Latest Offenders Lancashire

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Connor Pennell (05/10/1997) of Vines Cross Way, Skelmersdale was yesterday (Tuesday 25 March 2025) sentenced to 9-and-a-half years at Bolton Crown Court after being found guilty of breaching his restraining order, rape, controlling and coercive behaviour, non-fatal strangulation and three counts of voyeurism.

He will be placed on the Sex Offenders Register and has an indefinite restraining order on the victim.

He was found guilty after our detectives uncovered footage through a baby camera monitor that was saved to his phone showing the horrific rape of a woman who was trapped in a controlling relationship with him.

Concerns were raised back in July 2024 in Wigan, when officers spoke to the victim who bravely came forward. He was previously charged for battery and strangulation when a protection from harassment order was also put into place. This didn’t stop his offending days, weeks and months later and following the retrieval of further evidence he was later charged with the above offences in July 2024.

He used controlling and coercive behaviour as well as threatening behaviour to release intimate images if it was shared that he had breached his order. This was over a long period of time where his attitude towards the victim, despite her not wanting to be in a relationship with him anymore and no consent being given, became violent and abusive in person and over text.

Once arrested and interviewed Pennell pleaded his innocence and told another version of events, stating to officers that his phone would back up what he was saying. This couldn’t have been further from the truth as when they began to retrieve the data the opposite came to light of the deliberate attempts to record footage on the baby monitor of the offences which the victim was unaware of.

On one occasion, the victim thought she was going to die after Pennell strangled her. Prompting her to report it due to the fear she had on her life.

After bravely disclosing the incidents in confidence to our officers, at court the victim in her impact statement highlighted the struggles she has been through: "Before I met Connor, I was a funny, bubbly, confident, loyal, young girl, and I had many friends who I loved, and a whole family who I loved with all my heart and who loved me, I had a life and a future to look forward to. He stripped pretty much every aspect of my life away and has changed the course of my future. I’m not the same person I was.

"Connor made me re-live it all, sitting in this court, surrounded by strangers watching videos of myself in an extremely personal state that haunts me. I have flashbacks of everything he has done to me and flashbacks of the trial.

"I hope that sentencing will help other Victims of Domestic violence and sexual crimes come forward and show them that their voices will be heard, and that justice will be served.

"It’s a long road to recovery because once the abuse stops it doesn’t mean it’s over, survivors always say the bruises disappear but the mental aspect of it takes much longer and they are right, so I am relearning to love myself. I will not let him take any more of me. Connor is a danger to women and children, and I pray that today’s sentencing reflects how powerful it is what one man’s damage can cause."

On Pennell being put behind bars, Detective Constable Amy Stewart from our Wigan district said; “Pennell had a complete disregard for women and is an extremely dangerous individual.

“The bravery of the victim in coming forward and then having the confidence and belief in us to be able to support a prosecution will hopefully help her as she tries to rebuild her life after what was a horrific time for her, with Pennell now facing the consequences.

“His misogynistic attitude towards women was clear for all to see in the end once we uncovered the shocking and disturbing evidence.

“I want to stress the importance to anyone out there who may be a controlling relationship to please, when possible, to reach out and speak to us as we can help and ensure you receive the necessary support. No life should be overshadowed by those who are intent on causing unnecessary and traumatic abuse.”

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The man pictured below is 64-year-old Derek Hardman and he is a sex offender.

You won’t see him on the streets of East Lancashire for a while because he was today jailed for 11 years and nine months.

On 28th September 2022 we were made aware that he had engaged in sexual activity with a vulnerable 16-year-old girl.

Hardman was arrested and denied any wrongdoing in police interview.

However, a comprehensive investigation uncovered a multitude of evidence that disproved Hardman’s assertions of innocence. This included an array of concerning text messages Hardman had sent to his victim.

All the offences took place in Burnley.

Hardman, now of no fixed address, was convicted of five counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child at Burnley Crown Court in November.

