Latest Offenders Cumbria

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A FORMER Whitehaven Rugby League player has been put on the Sex Offender Register after he sexually assaulted a woman outside a town centre bar.

The victim of 37-year-old Dion Aiye’s unwanted sexual touching was waiting outside the Whitehaven nightspot with a friend at 1am on May 26 when the defendant reached around her body from behind.

He sexually assaulted her over her clothing. She immediately pushed him away, telling him to get off her, said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson.

“The defendant was readily identifiable because he was wearing a pink cowboy’s hat,” said Mr Rogerson.

After being rebuffed, Aiye remained standing nearby.

“The woman's friend said she looked somewhat shaken by the incident,” continued Mr Rogerson. When door staff asked if she wanted to pursue the complaint she said yes.

The defendant later pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual assault.

Mr Rogerson went on to read aloud an impact statement from the victim, who said the assault caused her a “great deal of anxiety.”

She feared bumping into the defendant, whose rugby league career meant he was a well-known in Whitehaven, which is the sort of town where “everybody knows everybody else’s business.”

The woman said the assault, outside the Shakers bar on Duke Street, had affected her concentration at work and she no longer socialised as much because she feared it might happen again.

The court heard that Aiye had two previous convictions, dating from 2021 and 2022, a battery and a harassment offence, though the latter did not involve the victim being put in fear of violence.

He was given a community order with unpaid work.

Marion Weir, defending, said that without seeking to minimise the sexual assault, the defendant, of Richmond Terrace, Whitehaven had ceased touching the woman as soon as he was asked to do so.

“From his point of view, it was a stupid decision taken in drink, which he bitterly regrets,” said Miss Weir.

“It has had a significant impact on him as well. Clearly, he appreciates the impact on the victim. He is no longer playing at Whitehaven Rugby League Club and his contract there is no longer in place.

“The future career he would have had in rugby league is in peril and he knows Your Honour’s primary concern will be that he was already subjected to a court order…. He has taken on board that some of his behaviour needs to change.”

Judge Michael Fanning noted that the defendant had a “limited record” for what was essentially domestic abuse but otherwise had had not been in trouble previously.

The judge told Aiye: “It’s a concern that within two months of being sentenced for those offences, you are at a night club where you simply presume you can touch up a young female because you have a sense of entitlement.

“Nobody in their right mind would presume that is something they are entitled to do. She pushed you away and said: ‘What the hell are you doing?’

“Not surprisingly, she was very upset by what you did and nervous about going to nightclubs again. It must be down to a sense of entitlement.

“I don’t know whether it’s because you’re a sportsman, or because you were in drink. Either way, you know it’s wrong.”

The judge accepted that the assault was at the “lower end of the scale” for sexual offences, though it would not feel that way for the victim. Judge Fanning imposed an 18-month community order with two requirements.

The first is that the defendant must complete 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and the second that he must complete five rehabilitation activity days so he can address the reasons for his offending.

Aiye will be on the Sex Offender Register for five years.

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A WEST Cumbrian man arranged to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex, unaware that the meeting was a sting organised by paedophile hunters.

The "teenager" that 42-year-old Cleator Moor man Leroy Sheehan was communicating with was in fact and adult decoy working with the Online Child Safety Team, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant, of Henry Street, Cleator Moor, admitted attempting to communicate sexually with a child and attempting to facilitate a child sex offence by meeting the “child” in Whitehaven.

Tariq Khawam, prosecuting, described what happened.

He said volunteers working with the paedophile hunter group use fake child online profiles to flush out adults who have a sexual interest in children.

This involved the creation of fake profiles.

In July of last year, the group created a Facebook profile for what appeared to be a 14-year-old girl, complete with a photo. On June 13, Sheehan sent the person a friend request.

He told her his age and said he was feeling “low,” after recently losing his partner. Mr Khawam said: “The witness said she was sorry to hear that; and she said she was 14.”

In subsequent messages, Sheehan asked if they could communicate on WhatsApp. Telling her she looked older than 14, he asked for a topless photo. He went on to discuss having sex with her.

The contact then agreed to meet Sheehan at Whitehaven railway station. When he arrived there, he was confronted by the Online Child Safety Team volunteer and two of her colleagues.

After making a “citizen’s arrest”, they called the police. The defendant had no relevant previous convictions, the court heard.

