Latest Offenders Flint

Description

A paedophile distributed video and images of child sexual abuse depicting children as young as five-years-old. He was also found to have conversations with other depraved individuals in discussions about what he referred to as "young p****".

Joshua Waldron, 29, was visited by police at his then home in Oakenholt, Flintshire, on May 13, 2021, after a report was made by Yahoo that the defendant was uploading child abuse images using his email address. A number of electronic items were seized including an iPhone and a Samsung phone.

A sentencing hearing at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday heard the Samsung phone was found to contain a total of 58 category A images of child abuse, 39 category B images and 27 category C images. Prosecutor Ember-Jane Wong said Waldron was found in possession of videos as well as the images, which showed children aged between five and 15-years-old being abused.

The defendant was also found to be using an app called Telegram in which engaged in conversations with other paedophiles and distributed a total of 29 category A images, nine category B images and 20 category C images.

Waldron, of no fixed abode, was interviewed by police and attempted to distance himself from the material on his device, even going as far to falsely implicate his ex partner and her brother. This was dismissed by a jury who convicted him of three counts of possessing indecent images and three counts of distributing indecent images. The court heard he had four previous convictions of a dissimilar nature, the latest of which was burglary.

In mitigation, Simon Mintz said his client, who continues to deny the offences, had a "difficult childhood" following the breakdown of his parents' relationship and was bullied at school. He said the defendant lived a solitary life due to huis work as a crane driver which required him to travel around the UK.

Recorder John Philpotts sentenced Waldron to a total of three years imprisonment. The defendant was made subject to sex offender notification requirements for life and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely.

Description

A pervert with a "leg fetish" has been jailed after 'upskirting' numerous women and young girls in a Mold supermarket.

Ian Betts, of Celyn Park in Carmel, appeared at Mold Crown Court for sentence on Tuesday morning.

The 61-year-old admitted numerous offences including: eight of recording under clothing (a form of voyeurism also referred to as upskirting), three of making indecent images, four of taking indecent images, one of possessing prohibited images and two of attempted upskirting.

In 2021, a shopper in Tesco Mold spotted Betts acting suspiciously - standing behind a young female wearing a skirt with his mobile in his hand.

The court heard Betts bent over towards her and pointing the phone between the girl's legs when the screen lit up.

David Mainstone, prosecuting, said the shopper took hold of the defendant and alerted the girl's parent, as well as store staff, as to what he'd been doing.

When police attended, the phone was seized - as were a number of the defendant's other devices.

Indecent images - 10 at category A, two at category B and 2,859 at category C - were found, as well as four prohibited images of children.

Officers also discovered he'd been "upskirting" on numerous previous occasions, with footage of several victims - both adult and child females wearing skirts or dresses.

Most of the recordings were made at Tesco in Mold, and by tracking the defendant's use of his clubcard, police were able to obtain CCTV footage of his offending.

On one of the occasions - charged as attempted upskirting - he attempted to record under the clothes of two young girls in Mold town centre.

When interviewed by police, he expressed regret and said he'd "take responsibility" for his actions - which he attributed to an "obsessive compulsive disorder."

The court heard he'd "surprisingly" been cautioned for 14 offences of making indecent images in 2008, but had no convictions on his file.

Victim personal statements from parents of the victims were also read out.

One said she had not informed her daughter of what had happened for fear of causing her to feel uncomfortable or embarrassed about what had happened to her.

"I couldn't believe this man had been so brazen as to take pictures of my young daughter," she said.

The court also heard a statement from one of the young victims, who said the offending had left her "paranoid" about where she went in public.

"I had so many questions going around in my head," she said.

"Why me - what had he done with the photos?"

In another statement, a Tesco staff member said the store is seen as a "safe place," and for "someone like this to come in and violate that makes me feel sick."

Robin Boag, defending, conceded that there had been responses made by the defendant in the preparation of his pre-sentence report which "aren't exactly helpful."

He said: "He is under no illusion as to the seriousness of this matter.

"In the 18 months since he was arrested, there have been no concerns of any further behaviour - despite him not being under any restrictions.

"This defendant has been free to walk around the area throughout that period.

"The defendant's deviation tends to centre on what he describes to the probation officer as a 'leg fetish' relating to females.

