Latest Offenders Derby

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A former teacher who failed to tell his school about his colleague's inappropriate relationship with a pupil, and was later convicted in court of having sex with an underage girl himself, has been banned from teaching for life.

A Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) hearing was told that Lian Laidlaw, previously known as Ian Featherstone, 44, did tell another pupil about the relationship between his colleague and a pupil but did not report it to Abbotsholme School, in East Staffordshire on the Derbyshire border, as a safeguarding concern.

In a statement of agreed facts, Mr Laidlaw admitted the allegations, which it was decided amounted to unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that could bring the profession into disrepute.

Mr Laidlaw was employed as a teacher and head of department at the Rocester school from September 2017 to July 2022. He attended a disciplinary meeting in respect of allegations that he disclosed confidential matters to a pupil related to his employment at the school on July 18, 2022, and was dismissed on July 28, 2022.

The hearing panel heard that Mr Laidlaw could have filed a safeguarding report about his suspicions about his colleague's inappropriate relationship as early June 2022, which he would be likely to know about because he had spent time with both the fellow teacher and the pupil and had a close relationship with the teacher. He also told another pupil about the relationship.

Mr Laidlaw had previously denied knowing anything about the relationship between the pair but later admitted he had lied at his disciplinary hearing in July 2022.

He himself was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a pupil on November 2022 at Derby Crown Court. He was sentenced to a total of:

• 12 months imprisonment, suspended for two years
• rehabilitation activity for 55 days
• electronic monitoring for six months
• 200 hours of unpaid work
• 45 days on the sex offender programme
• 10 years on the sex offenders register
• A £156 surcharge

The hearing accepted the certificate of conviction as conclusive proof of the commission of these offences by Mr Laidlaw.

In banning Mr Laidlaw from teaching indefinitely, decision maker Sarah Buxcey said: "The findings of misconduct are extremely serious as they include a finding of failing to report a safeguarding concern, conduct found to be dishonest and to lack integrity and an offence involving sexual activity with a child. This was conduct that was, very clearly, at the most serious end of the spectrum, amounting to a breach of the trust placed in him as a teacher.

"Mr Lian Laidlaw is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England. Furthermore, in view of the seriousness of the allegations found proved against him, I have decided that Mr Laidlaw shall not be entitled to apply for restoration of his eligibility to teach."

Mr Laidlaw has a right of appeal to the King’s Bench Division of the High Court within 28 days from the date he is given notice of this order. Derbyshire Live has approached Abbotsholme School for comment.

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A convicted Derbyshire sex offender who thought he was messaging a teenage girl online – sending her naked photos and asking for them in return – has been jailed.

Daniel Stout began messaging who he believed to be a 14-year-old girl on an online chat app, sending her naked photos and asking for her to send the naked photos back.

However, the girl was actually a decoy from an online child abuse activist group. Having arranged to meet the ‘girl’ in his home town of Buxton, Stout was arrested.

The 28-year-old, who has a previous conviction for a similar offence, was the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order at the time of the offence – which banned him from having contact with any girl under the age of 16.

Stout, of Fairfield Road, Buxton, was subsequently charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He admitted the offences and appeared at Derby Crown Court for sentence on October 22, where he was jailed for two and half years.

PC Jodie Norris, who led the investigation, said: “The fact that Stout committed this offence while under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order shows what a dangerous predator he is with no regard for the law.

“Thankfully in this case, the ‘girl’ he was messaging was an adult so a child has not been caused mental or emotional harm because of Stout’s depraved urges.

“I sincerely hope that this time behind bars will now give him the opportunity to reflect on his behaviour and realise the error of his ways.”

Description

A Derbyshire man who used social media to blackmail children as young as 10 into sending him indecent images of themselves has been sentenced.

National Crime Agency officers arrested Grant Derek Giblin of Willington, Derbyshire – after an investigation found he had been using social media apps to contact children between November 2021 and August 2023.

The 29-year-old would target the children, aged between ten and 16, and befriend them to gain their trust and encourage them to send him images of themselves.

Once he had received these, Giblin would blackmail his victims into performing sexual acts on themselves before again sending the content to him.

He was arrested by NCA officers in January 2024 and charged with offences including engaging in sexual communications with a child under 13 and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Giblin pleaded guilty to all offences at Derby Crown Court in July 2024. He was sentenced to eight years in prison at the same court today (Wednesday, October 23). Giblin will have an extended licence period of a further eight years, be the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and be on the sex offenders register for life.

