Latest Offenders Huntingdon

Description

Malachi Smith, of Humbrills Close, in Huntingdon, was found guilty of raping a 16-year-old girl at an address in the city in late 2009. Smith was in his late teens at the time of the offence.

After pleading not guilty at Portsmouth Crown Court on Tuesday 29 August 2023, Smith appeared again at the court on Wednesday 6 March, where a jury found him unanimously guilty. He was then sentenced immediately to six and a half years imprisonment and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.

The judge stated that whilst he took into account Smith’s age at the time of the offence when considering the sentencing, it also reflected the “severe psychological harm” he had inflicted on the victim, which had affected her “for 14 years, formal diagnosis, medicated everyday numbing her feelings, flashbacks and nightmares”.

DS Samantha Brown said: “The victim in this case, now a grown woman, has lived with the memory of this awful assault for over a decade. I’m pleased we can give her the outcome the case deserved and finally some closure. I’d like to commend her bravery for coming forward and I hope this case encourages others to speak out and seek support.

Description

A former carer who arranged to meet young girls so he could rape them has been jailed for more than five years.

Daniel Chisnall, 48, from Huntingdon, was arrested by National Crime Agency officers at a pub in the town in December last year, before he had checked in to a nearby hotel where he planned to carry out the abuse.

Before his arrest, he had discussed his sexual interest in children with other paedophiles on the Kik online chat platform, WhatsApp and via email.

Using a pseudonym, he messaged a user who said he had access to two girls, aged seven and 11.

He spoke intimately to his online contact about the children and how he wanted to rape them when they met.

Officers searched his address following his arrest and his devices were seized.

Forensic examination showed his phone contained 12 indecent images of children (IIOC) in categories A-C. A being the most severe.

A further five IIOC in categories A and C had been printed out as poster-sized documents.

Chisnall, who drove a minibus in his job as a carer for vulnerable adults, was charged with one count of arranging or facilitating the commission of sexual assault of a child, one count of making IIOC (categories A-C), and one count of possessing IIOC.

He pleaded guilty at Cambridge Crown Court on January 16 and was sentenced to five years and two months imprisonment at Huntingdon Crown Court today (February 17).

He has been placed on the sex offenders register for life and is also subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Description

A paedophile who began sexually assaulting four young victims 30 years ago has now been jailed for more than 21 years.

Dean Nicholson, 56, targeted his victims, who were all known to him, between 1992 and 2004 in Huntingdonshire.

He was 26 when he began the abuse against his victims, one of whom was just six years old at the time. Others were slightly older, but all were under 16.

Often he would make his victims perform sexual acts on him or he would perform sexual acts on them. The offences finally came to light when the victims confided in others close to them.

Nicholson, of Station Road, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, was arrested and later charged with 22 offences.

He stood trial at Cambridge Crown Court in November but, on the fourth day, he pleaded guilty to 15 offences.

These included five counts of gross indecency with a child and eight counts of indecent assault. He also admitted assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) against a separate adult victim in 1991.

Nicholson was sentenced at the same court on Friday (16 December) where he was handed 21 years and seven months in prison. He was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to run indefinitely, which will monitor his future activity.

Sentencing, Judge Philip Grey said by the time Nicholson had pleaded guilty at his trial, two of his victims had already given evidence and the voices of all his victims were ‘heard loud and clear by the court’.

He told Nicholson that he had sexualised, abused and groomed his victims over many years and paid tribute to the victims for coming forward.

He described him as a ‘predatory paedophile’ who groomed his victims and, though he couldn’t bring himself to admit it, had done ‘horrific damage to many’ with his ‘perverted desire for sexual activity’.

Description

A Cambridgeshire paedophile who arranged to meet a teenager was caught out after she was revealed to be an adult. John Brewster messaged his intended victim, who he believed to be a 14-year-old girl, on Facebook and WhatsApp.

He sent messages between July 11 and 15 and arranged to meet her later the same week. However when he arrived at their meeting point at just before 4.30pm on July 18, the girl was revealed to be an adult who then called the police.

Officers attended and Brewster, 67, of Crown Close, St Ives, was arrested. In his police interview he replied no comment to all questions.

