Latest Offenders Conwy

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A MAN from Llandudno Junction sexually assaulted a woman in her bed and secretly filmed her getting dressed.

Christopher Benton’s victim said his actions have made her “feel like I’m living a sentence for something I didn’t do”.

Today (November 6), Benton, 31, of Conway Road, was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Caernarfon Crown Court (sitting at Llandudno Magistrates’ Court).

He had previously admitted charges of voyeurism and assault by penetration, and will serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody before being released on licence.

Prosecutor Simon Rogers said that, at about 4am on April 14, 2022, the woman awoke to find Benton touching her sexually, before he left.

This left her “in shock” and “dazed”, before she later stripped the bed and washed herself.

She later confided to her friends about what had happened, and they told her to contact police.

The woman did so later that day – when asked by police if Benton thought she was awake at the time, she answered: “No.”

Benton was arrested at his place of work on April 15 – during his initial police interview, he answered some questions but gave no comment to others.

His mobile phone was analysed, which recovered four videos Benton had filmed of the woman trying to get dressed.

These videos, Mr Rogers said, focused on the woman’s genitals, while she was unaware in all four videos that she was being filmed by Benton.

Benton’s DNA was later recovered from swabs taken from the woman – he answered no comment to all questions during a further police interview on May 22.

Extracts from the woman’s victim impact statement read: “I’m no longer that bubbly, happy person who used to enjoy a social life, and life itself.

“I question the ‘what-ifs’. It’s draining, and it exhausts me. My life has taken a huge hit with what has happened to me. I feel I’m not the same person anymore; I feel confused and hurt.

“I’m always doubting everything because of what happened. My emotions are all over the place, and daily life has become really difficult compared to before all of this started.

“I struggle to look in the mirror, as I don’t recognise who is standing in front of me. Sometimes, I don’t see a way out of this dark hole. The ‘what-ifs’ and the unknowns kill me daily.

“The whole situation has destroyed who I am and who I want to be, and I wonder if I will ever get that back.”

Defending Benton, who had no previous convictions, Simon Killeen conceded that “imprisonment is essential and unavoidable”.

But he asked the court to acknowledge Benton’s guilty pleas, and added: “Some people are better equipped than others to deal with custody. He is not somebody who is well-equipped.”

Benton lost his job as soon as his employers were informed of these offences, Mr Killeen said.

Sentencing, Judge Nicola Jones imposed an indefinite restraining order to protect Benton’s victim.

He will also adhere to sex offenders register notification requirements for life.

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A sex offender stayed at a new address for too long without telling police. Tony Simmonds had to inform officers if he stayed anywhere new for longer then seven days but lived at a former partner's house for 10 days.

This breached a notification requirement of a suspended sentence. Today the 50-year-old was jailed for the breach and jailed for part of the suspended jail term.

Prosecutor Richard Edwards told Caernarfon Crown Court Simmonds had been convicted of indecent images offences at Chester Crown Court in September last year. He was given a 14-month jail term, suspended for two years.

He was also given an order to tell police if he stayed at a new address for longer than seven days. But he stayed at his former partner's home until he became "reluctant to leave" and she informed police. You can sign up for all the latest court stories here

Simmonds told officers he was staying with the woman to give his brother a break. He normally stayed with his brother in Marine Road, Pensarn near Abergele.

Sarah Yates, defending, accepted that the probation service are concerned his engagement with a rehabilitation work is "superficial and limited". But she pointed out he suffers from schizophrenia, a personality disorder and psychosis.

He has taken medication "sporadically" in the past but more regularly recently. He is "fearful" of custody and is a vulnerable individual.

But the judge Her Honour Nicola Saffman today told Simmonds, of Marine Road, Pensarn, he had not taken his medication at times nor complied with the services he had been offered.

She jailed Simmonds for six months for failing to comply with the notification requirement and for ten months of his suspended jail term, to run consecutively.

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A brave survivor has heaped praise on police and criminal justice partners after her abuser has been put behind bars after almost 40 years.

Andrew Blake subjected his victim to a tirade of sexual assaults in the 1980s and 1990s – starting from when she was just nine years old, and he was a teenager.

Now an adult, the brave survivor spoke out against her abuser in 2020 after having been left completely traumatised by the abuse for her entire life.

An investigation was launched by the Force’s Safeguarding Department and Blake, now 52, attended a police station to be interviewed where he initially admitted to two instances of sexual abuse.

However, the investigation continued and in 2022, he was charged with a total of 16 offences of indecent assault – being that the offences took place before the Sexual Offences Act was introduced in 2003.

