June 2015

Hartlepool pervert caught with indecent photos of children avoids jail to get treatment

A pervert who downloaded child abuse images from the internet narrowly avoided being sent to prison so he could receive specialist treatment to cure him.

A judge said he wanted to lock up 35-year-old Barrie Bell, from Hartlepool, who Teesside Crown Court heard got sexual gratification from looking at pornographic pictures of children aged between 11 and 16.

But Recorder Andrew Haslam was told the length of sentence Bell was facing would be too short for him to be eligible for a Sex Offenders Treatment Programme and gave him a suspended sentence.

David Crook, prosecuting, said Bell’s home was searched after the national Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) agency alerted local police that his computer had downloaded indecent images of children from the web.

Officers found 35 images in total, including one of extreme pornography. Most were in the lowest category of explicitness, but the court heard Bell had downloaded them using file sharing software that meant other perverts could also view them.

Mr Crook said: “When police looked it was clear the defendant had actively been searching himself for indecent images relating to children. Upon his arrest, he said ‘there’s something on there with teen girls but I’ve deleted them’.”

Bell, of Clavering Road, who had no previous convictions, admitted distribution of indecent images, making indecent images and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Regarding the effect of an immediate jail term, Andrew Teate, mitigating, said to the judge: “He will come out as an individual who has not addressed those difficulties which he clearly acknowledges and accepts.”

Recorder Haslam told Bell: “Part of me thinks I should just lock you up, frankly Mr Bell.

“I have young children of my own and what people like you do is exploit them.

“Without people like you, there wouldn’t be images like this on the internet.”

But he added: “I think I would be failing society at large and failing children if I didn’t allow the probation service to work with you within the auspices of the Sex Offender Treatment programme to reduce the risk you pose to children and start to address the risks you pose and your attitudes towards sexual behaviour.”

Bell was also given eight months’ prison suspended for two years with supervision and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

June 2015

Pervert caught with over 1,500 indecent images of children

A former RAF man who was found with more than 1,500 indecent images of children has avoided jail.

Alex Boulter, 20, was arrested at his place of work in Accrington last year and officers later found the images on a laptop and disk drive at his home in Oswaldtwistle. 

They also found he had been using an email address on his phone and iPad to speak to ‘other persons who were clearly interested’ in indecent images and had been sharing pictures.

Burnley Crown Court heard how he had downloaded 220 category A images – the most serious – 415 category B and 1,021 category C images as well as 45 movies including 15 of category A.

Boulter, who has also worked at William Hill and Matalan, pleaded guilty to 11 counts of making indecent images of children, six counts of possessing indecent images and three counts of possessing indecent images for show.

Stephen Parker, prosecuting, told the court how Boulter was arrested at his place of work in Accrington on July 2 last year after police received information relating to equipment used by the defendant.

The court heard how officers searched his Oswaldtwistle home and found a laptop and disk drive and also seized an iPhone and iPad when he was in custody.

The court heard how Boulter denied the offences when interviewed by police.

However an examination by the high tech crime unit recovered the images which were ‘primarily boys aged between four and 12 years old’.

Mr Parker told the court: “It’s apparent from the search terms that have been referred to the defendant no doubt knew what he was looking for at the time and had used a particular website.”

Mr Parker said police accessed his emails which showed a ‘significant amount of exchanges between the defendant and ‘various other persons who were clearly interested in indecent images of children’.

Simon Mintz, defending, said it was a ‘squalid business’ and Boulter was engaged in ‘amateurish swapping of images’.

He said: “He was going through a difficult time in his life. He was socially isolated.

“His career ambition had fallen through on health grounds. He had joined the RAF. He is a very candid young man and accepts his motives were sexual arousal.”

Judge Jonathan Gibson said there were ‘various conversations’ between Alex Boulter and others ‘referring to sharing of pictures and videos’.

The court heard that Boulter received one email saying ‘hey, where is your trade? I love girls or boys’ and another email saying ‘this is a selection of mine, hope you send back’.

Another person contacted Boulter saying ‘send me the youngest and most high def and I will triple back’.

The court heard that Boulter, who was 19 at the time of the offences, also helped ‘build back up the collection’ of a person who was previously scared off by police intervention.

Judge Gibson said: “Plainly what you did merits a custodial sentence. I’m going to suspend it for a number of reasons, firstly your age and secondly your attitude as expressed in the pre-sentence report which was frank.”

Boulter, now of Moorfield Grove, Bolton, was given an 18-month jail term, suspended for two years, with a supervision requirement and ordered to take part in the internet sex offender programme.

He was also given a sexual harm prevention order and made subject to police notification requirements, both for 10 years.

June 2015

Champion figure skater told to expect prison for string of sex offences

An Ashfield figure skater has been warned he could be jailed after admitting 16 sexual offences against five schoolgirls.