Tim Evans, defending, said that while Sheehan did not comment during his police interview, he had been honest with probation staff. A background report spoke of a “rapid deterioration” in his mental health and two suicide attempts.

At the time of his offences, he was drinking four litres of vodka a day, and he consumed eight litres of whisky over a period of days, as he tried to “drink himself to death.”

“None of that is an excuse but that is the background for what is described as the disinhibitory impact on his offending,” said Mr Evans.

The report explained that Sheehan, grieving after the death of his partner, was in a “very dark place” when he committed the offences.

The barrister added that Sheehan, who had a mild intellectual disability, was far from being a classic predatory online sexual offender of the sort often seen in the courts.

Judge Michael Fanning recognised the defendant’s psychological difficulties and the loss of his partner a week before the offending.

“It’s clear you were drinking vastly to excess,” the judge told Sheehan, accepting that this would have disinhibited the defendant. The judge continued: “But you are 42, three times the age of this supposed 14-year-old girl.

“You thought you were engaging with a genuine 14-year-old girl." Sheehan intended to have sex with her and there was no indication of him being influenced by alcohol when he went to Whitehaven to meet her. 

“You knew what you were doing,” added the judge.

He jailed Sheehan for two years and eight months and ruled that he must be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade and subjected to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.

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A HIGH-RISK sex offender from west Cumbria is back behind bars after online monitoring software alerted police to his latest spate of offending.

Jonathon Fell, 27, whose previous offending earned him a 45-month jail term in 2021, is now under the terms of a strict sexual harm prevention order designed to restrict his online activity.

But at Carlisle’s Rickergate court, Fell, who has lived in Carlisle and west Cumbria, admitted eight new offences, including two allegations of downloading indecent child images and two of possessing child abuse images.

He also pleaded guilty to four allegations of flouting his sexual harm prevention order by accessing online platforms such as YouTube and Instagram.

Prosecutor George Shelley said the indecent child images involved were classified as Category B, the second most serious kind, and Category C, of which there were eight images.

In one online conversation, said Mr Shelley, Fell spoke to a person about the age of their child, asking for the age.

His original offending, the court heard, involved sexually abusive behaviour towards babies and other very young children.

He spent days looking for victims online, on one occasion giving nine-year-old boy detailed instructions on sexually interfering with his three-year-old sibling. After that conviction, police described Fell as “manipulative.”

He had lied to both them and other agencies about his online activities, they said. All eight of Fell’s latest offences were committed in the Cockermouth area.

“This defendant is a high-risk sex offender,” said Mr Shelley.

“His previous convictions of a sexual nature involved child contact and it is reassuring that the [police] e-safe monitoring software has flagged these matters up at a very early stage.”

Fell, of Mawsons Court, Cockermouth, asked his lawyer Duncan Campbell to apply for his release on bail. The court heard Fell had 11 previous sexual offences on his record.

Mr Campbell told magistrates it was not "inevitable" that Fell would be jailed for his offending when the case goes to the crown court.

The defendant no longer had access to his digital equipment as it was seized by the police.

“He was fully aware that the e-safe monitoring equipment was on his electronic equipment and that everything was monitored,” said Mr Campbell, suggesting Fell did not hide what he was doing.

Magistrates remanded Fell in custody.

He will be sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court on January 14 next year. In the meantime, probation staff will prepare a background report for the sentencing judge.

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A ‘MANIPULATIVE and abusive’ predator sexually assaulted a child over 100 times making her feel like she would ‘never be normal again’, a court heard.

Darren Richmond, from Barrow, was jailed at Preston Crown Court on November 25 after admitting nine child sexual offences - including two charges of rape.

His Honour Judge Andrew Jefferies KC said the defendant caused ‘indescribable pain and suffering’ to the victim.  

Prosecutor Olivia Beesley said: “At times he placed a dog lead on his neck to choke himself and said if she didn’t do as she was told, he would do the same to her.

“He would also threaten that he would kill himself if she told anyone.”

Ms Beesley read the victim’s impact statement into the record.

The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said: “It is clear how much this has affected me, but it is difficult to put into words. I even struggle to say his name.

"He has taken away my relationship with sex.

"I will never be normal again. I’ll just have to find a way to deal with it.”