"Whatever deviation he has, it is not so overwhelming that he can't control it."

Judge Rhys Rowlands said while the defendant's case was thankfully not a common one, it was nevertheless a "particularly discomforting one" for the victims and their families, as well as the store as a whole.

The Judge said it demonstrated "repeated perverted behaviour" on the defendant's part.

Betts was jailed for 33 months and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, as well as registration as a sex offender, for ten years.

Judge Rowlands asked that a letter be sent to the Tesco customer who raised the alarm, thanking him for his public spirited actions, adding: "Had he not done so, this behaviour could have continued."

Description

A SEX offender who was prohibited by a court from looking through people's windows has been back in court after entering a woman's house uninvited.

The Leader reported earlier this year how Gabriel Olah, then of Fairfield Road in Queensferry, had been seen on CCTV footage performing a sex act on himself "outside a domestic property" when a party was happening inside.

District Judge Gwyn Jones told Wrexham Magistrates Court in March that the defendant "purposefully" carried out the sex act outside the residence and made him the subject of a seven-year sexual harm prevention order.

He was prohibited from undertaking a number of behaviours for the duration of that order, including; looking through any window of any private dwelling, entering or remaining on any premises that are not his own without the permission of the occupier (including the driveway and garden), approaching or seeking to approach any female or communicate any sexual remarks with a view to furthering sexual contact including gestures.

Olah, now aged 32 and of Church Street in Flint, appeared at Mold Magistrates Court on Thursday for sentence after being convicted of breaching a sexual risk order / risk of sexual harm order, which took place in Flint last month.

Justin Espie, prosecuting, told the court that the latest offence arose when a Flint woman was sitting in her living room watching TV and she saw a shadow at her window. 

 There was a ring at her front door and when she went to see who it was she found it open with a man standing there.

She told the man to shut the door, and he stepped in - closing it behind him.

The woman didn't understand what he was doing, as she hadn't asked him in.

He appeared to have been drinking and introduced himself as Gabriel.

He asked the woman if she was married, then asked if she was 'happily' married - to which she said she was.

He left, asking her not to call the police.

Mr Espie said the woman wasn't concerned initially, but she posted about the incident on Facebook to let other people know and was sent a news article about a male who was "sent to prison for looking in windows and doing lewd acts."

Ceri Lewis, defending, said Olah had been to a friend's house on the day of the offence and had consumed a large amount of alcohol. 

 He had become "disorientated" on his way home, she said, and approached the woman's property when he saw the light on.

She added: "He has very little recollection of the conversation, but he is extremely remorseful.

"He is aware it is a serious breach."

Ceri Lewis, chair of the bench, handed down a 26-week custodial sentence, but suspended it for 24 months.

Olah must complete the Horizons sex offender treatment programme and has been made subject to a 90-day alcohol abstinence monitoring requirement.

He must also pay £85 costs and a £154 victim surcharge. 

Description

A MAN from Rhyl has returned to prison after not complying with post-custodial requirements following his release, and with the sex offenders registers notification requirements.

David Nash, 27, of Clwyd Street, was released from prison on July 1, and ordered to reside each night at a supported housing project on this street, which is staffed 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Nash was accused of failing to reside there on August 4, 28, 30 and 31.

He admitted to these breaches at Mold Magistrates Court on September 10.

Nash was also accused of failing to comply with notification requirements in regards to the sex offenders register.

These notification requirements include names, addresses, all foreign travel, bank account details and passport information, among others.

He also pleaded guilty to this offence at Mold Magistrates Court on September 10.

Nash was handed a concurrent, 16-week prison sentence.

Description

A man confessed to his illegal activities when his "depraved" collection of child pornography was discovered last summer. Kale Jordan Hughes, originally of Maes Gwyn in Flint, appeared before a judge at Mold Crown Court to be sentenced today.

He admitted downloading just over 670 indecent photos of children as well as distributing four indecent videos at a previous court hearing. He was also found to be in possession of an extreme pornographic video portraying a sexual act involving a dog.

Prosecuting, Thomas Mcloughlin told the court how the National Crime Agency passed along information from Instagram officials to the specialist team at North Wales Police on June 18 last year that a user on the social network had shared out an indecent video of a child. That person was tracked down by their IP address and found to be Hughes.