He continued to deny the allegations, however in February this year a jury at Newcastle Crown Court saw through his lies and he was convicted unanimously of all 16 offences.

On Thursday (May 30), Blake, of Parc Pentywyn, Deganwy, Conwy, Wales, was handed a three-year sentence behind bars at the same court.

He will also spend the rest of his life on the Sex Offenders’ Register and his victim will be protected by a life-long restraining order.

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William Felton, 38, of Bryn Avenue in Kinmel Bay, appeared before Caernarfon Court for sentencing on Wednesday, October 11.

He had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and three counts of failing to comply with notification requirements.

The SHPO in question had been made last year in relation to Felton's attempts to engage a child in sexual activity and was ordered to last until November 2030.

Laura Knightly, prosecuting, told the court that the breaches had all taken place between August 2 and 24 of this year.

They began when Felton was using aliases - 'Jamie' and 'OpenMindOpenPervert' - to take part in online chatrooms, as well as and a new email address - all of which the police should have been notified about.

It continued with the defendant talking to what he believed to be a seven-year-old girl on a site called 'Chat Avenue' and attempting to set up a 'play date' (i.e. engage in sexual activity) with her.

 He had also been speaking to the 'mother' of the child, who was in fact an undercover police officer, the court was told.

Several explicit sexual messages were sent to the 'child'.

Police attended Felton's address in August and seized a mobile phone and a laptop.

However, he also admitted to having another similar laptop which he had not notified the police about and had been hidden out of view - and this was the third notification breach the court heard.

Anna Price, defending, said that Felton had - before committing these offences - sought counselling in an attempt to 'seek help'.

Judge Nicola Saffman said that Felton had been 'relentless' in breaching the orders against him.

The judge added: "You cannot help yourself in the sexual pursuit of young female children. You will do whatever it takes in order to gain access to children, female children, in order to abuse them sexually.

"It's clear that you're offending behaviour has escalated."

Judge Saffman described the breaches as 'very serious' and sentenced Felton to three years and four months in jail.

An order was also made for the forfeiture and destruction of the devices used by Felton. 

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A sex predator who targeted an eight-year-old girl on a children's online game has been jailed after her mum helped to snare him.

Owen Taylor, who was in his mid-thirties at the time, posed as a teenager to engage in sexual communication with the little girl, trying to get her to send him pictures of her. When her horrified mum realised what was happening, she took over the conversation, posing as her daughter.

She managed to find out who he was by getting his Snapchat username. Taylor had used the name of his neighbour to set up the profile and when the mum traced the neighbour and showed him his picture, the pervert's true identity was revealed.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the eight-year-old was playing on a game called Movie Star Planet, which is aimed at children, in the summer of 2020. She had a profile picture on the game, showing how young she was.

Claire Anderson, prosecuting, said: "She was contacted by the defendant and he engaged in some flirtatious conversation, telling her she was cute and hot. After initially saying she was 17, she said she was only eight.

"The conversation became more sexualised and he asked if she had Snapchat. He asked her for pictures of her belly and bum and sent pictures of his face, torso and lower abdomen, showing some pubic hair.

"Her mother noticed she was messaging someone online. She asked to be shown the conversation and was shocked to see sexualised images."

The mum changed her daughter's username slightly but within a day or two Taylor had worked out the change and was back in touch. The girl told her mum, who then took over the conversation, posing as the child.

During the subsequent conversation, he said he was 16 when he was 36 at the time. He sent more pictures, including of him lying on a bed with the top of his pelvic area on show.

The mother contacted the police and made her own inquiries to find out who he was. She sent a Snapchat username pretending to be her daughter and used his to find out he was in Sunderland. She contacted someone with the name Taylor was using, who was entirely innocent and lived next door to him. That person identified Taylor as the culprit.

The girl's mum attended court to read a victim impact statement and said: "I wish this never happened because it's changed the family dymanic. This will stay with me for the rest of my life.

"She was a typical eight-year-old girl. Three months earlier at Christmas we bought the tablet and activated the parental controls. When a child asks to download a game and create a world of pets and hobbies and it has an age range of 7-12, this gives no indication you should be worried.

"When I saw the conversation I believed this was no child talking to my daughter. I felt sick to the stomach and my hands felt sweaty and I was shaking.

"She told me she felt uncomfortable and didn't like the way he was talking to her. We changed the account and a couple of days later the conversation was instigated again."

The mum said of her daughter: "She thought she had caused it and made mummy and daddy sad and made the police officers come. She spent two-and-a-half to three years in therapy."

She added that she and her partner have been reluctant to let the girl go back online as they are afraid it might happen again. She added: "She said she feels like a baby and that we don't trust her."

