July 2015

Man who abused girl, 5, sentenced to just one year

A DEPRAVED pervert who repeatedly abused a five-year-old girl could be back on the streets in just six months.

Andrew Cowan was jailed for JUST a year after pleading guilty to making the little girl perform sex acts on him.

March 2015

Man who inflicted “catastrophic” injuries on six-week old baby jailed for seven-and-a-half years

A man who shook and threw a six-week old baby girl in an attack that left her with catastrophic brain injuries has been jailed

Steven Davidson admitted shaking the baby girl causing her severe injury and danger of life at a house in Dumbarton, West Dunbartonshire, on 3 October 2012.

The 23-year-old was looking after the child while her mother was asleep.

The child, now aged two, cannot sit upright or communicate and needs round-the-clock care.

At the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lady Scott said Davidson’s actions had resulted in truly tragic consequences for the child.

The judge said: “She suffered truly catastrophic injuries, causing very real danger to her life.”

Defence counsel Ronnie Renucci said first offender Davidson had accepted full responsibility for the offence in “a truly tragic case”.

He said Davidson had been suffering from toothache and had been up most of the night. The baby had been changed and was then sick and had to be changed again.

Mr Renucci said that in “a single moment of madness” he shook the child once and threw her down.

A previous hearing was given medical evidence which showed that the child had been shaken and may have been hit against something.

Davidson was originally charged with attempted murder, but the Crown accepted his plea to a reduced charge.

Advocate depute Paul Kearney, prosecuting, outlined the consequences of the girl’s injuries.

He said: “She has an acquired brain injury which has left her with a severe physical disability. She is not able to sit unaided and has restricted movement in her upper limbs.

“Although aged two she functions at the level of a child of four or five months. She can make sounds, but cannot speak. She is described as an engaging child and can smile, laugh and cry and use facial expressions, but is otherwise unable to communicate, even though she clearly wants to.

“The child cannot take solid food and will need a wheelchair.”

July 2015

Sex predator jailed indefinitely

A DANGEROUS sexual predator who abused young boys after drugging them has been jailed indefinitely.

Jay Stewart, of Bibby Drive, Staining – also known as John Stuart McGowan – sexually abused four boys – aged between nine and 13 – over a decade after befriending their families.

He used his image as a family man to gain contact with the vulnerable youngsters.

He even drugged some of his victims in order to incapacitate them.

The 54-year-old and another man, 23-year-old Adam Patfield, threatened to kill Stewart’s first victim if he reported the abuse to anyone.

They also falsely bragged about how they had killed people before and ghoulishly told of burying bodies at Beacon Fell, near Garstang.

Stewart, who has a son, denied the offences but was found guilty of six charges of rape, 11 of indecent assault, eight of indecency with children, 11 of sexual activity with a child following a three-week trial at Preston Crown Court.

He was found not guilty of 10 of the charges, which included one allegation of raping a third boy.

Stewart and Patfield, of Enfield Road, Blackpool, were both found guilty of intimidating one of the males by threatening to kill him if he went to the police.

Appearing at Burnley Crown Court yesterday, Stewart was given an indeterminate jail sentence for public protection. He must serve a minimum of 11 years and 270 days in prison before he can possibly gain parole.

He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register and banned from working with children.

Patfield was jailed for two years and was handed a restraining order.

Stewart came to the attention of Blackpool Police’s Awaken team, which targets child sexual exploitation, after concerns were raised about a 14-year-old boy he had befriended in 2010.

An investigation uncovered offences dating back to 1999.

Stewart – who was previously known as John Stuart McGowan and lived in Freckleton and Blackpool before moving to Staining – befriended vulnerable boys’ families and then offered to let them stay over at his Staining home.

Detectives investigating the case said Stewart “created opportunities to commit the offences”.

They said the “children were abused over a period of time” and the abuse happened regularly.

Det Con Shaun Pepper, from Blackpool Police, said: “Stewart has, for many years, shown himself to be a dangerous sexual predator who has targeted vulnerable young boys and has committed the most serious sexual offences against them.

“He is clearly a dangerous individual who gives no thought to the physical and psychological damage that he has inflicted.

“The Awaken Team would like to praise the victims in this case for having the courage to attend court and give their evidence.”

