Search results for Newbury

Record details

A judge has ordered sex offender Fintan Burke to remain in custody for re-evaluation of his risk to the public.

The 35-year-old, formerly of Newbury and latterly of no fixed address, horrified witnesses by committing a sex act in public view on the Kennet and Avon Canal towpath near Toomers Wharf last July, causing a woman in her 60s to end up in the water.

He also faces sentencing for assaulting emergency workers and racially aggravated public order offences.

Burke, pictured in a 2017 Thames Valley Police custody photo before his jailing for assault causing grievous bodily harm, has prior convictions for outraging public decency and indecent exposure.

He was due for sentencing at Reading Crown Court on Thursday, January 8, but refused to participate via video link despite the presence of barristers, judge, and staff.

Defense barrister Naomi Perry requested an adjournment, saying: “I can only ask for an adjournment in the hope that he will deign to attend [next time].”

Prosecutor Tom Blackburn urged proceeding in his absence.

Judge Rachel Drake, noting difficulty, highlighted a pre-sentence report deeming Burke a “high risk” to the public. She feared his mental health had deteriorated since a three-month-old assessment, adding: “If I were to simply sentence him today or adjourn until next week when he could refuse to come on the [prison video] link, it’s likely he would be released immediately or very shortly thereafter [due to time spent in custody on remand].”

Although a prior psychiatric report found him fit to plead and understand proceedings, Judge Drake worried this might no longer hold. She refused to sentence and release him without an updated report, stating: “If he is not now fit to plead, or his condition has deteriorated such that he should be in hospital, then now is the right time to make that decision rather than him being released now or in February and breaching the terms of his [mandated early release on licence] recall terms or committing another offence and having to start again and be assessed from scratch.”

She ordered assessment by the same psychiatrist to detect any changes and adjourned sentencing to Thursday, February 5, remanding Burke in custody.

Record details

A man in his 70s has been sentenced to  a total of nine and a half years for multiple sexual offences hidden in ‘plain sight’ against an underage girl after years of grooming her.

Charles Buxton, 71, of North Sydmonton, Newbury, Berkshire, was sentenced after appearing at Norwich Crown Court yesterday (13 September 2023). He was sentenced to four years and two months for sexual activity with a child, two years for causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity to be served concurrently and five years and four months to be served consecutively. He was also issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offender Register. 

Buxton previously pleaded guilty to the offences which happened between 2009 and 2011. 

On Monday 25 November 2019 the victim reported to the police she had been sexually abused historically and groomed into a sexual relationship by Buxton who was in his late 50s at the time he met the victim and her family in Cromer.

The court heard that Buxton had started by buying the victim gifts in the early 2000s, such as sweets, money and cigarettes. Buxton gained her ‘trust’ through buying her things and making her think she was in love with him before carrying out sexual activity with her.

In her statement, which the victim read out in court, she describes the impact: “Years have passed, chapters of my life written, my face and body have changed, my family has grown. The wounds of my childhood still open and weep, impacting my life in so many ways. I have suffered with my mental health since the abuse started and still now, it is a constant battle. You took away my voice, you blurred the lines of love, stole my innocence and did it all hidden in plain sight from the world.”

Record details

A MAN has been jailed for five years for raping a woman in a town centre alleyway.

Jurors at Reading Crown Court took just under six hours to unanimously convict Christopher Mark Tooze on Friday, July 16.

The incident was witnessed by nearby residents, one of whom shouted at Tooze: What part of no dont you understand? as he forced himself on his victim, who can not be identified.

Jurors had heard the 36-year-old former pupil of Kennet School, Thatcham, nicknamed Ducky, had followed the woman after she had been drinking with friends in Thatcham town centre.

Tooze insisted the sex was consensual and Jonathan Code, defending, highlighted CCTV footage which showed the pair disappearing hand in hand into an alleyway off The Broadway and out of sight of the camera.

But witnesses Mark and Leanne Jones called 999 after witnessing Tooze forcing himself on his victim while she screamed and pleaded with him to stop.

The woman said she had agreed to go into the alley and kiss him because she was angry with her boyfriend, but had resisted when Tooze tore her leggings down and began to force himself on her.

She told officers: I said no. I deserved better than this.

I was screaming... he wasnt listening... I kicked and kicked and screamed.

Tooze denied the single charge, but chose not to give evidence under oath, upon which he could have been cross examined.

Charles Ward-Jackson, prosecuting, said: The prosecution case is a strong one and you may well think he has questions to answer.

It isnt a long walk from the dock to the witness stand. Yet there he sits.

Mr Ward-Jackson told jurors they could draw their own conclusions from Toozes deafening silence.

He described what happened as a forceful rape and added: He grabbed a sexual opportunity, whether she wanted it or not.

Mr Code, for Tooze, said: The crown say this man in the dock can be branded a rapist for the rest of his life and went on to highlight inconsistencies in the victims evidence.

Despite repeatedly storming out during cross examination, she eventually conceded she had indulged in sexual foreplay with Tooze.

Mr Code suggested the woman had gone on to enjoy consensual intercourse until his client had tried to engage her in an unconventional sex act.

The jury was not convinced.

In addition to being jailed for five years, Tooze was ordered to sign on the sex offenders register for life.