Latest Offenders Kent

Description

A pensioner who repeatedly sexually abused a young girl - telling her it was a "special secret" - has been jailed for six years.

Roy Humphreys, 69, corrupted his victim so badly she thought it was her fault, a court heard.

Humphreys, of Broadway, Gillingham, shook his head in the dock as he was handed six years' jail and an indefinite Sexual Offences Prevention Order at Maidstone Crown Court.

He was also placed on the sex offenders' register for life, banning him from ever working with children.

Humphreys, who previously worked as a steward at Gillingham FC on match days, denied the abuse throughout a trial.

But he was convicted by a 10-2 majority on three charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and one of sexual assault. He was acquitted of three other charges.

Judge Philip Statman praised the young victim's bravery in giving harrowing evidence in which she was able to describe Humphreys' private parts.

She said the pensioner would climb on top of her, kiss her and touch her private parts.

"you have not shown one shred of remorse…"

– judge philip statman

The judge told Humphreys the abuse had "a profound effect on her", adding: "Nothing will ever be the same again."

"As you stand before this court today you have not shown one shred of remorse," he added.

"She was a very young girl, not aware of the illegality of your acts towards her.

"Then there was the issue of the 'special secret' you and she had, which she eventually divulged."

Nina Ellin, prosecuting, previously told the trial the victim's behaviour had become sexualised as a result of grooming.

Miss Ellin told the jury: "She said she should have stopped him.

"She said everything was her fault, adding: 'I was supposed to say no.'"

Humphreys followed the hearing closely from the dock, at one point asking the judge to speak louder.

Roy Humprheys has been jailed for six years at Maidstone Crown Court.

Danny Moore, defending, said it would be hard for Humphreys in the three years he is due to remain in prison.

He said: "It is a fact that it's much more difficult for a man of that age in custody."

But he added: "It's not easy to identify mitigation. It was a vulnerable victim and the damage was obvious."

Description

A woman and four men were found guilty on Wednesday of offences relating to an international paedophile ring which used a nudist website as a guise for its offences.

Melissa Noon, 30, and the four other defendants, including Daniel Bell, 27, a serving soldier, were convicted on a total of 16 charges.

The jury at Portsmouth crown court was still deliberating on one charge against Noon, of arranging a child sex offence.

Noon, Bell, Simon Hilton, 29, Mark Day, 45, and John Maddox, 46, had denied the offences.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, told the trial that Noon and her partner, Robert Hathaway, 36, were at the centre of the international paedophile ring, which abused two British children under the age of 13.

Hathaway set up a naturist website as a guise for distributing indecent photographs and videos of children as well as for meeting like-minded perverts around the world, the jury was told.

Using the internet the couple discussed abuse of children with some of the other defendants and arranged to meet some to carry out further sexual assaults on the young victims, the trial heard.

The abuse included rape, attempted rape and the use of sex aids. The police seized more than 20 sex aids from Noon and Hathaway, the trial heard.

The children had been made to engage in naked wrestling and play the game Twister in the nude.

The jury of six women and six men took more than 12 hours to reach the verdicts in the majority of the charges.

Noon was found guilty of three charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one of causing a child to watch a sexual act, two of sexual assault of a child, two of arranging a child sex offence, one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two of possessing indecent photographs of children. Noon had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of cruelty to a child.

Hathaway, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, was described at an earlier date as the ringleader. He previously pleaded guilty to 45 offences. These included two charges of rape of a child, four of sexual assault of a child, 15 of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, two of distributing indecent images of children, and one of possessing prohibited images of children.

He has also pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, three of arranging a child sex offence, four of making indecent photographs of children, and 13 of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Bell, who had military accommodation but was previously living in Emsworth, Hampshire, was found guilty of two charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of attempting to distribute an indecent image of children. He was found not guilty of two charges of arranging a child sex offence.

Simon Hilton, 29, of London, was convicted of one charge of arranging a child sex offence. Hilton had previously pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including sexual assault of a child and extreme pornography possession.

Mark Day, 45, of Whitefriars Meadow, Sandwich, Kent, was found guilty of one charge of arranging a child sex offence. The judge had ordered a not guilty verdict to be ordered on a second similar charge against Day.

