March 2015

County Durham child rapist jailed for ten years

A CHILD rapist whose crimes were branded “abhorrent” by his own barrister is starting a ten-year prison sentence.

Connor Bradley, who is now 21, was said to have had an “inappropriate interest” in young girls throughout his life.

Despite being arrested for abusing one child, he preyed on another while police carried out their investigation.

His offending was described as “persistent” and “serious” when he appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Monday to be sentenced.

Judge Howard Crowson told him: “It is necessary to protect the public from sexual harm from you, particularly children.”

The court heard how Bradley, from Spennymoor, County Durham, was in his mid-teens when he started offending.

He physically assaulted his victim, raped her, sexually assaulted her, and warned her: “If you tell anyone, I’ll hurt you.”

It was years later before the police were made aware of the abuse, and Bradley was questioned, said prosecutor Shaun Dodds.

But he picked out another victim who he touched inappropriately a number of times before she reported it.

Bradley, of Oxclose Crescent, Spennymoor, admitted rape, six charges of sexual assault and two of assault by penetration.

He was jailed for ten years and four months, and put on the sex offenders’ register for life by Judge Crowson.

He is also banned from having unsupervised contact with under-18s as part of a new Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Judge Crowson told him: “Although you were very young at the time of the earlier offences, you were fully aware what you were doing was wrong.”

Andrew Scott, mitigating, told the court that Bradley saved his victims from having to give evidence by admitting his crimes.

“He has an understanding that his behaviour is more than totally unacceptable – it is abhorrent,” said Mr Scott.

“He knows there never will be any justification, no matter how old he was at the time of the commission of these offences.”

Mr Scott said Bradley will be offered help behind bars for his problem, but added: “Of course, the ball is in his court.

“He is a young man and he will, if he chooses, still have a future when he is released, but that’s entirely up to his attitude.

“He must use his time positively and purposefully.”

March 2015

Tutor pleads guilty to 16 serious sexual offences against two girls under the age of 13

A TUTOR has finally been caught after going on the run.

Mohammed Abdul Kadir pleaded guilty to committing 16 serious sexual offences against two girls under the age of 13 whom he was teaching at the time of the attacks.

Kadir, of no fixed abode, but from the Coventry area admitted the offences at Reading Crown Court on Wednesday, March 12.

The attacks happened in Maidenhead between May 2012 and May last year.

Police say Kadir was employed by the children’s family to provide private religious tuition.

He was in the country illegally having arrived from Bangladesh in 2011.

Overall, the 32-year-old pleaded guilty to:

-Two counts of sexual assault by penetration on a girl under 13 years

-10 counts of sexual assault by touching a girl under 13 years

-Two counts of causing a child under 13 years to engage in penetrative sexual activity

-Two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child

Kadir was wanted in connection with the allegations and fled to France. He was then arrested in Paris on October 30 last year under a European Arrest Warrant and was subsequently extradited to the UK to face the charges.

The pleas were formally accepted on Thursday and Kadir is due to be sentenced on April 30 at Reading Crown Court.

March 2015

Pervert jailed for sexually assaulting boy in Folkestone

The terrified victim of a sex pervert hid in a cupboard in a derelict school in Folkestone fearing he would die.

The young teen had gone to Westbrook House in Shorncliffe Road to recover a jacket and a hammer.

But he came across vile Matthew Beevor who then subjected the petrified youngster to an hour-long sex ordeal.

Now the 40-year-old has been given a 15-year sentence after admitting sex assaults, assaults and an affray.

Beevor was accused of sexually assaulting a boy aged 13, inciting a boy aged 13 to engage in sexual activity, false imprisonment, assaulting a 13-year-old boy, assaulting a 15-year-old boy, burglary and theft at a flat in Hythe and theft from the BP garage in Townwall Street, Dover.

The incident led to a 10-hour stand-off between police and the sick pervert who climbed onto a roof to avoid being arrested.

Judge Heather Norton jailed him for 12 years and ordered he serve an extra three years on licence when he is eventually released.

She told him: “I can only imagine what this child must have felt locking himself in a cupboard in an abandoned school believing you were going to kill him.”

Prosecutor Christopher May told Canterbury Crown Court how Beevor, of South View, Hersden, had carried out attacks on two victims.

He said that a teenager was on a bus travelling between Hythe and Folkestone in May last year.