July 2015

Pensioner who admitted sexually abusing lads decades ago jailed for three years

John Weston interfered with the youngsters and then forged a successful career as a teacher, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Years after being abused a lad spoke up about what Weston did to him, and Weston was brought to account.

The 80-year-old, of Old Newbridge Hill, near Keynsham, pleaded guilty to two serious sexual assaults, indecent assault, gross indecency and an indecent assault on a second boy.

Judge Michael Roach told him: “The offences took place many years ago.

“(The complainant) would have been 14 or 15.

“You got to know his family, you befriended them in time because of a mutual interest in radio.

“He came to stay with you and whilst he stayed with you so you began to sexually abuse him.

“Your abuse was extraordinarily serious and the effect has been lifelong. I’ve read the victim impact statement and it may be said he has had a successful life. I’m glad he has.

“There’s another side of that life and you have to accept responsibility for the blight put on it.”

Weston was told to register as a sex offender until the age of 90.

He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

Neil Treharne, prosecuting, said after Weston abused another lad years ago, recently the complainant felt it was necessary to go to the police and explain what Weston did to him.

He told how, as a boy, he was interested in amateur radio and met Weston.

Due to difficulties at home when Weston offered the complainant to stay at his place for the weekend, the boy’s mum agreed and off he went.

Mr Treharne said Weston was well known in amateur radio circles, and the lad visited his radio workshop.

Mr Treharne told the court: “The complainant said how, at bedtime, he put his pyjamas on and got into a single bed.

“He was encouraged to get into the defendant’s bed for a cuddle.

“The complainant questioned whether this was right.

“The defendant said it was what men and women normally did and it was ok, there was no harm in it.”

With that the lad got into Weston’s larger bed, where Weston touched the boy intimately and encouraged the boy to touch him.

There followed a serious sexual assault on the boy, the court heard.

The complainant recalled how he visited Weston some 15 to 20 times, and similar abuse happened.

When Weston returned the lad home he urged him not to say anything to anybody as it was “their secret”.

He threatened that if the boy did speak he would talk to his school friends, the court heard.

Another lad said he met Weston and, when he, stayed with him, Weston showed him a calendar showing topless women. When Weston moved his hand to the lad’s groin, he told the older man not to touch him.

Later he awoke to find Weston with his hand on his bottom, over his pyjamas.

Virginia Cornwall, defending, said: “He is very keen to express remorse. He is aged 80, towards the end of his life.

“The impact of sentence will perhaps be more marked than for a younger man.”

Miss Cornwall said he thought he had been in a “loving relationship” with one lad aged 14 or 15.

July 2015

Reading geologist convicted of taking indecent images of children

A Reading geologist who photographed a young girl splashing in the Diana Memorial Fountain in Hyde Park has been found guilty of taking indecent images.

Kent Adamson, 45, used a long-lens camera to take pictures of children as they played in the water on August 19, 2013.

A concerned member of the public spotted him in the Royal Park and alerted the police.

A search of his memory card revealed nine photos of a pre-pubescent girl in a swimming costume.

Adamson, who denied taking indecent images of children, had insisted the pictures taken on his digital SLR camera were ‘street photography’.

But a jury of four men and eight women found Adamson guilty of taking indecent images after an hour and a half of deliberation at Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday, July 15.

Jurors were not made aware that Adamson also faced a charge of possessing indecent images of children relating to a collection of images that had been deleted from his computer.

Adamson will not face trial for the pictures which were graded at level C, the least serious category, after prosecutors announced it would not be in the public interest to pursue the charge.

Adjourning sentence until Friday, September 4, Judge Deborah Taylor said: “It does not in my view at present cross the custody threshold.”

Adamson, of Watlington Street, central Reading, told jurors during the trial he had visited the park innocently to take photographs.

He said: “I was looking for quality of life sort of pictures and it is a warm summer day, I had taken some food to go and do a walk and have a picnic as well.

“I shot the birds just outside the Diana memorial fountain and I stopped there to sit down and I thought that the summer scene sort of thing would be a nice topic for street photography.”

Adamson protested he was interested in colour contrast, capturing scenes of a little boy playing with a leaf and the moving water droplets.

Pointing to the pictures of the girl in the swimsuit, prosecutor Richard Merz said: “That just happened to be there because what you were trying to photograph was the water drops?”