He stood trial at Cambridge Crown Court from Tuesday, March 15. A jury took less than three hours to find him guilty of engaging in sexual communication with a child and inciting a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in penetrative sexual activity.

Brewster was jailed for three years and four months at the same court on Thursday (March 17). He was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), to monitor any future offending, and placed on the Sex Offenders Register, both indefinitely.

Detective Sergeant George Neal, from the forces Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), said: Brewsters behaviour was shocking and inappropriate; using the internet in this way will not be tolerated. Phones and social media mean children can be vulnerable to those who prey on their innocence and exploit their trust.

Protecting young people from harm is one of our top priorities and we will continue to work tirelessly to keep our communities safe.

Anyone who is concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to someone, can apply for disclosure information through Sarahs Law. For information and advice about child abuse, including online grooming, visit the forces dedicated child protection web page.

Description

Evil Anthony Burn subjected seven young girls to life-ruining sex attacks in a campaign of rape and abuse that spanned his entire adult life.

The vile 57-year-old's sick offending began when he was in his teens, and lasted for almost 40 years until he was finally snared.

Burn somehow managed to abuse children "under the radar" subjecting his young victims to multiple and regular rape attacks.

He would go to the Northumberland home of one schoolgirl around once a week to rape her over a period of a year, meaning she suffered around 50 horrific ordeals.

The abuse began when she was still playing with dolls.

As Burn got older his crimes continued, but the age of his victims remained consistently low, between around nine and 16 years old.

And even after police questioned him over his abuse of five girls in Northumberland, he went on to target two more youngsters in Cambridgeshire.

But now thanks to the courage of the women he targeted Burn's reign of terror has finally been brought to an end.

As he locked Burn up for life with a minimum of 15 years at Newcastle Crown Court on Tuesday, Judge Christopher Prince described him as "extremely dangerous" and said he would pose a risk to others until the day he died.

He told him: "The gravity and amount of offending is abhorrent to any right thinking person. The risk in your case will continue until the day you die. These are extremely serious offences committed by an extremely dangerous defendant.

"They are among the worst offences of this type to come before the court."

The court heard how Burn's crimes began in the early 1980s when he was in his late teens.

And David Lamb, prosecuting, explained how he spent his entire adult life abusing young girls, without being caught.

"There are a total of seven young female victims in this case," he said. "The campaign of offending spanned nearly all the defendant's adult life.

"It commenced in 1982 when he was aged 17, and concluded in 2020 when he would have been 57.

"A remarkable feature throughout this defendant's existence is he's managed to get himself into the lives of so many children to such a degree he was able to sexually abuse them over a substantial period of time virtually under the radar."

The court heard how after befriending the family schoolgirl who lived on the same Northumberland estate as him, Burn started to let himself into her home to rape her repeatedly.

And Mr Lamb, explained how, like many of Burn's victims, the girl was raped so many times she eventually stopped trying to fight the fiend off.

"She was still a very young looking girl. The defendant would have known how old she was," he said.

Describing the first time the girl was raped by Burn, in a bedroom in her house, Mr Lamb said: "(The victim) describes it as painful. She was crying throughout because of the pain. He would have known she was not consenting."

The rapes continued for around a year

"It happened at least once a week over a year until she moved house," said Mr Lamb.

"The incidents were never discussed between the two of them. He would just come round and get what he wanted every time he got the opportunity."

Burn also repeatedly raped another schoolgirl at her home in Northumberland during the early 1980s.

"She viewed the defendant as an adult and describes herself as being like a child." said Mr Lamb. "She remembers he had raped her a few more times but she can't remember how many."

"It got to the point where she became submissive. She thought it would be over quicker if she behaved in that way.

"She used to panic that she would get pregnant, but fortunately she didn't."

Burn got away with these sick attacks for more than 30 years.

But in November 2018 his first victim reported what had happened to her to Northumbria Police.

Detectives then spoke to the other victim, who was able to give them the name of a third girl she believed had been raped by Burn.

The third victim was contacted by police and eventually revealed that she had also been abused.

"She describes three incidents in which she was raped when she was 16 years old," said Mr Lamb. "He was four years older."

