March 2014

Redditch man with indecent pictures of children and animals caught out after taking computer to be repaired

TAKING his computer into a Redditch shop for repair led to a 45-year-old man being arrested for having indecent pictures of children and animals.

Wayne Barber said he was having trouble with the power supply but when the machine was switched on, it revealed the indecent images.

Barber, of Dolben Lane, Redditch, who pleaded guilty at Worcester Crown Court to possessing the pictures, was given a three-year community order and told to attend a sex offender group programme.

He must also pay £340 court costs.

Jennifer Josephs, prosecuting, said analysis of the computer and disks revealed 1,267 indecent pictures of children and 5,729 pornographic pictures and 378 moving images of animals.

Some of the images were on disks and he claimed that a friend had given them to him.

He told police that he had children himself and thought the indecent pictures were disgusting.

Charles Hamer, mitigating, said Barber’s actions were motivated by a prurient interest in children.

But Judge Michael Cullum made a 10-year sexual offences prevention order because he was satisfied there was a significant risk of serious sexual harm.

Although the pictures may have given Barber sexual gratification, the real victims were the children who had been abused, said the judge.

March 2014

Child rapist jailed for 19 years

A Preston man has been jailed for a total of 19 years for carrying out systematic and prolonged sexual abuse against two young family members and child cruelty on another child within the family over a period of a decade

Part time cleaner Robert Lee Newman, 39 of Preston appeared at Preston crown court and pleaded guilty to some of the charges that were put against him, which included multiple rapes and attempted rapes of two young children. He also pleaded guilty to child cruelty relating to another child

Newman was also known as Robert Lee Mathews

The total sentence handed down equates to 19 years imprisonment. Newman will have to serve half of the first four years and 8 months and will serve at least 2/3 of the remaining sentence.

A sexual offences protection order will last indefinitely and he must sign the sex offenders register for life

September 2012

Child rapist jailed for abusing two girls

A PENSIONER who systematically abused two girls has been jailed for 12 years.

Anthony Coulson, 79, of Cyril Child Close, Greenstead, Colchester, admitted rape, attempted rape and indecent assault at Chelmsford crown court

The offences relate to two girls who were aged between five and twelve years old at the time of abuse

March 2014

Police officer jailed for sexually abusing a 14 year old girl

An award-winning North Wales Police officer has been jailed for 18 months for sexually abusing a 14 year old schoolgirl.

PC Gary Donnelly, 47, from Llandudno, was found guilty at Caernarfon Crown Court of two counts of indecent assault in 2002 on a girl of 14.

Donnelly denied the offences during a re-trial after a previous jury failed to reach a verdict.

He must also register as a sex offender for 10 years.

The court heard Donnelly had told his victim that she reminded him of his late wife, who had died in the same year during childbirth.

Recorder Huw Rees told him: “The offences were committed at a traumatic time for you, some two months or so after the tragic death of your wife.”

The judge said Donnelly had “coerced” the girl into his bed, kissing her passionately, hugging and touching her.

“The effect on her has been long-lasting,” said the judge.

The court heard that Donnelly joined North Wales Police in 2003.

In 2011, he won the North Wales Police Federation’s community service award and was also nominated for an all-Wales community award for his work on an anti-crime scheme in Llandudno.

Nicholas Walker, defending, said Donnelly had done “so much for the public in north Wales”.

‘Resolve and strength’

Mr Walker added: “Custody for Gary Donnelly is going to be exceptionally hard due to the type of offence.”

After the court hearing, senior investigating officer Det Ch Insp Sian Beck said: “I would like to thank the investigating officers, CPS and most of all the victim who had the resolve and strength to come forward.

“This case demonstrates that regardless of when offences of this nature take place, we will do all we can to thoroughly investigate them and support the victim and witnesses at all stages of the process to ensure justice is served.”

Ch Insp Dave Roome of the North Wales Police professional standards department said: “Following the court result, NWP will now examine any additional material to have arisen and conclude our internal investigation as expeditiously as possible. The officer remains suspended from duty at this time.”

March 2014

Church Hill man charged with indecent photos

An already convicted paedophile has been charged with making more than 3,500 indecent photographs of a child.

Terrence Kenneth Cox, of Fulbrook Close, appeared at Redditch Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (March 11) to face charges including making 3,693 indecent level one photographs of a child between May 27, 2011 and September 29, 2012.

The 62-year-old also faced three charges of possessing 230 level two, nine level three and 39 level four indecent images of a child between May 27, 2011 and September 29, 2012. Images are graded for severity from one to five with one being the lowest.