Adamson replied: “Well, they were fast moving in the fountain, I mean the people not necessarily the water drops so on some of these I have tried to take a picture and have got someone who essentially just steps in your way.”

But later Mr Merz rubbished Adamson’s account as “nonsense”.

“The Crown’s case is this is a deliberate focusing on one person not just an accident of random photography,” he said. “It is perfectly obvious to suggest that he is deliberately taking pictures of the kind that you see in the pictures of the girl in the bathing costume.”

Adamson denied one count of taking indecent images.

He further denied a charge of possessing indecent images of children that has been left to lie on file.

Adamson was bailed ahead of sentence on Friday, September 4.

July 2015

West Bradley man sentenced for offences of making indecent images

SOME four years after downloading indecent material on the internet, a young Glastonbury man been was hauled before a judge and given a suspended prison sentence.

Twenty-year-old James Bannell, of West Bradley, pleaded guilty at Taunton Crown Court to 12 offences of making indecent images and was put on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

National anti-porn officers spotted him downloading porn from a website in 2011 and police seized his laptop in November 2013, finding almost 700 indecent photos and movies – mostly of girls between about eight and 15, said William Hunter, prosecuting.

He made full admissions and said he became interested in pornography when he was about 15. The offences carried a possible prison sentence of up to two years.

Sam Jones, defending, said that, aside from the offence, he was an impressive young man, respected in his community and who had made good since committing the offences. He set up a successful business and was “a grafter who’s worked extremely hard” and has a bright future.

“It’s a tragedy that this young man, perhaps as a result of curiosity on the internet, looking at pornography, … has been led into looking at other material as a result of which police came knocking at his door,” he added.

He said the offences were committed in 2011, his computer was seized two years later and the matter came to court in March this year, when he made full admissions.

Judge David Ticehurst told Bannell that, if he had a sister, he would realise the sort of threat and abuse “these children” are subjected to. “Just imagine the trauma and damage being inflicted on these young girls simply to satisfy the lust of someone like you,” he added.

Taking into account the offences were committed four years ago and that he had taken “positive steps to address this behaviour,” he sentenced Bannell to a community order with supervision for 18 months with an internet sex offenders programme and a sexual harm prevention order for ten years.

He was also ordered to pay costs of £535.

July 2015

A CWMBRAN man has been spared jail after breaching his Sexual Offences Prevention Order by wearing shorts that were too short in a Torfaen supermarket.

Fifty-seven-year-old Ian Watkins of Major Close, Ty Canol, was handed a ten week suspended prison sentence for breaching his order by wearing shorts which cut above the knee at Morrison’s in Cwmbran.

The court heard how Watkins has nine convictions for 19 offences, including gross indecency involving a child under the age of 16 in 2009 and exposure in July 2013.

Newport Crown Court heard on May 28, Watkins was buying beers when he was stopped by a Gwent Police officer, who recognised Watkins and knew he was in breach of his order by his clothing and arrested him.

Prosecutor Rob Simkins told the court how Watkins was made subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order under the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in July 2013 where he was convicted of indecent exposure.

“The order was made subject to five years,” Mr Simkins said.

“He must not wear any short trousers or shorts in any public area that fall above the knee in breach of the Sexual Offences Order.”

Watkins told the court he owned two sets of shorts; one set of short shorts above the knee and a Sexual Offences Prevention Order approved pair.

“These particular shorts had no lining and Watkins was not wearing any underwear,” Mr Simkins said.

Watkins said he was merely completing some jobs that day which included going to the Post Office to collect his money, before visiting B&Q and Morrison’s for some beers.

When Asked why he didn’t put on trousers Watkins said he didn’t think he would be out that long.

Defending Sophie Thoms said the court needed to consider the seriousness of the offence. “He was just not concentrating enough on his clothing,” she said. “He caused no harm [and] he has showed remorse.”

Ms Thoms said he pleaded guilty immediately after being taken into the police station.

Chairman of magistrates Vivienne Mabbott sentenced Watkins to 10 weeks imprisonment suspended for 12 months and ordered him to pay £345 in court costs within seven days.

July 2015

A mum used Facebook to track down a pervert who exposed himself to her 12-year-old daughter in the street.

Adam Stevenson, 33, approached the girl as she waited for a bus in Fence Houses, Houghton, before asking for the time.

