Latest Offenders Exmouth

Description

An Exmouth sex offender who tried to chat up a 13-year-old girl online has been jailed after being caught by a police sting operation.

Mark Watson aged 28, of Langstone Drive, was already on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a suspended sentence when he used the Chat Avenue website to contact the person he thought was a schoolgirl.

In fact he was speaking to an undercover officer when he offered to meet the girl and buy her treats, and he was caught after sending a selfie which police were able to check against their files.

Watson broke the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in three different ways. He used a false name, used Snapchat, and he communicated with someone he believed to be a child.

The order was imposed after he was caught downloading indecent images at his home in Exmouth two years ago, leading to him receiving an eight-month suspended sentence and being sent on a sex offenders’ treatment course.

Watson admitted attempted sexual communication with a child and three counts of breaching a SHPO and was jailed for two years and ten months by Judge Martin Picton at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: “You were given a suspended sentence for very similar offending and have gone on to offend again. You thought you were speaking to a 13-year-old child and your behaviour demonstrated a sexual interest in children which is obviously of deep concern.

“You did not learn the lesson from the last experience or from the course you went on. The breach of the SHPO was very serious because you breached it in a variety of ways with determination.

“You could have done very serious harm if you had got in touch with a real child as you hoped. The dangers are obvious.”

Mr Ian Graham, prosecuting, said the SHPO was imposed in January 2023 and included restrictions on Watson’s online activity intended to prevent him using chat rooms to try to meet underage girls.

 Watson contacted the undercover officer who was posing as a 13-year-old girl on February 20 this year on Chat Avenue and moved the conversation to Snapchat, which has an auto-delete function.

Miss Kelly Scrivener, defending, said Watson had tried to work with an organisation called Catch 22 to change his behaviour and has sought help from his doctor for mental health issues including depression.

Description

A spanking fetishist who is addicted to child abuse images has been jailed after police found his 16,000 item collection in a secret safe.

Lee Rouse kept a USB stick and a removeable hard drive in a secure box in his bedroom which was designed to look like a large book.

Police broke open the safe after finding literature about the physical punishment of children during a search of his home in Exmouth earlier this year.

He has three previous convictions for downloading child abuse material from the internet and admitted to a probation officer that he was addicted to films and photos which showed young girls being abused.

Rouse changed his name from Lidio Morrineau after being released from his most recent jail sentence but was still on licence and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which allowed to police to check on him at any time.

They were called to his home after he had a bust-up with his brother and found the safe and the spanking literature in his room. Previous checks had found nothing on his computer because he was downloading the abuse images onto the removeable drives.

There were 16,281 items on them but forensic experts only analysed 1,017 of them before concluding they had enough evidence to prosecute. 

Rouse’s collection showed children as young as two suffering serious abuse, with some items showing children being ‘chastised’.

There were 231 movies and 140 still images in the worst category, which showed acts amounting to child rape. Just under half of the material fell into the lowest category and showed nudity or sexual posing.

Rouse has previous convictions from 2004, 2013 and 2021 and has twice been found with child mannequins dressed as little girls.

Rouse, aged 52, of Withycombe Park Drive, Exmouth, admitted three counts of possession of indecent images of children and one of possessing a Samurai sword as an offensive weapon.

He was jailed for two years and two months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court and made subject of a new, tighter, Sexual Harm Prevention order for ten years. It includes all known forms of digital storage.

The judge told him: “You had been downloading images from the internet for a considerable period of time. You last accessed them not long before the police came calling and found the concealed safe in which you had hidden two digital devices.

“That concealment was a step you have taken to minimise the risk of being caught. The probation report says you admit to having an addiction to accessing and downloading such images and that you acknowledge a sexual attraction to under age girls.”

Mr Thomas Faulkner, prosecuting, said police were called by Rouse’s brother on August 1 this year after an argument at their mother’s home. Officers carried out a thorough search and found the book-safe.

They also found literature in Rouse’s bedroom about the physical punishment of children and seized a 74 cm long ceremonial sword. Nothing was found on his phone or laptop, which appeared as if it had been taken back to factory settings.

Mr Faulkner said: “He was asked about the safe and said he had lost the key and could not remember the last time he accessed it. He gave police permission to open it but said there was nothing inside.

“The aggravating factors in this case are his previous convictions and failure to comply with orders and the discernible distress of some of the victims as a result of chastisement. Some of the images depicted spankings of children.”

In all, there were 13 category A, six B, and seven C images on the USB and 16,281 images on the hard drive. Those which were examined were categorized as 231 movies and 140 images at A; 41 movies and 74 images at B and 75 movies and 457 images at C.

