Latest Offenders Hull

Description

A paedophile former teacher once jailed for secretly filming children undressing has walked free from court after downloading and distributing indecent images.

Simon Whitfield, 58, had just been released from prison when a tip-off from Canadian authorities led police to his home in Highgate, Beverley, on October 19, 2017, Hull Crown Court heard.

Phillip Evans, prosecuting, said Whitfield was the only one living in the house, which was searched by police and resulted in the seizure of his Acer laptop.

Analysis showed he had downloaded six indecent photographs between September 17 and October 1, 2015, and had also used Skype to distribute two category C images on the latter date.

Child abuse 'chats'

Mr Evans said the offences were committed against "a background of conversations on what are called chat logs of a highly prurient nature involving the abuse of nine-year-old children".

He had appeared under the name Simon Knowles when he was jailed for four and a half years at York Crown Court on April 25, 2013 for similar offences, as well as 11 counts of voyeurism.

The voyeurism related to him filming children getting changed for PE at a school in West Yorkshire - using tiny spy cameras hidden in a pen and a shirt button. He accidentally caught his own face on camera.

He was on licence, and subject to a sexual offences prevention order indefinitely, at the time he committed his latest offences.

Charity support

Whitfield was supported at court by a member of the Christian Jacob's Well charity, who had written one of his references, his barrister Nigel Clive said. Whitfield worked four hours a week as a volunteer for the charity.

"This defendant is ashamed he is once again before the court," Mr Clive said.

"This defendant says he took a lot from the sexual offenders work he undertook in prison, but when he was released he found adjusting to being back in society with a label such as he did, difficult. He found himself in a dark place."

Since being caught, Whitfield had installed a programme on his computer which alerts The Lucy Faithfull Foundation of "suspicious" internet activity and the charity then alerts police, Mr Clive said.

Judge explains sentence

Sentencing Whitfield, Judge Simon Jack told him his latest crimes were "committed not long after you were released from serving a substantial prison sentence for similar offences.

"If you had been caught and dealt with at that point you could certainly have expected an immediate prison sentence.

"But I have to look at the overall picture, and the overall picture is that after going off the rails to some extent after your release from prison, you must have seen the error of your ways, and despite downloading indecent images, and in a couple of cases distributing them, you took steps to ensure you would not do it again, and there's no evidence to say you have done it again since the end of 2015.

"And for that reason it seems to me that I can avoid doing what would otherwise be inevitable in sending you straight back to prison."

Whitfield was sentenced to a two-year community order, which includes attendance on the Horizon programme and 20 days rehabilitation.

He was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely, replacing the previous order, and must already register as a sex offender for life.

Whitfield, who "has a pension", the court heard, was also ordered to pay the 500 costs of the prosecution. He offered to pay this immediately but was given 28 days.

The judge told him: "I hope this is the last time you are in court. You should be aware if there is any lapse on your part you will be back and the likelihood is you will go back to prison again."

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A dangerous paedophile has admitted he would have raped an eight-year-old girl if he had not been interrupted by a school caretaker.

John Baker, 41, who has 13 aliases and wore a wig for his appearance at Hull Crown Court on Thursday, was jailed for five years in 1998 for indecently assaulting the girl after taking her off a school premises in Bradford.

The self-employed removals firm boss was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely, which included a prohibition on him using the internet at home. But after Bakers lodger reported him for accessing the internet at home, he admitted doing so in the early hours while his partner was asleep.

Police found 363 images at category A - the most serious - 235 at category B, and 342 at category C. There were also 16 prohibited images, although no detail was given of what these were.

Baker told the probation service one image was of an eight-month old baby, but it was not clear if this related to earlier offences.

Claire Holmes, prosecuting, said Baker had used a website which "showed images from all over the world of people of all ages having sex. He saw adults but also saw a number of child sites where he saw young children performing sexual acts."

Baker admitted "getting excited" but denied getting sexual gratification from the images. He continued viewing them because they continued to excite him, he said.