John Maddox, 46, of Rainham, Essex, was convicted of a charge of causing a child to engage in sexual activity. He had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing indecent photographs of children.

As well as the defendants convicted on Wednesday, a further three, are among those who have already pleaded guilty to participation in the paedophile ring.

Stephen Fraser, 41, of Cambridge, admitted 27 charges. These included one offence of sexual assault of a child, two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child, and one charge of arranging a child sex offence. He had also pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing extreme pornography, one of making an indecent image of a child, and 19 of possessing indecent images of children.

Lee Parson, 38, of Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to one charge of arranging a child sex offence, three charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of taking indecent photos of children.

Jonathan Garner-Harris, 37, a teacher, of Marrick, North Yorkshire, appeared at Durham crown court over 20 offences. These related to three charges of inciting a child sex offence and 17 counts relating to indecent photos of children. He is to be sentenced alongside the other convicted defendants at Portsmouth at a later date.

Hampshire police began investigating the ring after being tipped off by Australian authorities who uncovered a "mirror image" ring which also abused a young child. Hathaway was in contact with this ring in Australia and shared images with them. One of the charges faced by Noon concerned her encouragement of an Australian child to engage in sexual activity.

Chat logs totalling 2,000 pages were uncovered by police, as well as 14,000 indecent images of children and 300 videos of children being abused.

Description

A pervert has been jailed for six years for sexually abusing two girls.

John Rigby assaulted one girl and gave her "hush money" to stop her telling her mother.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the abuse by 53-year-old Rigby, of Grasmere Grove, Rochester, dated back several years but the victim did not report it until more recently.

Simon Taylor, prosecuting, told the jury Rigby also molested another girl.

He denied six charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, 10 of indecent assault and six of indecency with a child.

He was convicted last month of all charges except one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, which was left on the court file.

Description

A paedophile who had 125,000 indecent images of children on his computer has been jailed.

Mark Middleton, 52, from Hunton, was sentenced to sixteen months in prison for eight counts of making and possessing indecent images of children.

It was one of the largest seizures of indecent images by Kent Police's public protection crime unit.

Middleton admitted the crimes at Maidstone Crown Court in February, and was sentenced Friday.

Detective Sergeant Dave Shipley said:

"Every image represents a child being subject to sexual abuse.

"Kent Police will always work hard to bring to justice those offenders that encourage child abuse by creating a market for the images."

A warrant was executed at his home address in November 2005 during which officers seized hundreds of items of computer equipment that Middleton used to store images and movies.

Middleton was found with 125,397 indecent images of children. Images are ranged between levels 1 - 5. Level 5 is the most serious.

He was found with 119,070 images at level 1; 3,609 at level 2; 968 at level 3; 1,058 at level 4; and 692 at level 5.

He has been disqualified from working with children, given a sexual offences prevention order and placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

Description

A judge said the 48-year-old music teacher at a Sevenoaks school had persistently carried out organised recruitment of under-age boys for his sexual gratification.

“I conclude there is a significant risk of serious harm from future offences,” he added.

Woodward, of Hawden Close, Hildenborough, will have to serve a minimum of two-and-a-half years, less nine months spent on remand, before being considered for release.

He was convicted of 10 charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one of sexual activity with a child and one of possessing an indecent photograph of a child.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Woodward, who taught at The New Beacon, had a sexual interest in boys under the age of 16 and would drive them to his home in his Saab car and get them to duck down in an attempt to hide them from neighbours.

Peter Forbes, prosecuting, said some of the seven complainants complied with his obscene requests, while others declined. They were paid £10-20 or rewarded with alcohol or cannabis.

Woodward’s secret began to unravel in July last year when one of the boys told his parents about what had been happening.

When arrested, Woodwood maintained that boys had only been to his house when accompanied by parents.

Mr Forbes said a computer was seized from an office at Woodward’s school. He had used search words such as “naked boys” and “boys showering”.

Woodward claimed notes he had written were “silly fantasies”. He added: “They are embarrassing, but I don’t abuse children. I don’t want to. I never have done. A suggestion I would bring them to life is ridiculous. I am not a danger to children.”

