Latest Offenders Lancashire

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A man who raped a 15-year-old girl, leaving her with long term mental health issues, has been sentenced for his wicked crimes.

Andrew Orrell, 59, had pleaded not guilty to rape but was found guilty by a jury of the historic sex offence.

Preston Crown Court heard he raped the teenager in the summer of 2005, when he was then 41.

Orrell, who still maintains his innocence, raped the girl at his flat after he stopped his car to buy alcohol at a nearby shop, just weeks before her 16th birthday.

The victim said she was asleep in a bed when Orrell, who had said he would sleep on the sofa, got into bed with her and raped her.

After the incident, the victim moved from the area and never heard from Orrell again, until a year later when he sent her a message via Facebook which read, "You're hot".

Prosecutor Sharon Johnson told the court the victim did not report the rape until she went to therapy in 2020.

She said: "The victim felt it lasted forever, but it was only 15 minutes.

"She pretended to be asleep whilst he was on top of her, and when she woke up she had a shower, but still felt dirty and horrible."

An impact statement from the victim said: "Since this incident, I have felt my life has been frozen and stopped me from maturing.

"I have moved away from the North and I still struggle around older men and relationships.

"I have anxiety and depression. He took me at the most vulnerable time of my life and I struggle with showers even now."

Mitigating, Cathy McCluck told the court Orrell had no intention of contacting or visiting the victim ever again.

Orrell, who has refused to admit his crimes even after conviction, also claimed the victim accused him of rape in order to receive money.

Ms McCluck said: "This is an extremely difficult case for a defence to come into. The defendant still believes she consented."

Sentencing Orrell, of Bacup, Judge Heather Lloyd said: "During the trial you and your counsel were keen to emphasise your plea of innocence.

"You caused much distress. You claim you have mental health problems but I am yet to see evidence of it.

"You are not at risk of re-offending, but you have delayed justice with your not guilty plea."

Orrell received a nine year sentence for rape, and four months for breaking bail.

He will not be able to apply for bail until he has spent six years in prison.

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A convicted sex offender formed relationships with three women who all had children before staying at their homes without informing the police.

Robert Riley was convicted of possession of indecent images of children in November 2020, and his sentence included being placed on the sex offenders register, as well as a five year a sexual harm prevention order.

However, last Thursday (October 5), Preston Crown Court heard how Riley had pleaded guilty to four breaches of his sexual harm prevention order and four offences of failing to notify in relation to the sex offenders register.

As a result, Riley, 32, of Euston Road, Morecambe – previously of Burnley - was jailed for three years and 10 months.

The court was told how in the space of four months Riley formed relationships with three women, all of whom had children.

The women were unaware of his offending history and twice he used a different name when forming the relationships – the name was not registered with the police.  Two of the failing to notify offences related to this.

The other failing to notifiy offences related to when Riley stopped for more than 12 hours where children resided during one of the relationships without notifying the police, and stopped at another address during a relationship for more than seven days in a 12-month period.

Three breaches of his sexual harm prevention order related to when he tried to hide such relationships from his offender managers by deleting his internet history.

The fourth breach was being found in possession of an internet device which he hadn’t declared.

The prison term imposed included Riley being re-sentenced for the offence he was initially given a community order for in November 2020.

Riley’s sexual harm prevention order period was also extended from five years to seven years.

DC Adam Weaver of Lancashire Police’s West MOSOVO (Management of Sexual or Violent Offenders), said: “Robert Riley several times breached the orders and notification requirements which the court had placed on him.

“We monitor sexual offenders in the community and won’t hesitate to put them back before the courts if they breach and ignore the orders imposed.”

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A convicted sex offender is wanted by police for breaching his notification requirements and failing to appear in court.

Afraz Shoaib Asif failed to appear before Blackburn Magistrates' Court for sentence on a breach of notification requirements for the sex offenders register and breach of post sentence supervision.

He is 40 and was last seen in Blackburn but has links to Great Harwood.

A spokesperson for Lancashire Police said: "Have you seen Afraz Shoaib Asif?

"He is wanted after failing to appear before Blackburn Magistrates Court for sentence on a breach of notification requirements for the Sex Offenders' Register and breach of post sentence supervision.

"Asif, 40, was last seen in Blackburn, and has links to Great Harwood.