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A former firefighter who paid children to send him explicit images online has been jailed.

Robert Stevenson would trawl social media sites and message women online, offering them money to send naked pictures. However, many of the victims were young girls.

He even sent a photo of himself in uniform to one of his victims, claiming to be 19.

The matters came to light when one of Stevenson’s victims, a 15-year-old girl, told police that he had threatened to post an explicit picture of her online.

He had spoken to the girl via direct messages on Instagram asking her if she wanted to make £100. The conversation later moved to Snapchat with Stevenson telling her he was 17 after she told him she was 17.

Stevenson was arrested and his devices were seized. Checks on them found he had been messaging a number of girls, and had paid several of them to send him photos and videos of themselves. Analysis of his bank account found numerous payments he had made to several girls.

The 31-year-old, previously of Long Eaton, was later charged with a number of offences including cause/incite the sexual exploitation of a child aged 13 to 17; cause/incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and making an indecent photo/pseudo photograph of a child.

He denied the charges but was found guilty after a trial at Derby Crown Court. He appeared at the same court for sentencing on 27 September when he was jailed for seven years. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the sex offenders register.

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A man who sent sexually explicit messages to children online has been jailed.

Stephen Blackwell began messaging one girl on Tiktok when she was just 10. He initially told her he was a 17-year-old boy who lived in London before admitting he had lied about his age. He repeatedly sent her photos and videos and asked her to send him images in return.

The matter came to light after the girl’s mum found the messages on her phone and contacted police.

Blackwell was arrested in connection with the incident and released on bail while investigations continued.

While on bail, he also began messaging accounts he believed belonged to 14-year-old girls. However, these accounts were all actually decoy accounts run by an online child activist group.

Blackwell sent numerous videos showing him performing sex acts on himself, and also asked the girls to carry out acts on themselves.

The 46-year-old, of Matlock, was arrested and subsequently charged with engaging in sexual communication with a child, causing a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, causing a child under 13 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity and attempting to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity.

He denied the offences but was found guilty after a trial at Derby Crown Court.

He appeared at the same court for sentencing on 16 August when he was jailed for 11 years and three months with the judge handing him an extended sentence to recognise the danger he posed.

He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the sex offenders register.

Description

A prison officer, former soldier and rugby coach, sent vile sex messages to a 14-year-old girl including telling her to “do what you are told”. Nottingham Crown Court heard how Andrew Marriott also asked for photographs of the victim in her school uniform, told her she “looked hot” and said he would book a hotel room for them both where they could have sex.

But unbeknown to the 44-year-old, the girl was actually a decoy pretending to be an underage teen and who contacted the police. Stephen Kemp, mitigating, said: “He served his country for five years in the army and has worked in the prison service for 14 years and it is clear he is a hard-working man.

“He has also given his time freely supporting a rugby team as a coach for four years. He has a supportive family and network and all of this makes it all the more shocking and inexplicable why he should act in the way that he did.

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“He has been a prison officer and after being remanded into custody it became apparent to others with whom he has been incarcerated and that has caused him difficulties. He said to me this morning that ‘every day is terrifying’ with people who recognise him being other inmates and he fears payback.”

Thomas Welshman, prosecuting, said over four days at the end of January and beginning of February this year, Marriott, of Wessington, near Alfreton, began communicating online with the decoy. He said within a very short space of time the messages they exchanged became sexualised and included the defendant asking her to touch herself, asking what her bra size was and suggesting they meet at a hotel.

The prosecutor said: “He said to her ‘with you not yet being 16 what we are talking about is illegal’ and he asked for a photo of her in her school uniform. He described to her in graphic detail what he would like to do to her.”

Mariott, of Brackenfield View, was arrested on February 19 and answered “no comment” to the questions he was asked, Mr Welshman said. But he later pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity. He has no previous convictions of any kind and his mother and step-father were in court to support him.

Jailing the defendant for two years and eight months, Judge Julie Warburton said: “The person you were speaking to made it clear she was 14 years of age and that did not deter you at all. Within a few, short, words, you told her you liked rough sex, asked her what she was wearing, told her to spread her legs and when she told you she was 14 you said to her ‘do as you are told’.

“The fact you have been a prison officer has made your life in custody more difficult because you live in fear of payback or retribution.”

As well as the jail term, the judge ordered Marriott to sign the sex offender register for life and handed him a lifetime sexual harm prevention order.