Baker claimed he had been doing this for three to four months, but Miss Holmes said evidence suggested it had gone on longer. Baker also admitted using computer programmes to conceal his internet usage.

List of aliases

Other names used by Baker included "Sam Turner". On January 14 last year, Baker, accompanied by his partner, gave his name as Sam Turner when visiting another sex offender in Hull Prison.

He also failed to give details of his other names when attending Osborne Street police station in November 17, 2017, to complete the sex offender registration form.

Baker, of De Grey Street, west Hull, admitted three offences of making indecent photographs, possessing a prohibited image, breaching a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), and failing to comply with his notification requirements as a sex offender. He said he kept changing his name to protect his removals business, which was launched eight years ago.

His 62 previous offences included the indecent assault, possessing indecent photographs and pseudo photographs, and failing to comply with notification requirements.

Caretaker 'saved girl'

Describing the circumstances of the assault on the eight-year-old, Judge Mark Bury said: "You had entered a school premises and you led her away. You were to admit to the probation service that had you not been interrupted by the caretaker you would have raped her."

Referring to a pre-sentence report, the judge told Baker's barrister, Stephen Robinson: "He's regarded as a high risk of serious harm to children and a very high risk of further offending."

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A joiner was caught by online paedophile hunters trying to incite underage girls to have sex.

Cameron Haigh, 24, later told police he was "looking for a f*** buddy" when he went on the social media dating website Jaumo, Hull Crown Court heard.

He admitted continuing trying to engage them two "girls" in sexual activity and chat even after they told him they were 13 and 14.

They were in fact "decoys" deployed by two paedophile hunting groups, with a 13-year-old called "Paula" set up by One Reason, and "Gabby", 14, posted by Justice4Kids.

Richard Thompson, prosecuting, said Haigh was using the social media site Jaumo, and claimed he had set his parameters for girls aged between 17 and 21, but this could not be confirmed by prosecutors.

Haigh communicated with "Paula" between October 13 and December 20, 2017, and with "Gabby" between February 20 that year and February 1, 2018.

Mr Thompson said: "The defendant sent indecent photographs of himself and requested the same in return, despite it being made clear to him to profile related to a child."

'I'm only 13'

"Paula" had told him she was on the site to make friends, but Haigh "made suggestive comments" of a sexual nature. She replied: "I'm only a kid. I've never done that before". But the suggestive comments continued.

Mr Thompson said: "The defendant set out in explicit terms the sexual acts he would like to perform. The response he received was 'Why would you want to do that when I'm only 13?' The defendant said it did not matter."

"Gabby" also received explicit messages from Haigh, who suggested they could "meet up".

He also used WhatsApp to send her explicit pictures of himself.

But his phone number on WhatsApp allowed him to be traced to the home he shared with his parents in Beverley, and members of Justice for Children paid him a visit on February 10.

He confirmed he was the person responsible and was arrested after police were called.

Haigh, of Nursery Gardens, Beverley, admitted four offences of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, and two of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

He had received a caution for common assault in 2010, and had a conviction for inflicting grievous bodily harm from a juvenile court.

Haigh, a twin, provided the court with references from a retired detective inspector, his GP practice, his employer, and an aunt and uncle.

Kylie Peach, mitigating, said: "What Mr Haigh is trying to advance is that normally he is a hard-working, polite young man who's acted out of character. He's deeply apologetic for his actions. The offences themselves are totally disgraceful."

Haigh's father gave evidence and said the former Beverley Grammar School pupil was borderline dyslexic, which had caused him "frustrations" and led him to leave school at 15.

'You knew this was wrong'

Sentencing Haigh to six months in jail, suspended for two years, Judge David Tremberg told him: "You knew what you were doing was wrong but you did it and you did it for sexual gratification, and you were either unable or unwilling to demonstrate the necessary control mechanism to decline from this behaviour."

Haigh must also attend the Horizon programme, have up to 15 days rehabilitation, and comply with a 28-day curfew between the hours of 8pm and 6am.