Cox is also accused of having banned images of a child and 210 extreme pornographic movies involving animals on October 11, 2012.

Cox entered no plea and was released on conditional bail to appear at Worcester Crown Court on June 30.

Magistrates told him he could not contact anyone under the age of 17 unless supervised by someone who had been authorised by Children’s Services.

Terrence Cox was jailed for 18 months in 2003 for possession of indecent images of children

2003

Paul Anthony Donnelly, (27), from Evesham Mews, Redditch was sentenced to a three year rehabilitation order and placed on the sex offenders register

Terrence Kenneth Cox, (51) of Mercot Close, Redditch was jailed for 18 months and ordered to register as a sex offender upon release from prison

March 2003

Men guilty of child abuse images offences

Two men from Redditch have pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children.

Paul Donnelly, from Evesham Mews, and Terrence Kenneth Cox, of Mercot Close, were arrested by West Mercia Police after a tip-off from detectives working on a national level.

Police found indecent images of children on computers at both men’s homes.

Cox was also found to have indecent images on CD-Roms and on a terminal at his workplace.

A police spokesman said 84 people have been arrested in Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire during four months of investigations.

Inquiries are still continuing and some computer equipment is yet to be examined.

The operation is a major police investigation into the activities of suspected paedophiles.

Both men will be sentenced on 9 April.

March 2014

Man who downloaded 7,000 child abuse images ‘has now lost everything’

A LITHERLAND man who downloaded almost 7,000 child abuse images has now lost everything, a court heard on Friday, March 14.

Since the offences came to light Paul Dolan has lost his marriage, his job, contact with his adult son, his good name and is about to lose
his home. 

Liverpool Crown Court heard that police raided his home in Lander Road in September 2012 and found indecent images of children on his laptop.

It was found that he had used various search terms including ‘school girls’, ‘young teens’ and in chat logs used ‘dad perv’.

In one on–line chat he pretended to be a 15–year–old girl and was involved in a graphic sexual conversation.

Dolan, 58, admitted he had downloaded the images, which also included 53 sexual cartoons and extreme pornographic images including bestiality, said Derek Jones, prosecuting.

Judge Andrew Hatton sentenced Dolan, who turned up in court with his bag expecting to go to jail, to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years.

He also ordered him to attend the challenging Northumbria sex offenders course and placed him under supervision for two years.

Dolan was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and the judge imposed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order restricting his internet use.

Judge Hatton said: “Sadly in various places around the world children have to suffer appalling indignities before cameras to feed the imagination of people like you who are prepared to sit at home and watch scenes of children being abused.”

He told him that he accepted he had difficult times but to consider the difficulties of children photographed for his satisfaction.

Robert McMaster, defending, said that Dolan has no previous convictions. He took strong medicine for unbearable stabbing pains he suffers and this had had a disinhibiting affect on him. “He is now at rock bottom,” he added.

March 2014

International rowing coach admits sexually abusing girl

A former international rowing coach has admitted committing nine counts of indecent assault while he was a PE teacher in Oxfordshire.

Nigel Mayglothling, of Church Gate, Colston Bassett, near Nottingham, pleaded guilty to sexually abusing a girl.

The 54-year-old, who worked at the now-closed Carmel College in Wallingford, abused the girl between March 14,1987, and March 13, 1989. He will be sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on May 2.

March 2014

Wrexham man groomed schoolgirl on internet site

A 49-year-old man groomed a schoolgirl via Facebook.

Gary Jones said he wanted a naked hug and suggested they go to bed together.

At Mold Crown Court yesterday Jones admitted seeking to arrange or facilitate a child sex offence – but was spared immediate prison.

Jones, of Menai Road in Wrexham, received an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He was placed on supervision and sent on an internet sex offender’s group programme which the judge said was onerous with 39 sessions.

Judge David Hale placed him on the sex register for seven years and also made a seven year SOPO (Sexual Offences Prevention Order). That bans him from approaching his victim in any way – and he is also banned from seeking to contact any girl under 16 on the internet.

Judge Hale said he had never been in any trouble before but he began to engage in banter with a girl who he knew was at a vulnerable stage in her life.

“You took the opportunity to engage in this wholly inappropriate contact through Facebook,” he said.

Judge Hale told him that if he had got into a position where he could indulge in sexual contact with her then he may have got carried away and ended up in a far more serious position.

“You wanted to hug her naked. You wanted to be in bed together. There was no discussion about having sex but that may have happened,” he said.

