February 2000

Group leader is jailed for abuse

A BLACK Country community leader who “lured” young boys to his home where they were sexually abused and corrupted was jailed for a total of nine years by a court.

Kenneth Webster who worked tirelessly for “poor and needy” families in the Walsall area turned his home into a magnet for the boys.

Webster (52), of Walstead Road West, Walsall, used a number of ways to attract the boys, including computer games, cable TV, payment for odd jobs and the house was also a den where they could smoke illicitly.

But it was also a house where gay pornographic films were available, said Mr Philip Parker prosecuting, and they were shown by Webster before he abused the boys.

Mr Parker told Wolverhampton Crown Court there were seven victims of Webster’s sexual abuse – all boys and the offences were carried out over the 1990s

January 1999

Centre chief in sex abuse case jailed

The former manager of a Midland activity centre who sexually abused three young boys was yesterday jailed for a year at Birmingham Crown Court. 

Frederick Winnall (60), of Abbey Fields, Telford, who ran the Frank Chapman Centre in Bewdley, Worcestershire, was found guilty of five charges of indecent assault last December. 

Det Supt Barrie Hill, of West Mercia police, said later that the sentence was the last chapter in a widespread investigation into child abuse known as Operation Icicle. 

The 20-month inquiry involved parts of the West Midlands, Gloucester and the Wyre Forest, and had involved up to 60 victims.

The other culprit, teacher Robert Sibley, is now serving an eight-year jail sentence. 

Det Supt Hill said: “I want to pay tribute to the victims in this case who were children when the offences occurred and are now grown men. 

“For them to have come to give evidence was extremely courageous. Without their evidence there would never have been any convictions secured.” 

The court heard that Sibley was a Birmingham teacher who took boys to the centre. He had admitted serious charges of abuse. 

Mr Jonathon Gosling, prosecuting, said the offences happened 15 years ago and that the victims, aged between 11 and 12, were brought by Sibley from the Jaffray School in Erdington to the centre.

September 1999

Pervert who bribed kids for sex is jailed

AN evil pervert known as Dai the Penguin was caged for life yesterday by Swansea Crown Court for sexual abuse of young children. 

David Edward Tancock, 51, bribed boys and girls as young as seven into sex sessions with cigarettes and money. 

One of his victims, an eight-year-old boy, toured local churches praying for forgiveness. 

Tancock, of Bryn Rhosog, Loughor, near Swansea, admitted 16 sex offences against children. 

Judge, Mr Justice Douglas Brown, said: “You’ll be released only when you’re not a danger.”

December 1995

Priest jailed for abuse dating to 60s

A CATHOLIC priest from Derry who sexually abused two sisters in their home almost 35 years ago was jailed for 18 months at Derry Crown Court.

William Bernard Gallagher (56), who gave his address as Catford, London, had been working in England since he was ordained in 1962.

He admitted six specimen charges of indecently assaulting the girls over a five year period between January 1960 and December 1964.

Crown prosecutor Mr Ken McMahon told the court the abuse took place in the girls home and began when they were aged nine and 10.

February 1999

Child abuse jail term to stand

A Paedophile convicted of a number of sex crimes has been refused leave to appeal against his sentence.

Father-of-four John McCormick, aged 71, was found with a large quantity of obscene material in his house when police raided the property in February 1996.

Some of the photographs showed scenes of two young girls with McCormick, of Stratford.

At Birmingham Crown Court he admitted a serious sexual offence, two counts of indecent assault and one of taking an indecent photograph of a child and was sentenced to seven years imprisonment

He applied to the Appeal Court yesterday for an extension of time in which to seek leave to appeal against the sentence. 

But Lord Justice Auld refused the application, saying: “Seven years is not out of range for such serious exploitation of young girls.”

“And there is no good reason for a delay as long as 21 months to apply for leave.”

October 1999

Fireman is jailed over internet child abuse images

A WEST Midlands fireman who downloaded child abuse images from the internet has been jailed for nine months by a judge at Warwick Crown Court. 

Darren Mansell, aged 34, of Water Orton, admitted six charges of finding indecent images and two of distributing them. 

Through his internet company, detectives discovered Mansell was using a computer kept at his grandmother’s home in north Warwickshire. 

Officers raided the house and seized a computer containing “a very large amount of pornographic material, both in images and text, of sexual activity with young girls.” 

When he was questioned, Mansell, who is married, claimed he had accidentally found a couple of indecent photos of children but had deleted them. 

Stephen Ridley, defending, said Mansell had not considered the images were in effect pictures of child abuse. He added that his client would lose his job if he was jailed. 

But jailing him, Judge James Pyke also ordered that he should register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years after his release. 

He added: “This kind of traffic depends on the sexual abuse and exploitation of children and young people and we remain of the opinion that offences of this kind are so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.”

April 2010

Mobile DJ’s sex attack sentence cut

AN ABERTILLERY mobile DJ, convicted of sexually assaulting a teenage boy, had his indeterminate sentence replaced with a two-year term in the Court of Appeal.

Terry John Wilcox, 51, of Woodland Terrace, Aberbeeg, was jailed indefinitely for the public protection at Newport Crown Court in September 2007, after admitting sexually assaulting a teenage boy after a disco in May 2007.

The court heard Wilcox touched him indecently. The boy punched and head butted Wilcox, who broke down and wept and said he “did not know what he was doing.”

The indeterminate sentence imposed on Wilcox meant he would not be freed until he could convince the Parole Board he was no longer a threat to society.

The court heard sentence was imposed due to Wilcox’s antecedent record, which included the indecent assault of a school girl in the late 1980s and breaches of court orders barring him from attending the children’s bouncy castle events he organised.

Allowing the appeal, Mr Justice Nicol, sitting with Lord Justice Maurice Kay and Mr Justice Royce, said the sentence was too drastic given the “modest” escalation in Wilcox’s offending. He imposed a two-year sentence on Wilcox.

October 1999

Man Abused Two Girls for 13 Years

A 63-year-old Birmingham man who subjected two young girls to 13 years of sexual abuse has been jailed for four years.

John Wilcox began his catalogue of abuse when the children were aged just and ten, Birmingham Crown Court was told.