He must register as a sex offender for seven years and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.

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A group of "well-meaning vigilantes" turned up at an estate agents to confront a man who was trying to incite children to commit sex acts.

Three adult "decoys" allowed pictures of themselves as teenagers to be posted online so married father Garry Mulligan, 56, would think he was talking to underage girls.

Mulligan, of Stanley Street, west Hull, thought he was talking to "Ella", "Stacey", and "Bobbie-Jo", who all told him in online chats they were 14. Instead, they were decoys working for a group calling itself "National Child Protectors".

Adam Walker, prosecuting in Hull Crown Court on Monday, said the decoy's tactics were to give their purported ages quickly "and they then allowed the suspect to develop the conversation, which on each occasion quickly turned onto the question of sex".

Using WhatsApp and "similar platforms", Mulligan asked to see naked parts of their bodies and their underwear. He also asked them to commit sex acts. Mulligan sent "Bobbie-Jo" pornographic links and "asked if that aroused her", Mr Walker said.

He also told "Ella": "This is how sex chats start." Mr Walker said: "He was schooling her on how to have a sexually arousing conversation."

Mulligan asked two of the "girls" to send him indecent pictures of themselves, and had at least two online chats with each decoy.

Mr Walker said: "National Child Protectors used their investigation means to track down Mr Mulligan at his place of work, an estate agent. The police were involved and Mr Mulligan was interviewed and admitted his guilt."

Mulligan pleaded guilty to four offences of attempting to incite a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity, and one of attempting to communicate sexually with a girl he believed was 14. The offences took place in November 2017.

Stephen Robinson, for Mulligan, told Judge Graham Robinson: "The defendant is 56 years old. He has no previous convictions or cautions recorded against him.

"He stands before your honour a man who has in many respects ruined his life through his own foolishness, and what must have been some perverted thoughts, and he'd deeply ashamed of his behaviour.

"He's at a loss, as your honour will have read in the pre-sentence report, to explain why he's behaved in this way."

Mr Robinson said the offending "caused him, of course what I concede was some deserved shame and embarrassment at the place of work. He has lost his job as a result of that. He's brought shame on his family.

"There is a much better side to the defendant. As well as the lack of previous convictions he's always worked and he's obtained further work in stock-taking and stock management.

"He's described as a decent man, hard-working, kind and generous. He provides support to his elderly parents, one of whom is in a home."

Sentencing Mulligan to six months in jail, suspended for two years, the judge told him: "These are serious offences. No matter that these were decoys; you believed you were speaking to 14-year-old girls, and with that belief you attempted to get them to do things that were completely and utterly inappropriate, and indeed illegal."

Mulligan must register as a sex offender for seven years and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period. He must also attend the Horizon programme, have up to 15 days rehabilitation, and was given 28 days t pay the 670 prosecution costs of the case.

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WORRIED parents have spoken of their fury after finding out a convicted paedophile is living near a school and kids' park.

Gareth Roberts, 36, was caught with indecent images of children as young as four.

The images found by police at his Brough, Yorkshire home included those of children in "discernible pain or distress", Hull Daily Mail reported.

He was given a ten month suspended sentence on Monday after 58 images at category A - the most serious - 228 at category B, and 133 category C images were found.

But parents have revealed their horror after finding out he received a suspended sentence, and that his home was just two streets away from a popular children's park and close to Welton Primary School.

Images of the married 36-year-old have since been shared by concerned members of the community.

The IT consultant's sentence was based on the number of images police were able to recover during their search of his home in March 2017.

He had reportedly installed a file-shredding application which meant the total number of images downloaded could not be established.

Parents took to social media to raise their concerns, with one writing: "How has he got away with this? Feel sick that he lives on the next street!"

Another added: "From brough aswell another one getting nearer."

Roberts admitted to three offences of making indecent photographs of children between 2011 and 2017.

He had no previous convictions.

Roberts was ordered to have up to 50 days rehabilitation, and pay 500 costs within 28 days.

