Latest Offenders Cheshire

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A PROLIFIC paedophile who was snared by vigilantes who posed as children has been jailed for over nine years.

Mark Baber, 43, was duped by paedophile hunters after attempting to engage in sexual activity with what he thought were children via online chat rooms before he was brought to justice, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

The conviction comes after it was widely reported earlier this month that evidence gained from paedophile hunters was used to charge suspects in England and Wales on at least 150 occasions last year.

Babers predatory attempts in December last year were exposed after he sent crude messages and sexually graphic pictures as he looked to secure encounters with children using his dark high speed grooming tactics.

The defendant was then tracked to his Fareham home address where he was nowhere to be found before he was finally hunted down and discovered at his work. Police arrested him the following day.

(Baber) was talking to three women posing as children in chat rooms where he made a number of sexual suggestions and sent crude photos of himself before the team found him, prosecutor Timothy Compton said.

Baber also downloaded over 20 disturbing images of children aged between two and 14 years of age.

When police turned up at his address they found he had deleted his internet history - something he was prohibited from doing under the terms of an order from his previous term of imprisonment for similar offences.

The court also heard how Baber befriended a lady with his ulterior motives laid bare when he started texting her daughter. On one occasion, the predator sent the girl a message saying he would get her a sex toy with a bean bag cushion.

He also capitalised on an opportunity to spend time alone with the child when the mum fell asleep further putting him in breach of his conditions with him not allowed to be by himself with a child.

The mums horror was compounded when she searched Baber on the internet and found out he was a paedophile.

The court heard how the child offender had 26 previous convictions and was sentenced to 48 months prison in 2013 for similar offences after downloading a string of vile child images and attempted to incite children into sexual activity.

In defence, Daniel Reilly, said Baber was released in October 2017 before finding himself homeless and abandoned by his family who wanted nothing more to do with him which had resulted in him losing out on a significant amount of family inheritance.

(Baber) knew he did wrong and wanted to stop, Mr Reilly said.

The defence solicitor then told the court of the paedophiles remorse. Im totally ashamed of what I did. I want to make sure this is never repeated, Baber said.

Baber, of Riverside Avenue, Warrington, admitted attempting to incite children into sexual activity, deleting his internet history, distributing images of children and for breaching his sexual offences order.

After sentencing Baber to nine years and three months in prison, judge Robert Hill said: You did your best to incite sex with children. The only difference was that you were being set up.

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Deported from the US, currently residing in the UK

A Muscatine man has pleaded guilty to sexual abuse in the third degree.

Oliver John Verne, 45, waived his right to a delay and proceeded immediately to sentencing.

The court imposed a prison sentence for a term not to exceed 10 years.

In addition he will be on supervised release as if on parole for the remainder of his life when he completes the prison sentence.

Verne will also be required to register as a sex offender.

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A man who raped a 12-year-old girl at a house party has been jailed.

Connor Freeman, 19, of Victoria Road, Dukinfield , was at a party where he met the young girl.

They ended up in a bedroom together where Freeman went on to rape her.

The girl initially confided in a friend who told her mother and it was reported to police.

Greater Manchester Police launched an investigation and Freeman was arrested.

Freeman pleaded guilty to rape of a girl under 13-years-old at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to 40 months in prison and placed on a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely, following a hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court.

DC Rochelle Evans, of the Phoenix Team in Tameside, said: Child sexual exploitation takes place in many forms.

In this case the victim was raped by Freeman, who paid no heed to the fact that she was only 12-years-old at the time.

I want to commend the girl for her bravery in reporting what happened to her and helping to stop Freeman from preying on any more girls.

Please visit www.itsnotokay.co.uk for information for children, young people, parents, carers and professionals on how to spot the signs of child sex exploitation and what to do about it.

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A paedophile has been jailed for a minimum of 10 years after abducting a young girl in Ellesmere Port, and subjecting her to a horrific sex attack.

A paedophile who kidnapped and raped an 11-year-old girl after grabbing her off the street in Ellesmere Port as she walked home was branded the living embodiment of every parent's worst nightmare,'' as he was jailed.

Paul Ripley, 53, abducted the terrified youngster in on a winter's night last year, Chester Crown Court heard.

The girl was near her house walking from a friend's home around 7pm last November 7 when Ripley pulled up in his car, bundled her into the passenger seat and drove off.

A witness heard a girl scream and a car drive off at speed and as her frantic parents searched the streets and called police, Ripley drove the girl hundreds of miles north, before pulling into a field.

There he raped her twice then wrapped duct tape over her mouth and eyes before abandoning her in a village near Darlington, County Durham, in the early hours of the morning.

She flagged a passing taxi down, telling the driver: I don't know where I am. I've been raped...''

But police were quickly able to trace Ripley's silver Hyundai car as it drove back south to Cheshire, arresting Ripley on the M6 in Lancashire, within hours of the attack.

The defendant's DNA was recovered from the girl and Ripley admitted two counts of rape, kidnap and dangerous driving at an earlier hearing.

Today he was given an extended sentence on licence, meaning he will serve between 10 and 16 years in jail before parole depending on an assessment of his dangerousness and be on licence under supervision for 24 years in all.

Ripley, originally from the Darlington area but living in Ellesmere Port at the time, showed no emotion as he was sentenced.

Judge Nicholas Woodward told him: This must have been a harrowing ordeal where you specifically targeted a vulnerable child for your own sexual gratification.

Children's freedom in modern society is affected by the concern caused by people like you.

You are a very dangerous man, that is to say you present a significant risk to members of the public.

In short, you are the living embodiment of every parent's worst nightmare.''

Police say Ripley, who had 27 previous convictions but none for anything so serious before and none for the last 13 years, has not been forensically linked to any unsolved sex attacks.