Jailing him, Judge Laurence Marshall said he was also ordering he be put on licence for three years after his release from prison.

The order under section 58 of the Crime and Disorder Act would ensure he was kept under control, he said.

Judge Marshall told Wilcox: “You are dangerous to children. As well as committing these disgusting offences you were also wicked to these children because you told them they would be taken away from their families if they told anyone”

There was clapping and cheering from the relatives of the victims in the public gallery as Wilcox was led away to begin his sentence. 

Wilcox, of Chale Grove, Warstock, had admitted three charges of indecency with a child, one of indecent assault and one of taking indecent photos. 

Miss Samantha Powis, prosecuting, said that Wilcox, who was known to both victims’ families, took the children out on trips and often went on holiday with them.

The offences began in January 1986 but continued until May this year. 

Miss Powis said: “Sexual abuse became a normal occurrence during those years.” 

She said the offences were numerous, far more than reflected in the indictment. 

She said Wilcox would strip the girls, take photographs of them and indecently assault them. He also encouraged the children to touch him. 

Miss Powis said: “What happened to the one girl left her feeling ashamed and guilty. She tried to block the memories out over the years.” 

Mr Nigel Stelling, defending, said that by a guilty plea Wilcox had spared his victims the ordeal of giving evidence.

June 1998

Art dealer jailed over sex with boys

A former business leader has been jailed for ten years after admitting a string of sex offences against boys and young men. 

Fine art dealer John Nicholas Dutton, a former president of the Chester Chamber of Commerce and Trade, carried out the sexual assaults on boys aged 13-19 over a period of 16 years from 1981, Warrington Crown Court heard. 

Dutton (42), of Selsdon Court, Handbridge, Chester, admitted three serious sexual assaults and 41 indecent assaults against 27 teenagers. A further six charges were allowed to lie on file. 

Sentencing him, Judge David Hale said: “You are a man of ability, a hard worker and have given much to the community but you have abused your position. 

“These were young men, many of them came to you for work experience and you took advantage of them when they were working for you. Some were the sons of friends of yours, people who respected you. They had no idea what they were letting their sons get in to.” 

Mr Meirion Lewis-Jones, prosecuting, said the offences were at Dutton’s home in Kent and Chester, in his car, a van, hotels and a tent. 

In 1992, Dutton was jailed for four months in Canada after being convicted of five charges of sexual assault. 

On his release he returned to the UK and moved into his flat in Chester. 

The current string of offences were carried out as Dutton used his connections with his family’s 100-year-old fine art business in Chester and his work on board a tall ship. 

He had surrounded himself with boys and young men through these connections, then subjected them to sexual abuse. 

Mr Lewis-Jones said Dutton also took advantage of boys who were the children of friends in Kent, where he lived in the early 1980s, and in Chester. 

“One of the unhappy features is the way he used his position of influence with regard to the parents of the boys,” added Mr Lewis-Jones. 

He said Dutton employed teenage boys, some of his victims on work experience in the shop, A E Dutton & Son. 

Boys and young men also went on holidays with him and on trips abroad to Chester’s twin town of Sens, in France. 

“He was able to win the parents’ consent and blessing to take boys away from Chester on various trips and take advantage of them in those circumstances where they felt unable to resist,” said Mr Lewis-Jones. 

Judge Hale told Dutton that on his release from prison his name will be put on the sex offenders’ register.

June 2000

Why was sex beast allowed to slip the net?

A CONVICTED serial rapist gave police the slip to strike again. 

Robert Gourlay from Ceres, Fife told police he was living at his mother’s home in Scotland after his release from prison. 

But he fled to the south of England, and his disappearance was not discovered until he raped again. 

As Gourlay, 33, was jailed for life for the rape of a 20-year- old woman, there were calls for the supervision of sex offenders to be tightened up. 

He was originally jailed for nine years for three rapes, including one of a 15-year-old girl, in Aberdeen in 1991. 

He had partially strangled his victims and one of them later drank herself to death, unable to bear the painful memories . 

When he came out of jail, he moved to Dorset, but failed to register as a sex offender with local police as required by law. 

Conservative justice spokesman Phil Gallie said he recognised the problems the police faced in keeping track of sex offenders. 

But he said it was important lessons were learnt from the case. 

Gallie said: “I am horrified that that this could have arisen and we have to look at where the gaps are to see that it never happens again.” 

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh Rape Crisis welcomed the life sentence but said Gourlay should never have been able to move around without letting police know where he was. 

She said: “There needs to be some sort of mechanism to stop people coming off the register. 

“What this has highlighted is that the law needs to be strengthened.” 

a spokesman for the Home Office said under the terms of the Sex Offenders’ Act, anyone failing to register with local police when they moved could face a six-month prison sentence or a fine of up to pounds 5000. 

The register is designed to allow police to keep track of known offenders who might pose a threat in the future. 

At Southampton Crown Court yesterday, Judge David Maclaren Webster described farm worker Gourlay as a “very dangerous man” who was a great threat to women. 

He told Gourlay, whose mother lives in Ceres, Fife: “You continue to deny those offences in 1991 as you continue to deny the latest one. 

“It seems to me you were and remain a very dangerous man indeed. You present a great threat to young women.” 

Last night, one of Gourlay’s original victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she would never forget her ordeal. 

She said: “I’m glad he’s gone away for life but I can’t forget what he did to me. I still hate him and I just wish he had been put away before someone else had to go through what I did.” 

She said when Gourlay was released from prison, she feared he would return to attack her again. 

She said: “I was frightened he would come for me again. Then when I heard he had attacked another woman it was terrible. I was shaking. 

“But at least now I know he is off the streets.” 

His other victim, who he raped twice, died of alcohol poisoning in January 1992. 

Last night, her 80-year-old mother said Gourlay should never have been allowed out of jail to rape again. She said: “I hope they throw away the key for good. He is nothing but a brute.” 

She said her bright and bubbly daughter could not live with what had happened to her. 

She said: “It broke my heart to see what happened to her. She just couldn’t live with it. 

“He deserved to be jailed for life for what he put us all through.” 

