Latest Offenders Cumbria

Description

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.

Description

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.

Description

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.”

Description

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.

Description

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.”

Description

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.

Description

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.”

Description

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.

Description

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.

Description

A sex offender’s repeated attempts to evade police scrutiny over his online activities have landed him behind bars, again.

Christopher Penrice, then known as Lloyd James Christopher Ditchburn, and living in Workington, in Cumbria, was jailed at Carlisle Crown Court in January 2022 for downloading indecent images of children and two counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Those offences stemmed from his use of specialist software to put his phone into “incognito” mode, disabling police monitoring software and enabling him to download indecent images of children undetected.

The 26-year-old defendant, now living in Embleton Street, Seaham, under the name Penrice, appeared at Durham Crown Court on Thursday (May 16) where he admitted a further count of breaching the terms of his SHPO, as well as notification requirements as a sex offender, having indicated guilty pleas to two SHPO breaches at the magistrates' court, last month.

Charlie Thompson, prosecuting, told the crown court sentencing hearing there has been, “a pattern of like offending, in breach of court orders”.

The SHPO was updated at court in Carlisle when he was sentenced in January 2022 and was to run for ten years, superseding a previous order imposed in 2020.

Among the terms of the order, he was prohibited from using cloud storage without informing the police or accessing file-sharing and chatroom facilities unless he provided his user name or password.

But on a monitoring visit at his home in Seaham on April 17, an officer checked the defendant’s mobile phone and discovered he had accessed a social networking site application, which was downloaded on April 2, without him having notified police, while also failing to provide a user name or password, in breach of the order.

He was also using a file-sharing system which he had failed to disclose to police and was using alias names, including Seaham2023 and hannaharris82.

Mr Thompson said in a further breach it was found Penrice was using a drop box storage application, accessed during March this year.

When interviewed he gave “no comment” replies, , but he indicated likely guilty pleas when he appeared before magistrates the following day.

The court heard his previous convictions stem back to 2014, as a juvenile, when he admitted offences of making and distributing indecent images of children.

He was again convicted for downloading indecent child images plus outraging public decency, an offence of “up-skirting”, in 2020, before the 2022 prison sentence was imposed for more images offences and breaching his SHPO.

Mr Thompson said as part of his post-prison licence conditions following the 2022 conviction, Penrice was subject to the monitoring checks, which were due to expire this month.

He described his recent offending as, “a series of breaches which were persistent in nature.

“Considering his antecedent history and the nature of the offending his recent online offending and having unfettered access to file sharing media is a serious offence.

“Both are aggravated by numerous convictions for having indecent images of children and his past breaches.”

Calum McNicholas, in mitigation, said the defendant merited credit for his guilty pleas, at both the magistrates and crown courts for the offences, for which there was some “overlap”, as they all form part of the same offending.

Judge Jo Kidd told Penrice: “You are a relatively young man who has managed to accrue a pattern of offending all geared towards accessing sexual images of children on the internet.

“These go back to the juvenile court in 2014, when you would have been a very young man.

“You were subject then to an intensive surveillance order, but that doesn’t seem to have had any deterrent effect as several years later you were back at court for further indecent images offences and committing an act outraging public decency.

“You were given the opportunity of direct targeting work to address your behaviour and interests and you were made subject of notification and a SHPO, but, unfortunately, you were back at court for offences of distributing indecent images and breaching a SHPO, in January 2022, for which you received a 32-month sentence and were made subject of a ten-year SHPO.

“The commission of these offences came while you were subject to post-sentence licence conditions and you have come up with new ways of trying to evade the prohibitions placed on you.

“Despite the supervision on you, you continue to use aliases and continue your interest in indecent images of children, in what were persistent breaches of your SHPO.”

Imposing a 24-month prison sentence she also made Penrice subject of a new SHPO and notification requirement, both running for another ten years.

She also made a deprivation order of the phone seized and examined by police on the April 17 monitoring visit.

Judge Kidd reminded Penrice that committing further offences while on licence, following his release from his latest sentence would only land him behind bars for a further period of time.

