

3) Not to enter swimming baths, schools or children’s playing areas during the period of supervision 

4) Finney is also banned for life from working with children

June 2014

On-line child groomer who was caught in undercover sting walks free from court

A Derbyshire man has walked free from court after being caught in an on-line sting by ‘OPIT’ an undercover team

Married John Trevor Marples aged 45 from Duckmanton, Chesterfield, was sentenced at Derby Crown Court after pleading guilty to grooming a girl under 16 at a earlier hearing. 

Mr Marples was given a Three year community order. 150 hours community service and ordered to undertake a sex offenders programme.

He was also put on the sex offenders register for five years and banned for life from working with children. He was ordered to pay £60 costs.

Mr Marples admitted to engaging in chats with a girl he believed to be 15 years of age in July 2013.

He also admitted talking sexually to the girl asking her if she would like him as a boyfriend and if she would like to lose her virginity, he also sent her images of his genital area.

He then arranged to meet the girl at Codnor Market Place, Derbyshire.

Marples proceeded to the venue in his works van to meet the schoolgirl. However, Marples got nervous and fled, only to return moments later asking the girl to come over to his van

This led members of the undercover team to make their presence known, as the safety of the female investigator could be at risk. Mr Marples then fled again never to return.

Judge Gosling told Mr Marples, “Mr (Undercover team) has not only helped save girls from harm, but he also helped you.”

Judge Gosling went on to describe Mr Marples actions as “revolting.”

Pre-sentence reports indicated that Mr Marples only wanted to kiss the child on the lips. But the judge said that Marples had expected a “real” victim to show up, and the suggestion’s he made in the chat logs may well have been followed through with.

Mr Marples was grateful that he had been caught by the investigation team, stating that it allowed him to “nip it in the bud” and help him get the help he needed in order to stop the possibility of him re-offending 

An edited version of an image Marples sent to what he believed and was told was a 14 year old girl

July 2013

Wrexham man jailed for possessing child abuse images and historic sex offences

A JOINER who admitted historic sex abuse of a child was “racked by guilt”, his barrister told a court.

Kenneth Edward Pugh, 65, of Holyrood Crescent, Rhosddu, Wrexham, was “haunted” by what by he had done and prepared to work with agencies to try to understand why he had done it, defence barrister John Wyn Williams said.

Pugh also admitted possessing pornographic images and films of children and extreme images depicting sex between animals and humans.

He was jailed for 18 months and placed on the sex register for a decade at Mold Crown Court yesterday.

A 10-year Sexual Offences Prevention Order was also made to curb his illegal use of the internet in future.

Judge Niclas Parry told him the aggravating features of the case were obvious as they involved the historic abuse of a very young child, including various sexual acts.

The images offences were also serious.

“You need to realise that what you were viewing was actually happening to young children,” the judge told Pugh.

There were a large number of images at the most serious levels. “This is a serious example of this kind of offending,” the judge said.

But there was substantial mitigation, he admitted all offences. Pugh was genuinely contrite and he accepted the defence submission that “he was genuinely a man racked by guilt” and was “haunted by what he had done”.

Pugh pleaded guilty to seven charges of indecent assault going back to the 1980s.

A charge of raping a girl under 16 in the early 1990s was dropped by the prosecution. Pugh also admitted 11 charges of making indecent images of children, possessing images including extreme images.

Simon Mills, prosecuting, said in February police executed a search warrant and seized his computer and other equipment.

At that stage Pugh said he had been looking for indecent images of children, not because he was sexually attracted to children but because he was curious.

He said he had “moved on” from indecent images of children to those involving animals.

A few weeks later a complaint was received from a woman who said she had been sexually assaulted by him when younger.

In total there were 8,962 indecent still images and 184 videos involving children from the age of one to 13. Police found 288 images and seven movies of extreme porn involving people, including children, and animals.

It was clear he had used search terms such as “child sex”.

Mr Williams said his client was haunted by what he had done, was racked by guilt and did not understand why he had done it.

He had admitted the images offences before the police found them on his computer. He had also admitted the sexual offences at a very early stage.

Pugh, who suffered from a heart condition, did not seek to minimise or distance himself from what he had done.

The images were disgusting and at a level that put them among the worst kind available. He had been under pressure but that was no excuse, his barrister said.

The judge said he had taken into account Pugh’s age, health and good character.

June 2014

Mother’s boyfriend guilty of murdering her two-year-old

Verdict: Dean Harris, 19, has today been found guilty of murdering Amina Agboola

A man has been found guilty of murdering his girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter after he became angry when she soiled herself.