Michael Vere Hodge QC, prosecuting, told the court Gourlay had been sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment at Aberdeen High Court. 

He had raped the 15-year-old while he was on bail for two attacks on the other woman. 

In the latest case, Gourlay was found guilty of raping a 20-year-old woman who he met at a carnival in Dorset. 

Mr Vere Hodge told the jury the woman had got drunk at the carnival and later went back to Gourlay’s home nearby. 

She got undressed and went to sleep but was awoken in the middle of the night by Gourlay, who was standing at the foot of the bed in his underpants. 

Mr Vere Hodge said as he pulled back the bedclothes the girl shouted, “No” repeatedly and kicked and punched and bit him. 

But Gourlay took no notice of her protests. 

The judge said: “You quite calculatingly set out to rape a young woman who you knew to be worse the wear for drink. You caused her to virtually lose conciousness, punched her, then raped her.” 

Gourlay claimed he and the woman spent the night in the same bed but he had not touched her. 

The officer in the case, DC Andy Stuckes, said afterwards: “This is a very dangerous man. If he was free, he would certainly attack women again.” 

Under the Crime Sentences Act of 1997, a life sentence is mandatory for anyone convicted a second time of a serious crime of violence. 

Judge Maclaren Webster said Gourlay should serve a minimum of six years and two months in prison before being considered for parole.

July 1998

The Rapist Who Has Fathered 25 Children, All of Them by Girls Aged 15

A PAEDOPHILE rapist has been jailed for 15 years after a judge condemned the most ‘shameful, disgusting and appalling catalogue of sexual abuse’ he had ever heard. 

In 13 years, Michael Haseldine fathered 25 illegitimate children, each to a different girl, all of them 15 when they conceived. 

His past came to light as he was jailed for the repeated rapes of two girls over an eight-year period. One was just six when the daily attacks began. 

The other was five and forced to watch her sister’s ordeals.

It was Haseldine’s way of ‘grooming’ her for what she herself would eventually have to endure. 

As the little witness wept at what she saw, her older sister would hold her hand to comfort her. 

The mother of the two young victims, now aged 15 and 16, has 58 convictions for prostitution. 

Her maximum punishment was a £5 fine. 

Haseldine, 44, had ‘a voracious sexual appetite’ and committed his first sex offence at 11, Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, heard. 

In later life he made his living as a private hire taxi driver, offering him a constant supply of easy targets. 

He married only once, a union which ended when he was 26. 

In 1981, he moved in with a girl when she was 15 and made her pregnant. 

Then he moved in with another girl he met through his work as a taxi driver. 

He pursued a life of cohabitation with various women while fathering children to girls in their early teens. 

His police file reads: ‘He has 25 children to different women all of whom conceived under the age of 16.

As soon as each child is born, he begins another relationship.’

Greater Manchester Police promised a searching inquiry into the case yesterday after accepting that they and social workers missed ‘glaring evidence’ of his activities. 

In 1991, when Haseldine was a father of six, his children were on a social services at-risk register. 

Six years earlier he had been assessed by social workers after a five-month-old son died of sudden infant death syndrome. 

The two girls he admitted raping in nine specimen charges were abused from 1988 to 1995. 

In 1992, in the middle of his activities with them, they were interviewed by police, but were in such terror of him that they said nothing. 

The children’s ‘rewards’ for submitting were cigarettes and alcohol. 

Detective Chief Inspector Ken Seddon, in charge of Greater Manchester’s Family Crime Investigation Unit, said: ‘This man has spent all his adult life engaging in sex with children. 

‘It is the most dreadful case of persistent child abuse and depravity I have encountered. 

‘There were numerous warning signs and there are too many files marked “unsubstantiated”. 

‘A litany of allegations against him appear not to have been investigated as they should. One allegation of him having four little girls in bed with him was dismissed. 

‘It seems enough that a school was checked and the answer that it had no concerns about the children was considered sufficient. 

‘The blame falls on both police and social workers. The only crumb of comfort is that the system now is such that it wouldn’t happen.’

Haseldine moved often between addresses in different areas and social workers in different local authorities may have ‘lost him in the system’, said Mr Seddon. He also employed two aliases. 

Haseldine, of Heywood, near Rochdale, was told by Judge Jonathan Geake that he had treated the two girls like ‘sexual toys’. They had been terrorised and bullied and endured ‘dreadful’ sexual practices. 

The girls maintained a code of silence until they heard Haseldine had been jailed for 12 months for a sex assault on another girl. 

Then they came forward and told their terrible secrets to police. 

The case, said the judge, was one which ‘chilled the heart’. 

September 2006

His jail sentence is nothing compared with how long I’ve suffered – it will always be with me

A woman abused by a serial paedophile almost 20 years ago today blasted his six-year jail sentence and said: “He ruined my life.” 

She was persuaded by her husband to break her long silence about the misery inflicted on her as a child by twisted Leslie Jenkins. 

But the 27-year-old said she felt let down by his jail term. 

Jenkins, 58, formerly of Slade Road, Erdington, also admitted abusing two other young girls and had previous convictions including indecent assault and indecent exposure. 

Bravely casting off the cloak of anonymity offered to sex offence victims, she said: “His sentence is nothing compared with how long I have suffered. It will always be with me.” 

Jenkins, a family friend, abused the girl from the age of 10 until she was 12.

He was 30 years her senior but bought her affection with a string of gifts beyond the reach of her dad, a divorcee raising two children. 

“Jenkins was like my second father,” she said. “He would buy me clothes and the sort of stuff my dad never used to do for me. I remember sitting at school thinking I had a boyfriend who was in his late 30s.” 

The victim said her ordeal scarred her life. 

She left school before sitting her GCSEs and drifted from job to job, struggling to find intimacy in her relationships. 

She reported Jenkins to the police two years ago with the support of her husband as she awaited the birth of her second son. “I decided I needed to protect my children,” she said. 

“Jenkins appeared so genuine. But when we were alone in his car he would say I could run away with you but I wouldn’t because I think too much of you’. I look back now and thank God I’m still here.” 

Jenkins admitted four charges of indecent assault, attempted rape and rape and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life. 