Beevor got on the same bus and started changing seats to be closer to the concerned youngster.

“Beevor was acting strangely, leaning over towards him. When the bus approached Brimstone Avenue, both went to get off.

“It was then that Beevor grabbed hold of the victim’s collar and the youngster tried to push him off. The driver then told Beevor to get off and the youngster went home and reported the incident to his mother,” he added.

Two weeks later the pervert carried out his attack at Westbrook House when he spotted the youngster and prevented him leaving.

“Beevor took hold of him and pushed him to the floor. He took the hammer from the child and put it next to his head. He told him to shut up or he would cave his skull in. The victim was very scared,” added the prosecutor.

After the sex attack, the youngster ran away and reported the incident and when police arrived, Beavor climbed on to the roof.

“As police were trying to reach him, Beevor was swearing at them. He pulled off a chimney top and threw it at one of the officers, who had climbed onto a neighbouring roof,” said Mr May.

Officers then tried to talk Beevor down who responded by screaming obscenities and throwing a lump of concrete at them.

The court heard how the stand-off ended when the pervert stopped making threats to kill officers and came down.

September 2004

Four-year sentence for ‘menace’ burglar

A PROFESSIONAL burglar described as “a menace and a danger to the inhabitants of Kent” has been jailed for four years.

Judge Adele Williams told Matthew Beevor: “The inhabitants of Kent are in danger from you and I have to protect them.”

Beevor, who was said to have an appalling record for burglary, told his barrister he was unable to cope on the ‘outside’.

Beevor, 29, of South View, Hersden, near Canterbury, appeared at Canterbury Crown Court, where he admitted handling jewellery belonging to elderly Rose Cook, as well as a burglary at Galpins House, King’s School, when he stole a £2,000 laptop belonging to a pupil.

Darren Weir, prosecuting, said the jewellery was stolen from the Rose Cook’s home in Hythe and later recovered from a Canterbury pawnbrokers where Beevor had sold it.

At the school, the security bars on a window had been forced up and the computer snatched while the 15-year-old owner was out of the room. DNA from a bloodstain at the scene led police to Beevor.

Katie Fox, defending, said that following Beevor’s arrest he had made efforts to trace the computer but had not been able to do so.

Beevor had suffered a number of personal problems and mental health issues and said he was now institutionalised and unable to cope with life outside of prison.

Summing up, Judge Williams said that only Beevor could break the cycle of offending and he had to find the resolve.

She added: “You are a menace and a danger to the inhabitants of Kent. You are a professional burglar and this is the only way you know how to live at the moment.”

March 2015

Sex offender lived in household which included teenage girl for more than a year without notifying authorities

A REGISTERED sex offender breached notification requirements by failing to report moving to a new address, where a teenage girl was living.

Michael James Johnston was living at the address in County Durham after moving in with the girl’s mother more than a year before it came to light, last November.

Durham Crown Court heard that it surfaced when the girl was asked at school about a mark on her face, and she replied that it may have been caused by her step-father.

Robin Turton, prosecuting, said social services were informed and it was discovered 29-year-old Johnston was living at the girl’s family home.

He was arrested and interviewed, and admitted having failed to comply with the terms of his requirement to register as a sex offender by not informing the relevant authorities where he was living at the time.

Johnston was required to sign as a sex offender as a result of a conviction relating to sexually explicit communication with an underage girl, for which he was sentenced to an 18-month community payback order, as an alternative to custody, at Dumfries Sheriff’s Court, in Scotland, in July, 2013.

He was said to have moved in with the woman in County Durham, in October that year, just months after they first met.

Mr Turton said Johnston should have reported a change of address within three days, and police should have been informed within a week of where he was living and that someone under 18 was living also resident.

Johnston, of Newton Aycliffe, who appeared in court via video link from Holme House Prison, Stockton, admitted three counts of failing to comply with the requirements as a sex offender.

Jailing him for six months, Judge Christopher Prince said: “The defendant has come into contact with a teenage girl living in the same house for a significant period of time.

“That’s quite a serious breach, bringing himself into proximity with a young person in the same household.”

The court was told Johnston is still to go back before Dumfries Sheriff Court for breaching the order made there in 2013.