The 41-year-old was also sentenced after admitting four offences of attempting to sexually communicate with a child online.

Ms Beesley told the court Richmond contacted girls, which were decoy profiles, on the ‘Sweetmeet’ application.

“He offered to send a photo of his genitals after they had identified themselves as 13 or 14-year-old girls," Ms Beesley said.

"He then asked them for photos. When clothed photos followed, he asked for topless ones.”

Officers arrested Richmond after being contacted by a North East-based paedophile hunter group called the ‘Child Online Safety Team’.

In mitigation, Richard Vardom said his client’s guilty plea was his best form of mitigation.

“The defendant has a manipulative and abusive past which has clearly caught up with him," Mr Vardom told the court.

“These are quite repellent offences against a young girl.

“He originally pleaded not guilty but a short time before trial, he changed his plea to guilty."

Judge Jefferies jailed Richmond for 16 years, as well as an additional five years of extended licence due to the seriousness of the offences.

Before passing the sentence, he told Richmond: “She estimates you sexually assaulted her over 100 times. I do not accept you are remorseful. You are still in denial.  That will only change with serious reflection on those who work in the prison service.

“I have come to the conclusion there is a significant risk to members of the public of serious harm. You are a dangerous offender.”

Detective Constable Faye Huddleston said: “I’d like to acknowledge the bravery of the victim for reporting these offences to the police. I can only imagine what a horrendous experience this was.

“I am pleased with the sentence given out by the courts today.

“Richmond is a predator, and I can only hope that seeing him go to prison for a substantial amount of time can bring some comfort than justice has been done.

“Cumbria Constabulary is committed to thoroughly and compassionately investigating all reports of rape and serious sexual offences, no matter how much time has passed.

“I would encourage anyone who has been victim of a sexual offence to contact police so that our officers can investigate.”

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A FORMER Cumbria police worker previously jailed for sharing illegal images of children being sexually abused has been handed another lengthy prison sentence for similar crimes — and again branded a dangerous offender. 

David Robinson, now aged 56, was punished in 2015 for possessing and distributing indecent photographs of youngsters.

Robinson’s online chat with other paedophiles was of the “most sickening nature”, said a judge who imposed six-year custodial term. The judge concluded Robinson was a dangerous offender and imposed an extended licence period.

Carlisle Crown Court heard Robinson had offered to buy a child online in order to abuse them. He had decorated a room in his city home for a youngster and applied to be a foster carer for young boys.

The sentencing judge concluded Robinson — a front counter Cumbria police employee who was suspended and later left the force — “presented one face to the outside world, another deeply unattractive one online”.

Robinson was released from custody in October, 2020.

But he went on to commit new offences which were uncovered when a police constable conducted a home visit. “As part of that visit she looked at Mr Robinson’s Motorola mobile phone,” Gerard Rogerson, prosecuting, told the crown court today (fri).

Police noted there were WhatsApp chats between Robinson, latterly of Garfield Street, Carlisle, and men from Indonesia.

However, some WhatsApp messages and call logs had been deleted. “This frustrated attempts by police to see the history of those conversations,” said Mr Rogerson.

Robinson had also engaged a “disappearing messages” function on WhatsApp. This, along with the chat deletions, were in breach of a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) imposed as part of his 2015 punishment to restrict his online use.

Indecent images of children — some in the most serious category A — were also found during an initial examination of Robinson’s phone. More illicit child pictures were located when the device was further analysed.

Robinson admitted a total of nine offences relating to breach of the SOPO, making indecent photographs of children and possession of extreme pornographic images which were also found.

Defence solicitor Jeff Smith, mitigating, said the “mistake” made by Robinson was to return to Carlisle on being released from custody in 2020. “He has been very isolated, very depressed. His doctor has prescribed antidepressants which he found very difficult to deal with,” said Mr Smith.

“He knows that custody is inevitable. He knows he will have to address the problems that he had.”

Judge Nicholas Barker imposed a 40-month prison sentence. Robinson must sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years with a new and indefinite prevention order imposed.

“I am satisfied that the reason you deleted the messages was because the context of those messages was of a sexual and indecent nature, relating to the sexual abuse of children,” concluded the judge.

Judge Barker also announced that Robinson should again be classed as a dangerous offender, and, as a result, he imposed an extended three-year licence period.