Dean Harris, 19, kicked Amina Agboola so hard it sent her flying six feet across a room and caused her liver to split in two.

Paramedics found the toddler “limp and unconscious” and like a “rag doll” at her home following the attack. She died later the same day after being taken to hospital.

Harris, her mother’s boyfriend, later admitted manslaughter, saying he had lost his temper and kicked her in the stomach.

The 19-year-old, from Yaxley, denied murder but was today found guilty by a jury after two hours of deliberations.

Sarah Racqueman, 29, (pictured below) was cleared of causing or allowing her daughter’s death. She had already admitted cruelty to two other children.

Opening the trial at Cambridge Crown Court heard, prosecutor Zoe Johnson said: “The evidence demonstrates that in the period leading up to Amina Agboola’s death, Sarah Racqueman was repeatedly warned by professionals that Dean Harris posed a risk of serious physical harm to children but she chose to ignore those warnings.

“That was to prove, unfortunately, a fatal decision.”

Harris initially told ambulance crews she had fallen off a toilet following the incident near Peterborough on November 21 last year. However, he later admitted this was not true.

While on remand, Harris told a fellow inmate he was a “psychopath” and confessed to lashing out at her after becoming frustrated that she kept soiling herself, Miss Johnson said.

The court heard the toddler’s pupils were dilated, she was unresponsive and was struggling to breathe.

Her arm had recently been fractured, she had bruises to her face and skull and there were bite marks to her cheek and forearm.

Police who searched the house after her death found there was an inadequate amount of food kept in the home.

Jurors were told that Racqueman had begun a relationship with Harris, who lived next door, five months earlier.

Social services had warned her that he was capable of violence, used drugs and had abused his former girlfriend.

In his evidence, Harris told the court he had become “a bit frustrated” on the morning of Amina’s death after repeatedly changing and cleaning her each time she soiled herself.

Asked by prosecutor Zoe Johnson if he knew what he was doing, he said: “To a certain degree yes.

“I did not intend to kick her. It just happened in a split second because I was frustrated.”

Racqueman, who had previously been the victim of domestic violence, said her relationship with Harris had developed “very quickly” after meeting earlier that year.

She had allowed him to care for Amina because being a single parent could be “stressful”.

She said she had not allowed Harris to care for Amina since the warning but was “not in my right mind” on the day she died.

Racqueman said: “The dog was barking, Amina was screaming and saying she didn’t want to go out. I was just in a daze.”

When paramedics arrived at the home, they described Amina as being ‘like a rag doll.’

The paramedics also said Harris showed little emotion at the scene, and had to be told to end a phone call while they tried to save the young girl’s life.

She was rushed to Peterborough City Hospital, where she was resuscitated twice, but passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Harris now faces a mandatory life sentence, with a minimum term before he can receive parole to be set by Judge Lurcraft QC.

Harris will be sentenced at Cambridge Crown Court on July 7 and Racqueman will be sentenced for the two counts she admitted on July 11

June 2014

Paedophile phone salesman’s image haul

A paedophile was found to have more than 300 indecent images of children stored on his mobile phone and computer equipment when police launched simultaneous raids on his home and workplace, a court heard.

Some of the material collected by mobile phone salesman Nicholas Guest was so shocking a recorder told Wolverhampton Crown Court the child involved would have been ‘traumatised and even injured’ by the actions taking place.

Pervert Guest began cataloguing the sickening images in September 2010, the court heard.

But following a tip-off police swooped on September 5 last year at the house in Darlaston where he had lived with his partner of eight years officers seized a computer and an iPad.

The 46-year-old was arrested at the same time at his workplace in Walsall, while a mobile phone was recovered from his car.

Mr Mark Rees, prosecuting, told the court all of the confiscated equipment contained images of children that were sexual in nature.

“These were serious images, including a moving film which he had stored on an iPad and copied onto another computer,” he said.

“The defendant’s partner co-operated fully with police and helped them to identify which machines he had been using.”

Mr Rees said 291 of the images were category C, 15 were category B and three were category A – considered to be the most serious classification.

“There was also evidence that a number of images had been deleted and could only be accessed by specialist software,” the prosecutor added.

The court was told Guest was interviewed by police twice after his arrest but refused to comment on either occasion.

Mr Jasvir Mann, defending, said Guest’s behaviour had resulted in the loss of his job and the breakdown of his relationship.

“He is slowly coming to understand how he got into the situation he did,” said Mr Mann.

“A lack of thought went into his actions. He is thoroughly ashamed.”

