Latest Offenders Cornwall

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School technician, 44, who swapped more than 18,000 messages, naked pictures and explicit videos with an underage pupil via fake Facebook accounts is jailed for four years

A school technician swapped more than 18,000 messages, naked pictures and explicit videos with an underage pupil in what was described by a judge as 'one of the worst cases of grooming' he'd ever seen.

Matthew Ian Townsend, 44, from Penzance, Cornwall, who also ran magic lessons for children, was discovered after a pupil saw him kissing the girl at a school in west Cornwall.

Townsend pleaded guilty to inciting a girl aged under 16 to perform sexual acts, two charges of intentionally sexually touching the girl, performing a sex act in front of the girl and possessing 240 indecent pictures and 16 videos of a child.

Prosecutor Ramsay Quaife told a judge at Truro Crown Court that the school technician had set up false Facebook accounts for him and the girl and messages started to be sent and those messages were sexual in nature.

Those messages soon became pictures and videos.

'If she didn't send a message, he would not talk to her and she did not like that,' he said.

'He was even able to buy her clothing that he asked her to wear during these photographs and videos.'

Mr Quaife said the pair sent each other around 500 sexually explicit pictures.

He said that after Townsend's arrest, the girl told police that the pair had initially just been friends.

Defence barrister Steve Molloy said: 'Mr Townsend is a broken man.

'He is a family man with two small children. The background in no way excuses what he's done but he is one of the hidden victims of male domestic violence.

'What happened on this occasion is that he became friendly with the victim.

'This was someone he believed he had a connection with, although she was a schoolgirl.

'I would suggest he is not someone who is habitually attracted to teenagers.

'The defendant was not in his right mind at the time and has been greatly affected by the devastating effect on the girl.'

He added that the Probation Service judged Townsend's risk of reoffending to be low and said his client had vowed to move away from Cornwall.

Addressing the defendant, Judge Simon Carr said: 'This is one of the worst cases of grooming I have seen.

'Quite deliberately, over a period of time, you continued to raise the expectations of this young girl and got her to do increasingly more extreme sexual acts for your enjoyment.

'You continually pushed her to go further than she did before. This included masturbating in front of the screen and wearing inappropriate clothing that you bought for her.

'The pressure that you brought to bear on her was immense. The sheer number of messages shows that, let along their contents.

'At the time you were in your early 40s about 30 years older.

'You were in a position of immense responsibility and trust.

'The effect on her has been totally devastating. The suggestion that she did not see it as serious is something I utterly reject.

'She has suffered from depression and has on occasions considered taking her own life.'

He sentenced Townsend to four years in prison for inciting a girl aged under 16 to perform sexual acts.

For the other offences Townsend was sentenced to three terms of eight months in prison to run concurrently.

Townsend will remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life and sexual harm order, to run indefinitely, was also made by the court.

This means Townsend must allow police access to his internet history and computer passwords on request and not live or stay in a premises where someone is aged under 16, unless authorised by the Family Court or Social Services.

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Former private school teacher jailed for making indecent images of children

A former teacher has been jailed after admitting making indecent images of scores of children using hidden cameras at a boarding school, behaviour the judge called his fatal flaw.

Jonathan Thomson-Glover, 53, who taught at Clifton College in Bristol, pleaded guilty to 36 counts of making, taking and possessing indecent images of children.

Thomson-Glover, of Wadebridge, Cornwall, was jailed for three years and nine months by Judge David Ticehurst at Taunton crown court.

The charges relate to more than 120 victims filmed by hidden cameras at the 11,000-a-term Clifton College and an address in Cornwall over a 16-year period.

Thomson-Glover admitted 27 charges of taking an indecent image of a child; seven charges of making an indecent image of a child and two charges of possessing indecent images of children.

He was charged following a joint investigation between Avon and Somerset police and Devon and Cornwall police.

The judge told Thomson-Glover he was a man looking at a life that is now in ruins. He said: That life was a good life and you have made a positive contribution. It is a life now reduced to rubble as a result of your fatal flaw.

You are the author of your own misfortune and there can be little sympathy for you. It is impossible to calculate the harm and damage you may have caused to those who trusted you or were in your care.

Thomson-Glover remained emotionless as he was led from the dock. He was ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely and banned from working with children on his release.

The court heard Thomson-Glover first became part of the school at the age of six, as his father was working as a pastor there. He returned to teach at the school and was well regarded.

Prosecuting, Howard Phillips said: To pupils, many describe him as being more a friend than a teacher. He was a man who had a relaxed attitude and allowed his pupils to smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol and engage in sexual relations on the school premises.

The parents regarded him as the consummate professional, he appeared very caring, achieved good exam results and went above and beyond. But the reality was somewhat different.

Thomson-Glover was arrested in August 2014 after the National Crime Agency discovered his IP address had been used to download indecent images of children. Officers seized four computers, discs and a number of Hi-8 camcorder tapes, with 330 VHS video tapes from three address they searched. Thomson-Glover was arrested but chose to make no comment.

Police discovered that he had been downloading thousands of indecent images of children, using search terms such as pre-teen boys. Analysis of the tapes revealed 2,500 hours equal to 104 days of footage taken at Clifton College and an address in Cornwall, relating to more than 120 victims.

The footage had been taken on hidden cameras placed at various locations around the two sites, and in a camera carried around in a bag with a hole in it. It included pupils engaging in sexual activity, using the bathroom and showering and taking part in private sexual acts.

In further interviews, Thomson-Glover admitted the offences, telling police: It was a compulsion and was fuelled by the internet. The court heard there is no evidence the footage was shared or that Thomson-Glover behaved improperly to any child.

Representing Thomson-Glover, Andrew Langdon QC said his client was remorseful and wanted to seek forgiveness.

