Latest Offenders Lancashire

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A fugitive Travelex manager has been jailed after stealing 70,000 from a Tesco bureau-de-change and fleeing to America while on bail for abusing a child.

David Aspden, 33, had been arrested in December 2018 for abusing a 12-year-old boy. But while on bail the former secretary at a junior football club managed to get a shift at the Travelex booth at Tesco in Middleton, near Rochdale on Christmas Eve.

After sending a colleague home early, Aspden, of Preston, Lancashire, filled up Tesco bags for life with cash, then vanished with the money on a flight out of Manchester on Boxing Day.

Aspden spent five months in the US where he squandered the stolen cash before returning to Britain on board a cruise ship. It is believed none of the money he took has been recovered.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Aspden, of Preston, Lancs was jailed for 14 months after he admitted theft by employee. The sentence will run consecutively to a five year stretch imposed in June last year after he admitted inciting a 12 year old boy to to engage in sexual activity with him.

Aspden who was secretary of a junior football club had originally been arrested in 2018 after the lad went to police and told how he had been asked to carry out a sex act on him during a caravan holiday in Cumbria.

He was bailed to face court but in December 2018 he used the opportunity of working alone on Christmas Eve at Travelex booth at Tesco in Middleton, near Rochdale to plot his escape.

Prosecutor Miss Lisa Boocock said: 'The defendant worked as a manager at a Travelex bureau-de-change inside a Tesco store in Middleton.

'He started training in December and took up the post on 7th December 2018, and had a week of training. He was a manager looking after cash in the stores safe. He then started work and indicated he wanted to work on Christmas Eve.

'He sent his co-worker home early and was working alone in the store. There is CCTV footage and the incident happened over a protracted period of time. Over about twenty minutes the defendant filled several bags for life with money from the shop.

'He also went shopping around the store, returned to pick the bags up and then left with them. Around 70,000 was in the bags. He went home and booked a flight for December 26. He flew to the United States and spent just over five months travelling around the country and using the money. The theft was not discovered until December 27 and colleagues asked questions.

'This caused anxiety among staff, which was perhaps exacerbated because it happened over Christmas when the store was closed. The defendant returned to the UK via cruise ship in May 31 2019 and was arrested by police.

'He accepted guilt and said he took the money. He said he had disposed of around 30,000 and spent the rest in the USA. He was in a position of trust and responsibility, and he breached that trust. He was working alone in possession of large amounts of money.'

In mitigation defence lawyer Lucy Wright said: 'The defendant accepts the high degree of trust that he breached but in light of the CCTV evidence, it was not a sophisticated offence. He has in effect videoed himself offending.

'In a sense, he was evading justice by going to the USA but he returned from America when he knew he would be arrested on arrival in the UK and this proves he is genuinely remorseful. If he had simply decided to stay in America, justice would have been delayed.

'He didnt come back because he ran out of money. He came back because he realised he needed to come back to own up and face justice. He was on bail for the other offence at the time of this matter. Since then he has been told he has a diagnosis of psychotic episodes, anxiety and depression- although no written evidence of this has been provided.

'He says the offence happened when he was feeling extremely low and struggling to keep on top of his mental health problems.

'Before his first offence, he was a man of good character who spent much of his time living purposefully and he struggles to reconcile how he has got himself into this position. His father is currently very unwell in hospital and the defendant thinks he may not see him again if he is given a custodial sentence. His mother needs assistance and is self-isolating, and he is unable to support her through this.'

Passing sentence, Judge Mark Savill told Aspden: 'You volunteered to work on Christmas Eve when there was lot of money in the safe. None of your co-workers were working at the time of the offence and you thought you could perhaps remain undetected.

'It was a brazen offence. You helped yourself and filled bags with 70,000 cash and foreign currency. You then left the store and left the country. You took some of that money with you and spent about five months travelling America then returned to the UK on a cruise ship.

'You upset your co-workers and some of them thought they would end up being blamed. But upon arrest, you were interviewed and accepted your guilt. You were subject to police inquiries when you committed this offence and you breached a high degree of trust and responsibility.

