Latest Offenders Huddersfield

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A Huddersfield man has been jailed for indecently assaulting a child in the 1980s.

Martin Glynn Whittle, aged 72, of Lucy Lane, Huddersfield, was found guilty following a four day trial of one charge of indecent assault on a child aged under 14 years.

He was sentenced this week at Leeds Crown Court to four and a half years imprisonment and will be subject to Sex Offender Register requirements.

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A registered Kirklees sex offender has been jailed after pleading guilty to breaching a court order and defying a ban preventing him working with children.  

John Noel (63) from Huddersfield was jailed for thee years At Leeds Crown Court today ( Thursday May 16) after admitting breaching the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) imposed on him in June 2023.  

The 63-year old also admitted a breach of a bar offence which he committed by working with children (aged from 5 to 17) as a private Maths, English and Sciences tutor, despite being banned from doing so.  

Noel was arrested by police on 5th February 2024 for concealing a device in breach of his SHPO and for the breach of bar offence, and later charged.  

He pleaded guilty to the offences at an appearance at Leeds Crown Court in April.  

The Huddersfield man had been made subject to his SHPO in June 2023 after he was convicted of making indecent photographs of children and possession of extreme pornography.  

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A Huddersfield man has been jailed for seven years after being found guilty of sexually abusing a girl more than 20 years ago.

Anthony Sharp, 66, of Raynor Close, Oakes, was locked up at Bradford Crown Court on Thursday for the abuse which a judge said had had a catastrophic effect on his victim. Recorder Anthony Hawks also imposed an indefinite restraining order which bans Sharp from contacting the complainant in the future and the defendant must also register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life.

The victim, who must not be identified for legal reasons, provided the court with a victim impact statement which Recorder Hawks said painted a very unhappy picture. He said: “The effect on her has been catastrophic as it inevitably is in all these cases were children are abused."

The judge said the consequences could stretch on for years, but hopefully she could now have some closure. Sharp was found guilty by the jury on five charges of indecent assault. The judge told him: “You chose to have a trial. That was your choice. You don’t receive a larger sentence because you have had a trial, but I can’t give you any credit plainly for pleading guilty and exhibiting remorse.”

Barrister Ian Howard, for Sharp, said the offending took place many moons ago and there had been no further offending in the intervening period. Sharp will have to serve at least two-thirds of his seven-year jail term before being released on licence.

Following the sentencing, PC Kate Healey, of the Calderdale District Safeguarding Unit at West Yorkshire Police, said: “Firstly, I would like to thank the victim for her bravery in not only coming forward to report these offences, but in enduring a lengthy investigation process and a trial following Sharp’s not guilty plea. She has demonstrated courage and dignity throughout the entire process, which is undoubtedly a daunting experience.

“I think the sentence reflects the seriousness of Sharp’s offending. He committed his crimes against a vulnerable victim, which was the ultimate betrayal of the trust of the victim and her family. Hopefully this sentence goes some way towards providing the victim with some comfort and closure to what has been the most horrific time of her life.

“I would also like to encourage anyone who has been a victim of any form of abuse, whether recent or non-recent, to come forward and speak with our specially trained officers. We will thoroughly investigate all reports and do all that we can to secure justice.”

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A Huddersfield man who sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman also attacked two other females, it has been revealed.

Naveed Khawaja, 55, of Yew Street, Huddersfield was jailed for three years at Leeds Crown Court on May 9 after being convicted of three sexual assaults. The 55-year-old was arrested on October 11, 2021 following a report that a man had attended the home of a victim earlier that month.

Once in the house he committed a sexual assault on the victim who was particularly vulnerable. An investigation was launched by officers from Kirklees CID who on reviewing the offence, linked Khawaja with two unsolved offences in Bradford from July 2017 and October 2019.

In both of them, vulnerable women had been sexually assaulted. Following a detailed investigation, the 53-year-old was charged with all of the offences in September 2022.

Detective Inspector Simon Reddington of Kirklees CID, said: “Khawaja is a predatory sex offender who offended against vulnerable victims and we welcome his conviction and sentencing. All reports of sexual offending are treated extremely seriously by West Yorkshire Police and we continue to urge victims to come forwards.

“As this case shows, even where it may not be initially possible to bring a prosecution, unsolved cases are not forgotten and new evidence can come to light which makes it possible to put a suspect before the courts.

“West Yorkshire Police is absolutely committed to making women and girls safer and does all it can to get offenders like Khawaja off our streets.”

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A Huddersfield predator who had sex with a young girl and threatened to take his own life if she ended their "relationship" has been jailed.