"He is 5ft 10, of medium build, with a grey/black beard. He has a rose tattoo on his right arm and a tattoo on the base of his left thumb."

Anyone who has seen Asif or has information as to where he might be, please call 01254 353246 or email [email protected]

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Convicted sex offender James Lorenzo King, (48) of no fixed address, was convicted of multiple counts of indecent assault and gross indecency. The Judge at Preston Crown Court ordered that King’s nine-year sentence would only start after he had served the 13-year sentence he was given at Leeds Crown Court for similar offences in 2019.

Lorraine Widdas, of East CID, said: “King is a dangerous individual who has a clear and sordid sexual interest in young girls. He groomed the victim in this case, made her think they were in a relationship and took advantage of her innocence."

The victim was just 14 when King began grooming her online – boasting that he had previously been in a relationship with a girl of the same age.

King, who was 28 at the time and living in Scarborough, would pick the victim up from school and take her to secluded spots in Darwen and Burnley to have sex in the car, despite knowing she was underage. He would also drive her back to Scarborough.

When the victim told him to stop, King would continue having sex with her.

He would also order her to have sex with his friends and would get angry when she refused, holding a knife to her throat on one occasion.

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A paedophile preyed on children in Sefton Park and at a Butlin's holiday park.

Simon Gerrard raped and sexually abused one victim and assaulted another during a course of sickening attacks in the 1990s and 2000s. He was yesterday described by a judge as "dangerous offender" as he was handed a lengthy spell behind bars.

Liverpool Crown Court heard on Thursday afternoon that the now 53-year-old subjected a boy to a campaign of rape and sexual assault over the course of several years. Gerrard, of Cherry Tree Lane in Aughton, was in his late 20s at the time.

David Polglase, prosecuting, had previously described during a trial that he instructed the youngster to perform sexual acts on him and performed sex acts on the complainant himself. One such incident occurred in Sefton Park.

Reading a victim impact statement to the court, he described how he still regularly suffers from flashbacks and nightmares as a result of Gerrard's vile crimes. He added: "These crimes have shattered my sense of security and safety.

"To this day, I live in fear and anxiety. I have been forced to live with these memories and consequences for most of my life."

Gerrard was said to have told him "not to tell anyone about it, otherwise they would both get into trouble". He also sexually assaulted a second child at a Butlin's resort.

A statement which was read to the court on her behalf said: "I should have been able to be a kid and not have a grown man do what he did to me. I didn't deserve anything that has happened to me."

Gerrard was previously handed a community order in 2018 after being caught in a paedophile hunter sting, in which he messaged a decoy account posing as a 12-year-old girl online "if she wanted to have sex". The ECHO reported at the time that he had arranged a meeting at Ormskirk Bus Station, but was confronted by group members and arrested.

The defendant was said to have a congenital brain injury which has caused "lifelong" learning and communication difficulties and left him with "significantly limited intellectual function". Fiona McNeill, defending, also told the court that her client had "developed some health issues" since being remanded into custody.

Gerrard was found guilty of 21 child sexual offences including rape, attempted rape and indecent assault by a jury. Appearing via video link to HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for 14 years and handed an extended five-year licence period.

Sentencing, Judge Stuart Driver KC said: "This was repeated, serious abuse over a period of about four years, which has had a profound effect on your victim's life. You always knew that what you were doing was wrong, and you were careful to do it when no witnesses would be around.

"The combination of the gravity of the offences on the indictment and the evidence of your persisting sexual behaviour towards children causes me to conclude that you represent a significant risk of serious harm to children by the commission of further sexual offences. Your limited insight and understanding of your behaviour and your tendency to deny and minimise it increase that risk.

"You represent a high risk of serious harm to children. I am satisfied that you are a dangerous offender."

Gerrard was also handed restraining orders preventing him from contacting his victims indefinitely and a lifelong sexual harm prevention order. He will be required to sign the sex offenders' register for life.

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A rapist who attacked a woman as her child slept in the next room has been handed a nine year sentence.

Matthew Nicholson, 36, ignored the woman's refusal to have sex when she repeatedly told him she did not want to. During the attack, the woman said she froze as Nicholson carried on after she told him to stop.

Sentencing, The Honorary Recorder of Preston, Judge Robert Altham, said Nicholson was a dangerous man and handed him an extended sentence of six years custody and three years on licence.

