Latest Offenders Newcastle

Description

A paedophile is facing jail after he was found with a sick stash of child sex abuse images and videos.

Shamed Sean Courtney amassed his vile collection over a four-year period until police seized his electronic devices in 2019.

A total of 178 disturbing pictures and 105 movies had been downloaded by 32-year-old.

Newcastle Magistrates' Court was told that 28 pictures and 70 videos were category A, the most serious kind involving sexual penetration.

Extreme pornography depicting women with dogs was also found in Courtney's possession.

Now, the pervert, of Losh Terrace, in Walker, Newcastle, will spend Christmas fearing her will be sent to prison after he pleaded guilty to three count of making an indecent image of a child and one of having extreme porn.

Prosecutor Jonathan Stirland said Courtney downloaded the vile material between August 1 2015 and April 16 2019.

He added: "The Crown would say this isn't suitable for this court and should be committed for sentence."

Gregg Stephens, defending, said Courtney suffered from mental health issues.

The solicitor continued: "The starting point is 12 months custody for category A images, so I anticipate this will go to the crown court.

"Mr Courtney doesn't have any convictions but does have severe mental health issues."

District Judge Paul Currer committed Courtney to Newcastle Crown Court for sentence.

He said: "You have pleaded guilty to these offences. They are so serious, they need to be dealt with in the crown court.

"You will appear there on January 19. Please attend at 10am. If you fail to attend, you commit an offence for which you could be prosecuted. Please make sure you attend."

In the meantime, Courtney was released on conditional bail, where he must reside at his home address.

Description

An army cadet instructor who raped a "blind drunk" woman then boasted about what he had done has been jailed.

Robert Wilkinson forced himself on the victim when she was so intoxicated she had thrown up.

A court heard she became aware of having had clothing removed and being abused by the 22-year-old.

Wilkinson, of Newcastle, denied rape and sexual assault but was found guilty by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court and has now been jailed for seven years.

Sentencing him, Judge Penny Moreland said: "(She) was extremely drunk, she was vomiting.

"She was blind drunk. That's the state of the girl you sexually assaulted and raped.

"She was particularly vulnerable.

"You then boasted of what you had done to her in a text to your friend on the way home."

When originally questioned by police, Wilkinson denied any sexual activity took place then when presented with scientific proof that it had, he changed his story and claimed it had been consensual, an account jurors rejected.

As well as the prison sentence, Wilkinson will be on the sex offenders register for life and will be barred from working with vulnerable adults or children.

Annelise Haugstad, defending, said he was of previous good character.

Description

Alan Mennie, of Hebburn, has been jailed for more than four years for attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity

Online predator Alan Mennie has been jailed after he was exposed by paedophile hunters engaging in sex chats with what he thought were two underage girls.

The loner believed he was communicating with youngsters aged 11 and 13 over the internet but had been duped by Secret Whispers, an organisation behind fake profiles that are set up to snare paedophiles.

Now Mennie, 42, has been jailed for four years and one month at Newcastle Crown Court after he admitted two charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

Prosecutor Andrew Espley said: "This defendant engaged in sexual conversations with two separate people online, pretending to be children.

"Penetrative sexual activity was discussed and it emerged that those were fake profiles, set up by Secret Whispers."

The first conversation took place between October 2018 and April 2019.

Mr Espley said Mennie "made it clear he wasn't concerned she was 13" and asked if she had been with an older man.

Mennie invited the child to his home and engaged in graphic sexual conversation.

The second chat was between March and April 2019 and Mennie believed the girl was just 11.

Mr Espley said: "Full sexual intercourse was discussed."

The court heard Mennie tried to persuade both child profiles to perform sex acts on themselves.

As well as the prison sentence, Mennie, of Tharsis Road, Hebburn, South Tyneside, must abide by a sexual harm prevention order and sign the sex offenders register for life.

Judge Spragg said Mennie has never lived with a partner or lived apart from his mother, who is now in her 80s and is "socially isolated".

Nick Lane, defending, said: "He very much regrets the way he behaved and recognises the seriousness of his offending."

Mr Lane said Mennie became withdrawn after the sudden death of his father when he was younger.

The court heard Mennie was employed for a few years after leaving school but was then unable to work due to anxiety and depression, which he received counselling for.

Description

Depraved Brian Cairns paid to have very young children sexually abused and tortured so he could watch the vile abuse live on camera.

The twisted 60-year-old sent money online to "facilitators " in the Philippines to he could direct the horrific abuse of girls as young as four as he observed it.

Newcastle Crown Court heard he kept screenshots of what he had ordered, "almost off a menu".

During one of the sickening live shows, Cairns asked the for a break to go and get some cigarettes so he could smoke while he watched the "unsafe and degrading" acts.

Prosecutor Paul Cleasby told the court officers from Northumbria Police Paedophile Investigation Team had seized Cairns' computer devices after they received information he had been sending "large sums of money" overseas in exchange for child abuse images.

Mr Cleasby said an analysis of Cairns' computer revealed a series of chats and added: "It was clear from the conversations money had been paid by the defendant in order for sexual abuse of children to take place live on
camera while he watched."

The court heard Cairns ordered that the abused girls should be under eight years old and made specific requests involving "degrading violence" that he wanted done to them.

One of the victims was four and the other between six and eight.