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A REGISTERED sex offender failed to notify police that he had been staying at a friend’s address with a child present.

David Cowan, 44, is the subject of sex offender notification requirements as a result of convictions for sexual offences, Workington Magistrates’ Court heard.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting, said the defendant must inform police within three days if he resides at an address where a child under 18 resides or stays.

But Cowan failed to notify police that he had stayed at an address with a child in Whitehaven, on or before September 27.

The court heard that police had arrived at Cowan’s address to carry out an unannounced visit. Officers located Cowan at the home address of a friend, who has a child, and was also at the address.

Cowan and the woman were previously in a relationship but now remain friends. The defendant had stayed at her address ‘a couple of times’ since August and her child had been present on those occasions.

During police interview, Cowan admitted breaching the requirements by staying at the property while a child was present and failing to notify the police.

Cowan accepted that he had signed and received a copy of the notification requirements but ‘hadn’t grasped’ the requirements at the time.

He said he hadn’t had any unsupervised contact with the child. He said he sleeps in the spare room and ‘has a good relationship with the child’.

Cowan had been staying at the address ‘a couple of times a week’, according to the woman.

Ms Fee said there had been ‘repeated breaches’ and a child had been present, so there was some risk involved.

Cowan, who was not legally represented, said: “I just didn’t really understand it. I got out of prison, had no medication or anything. I just signed away. I didn’t check it or anything.”

When asked how a custodial sentence would affect him, Cowan replied: “It would take me right back to the beginning again, with my mental health.”

Cowan, of Corkickle, Whitehaven, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to failing to comply with notification requirements of the Sex Offenders’ Register.  

Passing sentence, Christine Williams, chair of the magistrates’ panel, said there was ‘no evidence’ that Cowan was a risk towards minors.

Cowan was given an 18-month community order with 26 programme requirement days and 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He was also given a four-month curfew and must pay £85 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.

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A REGISTERED sex offender has been locked up after officers caught him using a device to view extreme pornography featuring bestiality.

Kainen Joughin-Griffiths, formerly, of Woodbine Lane in Newton-in-Furness near Barrow,  hid his internet search history and bought a new Xbox without telling the police.

He pleaded guilty at the first opportunity to three counts of breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order and being in possession of cannabis.

Preston Crown Court heard the offences came after the 21-year-old received a three-year community order for eight individual charges on March 19 this year.

On that occasion, Joughin-Griffiths admitted to attempting to engage in sexual communications with a 14-year-old American schoolgirl, making over 750 indecent images of children (including 502 of category A), the worst of its kind, as well as possessing 257 extreme pornographic images.

As a result, he was also made the subject of notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order for five years, the court heard.

Prosecuting the case on September 24, Richard Flook said the defendant was prohibited from using any computer or device capable of accessing the internet.

He said police attended the Skelwith Bridge Hotel, Ambleside, to arrest the defendant on suspicion of possessing extreme pornographic images on August 4.

“This was due to an eSafe safeguarding report that an account registered to the defendant had viewed extreme pornography featuring bestiality," he said.

The court heard the images were found to contain legal adult pornography, borderline images, pseudo-pornographic images but also multiple images of bestiality.

During a search of the defendant’s room, police obtained a Samsung phone, Xbox One Series S and Xbox One.

“When the various devices seized were examined, it became apparent that the defendant had breached his SHPO,” Mr Flook said.

“The Xbox Series S was examined and discovered to have been used without any monitoring software installed and the Xbox One had not been disclosed to the police.

“It also became apparent that the defendant had been using the Samsung device on secret mode which enables private browsing. Officers also found that the defendant had deleted messages on WhatsApp.”

The court was told the browsing history on the Xbox Series S showed that Joughin-Griffiths had visited an adult pornography website as well as viewing a site with the title ‘Porn Video Zoophilia’.

Recorder Michelle Brown, who originally sentenced the defendant to the community order, jailed Joughin-Griffiths for 32 months.

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A former football coach has been jailed after being found guilty of sexually abusing a boy more than 40 years ago.

Anthony Pickering, 62, was jailed in 2018 for similar offences, committed while coaching a youth football team in Windermere in the Lake District.

Police said the latest victim, who was abused in the 1970s and 80s, came forward after the 2018 prosecution.