Jamie Whiteman, 20, groomed teenagers who had a schoolgirl crush on the Olympic hopeful encouraging them in a string of sex acts as he moved from one girl to another over 20 months. 

Whiteman, who has taken part in four National Championships, repeatedly had sex with one 13-year-old girl, Hull Crown Court was told today (24th June).

He also encouraged four girls to send pictures of themselves performing indecent acts and witnessed another child partially undressed.

Whiteman, who took part in the World Junior Championships in 2013, pleaded guilty to 16 offences before a scheduled trial.

The five teenage girls were on standby to give evidence.

Whiteman, dressed in a silver suit and watched by his family from the public gallery, pleaded guilty to:

• One charge of making indecent photographs of children

• Eight charges of inciting or causing children to engage in sexual activity

• One charge of voyeurism

• Four charges of sexual activity with a child

Whiteman, who is originally from Huthwaite, gave his current address as Woodend Drive, Ravenshead.

He finished 7th in the European Youth Olympics in 2011 before the offending took place. He took part in the World Junior Championships in 2013 making a personal best in the short programme.

Defence barrister Anil Murray admitted whatever the outcome of the case, his professional ambition had been thwarted.

“He will no longer be an ice skater,” he said.

“The defendant accepts he asked the complainants for indecent images of themselves and sent indecent images himself. This was against a background of strong mutual attraction. In one female’s case he accepts the sexual acts were mutually consensual, and while he was aware of her chronological age, she appeared mature above her years.”

Crown barrister John Thackray said the CPS had considered the photographic image of one of the main complainants in the case and said she looked her age at the time – she was between 12 and 13-years-old.

Judge Mark Bury told Whiteman (pictured leaving court): “Let me make this plain to you. You have pleaded guilty to very serious offences against girls who were under 16.

“These are 16 offences of a sexual nature. You had indicated your plea of guilty to some of these offences before today and the rest today for the first time.

“You are a young man with no record of previous offending. I have not yet decided the sentence I will impose. Please understand because I am granting you bail that is not an indication of sentence. All sentencing options are open, including custody. You must, if I were you, come with a bag prepared to be locked up on the next occasion.”

Whiteman will be sentenced on 27th July.

June 2015

Three men have been found guilty of committing sex offences against children in Wrexham.

Mold Crown Court has returned with verdicts on a number of counts of indecent and sexual assault in the Wrexham area in the 1970s and 1980s.

DJ and former local radio presenter Roy Norry, 55, from Hamilton Road, Connah’s Quay, Flintshire, was convicted of six charges of indecent and sexual assault against a child.

He was cleared of one count of sexual assault.

Former wrestler and Wrexham sex shop owner Gary ‘Reginald’ Cooke, now known as Mark Grainger, from Leicester has been found guilty of 15 counts of indecent and sexual assault against children.

Gary Reginald Cooke aka Mark Grainger

Former wrestler and Wrexham sex shop owner Gary ‘Reginald’ Cooke, now known as Mark Grainger, from Leicester has been found guilty of 15 counts of indecent and sexual assault against children.

David Lightfoot, 72, a Wrexham publican in the 1980s from Parklands View, Little Sutton, Ellesmere Port, was found guilty of six counts of indecent assault against a man and two counts of indecent and sexual assault against a child.

David Lightfoot

Lightfoot was found not guilty of one count of indecency against a child, so far.

Keith Stokes, 62, from Farndon, Chester, has been found not guilty of one count of indecent assault against a child, so far.

Verdicts have yet to be returned on Roger Griffiths, 76, of Wrexham; George Phoenix, 63, of Wrexham, and Edward Huxley, 70, of Cookham, Berkshire.

Judge Rhys Rowlands has now asked them to retire to continue their deliberations on the remaining counts.

He has now told them that he is prepared to accept majority verdicts.

June 2015

Suspicious woman found child abuse images on boyfriend’s computer

A SUSPICIOUS woman who checked her boyfriend’s computer because she feared he was having an affair had discovered child abuse images, a judge heard.

Ex-soldier Shaun Underhill, aged 43, of Berry Street, Conwy, had made various excuses, claiming he received spam email, Caernarfon crown court was told.

But months later he was arrested by police. When computer equipment was examined 5,881 indecent images were found and a number of videos, prosecutor Richard Edwards said.

A twelve months jail term, suspended for two years, was imposed with supervision and an internet sex offenders’ treatment programme.

A sex offences prevention order was made and he must register as a sex offender for ten years.

Defence barrister Dafydd Roberts said Underhill had post-traumatic stress disorder and what happened to him as a child had damaged the defendant.

Underhill had no previous convictions and served for 14 years in the army with an exemplary record.

He had been on bail for more than two years, counsel added.

Judge Michael Burr said Underhill had admitted ten offences of making and possessing indecent images.