The 29-year-old handed over a mobile phone - as well as SIM cards and memory cards - after he was arrested at his Flintshire home following a raid, the court heard. When officers asked during an interview with the defendant what their investigation of his phone would reveal, Hughes told them that there would be "everything" on the device, including the saved media alongside web searches.

An array of sexually explicit content featuring mostly girls had been downloaded and stored in "easily accessible places" on the devices, said Mr Mcloughlin. The prosecutor added that the analysts estimated the children featured in the library of indecent images range in age from aged 15 to being "as young as four".

The court heard how Hughes made a confession that, before he was arrested, he had been watching this type of material for "at least five years". He told the police he would seek the content out online, accepting that it was "wrong" and knew it was illegal.

The court heard that Hughes had downloaded the Telegram app just weeks before his arrest in July 2021. It was said that he looked around for groups that specifically shared this kind of content on the app, adding that some had "roughly 10-15" participants.

Defending, Alun Williams, was keen to stress to the court that his client was a "man of good character" before his stash was discovered. Since his arrest, he cooperated with the police "even before they could prove" what he had done and has since "made enquires" about what help is available for people who have this kind of sexual interest.

Judge Rhys Rowlands told Hughes that prison was his only suitable punishment option. Overall, he was sentenced to one year and six months, banned from ever working with children and told to sign up as a sex offender for the next decade.

He said: "These are serious and disturbing offences that are very far from being victimless. Each image is of a child, somewhere in the world, that is being subjected to exploitation to satisfy the depraved interests of people like you."

"You have shown some remorse and insight into your behaviour," the judge accepted. However, he continued by saying that: "the scale of your offending, coupled with the willingness you showed to share such vile images yourself, means that custody cannot be suspended."

Description

A "depraved" sex offender lured young boys to his home with the promise of sweets and fizzy before "taking away their innocence". Colin Eamens, 66, of Nelson Street in Shotton, Flintshire's carried out a campaign of abuse that spanned five decades. while posing a respectable member of the community.

Eamens, 66, admitted to 17 counts of sexual abusing six underage teenage boys from the late 1970s and into the 2010s. He was sentenced to 17 years at Mold Crown Court on Friday.

Prosecutor, Brian Treadwell said Eamens would have children "drop in" and he would often provide them with cigarettes and alcohol, as well as sweets and fizzy drinks. The prosecutor said Eamens would "seek out items" such as computer game consoles and a Sodastream machine to "attract" children to hang out at his home.

Eamens targeted the boys from when he was in his early 20s through his mid-fifties.

He befriended the victims and their parents and had been regarded as a "family friend". Some of the children he would go on to abuse would, on occasions, spend the night at his home.

One victim said Eamens performed a sexual act upon himself in front of the boy which became "something of a habit". This progressed on to the boy having sexual acts performed upon him "on at least 30 occasions", the court was told.

Eamens later raped him one Christmas Day in the 1980s when he was just 15 years old. The abuse carried on for a further two years.

Mr Treadwell said Eamens sexually abused a further five boys over 30 years. He performed sexual acts either in front of or upon the children and on some occasions offered them "cash for sexual favours", the court heard.

Duncan Bould, defending, said Eamens was "very open" when confessing to his actions and is aware that a "significant" prison term awaited him.

Judge Rhys Rowlands jailed Eamens for a total of 17 years for his "disturbing" offences. He praised their "courage" in coming forward.

He said: "It is plain that as a younger man you were prone to behaving in a thoroughly depraved fashion, targeting and subjecting young teenage boys to various forms of sexual abuse. There are six victims, each of whom were young when they were abused by you.

"They had to live with what you did to them while you moved on living your life as though nothing had happened, moving from one victim to another. As youngsters they shouldn't have had a care in the world, but instead you were taking away their innocence and in some respects their childhood."

Speaking after the sentencing, DI Iolo Edwards, said: This has been a protracted and extensive investigation of Eamens activities and we welcome todays sentence. We hope that this sentence brings some closure for the victims who have supported our investigation from its outset."

DI Edwards went on to say that any person affected by sexual violence can seek support anonymously from the North Wales Sexual Assault Referral Centre. They can be reached by calling 0808 1563658.

