Search results for Cirencester

Description

A woman has urged victims of sexual assault to come forward and get support after seeing her brother jailed for raping her 20 years ago.

Andrew McQueen, aged 30 and of Thomas Street, Cirencester, had previously admitted nine non-recent sexual offences against his sister, Charlotte, at a hearing earlier in the year.

He was sentenced at Gloucester Crown Court following an investigation by Gloucestershire Constabulary's Criminal Investigation Department.

Charlotte McQueen, who has waived her right to anonymity, is now encouraging other victims and survivors of sexual abuse to come forward.

Speaking after the sentencing, 28-year-old Charlotte said: "As a victim, I never chose for this to happen or chose for him to do what he did.

"It makes you feel full of shame and guilt, but that is not yours to carry.

"I allowed him to have control over my life until now – that was 19 years of my life."

McQueen was aged between 11 and 15 at the time he committed the sexual abuse.

The court heard that Charlotte had come forward to police in February 2025 after her brother had texted her to ask for her forgiveness for his actions as a child.

As the conversation escalated, he then began to send threatening messages aimed at her and her children.

Charlotte then disclosed to police at that time that her brother had raped her multiple times between the ages of nine and 13.

Officers arrested Andrew and he eventually admitted sending the texts and raping his younger sister when they were children.

He told police he had been drunk at the time the texts were sent and that he had issues with his own mental health.

Charlotte told the court:

"Andrew, my big brother, was supposed to protect me. Instead I spent four years of my childhood living in fear of sexual and physical violence from him.

"Andrew took my innocence, my mental health and my happiness. Because of his actions, I spent ten years battling with my mental health.

"He has stolen my childhood. I struggle to remember the happy times because they are tainted by the misery and the pain that he caused me. I look at happy family photos and I feel the fear and the pain that he caused me.

"He made me feel like this was all my fault and I believed it. That's why I didn't speak out at the time and why I turned to self-harm. He punished me every time I succeeded and every time he struggled or got into trouble. 

"I know that the sexual abuse happened years ago. I tried hard to 'forgive and forget' but his behaviour has prevented that from happening. He has used it as a badge of honour, constantly reminding me. I tried to hide it and never went into any details about what he did, until I spoke to police.

"His threats against my family made me realise that I could not allow him to use this against me anymore and I could not allow him to threaten or intimidate my children."

On 13 June Andrew McQueen was sentenced to five years in prison, and must serve at least two years and eight months before being eligible for release.

Speaking after the sentencing, investigating officer Detective Constable Sarah Riordan said:

"This has been a difficult case and I want to commend Charlotte for coming forward and bravely confronting her brother for the sexual abuse he committed against her so many years ago.

"The pain and mental anguish he subjected Charlotte to has remained with her throughout her life, but her determination to see justice now be done is a credit to her strength and courage.

"I hope that Charlotte can now find peace and closure on the terrible ordeal she experienced as a child.

"It is never too late to report a rape or sexual assault. You will always be believed and we will do everything we can to investigate and bring any perpetrators to justice."

Charlotte echoed how coming forward is allowing her to begin to rebuild her life and credits the “amazing” support of her family, police officers and the judge.

She said:

“Andrew was adamant that nobody would believe me; that I would get my younger brother and sisters taken away from me.

"But I want anyone going through this to know that you will be believed and that it will be okay.

"Nobody questioned whether I was telling the truth or not. It will be hard and, mentally, it will be challenging, but the support that you will receive makes it manageable.

"Now I can get back to living my life; I can access support without this big secret hanging over me."

Description

THIS is the face of a man from the Cirencester area who sexually assaulted a young girl.

Gloucestershire police has released a photo of Lewis Davey, aged 51, who was jailed for sexual assault and voyeurism on Friday, October 25.

Davey, of Bowly Crescent, Siddington, was sentenced for sexually abusing a girl who was under the age of 13 in May last year.

He was also sentenced for an offence of voyeurism by observing a person engaging in a private act on the same day.

At Gloucester Crown Court, he was jailed for eight years, with an extended licence period of one year.

According to court documents, a special custodial sentence of imprisonment was imposed as Davey was deemed to be an 'offender of particular concern'.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order lasting for 15 years from conviction was also imposed.

This bans Davey from unsupervised contact with any child under the age of 16 apart from his own children.

Exceptions include inadvertent contact and when contact is not reasonably avoidable in the course of daily life.

The other exception is if Davey has consent from a child’s parent or guardian, who has knowledge of his convictions and has received written consent from social services.

He was also added to the sex offenders register.

Davey faced two charges - sexually assaulting a girl aged under 13 and observing a person engaging in a private act.

He pleaded not guilty to both offences but was found guilty of both charges after a four-day trial at Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday, September 19.

Description

A 46-year-old Cirencester man has been jailed for three years after he admitted numerous charges of possessing indecent images of children and attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child.

Robert Wills of West Market Place, who pleaded guilty to all ten charges, was caught in a police 'sting' operation to catch online paedophiles. 

Prosecutor Jack Barry told Gloucester Crown Court on Tuesday, May 2, that one officer posed as 'Izzy,' a 12-year-old girl in the Autumn of 2021.

“Wills, a convicted sex offender, was tempted and instigated an online conversation with Izzy and told her his name was Darren," said the prosecutor.

“Wills claimed that he had dated girls of her age many times before and added, ‘I’ve dated girls where we met up. I’ve also dated mums and had a relationship with their daughters at the same time. 

"He stated on one occasion that he was masturbating while watching child pornography featuring girls of her age and told her, ‘I wish I was with you doing these things’.

The court was told that the police made enquiries using the phone number he had used and his usernames on social media, during the conversation with the undercover officer. 

Police then attended Wills' home address, at which he was listed on the sex offenders’ register, on April 5 where he was arrested. 

His devices were seized and these contained 496 indecent images of a child in category A, the most serious, 406 images in category B and 410 images in category C. 

The court was told that Wills had been placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years following his conviction for possessing indecent images of children in March 2013. He had been sentenced at that time to a prison term of 24 months. 

In his police interview Wills claimed he knew all along that 'Izzy' was not who she said she was and was trying to catch her out.  He stated he resorted to this type of activity when he was 'in a dark place.'

Steven Young defending, said: “Wills still maintains he doesn’t have a sexual interest in contacting children in this way. 

“He says that he did not believe he was communicating with a child, but an adult, and was trying to catch them out.”

Wills pleaded guilty to all ten charges including three counts of possessing indecent images in categories A, B and C. 

As well as, one count of possessing 51 prohibited images of a child and one charge of extreme pornography with an animal and two charges of distributing indecent images of children, attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child. 

Wills also admitted failing to comply with the terms of being on the sex offenders’ register and possessing 17 grams of a class B drug, namely amphetamine.

Judge Rupert Lowe sentenced Wills to a three year prison term and ordered the destruction of all the digital devices containing the offending images and the drugs.

The judge subjected Wills to the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for life and indefinite sex offender registration.