He returned to the same court today (3rd March) where he was also made subject of a 20-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and told to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

In a statement to the court, the victim wrote: “I am not working at the moment and I think that some of it is due to the effect that the crimes have had on me. It has really affected my mental health. I don't like going out on my own and I don't go out at night. I'm too scared.”

She continued: “I have had nightmares about what Derek did to me. The doctor prescribed me sleeping tablets for this. I still have sleepless nights and nightmares about what happened. I was diagnosed with PTSD in February 2023 as a result of the crimes committed against me. This is something that I need to work through.”

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A convicted paedophile who downloaded almost 400 indecent images of children has been jailed.

Robert Bilsborough, 35, of Kingsfold Drive, Penwortham, was arrested after officers carried out a routine check of his electronic devices following a previous conviction of making indecent images of children and possession of prohibited images of children.

During the forensic examination of his devices, which took place in November last year, officers found 13 images classed as category A, the very worst type, as well as 23 category B, and 361 category C. In total, 397 indecent images of children were found on his devices.

He plead guilty to the offences and appeared at Preston Crown Court on Friday 28th February to be sentenced for 3 counts of making indecent images of children.

In total he was sentenced to 58 weeks in prison.

He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

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A rapist who blackmailed his victim out of almost £2,000 so he would not disclose intimate pictures of her has been given a sentence totalling 16 years.

Umar Farooq, from Nelson, who committed the offences against the victim in June and took the intimate photos without her consent during a meeting last year, has also been banned from a North Yorkshire town until further notice.

Farooq, 21, said he was going to "ruin" the woman's life and bombarded her with messages and phone calls, threatening to publish the pictures.

His barrister when the sentencing hearing was opened at Preston Crown Court earlier this month, Wayne Jackson, also said Farooq threatened to send the pictures to the woman's family, neighbours, and work colleagues, and stick them on the windows at her family home.

Farooq was due to be sentenced on February 7 when the case was opened and mitigated, but Judge Ian Unsworth said he required more information regarding a possible restraining order to be imposed and adjourned the hearing until Tuesday, February 18.

The case did not proceed on that date due to time constraints with other cases in the court, but was finally heard on Wednesday, February 19, where Judge Unsworth handed down the 16-year sentence, made up of a 12-year custodial term and a four-year extended licence period.

Judge Unsworth said: "These offences were committed against a vulnerable young woman.

"You threatened to publish nude photographs of her. This was cruel in the extreme.

"You told her you were going to send them around to her family. Understandably she was terrified of this.

"You said you would stick them to the windows of her family home.

"This behaviour went on for several months but you didn't end there. You made demands of money.

"You said if she paid up you wouldn't publish the photos. Your financial demands escalated. She didn't have the funds to pay you off.

"You continued to menace her, threaten her, and apply pressure to her, by taking a photo of yourself outside her address and sending it to her in a chilling way.

"It was designed to cause her extreme fear and that is what you did.

"There was an occasion where you met up with her and you demanded she perform oral sex on you.

"This occasion was at a time when you were already threatening and blackmailing her. She was in no position to freely give consent."

Farooq, of Smith Street, pleaded guilty to counts of blackmail, putting a person in fear of violence by harassment, sharing a photo of a person in an intimate state, and threatening to do so.

He was found guilty by a jury at Preston Crown Court of the count of rape.

Judge Unsworth said Farooq "steadfastly refused to accept the rape" and noted a lack of remorse.

He said: "The actions you deployed were deliberate and intended."

Michael Goldwater, in mitigation for Farooq at the previous hearing, conceded the victim had suffered "significant psychological difficulties" as a result of the offending.

He said Farooq plans to leave the country once he has served his sentence.

As well as the 16-year sentence, a restraining order was also imposed preventing Farooq from contacting the victim in any way and from entering the town of Settle, North Yorkshire, indefinitely.

A sexual harm prevention order was imposed to run for 20 years, and he will be subject to sex offender notification requirements for life.