Appearing at Carlisle Crown Court, Pickering had denied attempted rape and two counts of indecent assault on a boy, but was found guilty and jailed for 13 years.

He was also put on the sex offenders register for life.

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A registered sex offender (RSO) who breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) has been jailed today (25 September) for two years.

Sean Beazant, aged 38,  of no fixed address was sentenced today at Carlisle Crown Court for:

• Three breaches of his Sex Offender Requirements (SONR)
• One breach of a SHPO which was issued by Sheffield Crown Court on 19 January 2022
• Possession of a Class B drug

The court heard how from 30 January 2024 an officer from South Yorkshire Constabulary made numerous attempts to contact Beazant at his home address without success. There was found to be no one living at the property where Beazant had stated he was residing.

Following enquiries and appeals by MOSOVO officers from South Yorkshire and Cumbria Constabulary, and a fantastic response from members of the public in Cumbria, Beazant was located at an address in Kendal, Cumbria, where he was living with his partner who was not aware of his RSO status or his true name.

 Upon arrival at the property, he was seen to flee from a first-floor window.

An area search was conducted and with assistance from members of the public Beazant was located and arrested for breach of SHPO.  He was also found in possession of a quantity of cannabis.

Whilst at the police station, officers located a mobile phone on Beazant’s possession which had not been declared to police – which was a requirement of his SHPO.

Beazant was put on the Sex Offenders Register in 2021 and an obligation of this includes informing police where he is living and notifying of any mobile devices.

The woman who was in a relationship with Beazant was not aware if his previous sexual offending history and wasn’t aware of his correct second name.

Beazant admitted all charges against him at an earlier hearing.

Detective Sergeant Beccy Joseph, Management of Sexual Offenders & Violent Offenders (MOSOVO) team, said: “Beazant was fully aware of the requirements of him being a named person on the Sex Offender Register and the terms of the SHPO imposed against him when he breached these.

“We work hard to monitor and manage people who are subject to such orders to assess and manage the risk that they pose to the public and to ensure that they are held to account for any breaches of court orders that are issued to assist in managing their risk, and to ensure that the public is safe from harm.  

"This was a great example of police and the public working together to locate a sex offender trying to evade their responsibilities.

"If anyone is found to breach the terms of these preventative orders we will find them, and we take a zero-tolerance approach.  I hope todays sentencing shows how seriously we take the management of sex offenders.”

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A WEST Cumbria man who groomed and then repeatedly molested a teenage child has been handed a lengthy jail term by a judge who told him: “You are a paedophile.”

Carlisle Crown Court heard shocking details of Neil Stewart’s sexual abuse of the girl as he was punished on Friday.

Stewart, 41, had earlier admitted a charge of sexual activity with a child. But a prosecutor said there was evidence to suggest he had since demonstrated no remorse for his offending, instead trying to heap blame wrongly on the victim as part of “self-justification”.

In an impact statement, the victim told of her life being “torn apart” and of feeling suicidal in the aftermath.

She spoke of being initially anxious to report what Stewart had done. “I didn’t think there was anything I could do as I didn’t think anyone would believe me over him,” she had stated.

She also described feeling alone and not wanting to leave her house.

The teen’s mother had also penned a moving statement, describing the ordeal as “torturous” and of it taking a “massive toll”.

Isabella Denn-White, mitigating, insisted that Stewart, of Poole Road, Salterbeck, was remorseful. “He knows what happened was unacceptable, knows there is no way to justify it and knows it was completely wrong. He is extremely shameful for what went on. It is his fault,” said the barrister.

Ms Denn-White suggested the looming prison sentence could be suspended, for Stewart to instead carry out work with professionals in a bid to rehabilitate himself and protect the public in future. He had no previous convictions and was backed by several character references.

But Judge Michael Fanning concluded that only immediate imprisonment was appropriate, imposing a term of four years, six months.

Stewart, said the judge, had treated the girl as a “sexual object” in carrying out “deviant” criminal conduct.

“The damage to somebody who has been abused in this way, well, it’s irreparable. She won’t get over it,” Judge Fanning told Stewart.

The judge highlighted one character reference author who had expressed incredulity that Stewart’s name was now on the sex offenders’ register. Judge Fanning concluded: “You preyed on her. You are a paedophile and you are rightly on that (register).”