Recorder Oscar Del Fabbro told Guest: “Most worrying is the moving images you produced.

“I am satisfied the child involved would have been traumatised, even injured by the actions taking place.

“Yet still you have never fully explained why you had these images in your possession.”

Guest, of Dorsett Road, Darlaston, pleaded guilty to four counts of possessing indecent images of children and two counts of making indecent images of children. He was not involved actually filming or photographing any of the images.

He was given a 36-month community order and placed under supervision for the same period.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years and ordered to pay £340 costs.

June 2014

Ulcombe pervert jailed after abducting teenage girl in van

A convicted pervert who admitted child abduction after driving a teenage girl away in his van has been jailed for two years.

Stephen Cash – who uses several aliases and has a previous conviction for voyeurism – took the girl on a journey said to have lasted no more than five minutes.

But Maidstone Crown Court was told the girl had got into his vehicle by her own freewill and both the prosecution and the defence maintained there was no sexual motive behind the offence.

And prosecutor Sarah Lindop explained 26-year-old Cash – from Ulcombe, near Maidstone - had only been charged with abducting a child because “nothing else fits” with what he did.

At the start of the hearing, she told Judge Martin Joy it was not a case of “whisking a child off the streets” or taking a child to another country.

“We all appreciate that child abduction can cover a multitude of offending and it is equally right that the girl voluntarily got into that vehicle and nobody was going to stop her,” she said.

Miss Lindop added if the case gone to trial the issue would have simply been whether the defendant knew she was under 16.

But jailing Cash, Judge Joy said the law existed to protect children and a non-custodial sentence could not be justified.

“This was a relatively short time, but I have to take account of the overall seriousness of the offence,” he added.

Cash, of Pye Corner, had originally denied two offences of child abduction in July and August last year.

After pleading guilty to one charge, the other was ordered to be left on the court file.

He was convicted of voyeurism in September 2010 for looking over a toilet cubicle and is subject to the sex offenders’ register.

Philip Sinclair, defending, maintained that Cash, who also uses the name Michael Collins, had only driven the girl on a short journey.

“That is what he did and that is all he did. He didn’t realise he was committing an offence.”

Mr Sinclair also drew the judge’s attention to the case of East Sussex maths teacher Jeremy Forrest, who fled to France with a pupil and sparked an international hunt.

He was jailed for a total of five-and-a-half years, but only one year of that sentence was imposed for child abduction.

Cash will serve half his sentence less five-a-and-a-half months already spent on remand.

June 2014

Former Blackburn teacher found guilty of sex assaults on three pupils

A FORMER QEGS teacher has been found guilty of abusing boys on school trips to youth hostels.

It took a jury two hours 30 minutes to convict 76-year-old John Mead of four counts of indecently assaulting three pupils at the Blackburn school during the 1970s.

He has now been warned by a judge that he faces being sent to prison.

Speaking after the hearing, one of his victims, who is now in his 50s, said he could now find ‘closure’ more than 40 years after suffering the abuse.

He said: “I feel like I have exorcised some demons.

“People like Mead are predatory and if they can find someone who is vulnerable, they are going to go for them.”

Former physics and maths teacher Mead, from Sabden, had a ‘sinister motive’ for organising the excursions to places including the Lake District for young boys, the court was told.

During one of the trips, the jury heard how he got into bed with a pupil who was sleeping in a single room before reaching over him and touching him inappropriately.

Another man was assaulted by Mead, of Timbrills Avenue, during a game of ‘monsters in the dark’ in which his teacher grabbed him, pulled him onto the bed and groped him.

And a third complainant was indecently assaulted on multiple occasions when Mead got into the shower with him during the trips.

He said he could never have told anyone before because his life ‘would have been made a misery’.

After the verdict, he said: “I just could not believe what was happening. I was terrified. I was disgusted.

“But I just let it happen, I just froze.

“This is what I have never been able to come to terms with.

“There was no way I could tell anybody. My friends would have just ripped into me. I would have been a laughing stock.”

The court was told by other witnesses how Mead behaved in other ‘wholly inappropriate’ ways such as encouraging boys to have urinating competitions, arranging for the youngsters to play strip poker and making them talk about sexual matters.

Summing up the evidence from one of the victims, Judge Christopher Cornwall, sitting at Preston Crown Court, said the abuse had been ‘seared’ into the complainant’s memory.

He told the jury the victim had said: “I was shocked, surprised and confused.

“I felt as if in some way, it was my fault. I thought it was shameful and as if I had done something wrong.

“As a child, you trust people in authority. I was aware that something wrong had happened.”