Birmingham Crown Court heard Jenkins, who also lived at Castle Vale, had previous convictions for indecently assaulting two eight-year-old girls in 1973 and indecently assaulting a ten-year-old girl in 1980. 

Jailing him at Birmingham Crown Court, Judge Elizabeth Fisher said: “You breached the trust your victims had in you and that is something they will never forget. It is clear you had been grooming these victims.” 

December 2001

We reveal the sex attack secret of a sleazy Christian Brother, fined £250 for beating up a young pupil

A FORMER Christian Brother who was fined just £250 on Monday for beating a boy while sitting on him is a convicted sex offender 

Pervert Paul Farrell escaped jail this week after pleading guilty to a 1982 assault on a 15-year-old in a bedroom at St Joseph’s residential home in Galway.

But when he fined Farrell on Monday, Judge Sean O Donabhain was unaware that Farrell had been found guilty of indecent assault as lawyers have lodged an appeal against the conviction and one-year jail term. 

However, on the same day he attacked Mark, 53-year-old Farrell sexually assaulted his best friend Graham. Farrell subjected Graham, then aged 17, to a horrific ordeal in his car. 

The bespectled brother twice sexually abused the terrified youngster after Graham stopped him from beating his best friend, Mark, to a “bloody pulp”. 

Yesterday, almost 22 years after the incidents, Graham, now 36 and Mark, now 34, broke their silence to speak for the first time about the day “vicious” Farrell stole their lives away. 

Farrell, from Kinvara Road, Cabra, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to two counts of indecent assault on dates between November 7, 1980 and March 31, 1982. But a jury convicted him by a majority after considering their verdict for just over three hours earlier this year. 

On July 23, Judge Patrick McCartan jailed him for one year but his lawyers have lodged an appeal in the Court of Criminal Appeal. 

Farrell remains on bail while the case is dealt with. 

Graham and Mark spent five years at the Christian Brother-run St Joseph’s residential home in Salthill, Co Galway, from 1977 to 1982. 

Graham said he was sent there as a 14-year-old from Limerick because he was a “tearaway“. 

Mark was bundled off to St Joseph’s, aged just 10, after his mother died and his father was unable to look after him. 

St Joseph’s was supposed to be a refuge for lost boys. 

Instead it robbed Mark and Graham of their innocence. 

The Christian Brothers operated two units of 16 boys in each. The boys lived there and attended local schools nearby. 

Mark and Graham told of a violently strict regime. 

Graham’s violent ordeal happened on the same day his childhood friend Mark was beaten up by Farrell. Farrell was fined pounds 250 in court on Monday for the assault. 

Graham said: “I heard a huge row going on in Mark’s bedroom. Mark was yelling at Farrell, ‘Get off me.’ 

“I ran into the room and saw Mark’s face covered in blood. Farrell was sitting on top of Mark, holding his arms and punching him hard. 

“I took a brush and roared at Farrell, ‘Get the f*** off him.’ 

“Farrell told me to get out, but I stood my ground and he eventually got off Mark. But he went mad. 

“I ran for all I was worth but he was chasing after me.” 

Graham added: “I was only a little fella and he soon caught me. He punched me so hard in the face that my head went through the chalkboard wall. 

“I lost consciousness, but before I did I could hear Mark screaming.” 

Mark, who was sent to St Joseph’s in 1977 and now lives in Coolock in Dublin, said: “Farrell never liked me. I tried to stay away from him, but he always found me. 

“He’d clobber me. He used to punch me in the stomach, so there’d be no bruises. I went to the Gardai twice after being beaten, but they just brought me back to St Joseph’s and I’d get beaten again for going to the cops. 

“I was suicidal. When I left St Joseph’s I went to Dublin for three years. I was sleeping rough, shoplifting to eat and getting in to trouble. I was always drunk or stoned. 

“Then, like Graham, I went to England. I spent 11 years there, working on the sites. I always swore I’d never come back. Then in 1996 the Gardai got in touch and I made a statement. 

“I have lived with what Farrell has done to me for over 20 years. He almost destroyed my life. And the judge gives him a pounds 250 fine. It’s a sick joke.” 

Graham, who now lives in Spain and works as a musician, described how he woke up after the beating: “I was being carried out of St Joseph’s by Farrell. He put me in his Renault 18 car and said we were going to Cork. 

“He drove to just beyond Oranmore and slowed the car down near the gates to a long driveway. 

“He stopped the car in a wooded area, climbed into the back seat and opened my trousers.” 

Farrell then carried out an indecent assault on the 15-year-old in the back of the car. 

Graham said: “I struggled to get away but then he undid his own trousers and tried to get me to do it to him.” 

The panicking youngster managed to get out of the car. 

He said: “I ran, but he was a powerful man and soon caught up with me in a field. 

“He started to beat me and punch me and I soon lost consciousness again.” 

When Graham came around he was in the back of the car again. Farrell was driving. 

Graham said: “I could see Farrell’s eyes in the rear-view mirror looking at me. He said, ‘We’re going to Cork’.” 

Farrell drove for hours with Graham to a residential school in Cork city. 

Graham said: “He told me I was staying there for the night. I was asleep on the ground floor when Farrell came in. 

“He was crying and saying, ‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry for what I did.’ He took his glasses off and was wiping his eyes.” 

Graham said that he reported Farrell to one of St Joseph’s care workers in connection with Mark Shaughnessy’s assault, but he didn’t dare tell him about the sex assault. 

Graham added: “The care worker made Farrell apologise to me. But Farrell was brilliant at messing with your head. 

“Soon after the sex attack I ran away. I couldn’t handle it anymore. I had been there for just under three years.” 

Graham returned to Limerick but he couldn’t settle back in his home town. 

He said: “I just had to get out of Ireland. I was only 17, but I packed up and went to London. 

“I lived on the streets for a couple of months. I resent Farrell and the Christian Brothers so much. They they ruined my life.” 

Graham now lives with his girlfriend in Spain and rarely ventures back to Ireland. 

He has asked to thank his mother, girlfriend, family and friends for their support during the last 20 years. 

Graham said: “Without their support I would never have been able to do what I’ve done. 