Det Con Sarah Whittaker, of Burnley Police, said: “Umar Farooq’s crimes are utterly despicable. He took advantage of a vulnerable teenager by raping her and then compounded his appalling actions by going on to make threats and blackmail her.

“I would like to commend the victim for her bravery in coming forward to report what happened to her – that must have taken a huge amount of courage, and I am pleased that her bravery has been rewarded with the guilty verdicts and sentence given today. I hope this gives her some sense that justice has been done.

“I also hope that the sentence delivered today may give others who have suffered similar abuse the courage to come forward and report what has happened, confident in the knowledge that we will investigate sensitively and professionally.”

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A Morecambe man has been jailed after raping a 16-year-old girl after he lured her back to his flat.

Registered sex offender Jonathon Downie was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to rape at Preston Crown Court.

Downie’s victim was at a party on August 7 2024.

Downie, after luring her back to his flat, gave her alcohol, and started sexually touching her. She told him to stop.

Despite her pleas for Downie to stop, he continued to rape her.

Eventually, the victim managed to push him away. Downie proceeded to ask her “did I rape you?”

When she replied “yes, why didn’t you stop when I told you to?”, he responded “are you going to get me done?”

An investigation commenced, and Downie was arrested on suspicion of, and later charged with, rape and sexual assault.

Downie, 25, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to rape at Preston Crown Court and was sentenced to five years in custody.

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Yesterday (21st January) he was given a sentence totalling 23 years at Preston Crown Court.

In 2023, Wearing groomed a 13-year-old girl over a period of two weeks before going onto sexually assault and rape her.

Wearing groomed the girl on the social media platform Wink, by pretending to be a 16-year-old boy called Chris Hay. Wearing is in fact 42 years old.

The conversation then moved onto the social media application Kik messenger where Wearing turned the communication sexual in nature. He also stated that he likes to see women get punched during intercourse.

Wearing then asked his victim if he could meet her and invited his ‘friend’ Chris 2 into the conversation. In fact, the second male was also Wearing.

Wearing – posing as Chris Hay – asked the victim for her number so she could meet up with Chris 2. This was so he could engage in sexual activity with her.

Telling the victim not to tell anyone, Wearing talked the victim through the process of booking a train ticket from Wigan North Western Station to Preston, and then onto Church and Oswaldtwistle Station.

Wearing met the girl at the station and took her to his Accrington home, where he raped and sexually assaulted her.

The victim’s mum tracked her daughter’s phone to Wearing’s address and rang it. The phone call panicked Wearing and he threw the victim out of the address via the back door, telling her to climb over a fence so that her mum didn’t find his address.

The victim was blocked by both ‘Chris Hay’ and ‘Chris 2’ as soon as her mum picked her up.

Wearing was arrested and subsequently charged with rape, sexual assault, sexual activity with a child, engaging in sexual communication with a child and meeting a girl under 16 years of age following grooming.

Wearing, now of no fixed address but formerly of Howard Close, Accrington, pleaded guilty to all offences.

Wearing was given 15 years immediate custody with a further eight years on extended licence after he was deemed to be a dangerous offender.

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Lancashire man David Bennett – a registered sex offender - filmed the sex assaults on his phone, with the victim having no recollection what had happened.

Bennett and the woman had shared drinks at her home one evening in May last year, having earlier agreed to go on a date.

They then briefly went to a friend’s house together, before returning to her home.

From then on, she was unable to recall the remainder of the night. It was while she was asleep and unresponsive that Bennett sexually assaulted her.

Bennett attempted to contact her numerous times in the days which followed.

Concerned by his strange behaviour in continuing to ring and text her and having searched his name on the internet where she found newspaper articles relating to Bennett’s previous offending, she contacted Lancashire Police who launched an investigation.

When he was arrested, Bennett’s phone was seized and videos of him sexually assaulting the woman while she was unresponsive and not moving, were found.