As the girl checked her phone, he undid his trousers, showing his genitals to the child. He then propositioned the youngster, who screamed and ran away.

The terrified girl told her mother of her ordeal, giving her a description of the man, who had been wearing his work uniform which had a name badge with “Adam” on it.

The mum scoured the area to try to find him before using Facebook to track him down and she saw his picture on the social networking site.

After her daughter identified Stevenson from the picture, she contacted police and he was arrested and charged.

Prosecutor Glenda Beck told a hearing at Sunderland Magistrates’ Court: “The injured party was stood at the bus stop in Station Avenue, in north Fence Houses, on the evening of May 1.

“The bus was running late. A man walked past the bus stop a couple of times and then said to her “have you got the time?”

“She looked at her phone and replied that it was 18.46.

“The injured party turned back around and heard the man cough. She then saw that his genitals were exposed and he was moving his hand backwards and forwards.

“She was upset and ran off.”

After being told about the incident, the girl’s mum searched the area and contacted police.

The mum then told police that she had shown a photograph of her daughter on Facebook of Stephenson, who the girl identified as being the person who exposed himself.

Ms Beck added that after being arrested, Stevenson, who is married with a child, initially denied the offence during interview, saying he was working at his job at a pet crematorium in Langley Park, County Durham, at the time.

Later on in questioning, Stevenson asked officers: “What will happen if it was me?”

He then admitted exposing himself to the girl, saying it was a “stupid, stupid thing to do”, also adding that he thought she was “16 or 17 years old” and showing his genitals might “excite her”.

Stevenson, of St Michael’s, Chilton Moor, Houghton, admitted exposure at an earlier hearing. He has now lost his job.

Robin Ford, mitigiating, said: “It’s very difficult as a father with two children to try and be positive about the offence, and I can’t.

“But I can be positive about the offender.

“There is a reference from a serving soldier, from his former employers and from his wife.

“There was no logical reason for what had taken place.”

Mr Ford added that the statement from Stevenson’s wife revealed the defendant currently faces “a multitude of family issues”.

“It’s a guilty plea at the earliest possible opportunity,” said Mr Ford.

“I hope you don’t take any issue with his initial protestations.

“It was a self-defence mechanism because halfway through, he crumbled.

“I can only say again that this is a particularly unsavoury, disgusting offence which Mr Stevenson is not proud of.”

Chairman of the bench Mr Hughes sentenced Stevenson to a three-year community order with 60 hours’ worth of rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was also ordered to carry out 200 hours of unpaid work and pay costs of £85, a victim surcharge of £60, £500 compensation to the victim and £180 in court costs.

‘She’s petrified’

The mum of Adam Stevenson’s victim says her child has been left traumatised by his exposure towards her.

Speaking after Stevenson was sentenced to a
 three-year community order and ordered to pay a total of £825, the 
woman told the Echo: “I don’t think it’s
 enough. He is still free to do what he wants and who’s to say he won’t do it again?

“My daughter is still sleeping in my bed because she’s so petrified.

“She’s scared to go 
out as much as she used to and I don’t know how
 long it’s going to keep affecting her.”

July 2015

A detective has paid tribute to a young sex crime victim whose ‘courage’ led to the conviction of a 27-year-old man.

After a four day trial at Aylesbury Crown Court, on Thursday Steven Doyle was found unanimously guilty of two counts of sexual activity with a child.

Doyle, of no fixed abode, offered to walk with the 14-year-old girl in Aylesbury in May last year.

While they were walking in Buckingham Road, he engaged the girl in sexual activity.

He was arrested on July 12, 2014 and charged with the offences on April 9 this year.

He is due to be sentenced at the same court on August 17.

Investigating officer, Det Con Gemma Robinson of Force CID, said today (Sunday): “This conviction was only possible due to the courage of the victim in the case and the support she has received from her family.

“She has sustained extreme emotional distress due to Doyle’s actions, so I hope Doyle’s conviction will provide her with some sense of justice.

“I thank all the Thames Valley Police officers and staff who worked on this investigation, as well as the Crown Prosecution Service for securing this conviction.”

July 2015

STAFF and members of the public were horrified after seeing a man downloading child porn on a computer in a public library.

Steven Marsden, 46, was arrested after causing outrage as he accessed the illegal images in Beeston Library, Leeds.

Leeds Crown Court heard Marsden was seen looking at the images in the computer room on December 8, 2013.