“We also want people to know that we have not been paid for our stories which had to be told. 

“Paul Farrell has escaped justice. He has hidden behind judges and the courts. We both want the truth to be told.” 

A week after Farrell was sentenced to a year in jail for indecently assaulting Graham Mills he was granted leave to appeal.

December 1996

WHY DID IT TAKE SO LONG TO JAIL THE SEX ATTACKER WHO RUINED MY LIFE

AFTER a childhood in tears, a victim last week saw a court jail the man who subjected her to a campaign of sexual abuse, harassment and stalking.

But her feelings were mixed.

There was relief that he would now be safely behind bars for up to 10 years, but also bitterness that it had taken a brutal sex attack on three other girls before the authorities acted decisively against him.

Alan Tomkins, 33, was sentenced at Exeter Crown Court for putting three teenagers through a horrifying attack, which included kidnap, rape and sexual assault.

Yet it was as long ago as 1984 that Tomkins, a neighbour of the victim’s parents in Torrington, Devon, was first discovered to have been secretly sexually abusing her, then aged just six.

After serving only half of his six-month sentence, the perverted quarryman was allowed to return to his home just yards from the victims home – and continue to terrorise the horrified youngster.

He followed her from school, leered as she passed him, made threats and once, to prove she was not safe anywhere, even sexually abused her in her own bedroom.

TODAY the victim, an 18-year-old college student, is desperate to rebuild her life. But she is clearly still traumatised by the memory of Tomkins.

`It seems like I have spent most of my childhood in tears,’ she says, trembling as she reveals her ordeal publicly for the first time. `I feel I’ve been let down by a system that allows people to be victimised over and over again.

`I just can’t understand why he was ever allowed to come back and live near me again. If something had been done about him all those years ago – if the seriousness of his perversion had been recognised and he had been treated for it – he would never have spent 12 years stalking me and ruining my life.

`Just two days before he abducted those other children I saw him. I knew he was up to something – I could tell by his eyes that he was on the edge. I just wish there was some way I could have stopped him.

`My heart went cold when I heard. It brought it all flooding back, what he had done to me. And I knew he would be doing it to them.’

The apparent betrayal by the courts, police and social workers, who seemingly put the `rights’ of a sex attacker before those of an abused child, is made worse by the sense of guilt that burdens her parents

Before Tomkins was first unmasked, he and his wife Nina used to babysit for the family and the two couples would socialise frequently. Tomkins was godfather to the familys youngest son.

Astonishingly, on his release from jail, social workers attempted a reconciliation between the two families.

But the family wanted nothing more to do with the man who had conned them into regarding him as a trustworthy friend – and Tomkins himself was not for changing his ways.

Almost immediately he began to abuse and obsessively stalk the victim.

`He would drive slowly past me in his car when I went to school and he’d walk up and down outside the gates,’ recalls Joanne. `I told the police, but they couldn’t do anything because he hadn’t touched me.

It seemed that everywhere I went he was always there, staring at me. I play in the local brass band and each time we played – at May Day or at festival times – he would walk alongside me when we were marching, staring at me with those eyes.

`I was so frightened at what he would do to me. Every time I saw him it made me cry.’

The victims parents became victims of a whispering campaign which suggested they gave tacit approval to the abuse.

`I ask any parent to try to imagine what it is like for their daughter to be molested like this,’ says the victims mother. `I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.

`Judges have got to sit up and take notice of what is going on. They need to start handing out longer sentences. We have to sit and watch the effects on our lovely daughter. It is with her for life. Of course, I am terribly, terribly angry.’

The family’s photo album shows the victim as a pretty, happy child. But today she tries to live again by hiding her looks and avoiding attention. She wears trousers and no make-up and is convinced she will never have a happy relationship with a man.

A devout Methodist, she says: `I am trying to forgive, but I will never forget. I don’t know if Tomkins will end up in hell. All I hope is that wherever he ends up I am on the other side.

`As for boys, I’ve never let myself get close to anyone in that way. I’d love to have children, but I don’t know if I could ever get involved with any man.’

Joanne, who is studying catering with an ambition to become a chef, wants to do as much as possible to prevent anyone else suffering in the way she has.

`I know people must wonder why on earth I have come forward to speak of what has happened to me.

`I don’t want sympathy and I don’t want anybody to feel sorry for me. I just hope that by talking about my experience, somebody who has the power to change things will do something to stop it from ever happening to anyone again.’

Only then, perhaps, will she be able to fully emerge from the shadow of the man who destroyed her past.

June 2003

This pervert pensioner ruined my life

A WOMAN who was sexually abused as a little girl bravely stood up in court to name and shame the pervert pensioner that “stole her innocence and childhood”. 

In the dock at the Central Criminal Court was John “Sean” Costello – 79 today – who was jailed on 16 counts of rape and five of indecent assault on the girl between 1988 and 1990.

But he will walk free in September next year because Judge Kevin O’Higgins suspended all but 18 months of his 11-year sentence. 

His victim, now 26, said: “He took my innocence and childhood from me. Every time I met him on the street the memories came flooding back. As a result, I had a rough time in my teenage years but I am now determined to get on with my life.” 

The woman said that in May 2000 she tried to take an overdose after meeting Costello on the street. 

Garda Sergeant William Carey told prosecuting lawyer George Birmingham the victim had a family connection to Costello of Hillview, Ballyhaise, Co Cavan. 

He had asked her to do the Lotto for him and when she took his ticket to his house he was always very friendly, giving her money and asking about her family. 

But after a few weeks he started asking her for a kiss on the cheek and then on the mouth. 

The court was told he started to “inappropriately touch” the victim a few weeks later. 

She said he would tell her they were good friends and that friends kept secrets. 

He also asked her if she liked what they were doing and if she was “getting a thrill”. 

Soon Costello was not satisfied with touching and began to rape her. He then subjected her to sexual abuse week after week. 

After she left his house, she would go to the grounds of a nearby church and cry. 

She used to get herself back together and try to look calm before returning to her sister’s house. 

One weekend he held her hands over her head as he was raping her. 

The woman said after this she started thinking it was not right and was determined to put an end to it. 