Bennett, 40, of Blythewood, Skelmersdale, appeared at Preston Crown Court on Monday (13th January) for sentencing.

He had been found guilty by a jury of two offences of sexual assault after a trial.

The judge passed a 10-year sentence, comprising five years in prison with an extended five-year licence period.

An indefinite restraining order and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order were also imposed by the judge.

Det Con Chris Wilding of Lancashire Police's South Division Rape and Serious Sexual Offences team, said: “David Bennett is a dangerous offender and I welcome the lengthy prison sentence which the judge passed.

“He committed abhorrent offences against his victim who was unable to defend herself.

“We take all offences of a sexual nature very seriously and will investigate them thoroughly so that offenders can be brought to justice.”

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A man who claimed he had “spiritual healing abilities” abused his power to sexually abuse a teenage girl on multiple occasions.

Hasham Lodhi, 41, abused the girl at an address in Nelson and performed rituals where he would read passages from the Quran while she was naked to “cleanse” her.

Preston Crown Court heard the victim’s mother had initially approached Lodhi in March 2021 as she was led to believe he had healing abilities and could help people who believed they were victims of black magic.

Lodhi found out the victim was struggling at school and asked his wife, who had no part in the offending, to tutor her.

He persuaded the victim to send him naked photographs of herself.

Tobias Collins, prosecuting, said Lodhi would tell the victim she had “sinned” and that she “needed cleansing.”

On one occasion, he told the victim her “stomach was blocked” and that she “had evil inside her which needed cleaning out.”

Lodhi said that if she did not allow him to continue, or “break the circle” as he put it, she would end up in a car accident or her mother would be killed.

He told his wife, who was at home while the offending took place, that she would be affected by evil spirits if she did not stay in the bedroom while he carried out the acts.

In a statement summarised to the court by Mr Collins, the victim said she had suffered from flashbacks and insomnia since the incidents and had felt “powerless.”

She said: “I feel ashamed as he told me I was unclean and impure.”

Lodhi, now of Brennand Street, Burnley, was found guilty of four counts of assault by penetration and two counts of sexual assault at a trial in February.

His defence barrister, Emma Kehoe, said he did not accept the offences he was convicted of but did admit “unacceptable behaviour” towards the victim.

Judge Daniel Prowse, sentencing, said: “You were aware of how vulnerable she was, how much she feared the evil spirits you told her were affecting her, how much faith she could be persuaded to have in you.

“You were ruthless and exploited her vulnerability to allow you to sexually abuse her.

“She trusted you and believed you could help.

“You were able to use her spiritual and religious beliefs as a tool to abuse her. You perverted her genuinely held religious beliefs.

“You offending represents a gross abuse of the trust that young woman put in you. It was carefully planned and manipulative.

“I do not find your remorse is genuine.”

Lodhi was sentenced to 12 years in prison and was made subject to sex offender notification requirements for life.

An indefinite restraining order was also imposed between he and the victim.

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A man sexually assaulted a woman in her own home despite her repeatedly rejecting his advances.

Zak Honeyman, now 26, had known his victim for a while and was said to have fancied her, though his persistent pushes to enter into a relationship with the woman were politely declined.

Burnley Crown Court heard how the two bumped into each other at a party in November 2022.

Honeyman expressed an interest in her again at that moment, but she again declined.

Later that evening, the victim was walking home and noticed Honeyman was walking behind her.

After persistently asking if he could walk her home, she reluctantly agreed.

When at her house, she complained of a problem with the door which Honeyman said he could fix.

The victim went to make herself a cup of tea while he did so, and when she came back he asked where his drink was.

She explained that she didn’t make him one as she thought he would be leaving when the door was fixed, but did go back to make one and they sat in the living room together.

Alison Mather, prosecuting, said while there he continued to try and persuade her but she kept saying no and felt he was not getting the hint.

The victim then went upstairs to go to bed, and Honeyman followed behind her, getting into the bed fully clothed after saying he “might as well stay now”.