'You caused concern among your co-workers and went on the run before returning to the UK in some style. I am willing to accept that prison is unpleasant for you given the current public health crisis and the fact your parents are not in good health.

'However, there is no excuse for what you were doing at all. This is not a similar offence to when a single parent find themselves in in significant debt and steals from their employer to feed their family, This is not that at all. You stole a significant amount of money, went on the run and spent it.'

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A convicted sex offender has been jailed for failing to tell police he had an Amazon Fire TV Stick and a secret Barclays account.

Steven Woodcock also had 47 indecent child images on his laptop and installed special software to delete and 'scrub' the internet history, a court heard.

The 44-year-old, who was being managed in the community under a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), was visited by police last year as part of a routine check.

The SHPO prohibited him from using any internet-capable device unless it had the capacity to display and retain the internet history and had to be made available on request for inspection by police.

Prosecutor Emma Kehoe told Preston Crown Court how Woodcock admitted visiting a library in Morecambe 'up to six times a week' to use the internet.

She said officers were 'concerned about their regular visits' and made enquiries with the library.

The National Crime Agency later confirmed that the defendant's email account had been used to upload two 'indicative images' of seven-year-old girls to Instagram, however the images were 'not in themselves unlawful'.

Police then executed a search warrant at Woodcock's home on Clarendon Road West, Morecambe, and asked him if he had any internet-capable devices.

Ms Kehoe said Woodcock had a Kindle in his bedroom and an Amazon Fire TV Stick in a drawer which breached the SHPO.

Officers also found a Halifax bank card and a Barclays savings account which he had never declared.

His laptop contained one category A indecent image of a child - the most serious - and 46 category C images.

Woodcock pleaded guilty to breaching the SHPO and possessing indecent images.

Defence barrister Chris Evans said there were a 'relatively low number of images' and his client had been 'candid in terms of what he has done'.

He told the court that Woodcock had 'engaged well with the probation service' following his last conviction in 2016, deserved credit for his early guilty plea and 'remains motivated to seek help'.

Judge Simon Medland QC said they were 'deliberate and persistent breaches' of the SHPO and jailed Woodcock for two years.

Sentencing, he said: "You have been dealt with on several previous occasions for the possession of unlawful indecent images of children.

"These are real images of real children who are really being abused and that abuse will almost inevitably stay with them for the rest of their lives.

"The internet being what it is, it's quite easy to imagine that those disgusting images will be more of less forever available to people who view them for satisfaction of a perverted sexual interest.

"You had also loaded a cleaning facility to scrub the internet history and confound any investigation.

"You have, over a significant period of time, quite deliberately breached these orders that were made to try to protect children from your predations.

"Even though there were no contact offences here, these were offences where you were looking at unlawful sexual images of children."

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A TEENAGE girl who was molested by a 31-year-old later found her schoolwork suffering as she struggled to sleep.

Alexander Caple told the 14-year-old she should not tell anyone about her ordeal or they would put him in prison, Preston Crown Court was told.

But within hours the youngster had informed a schoolfriend and told her mother what had happened.

Police were alerted and Caple, of Helston Close, Burnley, was arrested and confessed to some sexual activity with her.

Caple later admitted to two offences of sexual activity with a child. An indecent exposure offence, which he denied, was withdrawn after the prosecution offered no evidence.

Judge Phillip Parry jailed him for four-and-a-half years and imposed a 12-year sexual harm prevention order.

The court heard Caple groped the girl over her clothing before carrying out a more serious sexual attack.

In a victim impact statement, she said she had been left struggling to sleep and her mother had reported she could be heard crying through the night.

She was studying for her GCSE exams and had been sent from from school after falling asleep in her lessons. Her grades had also suffered.

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A SEX fiend who offered a seven-year-old boy 20p before dragging him into a supermarkets toilets and sexually assaulting him has been jailed for seven-and-a-half years.

And after hearing the sickening details of how 39-year-old Dennis Walsh abused the boy in a cubicle at Sainsburys in Burnley last November, Judge Sara Dodd deemed him to be a dangerous offender.