March 2015: O’Brien will be released early during June 2015 and will return to live in Ashwater

February 2013

Ashwater man jailed for historic sexual abuse

A pervert from Ashwater has been jailed for a total of four years and seven months for the sexual abuse of a young girl

63-year-old Hans Richard O’Brien from Ashwater was convicted of multiple charges of historic sexual abuse against a child who was aged under 16 years old. 

The former electronics engineer also faced charges relating to the rape and sexual assault of a different child which took place over a fifteen year period which began when the girl was aged just five years old – However those charges were dismissed by the court.

O’Brien will be subject to the conditions of the sex offenders register for an indefinite period

March 2015

Buttershaw man pleads guilty to possessing indecent images of children

A 58-YEAR-OLD man has pleaded guilty to 14 offences of possessing indecent images of children.

John Gibson, of Halifax Road, Buttershaw, Bradford, was ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register at Bradford Crown Court today.

He admitted 13 offences of possession of an indecent photo of a child on July 7 last year and a roll-up charge stating possession of a further 70 child abuse images, five at the most serious level of category A.

Gibson’s solicitor advocate, Anne-Marie Hutton, asked for the case to be adjourned for a full probation report.

He was remanded on bail until he is sentenced on April 22.

Judge David Hatton QC said Gibson must not have any unsupervised contact with children.

February 2010

A Carlisle man who abducted two young girls from a city park has been jailed for five years – but would have been given an indefinite jail term had it been possible.

The eight-year-olds were said to have been “scared” during their “truly frightful ordeal” at the hands of Michael Graham, 21, at Hammonds Pond, last June.

And Judge Peter Hughes QC, at Carlisle Crown Court, described Graham’s case as “one of the most worrying cases he has had to deal with”.

Judge Hughes said he believed that Graham posed “such a substantial risk of serious harm, particularly to children and young women”, that he would have jailed him indefinitely had the law allowed.

The court heard how the girls’ ordeal began after Graham, of Buchanan Road, Currock, approached them as they played in the nature trail area of the park on June 15 last year.

Tim Evans, prosecuting, said: “He invited them to come and see some dens located within the nature trail. At first the girl said she ignored him, at which point he grabbed hold of their hands, pushed them in front of him and guided them towards the dens.”

Mr Evans said that one of the girls described how, while in one of the dens, Graham had tied some logs to a piece of string and “tied this around the tree to, in effect, create some sort of barrier.”

He said: “She thought that was the intention, to trap them inside. She couldn’t get out and she was scared.” He added that the girls told police that the defendant was “nasty to them” during their ordeal, which involved being forced to hide if anyone came near.

They were eventually found, after about two hours, when a dog walker heard voices in the undergrowth.

Later, one of the girls had told her parents that the man “was not going to let (us) go if that woman had not found us”.

Although Graham was only sentenced on two counts of child abduction, he led five girls, aged between six and 11, into the undergrowth.

He pleaded guilty to the two offences at Carlisle Crown Court last month.

In mitigation, Claire Thomas said her client “enjoys the company of younger people because they don’t bully him” but did now “have some realisation as to how inappropriate his behaviour has been”.

Judge Hughes described Graham as a man “with many and complex problems”.

He said: “The protection of the public and in particular the protection of children and vulnerable young adults is at the forefront of my mind – even though you are young and this is a first conviction.

“So far as the girls that you led into bushes are concerned, this must have been a truly frightful ordeal for them.”

He ordered him to serve five years in prison for each of the two offences, with the sentences to run concurrently to each other.

Judge Hughes also made Graham the subject of an anti-social behaviour order for an indefinite period, preventing him from having unsupervised contact with under-16s – except with permission – and from visiting parks, play areas, school premises, leisure centres and swimming pools.

Detective Constable Lindsey Priestley, from Cumbria Police’s public protection unit, said: “This was an extremely rare case and had a huge impact on the families involved. Each of the young girls has shown great strength and composure throughout and the support given by their families deserves recognition.

“We are very pleased with the outcome.”

October 2007

Man jailed for raping schoolgirl

A man who abducted and raped a nine-year-old girl two months after being released from prison has been jailed for life.

Robert Zipfel grabbed the girl as she played on her bike in her garden, took her to a cemetery in Bridlington and raped her, Hull Crown Court was told.

Zipfel, 30, of Bempton Crescent, Bridlington, was told he must serve a minimum of six years.

He admitted rape, sexual assault and abduction at an earlier hearing.