Stewart must comply with sex offender register notification requirements indefinitely. He is also likely to be banned from working with children and vulnerable people in the future, and will be the subject of a future application for a prevention order placing strict conditions on his liberty.

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A CONVICTED paedophile was caught staying with a Barrow mum and her children, a court heard.

Aaron Pollard was jailed for 27 months at Swansea Crown Court in March 2019 for sexually assaulting an underage girl after plying her with alcohol and cannabis.

The 28-year-old admitted breaching the terms of his ten-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and for failing to comply with notification requirements.

Prosecutor Ellie McManus told Preston Crown Court Pollard had been in regular contact with the mother’s young daughter in Barrow this year.

She said the defendant shouted to the mother: ‘You do not know me, you have never seen me before babe’, as he was arrested.

The court heard Pollard had been in a sexual relationship with the mother after originally communicating via Snapchat.

Ms McManus told the court the defendant was homeless and that he would either sleep on the streets or in his car.

She said the defendant would stay at the woman’s address for a few hours but never overnight and that he had contact with her daughter regularly on a daily basis.

The court heard Pollard was also at a party where girls aged between seven and ten-years-old were present.

Ms McManus added he would drive her daughter to school on occasions while she was in the car and that he would make attempts to avoid the police in Barrow.  

She said Pollard had failed to inform the mother that he was a registered sex offender.

The prosecution said the victim was ‘shocked’ and ‘upset’ when discovering who the defendant was.

A police inquiry was launched after Pollard was arrested outside McDonald’s on Dalton Road on May 2 this year for being drunk and disorderly, the court heard.

Officers attended his registered mother’s address who revealed her son had not been at the address address since April 19 this year.

In mitigation, Emma Keogh said her client’s offending began after Christmas last year after the breakdown of a relationship where his son was taken into the care of social services.

Ms Keogh said: “He turned to alcohol as a clutch and his behaviour worsened.

“He began speaking with another woman online and their relationship progressed quickly. He found himself in Barrow with no money and unable to get back to Swansea because his car had broken down.

“He knows he should have gone to the police and told them about the situation, but he buried his head in the sand.

“He regrets his actions and has already had three months in custody to reflect on the ramifications.

“His mother is now very ill and requires the help and assistance from her son. He very much wants to be rehabilitated.

"I urge you to consider suspending the sentence of imprisonment today.

However, His Honour Judge Graham Knowles said he was left with no other option but to jail Pollard for 18 months.

Passing sentence, Judge Knowles said: “In cases similar to this, women sometimes know of a man’s history, but in this case you did not tell her the truth at all.

"You deceived the mother and her four children. You were present in her house more than you care to admit.”

“You are deemed to pose a high risk of reoffending and you are deemed to be of serious harm to the public.

"This was clearly a persistent breach. I cannot say there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, nor do you have particularly strong personal mitigation.

“The reality is, this is clearly a case where appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”

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A VOLUNTARY online organisation who seek out sexual predators online have reacted to the sentencing of a paedophile who was jailed for committing online child sex offences.

Peter Davies was sentenced after pleading guilty to engaging in sexual communications with a child and attempting to cause / incite a child to engage in sexual activity between March 5 – 18 this year.

Preston Crown Court heard the 46-year-old, of NFA, believed he was sexually communicating with a 14-year-old girl, when he was instead talking to an adult decoy from ‘365 Hunters’.

It comes after Cumbria police secured his arrest on March 23 following a successful sting operation conducted by the voluntary group.  

In a 36-minute video shared to over 50,000 followers on Facebook, Davies told 365 Hunters he had been DBS checked having worked in schools fitting catering equipment.

The group also confronted Davies, who was wearing only a dressing gown and slippers outside his then home address in Dalton, about him asking the child for pictures of her in her school uniform.

Before his sentencing, magistrates were told Davies asked the child to engage in sexual activity of a non-penetrative nature and to provide sexual images of herself for his own sexual gratification over a period of two weeks.

Another court hearing was required on April 3 after Davies’ wife found he had children’s bras, underwear and a school uniform in his car.

On that occasion, Cumbria Constabulary lawyer Gemma Rogerson successfully applied for an interim sexual risk order to be put in place before his sentencing after she deemed Davies was at a ‘high risk’ of reoffending.

As a result, His Honour Judge Darren Preston jailed Davies for 28 months on July 4.