Burn was in his 30s when he began to target his next victim, who he first raped after she got in his vehicle thinking she would be given a lift home from the MetroCentre.

He instead took her to a flat where he raped her.

"Although he got older the age of his victims remained almost constant," said Mr Lamb.

This victim did report the attacks to police at the time. The allegations were investigated, but Burn was never charged.

He also systematically abused a fifth North East girl over a long period of around 16 years.

"Because she was raped so many times she is unable to describe specific incidents," said Mr Lamb. She recalls seeing his face through tears. She was really scared, and remembers that it hurt.

Description

A paramedic who was found guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault against three victims has been jailed for 21 years.

Andrew Wheeler, 46, of Mill Green, Warboys, was convicted of six sexual offences between 2009 and 2018 following a trial which began early in December.

Today at Peterborough Crown Court, Judge Matthew Lowe said that Wheeler had shown an "arrogance and a belief that he was untouchable and protected, as he saw it, by his paramedic's uniform"

Wheeler had shown "not a shred of remorse", he said, adding: "He's demonstrated that he's a manipulative sexual predator, willing to exploit for his own gratification the vulnerabilities of three separate (victims)."

Judge Lowe also praised a "painstaking" police investigation which brought Wheeler to court and commended DC Amie Meston.

He also praised the courage of the victims for coming forward.

The trial had heard Wheeler's offending came to light after he raped and sexually assaulted a woman in September 2018.

He had responded as a single-crew paramedic to an emergency call to help the woman and reassured two other paramedics, who arrived as a dual-crew, that he had things under control.

He then took the intoxicated woman from a friend's home back to her home before carrying out the attack. The woman told a friend, the incident was reported to police and Wheeler was arrested later that day.

For this rape he received a 13-year sentence and for the sexual assault he received 10 years, to run concurrently to each other but consecutive to the others.

Another victim then came forward who Wheeler had raped in 2009 and sexually assaulted in the back of an ambulance in April 2010.

For this rape he was sentenced to six years and for the sexual assault he was sentenced to 30 months, to run concurrently to each other but consecutive to the others.

Wheeler was also convicted of two counts of sexual assault on a girl under 13, not connected to his work, between December 2013 and May 2014.

He was sentenced to 15 months and two years for these offences, to run concurrently to each other but consecutive to the others.

DCI Sherrie Nash, from the force’s Protecting Vulnerable People department, said due to the length of time Wheeler had been offending it was possible further victims had not yet come forward.

Detective Chief Superintendent Martin Brunning said: "Andrew Wheeler is a predatory individual whose offending has spanned nearly a decade.

“We believe his decision to become a paramedic was influenced by the access it would give him to potentially vulnerable members of the public and this breach of trust makes his appalling offences all the more deplorable.

"He has caused a huge amount of suffering and trauma for his victims and I would like to pay tribute to their bravery in coming forwards and the patience and dignity they have shown throughout a lengthy legal process.

“I can't imagine what they have gone through but I hope today’s sentencing allows them to continue rebuilding their lives knowing that justice has been done.”

One example of his offending came from the trial when the court heard that the defendant was on duty as a single crew paramedic in a rapid response car when he was called to help a collapsed woman in Cambridgeshire in 2018.

When he arrived at the incident it became apparent that the woman, who was at her friend's house, was drunk, Peterborough Crown Court heard.

Wheeler sent away two other paramedics who arrived together in an ambulance, assuring them he had things under control, then drove the woman to her own house where he raped and sexually assaulted her.

Noel Casey, prosecuting, said the woman was "extremely intoxicated" and was "unable to properly respond or even resist what he did to her, and he did these things while she was alone in her own home, the defendant having taken her there".

"There was a gross breach of trust," he said.

The woman said, in a victim impact statement read to the court: "I have no faith in the NHS and I've avoided seeing a paramedic and attending the hospital just because of what happened."

She said she has flashbacks, adding: "I couldn't handle dealing with life. I became a recluse."

Jennifer Dempster QC, mitigating, said Wheeler had no previous convictions and was someone who has done a "great deal of positive work in his life".