Tyler Ward, 20, has been given an extended sentence for the offences which saw him have sex with the teenager in his room at his home in Smiths Avenue. The girl - who reported Ward to the police in 2021 - told officers his demands for sex were "persistent" and she "just gave in to please him."

Prosecutor Adam Walker told Leeds Crown Court on Monday: "She said sex took place several times and she didn't say she was forced but on the first occasion he tried put to force her hand to his groin and his head."

The court heard sexual activity that took place caused the girl pain and when she told Ward to stop he said: "Just five minutes more." Mr Walker said: "She said he would give her drugs like cocaine and alcohol. She says that he would emotionally control and manipulate her and said she did not want to take cocaine and he said she would and if she did not he would split up with her.

"He said he would kill himself and it would be her fault if she split up with him. He said if she called the police, any that came would be 'stabbed up' and he threatened her family."

While he was still under investigation for those offences in August last year at around 12.30am, Ward attempted to try and rob two men in a pub beer garden using a BB gun.

The court heard how Ward wore a black ski mask and "made demands for money." Mr Walker said one of the men grappled with Ward and thought he heard the gun be discharged before police arrived and Ward was arrested. She sad: "The man woke up in pain the next morning and there was an injury. He thought he had been shot with the BB gun. He also had a graze to his elbow."

Ward told officers in his police interview that he was, in fact, the victim, and he had gone to the pub with the imitation firearm "to show people" who he thought "would be interested."

Mr Walker said: "He said he had been assaulted and was drunk and had drunk Jack Daniel's whiskey."

The court was told Ward had three previous convictions for eight offences which he had been sentenced for as a juvenile. These included dwelling house burglary and non-dwelling burglary.

Anastasis Tasou told the court Ward had never received a custodial sentence and a pre-sentence report and psychiatric report had been undertaken. He said the psychiatric report diagnosed him with emotionally unstable personality disorder. The barrister said: "There are numerous incidences of him self harming and issues with his mood, with depression, with him seeking help for his issues."

The court was told Ward pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child under the age of 16 at an adjourned plea, trial and preparation hearing in November last year. He pleaded guilty to possession of an imitation firearm at the time of committing an offences and two counts of attempted robbery in February this year.

Mr Tasou said Ward's father is sick and has a terminal condition, meaning he has been unable to visit his son while he has been remanded into custody. He said: "He is really scared and has asked me to put across that while he is serving his sentence his father may pass away. These offences occurred when he was still very young and wasn't receiving help for his mental health as he should have done."

Judge Rodney Jameson KC made Ward the subject of an extended sentence made up of five years in custody and an extended licence period of four years.

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Two sick paedophiles were caught messaging one another on WhatsApp about child sex abuse.

Ricky Cavanagh, 38, was subject to a sexual harm prevention order at the time his phone was looked at by police, who had received intelligence he had been on a number of social media sites.

Bradford Crown Court heard on Tuesday that the order had been put in place in September 2016 when Cavanagh, of no fixed abode, had been convicted of a series of sickening sexual offences including attempting to cause a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Prosecutor Zabreen Alam-Cheetham, said that at the time of the breach of the order on March 18 this year, Cavanagh was managed by the Calderdale Public Protection Unit. She said: "The conditions prohibited him from making any attempt to delete any data from any device that can access the internet or refusing to show such history to a police officer." The court was told a number of concerns were raised in relation to Cavanagh due to him being "elusive" and reports which had been received.

Ms Alam-Cheetham said: "The defendant was seen by a public protection officer walking through Halifax town centre. He was stopped and spoken to and due to previous concerns and the conditions of his sexual harm prevention order was asked to produce items and he got out his phone, opened the device and the PC watched as he scrolled to media he had downloaded and deleted the Snapchat app from the device."

Cavanagh was detained and arrested and his internet history was lost but his WhatsApp conversations showed he was in conversation with another sex offender discussing the sexual abuse of children. A forensic download of his phone also showed Snapchat had been installed on nine occasions and uninstalled on eight occasions between February and March this year.

His Honour Judge Ahmed Nadim told the court Cavanagh was a "high risk sex offender." Cavanagh represented himself and said he was "happy with everything and happy to proceed."

He was jailed for 28 months and told: "You're regarded by the public protection unit as a high risk offender. Your behaviour in the community has caused the authorities some considerable concern. You're capable of plumbing to the depths of depravity.

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A Huddersfield man has been jailed this week after being found guilty of the sexual assault of a young girl.