That means he will be subject to an extended licence of seven years once he is released from prison.

Burnley Crown Court heard the boy, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had gone to use the male toilet while his stepmother took his sister into the female toilets.

The boys stepmother and sister came out a few minutes later and waited for him. After checking with the boys father to see if he was at the till with him, his stepmother opened the mens toilet door and shouted for him.

Amanda Johnson, prosecuting, said the victims stepmother noticed one of the cubicles was occupied and the boy shouted he was inside. Roughly five minutes later he came out and the family left.

Ms Johnson said: The boy was very quiet after that and reported he was nearly kidnapped. He said a man grabbed his arm and did not let go.

The court heard the family took him to a police station to report the incident.

Ms Johnson said on the way to the station he revealed Walsh had inappropriately touched him.

She added: The man offered to give the boy 20p, took hold of his arm and pulled him into the cubicle where he then pulled his pants and underpants down.

The boy asked the man if he could go and he said not yet.

At that point was when the mens toilets was opened and his stepmother shouted through.

The boy was instructed not to tell anyone.

She said following the attack, the boy would not go to sleep and started wearing boxing gloves in bed. He also wore a family members motorcycle helmet and would only go to bed fully dressed.

In the aftermath of the attack, police released an appeal, in a bid to identify the man responsible, and Walshs mother saw it.

She confronted her son and told him to hand himself in.

Walsh went to a police station the following day.

In his police interview Walsh denied he had sexually assaulted the boy and said he went into the cubicle to change an incontinence pad.

But Walshs DNA was found on the waistband of the boys underpants.

Walsh, of Albert Street, Burnley, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a child.

The court heard by committing his latest offence Walsh had breached a a 16-month suspended sentence order he had received for sexually assaulting a child in February 2017.

Nicholas Clarke, defending, said Walsh has learning difficulties and there was little in a pre-sentence report to indicate Walsh knew what he did was wrong.

He said: There is no question this is a prison sentence and a prison sentence of some length.

As part of his suspended sentence he successfully completed a sexual offender treatment programme.

It is hoped on his behalf hes not going to trouble the courts in the future.

If he commits further offences he will be ostracised by his family.

Judge Dodd said the victim had changed and had anger in him since the incident.

She said: Hes fallen behind at school. He refuses to get changed during a sporting activity and the pressure in doing so caused him to have a panic attack.

He doesnt want to go to his fathers as he thinks it will happen again.

I have no doubt there is possibly a significant risk you will commit further sexual offences and by doing so you will cause serious physical and psychological harm, in this case to children.

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Callum Smith, 22, of Ash Lea Grove, Stalmine, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a male and two counts of sexual activity in the presence of a child at Preston Crown Court last month.

He was sentenced yesterday to a total of 15 months in prison.

He was also subjected to a sexual harm prevention order, and must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

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A RAPIST who attacked a woman in a house has been jailed.

Preston Crown Court heard Adrian Love, 54, raped the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, at a property in Rossendale in June 2017.

Love had always denied any wrongdoing but was unanimously found guilty by a jury following a two week trial.

Judge James Medland QC sentenced Love, of Hightown, Whitewell Bottom, to six and a half years in prison.

Love was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and pay a £170 surcharge to fund victim services.

Judge Medland imposed an indefinite restraining order banning Love from contacting his victim directly or indirectly.

A police spokesman said: "We take investigations into rape and sexual assault very seriously.

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A VIOLENT thug has been jailed for eight years after raping and threatening to kill a woman.

Preston Crown Court heard how Vincent Grieve raped the woman, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, at a house in Blackburn.

Prosecuting Charles Brown said that following the sexual assault she managed to escape from the house, wearing just a pair of socks.

The woman had earlier tried to leave the house but 30-year-old Grieve, who had been drinking rum, hit her from behind as she tried to get to the front door.

The victim was made to lie down on the floor before she was strangled. Grieve then bombarded her with verbal abuse, punched her in the face and stamped on her torso.

The court was told Grieve, of Heaning Avenue, Blackburn, also threatened to kill her with a knife, cut off her head with an electric saw and hit her over the head with a bottle of Captain Morgan.