And the judge said another of the victims said he was unable to tell anybody about what happened to him.

The victim had said: “It stays with you permanently.

“Part of you does not move on. It stays back there in that dark and stagnant place.

“My memory is not impaired by the passage of 43 years. When the experience is so intense, the memory is intense and permanent. I am still living with the effects.”

Married father-of-three Mead, who suffers from myalgic encephalomyelitis, which is also known as chronic fatigue syndrome, has now been bailed to allow for the preparation of a pre-sentence report.

Medical tests will also be carried out and the victims will be given the opportunity to prepare personal impact statements.

The jury cleared Mead of two further charges of indecent assault.

Judge Cornwall warned the defendant that did not mean he would avoid a prison sentence.

He told Mead: “You have been convicted by the jury, rightly in my judgement, in relation to four counts.

“Please be under no illusions – the mere fact that 40 years has passed does not in any sense diminish the serious note of that what you did to these complainants.

“By the reason of your convictions, you have been found to be in gross breach of the trust of those boys and their parents.

“I see no alternative to an immediate custodial sentence.”

Mead had maintained he was innocent throughout the entire five day trial, claiming the victims’ accusations were ‘fantasy’.

He has now been placed on the sexual offenders register and it will be determined on July 25 how long he must remain on it.

June 2014

British Army Afghan groomed Stoke-on-Trent girl, 13, using Facebook before making her pregnant

AN AFGHAN teenager and former asylum seeker training to be an interpreter for the British Army has been jailed after meeting a Potteries schoolgirl on Facebook and getting her pregnant.

Asif Ghanbari was dumped at Stafford Services after coming to the UK on the back of a lorry in 2008 and started a new life in Stoke-on-Trent.

The 19-year-old then used a false name – Jack Nelson – to meet a 13-year-old girl on Facebook.

He took her on dates in Hanley and Newcastle, had sex with her 17 times and got her pregnant – when she was 14 – before she had an abortion.

Now seeker Ghanbari, of Hanley, has been locked up for 32 months for his crimes.

Children’s charities today condemned Ghanbari’s actions.

NSPCC official Sandra McNair said: “This sad case highlights, once again, the urgent need to educate young people on how to keep safe online, so they can be protected from grooming and exploitation. Peer-to-peer abuse is a growing concern and highlights the vital need to educate young people about healthy and respectful relationships.”

Asif fled war-torn Helmand Province to start a new life – and ended up having under-age sex with a Potteries schoolgirl.

The one-time illegal immigrant posed under the false name of Jack Nelson to groom the then 13-year-old girl on Facebook because he wanted a girlfriend.

The 19-year-old took the youngster – who cannot be named – on dates to Newcastle and Hanley’s Central Forest Park before their relationship blossomed and she went to his Hanley home.

They had regular sex and the girl fell pregnant at 14.

Now Ghanbari – who has been training with the British Army with a view to working as an interpreter for future visits to Afghanistan – has been sentenced to 32 months in a young offenders’ institution.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard the pair met on Facebook.

Prosecutor Rupert Jones said: “He used the name Jack Nelson. A couple of weeks after making contact he suggested they meet. They met in Hanley Forest Park and he arrived in his car. At the time the victim was aged 14. She told the defendant her age.

“The defendant arranged to meet her again in Newcastle. He kissed her. Eventually he took her to his home and into his bedroom. They had sexual intercourse without contraception. They had intercourse on a number of other occasions.”

The court heard the girl had an abortion after she became pregnant. Ghanbari was arrested and told police he had consensual sex with the girl about 17 times.

Ghanbari, of Leek Road, Hanley, pleaded guilty to meeting a child following sexual grooming and sexual activity with a child.

The court heard Afghanistan-born Ghanbari was trafficked to the UK in 2008 on the back of a lorry. He has no knowledge of what has happened to his family in Helmand Province.

Catherine O’Reilly, mitigating, said: “He was reaching out for some comfort, a relationship, some kind of family life. He adopted the name because it was a western name. He wanted a girlfriend.

“He has made a massive mistake, a massive error of judgement.”

Miss O’Reilly said Ghanbari is intelligent and has been recruited as an Army interpreter. She asked Judge David Fletcher to step back from passing an immediate custodial sentence.

But the judge sentenced Ghanbari to 32 months in a young offenders’ institution and placed him on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Judge Fletcher said: “It could not be said that you were under any misconception about the age of that woman. Her details were on the Facebook site. On the first occasion she made clear to you she was the age she was. She was between 13 and 14. You admitted you had unprotected sexual intercourse with her, you say on 17 occasions.”