Description

A serial child sex offender from Derby contacted an 11-year-old girl as she was getting ready for school and sent her a vile image of himself. Later the same day, self-employed bathroom fitter Mark Rayworth then sent another disgusting photograph to the victim’s adult sister, who had been made aware of what he had done earlier and pretended to be a girl aged 13.

She contacted a gang of paedophile hunters who turned up at his home in Brailsford the same day and confronted the 55-year-old, formerly of Mickleover. 12 years ago, the same defendant met a 15-year-old girl at a McDonald's in Allenton and offered to pay her £100 for sex only for her to reply “I am not a prostitute”.

Jailing Rayworth for two-and-a-half years, Judge William Harbage KC said: “These are serious offences and you will receive serious punishment. She was 11 and she is autistic both of those make her vulnerable.

“Your pre-sentence report indicates you are still in denial about this and maintain your innocence. There is still no expression of remorse.”

The trial, at Derby Crown Court, heard how the young Derbyshire victim received a Snapchat friend request from the defendant as she was getting ready to go to school on the morning of November 25, 2022. Sarah Allen, prosecuting, said she replied to it and almost immediately the defendant sent her a sexual photograph of himself.

The prosecutor said the girl told her mother who took over her phone and told Rayworth the girl was only aged 11 and the victim’s older, adult, sister then contacted the defendant pretending to be a 13-year-old girl and he sent her a second sexual image of himself.

The prosecutor said the older sister contacted a group of self-styled paedophile hunters who turned up at Rayworth’s address later that night and challenged him about his behaviour. The defendant, of Corner Farm, denied any wrongdoing and took the case to trial meaning the 11-year-old girl had to come to court. Miss Allen said: “Throughout, the defendant has denied he was the ‘Tom Bailey’ who made contact with the victim.

“In her victim impact statement, the girl, now 13, said she feels scared and anxious that the man will turn up at her home and does not even want to open the door. She said she feels scared this will happen again and that it was her birthday the week before the court case and what should have been a happy day for her was ruined at the worry of having to come to court.”

After hearing all of the evidence, a jury found him guilty of causing or inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause or incite a girl to engage in sexual activity and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

The judge asked Rayworth, who represented himself during the trial and at this week’s sentencing hearing at Leicester Crown Court, if he had anything to say in mitigation. He replied: “No.”

In 2012, the defendant, then 43 and of Wren Way, Mickleover, was convicted at Derby Crown Court, of sexually grooming a 15-year-old girl. On that occasion, he met the teen at McDonalds in Allenton and the following day messaged her offering her £100 for sex. In 2014, then on Inglewood Avenue, also in Mickleover, he was convicted at the same court of breaching a sexual offences protection order - now called a sexual harm prevention order or SHPO - by contacting a girl aged under 16.

As part of this week’s punishment, Judge Harbage handed Rayworth a lifetime SHPO and placed him on the sex offender register for life. Speaking after sentencing, PC Sam Bailey of Derbyshire police's protecting children online team, said: “I would like to thank the girl for her courage in making a trusted adult aware of messages which were making her feel uncomfortable and were not right, and for her courage and families support during our investigation and the court case.

“I welcome the sentence Rayworth is now facing. He was totally responsible for his inappropriate behaviour against children. I hope this shows that we always take reports seriously and will investigate to ensure people are brought to justice and face the consequences their actions.”

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A pair of Derbyshire brothers, who carried out a “sustained and determined” campaign of sexual abuse against young girls, have been jailed for more than two decades. Bryan and Ian Wren gave the victims cash and sweets to buy their silence as they touched them sexually multiple times, Derby Crown Court heard.

The siblings, now both in their 70s, then carried on with their normal lives leaving the now women “utterly destroyed”. At one stage, after being arrested, Bryan Wren called his brother and told him “I have been a naughty boy”. And one of the victims this week broke down as she bravely read out her impact statement saying “you may see this as historical, but it’s not historical to me”.

Jailing Bryan Wren, who less than seven years ago was sent to prison for sexually assaulting a four-year-old girl, for a total of 13 years and four months, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “Some people who know you have high regard for you. They were not subjected to the abuse you subjected your victims to.

“You destroyed (one of your) victim’s lives, completely and utterly destroyed it. You could obviously live with what you did because it did not stop you abusing another girl who was even younger in 2015 and for which you were sent to prison in 2017 and rightly so.

“You took many opportunities to abuse her in ways which satisfied your sexual desires and while you lived your life, she has had a life of complete misery. What you did to her has turned her into a wreck, mentally.”