He said: "You knew her child was in the next room. Your victim knew she couldn't fight or cry out and you knew that. It is clear you exploited that situation to get what it was you wanted.

"You knew you had been raping her as you raped her and as she lay there with you next to her, crying. The next day she challenged you by message. In effect you admitted you had raped her by message and voice note, repeatedly apologising and telling her you should have listened to her when she said no.

"With that background it is surprising you ran a trial."

Judge Altham said: "You do pose a serious risk of causing harm to other (women) by the commission of further specified offences. That risk can only be managed by the oversight of your release by the Parole Board and an extended licence period.

"It is a most seriously aggravating feature that you did this knowing her child was only a wall's width away."

Nicholson has been ordered to sign on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely and been made the subject of a 12 year restraining order to protect his victim.

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Christopher Brooks plied the then 15-year-old with vodka on February 22 2020, before kissing her on the lips and groping her.

Preston Crown Court heard the girl reported the assault to the police, but Brooks, of Church Street, Ribchester, denied the allegations and took the matter to trial.

In July, he was found guilty by a jury of three counts of sexual activity with a child.

Judge Darren Preston told the court he believed Brooks, whose rugby career ended after he became injured, had continued to deny any wrongdoing, and even suggested during the course of the trial that he had been set up.

He said: “He continues to find new ways to deny the offences, and claimed during the course of the trial that this had been a set up.

“When you were arrested you denied the allegations, but your DNA was found on the inside of the victim’s bra.

“You then came up with offensive theories as to how the DNA came to be inside her bra – anything to avoid the truth of what happened that night, which is that you were guilty of the attack.”

During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday September 13, the brave victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, stood in court to read her impact statement, in which she said her “whole life had been affected massively” and “she couldn’t concentrate at school or stay in lessons which impacted her overall performance in her GCSEs”.

The victim’s mother also gave a statement in which she described the last three and a half years as being “a struggle” and said: “I hope after this ends today for us he will never destroy a child’s life again”.

Brooks, 34, has no previous convictions save for an old driving offence.

Mitigating, Kathryn Johnson said her client had come to court with a realistic attitude, and asked Judge Preston to impose the shortest sentence possible.

She said: “He started out as a professional rugby player but that ended. He has references which speak of him in high terms, and this was an isolated incident.”

Brooks was jailed for three and a half years and was told to sign the sex offender’s register for life.

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A RAPIST who attempted to blame his crime on an undiagnosed sleep disorder called sexsomnia has been jailed for six years.

At Carlisle Crown Court, a judge said that 32-year-old Thomas Charleston targeted his victim when she was vulnerable and then showed no remorse as he attempted to defend and explain his actions during a trial.

A jury rejected his claim, convicting him of rape and a serious sexual assault. Charleston committed the offence while staying in caravan park accommodation in the Lake District in 2019, the court heard.

On the day of the offences, the defendant had spent the day drinking, and it was clear he had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol, said Judge Nicholas Barker.

When he carried out the attack, Charleston believed his victim, who had also been drinking, was asleep and as he left the room where he raped her he kissed her and said: Good night, pretty.

She was immediately distressed and reported what happed to a security guard, who in turn contacted the police.

During the trial, Charleston did not deny her testimony but said he was suffering from sexsomnia, a condition where people have sex while in deep REM sleep. He claimed this had made him completely unaware of his actions.

When he was initially interviewed by police he was asked if he had any history of doing what he did that night, to which he said no, and if he had any medical conditions, to which he stated hayfever.

He did not mention sleepwalking or sexsomnia.

Describing the impact on the victim, Judge Barker said her statement clearly demonstrated the continuing and destructive impact of the rape. She has suffered significantly, the judge told Charleston. She finds it almost impossible to countenance the idea that she could trust a man again and have a meaningful relationship.

You are responsible for that; its your actions with caused that.

As well as jailing the defendant, whose address was given as Victoria Street, Accrington, the judge placed him on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely and imposed a restraining order banning any contact with the victcim.

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A convicted sex offender who was recalled to prison multiple times after being released from an eight-year sentence has been jailed again.

Kurt Alexander was caught in the toilets of an Asda supermarket in Keighley in April, during the school holidays, “sweating profusely”, and in possession of three pairs of girls’ knickers.