When she returned to his house the following weekend she told him he had to stop what he was doing. 

He became very angry and grabbed her by the throat. He threatened to hurt her family and sent her upstairs. 

She struggled with him in the bedroom but he pushed her onto the bed and tied her hands above her head. She stopped struggling out of fear. 

He told her he would hurt her family if she ever told anyone what had happened. 

Afterwards, he walked her to the door and told her to remember what he had said and that it was their special secret. 

But another time she was was asked to do the Lotto for him again. She planned to just leave the ticket in through his door but he was waiting for her. 

She told him again what he was doing was wrong but said if he did not harm her sister or her family, she would not tell anyone. 

She did not return to his house again during her childhood. 

It was only after the suicide attempt, which her housemate stopped, that the woman decided to confront Costello.

And she said she was very grateful for the support from her boyfriend and sisters in helping bring the case to light. The woman, her housemate and her sister then went to his house and the woman asked him if he remembered her.

He said he did and that she had been a “lovely girl”. 

She accused him of abusing her and raping her. He became flustered and claimed in their presence that he had fondled and groped her to which she replied he had also raped her on more than one occasion. 

But he said: “At least I did not give you a baby.” The woman then received a solicitor’s letter from him demanding an apology for accusing of rape. 

Gardai later got in contact with her and proceedings went from there. 

Costello also made an informal complaint to gardai a couple of days after she made the allegations. 

He has been in custody since his conviction on May 15. 

Costello had denied the charges during his four-day trial. But he had pleaded guilty previously to two counts of sexually abusing the victim between the same dates. 

Judge Higgins took Costello’s age and ill health into account when sentencing. 

He told the court: “There was a time when a man of his age would not go to jail.” 

But he said he would feel he had “not done his duty” if he did not give him at least a partial custodial sentence. 

He commended the victim on her courage and resilience and said she was now ready to get on with her life, “one which he had gone a long way to ruin”. 

He added that the members of his family were also victims of this case. 

Dressed in a red jacket, red tie and white shirt, Costello was led away from the court in handcuffs. 

The court was told that it had taken the victim years to come to terms with the brutal abuse she suffered. 

Judge O’Higgins also gave Costello 10 years for a number of rape charges, also to be suspended except for the final 18 months. 

He was handed down 15 months for the sexual assault charges and nine months for the two sexual assault charges to which he had pleaded guilty. 

And these sentences were to run concurrently. 

May 1999

Child sex pervert is jailed

A SICK child molester who abused three little girls was jailed for five years yesterday.

Ian Bruce, 53, admitted abusing the children – some when they were still babies – at various addresses in Pilton, near Edinburgh.

Two of his victims were only one-year-old when Bruce’s sick abuse began, the High Court in Glasgow heard.

He admitted three charges of abusing the girls, one of them from 1987 until 1998 and another from just two -years-old until she was nine.

Pleas of not guilty to two other sex charges were accepted by the Crown.

Bruce, who admitted a similar conviction in 1995, asked to change his plea to not guilty after admitting his guilt at a previous hearing. 

December 1995

Suspended term on sex charges

A BELFAST man who has already served a four year sentence for sex assaults on young boys was yesterday given a suspended jail term at the Crown Court for similar offences.

Francis Smyth (40), from Eglantine Avenue, had pleaded guilty to a total of eight charges of indecent assault and indecent conduct committed more than IS years ago.

At the time he was employed as an assistant chef at St Patrick’s training school in west Belfast, and the court heard the assaults were carried out against four inmates at the school in the staff room used by kitchen staff.

A jury acquitted him of a further charge of buggery against one of the boys.

September 2011

‘St Pat’s sex abuse destroyed my life’

WEST Belfast man who was sexually abused while resident  at the former St Patrick’s Boys’ Home on the Glen Road has spoken to the Andersonstown News about how his ordeal ruined his life and broke up his marriage.

The former resident came to  us to tell his story after he read in our paper last week that police are investigating historical allegations of child sex abuse at “an educational establishment in West Belfast” – an establishment we know to be St Patrick’s Boys’ Home.

The Glen Road institution, which was run by the De La Salle Order, was known locally as St Pat’s Home and operated until the year 2000. The Glenmona Resource Centre, which provides residential care to young people between the ages of 10 and 17, currently operates on the St Pat’s site. Glenmona has no association with St Pat’s and is totally unconnected to the police investigation.

Speaking to the Andersonstown News, the former resident, who entered the junior section of the school aged 12 in 1978 and left when he was 16, described how he was abused by a lay staff member at the institution.

“He called me one day to give him a hand, I didn’t know what it was for,” said the former resident, who asked not to be named. “The next thing he took me into the backroom and sexually abused me.  He tried it again a few times but that was the only time he sexually abused me. That happened to me in 1979, but I know of another three boys that he sexually abused.  I didn’t complain about it at the time as I didn’t think anyone would believe me.”

The former resident also described how a De La Salle brother at the home would touch him in an inappropriate way when he walked past.

“He did it in front of staff and everything, and did it to other boys too,” he remembered. “He used to call you ‘Love’ as well.  That brother was never charged with anything.”

The victim said the trauma of the abuse led him into a life of petty crime when he left the facility at aged 16, meaning he spent numerous spells in prison. He described how he ran ­into his abuser again  while serving a prison sentence in  Crumlin Road Gaol in 1986.

“There were ordinary criminals on one side of the prison where I was, and sex offenders on the other side of the prison,” he recalled. “He was in for sexually abusing somebody and I saw him.  I was walking down the stairs one night and spotted him coming out of his cell and I just looked at him. He looked at me and I just walked on. It brought it all flooding back to me.”

He spoke of how he kept the abuse secret from his wife as he struggled to lead a settled life, until he received a visit from police officers investigating abuse claims made against his old tormentor.

“I had kept all this from my wife for 12 years until the day the police came to my door 15 years ago,” he said. “I thought they were looking for me in relation to something else, but they said to me that allegations had been made against this man by a couple of pupils [at St Pat’s] and that I was mentioned. I just broke down. I told them everything.  I kept it all from my wife and told her absolutely nothing until the day the police came.