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Now released.

Steven McKenna targeted his victim after she was seen struggling to stand up and attacked her in an isolated harbour area in Bridlington, East Yorkshire

A man who raped and sexually assaulted a woman after following her out of a nightclub later spat at her twice when she called the police, a court heard.

Steven McKenna had also licked her legs as she tried to make the emergency call in the "additional degradation" he levelled at her.

When officers arrived, McKenna had gone but the woman was crying and they noticed she had frothy spittle in her hair, the Hull Daily Mail reported.

McKenna, 32, of no fixed address, denied any wrongdoing and claimed any sexual activity was consensual. He showed no emotion when a Hull Crown Court jury convicted him of rape and sexual assault, but not guilty of two other sexual offences.

Parts of the incident in Bridlington in the early hours last summer were caught on CCTV, and showed the woman at times struggling to stand up, and at others appearing to be "semi-conscious".

McKenna followed the woman after meeting her in the Apollo nightclub and attacked her on the harbour side. She was two-and-a-half times over the legal alcohol limit for driving.

Sentencing McKenna on Friday, Recorder Abdul Iqbal QC told him: "These were shameless and cruel offences against a vulnerable victim, on her own in an isolated location for your sexual gratification."

He said the victim had suffered "substantial" psychological trauma, and the spitting and verbal abuse after the sexual offences amounted to "additional degradation".

Following McKenna's convictions, Charlotte Baines, prosecuting, read a victim statement on the woman's behalf. She said: "Every day I wake up and I'm nervous about going out of the house. I don't go out as much at all now. I always double-check the doors are locked."

The court heard the woman had been unable to sleep in her own bed for three weeks after the attack, had lost her job because she did not feel well enough to attend work and did not want to inform her employers about what had happened, while her partner and family had also been badly affected.

She said she now felt scared to answer the door, and said: "I feel this assault has changed me as a person."

McKenna had 60 previous offences on his record, including an indecent assault on a female under 14 when he was a youth.

He was jailed for nine years and ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Description

A former West Midlands Police constable and ex-serviceman who downloaded sickening child pornography films has escaped going to jail.

Father-of-two James Duffield, who told police he had been sexually assaulted as a child, was found to have pictures of children as young as four on his laptop.

Duffield, 34, from Solihull, had previously admitted three charges of making indecent images.

He was handed a 12-month suspended sentence.

Philip Brunt, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said Duffield downloaded 106 movies of categories A, B and C.

“The police received information that an IP address had been downloading indecent images,” he said.

“As a result, a warrant was issued to attend and search that address on August 23 last year.

“They attended in the early hours of the morning, knocked on the door and went inside.

“They recovered a large number of internet-enabled devices.

“In particular they were interested in two laptop computers.

“It was on the laptop computers that the indecent images were found.

“There is also evidence on the computers of various search terms such as ‘Paedo Mum’.”

Mr Brunt said the images had been accessed between December and April 2015.

When quizzed, Duffield – who quit as a policeman before he was sentenced – initially said he had downloaded films and other items but never knowingly indecent images.

But he later made a full confession.

Mr Brunt said: “He commented in that interview that he himself had been abused as a child and that led, in some part, to his accessing the images.

“He did make revelations that were investigated by the local police force but that investigation led nowhere.”

Mr Brunt said the ages of the children who were abused ranged from four to ten and the longest movie was 17 minutes.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Drew QC said: “You had a career in the services and also in the police force and, at the time of the commission, of these offences you were a serving police officer.

“You are one of the least people one would expect to be before the court for offences of this sort.

“The real gravamen of these offences is not your conduct but the impact on those who appear in those images.”

But the judge accepted the future risk he posed was relatively low.

Adrian Keeling QC, defending, said: “Duffield was abused when he was younger.

“He made no complaint at the time and therefore received no help or assistance.

“The first time he came cross any of these images was on file sharing software and it chimed with what happened to him.

“He has already suffered quite a heavy degree of punishment.

