Latest Offenders Hampshire

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A TADLEY man has been sentenced to 12 years in jail having admitted to multiple sexual offences against children.

Daren Jones, 48, of Silchester Road, Little London, pleaded guilty to 29 counts of sexual offences during a hearing at Winchester Crown Court last month.

The offences include sexual assaults on two boys under the age of 13 that took place in the Tadley and Reading areas between 2015 and 2017.

Jones was sentenced today at Winchester Crown Court.

The incidents were reported to the police in December 2017, and following an investigation by Hampshire Constabulary, officers tracked down Jones to a hotel in Brighton, Sussex, on Wednesday, 27 December where he was arrested.

The court was told Jones had left the United States in 2008 while on bail, having been charged with serious sexual offences against children.

Jones used the name Simon Jones to live “under the radar” until his arrest, the court heard. 

After the hearing, investigating officer detective constable Sarah Moyce-Phillips, of Hampshire Constabulary’s Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “We hope that today’s sentence provides some form of closure to the victims and their families for what has been an extremely difficult time.

“Once the offences came to light, officers worked tirelessly to make sure Jones was arrested and could be brought to court to face justice for what he did.

“We hope that the sentence given today will give confidence to others who have suffered abuse of this nature.”

Judge Jane Miller sentenced Jones to 12 years in prison, with an extended licence period of five years. He was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order until further order.

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Hilary was convicted of 14 counts of indecent assault against five girls between 1978 and 1984

A former Farnborough PE teacher and athletics coach was today sentenced to 15 years in prison after sexually assaulting five girls under the age of 16 when he was a teacher.

Richard Hilary, now 67, would "test the boundaries" of girls in his care by touching their breasts while dancing or, in one case, pushing snow down their bra, before encouraging them to engage in sexual activity with him on later occasions.

Winchester Crown Court heard Hilary incited several girls to perform oral sex on him during trips out in his car and asked one of them to "sit" on his penis.

He targeted five victims, aged from 11 to 15, who were groomed by Hilary and urged to engage in sexual activity with him.

On another occasion, Hilary photographed one of the victims naked in his bath.

Hilary was convicted of 14 counts of indecent assault against five girls between 1978 and 1984 when when he was a teacher at The Wavell School in Farnborough and a coach at Winchester Athletics Club.

He also spent 12 years as headteacher of Chamberlayne Park School in Southampton, Hants, after the alleged offences took place.

The court heard Hilary "cultivated completely inappropriate relationships with a number of young girls".

He 'abused his position' as a teacher and coach 'in order to indecently assault highly impressionable underage girls'.

The court heard some of the victims kept diaries which detailed the extent of Hilary's abuse, most of which took place on the school grounds.

A number of victims came forward after Hillary, of Northend Way, Droxford, was cleared of three counts of indecent assault against a child after a trial in May 2014.

Hilary, who retired from teaching in 2006, had denied all 14 charges of indecent assault.

Rob Welling, from the CPS, said: "Richard Hilary abused his position of trust as a teacher to indecently assault young girls he had responsibility for.

"Hilary was described by many of his victims as a popular and dynamic teacher, a fact he exploited as he groomed the girls into performing sexual acts for him.

"The CPS was able to use the teenage diaries of his victims which made clear Hilary's crimes at the time they happened and provided compelling evidence to put before the jury.

"I commend the victims who reported Hilary and supported this prosecution."

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A 55-year-old man has been given a suspended prison sentence after he was caught attempting to groom under-age girls in sting operations by two separate groups of vigilante paedophile hunters.

Mark Gaudion pleaded guilty to two charges of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and a count of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Dawn Hyland, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court that Gaudion had contacted the fake profile of a teenage girl called Becksy Baby on the online dating website Waplog.

She said the profile had been set up by a vigilante group called Predator Hunters and clearly stated the age of the girl was 14.

Ms Hyland said that the defendant sent 57 messages to the profile, including an explicit photograph.