Description

A sex offender was caught "returning to his old ways" after sharing pictures and videos of child abuse in a "nothing off limits" chatroom. He claimed to be exchanging the illegal images for "normal" pornography online.

Jason William Hannah of Church Street in Flint, had previously been banned from using certain parts of the internet. But he came to the attention of the authorities when he was found back in the dark corners of the web.

The 32-year-old was brought before Mold Crown Court charged with six counts of sharing indecent images of children. In doing so, he had breached part of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The court was told by prosecutor, Mr Michael Whitty, that Hannah was first jailed back in 2015 for 10 months after the police found more than 1,600 images of children being abused on his computer. He was living in the Connah's Quay area at the time.

After being released from prison, the court heard how Hannah "went back to his old ways". Last summer, in June 2021, he downloaded and created a Kik account - a file sharing platform - which is something he was banned from doing by the courts.

The police were alerted by the company that a user was involved in sharing images and videos of children being sexually abused. An investigation soon revealed it was the defendant.

Hannah was arrested in October 2021 when the police searched his property for any electronic devices. His iPhone was taken by the police to be checked but the 32-year-old made "full and frank admissions" about what they'd uncover on the device, said Mr Whitty.

In interview, he spoke about going though a "bad period" in his marriage and how he downloaded the app to seek out "normal" pornography. The dad said he then found himself in a "nothing off limits" chat group where the child abuse material had been shared.

He accepted that he didn't tell anyone about the account because he knew it would "get him into trouble". He also admitted to sharing a total of seven files over the period of a week - all being in the most serious category.

Defending, Mr Bouge, told the court how his client accepts he should not have done what he had done. He added that "thankfully" it appears he only engaged in the activity for a short period of time and that the "sharing" of files only involved one other person.

He said that the pre-sentence report "doesn't really help him at all" as he maintained having "no sexual interest in children". However, according to Mr Bouge, Hannah has accepted this is not the case and has "struggled" to "face up to the fact" this attraction is something he "cannot ignore".

He told the court that his client knows the only realistic option the judge can consider is immediate prison. The defence say that he has also been made aware that this time it would be longer than his last stint behind bars.

Judge Rhys Rowlands agreed, saying that Hannah clearly "hasn't learnt anything" from his last jail sentence. Addressing the defendant, he said that he'll be going back to prison for two years.

"This was a calculated and quite deliberate attempt to bypass the order. You did so in order to further what remains to be a pretty obsessive and worrying need to access these images of children.

"The images themselves were very disturbing. Plainly, you have learnt nothing from your previous time in prison.

"In my view, there is no realistic prospect of rehabilitation with you at present. I'm firmly of that view because of your non-compliance with the existing order and by you retuning to your old ways."

Description

An "arrogant" child sex offender who went through the Mersey Tunnel up to 40 times to visit a woman failed to tell police where he was staying.

Calum Teeson, 26, had a conviction for possessing indecent images of children and had had to keep the authorities informed if he stayed away from his home in North Wales for a certain period of time.

But he breached that order in staying in Liverpool and not reporting it between August 3 and November 9, Mold Crown Court heard today.

He had already pleaded guilty to failing to comply with notification requirements. A judge today jailed him for six weeks. He will be released today due to time served.

Prosecutor Dafydd Roberts said in August Teeson had received an eight-month jail term, suspended for two years, for making indecent images of children.

But police checked with Mersey Tunnel staff and found he then visited Liverpool 30 to 40 times between August and November.

And because it was over a period of more than seven days, and he had not informed the authorities he was staying away from home, then he was in breach of the notification requirements of his conviction.

The prosecutor said Teeson told police he had a friend in Liverpool with whom he stayed. His friend did not know about the conviction and he did not want to lose that friendship.

Teeson, of Bryn Eithin, Pentre Halkyn, was not represented by a barrister in court.

But he addressed the court himself from HMP Berwyn via videolink.

He told the judge: "I accept I have made a very stupid mistake, and being in here has made me realise that more, by being deceiving to the (police) officers that were in charge of myself."

He said that if he is released he still has a job open to him.

"I would like to do everything I can to fix this."

But the judge, His Honour Judge Niclas Parry, jailed him for six weeks.

He said: "The reason I have imposed a custodial sentence is because this was a deliberate and arrogant breach."

