Latest Offenders Isle of Wight

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A SEX offender has been jailed, after breaching the terms of a court order.

Simon Fellowes-Welch, 55, of Sutton Close, Ryde, who has a long history of child sex offences, breached the terms of a sexual harm prevention order.

The order, made in November 2017, specified that he could not delete any internet browsing history or download file-sharing software, both of which he did, Isle of Wight Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Graham Gilbert told the court how Fellowes-Welch had a history of breaching court orders and had spent time in prison before for child sex offences, including for indecent images of children.

In February, Fellowes-Welch's laptop was inspected by police and there was no internet history present and a file-sharing programme was found.

For Fellowes-Welch, Oscar Vincent told the court that before the breach, there was 15 months of compliance with the order.

Mr Vincent said that the breach was an innocent mistake, made by trying to improve a slow, out-of-date laptop.

He had run a system clean up programme in order to clear some memory on the laptop, in the hope that it would improve its performance, but in doing so inadvertently deleted his internet browsing history.

He had downloaded the file-sharing software in order to download the clean up programme, Mr Vincent said.

Mr Vincent said that as soon as he had realised his mistake, he told his offender manager, who arranged the police inspection of the laptop.

Fellowes-Welch was sentenced to one year in prison.

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A MAN who downloaded a 'paedophile manual' containing detailed instructions on how to sexually abuse children, including babies, has been jailed.

Jamie Downing, 27, of Oak Vale, Oakfield, Ryde, admitted downloading the manual as well as thousands of indecent images of children and extreme pornography involving sex with animals and was sentenced at Isle of Wight Crown Court this morning (Tuesday).

Sentencing, Judge Roger Hetherington said: "The worst offence of these, which takes this case to levels of depravity that this court seldom sees, is that of the manual, which gives detailed advice on the abuse of very young children, including babies.

"It is hard to express in words how the public would feel about that kind of material being possessed by someone like you."

After police raided Downing's address and seized computer equipment, examiners found 583 category A images, 1,087 category B and 1,862 category C. They also found 65 extreme pornography images and 1,789 prohibited images of children, which are non-photographic cartoons or computer animated images.

The paedophile manual was also found, which was a slideshow presentation with instructions on how to abuse children and how to avoid being caught.

Prosecuting, Tom Horder said the officers who examined the manual described the material as "graphic and particularly shocking".

Mr Horder said that Downing was highly IT literate and had customised his computer and organised the illegal files across six different hard drives.

Downing admitted to police viewing similar material since he was the age of 16 and only now realised that what he was doing was wrong and had not equated the people on his screen as real children.

For Downing, Helen Easterbrook said that the moment police knocked on her client's door, he pointed to where the material could be found and did not try to shy away from what he had done.

"In a strange way, he is glad this has come to light. He was putting his head in the sand and only saw them as people on his screen," Ms Easterbrook said.

"He is disgusted with himself. He has started to understand the impact on the wider community and where these images have come from."

Ms Easterbrook asked the judge not to imprison Downing so that he could be treated through rehabilitation activities to minimise the risk of him reoffending.

Judge Hetherington said: "I would be failing in my public duty if this case was not met with an immediate custodial sentence."

Downing was jailed for a total of 12 months.

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Paedophile Allen Wilton has been jailed for 16 months for breaching his Sex Offenders Register requirements.

The 49-year-old, of St Johns Wood Road in Ryde, was required by law to register any names or profiles he created online.

Police discovered that he had been using the name ‘falcon1’ on an encrypted chat app called Wickr Me, but failed to notify the authorities of this, Isle of Wight Crown Court heard.

The court heard that he was arrested at his home address on 2 October this year, and refused to hand over his password for the app to police.

Today (1 November) he was sentenced to 16 months in prison at the same court.

PC Michelle Walton said: “Wilton is a repeat child sex offender with a history dating back to 2002.

“He had absolutely no regard for what he was required to do, by law, so we could ensure that he would not continue to offend and that children were protected.

“We simply do not tolerate this, and I am pleased that today’s jail sentence reflects this.”

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43-year-old Richard Moore from Newport has been sentenced to 16 months in prison and given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order after being caught trying to meet who he thought was a 12-year-old girl for sex.

Moore was arrested by Police at Portswood Road, Southampton on 6th January following an online sting by the group ‘S.K.I.D Community’.