But the prosecutor said: “The Crown’s case is that Paul Woodward is a predatory paedophile, who has over a period of time established relationships with young under-age boys and encouraged them to his house.

“He has given them lifts to his home. He has incited them to engage in sexual activity, playing on young boys’ weaknesses and naivete.

“No doubt his experience as a teacher gave him an insight into the minds of young boys. Some may have been more street wise than others, but they are all under the age of 16.”

Charlotte Newell, defending, said Woodward, who suffered from diabetes, had fragility and had been a lonely man.

“Where he finds himself today is a terrible shame,” she said. “He has dedicated his entire adult life to teaching. He is held in high regard and affection by many of his former pupils and their parents.

“He is described as being kind and thoughtful to those he teaches. He worked hard to gain that respect and his position in school. He has lost everything, his job and chance of ever teaching again.”

Judge James O’Mahony told Woodward: "You prostituted these young boys, giving them money. You took them in your car where they could score cannabis with a supplier.”

Woodward changed tactics when he was arrested and released on bail. He then used his car for sexual activity.

“You still deny the undeniable, as you did to the jury, saying you are not interested in under-age boys,” said Judge O’Mahony.

Because he did not accept what he had done, some of the boys were forced to give evidence and relive what happened.

The judge said if he had imposed a determinate sentence it would have been one of five years.

Woodward was banned from unsupervised contact with children under 16 and using the internet to view images of children. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Det Con Donna Hopper said: "Preparing the case against Paul Woodward was a lengthy and painstaking process. It was important that I gained the trust of his victims, who were naturally very reluctant to speak of what happened, sufficiently to persuade them to give evidence against him.

"They are to be commended for having the courage to do so.

"I am very pleased that Paul Woodward was given a custodial sentence of a type that now requires him to address his actions and behaviour and prove he is no longer a danger to the public before he can be released."

Mike Piercy, head teacher at The New Beacon School, said: "None of the charges related to pupils of the school."

Description

Chris Langham arrived at Maidstone Crown Court, in the words of Judge Philip Statman, "a gifted actor and writer" - a Bafta award-winning performer at the peak of his career.

He left it in the back of a prison van, his name on the register of sex offenders and awaiting sentencing on 15 counts of making indecent images of a child - in other words, downloading child pornography.

Throughout his trial he had denied the charges. To plead guilty would have meant, he said, admitting he was a paedophile "which I am not".

But he admitted looking at child pornography online and gave two explanations for what he did.

The first was that he was researching a character, a sex offender, for the TV series Help.

The second, he said as his voice shook, was that he himself had been sexually abused as a child, and he had been drawn to the internet images of abuse "because it's an issue in my life".

Juror wept

It was dismissed as "pseudo-psychobabble" by prosecutor Richard Barraclough QC and the judge said neither explanation provided a legal defence.

When the jury were shown parts of the clips he had downloaded, one member wept.

In court Langham cut a repentant but often articulate figure, describing a life troubled not only by incidents of abuse as a child, but problems with drink and drugs before he gave both up in the 1980s.

He described how therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous had saved his life. He broke down once, when he described the impact his arrest had on his family.

"I just wanted to die and I tried to kill myself," he said.

The jury cleared him of six counts of indecent assault and two counts of serious sexual assault on a girl who was just 14 when the alleged crimes were to have begun.

Family support

Now a woman aged 25, she had gone to police after she heard media reports of Langham's arrest on suspicion of possessing child pornography in 2005.

Hidden from the defendant by a screen in court, she told the jury she had met the actor when he appeared in a theatre production of Les Miserables.

He took her to some of London's top restaurants and bought her expensive gifts. But her allegations that he had sex with her in his dressing room, in hotels and at his home did not convince the jury.

At times throughout the trial his three adult sons, each bearing a startling resemblance to the actor, sat at the back of the public gallery.

Moments before the verdict, Langham smiled and nodded to them.

After the verdict Detective Inspector Derek Cuff spoke outside the court on behalf, he said, of those whose voices had not been heard inside - the children sexually abused in the production of "harrowing" pornography which Langham had, by viewing, helped perpetuate.