Latest Offenders Abergele

Description

A CONVICTED sex offender from Abergele who used multiple aliases to speak to children has been jailed.

Arfon Griffiths, 44, of Ger y Mor, was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment at Caernarfon Crown Court today (March 15).

He had previously admitted numerous counts of breaching his sexual harm prevention order, two offences of failing to comply with sex offenders register notification requirements, and one charge of attempted sexual communication with a child.

Prosecuting, David Mainstone told the court that Griffiths became a convicted sex offender in 2013, when he was jailed for inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

It was because of this conviction that he became subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

But on February 17, 2023, using the name “Liam Williams”, he sent a series of messages on social media to a girl, placing him in breach of the order.

When police attended Griffiths’ home on March 9, 2023, a mobile phone found under a mattress was seized by officers.

Analysis of the phone found that Griffiths had been communicating with four other girls, whom he told he was a 17-year-old, on the internet.

In the case of three of the four girls, the communication was not sexual in nature, brief and garnered little response, though Griffiths did compliment them on their looks.

But communication was sexual with the fourth girl, who was described as being “extremely vulnerable”.

Griffiths complimented her on her cleavage, told her she would be “amazing in bed”, and asked her to send him a “sexy pic”.

In communicating with four of these girls, Griffiths used another name; “Lee Jones” – he had failed to disclose either aliases with police.

One of Griffiths’ victims said his actions have made her feel “unsafe” and “anxious”, adding that she worries about seeing him and suffers nightmares about him.

She said: “I used to enjoy going out with my friends when we were off school. However, now, I second-guess whether to go.

“I never thought it could happen to me.”

Defending Griffiths, who had one previous conviction for two offences, Elen Owen said he has made “full and frank admissions” about his offending behaviour.

Griffiths has, “in his own words”, Ms Owen said, “let himself down”, and “beats himself up about what he’s done”.

“He hasn’t, at any stage, sought to make excuses,” she added.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Saffman criticised the decision to initially bail Griffiths, rather than remand him in custody, as he was at a later date.

Griffiths “should never, ever” have been bailed, Judge Saffman said.

She added: “The impact that’s been caused to her (the victim who gave the aforementioned statement) is as a result of an error made by those who took the decision to bail him.”

An indefinite restraining order was issued, while Judge Saffman ordered all devices seized from Griffiths to be forfeited and destroyed.

Description

A paedophile arranged to pick up who he thought was a 13-year-old girl from her Liverpool school for sex. Paul Ellis, 64, thought he was speaking to a girl called Courtney, but it was actually a police decoy.

He cancelled the meeting with the "girl", but was later arrested. The defendant, of Market Street, Abergele, admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence in September 2021.

A judge at Mold Crown Court said he poses a risk of serious harm to children and jailed him for five and a half years. The judge - Mr Recorder Simon Mills - said: "The risk of serious harm to children is obvious."

The court heard Ellis had received a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for earlier offending. But he started to re-offend within three months of the end of his Probation Service supervision.

Prosecutor Simon Mintz told how in September 2021 Ellis started an online conversation with "Courtney", claiming he was a 45-year-old man called Dave. Ellis used WhatsApp to ask sexualised questions and whether she was in a school uniform.

He arranged to pick up "Courtney" from her school in Liverpool on September 24 and take her back to his flat in North Wales. He also offered to help get her on the pill.

Days before the meeting he cancelled it but asked "Courtney" to keep it a secret. Mr Mintz said Ellis was arrested and initially claimed he did not know "Courtney" was a child.

But he later admitted the arranging offence and also breaching a SHPO. One of two iPhones, which police seized and which "mirrored each other", had had a virtual private network on it, the court heard.

Sarah Badrawy, defending, said her client had admitted his offences and that there had been a lack of offending since these crimes in 2021. The judge told Ellis he had lied about his name and age and had had "sexualised" online conversations with the "girl".

He had then arranged to have sex with her. The judge said: "You pose an imminent risk of serious harm to children.

"I accept your offending revolving entirely around decoys (but) you believed you were talking to a child and arranging to meet them. The risk of serious harm to children is obvious.

"You are now and you will continue to pose for the foreseeable future a significant risk of serious harm to members of the public and small children." The judge said if Ellis offended again he could face life imprisonment.

Imposing the five and a half year prison term he said he would be supervised for an extended period of four years. He also gave Ellis a ten-month concurrent jail term for breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

The SHPO will continue for life, he added.

Description

A man arranged to meet a "13-year-old girl" at the shops for sex who was in reality an undercover police officer. Martin Woodward, of Conwy, fixed up the meeting but never went through with it.

But he contacted the girl called Leah - who was really an undercover police officer - later and was traced through the internet. Officers called at his home in the rural village of Llanfairtalhaiarn one morning and he was arrested.

The defendant pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence - sexual assault on a child. A judge at Caernarfon Crown Court jailed him for five years and four months.

Prosecutor John Philpotts said the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit had discovered a user calling themselves Woody84 on the platform Chat 1B on June 20. He said they found that the defendant - Woodward - was communicating with a "13-year-old" child called Leah.

He said he was 38 which was true, and originally from Salford but now from North Wales, which was also true. But "13-year-old Leah" was really an undercover police officer, the court heard.