The judge said there were clearly great dangers in the use of social media, particularly when wholly inappropriate conversations took place between children and adults.

But Jones had not pretended that he was a child – which would have made the position far worse and which would have led to immediate imprisonment.

Prosecuting barrister Elen Owen told how the girl’s mother challenged her and she cried as she told her that the defendant had asked for naked photographs of her and had asked to meet her. She told of an occasion when he had followed her off the school bus.

Police were informed and in an interview she told how they had become Facebook friends.

He had asked to meet her which made her uncomfortable and she had refused.

She said he had asked to do things to her, but when pressed about it she began to cry and said it was horrible.

When she ignored his messages he became angry with her.

Arrested and interviewed, Jones denied any wrong doing and said she had a crush on him. But he admitted he had mentioned a naked hug, going to bed, and had arranged to meet her.

Mark Davies, defending, said Jones was living with his grandfather who was in his 90s and he was his carer.

The offence was completely out of character and had occurred when he was at a low ebb – he had lost his job of 10 years and his three year relationship had come to an end. The solicitor said it was another example of where social media was being used inappropriately.

It was a sad reflection, he said, that such offences often occurred when people were at a low point, lonely and isolated who became embroiled in inappropriate conduct on social media sites.

He did not seek to minimise his actions, he was remorseful, he had taken steps to rehabilitate himself and had stopped taking alcohol and his anti-depressants.

The proceedings themselves had a significant impact upon him.

March 2014

Convicted County Durham killer jailed after trying to meet young girls for sex

A CONVICTED killer trawling the internet grooming young girls for sex was caught in a police sting, a court heard.

Michael Wilkinson was caught after falling for a “fishing expedition” to weed out online paedophiles when he replied to a website message posted by ‘Sofie’, described as, “a schoolgirl from the North of England”.

Unknown to Wilkinson the account was opened by a law enforcement officer days earlier, and police were able to monitor his increasingly sexualised conversation, despite offering no encouragement in response, in their online “chats”.

Forty-six-year-old Wilkinson was arrested last September, after he was recognised on explicit images of himself which he sent to ‘Sofie’.

Police removed his computer equipment as he reached the stage where he was trying to arrange to meet ‘Sofie’ for a sexual encounter.

Durham Crown Court heard that examination of the computer contents revealed 35 indecent images of children, downloaded only the previous day.

It also emerged he had been in communication with two young girls in the previous few weeks and was in the throes of trying to meet them for sex, suggesting a rendezvous with one in Halifax, West Yorkshire, only days later.

He told the girl he wanted to have intercourse with her while she was wearing her school uniform.

Richard Bennett, prosecuting, told the court that following his arrest Wilkinson was immediately recalled to prison as he is on lifelong licence following his release after spending 20 years behind bars for murder.

The court was told he was one of two men convicted for killing a 23-year-old man, supposedly a “friend”, who was beaten, repeatedly stabbed, punched and kicked, before being bludgeoned to death by repeated use of a boulder.

Wilkinson, who was 20 at the time, received a life sentence after his conviction at Newcastle Crown Court in March 1987.

He was released on licence in late February 2007, but he was arrested and cautioned in 2009 after trying to contact young girls online.

Relating to the latest offences, Wilkinson, now 47, of Manor Grange, Lanchester, County Durham, admitted three counts of attempting to incite or encourage a child to engage in sexual activity, plus one charge of making an indecent photograph of a child.

Andrew Finlay, mitigating, told the court: “He doesn’t feel he will ever get out of prison.

“He could have prevaricated and played the system, but instead he accepted responsibility.

“There does, just, seem to be the start of an acceptance of the difficulties he has.

“There is often a reluctance to accept the urges which build up with such offenders in cases like this.

“Having spent 20 years in custody, there has been no offending for six years. He’s managed to stay offence-free.

“The offence of murder was more than 26 years ago, and he knows he’s unlikely to be released for some time.”

He was jailed for two years and eight months, but Judge Robert Adams said, as he considers Wilkinson poses a danger to the public of future offending, he imposed an extended licence period of six years for the latest offence.

The court was told his lifelong licence remains in force for the murder offence.

Judge Adams told Wilkinson: “It’s of great concern that despite being on a life licence, you were arrested and interviewed in 2009, and no doubt warned about you future behaviour.

“Yet, undeterred by this shot across the bows, you sought out girls and engaged in sexual chat.

“Your actions suggest a sexual pre-occupation and attraction to children, yet the impact of your actions seems lost on you.”

Judge Adams made Wilkinson subject of a sexual offences prevention order and registration as a sex offender, both for life.