He said police officers had texted him to remind him of his obligations.

The judge warned the defendant that he must keep to the terms of his original suspended sentence, including doing unpaid work and observing the notification requirements, or he will face custody.

Description

A FLINTSHIRE man breached his sexual harm prevention order by deleting his internet history after watching pornography, a court heard.

Jacob Paul Butler, of Coast Road in Mostyn, appeared at Caernarfon Crown Court on Thursday for sentencing.

The 22-year-old was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) in 2019.

Prior to his sentencing this week, he had already admitted breaching the SHPO between December 17, 2020, and January 14 this year.

Richard Edwards, prosecuting, told the court that Butler had bought a new phone in mid-December.

An app allowing his offender manager to monitor his use of the device was installed.

But officers noticed a week into January that the phone hadn’t been used online since before the New Year.

They checked the phone and found the monitoring app’s settings had been changed.

Initially he denied having tampered with it, but later admitted he’d used the phone to watch pornography and then deleted the history.

He said he’d deleted the history as he was ashamed of how much of the material he’d been viewing.

The court heard he has previously breached SHPOs numerous times and has 25 offences from eight convictions - including several sex offences involving children.

Jemma Gordon, defending, said: “The defendant is well aware that he is facing a custodial sentence.

“Clearly the further breach is going to be of concern to the court.”

Judge Nicola Jones told Butler: “There was a prohibition that you not delete the internet history - you were well aware of that.

“You denied tampering with the device and then admitted it.”

He received a two year custodial sentence.

Description

A dad who sent sexual messages and images to whom he thought were three children was in fact speaking to decoys, a court heard.

Aled Jones believed he was speaking to a 10-year-old girl when he said he wanted to have sex with her, sent an explicit image of himself, and warned her not to show it to her parents.

The 32-year-old, of Dewi Avenue, Holywell, also "pleaded" with whom he thought were two 14-year-old girls for sexual images of themselves, after telling them in explicit terms what he wanted to do with them.

However, Mold Crown Court heard Jones was talking to online undercover paedophile hunter group pretending to be young girls.

Judge Timothy Petts jailed him for 28 months after he admitted seven attempted child sex offences.

They included three counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child aged 14 to look at an image of sexual activity, attempting to cause a child aged 14 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, and attempting to cause a child aged 10 to watch a sexual act.

The Airbus worker was made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for the same period.

Judge Petts said: "The offences you committed sexually were against people you believed were children.

"Unbeknown to you, they were all adult decoys.

In each case, you knew the age they were purporting to be and that did not deter you in turning the discussions to sexual language, sexualised requests and grooming behaviour.

Prosecuting barrister Oliver King, said the messages were sent on KIK, and the most explicit was to the fictional 10-year-old who mhe suggested having sex with.

Asked whether she liked dirty talk, he followed the conversation up asking for a picture, and by asking whether she ever wore tight jeans or a thong.

Despite making it clear she was uncomfortable with the chat and changing the subject, Mr King said Jones groomed her and tried to build her trust by talking about pets.

When he seemed to have developed her trust, he then turned the conversation back round to whether she had ever been kissed, Mr King said.

At one point, the court heard how he began messaging the decoy from work.

He even went as far as saying he had previously had sexual encounters with other girls and that he had made them feel ok.

The defendant also asked the fictional 14-year-old girl whether she wanted a boyfriend, before turning the conversation to what clothes she wore.

He asked whether she wore tight jeans or leggings, before eventually moving on to what underwear she had on.

Encouraging her to send explicit images, he sent one of his torso and asked for one in return.

Jones told the girl she was hot and that he had become sexually aroused by her.

He explained to her what that meant when she told him she did not understand, and then sent her an explicit image.

The defendant then asked whether he would let him touch her in private places.

Contacting a second decoy around the same time, who he also thought was a 14-year-old girl, Jones followed the same pattern of discussion.

He told the girl he wanted to kiss her and join her in the shower, before pleading with her to send images of her bottom.

Mr King said Jones made no secret of where he lived, where he worked and that he had a young daughter.

The chat logs gathered by the decoys were passed on and a sting was carried out where members of the vigilante group turned up at the defendant's address and confronted him.

It was live streamed on Facebook, the court heard, before being passed on to the police.