At one point he got up to take his trousers off and got back in, but put them back on when he was asked to leave.

Instead of leaving, he sat on the end of the bed and began to mess around with the bedside drawers.

She repeatedly told him not to and there was a tussle as she tried to stop him entering the draw which resulted in her receiving a bruise on her arm.

He eventually got into the drawer and pulled out a sex toy, which he prodded into the victim’s cheek multiple times and put into her mouth.

After this, he stood over the victim and pulled down her clothing before going on to sexually assault her twice.

In a statement read to the court by Ms Mather, the victim said she still takes medication for the anxiety and depression caused to her by what Honeyman did.

She said: “My anxiety has gone through the roof which made me not want to leave the house.”

Anna Chestnut, mitigating, said on Honeyman’s part there was a “lack of maturity at play” owing to his age at the time, 24.

She also said a term of immediate imprisonment would have a significant harmful impact on others.

Honeyman, of Weets View, Barnoldswick, had one previous conviction for a dissimilar matter which the judge did not take into consideration.

Recorder Daniel Lister, sentencing, said: “While I don’t consider that you forced your way in I do consider you certainly weren’t welcome to stay for as long as you did.

“You were given repeated hints but nevertheless you remained.

“She told you no, but you ignored her.”

Honeyman was jailed for 18 months and ordered to comply with notification requirements for 10 years.

A five-year restraining order was also imposed prohibiting contact with the victim.

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A man branded a 'dangerous sexual predator' by police raped a vulnerable woman on the top deck of an X43 bus service to Manchester city centre.

Rahmat Qalander - now behind bars - also sexually assaulted a 16 year-old girl on another bus just five days later, police have revealed. The 23 year-old, who police said was classed by a judge as a dangerous offender, has now been jailed for 10 years.

Qalander targeted the woman on the X43 bus from Burnley to Manchester on February 1 this year. He's said to have sat next to his victim upstairs before forcing her to go to the back of the bus with him, where he raped her.

In a statement after he was locked up, Lancashire Police said: "He then got off the bus in Manchester and the victim, aged in her 20s and with a number of vulnerabilities, reported what had happened to the driver and police were called."

Following enquiries, Qalander, from Nelson, Lancashire, was identified and arrested. He was charged with rape and sexual assault.

Police said he denied the charges, but was found guilty after a trial in August. The attack on the teenage girl took place on a bus in Nelson on February 6.

The force added: "Qalander was classed as a dangerous offender by the judge at Preston Crown Court. He was told he must serve two thirds of the 10-year sentence before he is released. He will then be on licence for a further three years."

Temp Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Denson, of East CID, praised the victims for coming forward. She said: "Qalander is clearly a dangerous sexual predator who targeted lone and vulnerable young women to carry out his offending.

"I would like to commend the victims in this case for their bravery in disclosing what happened to them and for having the courage to go through the court process.

"I am pleased that justice has been served for them and for the wider community who will be protected from this dangerous offender for many years."

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A man who raped a child when she was still in infant classes has been jailed for four years and nince months.

Reece McNair, now 28, sexually abused the little girl on numerous occasions when he was 16 years old. The child, who can not be named for leal reasons, kept the abuse secret for around a decade but later disclosed what had happened to her to an NHS worker she was seeing to support her with her mental health.

McNair, of Bulkhead Drive, Fleetwood, was arrested and confessed he had abused the girl. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of rape, attempted rape and four counts of sexual assault.

The girl and her mother set out how the abuse had affected them for many years before the youngster disclosed what had happened to her.

She said: "I don't remember a time when my body felt clean. I have had my childhood stolen from me. I can't remember good things from my childhood, only bad.

"He has truly torn my life apart and I will never be able to live a normal life again. I just want my brain to shut off and stop feeling things."

Her mother said she will never forget the day she was called into CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health services) and told what had happened to her daughter. She said her daughter had displayed signs of distress and missed out educationally due to her trauma.

