Latest Offenders Jersey

Description

A Jersey support worker has been jailed for raping a woman in his care.

David William Moody was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison after admitting multiple counts of rape and indecent assault against the vulnerable woman between July 2017 and March 2020.

The Royal Court heard that Moody, 59, joined the victim's care team before isolating and abusing her.

The court heard he left the team in 2018 but continued to abuse the woman.

During his time working as a support worker, Moody wrote notes saying they had watched DVDs whilst he was at work, which was found to be code for when he had raped her.

Moody attempted to gain further employment at another care agency, and tried to transfer the victim's care so he could remain as the team leader in her support package.

An adult safeguarding alert was raised in February 2020 after sexual messages were discovered - appropriate support was provided to the victim who then disclosed the abuse she had endured.

Moody was arrested in September 2022 and charged in March.

Det Con Jo Le Maistre said Moody "abused his position of trust with a vulnerable person for his own gratification".

She said: "He went against the basic principles that people who work in the care sector live by.

"He tried to evade detection and justice by silencing his victim with threats, but I am relieved she has now been given a voice."

Moody was placed on the sex offender's register for 10 years, and given an indefinite restraining order.

Description

A British army medic, who unwittingly bragged about sexually touching a child to an undercover Police officer in an online chat room, has been jailed for three years and ten months.

Jersey-born Scott Robert Fitzgerald (41) appeared this morning in the Royal Court, where he was sentenced for touching a girl under 10 in a sexual way, and two counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, told the Court that Fitzgeralds offending was discovered due to contact between the defendant and an undercover Police Officer from the UK posing as a fellow sex offender on an online instant messaging platform using the pseudonym Chris.

The Court heard that the defendant had unwittingly divulged his sexual interest in children to the undercover officer, believing him to be a like-minded man with a young daughter willing to meet up with Fitzgerald so that he could engage in sexual activity with her.

The sexual touching offence took place when Fitzgerald was on leave from the British Army and after he and Chris had begun their online dialogue.

Authorities in the UK alerted the States of Jersey Police when Fitzgerald had bragged to the officer about having touched the child sexually - which he described as tickling - telling him that she loved it." Fitzgerald had also sent Chris pictures of the girls underwear.

The girl referred to in Court only as Child X was interviewed about the offence where she said that she and the defendant had had a little tickle".

After Fitzgerald was arrested for the sexual touching offence, indecent images of children were found on his phone and laptop. There were 10 in total, but one was duplicated, meaning there were nine overall.

Making recommendations for sentencing, Crown Advocate Maletroit said that Fitzgerald had positioned the child and tickled her in a manner that gave him sexual gratification.

The prosecutor noted that during Fitzgeralds conversations with the Probation Service and with a psychologist and psychiatrist who were compiling background reports about him for the Court, he struggle[d] to take any responsibility for his actions.

He claimed that he had made up a narrative to enable him to contribute to the chat room and attract others and that he was trying to catch the user out and right a wrong.

The Crown Advocate also asked the Court to consider further evidence of alleged sexual misconduct carried out in the UK, including 31 more images found on a device at Fitzgeralds accommodation in the UK, and more online chat conversations purportedly showing he was seeking sexual contact with other children.

He invited the Court to impose a prison sentence of four years as well as handing down orders which would restrict his contact with children under 16 and his internet use.

Advocate Luke Sette, representing Fitzgerald, described the Crowns recommendation of a four-year jail term as excessive.

He acknowledged that whilst the charge of sexual touching is unsavoury, it falls towards the lower end of the spectrum.

Advocate Sette characterised his client as a broken man; a man that needed fixing, and, after attempting suicide in prison, someone now wanting to fix himself.

The case was brought before a panel of five Jurats Austin-Vautier, Christensen, Blampied, Ramsden and Thomas who, sitting as the Superior Number only assemble to hear the most serious of cases.

Handing down the Courts decision, the Deputy Bailiff addressed Fitzgerald directly, telling him: It is clear that you have a strong sexual interest in little children. He later added: It is of concern to us that you have minimised your behaviour.