Zipfel was given two life terms for the rape and sexual assault and four years for the abduction charge, to run concurrently.

The offences took place in April this year.

The court heard he was a drug addict with 25 convictions including offences of burglary, assault and robbery.

The Honorary Recorder of Hull and East Yorkshire, Judge Michael Mettyear, said Zipfel was a “very dangerous man” and the public needed protecting.

He said: “Your conduct towards this little girl was horrific.

“You abducted her from her own garden. You threatened her in a terrifying way and you raped her. At the time she was just nine years of age and about 4ft tall.

“The sympathy of the court and all decent people goes out to her and her family.”

The judge said a report revealed Zipfel posed a significant risk to the public.

He stressed that once Zipfel had served his six year term it was up to others to decide if and when he could be released back into society.

The court was told he took the victim to a graveyard in Bridlington to carry out the sex attack, two months after being released from a 36-month prison sentence for burglary.

Zipfel had been seen walking up and down the street and then approached the youngster who was playing on her bike.

Prosecuting Sharon Beattie said: “He pulled her and the bicycle out of the garden.

“At some point he said to her he was 13 years of age.

“She started to speak to him. He told her to be quiet or he would stab her and she wouldn’t see her mother and father again.”

Miss Beattie told the court the victim had been “significantly traumatised” by her ordeal.

She now had difficulties at school, was not eating properly, had disturbed sleep and could not be left alone.

Zipfel was caught after his DNA matched saliva taken from the victim’s clothing.

March 2015

Paedophile jailed for 17 years for sexual offences

Brett Jenkins, 31, from Taylors Close, was convicted at Chichester Crown Court on February 5 and sentenced on March 18.

He was found guilty of two counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, two counts of inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and two counts of assaulting a child under 13 by penetration. He was found not guilty of one count of sexual assault of a child under 13.

He was given five years for sexual assault, eight years for inciting a child in sexual activity and 17 years for assaulting a child by penetration. These will run concurrently.

The offences occurred in Chichester between September 27, 2012 and March 15, 2013.

Detective constable Tim Hughes said: “Jenkins will serve 17 years for the crimes he has committed against the two victims, who bravely spoke out about what happened to them. We would encourage anyone who has suffered this kind of abuse to speak to us.”

March 2015

Pensioner jailed for 13 years for the attempted rape of a seven year old

A Thanet pervert – who brushed off a sex attack on a child as the equivalent to a speeding or shoplifting offence – has been jailed for 13 years.

Pensioner Roy Cleaver had been found guilty of the attempted rape of a seven year old.

As the judge read his victim’s recollections to the sick child abuser, he shook his head and mouthed repeatedly “No”.

The former squaddie, of Rancorn Road, Margate, had been acquitted on two other charges of indecent assault and rape.

But the jury decided that Cleaver, now 65 years old, had partially stripped the child who had been visiting his home and performed a sex act.

John O’Higgins, defending, said the man who had run his own gardening business for many years had been a “grafter” who had worked hard.

But he said that intellectually he was “closer” to someone much younger.

The jury had heard how Cleaver had sexually assaulted the youngster who had gone to his home to play with his child.

Prosecutor Christopher May told how the pervert took advantage of his bewildered victim.

When he was arrested he tried to blame his victim for initiating the sex play – but the judge rejected his account as “utterly ridiculous”.

He later told officers that when he heard about the Jimmy Savile case “he thought something might come out – but claimed he didn’t like young girls in “a sexual way”.

But Judge James O’Mahony told him he had no insight to his offending which he dismissed as “ a one-off stupid mistake”.

“You think it was something more akin to a speeding or shoplifting offence and just a moment of foolishness”.

She ordered he sign the Sex Offender’s Register for life – and was made subject to an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

December 2006

‘Sexual predator’ jailed for life

A convicted serial rapist nicknamed the Spider who raped a teenage girl months after being released from jail, although he was living at a bail hostel under close supervision of probation officers has been sentenced to life

Richard Ewing, aged 41, originally from Exeter, pleaded guilty to five charges over the attack on the teenager in fields in Weymouth, Dorset, on 22 July.

He was convicted of two counts of rape, attempted rape, kidnapping and sexual assault at Dorchester Crown Court.

Ewing was sentenced to life in prison, to serve a minimum of nine years.

Rapist Richard Ewing was nicknamed the Spider because of the meticulous and ruthless way he carried out his sex attacks.