March 2014

Former Peterborough priest and teacher guilty of sexual abuse of girls

A former Peterborough priest and teacher is facing a lengthy prison sentence after being convicted of historical sexual abuse against young girls.

David Goodstadt was found guilty of rape and a number of other offences by a jury at Peterborough Crown Court on Friday (14 March).

Goodstadt, who had been on bail during a week-long trial, was remanded into custody by Judge Sean Enright.

He will be sentenced at the same court in April after reports have been written about Goodstadt’s offending.

The court was told the offences date back a number of years, when the victims were aged from under 10 to 16.

The former religious education teacher at John Mansfield School and Thomas Deacon Academy in Peterborough, was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape on one victim.

He was also convicted of two counts of indecent assault, one count of indecency with a child and one count of rape, and one count of indecent assault.

He was found not guilty of one count of attempted rape on one girl, and one count of rape and one of indecent assault on another.

The judge ordered one count of rape and one count of indecent assault on one of the victims, and one count of indecent assault on another to lie on the court file, and no formal verdict to be given after the jury, made up of eight women and four men had returned with their other decisions.

Goodstadt (45) of Broad Street, Whittlesey, pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him, and said his victims had made up the allegations.

The court was told he left the priesthood a number of years ago to become a teacher.

But opening the case, Charles Falk, prosecuting said the girls had not come forward because of the ‘power and influence’ Goodstadt had asserted over them.

The prosecutor added that the girls had been afraid to tell police about what had happened.

However, the victims eventually came forward to police last year, and Goodstadt, who was on bail until the verdicts came in, was arrested.

The victims can not be identified for legal reasons.

March 2014

Paedophile security guard from Dudley loses conviction appeal

A security guard who raped and sexually abused girls as young as seven over a 30-year period has had an appeal against his convictions turned down.

Paedophile Mark Henry Allen, aged 72, gave the impression of being a trustworthy public custodian in his security officer’s uniform, while living a secret life for more than three decades.

Allen, of Hillside Road, Dudley, was jailed for 13 years at Wolverhampton Crown Court in March 2009 after being convicted of sex crimes against three underage victims, including rape and indecent assault. Yesterday at the Criminal Appeal Court in London, he asked Lady Justice Rafferty, Mr Justice Royce and Judge Simon Tonking to overturn his convictions. He argued that he didn’t receive a fair trial.

The court heard that, whilemaintaining a veneer of respectability in public, Allen began abusing little girls as young as five secretly in the 1970s. He was stopped in 2006 after one of his victims went to the authorities.

He denied any wrongdoing but was found guilty on numerous charges.

Lawyers for Allen argued that the jury which convicted him should have been given a modified good character direction – pointing out that he had no previous convictions for sex crimes.

It was submitted that the failure of the judge to do so had deprived Allen of ‘an important shield’ in his attempt to deny the charges.

But Lady Justice Rafferty threw out his complaints and said Allen’s criticism of his trial lawyers was unwarranted.

She also said that the fairness of the jury’s verdicts had in no way been compromised.

“There is nothing in this application and it is dismissed,” the appeal judge concluded.

March 2014

RAF warrant officer faces jail over Skype sex chat with 10 year old girl

A RETIRED RAF warrant officer has been warned that he faces a jail sentence after he admitted enticing a ten-year-old girl to talk to him via a webcam for “sexual gratification”.

Steven McLaren, 54, met the girl, who was the daughter of a colleague at RAF Leuchars, and gave her a scrap of paper with an e-mail address set up in a false name, Cupar Sheriff Court heard yesterday.

McLaren, who was one of the the Royal Air Force Association’s branch support officers before he retired, exchanged e-mails with the girl asking him to join him for a Skype chat.

After she agreed to talk to him, McLaren began asking her a series of leading questions, the court heard.

McLaren initially asked: “How was school?” before going on to ask the girl: “What are you wearing? Are you wearing a skirt? Were you naughty at school today?”

Family members of the ten-year-old immediately intervened before the chat could escalate, as the Skype account was accessible to other members of the family and the messages had been seen.

Fiscal depute Beverly Adam told the court that McLaren was then traced by police at his home in Cupar.

He admitted to police that he had used the fake name online because he did not want his wife to know.

Miss Adam told the court: “The complainer was ten years old and the accused was aware of that, having known the girl from a young age.

“He had performed DJ services at a wedding and had said to the girl that they should keep in contact.

“He later met her at a supermarket where she was with her father.

