December 2014
Plymouth paedophile jailed for six years for abusing two girls
A PAEDOPHILE who sexually assaulted two girls has been jailed for six years.
Paul Warren Scott, aged 46, abused the children and attempted to indecently touch another more than 20 years ago, a jury decided.
One of his victims only came forward after reading a newspaper report about his trial for possession of vile images of girls three years ago, Plymouth Crown Court heard.
Scott, of Hill Park Crescent, Greenbank, went on trial again over four days when he denied five offences.
But he was convicted on all counts by unanimous verdicts after just over two hours of deliberation.
Scott was found guilty of indecently assaulting one girl three times in Plymouth between 1990 and 1992.
He also indecently assaulted another child once and attempted to indecently assault another in Torbay between 1986 and 1991.
The three victims all gave evidence – but Scott accused them all of telling lies.
Judge Graham Cottle jailed him for five years for the Plymouth sexual assaults with another 12 months consecutive for the Torbay attack.
He will serve half of that time behind bars, but will remain on the Sex Offender Register for life.
Scott has also been given an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order meaning he cannot stay with anyone under 16.
Judge Cottle said reports of his trial at Truro Crown Court for possessing indecent images had encouraged his victims to come forward.
He added: “It is very likely that but for what happened in July 2011 that each one of the complainants would have gone to their graves nursing the secret of being sexually abused by you. Maybe this trial will give them some closure.”
Scott, who has lived in Plymouth and Torbay and worked as a butcher and carpenter, was convicted of having almost 400 indecent child images. He was jailed for 30 weeks.
His Plymouth victim came forward and then police traced the other girls.
Officer in the case DC Simon Rawlinson said after the verdicts: “This trial came about because of a good positive report by The Herald.
“Those allegations gave these victims the confidence to come forward. They have been very brave in giving their evidence.
“Scott has received a well-reasoned and just sentence.”
Scott’s former partner Kate Tolman, who gave evidence at the indecent images trial, returned to the stand again when he disputed the verdict from 2011.
She called the police when she found the vile pictures on his phone.
Ms Tolman said: “It is a brilliant sentence. I am very pleased and proud of the witnesses. It takes a lot of guts to give evidence.”
DC Rawlinson urged anyone else affected by issues in the case to contact police on telephone number 101.
September 2011
Man jailed for downloading child abuse pictures
A carpenter found guilty of downloading almost 400 indecent images of children after his girlfriend shopped him to police has been jailed.
Paul Warren Scott has been sentenced to 30 weeks in prison and ordered to register as a child sex offender for 10 years.
A judge at Truro Crown Court said he had little alternative but to imprison Scott, 42, who refused to accept that he had a problem and seemed unlikely to engage with any programmes designed to rehabilitate sex offenders.
Outside court, Scott’s former partner Jillian Kate Tolman, who reported him to the police after discovering some of the images on his mobile phone, welcomed the prison sentence and urged others to help stamp out the menace of child pornography.
She said: “I’m happy he’s been given a custodial sentence. The more people you convict of this sort of thing, the better place the world’s going to be.
“I certainly don’t regret calling the police and I would urge other people to do the same.”
Scott, of no fixed abode but formerly from Plymouth, was convicted in July of 13 counts of making and possessing 390 indecent images of children between September 2006 and October 2009.
Nine images were found on his mobile phone with the remainder discovered on three computers he owned and a fourth he used at his then-girlfriend’s home, at Saltash, in South East Cornwall, where she lived with her three children.
Miss Tolman reported Scott to the police on October 30 2009 after flicking through pictures on his mobile phone and discovering indecent images of a young girl.
However, Scott maintained his innocence and insisted that a friend, whom he refused to name, had carried out the crimes.
Deni Mathews, defending, told the court yesterday that Scott had lost his job, his home and his family life and the convictions would continue to “have a profound impact on him in the future”.
In sentencing Scott to an immediate term in prison, Judge Christopher Elwen said: “You still deny downloading any of the images involved and claim a third party, whom you were not prepared to name, was responsible for everything that was found.
“That case was rejected by the jury in less than half an hour.
“The thought is that you won’t engage with any of the accredited programmes because in your view no help is needed.”
He added that although the offences involved the possession of indecent images, rather than actually abusing victims, “it is nevertheless the case that there is significant physical and psychological harm inflicted on children by those who produce these images and put them out on the internet for people to find.”