Jones was arrested on December 21 and admitted the offences.

Asked why he had engaged in sexualised chat with children, he said he did not know.

Defending barrister Andrew Green said Jones had never been in trouble with the police before and that the defendant had told him how the experience had scared him for life.

Mr Green said: Its important to recognise the seriousness of these offences and that they represent a sexual interest in children."

He added the offences had broken his family. He said Jones had also lost his reputation and employment as a result.

Many people would feel that he deserves nothing less, Mr Green added.

He argued Jones best mitigation was his early guilty plea, that he had no previous convictions and had shown remorse.

Recognising there were three potential victims and that activity was incited, he stressed the activity was never going to occur because they were not real children.

Description

This is the moment a man jailed for inciting children to have sex is confronted by paedophile hunters.

John Derek Sandham was snared in Denbighshire by The Hunted, a vigilante group.

Sandham, 37, tried to incite two young "girls" to send intimate photos of themselves over the internet.

The bricklayer, of Carmel, near Holywell thought he was talking to an 11-year-old girl called Sarah and a 13-year-old girl called Elle in April and May last year.

But they were adults posing as youngsters.

Calling himself David and claiming to be from Rhyl, Sandham sent intimate photographs and pornographic videos and asked the "girls" to send him images of themselves.

After collecting the evidence from online chat logs the group traced Sandham through a swingers' website and arranged to meet him last June.

They filmed their 30 minute confrontation with Sandham who was found to be wearing female underwear.

Clearly shaken Sandham he lay on the ground covering his face throughout the 30-minute video.

The police had been alerted and the video ends with officers arriving and arresting Sandham.

When interviewed Sandham insisted he believed the people he was communicating with were adults pretending to be children.

But his mobile phone was seized and forensically examined and evidence was found that Sandham had been downloading indecent images of children and distributing some of them to others.

At Mold Crown Court earlier this week he admitted charges of attempting to incite children to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication, distributing indecent images of children, possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images.

He was jailed for 42 months and his details will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Judge Niclas Parry said the offences were serious because he had targeted two young girls and had been persistent in communicating with them.

Mercifully no children were harmed because there were no children, he added.

Prosecutors used evidence provided by paedophile hunters in more than 250 cases against suspected abusers in 2018

Description

A teenager claimed he had been bullied in school to look at indecent images of children.

But an investigation showed he continued to search for such images after he left school. It was said in court to have become an addiction.

Morgan Andrew Abbott, 18, of Lower Dee View Road in Greenfield, Holywell, was given a chance of a suspended sentence.

At Mold Crown Court, Judge Niclas Parry gave him a 16 month youth custody sentence but suspended it for two years.

He was ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and he was placed on 60 days rehabilitation.

Abbott was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years and a 10 year sexual harm prevention order was also made.

He admitted he made by downloading 115 indecent images and movies of children at the most serious category A; 99 images at category B, and 288 images and movies of children at category C.

Abbott admitted that in November last year he distributed indecent images/movies of children in all three categories using Skype.

He admitted possessing 244 prohibited images of children and possessing six extreme images, which portrayed, in an explicit and realistic way, a person performing an oral sex act on a dog.

Judge Parry told him it took a police investigation and his arrest for him to realise the seriousness of what he had been involved with.

He had searched for material which depicted the abuse of very young children.

It has taken this prosecution for you to understand that children who are abused suffer trauma which is immeasurable, he said.

His case was seriously aggravated by the fact some of the images had been shared, he said.

Judge Parry warned the distribution offences could attract sentences of up to five years.

But he was only 18, he committed the offences when he was immature, inquisitive and nave, and experimenting sexually.

He had no previous convictions and he had pleaded guilty.

If he received an immediate sentence then he would be released relatively early without any of the issues and problems he had being addressed, the judge told him. He had therefore decided to suspend the sentence.

Robin Boag, defending, said his client was a young man of good character with no convictions who had pleaded guilty at an early stage.

The distribution was limited to two individuals in November of last year.

He had initially been bullied into doing it but he accepted it had carried on from there.

There had been some encouragement and then he accepts it became an addiction, he said.