Decoys pretending to be a 12-year-old girl called India were able to gather evidence that Moore was attempting to meet the child for the purposes of carrying out sexual acts. He is said to have used explicit language and sent nude photographs of himself to ‘India’ with the aim of going to her aunties’ house on the afternoon of 6th January.

Earlier this month Moore pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a child following grooming.

Richard James Moore was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Southampton Crown Court this morning (Monday). He was also handed down a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

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A teacher has been jailed for sexual offences against two boys after meeting them through an online dating app.

Thomas Goodey, 27, took one of the boys to a hotel where he gave him vodka before carrying out sexual acts.

He had a sexual encounter with the other child after inviting him to his mother's house while she was away, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

Goodey, from the Isle of Wight, was jailed for four years after previously admitting six offences.

The school said the teacher was dismissed shortly after the allegations emerged.

'My life has suffered'

The court was told Goodey, of Daniel Street, Ryde, met the boys through the dating app Grindr and later became aware they were underage.

The performing arts teacher invited the first boy to his mother's house in September last year. The teenager reported it in February, when Goodey was arrested.

In a statement read out in court, the boy said: "My life has suffered. I have been unhappy, less patient and I have issues with trusting people."

In police interviews, Goodey admitted spending the night with the second boy at a hotel in October 2016.

Judge David Melville QC told Goodey: "You should have said no. You weakened when you should have resisted."

Goodey pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual activity with a child and one of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The judge imposed a sexual harm prevention order and placed Goodey on the sex offenders' register.

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36-year-old Kevin Finch, who has been branded an extremely dangerous offender, has today (Wednesday) been sentenced to life imprisonment, to serve a minimum of 10 years, following 3 sex offences including the rape of an 18-year-old girl in Niton.

The former landscape gardener from Church Path, East Cowes, who traded under the name of Greenpaws Landscaping, will also be added to the sex offenders register for life following todays sentencing at Portsmouth Crown Court.

Finch pleaded guilty to:

- Rape of an 18-year-old woman in Niton on 7th October 2016

- Indecent assault against a woman in Newport in 2003

- Sexual assault against a 16-year-old girl in East Cowes in 2015

As previously reported by Island Echo, Finch was arrested following a horrific attack on an 18-year-old girl at Old Blackgang Road, Niton in October last year. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), Finch contacted the woman via Facebook and offered her work as a cleaner. He arranged to pick her up from Sandown High Street on the understanding that she would be working for him for the day.

Shockingly, Kevin Finch drove the young woman to a secluded car park on Old Blackgang Road, punched her in the face causing a fracture to her eye socket, and then forced her in to the back of his van and raped her. Finch said that he would kill her if she told anyone what had happened before releasing her from his van.

Prior to the attack last October, Finch had looked up on the internet the Islands school bus routes, secluded Isle of Wight locations and how to dispose of a body.

As a result of the police investigation, 2 other victims were identified in relation to sexual assaults committed by Kevin Finch in 2003 and 2015.

In December 2003 he indecently assaulted a woman when he grabbed her from the street after she left Chicago Rock to go home in the early hours of the morning. He pushed her to the ground and pinned her down, before the woman was able to escape and run to the safety of another passer-by.

In 2015, Kevin Finch messaged a 15-year-old girl via Facebook offering her work doing general handy jobs for his business. She worked for him on a number of occasions before he sexually assaulted her.

Andrea Hills, of the CPS, has today said:

Kevin Finch is an extremely dangerous offender who poses a very serious risk to women. As well as violently attacking a stranger, he used social media to target young women and pretend that he was genuinely offering opportunities of employment. The evidence of the victims in this case and the thorough investigation conducted by the police, ensured that the CPS was able to present a robust case, securing guilty pleas from Kevin Finch without the need for a trial.

The victims have shown incredible bravery in supporting the prosecution and I hope that todays sentence is of some comfort to them.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Brown, said:

Following the horrific serious sexual assault in Niton in October 2016, we carried out a thorough and detailed investigation, in which we were able to identify further offending by Finch and so we put him in front of the courts for two further incidents.

Finch pleaded guilty to all three offences. I hope the admission of guilt and todays life sentence can provide all of the victims with closure, so that they can move on with their lives.