Deeming him to pose a threat of serious sexual harm, the Court sentenced him to a jail-term of three years and ten months.

Fitzgerald will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for a minimum period of ten years. The Court also imposed a restraining order to prevent Fitzgerald from ever contacting his victim again.

Description

A sex offender, who previously abused a young girl, has been jailed for six-and-a-half years after failing to surrender electronic devices containing over 22,000 indecent images of children to Police.

Martin Frederic Daly (47) this morning appeared for sentencing before the Superior Number - a panel that only assembles for the most serious cases.

He was charged with four counts of breaching restraining orders, which were imposed after he sexually assaulted a nine-year-old girl, and four counts of downloading indecent images of children.

Under the Royal Court-imposed orders, Daly had to give the police any computer or device in his possession “which may access the internet" or any device which can store images electronically” so they could be examined. He was also banned from using any device which didn’t have the capacity to retain internet browsing history.

The Court heard that, between January and September 2018, police officers visited Daly’s home on four occasions and each time, Daly failed to produce some of the devices he owned and only presented his mobile phones.

On the last visit, police officers saw Daly use a laptop but, when asked if he had any device other than his mobile phone, Daly said 'no'. He eventually gave the laptop to the officers who then found adult pornography and a sexualised story relating to pre-teen female children on it.

Daly explained his failure to give the laptop to officers had been “inadvertent” the first time, and caused by heavy drinking the second time. He said he had panicked because the thought he would be in trouble for not handing the laptop over the first time around.

Members of the High-Tech Crime Unit carried out a forensic examination of the laptop and discovered there might be outstanding devices that had been connected to it but not seized by officers. In total, 13 other devices were found in Daly’s possession, including seven storage devices or memory cards.

Daly said he had not provided those because he either thought they were not covered by the wording of his restraining order or had forgotten about them. He admitted that some of the storage devices might contain illegal material or child pornography.

A total of 22,042 indecent images and movies were recovered, which Crown Advocate Richard Pedley described as “a high volume”. “Any number at three figures is considered a large amount,” he commented.

The majority of the images were at the lowest level of the ‘Copine Scale’ - a rating system created to categorise the severity of images of child sex abuse - but 1,032 were at the most serious level.

The Crown Advocate said that Daly had collected images over an 11-month period, meaning that he would have downloaded an average of 50 images or movies each day.

He also quoted a number of reports which described Daly as a “clever man, capable of deception", with one noting he was at a high risk of committing further sexual offences.

He moved for a total sentence of six-and-a-half years - two years for the breach of the restraining orders and four-and-a-half years for downloading indecent images, and asked the Court to order the destruction of the devices.

Daly’s lawyer, Advocate Lee Ingram, explained that Daly had initially reserved his plea as he wanted to make sure “duplicates” had been removed from the total count of images. He said that Daly should still be allowed a full discount for his guilty plea, as is customary in Court.

Advocate Ingram said that Daly had described a “downward spiral” following the breakdown of his marriage and that he had been drinking more and more alcohol as a coping mechanism.

He said Daly accepted his punishment and did not view it as unjust, adding that his client knew he needed “to undertake some work during his sentence to address the issues surrounding his offending".

Concluding his address to the Court, the advocate said that Daly fully accepted “his wrongdoing and the inevitable custodial sentence that would follow” and deeply regret his offending.

“He apologises for his failure to surrender the devices at the first opportunity,” Advocate Ingram said. “He also apologises to his family for the obvious disappointment and anguish his offending has caused.”

Returning the Court’s sentence, Royal Court Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith, who was sitting with Jurats Kim Avery, Elizabeth Dulake, Collette Crill, Anthony Olsen and Jerry Ramsden, said the Crown's conclusions were correct and sentenced Daly to six-and-a-half years in prison.

He also imposed new restraining orders for a period of 10 years. Daly will appear on the Sex Offenders' Register until at least 2027.