“Each of those photographs represent the abuse of a real child,” the judge remarked.

June 2015

73 year-old man jailed for sex offences against children

A 73-year-old man has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison for historic child sex offences which took place in Reading.

Haydn Fry, from Truro, Cornwall (formerly of Caversham, Reading) was found guilty of five counts of indecent assault on a male under 16 and one count of gross indecency with a child under 14 following a week-long trial.

Between 1973 and 1977, Fry indecently assaulted a boy then aged under 15 in Reading and was charged with two counts of indecent assault on a male under 16.

Between 1976 and 1982, Fry sexually abused another boy aged under nine in Reading. He was charged with three counts of indecent assault on a male under 16 and one count of gross indecency with a child under 14.

The two sets of sentences will run consecutively, so he will be imprisoned for a total of seven and a half years.

Fry will also be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life, and, in addition, is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

June 2015

Barrhead pervert had sick images

A BARRHEAD man has been placed on the sex offenders register after he was found guilty of possessing indecent images of children.

June 2015

Pervert jailed after admitting having indecent pictures of children

A 66-year-old man has been jailed after he admitted having indecent pictures of children and extreme pornography.

Francis Dowson also admitted flouting a court order which was meant to protect the public from sexual offences.

He had pleaded guilty to four offences at Teesside Magistrates’ Court and was sentenced at Teesside Crown Court yesterday.

He admitted possessing an extreme pornographic image, described as “grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character” on May 13, 2013, and admitted making 38 indecent photographs of a child between June 2008 and May 2013.

He also admitted two counts of breaching a sexual offences prevention order made by Teesside Crown Court in September 2011.

These offences involved his use of a laptop in May 2013 and May 2014 at a time when Dowson was still subject to a suspended sentence for previous offences involving indecent images of children.

As a result of his previous conviction, Dowson had been subject to a supervision order which restricted his use of computers and meant that a public protection officer could check on his activities at any point.

When an officer arrived at Dowson’s house on Bradhope Road, Berwick Hills, Middlesbrough, on May 14 last year, Dowson admitted that he had a laptop in his bedroom which was connected to the internet.

Nigel Soppitt prosecuting said that when the laptop was checked by police, 38 indecent images of children were found, two of which were in the most serious category.

Police also found two images of extreme pornography and evidence that Dowson had installed anti-forensic software on the laptop.

Robert Mochrie defending: “There is very little that I propose to say on behalf of Mr Dowson. It’s not to do him a disservice when one considers the plea.

“He has done the right thing by entering the guilty pleas. I can say on his behalf that two years have now elapsed with no repeat.”Sentencing Dowson, Judge Howard Crowson said: “When you came before the court last time you were given a prison sentence that was suspended.

“You were also given a sexual offences order. You were still looking at indecent images of children.

“There are category A images in this, possession of which has a 12 month starting point made worse during a suspended sentence.”

Judge Crowson placed a new 10-year sexual harm prevention order on Dowson prohibiting unsupervised contact with children under 16 and prohibiting the use of computers.

For the four offences Dowson pleaded guilty to while already serving a suspended sentence, Judge Crowson sentenced Dowson to a total of 27 months in prison.

He said: “You won’t serve it all I’m sure.”

June 2015

Leeds pervert jailed for distributing child sex images

A PERVERT who emailed vile graphic images of children being sexually abused from his home in Leeds has been sent to prison.

Anthony Donohoe, 52, was arrested after police searched his home in Horsforth and found computer equipment which contained a small number of graphic images and films of young girls being abused.

Police officers then discovered that Donohoe had been distributing the images to others via email.

He was jailed for 27 months after a judge said the public would be appalled if anything other than an immediate custodial sentence was imposed.Leeds Crown Court heard Donohoe was arrested following the discovery at his home on Silk Mill Drive.

One image featured a girl aged two being subjected to abuse.

Donohoe pleaded guilty to five offences of making indecent images of children and two of distributing indecent images of children. The court heard Donohoe has previously served an eight-year prison sentence for robbery.

Shila Whitehead, mitigating, said: “He is a loner and he does accept that he needs help in relation to what he has done.

“He is very sorry for what he has done and he is remorseful.”

Jailing Donohoe, judge Tom Bayliss, QC, said: “Those who distribute this sort of material should know they will go to prison.

“The public will not tolerate the distribution of such material.”

Donohoe was also told he must go on the sex offenders register for ten years and was prohibited from working with children.

August 2009

A SEX offender who indecently assaulted a young girl is refusing treatment and plans to leave the Isle of Man, it has been revealed.

Former soldier John Harry Bridson was initially charged with rape but the charge was amended on the day his trial was due to start. He admitted indecently assaulting the girl, who cannot be identified, in April 2007 when she was just eight.