Thankfully these type of incidents are rare and I would like to reassure the community that the Isle of Wight remains a safe place to live and to visit.

Our thoughts are with all of the victims at this time.

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A former dinner lady who was spared prison after being found guilty of sexual activity with a child has now been jailed after her original sentence was overturned.

Terri Spragg, 35, of Bettesworth Road, Ryde, Isle of Wight, was found guilty of seven counts of sexual activity with a child under 16 in December.

She originally received a 15-month sentence, suspended for two years.

The Court of Appeal has now jailed her for three years.

Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP described the original sentence as "unduly lenient" and referred the case to the Court of Appeal.

Messages on phone

He said Spragg engaged in a series of sexual activities with the victim between 12 August and 1 November 2014, when he was 14.

The mother-of-four was caught after the victim's sister discovered messages on his phone, he added.

Speaking after the hearing on Thursday, the solicitor general said: "Gaining a child's trust and abusing it in this way is unacceptable.

"The original sentence failed to take proper account of the seriousness of the offence and the impact it has had on the victim and his family.

"I hope the court's decision to impose an immediate prison sentence sends a clear message to society that such offences will not be tolerated."

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63-year-old Richard Jones from Grange Road in Shanklin has begun a 7-and-a-half-year prison sentence for historic sex offences against children as young as 6.

Jones, who is also known as Richard Bloch, has been convicted of 7 counts of indecent assault and 2 of gross indecency for crimes committed against 4 girls between 1991 and 2002.

Brighton Crown Court heard how the former Ryde Job Centre worker carried out the sexual assaults on 4 girls aged between 6 and 11 in the Crawley, North West London and Kent areas over the 11-year period.

Detective Sergeant Sian Harding of the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigation Unit has said:

Jones, who was known as Bloch until he changed his name in 1995, befriended the girls families, worked his way into their confidence and systematically abused them, in most cases over a period of two or more years, for his own gratification.

This came to light in 2015 when police were investigating an unrelated matter which is still under investigation.

We will always take seriously all reports of sexual offences, from however long ago, and try to investigate wherever possible, to seek to achieve justice for the victims if we can.

Richard Jones was sentenced on Thursday. He will remain on the sex offenders register for life.

Jones actions were calculated and predatory and it is concerning to think how he would have remained unpunished had his crime not come to light.

While his actions will have had a devastating impact on his victims and their families, he is now facing the consequences of the sickening abuse he carried out.

This case shows that victims of past sexual abuse will be listened to, and justice achieved, no matter how long ago the offences took place.

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A child sex offender who recently moved from Salisbury to Ryde has today (Thursday) been convicted of further sex offences.

William Clark, 45 of Pell Lane, Ryde was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment at Salisbury Crown Court after pleading guilty to 7 offences of making indecent photographs and movies of a child, 1 offence of possessing 936 indecent images and movies of children and 1 offence of possessing 10 prohibited images of children. He had also pleaded guilty to 4 offences of voyeurism and supplying false information to a charity.

Clark set up a charity for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in Salisbury back in 2009, but failed to tell the Charity Commission about his previous offences, which included the incident assault of a 9-year-old boy.

The child sex offender has now been made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a Sex Offender Notice for a period of 10 years.

Following the sentence, Simon Jones, Senior Crown Advocate for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said:

As a convicted sex offender, William Clark knew of the obvious concerns about him working with children but this did not stop him establishing and running a charity whose focus was to help people within the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, which included a section of young people. In doing so, he deliberatly omitted to disclose his previous child sexual offence convictions.

Whilst running the charity he downloaded and possessed a large quantity of indecent images of children.

He also commited offences of voyeurism, which included covertly filming innocent members of the public in extreme circumstances of privacy.

We hope that with this conviction, the young adults victims in this case will now be able to move on with their lives.

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Michael Feben, 75, pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault.

A retired Roman Catholic priest has been jailed for six years after sexually assaulting two boys in Windsor during the 1960s.

Michael Feben, former priest at St Edward's Roman Catholic Church, in Alma Road, was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Thursday, December 4 after pleading guilty to six charges of indecent assault.

The offences took place when the victims were between 11 and 15 years old and Feben, now 75, was in his twenties.

Feben, of Medina Avenue, Newport, Isle of Wight, also pleaded guilty to indecently assaulting a third boy, aged 10, when a priest at Annunciation Church in Charminster, Bournemouth, in the Seventies.