The woman was then whipped twice with Grieve’s belt and told she would spend a life in his servitude.

Grieve then raped her saying: “I have never touched a girl with head injuries before.”

The semi-naked victim ran out of the house and jumped into a neighbour’s garden before heading onto the street.

She had sustained serious injuries to her face and was missing a clump of hair.

Reading her victim personal statement in court, she said: “I find myself wondering what is the point of it all, carrying this pain almost every second of every day.

“The fact I still have my life where others do not should make me feel better but I’m using it as an excuse not to go to pieces.

“I dream it every night and it’s so vivid. I relive every punch, kick and blow. Living with this every day is suffocating.”

Grieve pleaded guilty to rape and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Bob Sastry, defending, described the incident as a grave and serious matter.

He said: “The defendant acknowledges that and wishes to express his remorse and apologise to the victim.”

Judge Simon Medland QC described the actions of Grieve as coercive and degrading.

He said: “You inflicted substantial damage and numerous injuries through beatings and slaps.“You treated her with utter contempt as if nothing more than a punch bag or possession of yours.”

Grieve was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and an indefinite restraining order was made.

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A MANIPULATIVE paedophile groomed a teenage girl by giving her cannabis before going on to have sex with her.

Preston Crown Court heard how Sean Devitt, of no fixed address but who formerly lived in Burnley and Blackburn, was already serving a six-year prison sentence for sexual offences involving another under-age girl when the latest charges came to light.

Prosecutor Lisa Worsley said the teenage victim, who was at that point in a relationship with Devitt, saw footage on his SD card of a child getting undressed and realised she was a victim of abuse herself.

Miss Worsley said the grooming started when Devitt, now 34, would give the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, cannabis.

The court heard that on one occasion after they had both smoked cannabis the pair kissed.

The following week a full sexual relationship started despite Devitt being 26-years-old and knowing his victim was a lot younger.

Miss Worsley said Devitt would meet the girl after school and walk her to a furniture store where they would occasionally have sex upstairs.

The court heard the victims mother became suspicious of the relationship which resulted in constant arguments that eventually forced the victim to move out of her family home.

Miss Worsley said that on one occasion Devitt filmed himself having sex with the girl, with her consent, and that the relationship had briefly ended when she discovered he had a sexually transmitted disease.

The relationship did eventually come to an end when the victim found the video of the child.

Miss Worsley said at that point Devitt phoned his mother from prison and attempted to get her to threaten the victim if she didnt withdraw her complaints to the police.

In a victim impact statement read out by Miss Worsley the victim spoke of how Devitt had ruined her life.

Miss Worsley said: She says Sean Devitt controlled her. He cut her off from her family.

She regards him as clever and someone who manipulated what she did.

She finds it really difficult to trust people now, particularly men. She feels like theyre all paedophiles and is concerned she wont ever have a relationship.

Devitt pleaded guilty to 13 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and one of making phone call from prison with intent to pervert the course of justice.

Defending Simon Gurney said his client realised the impact his offending has had on his victim.

Describing Devitts offending as serious Judge Andrew Woolman imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and banned him from contacting the victim.

He was jailed for five years at a hearing yesterday.

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Joe Shanks is an Irishman from Co. Westmeath, who moved to England. He is a member of the Mormon 

An Irish Mormon missionary who tried to have sex with three children he thought he had lured over the internet, was nabbed in a sting operation by UK police.

Pervert Joseph Shanks, originally from Co Westmeath, claimed he was doing “charity work” and would be rewarded by GOD.

But the twisted predator didn’t realise the children’s mother he met online in England was really an undercover officer and he was arrested before any abuse took place.

When the 63-year-old married father turned up to rape the ‘victims’ he thought were aged nine, six and three, he was arrested by officers.

Shanks, who lives in the Church of Latter Day Saints missionary home in Chorley, Lancashire, was jailed for seven years on Monday after admitting ten sex charges.

The former civil servant had turned up for the rendezvous carrying a USB stick with thousands of vile abuse images of children.