He followed the same pattern, stalking lone women and pouncing on them from behind in isolated spots.

He bound, gagged and blindfolded each of his victims, threatening them at knifepoint.

Judge John Beashel said: “This is not a nine-year prison sentence. It is a life sentence. “It potentially is a sentence that could lead to you remaining in prison for the rest of your life.

“Your victim was a virgin. She is of slight build. You are a powerful and fit man.

“You have demonstrated all too clearly that no matter the restrictions placed on you outside of prison you will find a way to obtain sexual gratification by attacking women.

“You are a very dangerous sexual predator.”

More than 100 police officers took part in a national search for Ewing after the attack in the summer.

He was found three days later by an off-duty chief superintendent near Bournemouth. Following his arrest, Ewing told police he had a “demon inside” him.

He said: “Even though I knew it was wrong, I’m wasting the rest of my life, but I still couldn’t do anything about it.”

He added: “Whoever it was has had his wicked way and left me to deal with it.”

In 1995, Ewing was convicted at Exeter Crown Court of raping a mother-of-three in 1989, attacking a woman in 1993 and raping a woman as she walked her dog along the River Exe in Devon in the same year.

Ewing used condoms in the past to ensure there was no DNA evidence and struck at least three times between 1989 and 1993 in Exeter before he was convicted in 1995.

He first raped a mother-of-three, who recognised Ewing from a glimpsed “anchor” tattoo on his hand, and he told her: “I am a professional at this.”

He struck again almost four years later when he attacked a woman in a valley on the edge of the city, and committed a serious sexual offence.

Four months later, Ewing trussed up and raped a woman in a copse on the outskirts of the city as she walked her dog. The victim heard clicks as straps fastened her wrists.

“He was abusive to her and left her tied by the dog lead to a tree when he had finished with her,”

He received an 18-year sentence for rape but was released from prison on his mandatory non-parole date in December 2005.

Ewing had been staying in “approved” accommodation in Westway Road, Weymouth, at the time of the attack in July and was subject to a curfew and electronic tagging.

Martin Meeke QC, prosecuting, told Dorchester Crown Court the probation service could not have done any more in terms of supervising Ewing.

“There was no discretion in the Home Office or the Parole Board as to his release. He was entitled to be released,” he said.

Ewing has been ordered to re-register as a sex offender.

NOTE: Ewing was born Richard Carpenter but changed his name by deed poll because he was a fan of the TV show Dallas

24th March 2015

Police are trying to trace a man, convicted of possessing indecent images of children, who has failed to comply with the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

Keith Foster, who was convicted of possessing indecent images of children in 2013, was living in Wakefield area but is known to have links to have to Lancashire.

Foster is described as white with a thin build. He is aged in his mid 60’s, 5ft 8″ in height and with black, straight, collar length hair.

Foster is known to use a number of aliases, including Kirsty Foster and use a red mobility scooter.

Call West Yorkshire Police on 101 with information.

March 2015

Ilkeston man is jailed for sex with girl under 16

A 22-year-old man from Ilkeston has been jailed for 33 months for having sex with a girl under the age of 16.

Jamie Lee-Lewis of Monsall Avenue, Cotmanhay, pleaded guilty at Nottingham Crown Court to sexual activity with a female under the age of 16.


He was sentenced by a judge on Friday, March 20, and was handed a ten year sexual offenders’ prevention order, and must sign the sex offenders’ register.

A second charge of meeting a female under 16 following sexual grooming will be kept on Lee-Lewis’ file.

The sentence amounts to two years and ten months behind bars for Lee-Lewis. He will have to comply with the requirements of the order when he is released.

March 2011

Pervert Shaun Everiss jailed for sex attack on boy

HIS horrific sex attacks left his young victim with emotional and physical scars that will last a lifetime.

And child rapist Shaun Everiss is now starting a long stretch behind bars after a judge described his crimes as some of the cruellest and most damaging he had ever come across.

The 40-year-old was jailed for 18 years after a jury convicted him of regularly raping and sexually assaulting a schoolboy for almost two years.

Sentencing, Judge Guy Whitburn said he had never before come across a sex-attacker who had caused his victim so much pain.

He said: “It’s quite clear what a devastating effect you have had on that young man. Seldom has one come across a case when so much devastation has been caused on a young life.