The allegations first came to light when one of Feben's victims contacted the police in 1993, and wrote to then Catholic Bishop of Portsmouth, Reverend Crispian Hollis, but no action was taken.

Feben was arrested last year and denied the offences when interviewed but was charged in March.

Speaking at the sentencing, Judge Stephen John said: "Each of these men (the victims) has lived for the rest of their childhood and much of their adult lives with the knowledge of what you did to them.

"Everyone knows that such offences have long-lasting effects on the lives of those too young to understand or complain at the time when they were abused.

"The fact that you were a priest is a significantly aggravating factor.

"For a long time, complaints against priests were routinely dismissed or not investigated and many felt there was no point in complaining. Happily, those days are gone, as this prosecution demonstrates."

Feben received a total of six years' imprisonment for six counts of indecent assault.

A further two counts of indecent assault, which Feben denied, will be left on file.

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A Hampshire paedophile jailed for 25 years for sex offences spanning more than 50 years has died in prison aged 83.

Ronald Dean was convicted of 25 counts including rape, indecent assault and perverting the course of justice.

Dean was pronounced dead at Albany Prison, on the Isle of Wight.

A Prison Service spokesman said Dean was believed to have died from natural causes.

He was pronounced dead in the prison healthcare wing.

The spokesman added that the independent Prisons and Probation Ombudsman will cary out an investigation.

Dean was jailed at Southampton Crown Court for 25 years after being convicted of 24 sex allegations that involved seven youngsters aged three to 16 years old.

Jurors heard how he bribed his victims with gifts, sweets, money and even alcohol to satisfy his insatiable lust and ensure their silence.

One girl was so badly traumatised by her ordeal she took an overdose.

Dean repeatedly abused another girl and a third was told not to tell anyone anything how he had defiled her, not even when he was dead.

However, his sordid past eventually came to light when one victim had the courage to tell a nurse at school who in turn informed the police.

Dean, a great-grand- father, of Fryern Close, Chandlers Ford, was convicted after a three-week trial of all 24 sex charges levelled against him as well as one of attempting to pervert the course of justice by trying to persuade one victim to drop her allegations.

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A rapist has been jailed after he was caught when a DNA sample given by his daughter for an assault implicated him in an attack in 1990.

Police had exhausted all leads when a sample from Keith Davison's daughter linked him to the rape of a 24-year-old waitress in Ryde on the Isle of Wight.

Davison, 52, of Ryde, was convicted of rape in January and jailed for eight years at Portsmouth Crown Court.

His daughter gave a DNA sample when she was cautioned for an assault in 2006.

A technique known as familial searching linked DNA from the crime scene to his daughter's sample.

Davison, of Binstead Hill, voluntarily provided a sample which showed a match and he was charged.

The victim had started to walk home along Ryde seafront at about midnight following her shift at a fast food outlet on 4 August, 1990, the court heard.

"I hope my experience can encourage more victims to have the confidence to report rape offences"

Keith Davison's victim

Davison approached her from behind, put his T-shirt over her head and attacked her.

Police had no suspects until advancements in technology meant a DNA profile from material found at the crime scene was obtained in 2004, but there were no matches on the national database.

The breakthrough came when Davison's daughter gave a sample in 2006.

Davison's victim, who legally cannot be named, said: "Eight years in prison is a good result but no sentence will undo the harm I have suffered.

"At least now I can hope to move forward.

'Suicidal thoughts'

"I hope my experience can encourage more victims to have the confidence to report rape offences."

The court heard the victim knew of Davison as their children went to the same school.

"He was just someone I would see across the playground.

"I only ever saw a brief glimpse of the attacker but Davison was always someone I felt jumpy near and avoided."

Judge Ian Pearson told Davison: "[The attack] has had a significant effect on her life, depression, anxiety attacks, suicidal thoughts, panic attacks.

"The scientific evidence was overwhelming but you chose to challenge that evidence.

"You attacked a lone woman at night, blindfolded her and gagged her."

Det Ch Insp Bob Maker, head of CID on the Isle of Wight, said: "It is a very serious crime and our thoughts are with the victim and victim's family.

"In some ways this is some closure for the victim and that's our primary concern."

Davison was also put on the sex offenders register for life.