“While her father wasn’t looking, he gave the complainer a piece of paper with a Skype user name of IainMartin776 on it.

“The accused said he didn’t want anyone to know who he was. There was some contact by email before she gave her Skype username.”

The court heard that McLaren and the girl were first in contact on 15 August last year and that afterwards the girl began to receive messages from him.

“The girl’s mother was alerted to the messages as it is a shared account,” Miss Adam said. “The defendant was detained on 
17 August and his computers were seized. He stated that he knew that the conversation was inappropriate and that he knew that the girl was ten.

“He added that he bitterly regretted it and said, ‘She’s ten. I shouldn’t be talking to her. I didn’t want my wife to know.’ ”

McLaren pleaded guilty on indictment to a charge of intentionally making sexual communications to a girl under the age of 13 with the intention of obtaining sexual gratification.

David Bell, defending, said: “There’s little that can be said in mitigation. The content of the communications was not sexually explicit but there was obviously a sexual element to this.”

Sheriff Charles Macnair QC deferred sentence until May for social work background reports and a psychological assessment of McLaren.

He warned McLaren he could face jail when he returns to be sentenced and placed him on the sex offenders’ register.

September 2012

Man on child abuse image charges escapes jail

A Scarborough man, deemed to be a “high risk” after admitting child abuse images charges, has escaped a jail sentence.

Michael Atherton, 41, of Ingle Close, was caught out after going onto an internet chat-room site and carrying out sexual acts via a webcam, as well as other activity, with a person he believed to be a 12-year-old girl.

However, at the other end of the line on June 12, this year, was a police officer posing as a youngster in order to monitor chat-room sites and catch out people abusing it.

The female officer posed as a 12-year-old called Lilly.

Atherton engaged in a sexual conversation with her on-line, asking her to get friends to also watch him committing a sexual act upon himself and sending her a pornographic photograph involving an eight-year-old girl.

When he was arrested the following day, Atherton’s computer equipment was seized and examined, eight further child pornographic images, along with 200 legal adult pornographic pictures, were ound.

Atherton appeared for sentencing at York Crown Court this afternoon having pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to one charge each of attempting to engage in sexual activity in front of a child, distributing an indecent photograph and possessing indecent photographs

Simon Revell, mitigating, said his client had been taking medication for a depressive condition and it had been this which had had the side effect of heightened his sex drive.

Adding that Atherton was “mortally ashamed” to find himself in court having behaved in this fashion, Mr Revell said that his client had already spent four months on remand – the equivalent of an eight month custodial sentence.

He said that under sentencing guidelines, together with the remand period being taken into consideration, his client would be liable to spend only a few more months in jail.

Mr Revell said that Atherton, and everyone else, would be better served if he was to receive treatment as part of long community penalty.

Describing the offences as “serious” and showing an “unhealthy and dangerous sexual interest in children”, Judge Scott Wolstenholme placed him under a three year community order with supervision.

As part of the sentence Atherton will have to undergo treatment under a sexual offender programme to assist him in controlling his sexual urges involving children.

He was also placed indefinitely under a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, restricting his use of the internet and contact with youngsters under the age of 18, and ordered to be on the Sex Offenders register for five years

March 2014

Sex offences caught up on child offender years later

A former college student left court with his life in tatters because of child sex offences he committed when he was a child himself

Dean Verrill was several years under the age of consent when he molested a younger girl who came forward years later. Teeside crown court heard

The victim walked into a police station and reported the abuse she suffered as a child. She told how Verrill was older than her when he touched her when she was a young girl

She said the sexual activity had affected her relationship with her boyfriend as an adult

Verrill, now 23, at first denied the offences and said he had little memory of the events. But he later admitted two charges of indecency with a child who was aged under 13 years old

He maintained it was, ‘childhood sexual experimentation’

The crown did not accept this

Judge George Moorhouse told Verrill: “That sort of behaviour, however young one is , will not be tolerated. It is very serious.”

“Fortunately you’ve been out of trouble now for sometime, except for two minor matters”

“You’ll have to be punished for this”

He gave Verrill, of Queens road, Loftus a one year community order with supervision

Verrill, who had no relevant previous convictions will be on the sex offenders register for five years

March 2014

Perverted sex offender jailed

A serial sex offender who repeatedly preyed on two young girls has today been put behind bars.

Michael Bailey, of Normoss Avenue, Blackpool, was described by a judge as a sophisticated manipulator of children who planned his attacks with “contemptible skill”.

The 56-year-old admitted a string of crimes against two girls, both under 13, dating back several years.