She said that Gaudion went on to arrange for the girl to come to stay at his home but at the rendezvous in April he was confronted by four members of the group Predator Hunters, and the police were called to arrest him.

Ms Hyland said that when police searched his home, they found that Gaudion, of Bordon, had engaged in similar online conversations with another fake profile, a 13-year-old girl called Amy, set up by a different group called Dark Justice.

Karen Dempsey, defending, said that Gaudion was a "vulnerable man" with borderline learning disabilities and a low IQ.

She said: "He has accepted his guilt, it has been difficult to explain to him, he is a vulnerable man who has challenges both in terms of his learning difficulties and his IQ."

Judge Jane Miller QC sentenced Gaudion to 15 months' imprisonment suspended for two years and ordered him to carry out 200 hours of community service. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

She told him: "This is your first offence, you are clearly a man with difficulties and I believe you deserve at least one chance.

"I think you need some help to understand what you have done so you do not do it again."

She said that the defendant had denied having sexual interest in children and said that the messages had been just his "wicked sense of humour".

Judge Miller said that the defendant had attended a special school as a child and had been "bullied enormously" and she had been advised that he could be subjected to "sexual exploitation and bullying" if sent to prison.

Earlier this week, the BBC Inside Out programmed revealed a rise in similar cases involving online vigilante groups.

Simon Bailey, the National Police Chiefs' Council lead for child protection, told the programme: "I'm not going to condone these groups and I would encourage them all to stop, but I recognise that I am not winning that conversation and I am not winning that moral argument."

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OFFICERS are appealing for help to find a convicted rapist.

Robert Stevens, 62, has been recalled to prison breaching the agreements of his parole.

Stevens, who also uses the surname Melias is known across Hampshire, Dorset, Avon, Somerset and Devon.

He was convicted of rape in Shirehampton in 1998 and in 2011 was also convicted of a series of knifepoint commercial robberies at shops and bookmakers.

He is described as a white man, about 5ft 6ins tall, with grey/brown hair. He also has tattoos a panther on his left arm and the names City on his left hand and Bob on his right hand.

Officers said that Stevens is known for visiting betting shops, homeless charities and church-based support groups for the homeless, as well as travelling around via buses but often travels about on foot.

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A HAMPSHIRE man who was part of a gang of paedophiles who raped and abused babies, toddlers and children in attacks that were streamed over the internet is facing a lengthy prison sentence.

Matthew Stanfield, 35, was part of a ring who preyed on the families of the youngsters they targeted, in one case grooming a mother and father before their baby was born.

Members would often travel long distances to carry out sickening attacks together, or watch the abuse over the internet if only one had access to a victim.

Chilling online chat revealed that members of the gang, who lived across the UK, would offer advice to others on how to drug young victims.

Today, the seven men - aged between 31 and 51 and including three previously convicted sex offenders - will appear before Bristol Crown Court to be sentenced.

The hearing, before Judge Julian Lambert, is expected to take two days, with the men expected to receive their sentences tomorrow.

Together, they have been convicted of 30 child sex abuse offences, including conspiracy to rape and the rape of a child under the age of 13.

The other members of the gang are:

John Denham, formally known as Benjamin Harrop, 50, from Wiltshire

Matthew Stansfield, 35, from Hampshire - a convicted sex offender

Adam Toms, 33, from Somerset

Christopher Knight, 35, from Manchester

Robin Hollyson, previously known as Robin Fallick, 31, from Bedfordshire - a convicted sex offender

David Harsley, 51, from East Yorkshire - a convicted sex offender

Matthew Lisk, 33, from East Sussex

The National Crime Agency launched its investigation, codenamed Operation Voicer, last September after Toms contacted police and admitted he had abused a child.

Their inquiries led to the unmasking of the ring operating across the UK, which had links to other paedophiles across the world.

In the weeks that followed, the other six members were arrested and a further two victims were identified.

Another 21 children have been the subject of ''safeguarding'' measures in relation to the investigation.

The NCA has worked closely with the Avon and Somerset, Bedfordshire, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Humberside, Wiltshire and Sussex police forces, as well as the Crown Prosecution Service and nine local authorities.