Daniel Hill, 29, was sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of a sexual touching offence and an attempted sexual touching offence. He was sentenced on Tuesday, October 11, at Leeds Crown Court.

His offences took place in Kirklees in 2021. He will also serve another 10 months in prison for an unrelated offence he'd previously got a suspended sentence for. 

West Yorkshire Police said Hill's offences were reported to them as soon as they came to light and he was quickly arrested.

DC Natalie Green of the Kirklees District Safeguarding Unit, said: “The young victim and her family have shown real courage in coming forwards and then supporting the prosecution of Hill through a trial. Their bravery has resulted in a sex offender now being behind bars.

“Specialist officers always thoroughly investigate all reports of sexual offences and we continue to urge victims to come forwards so we can seek justice for them and also, with partners, provide the support they will need.”

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Court hears 36-year-old won girl’s trust before abusing her.

A 36-year-old man has been jailed for child sex offences in Northamptonshire in 2019.

Andrew Stratford, who also goes by Andrew Summers, now of Woodhead Road Huddersfield, befriended a teenage girl on a gaming platform.

Their contact began with conversations about the game but Stratford began sending explicit messages and asking for photos and videos before abusing her.

Stratford was charged with three counts of sexual activity with a child and three of possessing indecent images.

He was sentenced to seven years, eight months at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday (October 11).

Lead investigator, Detective Sergeant Colin Bowers, said: “Stratford used this girl’s interest in the game to get close to her.

“The young girl in this case has shown real bravery throughout this investigation.

“Northamptonshire Police takes cases like this extremely seriously. We will do everything we can to not only bring people like Stratford to justice, but to get survivors the support they need.”

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A Huddersfield man has been jailed for 17 years after being found guilty of historic sexual offences against a child.

Timothy Bird, 44, was found guilty in August of non-recent offences which included attempted rape, sexual assault and inciting a young child to engage in sexual activity. The offences took place between 2008 and 2009, reports West Yorkshire Police.

The female victim was a small child at the time and reported the offences as an older teenager, leading to an investigation by child safeguarding detectives at Kirklees Police.

Timothy Bird was arrested in 2020 following this investigation. He was then jailed earlier today (October 5, 2022). DC Suzanne Clark, who led enquiries in the case, said: "Bird richly deserves his sentence for committing very serious sexual offences against a young victim who was very much at his mercy.

"Her courage in coming forward years later and reporting what he did allowed detectives to fully investigate this case and bring this devious and predatory man to justice.

"We continue to urge anyone who has been a victim of a sexual offence to contact us.

"No matter how long ago the offending took place, police will always investigate, always listen, and do all we can to achieve justice for victims.”

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A man who raped a woman in a town centre street has been jailed for 18 years.

Mario Sztojka, 26, attacked his victim on Lower Viaduct Street in Huddersfield in the early hours of 26 May, 2021.

He was identified as a suspect days after the attack and a major operation to track him down led to his arrest in December.

Police described him as a "dangerous and predatory sex offender" who "did everything he could to evade justice".

Sztojka, of Meltham Road, Huddersfield, was found guilty of two counts of rape following a trial at Leeds Crown Court.

He was given an 18-year jail sentence and must serve at least 12 years in prison.

Det Ch Insp Marc Bowes, of West Yorkshire Police, said: "He did everything he could to evade justice for the serious sexual assault he inflicted on his victim and was caught following persistent, methodical police work which allowed us to eventually hunt him down.

"Despite strong evidence against him, he chose to put his victim through the ordeal of a trial and this has been reflected in the sentence imposed on him."

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A Kirklees man has been given a 23-year extended sentence after pleading guilty to a series of serious sex offences against young victims.

Wayne Tracey, 37, from Huddersfield was jailed at Leeds Crown Court on Monday, April 25 after admitting a total of seven sex offences, including multiple rapes, in the Kirklees area.

His offending was described as truly dreadful by Kirklees Police officers following the conclusion of the case.

Tracey pleaded guilty to four offences of rape, two sexual assaults and inciting a young girl to engage in sexual activity. The offending took place against two young female victims between 2015 to 2020 in the Huddersfield area.

The 37-year-old was sentenced to a total of 17 years in prison with an extra six years on licence, resulting in a 23-year-extended sentence. He will also have to sign on the child sex offenders register.

DS Talha Laher, of Kirklees District Police, said: We welcome the strong sentence given to Tracey for what was a truly dreadful set of serious sexual offences committed against two young victims. He clearly poses a danger to young females and this gravity of his offending is reflected in the length of the criminal sentence he has been given.