Description

A MAN who made indecent images of a child has been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

Ryan Tinkler, 30, pleaded guilty to making 12 Category C indecent images of a child when he appeared before Workington Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Tinkler, of Valley View, Little Clifton, Workington, committed the offence between June 2022 and February 2023.

Magistrates ordered the defendant to complete a 30-day sexual offender programme and 15 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order was imposed with a number of conditions which include making any device with access to the internet available to police upon request, not using any online service that conceals, falsifies, or disguises the IP address and not deleting any internet browsing history records.

Tinkler is required to register with the police as a sex offender for the next five years.

Description

AN EDEN Valley pub worker has been jailed after his perverted behaviour was exposed by paedophile hunters who posed as children online.

Over a ten-day period, 53-year-old Daniel Walker exchanged sickening sexual messages and images with two people whom he mistakenly believed were 14-year-old girls.

They were actually adults posing as children.

At Carlisle Crown court, the defendant, of Greystoke Park Road, Penrith, was sentenced after he admitted seven offences, though his claim from the dock to have no sexual interest in children flew in the face of the evidence, said the judge.

Prosecutor Brendan Burke outlined the facts.

He said Walker sent Facebook friend requests to the two people who had created profiles that made it clear they were ‘14-year-old girls.’ Their conversations included references to parents and homework.

During his messages to the ‘girls,’ Walker, who claimed to be 22 years old, indulged in sexualised conversation and sent them a picture of his genitals as well as a video of a child performing a sex act.

He spoke also of being a chef and running a pub and restaurant, suggesting that one of the girls could visit it. With both decoys, he later moved to another social media app which uses more encryption, said Mr Burke.

The prosecutor then outlined how the defendant had shared child abuse images with online contacts. They included images of a ten-year-old being sexually abused.

The defendant admitted two counts of attempting to sexually communicate with a child, downloading hundreds of abuse images, including 462 Category B images, and more than 800 Category C.

He had 124 images classed as Category A, the most serious kind. Walker also admitted having extreme pornography, which featuring “extreme violence,” as well as distributing child abuse images.

Charles Brown, defending, said the distribution offence involved a “relatively small” number of images to a limited number of individuals. A single man, working in a pub, the defendant said his only real conversation was online.

The lawyer said: “He would maintain that he has no sexual interest in children but the Probation Service are obviously cynical about that.”

The defendant now regarded his online activities as a “stupid way” of addressing his issues.

Mr Brown added: “He is a solitary individual, whose life started to go downhill in 2006 when a child he and his wife had died after only a few hours.

“That caused him gradually to retire from the world.

"The internet and the communications it provided gave him conversations and social intercourse and that was as valuable to him as any sexual aspect.”

Judge Nicholas Barker dismissed Walker's claim to have no sexually interest in children, telling him: “The evidence would suggest significantly to the contrary.”

His communications had displayed “classic grooming” techniques. “I have no doubt that you knew exactly what you were doing,” said the judge. He then listed the hundreds of child abuse images collected by Walker.

“Overall, this is a significant body of offending,” concluded the judge.

He jailed Walker for 33 months and ruled that the defendant must be on the Sex Offender Register for life and subject also to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.

Two of the volunteers from the Protection of Kids group, which confronted Walker at his home after exposing his online activities, were in court to see him sentenced.

Description

A WEST Cumbrian man who worked in museum management has been jailed after he admitted sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl.

The child suffered nightmares and lost her innocence because of the abuse committed by 53-year-old Stephen Jones, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant, who worked as a duty manager at Workington’s Helena Thompson Museum, admitted eight allegations, most relating to his sexual contact with the teenager.

One arose out of his creation of an indecent child image. Prosecutor Steven Swift outlined the facts.

He said that the first indication that the defendant had taken advantage of the girl came when the child’s mother noticed messages which Jones had sent to her daughter on her mobile.

They seemed inappropriate.

When the girl’s mother confronted her daughter, the teenager confirmed that Jones abused her sexually six times. She had recorded some of what happened between her and the defendant in her journal.

Part of the contact between the girl and Jones involved him sending her an indecent image of himself and asking for photos of her.

In some of her writings, the girl had spoken of Jones as being “creepy” and she also said that she had hated the sexual contact.

“The defendant is 53 and a man of previous good character,” said the prosecutor.