Police combed the suspects' electronic communications and established that contact between them began on adult online sex forums, which are publicly accessible and legal to use.

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A burglar returned to his victims home to rape her, four years after he was jailed for the crime.

Ashley Mills broke into the womans house with an iron bar as she slept alone. Once she woke up, the 28-year-old grabbed a knife, headbutted her and said chillingly: Ive come to rape you.

Police have now praised the womans quick thinking after she hid evidence that saw him sentenced to 18 years in prison.

But the victim, known only as Linda, said the attack has left her frightened to stay in her own home. She added: Sometimes when victims are killed, I think they are the lucky ones. They dont keep reliving the horror of it all any more.

The survivors have to live with this for the rest of their lives. Im grateful to be alive but now have all of the life-changing problems Im facing.

The 59-year-old, from Hampshire, had originally taken pity on Mills as he didnt have a place to stay.

She met him in 2009, when she let him pitch his tent in the fields behind her rural home. He later broke into the property and was jailed in 2010.

In June this year, he smashed through the front door of her home again and asked for a glass of water.

He warned that he would stab her if she tried to run away. She added: I just had to submit and he did what he wanted. His attack on me was long. He was in no hurry to get it over with.

Spotting Mills had dropped the knife and iron bar, she kicked the blade under the cooker and dropped the bar behind her sofa. Hes a dangerous person. Hes got no respect, she said. I wanted him to have a big sentence so he cant come out and do it again.

At Portsmouth crown court, Mills pleaded guilty to three counts of rape. Det Sgt Glenn Robinson said: The victim has shown great courage in coming forward.

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A woman and four men were found guilty on Wednesday of offences relating to an international paedophile ring which used a nudist website as a guise for its offences.

Bell, who had military accommodation but was previously living in Emsworth, Hampshire, was found guilty of two charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of attempting to distribute an indecent image of children. He was found not guilty of two charges of arranging a child sex offence.

Hampshire police began investigating the ring after being tipped off by Australian authorities who uncovered a "mirror image" ring which also abused a young child. Hathaway was in contact with this ring in Australia and shared images with them. One of the charges faced by Noon concerned her encouragement of an Australian child to engage in sexual activity.

Chat logs totalling 2,000 pages were uncovered by police, as well as 14,000 indecent images of children and 300 videos of children being abused.

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A convicted paedophile who was allowed to work with children on a Thomas The Tank Engine theme day on a Hampshire railway and then attacked a six-year-old girl was today found guilty of sexual assault.

Volunteer George Sully, 73, known as Ray Sully, put his hand up the skirt of the youngster and touched her bottom on James the red engine at the heritage steam Watercress Line in August last year.

The girl from Surrey was with her mother, father and younger sister when some of the family went up on the engine supervised by Sully playing the part of a 1950s engine driver.

He then assaulted the girl but was seen by another woman and the girl's mother.

The retired businessman from Four Marks, had denied the charge and said he could not remember touching the girl.

It emerged during the four-day trial at Winchester Crown Court that Sully had not had a Criminal Records Bureau check made on him despite having convictions for almost identical attacks stretching back 38 years.

He had touched the bottom of an 11-year-old girl in Woolworths in Guildford, Surrey, in 1968. He pleaded guilty to indecent assault and was fined £10.

In 1974 he followed two seven-year-old girls in Woking, Surrey, and put his hand up their skirts and squeezed their bottoms. He again pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and was given 12 months' probation.

During his own evidence he said he was in close contact with hundreds of children a day during the eight day long Thomas attraction on the railway which occurred twice a year.

He had volunteered on the popular railway in 2002 and started on the Thomas days in 2003 but he did not fill out any forms and he never told the charity about his past, the court heard.

The decision not to check his past was criticised by the police and the girl's parents.

A jury returned a majority verdict after nine hours of deliberations.

The Recorder of Winchester Michael Brodrick said that Sully could be imprisoned under public protection legislation - meaning a indeterminate sentence if he continued to pose a risk to children.