"The victims and their families have shown great courage in reporting these wicked offences and I want to thank them for coming to us, supporting the prosecution, and in helping us take this man off the streets. Victims can be assured that specialist officers will always listen and fully investigate any reports of sexual offending and we continue to urge victims to come forwards.

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A vicar who sexually abused a three-year-old has been jailed for the "extremely wicked series of acts".

Gordon Newton, 40, who worked in Batley, West Yorkshire, abused the girl on a number of occasions.

Leeds Crown Court heard he had confessed to having a sexual interest in children for a number of years.

A judge branded Newton a "hypocrite" and said he had committed "a gross abuse of trust" as he sentenced him to nine years and seven months.

Prosecutor Julian Jones told the court Newton's wife, Julie, had handed her husband's old mobile phone to police, who found 276 indecent images of children.

Of those, 70 discovered on the device were deemed to be in the most serious category of abuse images.

A further trawl of Newton's browsing history revealed at least one search which "suggested a search for images for children aged under three", Mr Jones said.

'Ruined lives'

In a statement read in court, Newton's wife said she had been left unable to work full-time and suffers depression as a result of his crimes.

Previously a dedicated churchgoer, she said her husband's arrest and the subsequent charges had shattered her faith, which was now "non-existent".

Judge Tom Bayliss said Newton, of Cross Church Street, Huddersfield, had ruined the child's life, as well as his own and his wife's.

"You held yourself out as a man of God but you're nothing. You're a hypocrite," he said.

"For a man in your position, what you've done amounts not only to an extremely wicked series of acts, but to a gross abuse of a position of trust.

"You abused the trust of so many others in so many ways. You abused the trust of your parishioners and of the Church of England authorities."

Newton pleaded guilty to 12 offences, including six counts of sexually assaulting a girl under 13.

He will be placed on the sex offenders'' register for life and a sexual prevention order was also made.

Kitty Colley, defending, said Newton knew his crimes were "disgusting and vile" and had "genuine remorse" for his actions.

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Leeds said Newton's "deeply shocking" actions were "a matter of deep shame and regret".

They said he would be "subject to the disciplinary processes of the church, which will remove him from his office as vicar and prohibit him from exercising his holy orders".

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A sex offender has been jailed for 12 years after becoming the latest man to be convicted in a major investigation into child sexual exploitation in Huddersfield.

Rashid Iqbal (46) of Dryclough Road, Huddersfield was jailed at Leeds Crown Court today (August 24) after being found guilty of sexual offending against a young girl between 2003 and 2005.

Rashid Iqbal

Iqbal was found guilty following a four day trial at Leeds Crown Court last week in what was the latest prosecution brought by the police and CPS as part of the long running Operation Tendersea enquiry.

During the trial, the court heard he had sexually abused his victim between the ages of 13-15 within the Huddersfield area.

He was sentenced for two offences of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and two offences of indecency with a child under 14.

Operation Tendersea remains an ongoing operation committed to investigating and bringing to justice those responsible for non-recent child sexual exploitation in the Huddersfield area.

DCI Ian Thornes, of the Kirklees District Safeguarding Unit, said: “Iqbal richly deserves the sentences given to him at court today for what was targeted and depraved sexual offending against a child.

“He took advantage of her vulnerability in the worst way and I wish to commend her courage in coming forward and supporting a prosecution which has taken a child sex offender off our streets.

“We are absolutely committed to seeking justice for all victims of sexual offences, no matter when the crimes were committed.”

He added: “We do put victim’s needs at the heart of every investigation and thoroughly investigate all reports made to us. I would encourage anyone who has been a victim of such offending and not reported it to contact us.

“We will listen and we will investigate as well as help you access any support you may need.”

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A paedophile blackmailed a 14-year-old girl he met on Snapchat in a bid to force her to make pornographic videos and send them to him.

Married Alexander Griffiths posed as a boy and befriended the Leicester girl on the social media site, groomed her with compliments and told her to send him some pictures of her partially naked.

Won over by his attention, she did what he asked, YorkshireLive reports.

But then he demanded she make a pornographic video and send that to him, or he would post the images she had already sent him on Instagram.

Terrified of anyone finding out, but unwilling to make the videos he demanded, the teenager descended into a severe depression, self-harming almost every day.

Griffiths, from Denby Dale, Yorkshire, tried to sextort the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, for nearly a month in March 2019. She continued to refuse to do what he wanted, and he posted the pictures of her on Instagram, leading to a police investigation and his arrest.