Jailing Ian Wren for seven years for abusing a different underage victim, the judge said: “You might have put it behind you but it has stayed with her forever and will continue to do so even after your release. She stayed silent for 45 years and buried what happened to her so deep but then she gets the double whammy of finding out your brother had been doing things to the other victims at the same time.”

Richardo Childs, prosecuting, said the sexual abuse of the victims began more than four decades ago when they were under the age of 13. He said it included multiple occasions where the brothers touched the girls sexually and then gave one of them 50p and another one of them sweets.

He said it took them decades to pluck up the courage to report their ordeals to the police and an investigation began and led to multiple charges against both men.

One of them read her own victim impact statement to the court. In it she said: “I have been filled with hurt and shame for so many years and for over 45 years I have been silent and I hope they finally understand that their behaviour is unacceptable? You may see this as historical, but it’s not historical to me.”

A second victim’s statement was read by the prosecutor. In hers, she said: “The abuse I suffered left me traumatised and not feeling worthy of life. I moved out of Derby to get a clean slate.”

Bryan Wren, 76, formerly of Mundy Street, Derby and now of Wilton Street, Ilkeston, pleaded guilty to a number charges including indecency with a child and sexual abuse of a girl under the age of 13.

Lesley Pidcock, mitigating, said: “He has a similar conviction from the 1980s and went through two years of electric shock treatment at the former Pastures Hospital (in Derby). It may be felt to be trite but he offers his apologies, his regret, remorse and shame.”

Ian Wren, 73, of Pinfold Lane, Bradley, Ashbourne, also pleaded guilty to similar charges against his single victim. James Varley, his barrister, said: “He worked his life on market stalls and was both a popular and well-liked man making hanging baskets for people. He came prepared and brought a bag knowing he is going into custody.”

Both men were handed lifetime sexual harm prevention orders and were placed on the sex offender register for life.

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A man who left a woman fearing she would die during a terrifying stranger attack in Derby has been jailed after being found guilty of rape.

Habib Khan lured the woman into a block of flats in Derby in the early hours of November 10, 2022. While in the stairwell of the flats, Khan grabbed her, raped her and throttled her – leaving her fearing he was going to kill her.

He then stole her bag which contained her bank card, house keys and around £15 before leaving the scene.

The woman reported the incident to police immediately which allowed officers to secure vital forensic evidence that led to his arrest. DNA samples taken from the woman matched Khan, helping to provide key evidence that he was the man who had raped her.

Khan was subsequently charged with rape, assault by penetration, intentional strangulation and theft.

In a victim impact statement the woman detailed the impact the rape has had on her: “What happened to me is difficult to put into words. I thought no one would believe this had happened to me and I never thought the person who did this would be found.

“Since that night I have struggled everyday. I get scared when someone is walking behind me in the street. Even going to the shops I will be looking behind me to see if someone’s there.

“I found going to court really hard and stressful. I am very thankful to the courts, the police and the officer supporting me through this. Without him I would never have gone through with this.

“The best experience of my life was when the police officer asked me to sit down and told me the jury believed me and he had been found guilty.

“No one deserves what he put me through and he should be stopped from ever doing this again.”

The 22-year-old, of Moyne Gardens, Derby, denied the offences and told the court the sex had been consensual but a jury saw through his lies and unanimously found him guilty on Friday 8 December after a trial at Derby Crown Court.

He appeared at the same court on 25 January when he was sentenced to 11 years in prison with a six year extension for dangerousness. He has also been ordered to sign the sex offender’s register and handed a restraining order preventing him from having any contact with the woman.

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A sex offender “went off the grid” and ended up living with a new partner and her young child without telling the police where he was. Derby Crown Court heard how Jamie Richardson also spent more than 24 hours at another woman’s house who also had a son and daughter aged under 18 during days of offending late last year.

The 33-year-old for mer Derby man also went missing from the address he had given to his supervising team which had been put in place after he was spared immediate custody for child sex offences. And when they went to his mother’s address searching for him, she told them he had first been living with her and then more recently at his new girlfriend’s home.

Dan Scothern, prosecuting, said Richardson was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order as part of a suspended sentence order imposed at Derby Crown Court in 2020 for offences of attempting to engage a child in sexual communication and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act. He said: “On September 22, last year, police went to what they thought was his home address and when they arrived neighbours told them he had not lived there since April.

“They went to his mother’s address who disclosed he had been living with her but was now living in Uttoxeter with his partner and her child. Neither of those addresses had been registered with the police and that was one of the requirements of his notification requirements.