Preston Crown Court heard the convicted paedophile had been jailed in 2011 for a range of sexual assault charges but following his release had been recalled to prison on numerous occasions for breaching his sexual offences prevention order and failing to comply with his notification requirements.

He was ultimately released in February, but just five days later he was making searches on a mobile phone relating to the ‘sexual abuse of children’ and ‘girl’s panties’.

Prosecuting, Cecilia Pritchard said that, sicne his release from prison, police had found nappies in his home as well as children’s underwear.

She said: “Then, on April 3 at 2.30pm, his offender manager was on duty and attended Keighley town centre after receiving information that Alexander had been seen entering numerous town centre shops.

“He was located in the men’s toilets in Asda, sweating profusely.

“They spoke to him about their concerns as it was half term, and he was asked to produce any devices he had on him.

“He handed over an Alcatel mobile phone, but officers asked what was in his top pocket and pulled out a Huawei smart phone.

“He was arrested having breached his sexual offences prevention order and was taken to the police station, and during the journey there he said he just wanted to plead guilty to everything.”

Ms Pritchard said a pair of girl’s knickers, aged five to six, were found in his pocket and two more pairs located in a washing powder box he had with him.

Police also found a micro-SD card which contained images of children – eight category C images featuring young girls between the ages of 12 and 14 in bikinis.

Ms Pritchard went on: “He’d also zoomed into their genital areas on these images which is where the making of indecent images comes from.

“He was interviewed and answered no comment but did in fact plead guilty at the first opportunity.”

Alexander, of Mason Street, Colne, has two convictions for 24 previous offences and pleaded guilty to two breaches of his sexual offences order, failing to comply with notification requirements, and making indecent images of children.

Mitigating, Kristian Cavanagh said his client had committed “abhorrent offences” and recognised he had done wrong.

Recorder Daniel Prowse said: “You had been monitored by the police since your release and had been found in possession of nappies, and on one occasion you were found in the children’s section of a library reading a book about child rape.

“You were also provided with anti-libido medication but had stopped taking these.

“Then in April you were found in Asda toilets during half term with two phones and three pairs of knickers, as well as a tourist leaflet with pictures of children on it.

“Your frankness with probation is to your credit but it’s very worrying as you say you are attracted to children.

“You also said you are sexually aroused by nappies and children’s underwear, and I am satisfied these were deliberate breaches.”

Alexander, 56, who appeared in the dock clutching a bible with a set of rosary beads around his neck, was jailed for two years and was made subject to lifetime notification requirements.

His previous sexual offences prevention order was replaced with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

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A "dangerous and predatory" paedophile who raped a woman while on bail awaiting trial for sexual assaulting two children has been jailed.

Michael Levy, 39, sexually abused a nine-year-old and a 13-year-old on a number of occasions between 2019 and 2021, Lancashire Police said.

He then pressured a woman into letting him into her home before raping her.

Levy has been jailed for 18 years at Preston Crown Court after being convicted in two separate trials.

He was found guilty of 13 sexual offences against children under 13 in March before being convicted of rape in July.

Warning: This article contains distressing content

Police said Levy, of no fixed address but formerly of Bamber Bridge, bombarded his first and youngest victim with WhatsApp messages telling her he loved her.

He sexually abused his second victim several times including when she was in her school uniform, police added.

After being charged with the offences, Levy was bailed ahead of his trial.

By this time, Levy had began bombarding his third victim with messages.

He then pressured the woman into agreeing to meet him for a coffee in January and then to let him come over to her house while her friend was there, police said.

After the victim's friend had left, Levy bit her, sexually assaulted her and raped her, the force said.

Levy was smirking at the victim throughout, police added.

'Sense of entitlement'

The mother of the teenage victim wrote in a victim personal statement to the court that her "very bubbly" daughter's moods had changed and she had vivid nightmares and would wake up in tears.

The woman said in her victim personal statement: "I feel scared all the time.

"I struggle to sleep and when I do it's only a couple of hours, then I am stressed at the children, it's just awful."

Det Con Jo Billington said the offences had a "profound impact" on all three of his victims.

"Levy is a dangerous and predatory offender with a sordid sexual view and sense of entitlement towards both women and girls," she said.

"He planned these offences and continued to sexually assault his victims even when they pleaded with him to stop."

