Latest Offenders Littlehampton

Description

A Littlehampton man who assaulted two women has been jailed after an incredible display of bravery by female police officers.

On 2 September, 2023, police received a report of a woman having been sexually assaulted while walking alone through Littlehampton town centre at night.

She was followed and grabbed by an unknown man, who sexually assaulted her, pushed her to the ground and fled the scene.

CCTV footage showed the man loitering in the town centre for around an hour, before following her into a residential area.

Despite a search of the area by police, he could not be located.

The suspect was also captured on CCTV following other women around the town centre.

Suspecting the man posed an ongoing risk to other women, police deployed plain clothes officers to try to catch him.

Police officers, in plain clothes, were deployed to Littlehampton town centre.

In the early hours of Sunday, 1 October, CCTV showed one of the officers – a woman in her 20s - being followed by a man who matched the description of the suspect.

He tailed her for over 30 minutes through the town centre, along the seafront and into the residential Harsfold Road.

Wearing a face covering, he chased after her, grabbed and assaulted her.

He tried to flee the scene but officers nearby who were involved in the operation intercepted and arrested him.

He was identified as 44-year-old Mark Stankus, of High Street in Littlehampton, and subsequently charged with sexual assault and causing actual bodily harm.

Stankus pleaded guilty to all charges and, Porstmouth Crown Court on Friday, 19 April, he was jailed for eight years, given a restraining order and became a registered sex offender for life.

Description

Mark Loten, 51, now of Dorset Close, was found guilty at Lewes Crown Court on Thursday, of two indecent assaults and the rape of a woman known to him at another address in Littlehampton in 1991.

He was sentenced to two years for one of the assaults, three years for the second assault and to six years for rape. All three sentences will run concurrently.

In an exclusive interview with the Gazette, his victim who for legal reasons cannot be identified said the past 23 years since suffering the abuse had been a living hell.

She said: What he did to me is something that I will never forget.

It has been really hard to get over. I felt like I had no one to turn to and it has been something that has been with me for 23 years.

But it is such a relief to finally have this off my chest and to finally have justice done.

Lotens victim said she plucked up the courage to approach police following the recent rise in historic sex cases coming to court, nationally.

She is now encouraging other people who have been victims of abuse to speak to police.

Its never too late for people to come forward, she said. Theres a lot of people out there who have been abused.

It is hard talking about it to police. But they are very understanding and supportive. I couldnt recommend it more.

Sussex Police said Lotens crimes were only reported to the force in 2012.

Detectives carried out a thorough investigation to achieve justice for the 51-year-olds victim, a spokesman said.

The spokesman added: It shows that we will always take such reports seriously no matter how long ago they happened.

The victim was supported by ourselves and appropriate welfare and counselling through the case and her evidence was key in securing Lotens conviction.

Lotens victim said she can now move on with her life.

The memories of what he did will always be with me but now I can move on and get on with my life. For me, justice has been done.

Description

Roy Whiting has been sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of the kidnap and murder of eight-year-old Sarah Payne. He was convicted of both charges by a jury of nine men and three women at Lewes Crown Court, after a trial lasting almost four weeks.

"This doesn't make us happy but justice has been done - Sarah can rest in peace now" Sara and Michael Payne.

There were cries of delight in the packed courtroom as the verdicts were read out on Wednesday, listened to by Sarah's parents and brothers Lee and Luke.

As soon as the unanimous verdicts were declared, the court heard details of Whiting's previous conviction for the kidnap and indecent assault of a nine-year-old girl in 1995.

Trial judge Mr Justice Richard Curtis said it was a rare case when he would recommend that a life sentence should mean life.

Outside court Sarah's parents Sara and Michael said: "This doesn't make us happy but justice has been done.

"Sarah can rest in peace now."

'Absolute menace'

They also called on the government to change the law to ensure it does not happen again.

Sarah disappeared while playing with her siblings

Sarah went missing on 1 July last year after playing near her grandparents' home in Kingston Gorse, West Sussex. Her naked body was found 16 days later.

Whiting, 42, formerly of St Augustine Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, had denied having anything to do with her.

But Mr Justice Curtis said he believed Whiting was "an evil man" and "a cunning and glib liar".

"You are and will remain an absolute menace to any little girl," he told Whiting.

"You're every parent's and grandparent's nightmare come true.

"I recommend you be kept in prison for the rest of your life so that no further child can be added to the list of your victims."

Sarah's mother Sara said: "Let's make sure this stops happening time and time again.

"People are being let out of prison when everybody concerned knows that this is going to happen again."

Abnormal desires

The judge said a psychiatrist who saw Whiting after his 1995 attack warned he was a high risk repeat offender.

He said Sarah's tragic and appalling murder had proved the psychiatrist right.

Whiting's reaction when he was charged with the murder

"It is important in ordinary life that children are allowed to have some freedom by their parents and others to learn self-reliance and enjoy their childhood... You exploited this for your own abnormal sexual desires."

The judge said he was satisfied Whiting was out hunting for children and said he had turned his van into an "moving prison".

During the trial, prosecuting lawyer Timothy Langdale QC told the jury there was "compelling" evidence against Whiting.

Snatched

A strand of Sarah's hair had been found on Whiting's sweatshirt, and fibres from his van were found on her hair and shoe.

Items found by police in Whiting's van included a length of rope, two plastic ties, a knife and a bottle of baby oil.

Fibres from his van were found on Sarah's shoe

The van also contained a receipt for diesel from a garage near the spot where Sarah's body was found, close to the A29 near Pulborough.

Whiting had lied about his movements to police, Mr Langdale said, as he had denied being anywhere near the scene.

Mr Langdale questioned three scratch marks found on Whiting.

And he said Whiting had been seen grinning and driving off just as Sarah's brothers were looking for her.

Whiting took the stand himself for two days during the trial.

He told the court he had changed doors on the back of his van and stripped out wood panelling on the same day as Sarah was kidnapped.

But he told the jury: "It wasn't me."

'On the prowl'

Sarah's parents, Sara and Michael Payne, had been present for most of the trial.

Mr Langdale told the jury Sarah was snatched after a day out with her family.

Sarah, her brothers Lee, 13, Luke, 11, and her five-year-old sister, Charlotte, had separated from their parents and grandparents after a walk to the seaside, he said.

They were playing in a nearby cornfield when Sarah slipped through a hedge into a country lane.

Mr Langdale said Whiting, who had been driving around "on the prowl" for a young child or children, then grabbed her.