Brendan Burke, mitigating, said: “The only serious mitigation in this case is the defendant’s indication of guilty pleas.”

Judge Michael Fanning said that the offending happened over a relatively short period of time. “But she was a vulnerable girl and you knew that,” the judge told Jones, of Brierydale, Salterbeck, Workington.

The impact on the victim had been heart-breaking. She had now “retreated into herself” and suffers nightmares. The judge added: “Her childhood innocence has been stolen and there is no replacing it.”

He jailed the defendant for four years and eight months and put Jones on the Sex Offender Register for life.

He will be subjected to a 15-year sexual harm prevention order and a restraining order forbids him from having any contact with the victim.

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A REGISTERED sex offender has been brought back before a court after he failed to notify police he had been using an online dating app.

William Kirkbride, 59, is required to notify police of any names or aliases he uses within three days under the terms of a 10-year sex offender notification requirement.

He was jailed for 21 months in June 2022 for facilitating a child sex offence and was released on licence on August 10 last year.

Kirkbride had used the gay dating site, Grindr, between August 28 and September 11 and had not notified police, Workington Magistrates’ Court heard.

Pamela Fee, prosecuting, said the defendant was spoken to by the police officer who had examined his mobile phone.

He admitted using Grindr and accepted he hadn’t told his offender manager the username.

Ms Fee said it was a deliberate failure to comply with the requirement.

Kirkbride, of Queen Street, Whitehaven, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders’ register.

John Cooper, defending, said: “On release, there is no restriction on him being allowed to use the app. He is allowed to use it but has to tell police all his details – his passwords and usernames.

“He has been in conversation with a probation officer and said he was using that app. There has been no attempt to hide it.

“There is monitoring software on his phone so it would have been discovered.”

The court heard a decision had been made not to recall Kirkbride to prison. He remains on licence until October 9 this year.

A probation officer said Kirkbride had been compliant and had engaged with several partnership agencies including a GP and mental health services. Citizens Advice were also involved to assist with the sale of Kirkbride’s property.

Magistrates imposed a nine-week curfew, to run daily from 6pm until 6am. Kirkbride was ordered to pay £85 costs and a £114 victim surcharge.

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A PAEDOPHILE distributed explicit images of children being sexually abused to other online users, and engaged in illegal chat with what he thought was a teenage girl.

Simon Tiller, 57, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court yesterday (Monday) for what a judge described as a pattern of continued sexual offending which was wired into his DNA.

It was following chat between Tiller and an undercover police officer that he was unmasked as the person using a number of different online aliases. Discussions, through a messaging application, related to the sexual abuse of minors.

Michael Scholes, prosecuting, said of the communication method: This is a platform often favoured by those with an interest in the sexual abuse of children owing to the high level of anonymity it offers.

Tiller was arrested in May 2022, at a motorhome in which he was living within the grounds of a private north Cumbria property.

Several phones were recovered including a Samsung Galaxy in Tillers shorts that he had tried to hide. This was found to contain many hundreds of accessible indecent images of children including 317 stills and videos classed in category A, the most serious.

Over several months, Tiller was found to have discussed with others the sexual abuse of children and distributed indecent images.

The court heard Tiller had also covertly taken indecent photos of a child which he said he was prepared to pass on.

Tiller admitted nine charges involving the possession and distribution of indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornographic images and attempted sexual communication with a 14-year-old girl who was actually a police officer. He was convicted by a jury of one voyeurism offence.

Kim Whittlestone, mitigating, said Tiller had expressed remorse, despite conclusions to the contrary which had been drawn by a probation officer.

He will use his time in custody as well as he can, said Miss Whittlestone.

He is realistic that the court will keep him within a custodial environment for some time hence.

Tiller was jailed for a total of 39 months by Judge Michael Fanning, who concluded that he had sought to minimise his offending and shown a degree of self-pity.

You are a paedophile, said the judge. The (pre-sentence) report shows you are a risk to children. This offending was into your DNA, and until you accept and address that you remain a risk to children.

Tiller, latterly of Blackford, near Carlisle, must sign the sex offender register, and comply with the strict terms of a prevention order, for 10 years.