He also ordered him to sign the sex offenders register and was disqualified from working with children.

Granting Sully bail and adjourning the case for sentence on June 18, the judge said: ''You are in a very serious position indeed.''

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Victor Farrant, a convicted rapist who murdered one woman and attempted to murder another after he was released from prison, received a life sentence yesterday, with a recommendation that he should never be released. Steve Boggan and Kathy Marks examine the background to the trial of a violent and dangerous man.

The murder of Glenda Hoskins, 45, a mother of three, was "a ruthless, callous and evil act", Mr Justice Butterfield told Victor Farrant at Winchester Crown Court yesterday. His attack on Ann Fidler, 45, a prostitute, was "one of unparalleled ferocity".

Families of the two victims applauded in the public gallery after the jury returned guilty verdicts. Members of the jury were then told that Farrant, 48, committed the offences within weeks of being released from jail after serving seven years of a 12-year sentence for rape.

Sentencing Farrant to life for the murder and to 18 years for the attempted murder, the judge told him: "This murder was so terrible and you are so dangerous that in your case, the sentence of life should mean just that - you should never be released.

"You have devastated the lives of many people. The opportunity to do so again should not be allowed to you."

Mrs Fidler was attacked so savagely that she has no memory of the incident. At her home in Eastleigh, Hants, in December 1995, Farrant smashed her around the head with three wine bottles and an iron, "reducing her to a bloodied unrecognisable heap", according to the judge. She nearly died from her injuries.

In February 1996, Farrant murdered his former girlfriend, Mrs Hoskins, an accountant, at her home in Portsmouth. She died of asphyxiation, and the prosecution suggested that he held her under water in the bath after demanding sex.

He then hid her body in the attic, took her car and fled to the Continent, where he was arrested in the south of France in the following July and extradited to Britain a year ago.

Mrs Hoskins, who was separated from her husband, had a sexual relationship with Farrant, but relations soured between them and she began seeing another man. He claimed that her death was an accident, caused when she fell in the bath after sex.

Her husband, Tony Hoskins, said of Farrant: "If ever there was a case for locking someone up and throwing away the key, then he's it. He's a total psychopath, but what makes him particularly dangerous is that he is so apparently normal - he's so plausible and seems to be able to take people in so easily. He has to be locked up and never let out."

After the trial ended, Farrant's family issued a statement expressing sympathy with relatives of his victims. "Under the British justice system, we trust that Victor will never again be free to inflict his evil, savage deeds on anyone," it said.

Detective Superintendent David Hanna, who led the police investigation, said it was a matter of "grave concern" that while in prison for rape, Farrant refused to attend a sex offender rehabilitation programme. Had he done so, he would have been strictly monitored by the probation service on his release.

One of the most chilling features to emerge from the trial was the revelation that Mrs Hoskins' daughter, Katie, then 15, had found her mother's corpse wrapped in carpet in the loft of her home.

At the time, Mr Hoskins and a police officer were searching her marina- side home, eight hours after she had failed to meet Katie from school.

"I'll never forget that scream," said Mr Hoskins, 49, a businessman from Stubbington, Hants. "Both the policeman and myself had searched the loft and found nothing, so when Katie asked if she could do something, I told her to look there, thinking that would be perfectly safe.

"We heard Katie scream and I just ran up the ladder and got her out of there," said Mr Hoskins.

Mr Hoskins, who was divorced from Mrs Hoskins in 1991 but remained close friends, was desperate to protect his children, Katie, David, then 13, and Ian, then 23, from the outside world in the immediate aftermath of the murder.

"At first, I kept them away from newspapers and television but, after a while, they said, Dad, we want to know what's going on," he said.

Within months of the murder, Katie sat her GCSE exams, passing 10, including five Grade-As. David is preparing to take his GCSEs later this year, and Ian is in the final year of a media and cultural studies course at Liverpool University.

"Glenda always stressed the importance of education," said Mr Hoskins. "So, they've done it for her. And I think they would have made her proud."