Canterbury Crown Court in England heard how a police officer posed as “Sarah”, a mother to three fictitious children, was contacted by Shanks - who used the name Andy Brown.

Prosecutor Daniel Stevenson said: “Following conversations between ‘Sarah’ and Shanks it was clear from their conversation that the meeting was to facilitate him engaging in sexual activity with all three children.”

Shanks claimed he was in the army and volunteered for the church.

He rang from a mobile number but when that didn’t work - he called from a landline registered to the Mormon Church’s missionary training centre in Preston.

In November last year, the missionary worker left his wife in Lancashire and drove in his Hyundai Tucson 260 miles to the M23 Pease Pottage services, Kent, when he was arrested.

Shanks told police he was a member of the Mormon faith living in a Mormon community since 2016 and claimed he was doing “charitable work of God who would reward him with blessings as he tried to bring light into the lives of the three children”.

But Judge Simon James told him all he was doing was to act out his twisted sexual fantasies.

He said: “She used the name Sarah and her children were said to be aged three, six and nine.

“The two youngest were girls and the nine year old a boy.

“During the course of online communications, ‘Sarah’ spoke with a man who used the name Andy Brown. Andy Brown was in fact the defendant.

“Following these conversations, Mr Shanks made arrangements to travel to meet her and on November 26 they were scheduled to meet at Pease Pottage Services on the M23.

“Upon arriving he was disappointed to be greeted by officers of Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team, rather than the willing mother of three children.”

The prosecutor added that Sarah and Andy had been in contact from October 2016 after the undercover officer received contact from [email protected].

He said he had a sexual interest in children and stated he was 63 years old, he was called Joe and claimed to have come originally from Ireland but was now living in Preston.

He told her he wanted to meet her children and promised to bring KY jelly, some of which was later found in his car.

During sentencing on Monday, Judge Simon James told him: “It is clear that you are an individual who is sexually attracted to children.

“That’s abundantly clear by the large amount of images you had depicting sexual abuse which were found in your car, including images depicting the rape of children as young as two years old.

“It is clear that you made efforts to act out your fantasies, by arranging to meet a mother of three children with the intent of having sex with them.

“What is also clear is that you had no idea that the person you were talking with was an undercover officer.

“You intended to subject those children to a whole catalogue of abuse.”

Mr Stevenson, prosecuting, said that Shanks had contacted a covert investigator on line, who was posing as the mother of three fictitious children.

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A man from Ashton has been found guilty of 43 sexual offences against seven young boys.

Paul Boardman, 55, was sentenced to 22 years in jail following rape, attempted rape, buggery, indecency with a child, indecent assault and sexual activity with a child dating back more than 20 years.

Boardman, formerly of Bray Street, will be on the sex offenders register for life.

Lancashire Police have described the crimes as horrendous after the sentencing at Manchester Crown Court.

42 of the offences took place between 1990 and 2001 when Boardman lived in the Tanterton area of Preston.

One more offence took place in March this year at an address in Ashton.

Detective Chief Inspector Sue Cawley, of Lancashire Police, said: I am pleased with todays sentence which reflects the gravity of Boardmans horrendous crimes.

This is a dangerous and prolific offender who has repeatedly targeted young boys and subjected them to horrendous abuse, showing no regard for their age or vulnerabilities.

His crimes have left his victims scarred for life in terms of both the emotional and psychological effects he has caused and I would like to pay tribute to them for their bravery in coming forward and in giving evidence to this trial.

I would also like to thank the Crown Prosecution Service and Prosecuting Counsel for bringing the case and for securing the convictions.

We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and we would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse or who has been a victim of sexual abuse to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge it will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity.

Boardman pleaded guilty to attempting to pervert the course of justice. Another man Ryan Shenton, 24, of Hoghton Lane, Hoghton was convicted of the same offence following the trial. Two others, Marie Blythe, 31 and Natasha Hart, 21, both of Tennyson Mill Court, Preston admitted attempting to pervert the course of justice at an earlier hearing. This related to attempts to influence the case.

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A MAN who subjected a woman to a frightening ordeal in her own home, where she feared she might be raped or murdered, has been jailed.