The court heard he told his victims to keep quiet, giving them cigarettes and alcohol.

Bailey pleaded guilty to four charges of attempted rape, five of indecent assault and five of indecency with a child. He was sentenced at Preston Crown court to 17 years in prison followed by eight years on extended licence.

The court heard the offences were only discovered last year but pre-dated a conviction in 2009, when Bailey was given a suspended sentence and ordered to take part in a sex offenders’ treatment programme.

On that occasion, he had invited a group of girls he did not know into his house before committing a sex act in front of one of them.

Mr Bailey’s barrister said he was remorseful for his crimes.

Judge Graham Knowles QC described it as a grave case and said Bailey had known how wicked his behaviour was.

He said of the two victims: “You regarded them as nothing more than instruments for your pleasure.”

Bailey was told he cannot be released from jail until he has served two thirds of his term.

March 2014

North Devon man caught with extreme child abuse images escapes jail

A factory worker who searched the web for images of child abuse was caught after police specialists hacked into the illegal sites he was using.

David Dobson was arrested after officers from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Squad broke into the underground website named Tor and found he had been using a site where users ordered images on demand.

The former archaeologist escaped jail and was sent on a sex offender’s course after a judge heard the crime has cost him his home, his marriage and his job.

Officers raided Dobson’s address in Bideford in a dawn raid but he was not there because he was on his way home from a night shift at a local factory.

It meant that the first his wife knew of his interest in child abuse was when the police came to her door at 6am. He was arrested when he came home shortly afterwards.

Dobson, formerly of Hows Cottages, Bideford but now living at Ashford, Barnstaple, admitted eleven offences of making or possessing indecent or prohibited images.

He was jailed for eight months, suspended for two years and ordered to attend the Internet Sex Offenders’ Treatment Programme as part of two years supervision by Judge Jeremy Griggs at Exeter Crown Court.

The judge told him: “These are really pretty unpleasant offences but you have pleaded guilty to them at the earliest opportunity and when interviewed by the police you accepted your involvement in this revolting trade.

“You were well aware it was illegal by the fact you were using the Tor website to conceal your involvement.

“You say that your life has been turned upside down and you have lost your marriage, your home and your job. That was all entirely predictable.”

The judge said it was right to suspend the sentence because it was the only way of ensuring that Dobson was able to go on the treatment programme.

Janice Eagles, for the prosecution, said Dobson was traced by CEOPS after they investigated a website called Falcovideo which was hosted on the Tor website and on which users could pay to commission images or videos of child abuse.

She said Dobson was found with 269 stills and 19 movies at level four, which depicts adults raping children, and 46 stills at level five which shows sadism or bestiality. They had been downloaded over more than seven years.

He told police he accessed the sites out of curiosity rather than sexual gratification and the age ranges of the children were ten to 11 but examination of the images showed the youngest involved a boy of about two.

She said: “Apparently he was using what is known as the dark internet which can only be accessed by using passwords and would not be available to most users of the internet and is difficult to detect.

“He accessed the sites through two Yahoo e-mail accounts which were traced to the IP address at his home in Bideford.

“He told police he had been looking for material that would provoke an emotional reaction and had looked at sites depicting executions as well as child abuse.”

Richard Crabb, for the defence, said Dobson would not be able to access the sex offenders’ programme if he received a jail term.

He said he had once been an archaeologist working on digs around the world but returned to North Devon to look after his sick father and ended up doing factory work.

He resigned from his job in shame after his arrest and has since moved out of the marital home to a one bedroomed flat.

March 2014

Jailed paedophile in court on new child abuse charges

A PAEDOPHILE who is serving an indefinite sentence has appeared in court on fresh child abuse charges.

John Sykes, 50, pleaded guilty to eight counts of indecent assault on a male child dating back to the 1990s.

He will be sentenced at Teesside Crown Court next month once probation officers compile a background report.

Sykes is serving his sentence in HMP Leeds following a conviction at the city’s crown court in June 2012.

The new offences relate to a series of attacks on a boy in Middlesbrough between 1991 and 1993.

As he was taken from the dock back into custody, people in the public gallery shouted “dirty b**tard” and “f***ing rat”.

The five-foot pervert, who is originally from Teesside, will be sentenced on April 25.

March 2014

Merseyside Police’s cyber crime unit branded a ‘public disgrace’

A judge branded Merseyside police’s cyber crime unit a “public disgrace” after learning it  took more than two years to bring a child abuse images case to court.

Judge Stephen Everett demanded the head of the indecent images department write to  explain why it took so long to analyse the computers of those arrested for child porn offences.