"No-one wants to believe they missed something as significant as their child being sexually abused", she said. "That cuts deep. Her struggles did not go unnoticed but unfortunately she felt unable to share what happened to her."

Her daughter has a fear of men as a result of what happened to her and was frightened of Father Christmas, and speaking to male police officers and teachers.

McNair wrote a letter to the court, "to say how sorry I am for the pain and heartbreak I have caused her and her family".

He said: "I deserve to be punished and it will never happen again."

The court heard he was 16 at the time he committed the offences and has since been diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. A psychiatric report stated he would be vulnerable in prison and find his sentence traumatic.

Judge Gioserano said: "She was but a child. It was not her fault, it was your fault. You took her childhood and no sentence, however long, can give her that back.

"It goes without saying that I am sentencing you as an adult for offences you committed when you were not yet an adult. I must take into account all that this means by way of reduced culpability."

He also considered the guidelines for sentencing people with mental or developmental disorders but said: "Although you were young yourself and suffering from a disorder which reduces your culpability further, you still knew full well that what you were doing was very wrong."

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A convicted sex offender “learnt nothing” from his previous suspended prison sentences, a judge said.

Nickson Storie, 39, appeared at Burnley Crown Court on Friday, September 27, having breached a sexual offences prevention order (SOPO) and twice breached his sexual offender notification requirements.

Amy Weir, prosecuting, said the defendant was subject to a SOPO following a conviction of causing a child under 16 to watch a sexual act at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court in 2013.

As a result of this, he was prohibited from using any device capable of accessing the internet unless the search history could be accessed.

Storie was regularly visited by police to conduct checks and on one visit in February, they found there had been no internet activity for around six months.

Storie admitted he had been using the device to watch pornography, but had been using Incognito mode on the browser to hide the activity as he didn’t want other people to see it.

In a separate incident, Storie twice failed to provide officers with the login details to a Snapchat account, breaching his notification requirements.

Ms Weir said Storie’s “deleting” of the search history was deliberate and that his offences were aggravated by his “history of disobedience for court orders.”

The court heard Storie had 14 previous convictions from 32 offences, including nine sex offences, which included public indecency in 2003, failure to comply with notification requirements in 2007, sending grossly offensive or obscene messages in 2011, and exposure in 2013.

Storie also twice breached a SOPO and failed to comply with notification requirements three times in 2018. He also breached a sexual harm prevention order in 2019.

Richard English, mitigating for Storie, argued his client could be released from custody, having spent four months on remand, subject to strict conditions.

He said he had been told by Storie the effects of his time in custody had been “sobering.”

Judge Daniel Prowse, sentencing, said: “One of the terms of the sexual offences prevention order prohibited you from accessing the internet, save for when use of the internet was recorded.

“That was to ensure police and the courts could monitor what you were doing on the internet.

“The risk you pose to others cannot be monitored properly.

“You have demonstrated by committing this offence again that you have learnt nothing from the previous suspended sentence orders.”

Judge Prowse jailed Storie, of Whitehall Street, Nelson, for 15 months.

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A serving police officer who was jailed for possessing more than 500 indecent sexual images of children “should be appalled” by his crimes, his force has said.

Mark Rosebury, 38, was jailed for 18 months at Preston Crown Court on Wednesday (September 4) having admitted possession of images in all three categories, as well possessing extreme pornographic images and prohibited images of children.

Rosebury, of Earnshaw Road, Bacup, was a serving officer with Greater Manchester Police at the time of his arrest.

Detective chief superintendent Mike Allen, head of the force’s professional standards directorate, said a misconduct hearing will now be accelerated.

He said in a statement: “The public rightly expects the highest professional standards from those who serve in the police, and it is clear the actions of Mark Rosebury fall disgracefully below that.

“He should be appalled by his crimes and the impact his actions understandably have on the public’s confidence in the overwhelming majority of officers who are professional, decent, hard-working people who serve their communities day-in day-out.

“We have assisted our colleagues in Lancashire throughout this case to ensure that Rosebury is brought to justice for his crimes.