June 2014

Jail for man who lured children into his home

A SEX offender who invited young children into his home and was also found to have indecent images on his computer has been jailed for three years.

Patrick Charles Bowen, 55, was sentenced at Dorchester Crown Court for nine offences of possessing indecent images and three charges of breaching a sexual offences prevention order.

The court was told that the indecent images charges arose after police executed a search warrant at Bowen’s address in Beech Road, Puddletown, on February 10.

A tower computer was seized and was found to have more than 250 indecent images on it.

Prosecutor Heather Shimmen said Bowen had been made subject of a civil sexual offences prevention order in May 2010.

She said he had been placed on the sex offenders’ register after committing previous sex offences and police were forced to apply for the order as they were concerned about his association with several young boys and wanted to monitor him more closely.

Miss Shimmen said that while Bowen was in custody in relation to the indecent images he asked to speak to officers and made admissions to seeking out the company of several local children in the months before his arrest, which he was banned from doing by the order.

The charges related to two girls, aged 11 and eight, and an 11-year-old boy.

The children and their parents were interviewed and it emerged the youngsters had all spent time at the defendant’s home address.

The children described how Bowen had a draw full of toys and things to interest children and Miss Shimmen stressed that none of the children had complained of anything ‘untoward’.

She added that one of the parents described being ‘worried sick’ when they found out about Bowen’s background and the fact their daughter had spent time in his company.

Lee Christmas, mitigating, said: “There is no suggestion that this would have gone any further than contact.”

He added that Bowen had agreed to the sexual offences prevention order being in place in the first place and had assisted police by making admissions about the breaches of the order.

Mr Christmas said that previous treatment Bowen had undergone to address his behaviour meant he felt he now had ‘robust barriers’ in place to make sure there was never a danger of physical contact with children.

Judge Roger Jarvis told the defendant: “Every right-thinking member of society views these offences with horror.”

He added: “You present a very worrying picture to the court.”

The judge sentenced Bowen to a total of two years in prison for the indecent image offences and one year for the breaches of the sexual offences prevention order, with the sentences to be served consecutively.

Bowen was also made subject to a new sexual offences prevention order and placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

June 2014

Pervert jailed after travelling to Maidstone from Aldershot in Hampshire to abuse girl of eight

A pervert travelled more than 60 miles to Kent to sexually abuse an eight-year-old girl after making contact with her “mother” on the internet, a court heard.

Darren Andrews arrived in Maidstone with a bag containing stockings and thongs for the child to wear, two boxes of condoms and lubrication 

But the 33-year-old salesman was immediately arrested as a result of an undercover police sting

June 2014

Merseyside man jailed for downloading 6,000 child abuse images

A Merseyside police community support officer who travelled to Germany to meet a 13-year-old boy was jailed after downloading more than 6,000 child abuse images.

Dieter Rupp, 45, was arrested by German police in March 2012 after he went to that country to see a boy he had met while playing online computer games.

He was not charged with any offence but Interpol got in contact with Merseyside police after finding documents which showed he worked for them.

Officers from the public protection unit raided his home, on Wright Street, Southport, a month later and took his computers away for analysis and Rupp was suspended.

Will Beardmore, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that when he was interviewed by someone who came to check on his welfare he confessed they would find child porn, which he said he had downloaded to relieve stress, and he was arrested.

In total 6,481 indecent images of children were found on his hard drives including 80 of the very highest level, as well as 1,789 indecent cartoon images and four videos of children being abused.

Rupp fled the country via ferry from Dover and had to be extradited before he eventually appeared in a Liverpool court in February where he pleaded guilty to eight offences of possession of indecent images of a child.

The court heard that other offences of making indecent images, which carry a maximum 10-year sentence, had to be left to lie on the file because of a mistake in preparing the extradition.

Mike Hegarty, defending, said Rupp was “disgusted with himself” and was a “damaged individual”.

Judge Stephen Everett, sentencing, said: “As far as I am concerned you tricked your way into Merseyside Police. You became a trusted PCSO. High standards are expected.

“You didn’t reach the standard expected of ordinary members of the public in your behaviour let alone the high standards of police officers.

“I cannot ignore all this came about because you had gone to Germany to see a 13-year-old boy despite your ridiculous explanation that you were going to help that child.

“You were going to see someone who you told the probation service loved you and wanted to marry you. I have little doubt had these events taken place in this country you would have been convicted of the serious sexual offence of grooming a child for sexual activity.”