“He had also failed to notify the police that he was in a new relationship with a new partner who had a 10-year-old. The second complainant was a woman who contacted the police on September 26 telling them she was concerned that a male she was dating might be a registered sex offender and that he had stayed at her address for a 26-hour period.

“She has three children, two of which are under the age of 18 and he (the defendant) had failed to notify the police he had stayed at that address which was another requirement. He had also failed to notify the police, as he was required to do, of an iPhone and an iPad which he had used to communicate with the second complainant and that one method he used to communicate with her was through Snapchat which does not keep its internet history.”

Richardson, of no fixed address and who appeared over a video link from HMP Nottingham for this week’s hearing, pleaded guilty to four breaches of a sexual harm prevention order and five breaches of the notification requirements of being on the sex offender register. His only conviction was the 2020 one which saw him handed a 16-month jail term, suspended for two years, for the child sex offences.

Katie Hodgkinson, mitigating, said her client had pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and was a carer for his partner, who was in the public gallery and who she said had recently been diagnosed with cancer.

She said: “He’s acutely aware of the position he has put himself in and he knows there is no excuse.” Judge Martin Hurst jailed Richardson for two years.

He said: “(You) went off the grid for at least nine months living with one woman who has a child for a significant period and you had contact with another woman, who also had children and stayed with her for more than 12 hours.”

The sexual harm prevention order remains in place as does the defendant being on the sex offender register, until 2030.

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A convicted sex offender who knew he was not allowed any contact with girls under the age of 16 let a young child sit on his knee at a church.

Derby Crown Court heard how Richard Clarke chased a second young victim around the same place of worship and spoke to a third one in a local cafe knowing full well he was forbidden from doing so by a court order.

The 70-year-old, of Matlock, was jailed for 30 months in 2014 for possessing sick child abuse images of underage girls. Now he has two years to stay out of trouble or risk being returned back behind bars for another stint.

Handing him a 16-month prison term, suspended for two years, Judge Martin Hurst said: “When I read this case last night I thought ‘this man is going to go to prison’ because he’s had contact with three different children, two at the church and one at the cafe. I don’t accept for one minute your claim that she’s (the first victim) climbed on your knee.

“You know you are not allowed to have any contact and you knew you were not allowed to chase (the third victim) around the church to do up her shoelaces. This would have led to your head being near her groin area and you have come close to committing a touching offence which, if you had committed one, would unquestionably have led to an immediate prison sentence.

“You make sure you have nothing to do with young children and you go to that church just to worship.” Annabel Lenton, prosecuting, said all three offences happened during April and May of 2023.

She said the first one took place when he was spotted with a young girl sitting on his knee at the church and when it was noticed the girl was removed. The prosecutor said: “In interview, he said the girl had climbed onto his knee.

“The second offence happened when a 13-year-old girl was in a cafe in Matlock with some friends and as she left the defendant said hello to her. She returned home and told her parents.

“The third offence happened at the same church (as the first one) when he was seen chasing a young girl around as her shoelaces were undone. He caught up with her and tied her laces and he later said he did this as he did not want her to trip over.”

Miss Lenton said Clarke, of Dimple Road, was jailed for 30 months in 2014 for a number of counts of possessing indecent images of children. She said as part of that punishment he was handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and was placed on the sex offender register, also for 10 years.

The defendant pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching the order. Sam Lowne, mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity when he appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court.

He said: “Speaking plainly, from the conversation I had with Mr Clarke, it does appear that over the years, since the order was imposed, an element of complacency has crept in.”

Clarke’s order will remain in place and he will remain on the sex offender register.

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A teenager who sexually assaulted two children has been jailed.

Oliver Carr, who was 18 at the time of the offences, knew the ages of both victims when he targeted them.

In March this year, while working in a McDonald’s restaurant in Swadlincote, Carr took the youngest victim, a girl under 10, into a cupboard, locked the door and touched her. She told her family what had happened and they called police. Carr was arrested at the scene.

The following day, while officers were investigating the McDonald’s incident, another young girl told police that Carr had been sending her sexual messages. He met up with the girl on two occasions when he kissed and touched her, despite knowing she hadn’t yet even reached her teens.

Carr, of Swadlincote, was arrested in the early hours of 13 March and subsequently charged.

Now 19, he admitted two counts of sexual touching, engaging in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming.

He appeared at Derby Crown Court for sentence on Tuesday 28 November when he was jailed for 18 months. Carr was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, restraining orders preventing him from having any contact with the youngsters and was ordered to sign the sex offender’s register.