Taylor, now 40, who was cautioned in 2011 for outraging public decency by "upskirting" a teenage girl in a shop, pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communication with a child and attempted sexual communication with the same child.

Jailing him for eight months and ordering him to sign the sex offenders register and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years, Judge Tim Gittins said: "You, in a determined and deliberate way, targeted a website which was clearly aimed at young children under 13.

"You were seeking sexual images but they were not sent or received. You were deliberately soliciting images and targeted someone so young."

He added that the mother's statement "demonstrates the devastating psychological impact your intrustion into the innocence of the girl has had" and referred to "predators on the internet like you".

The court heard Taylor, classed as posing a high risk of similar offences, lost his marriage and home but had secured work with a community charity.

Robin Patton, defending, said Taylor left Sunderland in a hurry after the offences came to light and moved in with his mum in Wales. He added: "He is someone who really does need the help of the probation service. He has recognised his problem and voluntarily sought help.

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This is the face of a paedophile who raped three children and walked free for years afterwards.

David Lee Davies was finally sentenced to more than a decade in prison yesterday after being found guilty of raping children as young as six.

The 43-year-old sexually abused two young boys over a number of years between 1994 and 1997 before abusing a little girl between 1997 and 1998.

Davies himself was only 15 when he started his campaign of abuse, while two of his victims were six when the attacks started and the third was nine.

He continued to deny the assaults throughout his trial and cried through much of yesterday's hearing as Judge Neil Flewitt judged him a dangerous offender due to his inability to accept that he had committed the horrific crimes.

The parents of one of his victims went to the police shortly after being told by their child that Davies had attacked them but he was never charged with a crime.

It was only when one of his other two victims approached police two years ago that a subsequent investigation led to him being charged for a slew of sex offences against children.

A number of statements read out at court detailed the significant impact on Davies' victims.

One had faced significant problems with drugs and alcohol from shortly after the abuse occurred.

All said they had significant problems forming friendships and romantic relationships and said they suffered with episodes of anxiety and depression linked to the abuse.

Davies' defence counsel admitted there was little that could be said to mitigate his horrific crimes but said Davies had had a very difficult childhood and also pointed to the fact that he had not reoffended.

Judge Neil Flewitt, QC, sentenced him to ten years and nine months and labelled him a dangerous offender, meaning he will serve a further five years on licence.

He will be eligible for release after he has served two thirds of his jail term, subject to the approval of a parole board.

He must also go on the sex offenders register and be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the rest of his life.

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A DEGANWY man, whod changed his name to hide his vile past, had child porn once again including a video of a six months old baby being horrifically tortured, a judge said.

Owain Jones, 34, of Vardre Avenue, whod set up a weed control business, was jailed for three years after he admitted distributing an indecent image and possession of child porn.

Caernarfon crown court heard 516 indecent images were recovered by officers including original filth not on the police database.

Prosecuting barrister Sion ap Mihangel said: "The defendant admitted he was sexually aroused by indecent images of children.

In 2007 he received a suspended sentence because of indecent images.

Jo Maxwell, defending, said Jones had changed his name and was keen to seek help for his behaviour.

Judge Timothy Petts said in April 2018 police had seized computer equipment and found images of child abuse some described in court in hideous detail so the full nature of his depravity could be seen.

Images had been graphic and disgusting.

A ten-year sexual harm prevention order was made and Jones must register as a sex offender indefinitely.

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A man who raped a 12-year-old while on bail awaiting trial for having sex with a girl of 14 has been jailed.

Wesley Roberts, 22, of Old Colwyn, Conwy, attacked the girl in a park after he had befriended her on Facebook, Mold Crown Court heard.

Roberts admitted the rape and sexual activity with the 14-year-old and was jailed for six years and two and a half years consecutively.

Judge Niclas Parry told Roberts he had considered an extended sentence.

Roberts was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for life.

The court heard Roberts formed an online relationship with the 12-year-old while he was on bail awaiting trial for the other offence.

He raped the girl the first time they met, the court heard.

Judge Parry said: "You knew she was only 12.

"You are a high risk of harm to children in the form of sexual offences and rape."

The court heard Roberts had previously befriended the 14-year-old on Facebook in the summer of 2012, and they had sex five or six times.

Det Insp Lisa Surridge said: "It is important that people understand the part that social network sites such as Facebook can play in this type of offence.

"The victims in this case and their families have demonstrated immense courage and resilience in standing up to the offender.

"North Wales Police takes matters of this nature very seriously and it is reassuring to see this reflected in the sentence passed out."