Michael Smith, prosecuting, said: “Three images in particular were seen by one witness who found the experience distressing.”

Staff were asked to intervene and approached Marsden, who then quickly tried to close down files on the computer screen.

Police were contacted and Marsden’s identity was disclosed to officers who then went to his home on Temple Crescent, Beeston, and seized computer equipment.

The equipment was found to contain 20 illegal images featuring girls aged between nine and 16 being abused.

Two of the images were at category A – the most serious level of offending.

Marsden was arrested but refused to comment.

He pleaded guilty to six offences of possessing indecent images of children.

The court heard Marsden has a conviction for indecently assaulting a girl aged under 16, dating back to 1994.

Narinder Rathour, prosecuting, said Marsden had pleaded guilty to the offences at the earliest opportunity and was prepared to accept treatment to address his offending.

Marsden was made the subject of a three-year community rehabilitation order.

He was also ordered to take part in a sex offenders treatment programme.

The Recorder of Leeds, Judge Peter Collier, QC, told Marsden he must go on the sex offenders register for five years.

July 2015

Trickster tried to con two girls, 15, into posing for indecent pictures

A trickster masqueraded as a professional photographer when offering two 15-year-old girls £40,000 contracts to pose for indecent pictures.

Matthew Smith (33) sought to persuade would-be victims with a bogus Facebook account portraying himself as a successful lens man.

He also approached teenage girls in a Leicester branch of McDonald’s and asked them to pose in his “studio” – which did not exist – after showing them pornographic images.

Smith used other people’s professional shots with his own logo on them, and even forged a photographic qualification certificate, credentials and business cards.

Leicester Crown Court was told Smith also knocked on people’s doors asking for money in the guise of seeking donations for Macmillan Cancer Support, using official looking sponsor forms.

While door-knocking, he encountered a 17-year-old girl and repeated the charade of being a glamour photographer, inviting her to pose for him, said James Varley, prosecuting.

Smith, of Tudor Road, Leicester, pleaded guilty to three counts of inciting child pornography with girls under 18, and two counts of fraudulently seeking charity sponsorship.

He was jailed for three years.

Sentencing Smith, Judge Philip Head said: “On August 29 last year, you equipped yourself with your laptop and went out looking for young teenage girls in McDonald’s, a likely place to spot them.

“You waited until two 15-year-olds were by themselves and, claiming to be a professional photographer, showed them pictures of adult women, some in provocative poses, including one bending over showing her private parts.

“It was to put in their minds the possibility of similar sexual posing and you suggested lucrative modelling contracts if they posed in your studio – which didn’t exist. You gave them business cards and your Facebook profile was carefully constructed and invented by you.

“Most of the Facebook contacts you were making were of young women and included requests for them to model nude.

“I recognise this was incitement and not the completed offences. As you are today, you represent a real danger to teenage girls.”

Mr Varley said when Smith approached the two 15-year-olds in McDonald’s, he offered them £40,000 modelling contracts with free lingerie for them to pose in, especially as one of his contracts was with the Ann Summers company.

When he went charity door knocking “for Macmillan”, wearing an official-looking lanyard, he obtained just £3, but it was a ploy to meet young women, it was claimed.

Sian Cutter, mitigating, said: “No physical contact was made. Although it was insulting, no harm was caused to the women other than upset when it was discovered what his motives were. He’s ashamed and embarrassed.”

Smith will be on a sex offender register for life and he was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, enabling the authorities to monitor his future computer use and banning unsupervised contact with females under 18.

March 2010

Girl, 13, abused after couple lured her in

A couple from Blackpool who took in a 13-year-old runaway detaining her against her will before the husband sexually abused her, have been jailed.

The girl disappeared in April 2009 and was found after six days at the home of Michael and Nicola Kinnear.

Michael Kinnear, 41, and Nicola Kinnear, 40, admitted detaining the 13-year-old in their terraced house on Fairfield Road in North Shore.

The husband also admitted sexual activity with the girl who was rescued after a friend raised the alarm.

After being lured into the couple’s home with the promise of shelter and food, the youngster, who was in foster care, was sexually touched by Michael Kinnear.

Lancashire Police said the Kinnears failed to tell the authorities the teenager was at their home.

Police began the hunt for the 13-year-old girl in April last year after her concerned Blackpool foster parents reported her missing.