The public attack came during the case of computer programming student Lee Farron, 22,  from Warrington, who was arrested and had his laptop seized in 2011.

But Liverpool Crown Court heard his computer was only sent for analysis eight months later and it was not until January last year he was interviewed and finally charged in September.

Robert Jansen, prosecuting, explained that the unit had “hundreds and hundreds” of  computers sent to them and he was told it took up to a year for forensic analysis to be  completed.

But Judge Everett, said: “The police excuse that we cannot get to see the computers is simply  not good enough.

There ought to be an explanation from whoever is the head of this unit.

“What are they doing about it? At the moment it looks to me like they are doing nothing at all. 

It is nothing short of a public disgrace.” He pointed out that any delays may mean a potentially dangerous offender would be on bail  and that when it came to sentence the long wait could be the difference between jail and a  suspended sentence for the accused.

He added: “This half baked assertion that they can’t do it because they are swamped is not  good enough.”

Farron, of Ivy House Road, Lowton, pleaded guilty to possession of 71 indecent images of children and nine images of “extreme pornography”.

David Evans, defending, said he was “socially isolated” and had low self esteem, but had been  in a relationship with a girl for two years which showed he was not a “lost cause”. He added that she did not yet know he had been arrested over child porn.

The judge said: “Had it been dealt with in January 2012 there may very well not have been the  mitigation to allow me to suspend it (the sentence). It seems to me a suspended sentence order, keeping in mind the outrageous delay in this case and that he has kept out of trouble, is  appropriate.

“The police have not served the community in their approach to this case at all  well.”

He sentenced Farron to six months in jail, suspended for a year, and ordered him to be supervised for a year as well as making him sign on the sex offender’s register for seven  years.

Judge Everett, said: “When people like you download these images all you are doing is  furthering the abuse. ”Although you don’t carry out these actions you encourage the acts to be carried out by other people.”

A police spokesperson said: “Merseyside Police is aware of comments made by the Judge at Liverpool Crown Court today and will write to the Judge as requested. 
 
“I would like to reassure the community that Merseyside Police takes all allegations of this nature extremely seriously and will thoroughly investigate them. These investigations are often technically complex and as a result, can be lengthy. 
 
“This case will be reviewed and as such it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”

March 2014

Child abuse images grandfather sent to jail

A GRANDFATHER convicted of downloading child abuse images on his laptop computers is starting a two-year prison sentence

Gordon Blues was led from the dock in handcuffs after a computer repair shop engineer found 28 images on his broken computer.

Police discovered more pictures on a laptop at his home at Sandwood Drive in Nairn.

The 56-year-old denied the offences, claiming he had nothing to do with the images.

A social worker report presented to Inverness Sheriff Court warned Blue’s denial could mean that he poses a “high risk” of re-offending.

January 2014

Jury finds man guilty of child abuse images charges

A JURY unanimously found a Nairn man guilty of possessing child abuse images on two laptop computers after a two-day trial at Inverness.

The offences came to light when a technician at an Inverness computer repair shop discovered the sickening images on one of the laptops which had been handed in to them for repair.

And when police raided the home of Gordon Blues at Sandwood Drive in Nairn in February of 2011 they found another laptop computer in his bedroom containing more indecent images of children.

Blues (56) had denied between May 22, 2010 and February 4, 2011 having possession of indecent photographs of children on the computer, causing or permitting the photographs to be taken, and being in possession of the images with a view to distribution.

The jury heard from computer expert Ronald Lamont how an engineer discovered the images and reported it to him.

Mr Lamont (45), who worked as manager at Micro Depot in Harbour Road, Inverness contacted the police when the images were discovered as they searched the computer’s files to trace it’s owner.

Blues had failed to pay the £49.99 bill for checking to see if it could be repaired and the images were recovered from a folder on the hard disc as the technician was looking for his details.

The defence and prosecution submitted agreed evidence that 28 images of which 11 were of a serious nature were found on the broken computer. And one video was found on the computer recovered from Blues’s home when police carried out their search.

Mr Lamont, who is now self-employed, said one of his engineers at the computer repair shop found the images of young children performing sex acts.

A receipt from the shop recorded the broken computer having been put in for repair on June 2, 2010 by Gordon Blues.

But giving evidence Blues said he had taken the computer to the shop in January 2010 which pre-dated the images being downloaded.

He denied the signature on the document from the store presented in court was his. And he said the mobile phone number for him was ‘way out’.

Blues, who claimed he had bought the second computer from an acquaintance in August 2010 insisted he had not downloaded the material on either computer.