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A BIRCHWOOD man with a history of sex offending has been jailed after grabbing a woman and groping her.

Sean Steven Taylor, aged 23, of Layton Close, attacked the 51-year-old woman during the afternoon of July 19, in Birchwood.

Cheshire Police says Taylor grabbed her from behind, forcing his hands up her top and assaulting her.

Taylor then threw the victim to the floor and ran off.

Police officers identified the pervert from CCTV footage at the scene.

He was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a female aged over 18.

Taylor pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court on Friday, and was jailed for 28 months.

He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

DC Richard Kirby said "Sexual offences are horrific crimes which cause great distress to the victims and their families.

The use of CCTV in this case was essential to swiftly identifying the offender and bringing him to justice."

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Ex-BBC broadcaster Stuart Hall has been sentenced to an extra two years and six months in prison for two counts of indecently assaulting a girl.

Hall, 84, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, will start the sentence after completing a 30-month term for similar offences.

He admitted indecently assaulting the girl when she was 13 and was found guilty of one count in a majority jury verdict at Preston Crown Court.

He was cleared of 15 rape charges and four indecent assaults.

The charge Hall admitted involved an incident at a dinner party where he crept into his victim's bedroom and assaulted her.

'Vile bravado'

Sentencing him, Mr Justice Turner, said there had been "an element of grooming" to his offences.

Mr Justice Turner said there had been a "breach of trust" in relation to the assault on the girl when she was 13.

He said that Hall had acted with "a sense of arrogance and immunity... vile bravado and horrible betrayal".

He added that the 84-year-old had shown "a lack of candour or remorse" and criticised him for not admitting to these offences when he was convicted of other offences in 2013.

Hall did not react to the sentence as he listened to the proceedings through headphones, while his victim, who was also in court, wiped away tears with a handkerchief as details of the offences were mentioned.

The former broadcaster, who was accused of abusing two girls between 1976 and 1981, is already serving a 30-month jail term after he pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting 13 other girls, one as young as nine.

His original 15-month sentence, for abuse that occurred between 1967 and 1985, was later doubled at the Court of Appeal.

Speaking after the hearing, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for the North West, Nazir Afzal, said Hall's convictions "were only made possible by the courage of his victims".

"I would like to thank them for coming forward and ensuring that he was brought to justice," he said.

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A DANGEROUS sexual predator strangled and punched a 21-year-old woman after following her from work in Widnes.

Patrick Sullivan, of Cleveleys Avenue in Widnes, had been drinking at the bar where his victim worked before the assault on Cross Street just after midnight on January 26.

The father of four had admitted ABH but had denied any sexual motive. He was subsequently found guilty of intent to commit a sexual offence at trial.

Judge Andrew Hatton said when sentencing Sullivan: This a young womans worst nightmare. She was alone late at night in a quiet, secluded location and became concerned that she was being followed.

She crossed the road twice deliberately to see if she really was being followed and you matched her every move. She was then jumped on from behind, strangled by your arm and wrestled to the ground.

Further violence followed, including punches to her face. Your interest was not in her money or phone as she offered you both in an attempt to stop the assault. Nor was your interest in her upper body or breasts.

Your hands went straight to her jeans. You intended to commit either rape or a very serious sexual offence.

The court heard how heavy snow fall that evening meant a colleague, who was supposed to give the victim a lift home, was not prepared to risk driving.

Judge Hatton continued: Within moments of parting from her work colleague, the victim turned onto a quiet residential road of terraced houses where she was strangled from behind and then subjected to an assault occasioning actual bodily harm."

During the incident Sullivan was disturbed and fled, pursued by a man and the police were called.

Judge Hatton added: What was described as old fashioned detective work led to your arrest. Had it not been for footprints in the snow you would never have been detained.

Sullivan, aged 52, was jailed for four years at Liverpool Crown Court on August 21. He will serve at least two thirds of his sentence before remaining on license for six years when released.

Judge Hatton concluded: You argued that you were just messing about, a defence which was quite rightly in my opinion, nonsensed by the jury.

I accept that you had been drinking but I do not accept you were intoxicated to the extent that you describe.

You dealt a gratuitous kick to the back of the young women as you left and you did so as an act of frustration that your plans to sexually assault her had been thwarted.

I consider the extended license to be necessary for the protection of members of the public from an extremely dangerous sexual predator.

Sullivan will also be placed on the sex offenders' register for life.

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A SERIAL sex predator struck at a Crewe charity shop just two weeks after being released from prison.

Daniel OGrady, 47, of London Road, Sandbach, was convicted at Chester Crown Court on Thursday of sexually assaulting a young mum in the DebRA charity shop on September 11 last year.

He denied a charge of touching without consent but was found guilty after a two-day trial. He was cleared of a second count of sexual assault against an unidentified young girl in the same shop.

The jury heard how he approached his victim from behind in a thrusting movement an almost identical assault to his seven previous convictions of indecently assaulting a child between the ages of five and 13.

The woman in her 20s, who cannot be named, was browsing in the Victoria Centre charity shop at about 3.15pm with her one-year-old daughter when OGrady struck.

In tears on the witness stand, she said: I felt somebody bang into me from behind. He thrust himself against me twice.

When I looked around he was really startled and rushed off to the other side of the store.

The jury also heard from shop manager Susan Hindle, who described how OGrady caught her eye as soon as he walked in because he looked suspicious.

She said: He walked past the counter and I smiled but he didnt smile back and seemed to have a funny expression on his face.

She called the shopping centre security after the young woman told her what had happened.

OGrady, who was also convicted in 2004 of exposing himself in a petrol station shop, was arrested by police in a furniture shop 15 minutes later.