Mr Philpotts said their conversation moved to Google hangouts and became sexual. Woodward asked Leah "Are you a thong or a panties girl?" and made a reference to "Frenchies" or French knickers.

He said he would remove her knickers and and incited her to play truant from school to meet him for sexual activity. He sent her a photo of an "athletic" male - which was not of him.

And "Leah" sent her a photo of a young female - which was not Leah. The court heard that the following day, June 21, Woodward arranged to meet Leah at Chester Greyhound Retail Park at noon that day to have sex even though Woodward knew Leah was 13 and a virgin.

But Mr Philpotts said Woodward didn't go. The next day he messaged Leah to apologise. He then sent Leah a photo of a female in sexually-provocative clothes and asked her if she would wear the same clothes.

However police had identified Woodward using his Internet Protocol (IP) address which had his date of birth and address in it.

Officers went to his house in Cae Glas, Llanfairtalhaiarn near Abergele just before 7am on June 27 and he was arrested. He admitted several offences.

Ember Wong, defending, said her client had not gone to the Chester meeting and the image he sent was of a fully-clothed female. But she accepted it had been a "worrying development in his offending pattern." He was managing his depressive symptoms "entirely inappropriately".

He had pleaded guilty and wants to become a law abiding citizen. The judge Her Honour Nicola Saffman jailed Woodward for five years and four months for the arranging offence.

She also gave him a two-month, concurrent sentence for attempting to cause a female under 16 to engage in sexual communication between June 19 and June 27 this year.

She said the terms of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order from a previous offence will remain in place and Woodward must keep to notification requirements for a sex offender indefinitely.

Description

A MAN from Abergele was sentenced to prison after making more than 800 indecent photographs of children.

Gary Johnson, 53, of Tegfan, was jailed for two years and eight months at Caernarfon Crown Court today (March 23).

He was also handed an indefinite restraining order and a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), while he was made subject to sex offenders register notification requirements indefinitely.

Prosecuting, Rosemary Proctor told the court that Johnson’s home was searched by North Wales Police officers on January 5, 2022 following a referral from the National Crime Agency.

This resulted in his phone and laptop being seized, and the following was found:

• 591 Category C indecent images of a child.
• 100 Category B indecent images of a child.
• 130 Category A indecent images of a child.
• 23 images which portrayed a person performing oral sex with a horse.

The majority of the images, which Johnson had made himself, depicted females aged between three and seven, with the youngest child being two years old.

In a small number of images, the child depicted was shown to be in distress, while in others, a different child was tied up while being abused.

Others were pseudo images, namely digitally modified photos of childhood photographs.

Johnson then set up an online message thread inviting people to share similar photos with him via the app “Kik”.

When interviewed by police in October 2022, he denied being sexually attracted to children, but admitted being sexually attracted to one of the people he made digitally modified images of.

A statement from one of Johnson’s victims read that they had suffered serious mental health issues as a result of his actions.

They were said to have “really turned my life around”, but then added their “life has turned upside down” once again following a visit from the police in October 2022.

The victim felt “completely betrayed", “angry”, “scared” and “violated”.

They added: “This whole process has made question who I trust. These images were made on a public forum, and I had no control over who viewed them.”

Johnson had one previous conviction for actual bodily harm more than 20 years ago.

Defending, Elen Owen said Johnson had told her: "Whatever punishment I get, I deserve it”.

His life was said to have changed after more than two decades in the Armed Forces, and during the COVID-19 pandemic, he found himself alone and working from home.

There was also evidence that the Kik app had been deleted from his devices prior to the police seizing them.

Johnson has lost his job since this matter came to light, and was said to be fearing also losing his home.

His actions had “torn the family apart”, Ms Owen said, with his adult children now estranged from him.

She added that Johnson had “shown extreme remorse” and has completed a course with Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity dedicated solely to preventing child sexual abuse.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Saffman told Johnson: “(There were) images of real children being raped, being abused, being tortured… this is not a victimless crime.

“Real children suffered as a result of what you sought out.

“You then joined this online community of like-minded individuals - I’ll call you all paedophiles, because that’s what you are.

“You had an active involvement in a network that facilitated the creation and sharing of images of children.”

The terms of Johnson’s SHPO include him being prohibited from:

• Using any computer or device capable of accessing the Internet unless notifying police, who must ensure it has the capacity to retain and display Internet use.
• Deleting his Internet browsing history.
• Withholding his devices from being investigated by police on their request.
• Using “incognito mode” or “private browsing”.
• Using any social media profile under any name other than Gary Johnson, or another police-approved name.
• Living in any household with a child younger than 18, or entering and remaining in any such household, unless express approval is provided from social services.
• Engaging in unsupervised contact or communication of any kind with a child younger than 18, other than that which is inadvertent, or with the consent of the child’s parent or guardian, who has knowledge of his conviction, and with social services’ express approval.

Johnson must also notify police of any changes to his address and name.

His indefinite restraining order prohibited him from contacting one of his victims directly or indirectly, attending any premises where he knows or believes they reside, work, or study, or referring to them on the Internet directly or indirectly (or encouraging any third party to do so).

To the victim in question, who appeared in court, Judge Saffman added: “It has taken a lot of courage for you to attend court today. Don’t be crushed by this.”