They had been downloaded between February 2019 and June 26 this year. Rouse told police he had forgotten about the book safe.

Miss Mary McCarthy. defending, said Rouse is determined to overcome his problem and believes that he will have a better chance of doing so if he finds a job and stops drinking when he is released from jail.

Description

John Humphreys, 59, was found guilty by a jury earlier this week and has today been jailed to 21 years imprisonment for historic sexual offences against two boys who were aged between 12 and 15.

Humphreys, the former Mayor of Exmouth from 2010 and 2012, sexually assaulted one boy aged 12 to 13 between 1990 and 1991, and a separate victim in the late 1990s who was aged 14 to 15. Both victims reported the incidents separately almost a decade apart.

Humphreys first met the younger victim at a public toilet in Exmouth, before abusing him at addresses in the town and in a shelter near Woodbury Common. The second victim was abused whilst he was on work experience at Humphreys home address.

Jill Macnamara of CPS said: This case demonstrates we do not hesitate to prosecute perpetrators of sexual abuse where there is sufficient evidence regardless of how long ago the crimes were committed.

It takes courage to come forward as an adult to report what happened to you as child especially where the offender has held a position of power within the local community.

The victims have shown a great deal of strength and bravery to step forward to report the incident and support the prosecution and I would like to thank them for their resilience.

Police Sergeant Angela Galasso of Devon and Cornwall Police said: This has been a long and protracted investigation involving historic sexual offences that occurred more 25 years ago during the early and late 1990s.

The sentencing today shows that nobody is above the law, regardless of their standing in the community.

I can only thank the complainants in this case for their tenacity, patience and the trust that they have continued to place in myself and colleagues investigating these matters.

Both victims have voiced separately that they feared they would never be believed or that their complaints would be taken seriously.

I sincerely hope that this guilty verdict will now provide this validation and allow them to feel that they can move on with their lives.

Description

Gareth Weeks persuaded the boy to go to bed with him on only their second meeting and blindfolded him during a bondage sex session.

He repeated the assault a couple of weeks later and secretly filmed himself having sex with the boy on both occasions.

Weeks then shared the film with a fellow paedophile while exchanging fantasies about having sex with boys as young as 12 or travelling to the Philippines in search of more victims.

He also tried to set up a threesome with the boy and his friend and wrote disgusting messages in which he spoke about ripping him apart.

The 14-year-old had gone on Grindr hoping to meet someone his own age with whom he could discuss issues about his sexuality, but instead fell prey to 52-year-old Weeks.

Weeks is a former stage manager who worked at theatres all over Britain and boasted to friends about having known showbiz stars including Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

He was jailed for child sex offences in 1993 and 2012 but was still able to join an amateur theatre in Devon as a volunteer. He was still helping to organise shows until his arrest.

He was caught because police found his messages and images on another man’s phone and traced him back.

Detectives from the child protection team discovered that he was still on prison licence and subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which banned any contact with children.

Weeks, aged 52, of Bassetts Gardens, Exmouth, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following grooming, inciting a child to sexual activity, arranging or facilitating a child sex offence, breach of a SOPO, and making, taking and distributing indecent images of children.

He was jailed for 15 years with a six year extended licence and certified as a dangerous offender by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

The sentence means he will serve at least 10 years. He was also put on the sex offenders’ register for life.

The judge told him: "These are a string of remarkably serious sexual offences against the same victim, who was 14 and particularly vulnerable.

"You encouraged him to meet you, and on your second meeting you blindfolded him, put him in some kind of bondage gear, and had unprotected sex with him.

"You knew he was exceptionally young and it is quite clear you did not care. The interest you showed towards him was totally false and intended to inveigle him into your trust. It was completely self-serving, duplicitous and misleading.

"You had only one thing on your mind and were not in the slightest concerned about the damage you were doing to him. You were not even remotely close to him in age but you didn’t care about that.

"Your messages show the violence you wanted to do to him were just utterly appalling. These were not fantasies because you had already arranged to meet him and already violated him.

"It is clear you intended to do so again, but for your phone being seized by the police."

James Tucker, prosecuting, said Weeks made contact with the boy within hours of him posting a Grindr profile in 2018 and told him he could help him sort out issues at home and at school.

Weeks arranged a meeting at which he tried to initiate sex but the boy declined. They met again at Weeks' home two weeks later when he blindfolded and tied him up.

The same thing happened a couple of weeks later. The boy later told police he was confused and felt he was being controlled by the older man.

Images found on Weeks’s phone showed he filmed both encounters without the boy knowing and exchanged them with other paedophiles.

Messages also showed Weeks was in touch with a man in June 2019 urging him to contact the boy and suggesting a threesome. His messages showed he knew the boy’s age but they still went on to discuss “ripping” him.