Jailing Rupp for 29 months he branded him a “risk to children” because of his “deviant inclinations” and said had he been charged with making indecent images would have got an extended sentence.

Rupp was ordered to sign on the sex offenders register and made the subject of a sexual offences prevention order for 10 years.

June 2014

Paedophile jailed for sexually molesting young girl

A PAEDOPHILE convicted of sexually molesting a young girl more than a decade ago has been jailed for four and a half years. 

A judge told James Arthur Franklin, who has a previous similar conviction, “The simple fact is you are a paedophile attracted to pre-pubescent females.

“You are in denial and less likely to be amenable to treatment,” said Judge Robert Warnock.

“I regard you as a real danger to pre-pubescent females and you have shown no remorse or insight.”

He added that Franklin, who showed no emotion, seemed to believe the “truly pathetic reasoning” he had given at trial to back up his denials.

Judge Warnock said that 12 years ago Franklin began by grooming the girl by exploiting her interest in horses and his sexual abuse of the child, when she was eight or nine, escalated in seriousness.

“Although I hope it is not the case it does appear that her psychological harm is permanent,” he added.

Franklin, of Peak Avenue, Atherton, was convicted in April by a jury of one offence of indecency with a child and seven of indecent assault representing a course of conduct spanning about 18 months.

Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Wednesday, that the abuse stopped in about November 2003 when police were informed that Franklin had sexually abused another young girl and in July the next year he was jailed for nine months.

After that abuse came to light the girl was asked if he had also abused her but as she was confused and embarrassed she made no allegations against him, said Nick Kennedy, prosecuting.

Over the ensuing years she struggled to deal with what had happened to her and it would be brought back to mind when she saw him at equestrian events with his wife.

“That and other factors including the need for some release led to her decision in February last year to tell the police about what had gone on. More mature and confident she was able to speak about it,” said Mr Kennedy.

The 51-year-old IT worker was interviewed by police in April last year and denied the allegations, maintaining his innocence at trial.

The judge today imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order and ordered Franklin to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

David Morton, defending, said Franklin had co-operated with the pre-sentence report and was using his time in prison constructively and hoping to be a “listener” for other prisoners.

August 2004

Jailed for indecent assault on girl, eight

A CULCHETH man was jailed on Friday for groping a child.

James Franklin, of New Church Lane, Culcheth, was sentenced to nine months in prison at Liverpool Crown Court and ordered to sign on sex offenders register for 10 years after indecently assaulting a girl, aged eight.

Franklin, aged 41, and the girl were both staying at a mutual friend’s house in Lowton when the incident happened, in November 2002.

The judge, Mr Justice Hughes, told Franklin that he accepted it had been a single incident involving touching over the clothing but that it had been a child victim and had been preceeded by him standing watching her.

He added: “There are worrying features about such an incident.”

Franklin had been found guilty after a three-day trial at Liverpool Crown Court.

Anthony O’Donohoe, defending, said that Franklin still denies committing the offence.

He said Franklin was a hard-working, family man and that losing his job would jeopardise his home and impact on his family.

June 2014

Stonemason forced way into customer’s home and carried out sex attack

A stonemason who forced his way into the home of a customer before sexually assaulting her has been jailed.

Alan Boyd, who also attacked a teenage girl days later, was seen as a respected businessman in north-east Fife and travelled across the country to work.

A trial heard on Wednesday how Boyd targeted his first victim after he she hired him to do some work. He followed the woman at her home in Ceres before blocking her path and refusing to let her past on August 18, 2012.

Boyd then burst into her home, grabbed her round the waist, repeatedly attempted to kiss her and felt her bottom.

The attack came after many months of harassment where he repeatedly made comments of a sexual nature.

Three weeks later Boyd launched an attack on a girl aged 16 in the same village.

On September 9, 2012, he followed the girl and refused to let her pass before touching her inappropriately. Boyd also exposed himself during the attack.

The trial was also told that over a period of eight months between December 2010 and August 2011, Boyd had repeatedly made sexual comments and gestures to the girl he later sexually assaulted as well as another child.

Boyd, 49, of High Street, Ceres, Fife, pleaded not guilty to the four charges against him but was found guilty after a trial.

George Donnelly, defending, urged a sheriff not to jail Boyd.

He told Dundee Sheriff Court on Wednesday: “He is a man who travels across Scotland for his work, lives well and provides for his family. He would comply with any condition of a community payback order.”

But Sheriff Charles Macnair QC said a prison term was the “only appropriate disposal”.

He jailed Boyd for seven months, and said: “These offences were committed on different dates and the communications offences took place over a period of time.