“Rosebury remains suspended from the force and following his imprisonment, legally we have now been able to stop his pay with immediate effect.

"A misconduct hearing will now be accelerated since there is no longer a risk to prejudicing criminal proceedings.”

James Heyworth, mitigating for Rosebury at the sentencing hearing, said Rosebury joined the police force in 2017 and had previously worked as a transport driver in the ambulance service.

In 2021 he was trained as a collision reconstruction expert, and he said in the pre-sentence report it was the numbness he experienced from this job that caused him to act in the way he did.

Niamh McGinty, prosecuting, said police attended Rosebury’s house on May 27, 2023, having received information concerning peer-to-peer file sharing.

Rosebury was suspected of using three IP addresses to access and download images – one linked to his home address and two connected to the East Lancashire Railway, where he was a volunteer.

His devices were seized and upon examination found to contain 257 category A images, 110 category B images, and 150 category C images, as well as three prohibited images of children and nine extreme pornographic images.

Judge Robert Altham said in sentencing Rosebury: “Each of those children is a living, breathing human being who had been exploited in a horrible way so you could watch.

“Your work cannot provide any excuse or reason for you to resort to watching the suffering of children.

“When police officers commit offences there is a loss of public confidence in the police service as a whole.”

A spokesperson for the East Lancashire Railway said Rosebury’s role with them required no interaction with the general public visiting the railway, and his role has now been terminated.

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He has today (1st August 2024) been given a sentence at Preston Crown Court for 22 years.

He lured the women into his vehicle as they made their way home from nights out by leading them to believe he was a taxi driver. He then drove them to remote locations before subjecting them to serious sexual assaults.

The first incident happened on the 3rd of October 2021. The victim got into Asmal’s car in Preston city centre. He drove for about ten minutes, raped his victim in the car and then dropped her off back in the city centre. She flagged a member of the public down for help.

The second incident happened on 4th of March 2023. The victim had been on a night out in Darwen and ended up in Asmal’s car. He drove her to a secluded area on the outskirts of Darwen where he then raped her. Asmal managed to get the victims phone number and called her at the start of April. She did not answer the call on that occasion because it came up with ‘no caller ID’.

Asmal called her again on 8th of April 2023 and this time she did answer. The victim recognised the voice as the man who had raped her but did not know his identity. She ended the call after Asmal asked the terrified victim ‘If she wanted to do something?’

Asmal raped his third victim on the same evening he made that call. The victim got into Asmal’s car in Darwen town centre. Driving her towards Bolton, in the opposite direction of her home, Asmal said: “You don’t want to pay for this taxi, do you?”

He stopped in a secluded area and raped her. He then dropped her off at her home address.

We identified Asmal after his black Toyota Yaris was picked up on CCTV cameras.

Asmal, 35, now of no fixed address but formerly Balaclava Street, Blackburn, appeared at Preston Crown Court on in November and pleaded guilty to four counts of rape.

Judge Heather Lloyd deemed Asmal to be a dangerous offender and sentenced him to 17 years in custody with a further five years on extended licence. He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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A 28-year-old man has been jailed after exposing himself on a train in Preston.

Kane Hargreaves, of Elizabeth Street, Burnley was found guilty of two counts of exposure at Preston Crown Court on Friday 28 June.

He was sentenced to nine months in prison, and must pay a £187 victim surcharge.

The court heard how, on Wednesday 10 April this year, Hargreaves was staring and exposing himself  to a 21-year-old woman sat a few seats away on the 2.44pm Preston to Bradford interchange train. The woman moved away and told rail staff before reporting it to British Transport Police.

A second incident occurred on Monday 22 April onboard the 1.44pm Preston to Accrington train when Hargreaves again exposed himself, this time to a 17-year-old woman.

Investigating officer DC Ella Harvey said:  "We will stop at nothing to deter, pursue, arrest and bring sex offenders on the railway network to justice.