“Why you chose to do what you did is a matter for you and your conscience.”

The jury heard how Everiss, of Coronation Street, North Shields, met his victim in 2005 when the boy was in his early teens

Over time the boy became concerned about the way the Everiss was acting towards him.

Anne Richardson, prosecuting, told the jury: “The defendant began to get too friendly with the  victim and was ‘touchy feely’.”

The touching then progressed to rape. The victim lived trapped in the nightmare world of his abuse, never telling anyone of the horrific attacks he would regularly suffer.

The sexual abuse was not revealed until 2010, when the boy was undergoing treatment for mental health problems and he finally told his carers what had happened to him.

Everiss was arrested in March last year. The rapist always denied abusing the boy, and maintained his innocence throughout his trail.

But Everiss was found guilty of four counts of rape, two counts of sexual touching and one count of harassment.

Jailing him and ordering he sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life, Judge Whitburn said: “It was clear when the boy was giving his evidence what a devastating effect you had on that young man. I consider this to be a very serious case.

“You have no remorse and there are no mitigating factors.”

The sentence has been welcomed by the detectives who brought Everiss to justice.

Det Cons Paul Godfrey, of Northumbria Police’s rape investigation team, said: “The sentence given by the court today clearly reflects the seriousness of Everiss’ actions and we hope this gives the family the justice they deserve.

“This has been a  very difficult ordeal for the victim and his family and we hope they can now move on with their lives.”

Det Cons Godfrey today urged other abuse victims to seek help.

“Police investigate every single report of rape, even if it is historic,” he said. “Victims of rape or any sexual assault often feel vulnerable or ashamed by what has happened to them.

“As difficult as it may be, we stress wholeheartedly to any victim to report any incident, recent or historic, to police. Yesterday’s outcome shows we will take action and that justice can be seen.”

March 2015

Pensioner aged 87 repeatedly exposed himself near children playing in busy park

An 87-year-old pensioner repeatedly exposed himself near children as they were playing in a busy park.

Anthony Mancini was arrested after the shocking incident during the half term school holidays.


One mother who was with her family said she felt “sick” by the OAP’s behaviour and told police: “The children were asking what the man had done wrong and wanted to know why.


“I do not lie to my children so had to find a way to say what had happened. It was the worst conversation. I had to explain what a paedophile was.
”

Another woman, a child minder said: “He looked like a harmless old man because of his age but what he has done has disgusted me.”


The incidents at Nuttall Park in Ramsbottom, Bury, Greater Manchester occurred at 1.15pm on October 28 last year when they were an estimated 80 people in the park – the majority of who were children.


At Bury magistrates court Mancini, from Summerseats, Bury, who is also known as Bertram Monk pleaded guilty to outraging public decency and was given a three year community order.


Robin Lynch prosecuting said: “A lady was in Nuttall Park with her children, aged between 8-11 when she saw a male acting suspiciously in the bushes in the park. She said she saw him stood between two trees with his pans open and she saw blue boxer shorts. It says his right hand was in his boxer shorts. She said she could clearly see the male masturbating and making masturbating movements in his pants.

“It made her feel sick and disgusted.”
 The mother rang police on her mobile phone and as she headed the tennis court area of the park, spotted Mancini loitering between trees.


A second woman also spotted Mancini, 45 minutes later, as she was looking after her two children and another child at the park.


Mr Lynch said: “She was a child minder. She had two children with her at the time and met up with other children in the park.

“The children were playing and at one stage struggled trying to drag the branch across which took all three of them to do so.


“She went and sat on the bench nearby keeping watch and saw a male looking at the three children from behind the tree.

“She didn’t know where the male had come from and had not seen him approach and had not seen him walk past. At first she could just see the male had kept looking around at the three children. At the time they were 3, 5 and 6 years of age.”


She saw Mancini carrying out a sex act but police already arrived before she had the chance to alert them. In a victim personal statement the mother who first spotted the pensioner said after the incident her children had been upset about why she had had to talk to the police.


The other woman’s five year-old son was said to be ‘much more clingy after the incident.’ Mr Lynch added: “His mother said his teachers have noticed a change in him and he is upset when it comes to home time. She said ‘I believe it is a direct result of what happened at the park.’


Her victim statement also read: “This man looked like a harmless old man because of his age. I dismissed him as not a threat but what he has done has disgusted me.”