“The first complainer had originally had you in her house because of your work. On the night in question you forced your way into her house – she was entitled to keep you out.

“Having regard to the nature of these offences, and in particular the age of the second complainer and the fact you invaded the house of the first victim, there’s no appropriate alternative but a custodial sentence.”

June 2014

Man wanted for breaching Sexual Offences Prevention Order

Police are hunting a man who has breached a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

Michael Edward Edhouse 24, of Park Road, Oldham, was given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) for a duration of five years when he appeared before Bolton Crown Court on 21 October 2010, having been convicted of two counts of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13. 

However, Edhouse has since breached the terms of that order and has also breached his notification requirements which make it a legal requirement for him to register an address with Greater Manchester Police, and is now currently circulated as wanted. 

Police have now circulated his picture and are appealing to anyone who has information about his whereabouts to come forward. 

Anyone who has information about his whereabouts is asked to call police on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111. 

June 2014

Dad admits killing two month old baby daughter

A father has admitted killing his two-month-old baby daughter ‘after losing control’.

Tyler John Vallance, 21, pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Isabella Vallance in December 2012, after a charge of murder was put to him at Worcester Crown Court.

He further entered a guilty plea to section 20 wounding, after having a charge of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent put to him as he stood in the dock.

Christopher Hotton QC prosecuting said: “We are all of the view that we accept those pleas.”

He added the prosecution’s view was that although there were two incidents it was “overwhelmingly likely that each occurred over a short period of time in a momentary loss of control by somebody with ADHD and Tourettes.”

Vallance, formerly of Redditch, Worcestershire, will be sentenced at a later date.

Isabella was allegedly injured at an address in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire between October 5 and December 8.

Separately, the baby’s mother aged 19, formerly of Bromsgrove, is to be tried for an alleged offence of child cruelty between October 5 and December 8, 2012 and causing or allowing the death of Isabella.

She appeared briefly in the dock – after Vallance – for the proceedings, wearing a black blazer and white blouse.

Her trial will now start back at the court on Tuesday, June 24, and is expected to last 10 days.

In December 2012, Isabella was taken to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch after being found injured at an address in the town.

She was transferred to Birmingham Children’s Hospital where she died five days later.

June 2014

Jailed: Paedophiles who took pictures of naked children at Bournemouth Air Festival

A paedophile who took photographs of a naked child on Bournemouth beach has been jailed for six months.

Philip Taylor (pictured above) was one of two men arrested during the town’s annual air festival in 2012 after a police community support officer spotted him snapping images of a young girl playing by the sea.

His co-defendant, Mark Smith, 54, of Chitlee Manor, Liphook, Hampshire, (pictured below) was found guilty of four counts of making indecent images of a child, four of possessing indecent images of children, and breach of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) imposed in 2007 following a three-day trial.

He was sentenced to eight months imprisonment on May 30 this year.

But 55-year-old Taylor of Summerwood Lane, Clifton, Nottingham, admitted 20 charges relating to the possession and making of indecent photographs in November 2013, and has just been sentenced at Dorchester Crown Court.

Timothy Bradbury, who prosecuted during Smith’s trial, said both men were spotted by a PCSO standing together on the beach in Bournemouth on August 30, 2012.

He told the court that, as the officer approached the men, Taylor was taking photographs of a young naked child.

“There was nothing to indicate that she was anything to do with him,” said Mr Bradbury.

“The PCSO asked him to stop what he was doing.

His camera was taken off him, and officers scrolled through to look at the images. It was apparent that there were number of images of naked children [on the camera], and from the context it was evident those pictures had been taken that day.”

The PCSO then had to “jog” to catch up with Smith, who had turned and walked away while his friend was being questioned, the court heard.

Although Smith also had a camera with him, the memory card was not inside it, and he told police during interview that he was visiting the annual festival to take photographs of boats and planes.

Officers then attended his home address, and the court was told that 138 indecent images of children were found on his laptop.Mr Bradbury said the images ranged from level one – depicting children without clothes on – to level four, a description for more serious photographs.

However, Smith said he knew nothing about the images, and alleged that they may have been downloaded by Taylor or his son.

• Taylor’s ‘very bad record’

Following his arrest, Taylor was interviewed twice and admitted he had taken a number of images on the beach, including one of a naked girl aged around five who was standing with her parents.

The defendant was jailed for nine years in 2000 for a number of serious sexual offences relating to children under 16.

Mitigating, Robert Grey said Taylor was seeking to address his problems through the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity dedicated to reducing the risk of children being sexually abused.