“After that I took an overdose as it brought all the memories back again. I hit the drink and in time my marriage broke up.  It was a horrible time when I was in the home and when the abuse happened, but to tell you the truth, dealing with the aftermath was the worst bit.”

After the police contacted him, the victim agreed to give evidence against his abuser.

“The day I was due to testify against him in court I was in Magilligan Prison for petty crime,” he said. “They brought me up to the court but I couldn’t even get up in the box to give evidence against him.  I asked the solicitor to take me back down to the cells again, but he [the abuser] ended up pleading guilty and was convicted of gross indecency and indecent assault against me.  That was November 1996. But he only got a suspended sentence for it as he was already a convicted sex offender at the time and was on one of those sex offender programmes.

“I had also told the police when they contacted me about the brother touching me up every time I went past him, but nothing ever happened with that.”

While in Magilligan Prison in October 1996, he wrote to St Patrick’s Boys’ Home asking for an apology for the abuse he suffered.

“I got no reply,” he said.

“So when I was released in January 1997 I went up to St Patrick’s and asked in person for an apology, and still never got one.  I was in a bar in town about six or seven years ago and his name was brought up in conversation.  A girl said he was dead and that he had lived over in the university district.”

The victim said reading the article in last week’s Andersonstown News “brought it all back to me again”.

“It just sickens me,” he said. “I’m an alcoholic now, I don’t work.  Up until 15 years ago I was involved in petty crime because of the abuse. Once I left St Pat’s I was in Hydebank three times a year through drink, then Crumlin Road.  I got married and the crime slowed down and stopped.

“This abuse mucked my head up.  I want to see the brother who touched me charged and locked up, he’s probably still alive. They were supposed to be looking after me and instead I was getting sexually abused,” he continued.

“I felt no-one would believe me if I told them and that no-one was on my side.  There are a lot of people that were sexually abused in that home and they just haven’t come forward.  This is only the tip of the iceberg. There’s people out there who have been sexually abused by this man.”

January 2014

De La Salle brothers apologise for abuse

AN order of Catholic Brothers has apologised to boys abused in their care in an opening submission to the inquiry into historical institutional abuse.

Two children’s homes run by the Catholic de La Salle order are among 13 being investigated by the inquiry which held a second day of hearings yesterday.

A barrister acting for the de la Salle order said they “accept and deeply regret that boys in their care were abused”.

The order ran St Patrick’s Training School in west Belfast, which was a juvenile justice centre, and de La Salle Boys’ Home, rubane House, in Kircubbin, Co down.

The Sisters of Nazareth also apologised “unreservedly for any abuse suffered by children in their care”.

Four children’s homes, which were run by the order of nuns in Belfast and Derry, are part of the inquiry which is the largest of its kind in the UK and could cost up to £19 million.

The inquiry is investigating allegations of sexual, physical and emotional abuse in state, voluntary and Church-run institutions between 1922 and 1995.

More than 300 victims are set to testify to the three-member panel during hearings which are expected to last 18 months. Representing the de la Salle order, Kevin Rooney QC said the brothers recognised that some of their members had caused “immense pain” to children which was “in contradiction to their vocation”.

“First and foremost the brothers would wish to say publicly at the outset of this inquiry that they accept and deeply regret that boys in their care were abused,” he said.

“They wish to offer their sincere and unreserved apology to all those whom they failed to protect…

“The brothers recognise the immense pain and suffering and damage caused to those victims who have been abused.

“The brothers recognise the sense of betrayal that the victims have experienced and the violation of trust caused by certain brothers within the order. They recognise that there have been failures to protect the victims.”

Mr rooney said the order “deeply regrets” the action of some members which had “irreparably damaged” its reputation and undermined “the selfless care provided by so many of the brothers in pursuance of their vocation”.

The inquiry also heard an admission for the Sisters of Nazareth.

Turlough Montague QC said the order has been “appalled and shocked” by the experiences people have recounted to the inquiry team.

“They apologise unreservedly for any abuse suffered by children in their care. They go forward hoping that lessons will be learned not just by them in the provision of care but also by carers generally in society and the wider society at large,” he said.

Mr Montague said the sisters were “very anxious to ensure full co-operation with the inquiry” and “have already begun their period of reflection on the past”.

The Health and Social Care Board legal representative Moira Smyth also apologised to those affected “where the board failed to meet acceptable standards for the care and upbringing of children in institutions and that resulted in wrong-doing”.

A solicitor for the department of Justice said the department recognised that childhood abuse “can stunt potential and trigger a down

ward spiral in which the victim may suffer lifelong physical and psychological impairment, educational underachievement and economic disad-vantage”.

Almost half of the institutions being examined were run by the Catholic Church.

Senior counsel to the inquiry Christine Smyth QC said that, in light of an admission that abuse occurred, the probe would have to consider “what was known about this, by whom, when and what was done about it”.

“What steps were taken to avoid any repetition and how did the congregation deal with the matter generally? Were police involved? If not, why not?” she added. other matters to be considered include how complaints of abuse were dealt with, whether institutions were inspected and background checks carried out on staff, what records were kept, whether children received medical care and if children whose parents could not afford to donate to the institution were treated differently.

June 1999

OAP gets five years for sex abuse of girls

AN ELDERLY paedophile, who sexually abused six young girls he lured to his home, has been jailed for five years.

William Page, 70, preyed on the girls over a five-month period after he became friendly with the parents of his first victim.

Page, a retired painter and decorator, inveigled his way into the family’s affections after redecorating their home.

The mother, who is suffering from a serious illness, cooked Sunday dinner for the pensioner and would send her daughter to deliver the meal to his home.

In time, Page offered to baby-sit for the family to alleviate some of the strain.

He began abusing the girl and her friends who also called at his home.

Page pleaded guilty to six charges of lewd, indecent and libidinous behaviour between October 1998 and February 1999 at the High Court in Edinburgh 

Update: Smith will now be eligible for release in 2015, but will only be freed once he can convince the parole board he is no longer a danger to the public.

April 2009

Schoolgirl killer poses less risk

Child killer Craig Smith pictured above in 1999

A LONER who killed a vulnerable schoolgirl and dumped her body in a river has had his 18 year jail term cut by a year.