The youngster was found six days later in Kinnear’s house.

Officers had already called at the house and been told she was not there.

Nicola Kinnear was sentenced to 16 months and her husband to 33 months in prison.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for seven years and given a ten-year Sex Offenders Prevention Order (SOPO).

Both have been disqualified from working with children indefinitely.

DC Andy Rigby, from Blackpool Police and Blackpool Council’s Awaken Team, a project to tackle the exploitation of vulnerable children, said: “This young girl who was in foster care wasn’t happy with her placement and got introduced to these two through a mutual teenage friend.

“She was there for six days and they didn’t contact anybody, hence the child abduction. While there, Michael Kinnear has committed sexual activity with her.

“The judge described it as classic grooming – they gave her free reign and no rules, they fed and clothed her during the week.”

Police were able to track the teenager’s whereabouts after tracing a mobile phone she had used to call a missing person’s helpline to the Kinnears’ address.

DC Rigby added: “We visited their address, while knocking on doors, and they had denied all knowledge of anything. Then we traced the mobile phone to that address and when we went round again, they still denied it. “Eventually they said ‘she’s here’.

“She saw them in the first instance as a place of shelter, but clearly they had other ideas, hence the sentences.

“She wasn’t locked in the house, they just allowed her to stay there. It’s very important a message is sent out to children – nobody does anything for nothing. You have to take a step back and think ‘what is the ulterior motive’.”

The teenager has now left Blackpool and police say she has settled back into care and is “putting it behind her”.

Michael Kinnear was sentenced to 33 months in prison after pleading guilty to detaining a child so as to keep her from a person having lawful control and engaging in sexual activity with a child.

Nicola Kinnear was handed a 16-month jail term for detaining a child.

DC Rigby added: “This has been a complex and difficult investigation but I am pleased with the sentence.”

The couple did not plead guilty to the offences until the trial began. Michael Kinnear was placed on the sex offenders register for seven years and given a 10-year Sex Offenders Prevention Order.

July 2015

Child sex abuser released on bail

A MAN who repeatedly sexually abused a young girl in Swindon in the 1980s has been released on bail by a judge.

Timothy Brett, 46, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and one of gross indecency when he appeared at Swindon Crown Court.

Each charge is a multi-incident count alleging he carried out the abuse on the girl, who was under the age of 14, more than 20 times between December 1982 and December 1987.

Paul Trotman, defending, said his client did not accept the amount of times the prosecution said he carried out the abuse.

He asked for the case to be adjourned as they were seeking a psychiatric report as well as a pre-sentence report.

Judge Peter Blair QC adjourned the case to a date to be fixed and released Brett, who now lives near Wakefield, West Yorkshire, on conditional bail.

July 2015

Bacton man jailed for voyeurism and making indecent images of a child

A 43-year-old man has been jailed for 10 months after admitting voyeurism and making indecent images of a child.

Tony Faiers, formerly of Bacton, near Stowmarket, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court after previously pleading guilty to the offences.

The court heard a movie filmed secretly of a child was found on his iPad.

The same indecent moving image was also found on other devices belonging to Faiers.

The image was made sometime on or before April last year.

Judge John Devaux told Faiers he was aware the moving image lasted no more than 10 minutes and that three offences of making indecent images all related to the same footage.

However, he described Faiers explanation to probation officers during the compilation of a pre-sentence report as “humbug”, adding: “The explanation was absurd.”

In addition to his jail term Faiers was made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and will have to register as a sex offender for the same length of time.

Faiers must also pay £600 costs.

July 2015

Man given 15-year jail term for sexual offences against children

A MAN who started sexually abusing two children when he was a teenager was handed a 15-year jail sentence.

Christopher Goode, of Simon House, in Paradise Street, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court last Friday.

The 29-year-old was found guilty of 17 sexual offences against a very young girl and a boy, which took place between December 1998 and September 2006.

A jury found him guilty on June 15 of:

• Five counts of rape

• Two counts of rape of a child under 13

• Seven counts of indecent assault

• Two counts of sexual assault

• One count of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity after a five-day trial.

But the jury found Goode not guilty of one count of indecency with a child, while Judge Ian Pringle directed the jury to find him not guilty of a further two counts of rape and another two counts of sexual assault.