Mancini has 52 previous offences on his record include indecency with the latest dating back to the 1990s. He initially denied wrongdoing in police interview.


His lawyer Roger Taylor said in mitigation: “He has never had interest in children and the thought of that has certainly affected him.

“That is a terrible suggestion and he says he has never been attracted to children whatsoever. What he must accept, that in a park, or public place, it can be empty and also have many people and they can be distressed by what they see. On this occasion witnesses were distressed and reported distress.”


Mancini was ordered to abide a three month curfew between the hours of 3pm and 10pm.

He must also attend a sexual offences treatment programme and is subject to Sexual Harms Prevention Order for five years with conditions that he cannot enter any park in Ramsbottom and may not have any contact with a child under the age of 18 unsupervised.


Chair of the Bench Georgina Hastie, said: “These rather serious offences were repulsive for a lot of people. The victim impact statement heard of sickness and disgust, loss of confidence looking after other people’s children and how children have been affected. “


March 2015

Pensioner pleads guilty to string of offences involving child abuse images

William Johnstone, from Herm Close in Broadfield, was charged with distributing two indecent images of children at his previous address in Burgess Hill on December 30, 2013.

He was also charged with three counts of making indecent images of children – one photograph of category B and 25 of category C, and making an indecent video of a child at category C.

The 66-year-old pleaded guilty to all five offences at Crawley Magistrates’ Court last Wednesday.

The court heard how police executed a search warrant at his previous address and seized various items including a computer and several disks, where the images were discovered.

Johnstone was released on conditional bail and the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared ahead of a hearing at the same court on April 16.

Until that time he is prohibited from contacting any child under the age of 16, unless supervised by an adult.

March 2015

Ex-councillor jailed for sexually abusing 9-year-old girl over 5-year period 

A former East Lindsey district councillor has been jailed for four-and-a-half years over three historic counts of indecency with a schoolgirl.

Philip Leivers, 75, of Sea Bank Road, Chapel St Leonards, gave the victim tickets to watch top-name acts including Madness, Dire Straits and UB40 for free while managing London’s Hammersmith Odeon.

The victim came forward to police in 2012 after watching a BBC News bulletin featuring Leivers as a councillor

She claimed the offending began in 1975 when she was nine and continued until she was 14.

Leivers was convicted of three counts of indecency with a child by a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court in June of last year.

He was acquitted of seven counts of rape, four counts of indecent assault and a further count of indecency with a child.

The jury was unable to reach verdicts on three further counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) chose not to seek a re-trial, however, following the death of the complainant, aged 49, from a brain haemorrhage at the start of this year.

Without the complainant, the CPS were not able to put ‘compelling evidence’ before a jury, Ian McLoughlin, prosecuting, told Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday.

Sentencing Leivers at the court, Judge Grace Amakye said: “During the trial I formed the views that it must have been apparent to you as an adult at the time aged some 30 years that she was an uncared-for child, with that knowledge you embarked on the conduct which can only be described as grooming.”

Leivers, who represented Chapel St Leonards, resigned from his post when the allegations were made.

He denied having sexual intercourse or oral sex with the victim, but admitted inciting her to touch him sexually on two occasions when she was 11 or 12.

Leivers admitted playing a game where he would try to guess the colour of the girl’s underwear before making her show him.

He said he had only one other sexual encounter with the girl, when she had turned up at his house on a summer’s day a few years later and they took a shower together.

Christopher Geeson, for Leivers, said: “He accepted from the start of these proceedings he was guilty of indecency with a child, he offered pleas to two counts but those pleas were rejected by the prosecution.”

He continued: “The jury convicted Mr Leivers on his own admission, had the prosecution accepted those two counts at the beginning of the case and Mr Leivers been sentenced he would by now be well on his way to serving the full custodial element.”

He added that Leivers has no other convictions, and that no other complainants came forward in light of the case.

“He firstly was a good man and carried on over a period of 35 years since this offending being a law abiding citizen,” he said. “He’s worked as a councillor for no remuneration, but for the benefit of his community.”

Leivers joined ELDC in 2003, before resigning in 2013.

April 2006

Woman (42) jailed for having sex with schoolboy (14)

A woman from Borehamwood was jailed for more than two years last week for having sex with a teenage boy in her home.

Angela Cooklin, 42 of Darrington Road, was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty of two offences of having sex with a 14-year-old boy.