Levy was handed a further five years on licence, made subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and told to sign the sex offenders' register for life.

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The devastation felt by a traumatised rape victim was graphically spelled out in court as a 32-year-old Leyland man was jailed for 10 years for attacking a woman in her own home.

Adam Stock was told by a judge he was close to getting a life sentence for the offence, which was the second time he had been convicted of rape.

Preston Crown Court heard Stock had been released in 2021 - halfway through an eight-year prison sentence for a series of 10 sex offences.

This time Judge Andrew Jefferies told him he would have to serve a minimum of two-thirds of the sentence before he could apply to the Parole Board for release and warned: “If you have not changed your attitude to women after that period then the Parole Board will not release you and you would have to serve the full 10 years.”

Stock, of Cumberland Avenue, Leyland, pleaded guilty to one count of rape and one of sexual assault on the woman. Both offences happened despite the victim refusing to have sex with him at her home – once in her bedroom and the other in the lounge. The sexual assault was witnessed by the woman’s young son who heard the pair arguing and came downstairs.

Both the victim and her child were left traumatised by what had happened, prosecuting counsel Tim Evans told Judge Jefferies. In the woman’s case she had suffered “severe psychological harm” as a result of what had happened.

In a victim impact statement, read out by Mr Evans, the woman said she had been left “completely and utterly broken” by the ordeal and had suffered from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder). Since it happened it had affected her day-to-day life, she suffered from vivid flashbacks and struggled to get to sleep at night. When she did sleep she suffered from nightmares and regularly woke up crying and screaming.

“She says she will never trust anyone again, or believe anyone,” said Mr Evans. The woman, he said, had had suicidal thoughts and felt she had lost her identity and that her body had been stolen from her. She had since felt physically sick when near men.

“I don’t even recognise myself anymore,” she wrote in her statement. “I will never know what I did so wrong to him for him to abuse me and destroy me. I will forever be damaged and never be the same person again. My son witnessed something no son should ever have to go through. He is terrified. He has struggled at school.”

Mr Evans said the house where the offences happened no longer felt like home to the victim. He added that she kept seeing Stock’s face everywhere and she felt “a complete mess.” He was, said Mr Evans, “plainly a highly dangerous individual.”

Christian Cavanagh, defending, asked Judge Jefferies to take a “cautious approach” to sentencing and not impose a life term despite his previous record of sex crimes. He said in mitigation that Stock had pleaded guilty to the two offences, which spared the mother and son the ordeal of having to give evidence in a trial. Mr Cavanagh said Stock recognised the emotional effect the offences had had on the victim.

Judge Jefferies told Stock that he had refused to take “no” for an answer and raped the woman. Later he had again refused to take “no” for an answer and sexually assaulted her before her son came downstairs and intervened. “What is troubling me is it mirrors what I have read about your previous convictions.”

The judge ordered that Stock should serve an extended three-year licence period after he is eventually released from prison. He will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.

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Lancashire Police say they could not have predicted violent sex offender Anthony Stinson would go on to kill.

Stinson, 31, was jailed for life and must serve a minimum term of 24 years and two months before he can apply for parole, after killing Charlotte Wilcock on her doorstep in Blackburn.

No motive has been given for the attack on Charlotte, who was a complete stranger to Stinson. She suffered almost 100 separate injuries and was left to die behind her front door while her baby daughter was alone upstairs.

Det Ch Insp Mark Haworth-Oates, of Lancashire Police's Force Major Investigation Team, said: "The nature of the offence was so random. We saw him in a shop 20 minutes before the murder, acting reasonably normally. He was with his friends rapping on a video half an hour earlier, acting reasonably normally."

Although Stinson was unknown to Charlotte he was no stranger to the police. As a registered sex offender he was monitored in the community by the police and Probation Service. At his sentence hearing, the court heard he has 11 previous convictions for 25 offences including rape, ABH and criminal damage. Many of those crimes were against women.

In 2010, Stinson assaulted an ex partner at her home by pushing, grabbing and spitting at her, after entering her flat through a window.

In 2013, he raped a teenager at a house party in Clitheroe. He admitted abusing the girl while she slept and was jailed for five years. In April 2019 he was handed a suspended sentence for two attacks on his ex partner within days of each other. On both occasions he strangled the woman, and during the second attack, Stinson put a pillow over her face, saying: "I swear to God, I could happily bury you." The victim said she thought she was going to die.