“First he had lost his good name and secondly he has lost his job.

“He resigned immediately.

“That has caused financial strains and pressures upon his family which hurt him deeply.”

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A sex beast who repeatedly raped a woman as his girlfriend slept in the next room has been jailed for 12 years.

Twisted Darren Nesbitt, 44, of Dorridge , invited the victim to stay at the Solihull house he shared with his partner after a leak left her without running water.

But police said the heavy drinker plied her with booze and groped her as they smoked cigarettes in the garage.

He then forced himself on the 49-year-old victim in a spare bedroom as his partner slept.

Nesbitt was arrested when she confided in a colleague and then told police about the attack, which happened on August 22, 2014.

He claimed the allegation was false but detectives traced another woman who said Nesbitt sexually assaulted her at his home in the same year.

He was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court after being found unanimously guilty by a jury of three counts of rape and one of attempted rape.

Nesbitt must also sign the sex offender register for life.

Investigating officer, Det Con Jon Barker, of West Midlands Polices public protection unit, said: Nesbitt invited the woman into his home and offered her his hospitality by cooking and plying her with alcohol.

Then he attacked the woman while his partner retired to bed.

Its a shocking breach of trust and left the victim hugely distressed and struggling to come to terms with what happened.

She did the right thing in disclosing the offences to us.

The victim was a very credible witness at court and conducted herself impeccably.

Nesbitt, on the other hand, kept changing his story and this clearly struck the jury.

This case should act as reassurance to anyone who has been raped or sexually assaulted that we take all reports seriously and allegations will be thoroughly investigated.

Mr Barker said Nesbitts victim was supported by specialist officers and RSVP in Birmingham a charity that offers support and help to sexual violence survivors.

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A Preston man who is a convicted sex offender is being sought by police.

Lancashire Police have released an appeal to find Biaron Cross, 25, for breaching his notification requirements and failing to notify police of his current address.

Cross has also breached the terms of his electronic tag.

He was understood to be living at an address in Preston but could be in the Blackburn area.

In 2010 he was sentenced to 32 months in prison after he was convicted of sexual activity with a girl under 16 and ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

In September this year he was arrested and charged for breaching his notification requirements.

He is 6’3″, with dark shaven hair and is usually clean shaven with a stud in his left ear.

Detective Chief Inspector Claire McEnery, of Lancashire Constabulary’s Public Protection Unit, said: “We take any breach of notification requirements very seriously and I would urge anyone with information on where he might be to contact us.

“I would also urge Cross himself, if he sees this appeal, to hand himself in to the police rather than evading the police and making the situation worse for himself.”

Anyone with information should contact police on 101 where details can be passed to the DASO (Dangerous and Sexual Offenders’) Unit.

Alternatively, they can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or online at Crimestoppers-uk.org. No personal details are taken, information is not traced or recorded and you will not go to court.

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A SENIOR Midland councillor who kissed a girl of 16 as they danced at a birthday party has been forced to sign the sex offenders’ register.

The sexual assault, in a “moment of utter madness” by former Solihull Council deputy leader Ian Hillas, had ruined his life and reputation, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Hillas, who represents Castle Bromwich ward, was given a 12-month conditional discharge by Judge Michael Challinor following the assault in Cradley Heath. The Judge told Hillas, who had been suspended from the Conservative group after his arrest, that he had been “branded as a sex offender”.

Sarah Buckingham, defending, said: “He has suffered public humiliation and he has been socially and professionally excluded.”

She told the court that politics had been Hillas’s life and he had been devoted to serving the needs of the community.

She said: “There was no planning or sinister intent behind the offence.

“In a moment of utter madness he kissed her on the cheek and on the neck.

“Almost immediately he was embarrassed and appalled by what he had done and he pulled away.”

Hillas, 43, of Oakwood Croft, Solihull, admitted sexual assault.

He was also ordered to pay the girl £500 with £2,151 costs and told to register as a sex offender for a year.

The Judge said Hillas was not a public danger and did not ban him from working with children.