Description

Not on official sex offenders register. A hardworking McDonald's staff member lived a secret double life as a burglar breaking into houses to steal womens underwear. John Junior Sillah worked at the fast food restaurant in Mold during the day and was valued there. But once he had had a drink, he was unable to control his urges and twice broke into one womans house to steal her knickers in order to satisfy his fetish. In between two of the break-ins, he sent the terrified woman a Facebook friend request. He had first broken into one womans home in April last year, but went back again on Christmas Day and stole more. On the same day, he burgled other homes in Mold . One young woman had been out when he rifled through her knicker drawer. Along the same road, at around 2.20am on Christmas morning, a man was awoken by Sillah standing at the foot of his bed. Sillah fled with the mans coat. At Caernarfon crown court today, his defence barrister Oliver King described him as not a conventional burglar, and argued for a novel approach to sentencing him. He said: He seems to have led a double life working at McDonalds at Mold during the day and hes valued there, yet he has this fetish. When he has a drink, it disinhibits him. Psychiatric reports found Sillah had a mental disorder which could be controlled when he was sober. Judge David Hale, sentencing Sillah, said it seemed that he had this compulsion to steal underwear. Sillah pleaded guilty to four burglaries and one attempted burglary. A 2012 offence was also taken into consideration. Judge Hale told him: These offences are far too serious for me to look to any non-custodial option. He jailed Sillah, 20, of Mornington Crescent in Buckley, for two-and-a-half years.

Description

A SEXUAL predator who abused his position as a youth leader to groom teenage boys has been jailed for four years.

Former firefighter and cadet leader David Ross Gittins, 25, of Windmill, in Pentre Halkyn, Holywell, was sentenced at Chester Crown Court on Thursday (September 16).

His victims were primarily male teenage fire cadets aged between 15 and 16 from Cheshire, whom he befriended during fire cadet meetings.

He bombarded them with requests for explicit images through social networking, instant messaging and webcam sessions.

Ironically, as part of his cadet leader training, Gittins had attended a child protection course to safeguard the youngsters against sexual grooming.

He had taken part in this training during the summer of 2009, just prior to taking a role as a full-time firefighter.

Gittins first target was a female cadet, who he begged to have sex with him, despite her reminders that she was only 14.

Again, he repeatedly asked her to send him explicit photographs of herself but also confessed to her that he thought he was a closet homosexual.

After that, he struck up friendships with a number of boys aged between 15 and 16, though he later claimed that he thought the boys were all 16.

On a number of occasions, he invited the boys to his house, where he would ply them with alcohol, tell them he loved them and encourage them to engage in sexual activity, which was then photographed using a mobile phone.

These photographs were then shown to the boys peers in a bid to normalise the behaviour and recruit more victims.

Police later found 155 indecent images on his computer.

These mostly involved the male cadets, but included pictures where he had superimposed the face of a 16-year-old who he knew only from Facebook onto an explicit image.

Police also found copies of conversations with a 16-year-old boy who was not a fire cadet, but to whom he had sent images.

Prosecuting, Owen Edwards said: He is a sexual predator and these boys have been left stressed and confused as a result of his behaviour.

The pictures were used to show the next in line to encourage them to do the same.

He has abused a position of trust as their instructor for his own sexual purposes.

Mary McKeone, defending, said: It is wholly inappropriate and unacceptable as well as criminal, but his behaviour was misguided as opposed to predatory.

There was no intimidation or coertion involved, and the period of offending was short-lived.

It was inevitable that he would be discovered because of the lack of sophistication involved. It was only a matter a time before it was detected.

Judge Elgan Edwards said that Gittins conduct has been quite disgraceful.

Sentencing Gittins to four years imprisonment, he added: Your behaviour is a gross breach of trust. You were, in my view, a sexual predator, using your position in an honourable profession to further your own sexual, lustful excitement.

People like you must know that if you behave in this way towards young and vulnerable people, you must accept that an immediate custodial sentence is inevitable.

This has had a devastating effect on them and their families.

This is a sentence that you richly deserve.

As well as a custodial sentence, Gittins will be placed on the sex offenders register for life.

He is banned from using a computer or accessing the internet except for during the course of his work; using file sharing or peer to peer software; using social networking and instant messaging; inviting anyone under the age of 18 into his home without a parent or guardian present; having contact with any of the complainants.

The order also imposes a lifetime ban on working with children.