Bridson, 34, was jailed for 28 months and was due to be released on July 28.

But in June his sentence was increased to 42 months’ custody following an appeal by the Attorney General’s Chambers.

Deemster Kerruish and Appeal Judge Geoffrey Tattersall said it was a very serious offence committed by a man who had already been convicted of similar sexual offences.

The appeal judges said there was a high risk of him re-offending and girls and young women, to whom Bridson recognised he was sexually attracted to, required protecting.

They also extended a sexual offences prevention order against Bridson from eight years until ‘further order’.

A further judgment, addressing other parts of his sentence, was published last week.

The judgement said Bridson ‘continued to offend over an extended period of time and breached registration in the UK and Isle of Man several times’ and no treatment had been undertaken.

Bridson moved frequently between the Isle of Man and the UK when his behaviour caused problems, effectively avoiding intervention.

In the latest judgment, the appeal judges extended his licence period froom 32 to months to 42 months.

They also extended how long Bridson must comply with the Sexual Offenders Register for.

The appeal judges said they hoped Bridson would recognise that treatment would be beneficial to himself and others.

But they added: ‘The omens thus far are far from good in that he has chosen to decline treatment and leave this jurisdiction rather than face up to his difficulties.

‘Given such circumstances and the risks which he currently poses to young women, we cannot be satisfied that at the expiration of a period of 10 years or indeed, on the evidence before us, any other definitive period it will be Inappropriate that he should remain on the sex offenders register and be subject to the notification requirements.’

Bridson was dishonourably discharged from the Army after being convicted of indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl in 2000 by a court in Newcastle.

He then received a caution for indecently assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2002.

Bridson was placed on the sex offenders’ register but breached it in 2003 by failing to mention his conviction on a job application, leading to him receiving a suspended sentence.

He breached the terms of the register again in September 2004 and April 2005 by failing to notify the authorities when he changed his address.

On the first occasion, he was ordered to perform community service and on the second, just two weeks after returning to the Isle of Man, he was jailed for three months. He had been removed from the sex offender register when he re-offended in April 2007.

March 2009

Former soldier on sex offenders’ register assaults child

A FORMER soldier has been jailed for indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl.

John Harry Bridson, c/o Isle of Man Prison, was first charged with rape but last week, on the day he was due to stand trial, the charge was cut to indecent assault after a review of evidence.

The 34-year-old admitted the revised charge at the Court of General Gaol Delivery when he appeared before Acting Deemster Turner for sentencing on Friday.

Bridson was jailed for 28 months but will serve half of the sentence, minus the nine months he has already spent on remand, giving him just five months behind bars.

His inclusion on the sex offender register was limited to 10 years, and a sexual offences prevention order banning contact with children was limited to eight years, to give him ‘some hope for the future’.

But Acting Deemster Turner said Bridson’s sentence had to punish him as much as rehabilitate him.

He said: ‘As I walk round the Island, I see children playing together without supervision on the beaches and on the hills and parents feel their children are safe.

‘It is vitally important that this wonderful feature of life here is maintained, particularly as it does not exist on the mainland, where there is fear.

‘This means that men like you must be deterred from taking advantage of children and destroying their happiness and that of their parents.’

Stuart Neale, prosecuting, told the court Bridson was arrested in May 2008 after the girl, who cannot be identified, spoke about the incident at a house in the west of the Island in April 2007.

The girl told police officers from the family protection unit that Bridson had not used threats or force.

The court heard Bridson was dishonourably discharged from the Army after being convicted of indecent assault on a 15-year-old girl in 2000, by a court in Newcastle. He then received a caution for indecently assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2002.

Bridson was placed on the sex offender register but breached it in 2003 by failing to mention his conviction on a job application, leading to him receiving a suspended sentence.

He breached the terms of the register again in September 2004 and April 2005 by failing to notify the authorities when he changed his address.

On the first occasion, he was ordered to perform community service and on the second, just two weeks after returning to the Isle of Man, he was jailed for three months.

He had been removed from the sex offender register by the time of the offence in 2007.

Paul O’Neill, defending, said Bridson was stationed in Northern Ireland during the Omagh bomb attack in 1998 and his problems stemmed from trauma dealing with the aftermath.

It was argued that, in his social inquiry report, Bridson had ‘for the first time in his life made admissions about a lifestyle and a predisposition that he requires and desires help to address’.

PAGE 2 – Should the Isle of Man have Sarah’s Law?Should the Isle of Man have Sarah’s Law?

THE introduction of Sarah’s Law to the Isle of Man could prevent sex offenders such as John Bridson from striking again.

That’s the claim from Bill Henderson (Douglas North) who raised Bridson’s conviction in the House of Keys this week as he called for Manx trials of a scheme to allow parents controlled access to information on paedophiles.