“He’s admitted his guilt – he’s not the sort to shirk away from his responsibility,” he added.

However, Judge Roger Jarvis said the defendant had a “very bad record” before sentencing him to six months in prison.

June 2014

Cork man who tied stepdaughter to bed and sexually assaulted her is jailed

A Cork man has been jailed for nine years for the attempted rape and repeated sexual assault of his step-daughter.

Reginald Arnold (56) tied the 14-year-old girl to a bed using a belt before sexually assaulting her, the Central Criminal Court heard.

Last month a jury found Arnold, of Michael Fitzgerald Road, Togher, Cork, guilty of four counts of sexually assaulting and one count of attempted rape of Joanne Crowley at his home between April 2008 and August 2010.

After a four day trial the jury also found him guilty of restricting the personal liberty of a child for sexual exploitation.

Arnold had pleaded not guilty to all charges. A not guilty verdict was directed by the judge on three other charges of sexual assault.

Timothy O’Leary SC said that his client maintains his innocence.  Thomas Creed SC, prosecuting, said that Ms Crowley wishes to waive her right to anonymity.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said that there was no remorse shown by Arnold. He suspended the last two years of an eleven year prison term on condition that Arnold comply with the instructions of the Probation Services.

Garda Rory O’Connell said that the abuse began when the girl was aged 12 and Arnold touched her private parts after handing her a ten euro note and telling her to be a good girl.

On another occasion they were watching TV together and he took his trousers and underwear off and forced her to masturbate him.

He attempted to rape her in 2009, when she was aged 14, after telling her “I’m going to ride you”. He ended the attack when he heard two knocks at the front door.

Gda O’Connell said during an attack the following year Arnold went into the Ms Crowley’s bedroom and took a belt from her wardrobe and tied her wrists with it. He pulled her arms up over her head and pulled her clothes and underwear down.

The garda said he then sat looking at her for five minutes before untying her hands and leaving. The court heard the girl was “particularly terrified” during this incident.

The garda added that Arnold would sexually assault Ms Crowley “any time he got a chance” by molesting her when he thought no-one was looking.

In a victim impact report read into court the girl said she still suffers from nightmares that her attacker will come back to get her and hurt her family.

She said: “I find it very hard to be around men. I do not trust men, I have no confidence in myself. I was always such a happy child. I will never get over what happened to me, this will stay with me forever.

“I get nightmares he will come back to get me and hurt my family. He has totally destroyed my belief in myself

“I was only a child and he was a monster to me. I will never get over this.”

Arnold has had an alcohol abuse problem since an early age. He has previous convictions going back to the 1970’s including burglaries and assaults.

June 2014

Chatham gas fitter jailed for two years for downloading child abuse movies

A pervert who downloaded child abuse movies, some up to half an hour in length, has been jailed for two years.

Children as young as four were filmed in some of the clips, which were available for other internet users to access, a court heard.

But although a judge accepted that gas fitter Lee Phillips had “learned a lesson to a very substantial degree”, he said he had to pass a sentence that acted as a deterrent.

Judge Jeremy Carey said: “I accept that in the cold light of day you are now aware of how this criminal industry affects children who are innocent and have no real understanding of what is going on and are corrupted or abused for the whole of their lives.

“When this message will get home to people like you, sitting at home in their bedrooms and looking at it night after night in the belief it is entertaining, I do not know.”

Phillips, 48, of Valerian Close, Chatham, admitted five offences of possessing indecent images of children between May 2008 and August 2013, four offences of distributing indecent images between July and August 2013, one of making indecent images between September 2009 and August 2013, and one of possessing extreme pornography in August 2013.

The court heard this related to sex acts between an adult and dogs.

A total of 64 child abuse images were found on two laptops, the majority of which were movies.

Prosecutor Ruth Zentler-Munro said: “He said he would never act on his interests, describing them as fantasies.”

Phillips downloaded the images from a free file-sharing website and the default settings on his computer meant other users around the world would be able to access any of his images.

An officer from Kent Police child exploitation team told Maidstone Crown Court Phillips had the option to turn off the file sharing, but there was no evidence he had resorted to “deliberate” sharing.

James Ross, defending, said Phillips became withdrawn after the break-up of his relationship and moved in with his mother and stepfather.

On release Phillips will have to sign on the sex offender register, be subject to a sexual offences prevention order for 10 years and barred from working with children.

DC Karl Brett of the Kent Police’s child exploitation investigation team said: “Phillips told us in interview he had no intention of ever acting on his fantasies but what he and others who download this material need to realise is that they are perpetrating a cycle of real-life abuse.”