His daughter gave evidence earlier in the trial that the laptop which was sent in for repair broke down in November 2009.

“I burned it out. We suspected it was the motherboard and dad put it into the shop (for repair).”

But she said she broke the computer in November 2009.

“I remember because I was hanging up my Christmas decorations. I remember the month very well. It stopped working and wouldn’t go on again. It was very hot.”

She said she remembered her dad then took it for repair towards the end of January 2010.

“It was no longer in the house,” she said.

The images were found in February 2011 when a member of staff at the repair shop checked the hard drive to confirm Blues’s address to pursue a small debt claim.

The jury returned unanimous guilty verdicts on all three charges.

Depute fiscal Roderick Urquhart told the court Blues had no similar previous convictions but he had seventeen for crimes of dishonesty between 1974 and 1987.

Sheriff Margaret Neilson deferred sentence until March 18 for criminal justice social work reports.

Blues was told he would be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and subject to the notification requirements of that from immediate effect.

He was released on bail until he is sentenced.

March 2014

Evil mum who forced her son to watch her having sex with her brothers to be sentenced

The mother at the head of the paedophile gang who cannot be named for legal reasons

A prostitute who made some of her children watch as she had sex with clients, one of whom was a police officer, has pleaded guilty to cruelty, gross indecency and neglect.

A mother of six who sexually abused her son during a childhood of fear and neglect is expected to be sentenced next week.

The 58-year-old has appeared in Belfast Crown Court with her ex-husband, two brothers and two former lovers, one an ex-RUC man.

The woman dressed in a red anorak and black jeans, had previously pleaded guilty to forcing her son to watching her have sex with her brothers and ex-RUC reserve Constable Thomas Fitzpatrick in the 1970s.

She also made the youngster put her breasts in his mouth during a period of abuse and neglect that started when he was four.

The Belfast court heard about a litany of horrific cruelty meted out to four of six siblings – one boy and his three younger sisters – by their own parents, uncles and others, including Fitzpatrick, 53, and a baker Patrick Kilmartin, 59.

The men visited the couple’s various Co Down houses which were chaotic, filthy and infested with rodents up to 30 years ago.

Prosecution said that one child was so neglected, she was left in a cot until she was two years old and could not walk or talk.

The court also heard details of a social worker’s report that said that the home was dirty, full of rubbish and the children were left starving. The social worker also observed mouse droppings in a cereal box.

The mother was constantly drunk, it was alleged.

The judge also heard that one child, a ‘bed wetter’, was made to sleep on a heavily soiled mattress.

The prosecution barrister said the father subjected the children to multiple and brutal beatings, usually with a belt and sometimes around the head.

In one of the worst cases of its kind to come before the Crown Court in Northern Ireland, prosecuting QC Charles MacCreanor revealed how the youngsters lived in constant fear and suffered physical and sexual abuse, and neglect.

It started when they were tots in cots and lasted until 1986 when they were finally taken into care, the youngest aged eight and the oldest, 11.

Judge Mr Justice Horner heard how the mother sought to ‘educate’ her daughters, now in their 30s, about sex by making them watch her have intercourse with various men including her brothers. She told them: “You’ll have to learn this.”

The girls were not only subjected to sexual assaults and gross indecency, but were savagely beaten by their father over the years.

On two separate occasions they were beaten so hard and for so long that they wet themselves in fear.

Patrick Kilmartin pictured above had admitted his part in the crimes

All six accused, including Fitzpatrick, originally from Crewhill Gardens in Ardglass, and Kilmartin, originally from Bryansford Gardens in Newcastle, previously pleaded guilty to a total of 49 charges between them, dating back to the summer of 1977 to the spring of 1988.

The woman and her co-accused sat passively in the dock as they listened to the prosecution describe a plethora of abuse, assault and neglect meted out on her vulnerable children.

Described by defence counsel Brendan Kelly, as a woman of ‘impeccable character’, it is expected she will be sentenced by Mr Justice Horner next week.

The now-grown children’s mother faces the most charges, a total of 17 of cruelty and neglect and 23, involving six of sexual indecency.

She pleaded guilty to four counts of gross indecency where she forced her child to watch as she had sex with her brother and ex-police officer Thomas Fitzpatrick.

She also pleaded guilty to two counts of indecency where she forced her son to intimately touch her breasts.

The children’s two uncles pleaded guilty to charges of child sexual abuse.

The case continues on Tuesday when further pleas of mitigation on behalf of the other defendants will be given to the court.