June 2015

Man jailed for 22-years for raping of young girl

A Portslade man has been sentenced to 22 years in jail for a series of rapes on a young girl known to him.

Brian Sillence, of Shelldale Avenue Portslade, subjected the youngster to a number of sexual assaults over a period of years from the late 1990s through to 2007 when she was by then in her late teens.

The 55-year-old was sentenced at Hove Crown Court on today having been convicted the previous day after a seven-day trial.

He will also be a registered sex offender for life.

He had been convicted of six counts of indecent assault, five counts of rape and two counts of sexual assault. The victim was abused from the age of nine and this continued until she was 19.

He sentenced for the rape offences, and the judge directed that there would be no separate penalties for the other offences.

In sentencing Sillence, Judge David Rennie said; “You saw her as a mere object, with which you could pleasure yourself sexually…..your final cynical act of betrayal was to force her to re-live your vile acts, by putting her through the ordeal of a trial. What a monstrously unkind thing to do, but wholly in character.”

Detective Constable Rex Petty of the Brighton Safeguarding Investigations Unit said; “Reports about Sillence’s behaviour towards the victim were first made, anf fully investigated, in 2001 and again in 2004, but at that stage the victim was not prepared to support any prosecution and it was not until 2012 that the she felt able to come forward and do so.

“A careful and thorough investigation followed to uncover the whole truth of what had happened, and Sillence denied everything all the way through.

“The victim continued to support the prosecution throughout the investigation and with her evidence the case against Sillence was finally proved.

“We will always take such allegations seriously and will recommend prosecution wherever possible to seek to achieve justice for victims of such dreadful crimes.”

June 2015

Hartlepool man who groomed girl, 14, for sex spared jail

A Hartlepool man caught in an internet sting by online paedophile hunters today walked free from court.

Phillip Knight, 42, travelled from his home in Hartlepool to Halifax to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old girl he had been chatting to on social media.

Teesside Crown Court heard he planned to have sex with her.

But the ‘girl’ Knight knew as Little Laura was a creation of online paedophile investigator.

The judge said he was taking an “exceptional” course in allowing Knight to keep his freedom.

The court heard sex offenders have been caught in similar stings in Manchester, Leeds and Bradford.

Laura’s online profile used a picture of an American actress and indicated she was interested in older men.

Prosecutor Sophie Drake said Phillip Knight talked about Laura’s virginity and other explicit language on social media side Badoo and phone messaging app Kik.

Ms Drake said: “Although the defendant was initially told Laura was 14, he said it was fine, they were just having friendly chat.

“But then the conversation became very sexualised, about bottom slapping, skinny dipping and later there was a suggestion of an arrangement to meet.”

Ms Drake added: “They did arrange to meet. The defendant said he would be gentle with her.

“He talked about getting a hotel room so they wouldn’t have to worry about her parents walking in.

“He agreed to bring alcohol, and although he did make reference to being worried Laura may be an undercover police officer, he continued, saying ‘I can’t believe you are going to do this, we are going to meet and have sex’.”

Knight, of Carlton Street, Hartlepool, was confronted by the investigator in Halifax in August 2013 and passed the information to police.

He was arrested in the December and later pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a child for sexual grooming.

Andrew Stranex, mitigating, said the offence was committed over a short period of time and added: “There was no actual child who was being communicated with.”

Mr Stranex said Knight had significant issues from his past that needed addressing through a sex offenders’ treatment programme.

Recorder Bryan Cox QC sentenced Knight to two years in prison, suspended for two years, with probation supervision.

He told Knight: “It is only with the public interest very much in mind as well as your own personal position that it persuaded that it’s appropriate and what I regard as an exceptional course.”

June 2015

Risca man who pretended to be a vicar is jailed for indecent assault on young boy

A PAEDOPHILE has been was sentenced to three-and-a-half years imprisonment at Newport Crown Court for two counts of indecent assault against a young boy.

Rene Seren-Dat, 77, had pleaded not guilty to the charges but was convicted by a jury earlier this year.

Dat was originally charges with 12 counts of indecent assault, but was found not guilty due to lack of evidence and returned not guilty verdicts from a jury on all but the two counts.

But during sentencing on Thursday, the court heard from prosecutor Ieuan Bennett how Seren-Dat took advantage of a young boy who was made vulnerable after the loss of his grandparent.

The Crown Prosecution Service said Seren-Dat moved to an address in Risca in 1998, and he frequently took his victim out on visits to Newport – where the incidents took place.

The court heard how the defendant pretended he was ordained when he was not, and how he took his victim on frequent trips into town where he would buy him sweets and, on one occasion, a bike.

The court also head how the defendant had previous conviction of sexual activity with children under the age of 16 while he worked at a hostel.

Edward Burgess, defending Seren-Dat said: “The offences themselves occurred many years ago.