Najaf Khan edged his way into her Brierfield home after earlier chatting to her in the street.

Once inside, he insisted upon kissing her and then tried to do it a second time, but failed.

Following his arrest, Khan, 32, exposed himself to officers at Burnley police station, Preston Crown Court heard.

Khan, a married man, of Stanley Street, Brierfield had earlier been convicted after trial of trespassing, with intent to commit a sexual offence, sexual assault, an attempted sexual assault, plus four other charges of exposure. He was also dealt with for two offences of shoplifting. He was jailed for 26 months.

In November last year, Khan got chatting with a young woman in the street. He invited her to join him on his walk, but she refused.

He remained close as she went to open her front door. He got into her home and sat down in the living room.

In a statement, the young woman said his behaviour caused her enormous fear. She said the thought of possible rape and murder was running through her mind. Khan said he wouldn't leave until he had kissed her. The defendant kissed her against her will.

Khan told police he had not entered the woman's home and said he was in Burnley at the time.

Philip Holden, defending, said Khan had plainly been unwell at the time. He had no history of such offending.

He said: “His biggest concern is his family. He has now spent nine months in custody – the equivalent of nearly an 18 month sentence.”

Judge Christopher Cornwall told Khan that although the woman suffered no physical harm, the consequences for her had been extremely considerable. She no longer felt safe in her home and had increased security.

Khan will be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

A restraining order was made, barring him from having any contact, attempting to contact, or enter the woman's street until further order.

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A "predatory bully" who groomed a girl in Lancashire from the age of 13 before abducting and abusing her has been jailed for four years and three months.

Mohammed Imran Amjad, 26, of Halifax Road, Brierfield, admitted sexual activity with a child and three counts of child abduction in 2009 and 2010.

A jury heard he drove her around the streets in his silver BMW.

Prosecutor Chris Long said he knew the victim's age yet continued to "corrupt and abuse her".

Amjad initially denied the charges but changed his plea part way through the trial at Manchester Crown Court.

'Coercing into submission'

He groomed the youngster after he was given her mobile phone number, said prosecutors, then took her out in his car before having sex with her aged 14.

The girl's mother contacted the police but the girl refused to make a complaint at the time and the relationship continued, the court heard.

Amjad was acquitted on the direction of the judge of other charges of rape and aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring rape, encouraging or assisting an offence and witness intimidation.

Five other men were also acquitted of various sex offences against the same girl.

Haroon Mahmood, 22, of John Street, Brierfield; Mohammed Suleman Farooq, 23, of Berry Street, Brierfield; Omar Mazafer, 22, of Halifax Road, Brierfield; Mohammed Zishan Amjad, 25, of Halifax Road, Brierfield; and Shiraz Afzal, 26, of Mansfield Crescent, Brierfield, had also been on trial.

After Amjad was sentenced at Burnley Crown Court earlier, Mr Long said: "Mohammed Imran Amjad was a predatory bully who befriended the victim when she was just 12 or 13-years-old.

"He was well aware that the victim was underage yet he continued to corrupt and abuse her for his own gratification, wielding his power over her and coercing her into submission."

Det Ch Insp Sion Hall said it was the culmination of a long and complex investigation, adding: "We've worked extremely hard with the young victim over a long period of time and she has shown a tremendous amount of courage and bravery throughout the case.

"I hope this sentence acts as a warning that this type of predatory crime will not be tolerated."

Amjad was also given a seven-year sexual offences prevention order which bars him from contacting or seeking to contact any female aged under 16 without the permission of their parent or guardian.

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AN Accrington man has been jailed for 11 years for his part in sexually abusing young girls.

Jerry Lee Howe, 40, of Dunnyshop Avenue, was convicted of three counts against one victim, including rape. He was also given a Sexual Offences Prevention Order to last 20 years.

Another man, Paul Thomas, 50, of Western Way, Basingstoke, Hampshire, was sentenced to 19 years, at Winch-ester Crown Court after being convi-cted of 25 charges involving four girls.