Prosecutor Rebecca Austin said Goode was 13 when he started sexually assaulting his first victim in December 1998.

Judge Pringle said: “Your behaviour towards the victims was utterly despicable and whatever one says about age, nothing can escape that bare, plain and horrific fact.

“You were still a young, a very young, person and for that reason I have got to [cut] and I cut down the sentence I would have otherwise have passed.”

Goode was sentenced to 15 years in prison, with a further seven years on licence, and was made subject to a sexual offences prevention order.

Judge Pringle told Goode he would also have to “notify authorities” of where he is living for the rest of his life.

July 2015

Son of Harwood vicar who downloaded thousands of indecent images of children

A youth worker and the son of a vicar from Bolton has been sentenced for the distribution and possession of thousands of indecent images of children.

43 year old Paul Holt of Harwood Vicarage, Stich-Mi-Lane, Bolton has been sentenced at Bolton Crown Court to a three year Community Order & 36 Sessions on a Sex Offender Program.

Officers raided the vicarage at Christ Church Harwood on December 3, 2013, where Holt was found in an upstairs bedroom.

They seized a computer which was sent away for examination.

In an initial interview with police, Holt, the son of the Right Rev Wendy Oliver, said his real interest was in “the feet of young children”, but admitted there was a possibility of indecent images being on the computer.

The tower was examined by officers in GMP’s High Tech Crime Unit which revealed 2,565 suspected indecent images in both picture and video format.

The children in these images ranged from eight to 13 years old.

He pleaded guilty to 14 counts of possessing & distributing indecent images of children.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 5 years.

Holt’s offending came to light as a result of Operation Spade, an international investigation led by Canadian Police into the activities of an online retailer based in Canada who were trading as a film distribution company.

This investigation established that many of the films available through this company contained child pornography and indecent images of children. When warrants were executed at the Canadian premises, customers from around the world were identified and individual cases passed to the relevant Forces.

Greater Manchester Police received a package of information from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Unit (CEOP) and raided Holt’s home on Stich-Mi-Lane on 4 December 2013

September 2010

A MAN who carried out two serious sex attacks on a teenage Midland girl has been put behind bars for four and a half years.

Judge Hilary Watson told John Cockayne, aged 32, he had caused his vulnerable victim “considerable distress and hurt” and stressed reports ruled he posed a high risk of reoffending.

“I have to protect the public from concerns about your attitude and your behaviour,” she told Cockayne at Wolverhampton Crown Court.

Cockayne’s partner of six years Zoe Bates was spared a prison sentence after she made “unpleasant and unattractive” threats to the victim if she contacted police.

Cockayne, of Margam Crescent, Walsall admitted two charges of sexual assault and he was further told he must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

The Judge further barred him from ever working with children.

Meanwhile Bates was given a three-month jail term suspended for two years and ordered to carry out 200 hours’ community punishment.

Rhiannon Jones, prosecuting, said Bates, after learning about the incidents, told the victim: “If he goes down for this John’s family will come looking for you.”

Bates, 25, of the same address, admitted witness intimidation.

The Judge told her the threats she made to the girl were designed to cause great distress.

July 2015

Pervert jailed for sending child abuse images to other paedophiles

A PERVERT has been jailed for sending vile images of children to other paedophiles

Stuart Boyle, aged 28, has been sentenced to two years and there months behind bars for having pictures at his home – some of which he shared on an online peer-to-peer network.

Boyle had denied five offences but was convicted unanimously by a jury in just two hours after a trial at Plymouth Crown Court last month.

Appearing via videolink from Winchester Crown Court, High Court judge Mr Justice James Dingemans said he was still not facing up to his guilt.

He said: “In your pre-sentence report you have not come to terms with your offending, you continue to protest your innocence.

“You are continuing to say that you are the victim of friends who have used the computer without your knowledge.”

The judge had told him at his trial that he was in a “state of denial”.

Mr Justice Dingemans said at the sentencing hearing that “there was some suggestion” that the defendant had Asperger’s Syndrome.

Boyle, of Tollox Place, Laira, was convicted of downloading graphic images of children between 2012 and 2014, along with another charge of distributing sexual images of juveniles.

A dawn raid last year saw a computer, a PlayStation 4 and an external hard-drive recovered from the defendant’s home, all of which were found to contain indecent images of children.