“The period of time in which the defendant had contact with the victim was relatively short.

“There is no suggestion of offending behaviour since.

“He is [the defendant] no longer a young man – he is 77 year of age.He has ill health.

“Whether it is necessary to send the man into custody today I question.”

But Judge Michael Fitton QC said: “He has energy and a way with words that I think makes him a continued risk.

“The victim was a boy aged nine or ten year old.

He told Seren-Dat, now of The Willows, Middlewood Road, Sheffield: “You were grooming him and misplaced the trust his family placed in you.”

The defendant was sentenced to three years and six months imprisonment; given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and was also put on the sexual offences register indefinitely.

June 2015

Co Derry fruit and veg man jailed for sexually abusing babysitters in the 1980s

A fruit and vegetable wholesaler from Co Derry has been jailed for systematically sexually abusing young teenage babysitters over six years in the 1980s.

The Crown Court sitting at Antrim heard the now convicted paedophile Fred Ayton, 62, of Donnybrewer Road – who was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders register – targeted the young girls in his home; at a holiday home at Inch in Donegal and also in his car.

One of hundreds of incidents involving three girls while they were were variously aged between 11-16 between 1981 and 1987 took place in his family home while his wife was in hospital giving birth to one of their children.

Ayton. who was wearing a suit, shirt and tie, did not appear to show any emotion in the dock as he was led away.

His victims were not in court but the husband of one was and declined to comment afterwards.

Jailing Ayton for fourteen-and-a-half years, Judge Donna McColgan QC, said he had deliberately befriended people he knew through sporting clubs so he could go on to groom and sexually abuse their daughters.

There were three victims, two of whom were targeted over a period of several years, including incidents as they alternatively baby-sat for Ayton on Friday and Saturday nights.

He gave the girls up to £30 – six times the going rate for babysitting in the 1980s – and also bought them food carryouts and drink before abusing them.

Judge McColgan said in particular he had “robbed” two of his victims of their teenage years and said his behaviour was “exploitative, manipulative and abhorrent” and even now his attitude is still “boorish, loathesome and contemptible”.

The judge said one of Ayton’s victim’s said she felt “brainwashed” by him.

The judge said Ayton had a clear record and the court heard he had built up a business of supplying fruit and vegetable to the catering trade over 30 years but has now lost that.

Prosecutor Frank O’Donoghue QC said one of the victims recalled first meeting Ayton during a holiday at Inch in Donegal after he befriended her father and at first he used to “playfight” with her before sexually abusing her and telling not to tell anyone as she was a “special girl” and that nobody would believe her as her dad was his friend.

On another occasion as she babysat for him in Derry she woke up to find him sexually assaulting her and on another time the defendant had flown into a rage after he saw her kissing a teenage boy at Moville Regatta in County Donegal.

On a further occasion Ayton got her drunk on “poteen” before abusing her and she believed she had been abused hundreds of times over a five year period.

Another victim abused for several years babysat for the defendant on Friday nights and said Ayton was “intimidating”.

The third victim went to Ayton’s home to babysit with one of the victims when she was sexually assaulted.

Mr O’Donoghue said Ayton had “systematically groomed and abused two vulnerable young females” and said on some occasions the abuse occurred when Ayton’s wife and children were elsewhere in the house.

Ayton admitted a catalogue of offences including attempted rape, attempted buggery with a girl, 24 counts of indecent assault on a female and seven charges of gross indecency with or towards a child.

The court heard three rape charges were not proceeded with by the prosecution with the agreement of one of the victim’s after Ayton pleaded guilty to the other charges.

Defence QC Martin Rodgers said the defendant admitted he “used” the victims for his own gratification and his reputation in the community was now ruined.

June 2015

Pervert obsessed with images of children in nappies

A PERVERTED IT company worker – and former chairman of a children’s centre – had an obsession with the ‘perfection’ of young children’s bodies – and with images of teenagers in nappies.

But Simon King’s bizarre fetish came to light when a colleague found a micro card on the floor and looked at the contents to try to identify the owner.

King, 50, was arrested and pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to three charges of making indecent images of children and one of possessing extreme pornography.

But King, of Westmorland Road, Wyken, Coventry, escaped being jailed.

Instead he was given a community sentence, with three years supervision, and was ordered to take part in a three-year sex offender treatment programme, to register as a sex offender for five years and to pay £1,000 costs.

Prosecutor Ian Ball said the offences were discovered in July 2013 while King was working for the PCMS Group at the Mercia Business Village in Canley, Coventry.

The micro card – which contained fetish literature including people in nappies and images of children – was taken to the human relations manager the police were called in.

Mr Ball said some images were of ‘young children engaged in various activities in some sort of adventure playground.’

King had been chairman of Wyken Adventure Centre for children and young people, between 1999 and 2012 and he said some of the images were from there.