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A man who raped a woman and forced her to have sex with other men while he watched has been jailed.

Gary Shaw also sexually assaulted another woman and engaged in controlling and coercive behaviour towards her.

He forced his victims to bravely recount their ordeals after denying the offences – but a jury at Derby Crown Court saw through his lies and after a trial in September found him guilty of rape, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without their consent, controlling and coercive behaviour and sexual assault.

The 53-year-old, of Market Place, Belper, was sentenced on 15 November when he was jailed for 12 years and handed restraining orders banning him from having any contact with the women. He must also sign the sex offender’s register for life.

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An utterly depraved Derbyshire paedophile downloaded thousands of horrific images of children being raped while on bail after being arrested twice when officers were alerted to his IP address.

Robert Reeve, 48, was caught with nearly 9,000 of the awful images which showed children from the age of just a few months to eight years old being sexually abused.

Lauren Fisher, prosecuting, told the court one of the category A images showed a very young child being restrained with a gag placed in her mouth.

In another a child was photographed while being duct taped to a bed in tears.

One of the devices Reeve used had internet searches for pre-teen models and kiddie sex, the court heard.

Ms Fisher said Reeves Ripley home was first raided on November 16, 2020, when police were told his IP address was being used to upload indecent images.

While on bail for the first offence officers arrested him again at home on August 16, 2022, for the same offence and then a third time on March 8 this year.

The court heard Reeve, of Alfreton Road, Codnor, had no previous offences on his record.

Reeves barrister said her client, who had already been on remand for eight months, had accepted what he had done.

She said: There appears to have been some denial for some time but he is waking up to the gravity of what he has done.

Judge Shaun Smith KC told Reeve: What you have admitted to is utterly depraved.

"I deal with a lot of images cases and none of them in recent times have sunk to the depths of what you were looking at.

"These really were images of the worst type these are real children being abused for the satisfaction of people like you.

"You didnt stop when police were onto you you were cavalier to say the least.

You didnt appear to be bothered, you just did it again with another device. You just carried on.

Reeve admitted multiple counts of making indecent photographs of children.

He was jailed for two years and nine months.

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A Derbyshire man who drove to Suffolk to sexually assault an 11-year-old boy he met online has been sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.

The National Crime Agency obtained intelligence leading to an investigation into David Alexander Murphy, 40, from Derby, which showed he sent money to his victim after meeting him in person.

He was found to have used an Irish passport in the name of ‘Alex McClean’ to open a PayPal account, and further enquiries showed he topped this up from another account.

NCA officers spoke to the boy who confirmed he had met a man called ‘Alex’ from Derby online in the spring of 2021. The conversations soon moved to WhatsApp, and Murphy sent intimate photos of himself and asked the boy to do the same.

On 1 June of that year, Murphy drove to Suffolk and met the boy in a village. He took him to a wooded area where he sexually assaulted him.

The boy gave a description of Murphy and recalled that he had driven in a car with a logo on the side. Officers were able to evidence this had been hired from a car club that Murphy belonged to in Derby.

NCA investigators arrested Murphy in March this year.

A specialist team searched his house and found two Irish passports behind a hanging picture, one in the name of Murphy and another in the name of McClean.

They also found a bank card in name of McClean, two sim cards hidden in an Oxo cube box, and an Amazon Fire Stick.

Possessing the passport and the bank card in a different name were breaches of his sex offenders register notification requirements.

Having unsupervised contact with the boy, and his failure to notify the police of the devices capable of storing data, also breached the sexual harm prevention orders he received for offences committed in 2012 and 2017.

Murphy appeared at Derby Crown Court today (6 October) where he was sentenced to six years and eight months imprisonment, extended by six years for dangerousness. He was placed on the Sex Offender Register for life and given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He pleaded guilty during a hearing at the same court on 16 June to inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity, meeting a boy under 16 following sexual grooming, four counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order and three counts of failing to comply with sex offenders register notification requirements.

NCA Operations Manager Danielle Pownall said: “David Murphy took his time to groom a vulnerable child online and even offered money to meet him in person.

“The actions of Murphy, an unrepentant child sex offender, were premeditated and devious.

“I would like to thank the young boy abused by Murphy for his bravery in speaking to us and helping to put a dangerous criminal behind bars.

“The NCA will continue to protect the public, particularly children, from the harm caused by online child sexual abuse.”

In 2012 Murphy sexually assaulted a boy and given a 12-month suspended prison sentence. In 2017 he was jailed for two years after admitting distributing indecent photographs of children.