It happened on Saturday, June 12, 2004 the night after she had taken him to watch a televised eviction from the Big Brother House at Elstree Film and Television Studios in Shenley Road, Borehamwood.

The jury heard how the boy, who can not be identified for legal reasons, had drunk five Bacardi Breezers and had to go upstairs to a bedroom to lie down.

Giving evidence, the boy said: “We were kissing and then she put her hand down my trousers. I think she said once or twice I love you.

“I knew it was wrong. She said she knew it was wrong but she couldn’t help the way she felt about me.

“She rolled on top of me and took her trousers off.”

They continued to kiss and she performed a sex act on him, before they had sex.

Cooklin told the boy she knew it was wrong but could not help herself.

Two days later the boy’s mother discovered what had been going on when she found a series of explicit text messages on his mobile phone.

In one Cooklin said: “You are lovely. I love you. I am home now. Bed not changed.”

In another, she told the teenager: “I want to be laying naked in bed with you now because I don’t want there to be anything between us, not even clothes.”

The boy’s mother told the jury that she checked the text messages after the boy seemed out of sorts.

She said: “I asked him if he had sex with her and he said yes. I asked him if he had used precautions and he said no, and said she couldn’t get pregnant.

“Then he broke down and cried in a ball on the sofa.”

Cooklin, who has been married twice, went to secretarial college after her O levels and had worked as a dental nurse.

At the time she seduced the boy, she was working at Barnet’s Toy Shop in Notting Hill, London, which she told the jury was owned and run by her mother.

She denied any sexual activity had taken place and said the boy had an infatuation’ with her.

Sentencing her to 26 months in prison, Judge Findlay Baker QC called her a determined liar’.

He said: “You decided you wanted him. You couldn’t control your desires and very deliberately set him up.

“If the end is bitter for you, you only have yourself to blame.”

March 2015

Prestwich man who travelled to London in bid to abuse young children is jailed

A paedophile with a disturbing desire to sexually abuse a baby or toddler has been jailed after a National Crime Agency sting.

David Friedlander, 63, was sentenced to five years after an investigation by the agency’s Child Exploitation Online Protection Command.

He was arrested after travelling from Manchester to London, where he had arranged to meet an individual who he believed had access to a child.

Friedlander, from Prestwich, had been exchanging emails with the individual over a period of time and had disclosed his sexual interest in babies and toddler girls.

However, when he arrived at the meeting place, he was arrested by NCA officers.

During a search of his hotel room, officers discovered a black rucksack, containing a soft toy and some sweets. These items had previously been discussed in the email chat, specifically in relation to the sexual abuse of a child.

In September 2014, Friedlander pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and making and possessing indecent images of children. Forensic analysis of the images categorised them as levels A-C.

Paul Phillips, Head of Operations at the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Command, said: “David Friedlander was actively communicating online with the sole purpose of accessing a child for sexual abuse. I have no doubt that swift action stopped him from committing offences more severe that the ones he pleaded guilty to.

“Child sexual exploitation is a top threat area for the NCA and we will continue to identify and apprehend people who we believe are likely to cause harm to children.”

Following sentencing, His Honour Judge Hone QC made Friedlander the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he will be on the Sex Offender’s Register for life.

The investigation established he was acting alone and not part of a wider paedophile ring.

May 1994

Paedophile jailed for string of child sexual offences

A volunteer social worker from Kings Lynn has been jailed for a number of sexual offences including taking and possessing indecent images of children and an indecent assault of a male

Breeze’ house was raided by police due to allegations made against him by several alleged victims.

Police carried out a search and found a hoard of indecent films, one of which showed him indecently assaulting an 11 year old boy.

On 22nd February 1994, Peter Eric Breeze (Born 1965) from Kings Lynn pleaded guilty at Norwich crown court to the following charges:

• Taking indecent photographs of a child

• Taking indecent photographs of a child

• Taking indecent photographs of a child

• Indecent assault on a male child aged under 16 years old

On the 9th of May 1994 Breeze was sentenced to:

• Count 1 Six months imprisonment

• Count 2 Six months imprisonment concurrent to count 1

• Count 3 Six months imprisonment concurrent to count 1

• Count 4 Six months imprisonment concurrent to count 1

The judge issued Breeze with an order under section 43 PCCA 1972 for forfeiture of the indecent films and images