He was also made the subject of a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

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A CONVICTED sex offender who was ‘unwilling to comply with court orders’ has been jailed for failing to disclose details of an unregistered bank account to police.

Neil Bamber, of Emmanuel Court in Barrow, was ordered by a court to alert police to any financial changes in his life within three days, Preston Crown Court was told.

The 67-year-old pensioner was made the subject of a 20-month suspended sentence order in February 2021 for attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child.

The court heard Bamber had also been placed on a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) for 10 years, as well as being required to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders register as part of the sentence.

Prosecutor Keira Shaw said the defendant had only ever declared a Natwest bank account to police.

She said officers received information that the defendant had been using another bank card registered to a HSBC account.

As a result, Ms Shaw said officers attended the defendant’s address on April 11 this year to conduct a routine home compliance check.

She told the court the defendant was offered the opportunity to disclose the account before signing a document detailing that he understood the terms of his SHPO.

However, Bamber was then subsequently arrested for failing to notify police of a change in his circumstances, the court was told.

The court heard he told officers he did not want to disclose the information as he believed he would lose all of his pension and savings. He conceded that the account had been open for 40 years.

Ms Shaw said Bamber was sentenced to another 16-week suspended sentence order in June last year for ‘waving at a child’ whilst outside a school, which put him in breach of the original order.

Bamber was sentenced on June 12 after conceding he had failed to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders register.

In mitigation, his barrister Tom Farr said: “He recognises this was a stupid decision not to declare his bank account. He was concerned for the security of his savings. He was paranoid about what might happen to his financial security and pension.

“He is the full time carer for his wife who suffers with dementia and Alzheimer’s. He receives payment from the government for this. There is no other care in place for his wife.

“It would be unjust to activate his suspended sentence in my respectful submission. He is at low risk of reconviction and does not commit persistent offences. I ask you to draw back from immediate custody today.”

However, Recorder Ayesha Siddiqi disagreed with the defence submissions and as a result jailed Bamber for 42 weeks.

Before passing sentence, Recorder Siddiqi said: “It was concerning behaviour.

“There was a long period of non-compliance here. You had been asked on four occasions to complete a form to disclose your bank details. You were then given the opportunity on the day you were arrested.

“There is no reason why declaring your account would have resulted in the loss of your savings.

“You were incapable or unwilling to comply with the requirements of the law.

“You have a history of poor compliance with court orders. Appropriate punishment can only be achieved by an immediate custodial sentence.”

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Dan Chadwick of Cumbria Constabulary said: “Neil Bamber has been non-compliant since his initial conviction for attempting to incite a child into sexual activity.

"This discovery of an undeclared bank account shows his continued level of non-compliance.

“I am pleased with the result, and I hope it sends the message out to the public that Cumbria Police proactively manage sex offenders.”

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A CUMBRIAN child sex offender who is classified as “very high risk” has been given tougher restrictions on his online activity.

A Cumbria Constabulary police officer told Carlisle Crown Court that 26-year-old Jonathon Fell had repeatedly lied and shown himself to be manipulative when confronted by attempts to manage the risk he poses in the community.

The defendant, who has lived in Carlisle and Workington, committed his last offences within days of being released from an earlier sentence.

In February 2021, he was jailed for 45 months for various online child sex offences, including causing a child aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity. On several occasions, he used a mobile phone to incite young children into sexual activity.

He had contacted them through various social media platforms.

The officer told Judge Nicholas Barker: “He’s assessed as very high, which means he’s deemed to be immediately at risk of reoffending.”

On the last occasion, [in 2021] within a week of leaving prison, Fell had bought a phone.

Having been released on January 28, he began offending “really, really quickly.”   The officer asked the court to impose three new conditions on Fell’s sexual harm prevention order:

*  A requirement that he must notify the police of any intention he has to buy or obtain a phone or digital devices in advance of acting on this intention.

*  A stipulation that his police offender manager can carry out unannounced spot checks on his devices on 12 occasions every year.

* And a requirement for Fell to submit to lie detector tests, with seven days notice.

Under his present sexual harm prevention order, Fell was allowed to acquire a phone or internet device provided he notified the police within three days of taking possession of it.

During his offending, said the officer, Fell managed to keep an internet device he had secret from the police and the Probation Service.