Police seized various items including computer towers, media sticks, a laptop and a tablet, and found more material.

Mr Ball said there were three images classed as category A, showing children engaging in penetrative sex acts, including one involving a boy as young as seven or eight; and four in category B showing children in non-penetrative sex acts. There were 4,658 category C indecent images of children.

In addition there were 27 extreme porn images.

When he was interviewed King, who said he was a virgin, told officers he had a sexual interest in young boys aged between eight and 13, but stressed he would ‘never do anything to them’ and liked them for their ‘purity.’

And in a second interview he said he did not get sexual gratification, but ‘longed for eternal youth’ and wished he looked like the youngsters in the images.

David Murray, defending, said King, whose employment was terminated after the material was found on the micro card, had had the matter hanging over him for approaching two years.

At the time he was drinking heavily and, given his own size, was ‘looking for perfection.’

Sentencing King, Recorder Kevin Hegarty QC told him: “You impress me as a lonely 50-year-old, living with his elderly father who relies a great deal on you.

“You appeared to be a decent, straight-forward man; but you knew you had this secret where you had a collection of images.

“The offences are so serious that they merit a custodial sentence; but I’m not going to pass a custodial sentence because the best way of dealing with you is to pass a community order which will last for three years.”

June 2015

 Pensioner ‘shopped’ to police after child abuse images haul

A Hartlepool pensioner’s collection of child pornography was discovered after he took his mobile phone to a shop for an upgrade.

Shocked 02 shop staff came across some of 67-year-old Russell Chapman’s indecent images on his phone and alerted the police

A search of his home revealed more photos on another phone and a disc.

In total he had 390 including 108 in the most serious category and 226 in the lowest.

Chapman entered the dock at Teeside Crown Court with a heavy suitcase.

But he was spared jail after the judge said the length of prison sentence he could impose for the offences would be too short for Chapman to receive treatment and not offend again.

Jennifer Haigh, prosecuting, said: “The offences came to light when the defendant upgraded his mobile phone.

“He took it to an 02 shop but when his contacts were transferred from his old phone to his new one as staff checked they had all been deleted a member of staff saw some of the images and reported it to police.”

Chapman, of Laburnum Road, Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to two charges of making indecent photos of children and one of possessing indecent images, between January 21 and 31.

The court heard he was of previous good character.

The Recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, suspended the 12-month prison sentence so Chapman could access the Sex Offender’s Treatment Programme.

He said if Chapman had to serve that immediately the reality was he would be released after six months.

Judge Bourne-Arton said: “It’s quite clear to me and obvious you wouldn’t get that treatment and that kind of supervision on that programme whilst serving a short sentence of custody.

“Upon your release you would not be subject to any form of supervision or control other than the sexual harm prevention order that I’m going to impose.”

In suspending the sentence for two years for Chapman to access the treatment the judge added: “Do not think that is a soft option. You will find it intensive.”

June 2015

Youngster reported child rapist after seeing TV programme about child abuse

AN ALCOHOLIC who raped an 11-year-old boy at his Bristol home has been jailed for nine years.

Wayne Pickering would have the lad over at his flat as a guest after gaining his mother’s trust, Bristol Crown Court heard.

He took the opportunity to carry out a series of sexual assaults on the youngster.

Pickering, 54, of Elbridge House in Great Ann Street, St Jude’s, denied wrongdoing

But a jury convicted him of two charges of causing or inciting a child aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity, rape of a child aged under 13, sexual assault of a child aged under 13 and causing a child to watch a sexual act.

Sentencing him today, Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC told him: “You are aged 54.

“You have previous convictions but none for sexual offences and none in the last 20 years.

“These are serious sexual offences of which you have been convicted by the jury

“I have no doubt there was an element of grooming in what you were doing and what you did has had a very considerable effect upon the boy and upon his mother.”

The judge told Pickering to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and handed him an indefinite sexual harm prevention order designed to prohibit Pickering from future offending.

Sarah Regan, prosecuting, told the jury the boy was incited to touch Pickering intimately and to allow Pickering to similarly touch him.

Pickering went on to orally rape the child, the court heard, and committed a further sexual assault on him.

He was convicted on a fifth charge which involved him causing the boy to look at an image of a person engaged in sexual activity.

Miss Regan said the boy was allowed to stay overnight with Pickering, an attraction being that Pickering had a TV and the boy did not.

One programme on TV happened to be about child sexual abuse, the court heard, and when the boy talked to his mother she told him that if anyone abused him he should tell her.

A week later the youngster dialled 999 and told police what Pickering had been doing to him.

Miss Regan told the judge: “The case involved a breach of trust, grooming and an oral rape, which stopped when the victim woke up.”

Mary Cowe, defending, said her client had not worked for more than 20 years.