Stinson admitted he had been drinking and taking drugs when he attacked his partner in 2019 and was ordered to take part in rehabilitation to address his offending. He remained under supervision until his arrest for Charlotte's murder in March 2023.

Det Ch Insp Haworth-Oates said: "He was managed like any registered sex offender because of his rape conviction. He had served his prison sentence (for rape) and like numerous other people, unfortunately, he was managed in the community.

"Clearly, that doesn't lend itself to us following someone round or being with them 24 hours a day, or being able to predict a change in mood or a change in circumstances on that night that caused him to go and do what he did.

"He made a decision on that night to take an awful lot of drugs, all day - drugs he knew and he admitted caused him issues mentally and caused him anger issues."

Stinson claimed he was suffering psychosis and had seen the devil when he attacked Charlotte, but psychiatrists concluded he was acting rationally at the time he claimed to be impaired. However Stinson also admitted he had been taking drugs and drinking and had argued with his dad, before taking a Stanley knife onto the street to 'rob a drug dealer'.

"It could have been anybody sat on that doorstep that night", DCI Haworth-Oates said. "It is so sad it was Charlotte this has happened to. One person is responsible for that and that is Anthony Stinson."

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A depraved nurse who ran a respiratory ward during the Covid crisis turned to online sex offences for 'comfort' - keeping a hoard of sick images and sharing obscene stories about children.

Rebecca Ruler, 32, kept a hoard of sadistic child abuse images and published sick sexual articles about children and babies for a group of paedophiles, a court heard.

Preston Crown Court heard that Ruler had been on the frontline of the Covid crisis, working as a ward manager at Royal Bolton Hospital. Kim Obrusik, defending, said: "It was the worst time in recent history that someone could be working on those wards."

But, prosecuting, Peter Barr said: "It was she who initiated the discussions by expressing her sexual interest in children. There was no evidence of coercion."

Ruler has now been handed a suspended prison sentence, reports LancsLive. Mr Barr told Preston Crown Court that between April 2021 and April 2022, Ruler downloaded 151 category A child abuse pictures, along with a further 101 at category B and 134 category C images.

She also created five obscene articles into an internet chat with five paedophiles. When questioned, she claimed the conversation was instigated by a man she was in an online relationship with and she was using the chat to impress him.

Ms Obrusik said Ruler had mild depression which was aggravated by her work, as she saw patients she had cared for dying alone, without their family or friends, on a daily basis. "As we come out of the pandemic it is easy to forget the horrors of what was occurring. The demands, both physically and emotionally, can not be quantified."

Ruler's relationship broke down, she began struggling with her body image and she found it difficult to confide in people close to her.

"She encouraged the contact from males in respect of these types of discussions as she realised this was a way to receive male attention", Ms Obrusik said. "She was feeling that she would never gain any sexual interest from males and this is how she got that interest."

Judge Richard Gioserano said: "Seeking comfort from strangers is one thing but she knew these were paedophiles."

A pre-sentence report stated Ruler, who now works in a supermarket, has "significant remorse for her actions". "Prior to this she was a woman of exemplary character, working in a job that is known to be very giving through what was and remains to be the most difficult period for the NHS in living memory", Ms Obrusik said.

Ruler, of Springfield Road, Coppull, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images and five counts of publishing an obscene article.

Sentencing, Judge Gioserano said: "I have asked myself how it is that your thinking became not just distorted but so depraved that you committed these eight offences. I will start by stating the obvious: distorted thinking, no matter how depraved, does not in itself attract a criminal sanction.

"It may of course attract moral outrage but moral outrage is no basis for sentence. You are not being sentenced for distorted thinking or depraved thinking in itself. You are being sentenced for acting on that thinking by downloading indecent images and engaging in messaging about sadistic and sexual abuse of very young children.

"I have assessed the risk that your messages could have depraved and corrupted others that might have read it. It is possible that the recipients could have shared your messages with other paedophiles but that was not your intention. There was no intention that your messaging, as depraved as it was, should go beyond the five people in the chat.