The officer said: “Mr Fell has on a number of occasions been manipulative and has lied to the police and other agencies. At present, unannounced checks were possibly only if the force had “reasonable grounds.”

The officer accepted the judge’s assessment that Fell’s word could not be trusted unless his claims are independently verified. “Polygraph testing is absolutely essential to be able to manage him,” added the officer.

Jeff Smith, for Fell, said there was no need for the new conditions. Judge Barker approved the first two strands of the application but rejected the request for compulsory polygraph testing.

The advanced notice of Fell acquiring a phone or other internet device would close the three day  “window of opportunity” the defendant would otherwise have.

Explaining the rejection of lie detector tests, the judge said: “He is not on licence, and it seems to me, looking at all the circumstances, that the police are in possession of sufficient supervisory powers to ensure compliance with this order.”

The judge added if the police find evidence of Fell "persistently lying and manipulating" then the force can reapply to have the polygraph testing imposed.

The defendant has previously lived at Wastwater Avenue, Workington, though more recently he has lived at Lowther Street, Carlisle. He has been told that he will be on the Sex Offenders' Register indefinitely.

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A TRANSITIONING sex offender who posed as a teenage girl online and shared indecent child images told a court, ‘that wasn’t me’.

Emma Davies, 60, pretended to be a 14-year-old to talk to girls of a similar age and shared an explicit image of a young girl she had received, presenting it as herself.

The supermarket worker told Workington Magistrates’ Court she took responsibility for what happened but that person was ‘not who she is today’.

Outlining the case, prosecutor Pamela Fee said police attended Davies’ home address at Moor Place in Frizington on August 31 last year.

Officers had received information that Davies, who was then known as Nigel, had been accessing images of children online.

Police seized devices and a category C image was located on two devices. The image was of a 13-year-old girl and there were other images of the same child on the devices.

Davies was first interviewed by police on August 31. She said she had been diagnosed as a ‘possible transexual’ and thought she could be a girl.

The defendant said she had never asked for sexual images. She said she had pretended to be a 14-year-old girl online and had talked to girls of a similar age.

They talked about things such as music and depression, she said, and it ‘allowed her to be someone who is not me’.

Davies was interviewed again in December 2023 and was shown the image that had been found on her devices.

She said she could recall the image but didn’t know who it was. She said they had ‘got talking’ and the girl had sent a topless image without her asking.

Davies couldn’t remember which platform it had been sent on and said she believed the girl was 13 or 14. The defendant said she thought she would have been presenting  as a teenage girl when the image was sent to her.

She said the image wasn’t for her own sexual gratification but was for the ‘persona of who she wanted to be’.

Davies said she had then shared the image of the girl online, pretending it was herself. She said she was always in her ‘teen girl role’ when she shared the images. 

The defendant transitioned in February this year, the court heard.

Ms Fee said: “There’s clearly a need for a sexual harm prevention order. There is a risk of further sexual harm.

“She was presenting herself as a young girl to speak to other young girls of a similar age. She has used devices to speak to people before and then got rid of them.

“A small number of images were found. She sent those images on to other people, presenting them as herself. That person is a victim of sexual abuse online.”

Davies, who was not legally represented, told the court: “It’s quite a difficult period in my life. I have a little bit of concern about who I am today and what happened back then. That wasn’t me.

“I have moved on with who I am. I take responsibility for what was happening. I didn’t distribute images, as far as I can remember. For anything that happened, I am sorry.

“Over the last nine months, I have lost a lot. I made the decision to rebuild my life. I’m transitioning. I would like the opportunity to progress with that.

“I’m the happiest I have ever been in my life. When I speak to probation, it’s distressing for me to go back to a person that I am not. I don’t like that person.

“It was me but it’s not me now.”

Davies told magistrates she was not a threat to the public and no longer goes online.

She said: “I want to move away and start again because that’s not going to happen round here.

“The person I was, wasn’t a very nice person, I suppose. I find it very distressing and unsettling to bring this person back into my life.”

Davies, of Moor Place, Frizington, had admitted making two category C indecent images of a child and failing to surrender to court bail at an earlier hearing.

Passing sentence, magistrates imposed a five-year sexual harm prevention order and a 12-month community order with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Davies is required to present herself at the police station as a sex offender within three days.

She was fined £120 and ordered to pay £85 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.