She told the judge there were times when relations between Pickering and the boy were appropriate, but he had encountered “dark temptations”.

She said: “His father drank heavily. He (Pickering) started drinking at school and became an alcoholic in his teenage years.

“He has now abstained from alcohol for 25 years. He got his life together in the early 1990s, he worked part-time and he met his partner.”

The judge handed Pickering nine years for the child rape, four-and-a-half years for each for causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, 18 months for sexual assault and four years for causing a child to watch a sexual act – all to run concurrently.

June 2015

A GRANDFATHER from Barrow has admitted having indecent images of children and extreme videos of people having sex with animals on his computer.

Keith Roberts, 68, pleaded guilty to a 12 charges relating to the making, possessing and distributing of indecent images at Preston Crown Court today.

Roberts, of Cloisters Avenue, Barrow, appeared hesitant as the court heard about the sickening haul of photographs and moving images recovered from his computer equipment.

The pensioner spoke only to confirm his name and enter his guilty pleas when he stepped into the dock.

Roberts pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing indecent moving images of children relating to offences he committed in November 2011.

He admitted a further six counts of making indecent still and moving images of children, ranging from the least serious categories.

He also admitted possessing one extreme movie of a person having sex with a dog, one with a horse and one with a dog and a horse.

The court heard Roberts has is a man of previous good character who has never found himself before the courts previously.

However, he is now a convicted sex offender and is subject to notification requirements.

He has been banned from having any unsupervised contact with any child under 16 and will return to Preston Crown Court on July 23 when he will be sentenced.

June 2015

Newport man found guilty of child sex offences faces ‘very substantial’ prison sentence

A NEWPORT man has been found guilty of ten charges of sexual offences against children.

Gerald Baker, 58, of Sudbury Walk, was found guilty by a unanimous jury verdict at Newport Crown Court today of six counts of rape, three counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.

Baker, wearing a white shirt and red tie, remained unmoved as the verdict was read out.

The alleged offences date back to the 1970’s when the defendant was a boy.

When interviewed by police in December 2013, Baker denied having any knowledge of the allegations.

During the four day trial the court heard how Baker had sex with female victims who may have been as young as four.

Prosecutor James Wilson said Baker, before raping one of his victims, gave her a beaker of his own urine which she thought was cloudy lemonade and made her take a “big gulp” of it.

The second victim, who Baker attempted to rape, said in her police statement: “He put his hand across my mouth to stop me screaming and I could feel the pressure of him trying to force it.”

Summing up, prosecutor Mr Wilson said Baker was a “dishonest man” and reminded the jury of the defendants numerous previous convictions – many relating to sexual offences involving children.

Describing the effect of the defendant’s actions he said: “It is rape because of her age.

“She neither had the maturity or understanding to properly consent.

“She was groomed.”

Mr Wilson referred to police interviews with one of the victims who described how as a result of his actions she now “hated men” and “hated sex.”

Defending Baker Timothy Evans repeated the fact that his client was ‘a boy’ at the time of the offences and emphasized how the historic nature of the offences, which occurred nearly ‘half a century ago,’ may have resulted in witness memory loss regarding the facts.

“The defendant was a small boy, he was sent away from the age of nine,” Mr Evans told the jury, to emphasize that while at boarding school Baker would have been unlikely to have been able to commit the offences.

“The opportunity to have access [to his victims] just wasn’t there,” he added.

But summing up, Recorder Peter Rouch QC said: “[the defendant] said he had sex with underage girls and that he knew that was not normal.

“He knew he had an interest in young girls and in his early teens had a sexual interest with underage girls.”

“You will have a very substantial prison sentence for these matters,” he told Baker.

Baker was remanded in custody and will be sentenced on July 17.

June 2015

Man who once ran computer business admits downloading child abuse images

Lawson Vaughan, 53, gave up his occupation after developing mental health issues, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

Police arrived with a search warrant at his home in Cardiff Street, Ogmore Vale, last July.

A total of 66 child pictures were found on his mobile phone along with 698 images featuring “adult pornography”

“He accepted he downloaded them for his own sexual gratification,” said crown prosecutor David Pugh.

David Webster, defending, said Vaughan’s “primary interest” was in adult porn and 90 per cent of the material police found had been legal.

But he was admitting he committed an offence by downloading illegal images as well.

They were said to feature mostly teenage boys.

Vaughan had named the file in which he kept his images ‘Special’.

Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones QC told Vaughan: “This is a classic illustration of what happens when someone has an addiction to what is accepted pornography, graduates to looking at children.

“I am satisfied that is what has happened to you.

“You have been stopped in your tracks.”

Vaughan, who ran his business in Merthyr, was given a three-year community order with a treatment programme and supervision.

His name was put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for five years and his future use of the internet restricted.

He had pleaded guilty to a single charge of possessing indecent images of children.