He was also made subject to an indefinite SOPO. The trial heard the attacks took place from the mid-1990s, and stopped only in 2010.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, said: The victims were, the Crown says, sexually abused. They were children, and some of them very young.

The barrister said the abuse stopped only when the vic-tims reached 16.

She explained that some were very used to the abuse, and they did as they were bid as the men attacked them.

The pair abused the victims separ-ately at different times, and in diff-erent locations, including Hampshire and Lancashire, over the years.

Two other men, Paul Flynn, 30, of Bath Road, Reading, and Timothy Pittway, 49, of Mermaid Close, Winn-ersh, Berkshire, were acquitted of all child sexual abuse charges against them by the jury. Thomas was found not guilty of six offences against two victims one of whom was a boy and Howe was found not guilty of three charges involving a girl.

Speaking after the case, Detective Inspector Scott Clarke, from Hamp-shire Police, said: These men system-atically abused and degraded children to the point where their victims felt their ordeal was just a part of growing up. It is down to the courage of these women that these most evil of offen-ders have been brought to justice.

No-one should have to experience the childhood that these victims did.

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Owen Oyston, the owner of Blackpool Football Club, media tycoon and long-time Labour Party donor, was yesterday sentenced to six years in prison for raping and indecently assaulting a 16-year-old girl.

Mr Justice McCullough told him: "You were 58, she was 16. You were rich and powerful with a strong personality. She was young and vulnerable."

She had not, said the judge, "led you on in any way. As Miss B so accurately put it, 'he treated me as an object and I'm not'." The judge told Liverpool Crown Court that it was impossible to know to what extent Miss B has been traumatised by her ordeal. Describing them as "horrendous offences", he sentenced Oyston to three years on the indecent assault and six on the rape, the sentences to run concurrently.

The judge said that but for the fact he was 62, of previous good character and that the offences took place four years ago, he would have gone down for nine years. The verdict delivered after a marathon legal process and a jury deliberation lasting over eight hours, makes Oyston, who is worth an estimated pounds 40m, the richest man to go to prison in Britain for sex offences.

He was acquitted of raping a woman known as "Miss A", at his country mansion. But the jury found he indecently assaulted Miss B, a model who is now 20, by forcing her to have oral sex in a car and then raping her at his home, Claughton Hall, near Lancaster. Lawyers for Oyston, led by Anthony Scrivener QC, said they were considering an appeal.

Proceedings against Oyston began in January last year when he was charged with offences involving six women. Unknown to the jury, a Manchester magistrate ruled last year that he had no case to answer on charges of raping one woman and indecently assaulting two others.

Earlier this year, Oyston was tried at Manchester Crown Court on two counts of rape and one of indecent assault. Separate juries were sworn in for each rape charge and the judge ruled the trial could not be reported until all the sex charges against him had been decided.

On one rape, of a woman in London's Hilton Hotel in Park Lane, he was acquitted. On another, at his home, the jury could not agree and a retrial was ordered. That retrial, of Miss A, was heard along with the case of Miss B. On one charge of indecently assaulting Miss A he was acquitted in Manchester.

For the last few weeks, jurors in Liverpool have listened to a lurid saga of sex in cars, in London, and at his home, involving women from a model agency in Manchester.

At one point during the trial, when Miss B recounted how, aged 16, she was subjected to a sex attack by Oyston in the back of a Toyota Supra car and was then forced into further sex at his home, three members of the jury were reduced to tears.

Mr Scrivener argued that Oyston deserved some clemency because the offences occurred a long time ago, his age and the facts showed that little force was used, but his plea cut no ice with the judge.

As Oyston was being led from the dock, he mouthed "I love you" to his daughter Heidi, who was in the public gallery. She responded by mouthing to her father: "I love you too."

Detective Sergeant Harry Harrison, of the Greater Manchester police investigation team, said of the young model: "The last few years have been a very difficult time for the young lady and her family.

"She has shown tremendous courage in coming to court and giving her evidence, which at time included details of an intimate and traumatic nature.

"I hope that she can take some consolation from the fact that today's result can be seen as a victory for the average person by showing that no matter who an offender is, action can and will be taken when a person's privacy is violated".