Craig Aaron Smith, now 30, was found guilty at Chester Crown Court in May 1999 of murdering 13-year-old schoolgirl Claire Hart as she made her way to school from her home in Eaton, near Congleton.

Smith, formerly of Clayton Avenue, Buglawton, was jailed for life and ordered to spend at least 18 years behind bars.

Yesterday at London’s High Court, Mr Justice Jack reduced that tariff to 17 years, ruling that Smith’s minimum term had wrongly been increased because he was perceived as dangerous.

The judge also said that Smith, who “erected a devious defence of many lies” at his trial, now says he can remember what happened on June 18, 1998.

He claims that Claire caused an “explosion of his own built up rage and resentment”, and as a result of now being able to talk about it, the risk he poses has been lowered.

Mr Justice Jack said he had “no means of knowing whether that will in fact be so”, and said that he couldn’t reduce the tariff on the basis of any therapy Smith is now receiving.

The court heard that Smith, described by the trial judge as having an “abnormal and emotionally unstable personality”, met Claire when she was making her way to school.

After beating her, Smith, of Buglawton, strangled the youngster then dumped her body in the River Dane, where it wasn’t found for five days. He told police that he had said goodbye to Claire when she was alive and well and someone else must have been responsible.

But Mr Justice Jack said that, although the evidence against him was circumstantial, it was also compelling. A few days earlier he had falsely told his parents of a rumour that he had killed a young girl.

He also asked his mother to wash the tracksuit bottoms he was wearing on the day of the killing, while after the trial it emerged he was in the habit of spending time with young children, telling one of them that he strangled people he didn’t like.

Smith will now be eligible for release in 2015, but will only be freed once he can convince the parole board he is no longer a danger to the public.

May 1999

Loner jailed for schoolgirl’s murder 

A 20-year-old “loner” who spent hours exploring the woods and caves near his home has been convicted of murdering schoolgirl Claire Hart.

A jury found Craig Smith guilty of beating the 13-year-old before shooting her with an air rifle and strangling her.

Smith, who was unemployed, was given a life sentence for what the judge said was the “callous and brutal” murder of a vulnerable young girl.

Mr Justice Maurice Kay told Smith he was a very dangerous young man who had no sense of remorse for the terrible crime he had committed.

He said he would recommend to the Home Secretary Jack Straw that he should serve a “very long time” in prison.

Smith waylaid Claire as she made her way to school from her home in the village of Eaton, near Congleton, Cheshire.

Her body was found five days later in the fast-flowing river Dane.

Smith, from Buglawton, near Congleton, had denied murder.

He said he had met Claire on the morning she disappeared in June last year, but said she had left him to go to Dane Valley High School.

But after the 10-day trial at Chester Crown Court, the jury returned a unanimous verdict.

Claire met Smith as she walked from her home along a footpath on the A536 road between Macclesfield and Congleton.

Patrick Harrington, QC, prosecuting, said that within minutes, Smith had beaten her, shot her and strangled her to death.

He said Smith tried to dispose of the body by throwing it into the river, then returned home and behaved for the rest of the day as if “nothing extraordinary had happened”.

But the jury was told Smith had given some clues as to what he had done by showing a “preoccupation” with going back to the scene, where he had been seen at least twice during the afternoon.

Mr Harrington said that five days before Claire’s death on 18 June, Smith had told his parents he had heard a rumour that he had killed a young girl, when there had been no such rumour.

Smith had been “living out a prophecy”, he said.

Amith said he denied seeing Claire because he had heard she had gone missing and did not want anything to do with it.

At the time of her death, Claire and her younger sister had been taken into care, and she had been living with her prospective adoptive parents.

She had been neither physically nor emotionally mature, but had been a friendly girl who trusted people, Mr Harrington said.

Her murder had been “brutal, senseless and without any motive the prosecution have been able to discern”.

May 1999

Schoolgirl ‘strangled by loner’

A teenage girl was beaten, shot and strangled by a loner who preferred the company of young children, Chester crown court was told yesterday.

Craig Aaron Smith, 20, is accused of murdering Claire Hart, 13, as she walked from her home in Eaton, Cheshire, to school last June.

Patrick Harrington, prosecuting, told the court that Smith was an ‘obvious loner who had few friends of his own age’. He spent a great deal of his time with younger boys and girls.

‘In a sense the defendant was living out a prophesy,’ as five days before Claire was murdered he had told his parents of a rumour that he had killed a young girl. Mr Harrington said: ‘They did not recognise the importance of what he had said until Claire went missing.

‘There was no such rumour,’ Mr Harrington said. ‘He had voiced to his parents the awful thing he was going to do within a week.’ Within minutes of meeting Claire on June 18, he had ‘beaten her, shot her with an air rifle and strangled her.’ He threw her body into the river Dane, where it was not recovered for five days.

Smith, a fettler, of Buglawton, near Congleton, pleaded not guilty to murder.

Mr Harrington told the jury Claire had been sexually abused, taken into care and placed with her prospective adoptive parents in September 1994.

He said Smith had told police he felt out of place with people of his own age. He had an intimate knowledge of the wooded area near where Claire’s body was found, and was frequently seen there wearing camouflage clothes.

A 10-year-old boy recalled how Smith had shown him a 2ft long piece of rope while they were talking in the wood. Mr Harrington said Smith told the boy ‘This is what I use to strangle people I don’t like.’ The trial continues……..

November 1999

Gospel man jailed for sexual abuse of boys

A CHURCH youth leader gained the trust of two schoolboys and then sexually abused them while they were out spreading the gospel, Birmingham Crown Court heard.

Owen Reid, who carried out some of the offences over 20 years ago, was jailed for eight months.

In passing sentence Judge Peter Crawford QC said Reid had played with his victims “like toys” from a position of power but accepted that what happened had occurred a long time ago.

Reid (48) formerly of Albion Road, Sparkbrook, admitted four charges of indecent assault relating to the boys.

Miss Rachel Brand, prosecuting, said in the 1970s Reid, who regarded himself as a committed Christian, was heavily involved in a church in the city called the New Testament Church of God, based in Highgate.