"I am asked to consider whether your work as a nurse on a respiratory ward during Covid played a part. I do not wish to underestimate the emotional and physical impact upon you. It clearly did take its toll, not only on you but on your relationship with your partner. It might have been that that was what led you to seeking comfort from strangers but that is not necessarily uncommon. People in difficult emotional circumstances may take value from anonymous online contact with strangers.

"This is not a court of morals. I am not here to judge that. But you moved from that sort of contact to active criminal contact with paedophiles. Even if the distortion in your thinking could somehow be explained by the emotional toll of your work at the time, I can not see how that can mitigate for your offending."

He handed Ruler a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years, and ordered her to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work. She must also complete 35 days of rehabilitation activities including a one-to-one sex offenders course, and has been made subject to a five year sexual harm prevention order and 10 years on the sex offenders' register.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council confirmed they are aware of the sentencing.

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A man who raped three young girls and sexually abused a boy has been found guilty of committing his depraved crimes by a jury.

Stephen Anderton, 53, has been on trial at Burnley Crown Court, and on Friday, August 4, was found guilty of five rapes and 15 other sexual offences committed against children.

Anderton’s abuse started in the 1980s and spanned four decades.

The youngest victims were aged just four when 53-year-old Anderton began abusing them.

The mother of one of the victims first contacted the police to report Anderton’s crime against a child in 2018.

 
Enquiries from detectives then led to further victims being identified.

Anderton, of Bank Street, Padiham, denied his disgraceful crimes but after trial a jury convicted him of the prolonged child abuse.

He was remanded into custody to be sentenced at the same court on September 22.

DS Alex Rawsthorn, of the Blackburn Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit, said: “Anderton was found guilty of the most depraved offences imaginable.

"I would like to express my thanks to the officer in case whose tenacity and dedication has been unwavering.

"Most importantly, I would like to place on record my sincere gratitude and admiration for the victims who have endured an agonising wait for justice.

"They have shown remarkable courage throughout this case.”

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A disgraced former police officer who sexually assaulted a lone teenager as she walked home alone at midnight has been jailed for two and a half years.

James White, a former officer for Greater Manchester Police (GMP), admitted he had drunk four bottles of wine before getting in his car for a drive on 25 June, before carrying out an attack that was "the stuff of nightmares".The 39-year-old said he had not gone out to prowl for a lone female but when he spotted the teenager in a remote location in Darwen, Lancashire, he stopped the car and assaulted her.

Eve Salter, prosecuting, told the court the girl heard footsteps running up behind her. When White caught up he put his hands over her eyes, saying: "I don't want to hurt you".

He dragged her to the ground, causing grazes and bruises to her arm, torso and hip, before removing one of his hands from her eyes and putting it on her leg.The brave teenager took out her mobile phone and called her mum on Facetime. She tried to strike her attacker with the phone as the call connected, but White tried to knock it out of her hand.

She was able to take a photo of her attacker, who was wearing a distinctive t-shirt, before White ran away into the darkness, spooked by the girl's call for help.

The youngster was collected by her step-dad and reported the attack to the police.She said: "I don't know how to feel about the attack. I am just glad to be alive as I feared the worst was about to happen."The court heard White was dismissed from his role with GMP, serving the Bolton area, after he was convicted of four offences relating to the sexual harassment of female colleagues.

Tom Worsfold, defending, said his client recognised the court would have little sympathy for him and deserved to feel the shame he feels.

His step father, who has visited him in HMP Durham, said White told him he felt "he was torn between two different people - one good, one bad - and the bad one was winning"."There is a sense of tragedy that this person who was once a police officer in a position of responsibility could fall so low", Mr Worsfold said.

Sentencing, Judge Altham said: "What must have made this attack so frightening is that a 16-year-old who was on her own was targeted on the street.

"It is the stuff of nightmares for a stranger to wrestle you to the ground with the intention of sexual assault.

"If this was a planned attack where he has prowled for a victim before attacking her in this way, it is troubling, but it is equally troubling if all it takes is the sight of a lone female for him to run up behind her and assault her in this way.

"This young woman had to fight him off in the course of a violent attack. A man who can attack a young woman in this way - particularly with his background, is dangerous."

He sentenced White, of Suddellside Road, Darwen, to two years and six months for sexual assault with 10 months to run concurrently for ABH.

The judge also placed White on the Sex Offenders Register for 15 years, saying: "He will remain a danger to women for a significant period of time."