In one message to the boy Weeks said: "I love boys your age, and younger to be honest."

Brian Fitzherbert, defending, said Weeks was unclear at first about the boy’s age because he met him through Grindr, which is an adults’ only site.

He said Weeks did well after finishing his last jail sentence while he was under intense supervision and had completed three sex offender treatment courses.

He felt he did not get enough support after moving to Devon and had told a probation officer that he was still attracted to boys when he passed them in the street.

Description

An abuser whose sexual assaults turned a model schoolgirl into a troubled and self-harming teenager has been jailed for almost nine years.

Lee Hanson took advantage of the girl's naivety and innocence in Exmouth on several occasions when she was 10 and eleven.

She only realised that what he was doing was wrong when she received sex education at school when she was 13 and the shock had a drastic effect on her life.

Hanson, aged 55, of Exeter Road, Exmouth, admitted two counts of oral rape, two of assault by penetration, two of inciting a child to sexual activity and two of sexual assault.

He was jailed for eight years and eight months, with a one year extended licence, and put on the sex offenders' register for life by Recorder Simon Levene at Exeter Crown Court.

He told him: "The details of this case are extremely distressing. Your victim did not realise the gravity of what you did until later, but when she did, her life fell to pieces.

"She was seriously affected and suffered serious psychological harm from the acts you perpetrated against her. These were an extremely serious series of offences."

Miss Rachel Drake, prosecuting, said the offences only came to light when the girl was 18 and told her mother about what had happened to her over about 18 months when she was ten and 11.

She said the girl only realised that what Hanson had done to her was wrong when she was in her teens.

She said:"She did not appreciate it until she had sexual education in year nine. He told her at the time it was 'our little secret'."

The girl's victim impact statement said: "I thought because he was an adult that what he was doing was okay. I did not think he would do anything to harm me because he was a grown-up.

"I was too young to know anything different at the time but it made me feel uncomfortable and weird. When I realised that it was not okay, I thought it was gross.

"I wonder if my self-hate issues would have happened if not for his abuse."

She went on to detail how she started to self harm, developed an eating disorder, and was asked to leave school because of her antagonistic attitude.

Miss Bathsheba Cassel, defending, said Hanson had been completely frank with the police and expressed his remorse immediately. His pleas had saved the victim from having to re-live the abuse by giving evidence.

He read out a letter in which he said: "I would like to apologise to her. I am so, so sorry. I am deeply remorseful. I would like to apologise to my ex friends and my family for the shame I have brought upon them."

Description

A builder pretended to be a 14-year-old girl called 'Tina' to discuss his perverted child sex abuse fantasies online, a court heard.

John Leigh, 55, used the pseudonym while downloading and sharing sick images from the internet.

He talked about his fantasies online with other perverts on forums and in chat rooms, sometimes dressing in female clothing himself.

Leigh, from Exmouth, downloaded 87 photos and movies of children being abused. Exeter Crown Court was told the abuse involved children as young as four.

The defendant admitted possessing and making indecent photos of children.

He was given a suspended sentence after the court was told he could be rehabilitated.

Prosecutor Ms Anita Noerr said the offences took place over a period of more than four years.

Police executed a warrant at the defendant's home in July 2017 after receiving information he had been distributing indecent images of children online.

After analysing his laptop and a memory stick they found 15 still and moving images in the most serious category.

He told police he had an addiction to pornography which had escalated to the point where he was sending and receiving child abuse images.

The prosecutor said he also sent 'pictures of himself in female items of clothing'.

The defendant is a man of previous good character. The judge read a number of references and letters of support, including from the defendant's family. A probation report said he was a 'realistic prospect of rehabilitation' and he was already working with a charity to change his behaviour. He also cooperated fully with police.

Judge David Evans expressed concern that CPS had not charged Leigh with distribution offences and the possessing and making charges 'may understate' his behaviour.

He told the defendant: "You admitted you were engaged in contact over a lengthy period of time with other like-minded individuals on the internet. You had adopted a pseudonym 'Tina' who you said to others was 14 years old and it seems you sought out contact to obtain sexual gratification and you shared with others pictures you had downloaded from the internet of girls of that age.

"It seems you all engaged in what I understand to be fantasy conversation about sexual contact. It seems your particular predilection amounted to dominating of you by other adults with an interest in pre-pubescent children."

The judge said it was the actions of Leigh, and people like him, which created demand for the filmed abuse of children.

But he said Leigh had 'sought help for his perverted thinking' and was seeing a counsellor.

The defendant, of Victoria Road, was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years. He must do 30 days rehabilitation work with probation and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years. He must also pay £425 costs.