Instead, 64 images were found on the hard drive, with 10 still images of category A offence, the most explicit image possible, six of category B and 48 of category C.

Another 41 were found on the PS4 while Boyle also created 21 films of category A and 20 of category B.

One of the indecent images found in a folder on a file-sharing network, accessible to other users, was shared more than 600 times.

July 2015

Yeovil teenager downloaded hundreds of child abuse images

A YEOVIL teenager has admitted downloading hundreds of child abuse images but claims “I’m not a threat to society”, a court heard.

Nineteen-year-old Ryan William Mark Norris, of Westfield Grove, pleaded guilty to downloading 202 indecent images and six videos of girls aged seven to 14.

The teenager said he feels “disgusted” with himself every day for viewing the images, which included a series of pictures sent to him by a 14-year-old on Facebook.

Norris appeared at Yeovil Magistrates Court on Monday, but the justices felt they had insufficient sentencing powers and ordered the case to be dealt with at Taunton Crown Court. The defendant could now face more than a year in prison.

Defending himself in court, Norris said: “All you need to know is that I am not like that. I hate myself every day when I wake up. I am disgusted; I don’t get aroused by these images. I have a girlfriend and she is my age. I recently converted to Islam to find peace. I am not a threat to society.”

Prosecuting, Lucy Coleman said Avon and Somerset Police acted on information received from the Russian authorities concerning uploading indecent images to a sharing site hosted in Russia.

The IP address was traced to a lap top predominantly used by Norris in Yeovil.

Fifteen of the images fell into the most serious category A, with three in category B and 84 in category C. Two of the indecent movies fell into category A, with four in category B.

She said: “Most of the images appear to have originated from the internet but also include a series of photographs sent to him by a girl aged 14.”

Miss Coleman told the court that downloading category A images carries a custodial sentence of between one and three years, and urged to the court to refer the matter to Taunton Crown Court for sentencing.

Magistrates adjourned for sentencing in Taunton on August 21.

Norris was granted unconditional bail and Magistrates urged him to seek professional legal representation before his sentencing.

The court heard that Norris will be added to the Sexual Offenders Register within days of his recent court appearance.

July 2015

‘Cruel, calculating, predatory paedophile’ jailed for five years

A paedophile who groomed young girls over the internet was told by a judge that he had ‘molested them electronically’.

Joshua Dealey, 26, of Nursery Gardens, Tring, was sentenced to five years in jail by Judge John Plumstead who described him as a ‘cruel, calculating, predatory paedophile’.

The judge also passed an extended sentence of five years, which means he will be supervised by probation officers on his release until 2025.

Prosecutor Ann Evans told St Albans crown court on Friday that Dealey masqueraded on Facebook under two separate identities.

He pretended he was a 15-year-old called Sam Morgan and also Sam’s older cousin Matt, who was aged 18 to 21.

He targeted six young girls: one was 12, one was 13, two were 14, one was 15 and one was 16.

Mrs Evans said: “He groomed them over time and started sexually explicit conversations.

“He asked to look at their breasts or he sent them pictures of his sexually aroused penis

“They would agree to meet, but he would renege on that and they would not meet.

“One girl fell hook, line and sinker and thought she was in a relationship for four or five months.”

When one of the victims said she was going to kill herself, he replied: “Show me your t..s.”

The prosecutor said that the girl had only said she would kill herself to get rid of him, but another of the victims had been badly affected by Dealey’s trickery and was now receiving counselling.

Dealey had received a police caution in November 2013 for trying to groom one girl.

He was in contact with others before that and continued after he had been put on the Sex Offender Register for that offence, she said.

His home was raided in June last year and the police seized more than 200 indecent images and movies of children.

In a police interview he said he needed help.

Dealey appeared for sentence having pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and possessing indecent images and movies of children.

Judge John Plumstead said: “This man represents a blizzard of sexual harm.

“He is a sexual predator who was getting sexual satisfaction from cheating children.”

He told him: “You were exercising you sexual taste for children by molesting them electronically.

“You are a cruel, calculating, predatory paedophile.”

December 2014

Joshua Dealey, 25, of Nursery Gardens, Tring. Under the Sexual Offences Act, failed to notify police of an address stayed at for more than seven days at Watford on August 1. Pleaded guilty. Fined £250, £85 costs and £25 victim surcharge.