Langdon said the footage was never shared and the majority of it was never watched, with pupils filmed engaging in sexual acts aged 16 or 17 at the time. He had repressed feelings of homosexuality as a teenager. Growing up in the 1960s and 70s attitudes to homosexuals then were quite different.

Langdon said his client had been in relationships with women but this drove him to breakdowns and to attempt suicide. He later joined the school as a teacher and installed the hidden cameras after viewing images online.

It led to a schizophrenic existence, Langdon said. On one hand he was successful. On the other hand, he had a secret addiction. It is too simplistic to say that the good he has done was merely in aid of facilitating the bad.

Some parents whose children were filmed wrote letters to the judge on Thomson-Glovers behalf, after meeting him following his arrest. I met a man who was deeply sorry and contrite, one mother wrote.

The court heard Thomson-Glovers mother has suffered two strokes since his arrest, while his father has also become unwell. He never intended suffering by others, Langdon added.

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A MIDDLE-AGED father has been jailed for having sex with a 15-year-old schoolgirl in a lay-by after picking her up from her school during her lunch break.

Gary Sparkes befriended the teenager after persuading her parents to let her come with him to show him the way around country roads near Cullompton while on a business trip in the area.

He won her trust by exchanging a stream of text messages before having sex with her in his car in the layby and at his home in Exmouth, Exeter Crown Court was told.

Father-of-two Sparkes, 49, of Tennyson Way, Exmouth, admitted four offences of sexual activity with a child and was jailed for two years by Judge Francis Gilbert, QC.

The judge told him: ”You had sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old schoolgirl, who was the daughter of a family who were friends of yours. She was young enough to be your daughter.

“You had sex with her at your house and in addition you drove to Cullompton to have sex with her in the back of your car during a school lunch break.”

Sean Brunton, prosecuting, said the offences came to light when the victim’s older sister found suspicious messages on her Facebook page and her parents went to the police.

The girl was interviewed and said she and Sparkes had sex four times during a three month relationship, including once in the back of his car in a layby.

Mr Brunton said: ”She said the relationship started on Facebook and they arranged to meet to have sex. At one time she thought she might be pregnant but this was not the case.

“Her father recalled getting a text message from Sparkes asking to take his daughter out in his car as navigator as he was working in Mid Devon.”

Sparkes sent the girl 95 text messages and she sent him 125 and the Facebook conversations covered 500 pages.

Rupert Taylor, defending, said Sparkes is lucky in that his wife and two grown up children are standing behind him. He said he deserves credit for accepting he had done wrong and sparing the victim the need to go to court.

He said: ”At the time this happened he was depressed and on medication and was very grateful for the company. They became close friends and she told him she was attracted to him. He knows as an adult he should not have done this.”

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A former Sunday school teacher and devout Christian has been jailed after he admitted performing oral sex on an underage girl.

A court heard the 47-year-old groomed the teenager for sexual acts back at his home while his wife was out at work.

This included showering naked before her, inviting her into his bed, touching and kissing her and oral sex.

The court heard how the man, a member of a Christian church in Cornwall, said afterwards to his pastor that he "had sinned and had been crying out to our lord for forgiveness.”

Appearing for sentence at Truro Crown Court on Tuesday was Paul Stephen Bickerstaff, of Bownder Vean, Bethel, St Austell.

He had previously pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual touching of a child, which happened last year. The girl cannot be identified due to her age and as the victim of a sexual offence.

Piers Norsworthy, prosecuting, said Bickerstaff told the teenager that they were soul mates and complimented her on her hair and appearance. He said Bickerstaff then sexually assaulted the girl at his home.

“He took her in his arms and lifted her off the sofa,” he said. “He put her down but grabbed her by the thighs and steered her towards his bedroom. She got into his bed and he, naked, got into bed with her.

“He asked her about sexual preferences and they began to kiss. She stopped and pushed him away. He then undid her bra.”

Mr Norsworthy said the girl asked him three times to stop, which he did initially but then continued each time.

“He did perform oral sex on her, which lasted between five and ten minutes.” he added.

On another occasion, Bickerstaff kissed the girl after they climbed to the top of the beauty spot Roche Rock.

Afterwards, the girl told her parents what had happened and Bickerstaff confessed to his pastor. Mr Norsworthy said Bickerstaff had previously worked as a Sunday school teacher and was now employed as a gardener.

In her personal impact statement, the girl said she felt “dirty and stupid” about what had happened, which had affected her self-confidence. She said: “I couldn’t bear it any more but I did not want to talk to the police. I felt, and still feel, guilty about what happened – guilty at being manipulated again and again.”

Barry Hilliard, representing Bickerstaff, said his client had a troubled upbringing, being the victim of physical and emotional abuse as a child. He said Bickerstaff left home at 18 and joined the army for three years, where he served in Northern Ireland.

“More recently, he had found comfort in the church and found his wife through the church,” he added.

Bickerstaff had been having troubles in his marriage at the time of the offence and his mental health had been affected, he said.

“When he looks back at what he’s done, at the time he thought there was a connection between himself and the child,” he said. “Now he can see it was all in his head. He looks at what he’s done and just can’t understand it.”

Mr Hilliard said Bickerstaff, of previous good character, was being supported by his wife and his church, and handed in to the court letters of reference.

Crediting Bickerstaff for his honesty, Judge Robert Linford said to him: “I acknowledge that many people in your position would have denied these offences or said nothing. You did not. You confessed to what you had done and you expressed remorse and apology. I’ve read references from people who speak highly of you and cannot believe you acted in the way you did.”

However, he said the offences were so serious that an immediate custodial sentence could not be overlooked.

Bickerstaff was jailed for two years and will serve half that time before being eligible for release.

He will also be registered as a sex offender and was made the subject of sexual harm prevention order for ten years.