Pervert sent girl pictures of his genitals

Griffiths was aged 35 at the time he befriended the girl on Snapchat, but pretended he was 16, Leeds Crown Court heard yesterday.

Prosecutor Michael Collins said Griffiths sent the child photographs of his genitals, and she sent him photos of herself both fully clothed and partially naked.

He began annoying her by 'bombarding' her with messages, so she blocked him on the site.

Griffiths then tracked the girl down on Instagram, and sent her a message threatening to post online one of the photos she had sent him if she did not make hardcore pornographic videos of herself, but she refused.

He then gave her three options a three-minute video of her having sex with her boyfriend, a picture of her performing a sex act on her boyfriend or a 20-minute live webcam chat in which she and her boyfriend would have to do anything he asked them to.

The victim pleaded with Griffiths, telling him she had been crying in school, that she had mock exams in a few weeks and that she was too young to have sex.

But Griffiths, who now has a baby daughter himself, started a countdown until he would post the photos online.

He started following her friends on Instagram, hoping they would follow him back so they would see the pictures when he posted them.

When the deadline expired, he followed through with his threat by posting two of the photos she had sent him on his public Instagram account.

In November 2019, the police went to his house, in Wakefield Road, Denby Dale, where he lives with his wife, and arrested him.

They seized his phone, and while he confirmed what he had done, he initially denied knowing the girls age.

But he later pleaded guilty to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and distributing indecent images of a child.

Girl would cry herself to sleep every night

The court heard from Griffiths's victim via a statement read to the judge.

In the statement, the girl described feeling 'trapped' and said she self-harmed 'nearly every day' throughout Griffiths's sextortion, a form of blackmail in which a person is threatened with having information about their sexual activities revealed publicly if they do not comply with demands.

The girl would cry herself to sleep, leave classes to cry and would also scrub herself in the shower until her body hurt.

She said: "I was constantly stressed, upset and angry. I became a horrible person."

She was sent to chat with her school counsellor but was afraid to say anything about Griffiths, the court heard.

Griffiths was jailed for three years and four months.

Charlotte Rimmer, representing Griffiths, told the court her client had since had a baby with his wife, and that she was now a year old.

She said social services became involved with the family due to the case, and he was now only allowed contact with his daughter under the supervision of his wife.

Griffiths was also made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, banning him from having unsupervised contact with any underage girls.

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Manzoor Akhtar, 31, has been jailed for four years and six months after being found guilty of raping a young girl between 2005 and 2006.

Akhtar, from the Crosland Moor area of the town, is the latest person to be convicted in the ongoing Operation Tendersea investigation over the historic sexual abuse of young girls.

Girls were abused by multiple men in the town between 1995 and 2011 and 35 men have so far been jailed for a total of 380 years over the crimes.

Leeds Crown Court heard how Akhtar sexually assaulted his victim when she was aged between 13 and 14 years of age.

He was sentenced at the court on Wednesday last week.

Another man, from Dewsbury, has also been jailed for 12 months as part of the sexual abuse probe.

Shaqeel Hussain, 36, of Spen Valley Road, Dewsbury, pleaded guilty to an indecent assault committed in Huddersfield between 2004 and 2005 on a 16-year-old girl.

Hussain is already serving an eight-year sentence for the rape of a 14-year-old girl as part of the Tendersea investigation, in a trial from February of this year. He was told he must serve the 12 months consecutively with his current sentence.

Commenting on the conviction of Manzoor Akhtar, Detective Chief Inspector Richard McNamara of the Kirklees District CID, said: “Akhtar richly deserves the prison sentence he has been given after being found guilty and convicted for the dreadful sexual abuse of this young victim.

“He thought nothing of this girl’s obvious very young age as he raped her and treated her in a fashion which can only be described as callous in the extreme.”

DCI McNamara said he was also pleased that the force was now able to name Shaqeel Hussain.

He said: “Hussain was convicted for rape in an Operation Tendersea trial in February 2020 but at the time we were not able to release his identity. He has now been sentenced after pleading guilty to an indecent assault on a 16 year old victim, and can be named as reporting restrictions have been lifted.

“He will face a total of nine years in prison in total for both of these depraved offences in which he showed no regard whatsoever for his victims.

He added: “A repeated feature of these cases has been the stunning bravery of the now young women who have come forward to tell us about the abuse they suffered and then doing everything they can to support the police and CPS in taking action against those who abused them.

“The courage of victims is helping us take dangerous predators such as Manzoor Akhtar and Shaqeel Hussain off our streets, show them for what they are, and put them behind bars where they belong.”