Cairns, of Pendle Close, Washington, admitted two charges of inciting the sexual exploitation of a child and two of making indecent photographs of a child.

Judge Amanda Rippon jailed Cairns for 13 years with an extended one year licence period.

The judge said the offences were "some of the most depraved I have had the displeasure to come across in my work in the criminal justice system in the context of child abuse".

Judge Rippon said: "Suffice to say, these offences are of the most grave kind.

"You ordered, almost off a menu, for children who you did not want to be older than eight, to me not just abused but tortured - and they were.

"They were tortured for your sexual gratification in the most abhorrent way.

"You even told them to wait at one point so you could go and get some cigarettes so you could smoke while you watched.

"You directed the abuse.

"These children are very young, desperately so in the context of what you were requesting was done to them."

Description

A vile paedophile who "ruined the life" of his schoolgirl victim has finally been brought to justice more than 40 years later.

John Storey subjected the young girl to years of abuse in the late 1970s when he was aged between 33 and 35.

This included touching her vagina, making her touch his penis and perform a sex acts on him, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Tom Storey, prosecuting, said the victim remembered waking up to find the pervert in the room next to her before the abuse began.

He said: "She described herself as being powerless to do anything about it.

"On days following occasions when he abused her he would sometimes tell her to say nothing about it.

"He would tell her people would not believe her, and if they did she would be responsible for his sons losing their father."

The victim was initially too terrified to tell anyone about what had been going on and said the abuse had ruined her life.

The 77-year-old's sickening crimes drove her to abusing alcohol and drugs and she ended up seeking the help of a counsellor.

It was during a counselling session that the brave victim spoke of the abuse she had endured and eventually reported it to the police in February last year.

In a victim impact statement, the woman said: "The abuse has had a devastating impact on my life. I found it difficult to make friends at that time and always felt like an outsider.

"I believed it was my fault and I should have done more to stop the abuse from happening.

"Living with this secret has had a massive effect on my mental health. I was so ashamed of it I started abusing alcohol and drugs to block out the memories and the pain.

"I truly believe that John saw vulnerability in me and preyed on me.

"I will always live with the guilt that other children may have been abused by John after me because I did not speak out at the time.

"That is something I have to come to terms with."

Storey, of Kingston Green, Newcastle, was arrested and interviewed on March 4, 2020, and initially denied any allegations of sexual abuse against the complainant.

He later admitted four counts of sexual assault and two counts of indecency with a child at Newcastle Crown Court.

The court heard how Storey had a history of offences against young girls. He spent more than a decade behind bars from 2008 for a string of sex offences including three counts of rape and two counts of attempted rape.

Storey was subject to a conditional discharge in July 1977 after having intercourse with a girl under the age of 16 and would have breached this by abusing his latest victim to speak out.

Paul Caulfield, defending, said his client suffered from a serious lung disease which limited his life expectancy. He added that this meant he was particularly vulnerable to catching Covid-19.

Judge Penny Moreland sentenced Storey to six years in prison, of which he will serve half behind bars if he is no longer deemed a risk before being released on licence.

"You ensured her silence by telling her she would not be believed," Judge Moreland told him.

"You told a probation officer you were unable to remember the fact you repeatedly abused a child in that way.

"What you did to her was devastating. You ruined her life.

"You are an inveterate abuser of girls."

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life and will pay a victim surcharge.

Description

Iain Gosling, of Wallsend, engaged in sickening sex chats online with what he thought were children but were in fact decoy profiles set up by police.

An online predator who targeted children for sex has walked free from court.

Iain Gosling spoke of taking 12 and 13-year-old girls to a hotel and sent a picture of his penis in sickening exchanges.

Fortunately the profiles he preyed upon were decoys being run by police so no children were harmed.

Go here for the latest reports and live updates from North East courts

Newcastle Crown Court heard he first communicated with what he thought was a 13-year-old called Hannah, on Fast Flirting, last September.

Having already asked a graphic sexual question, Gosling, who said he was 61 but who is in fact 43, was not deterred by her revelation of how young she was.

Vince Ward, prosecuting, said: "He discussed visiting her in his car and taking her shopping and to the cinema.

"He offered to buy her clothes that she could model for him.

"He said girls liked doing stuff with older people because older guys take their time."

He made a series of lewd remarks, suggested she should "go do stuff in my car somewhere quiet" and again said they should go to the cinema and shopping.

Mr Ward said: "He suggested booking a hotel somewhere where no-one would recognise them and suggested Southampton and Reading.

"He said he had booked a hotel in Reading for 150 to spend the day there but that he knew she would not be able to spend the night."

Gosling also said he would spend over 100 on one outfit for her and offered to take her to KFC and McDonald's.

Mr Ward added: "He asked if she would go all the way and reassured her it would not hurt as he would not be rough with her.

"He said she would not get pregnant because of his age."

Gosling went on to communicate with what he thought was a 12-year-old called Holly, who he sent a picture of his genitals and suggested they watch a movie in the cab of his lorry while lying down in the dark. He said he had "very naughty movies".

Around a week later he communicated with the same profile and suggested booking a hotel, shopping and watching a movie and made sexual remarks.

Gosling, of Percy Street, Wallsend, pleaded guilty to three counts of attempted sexual communication with a child and was sentenced to 15 months suspended for two years with a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender registration for 10 years.

Judge Edward Legard said Gosling couldn't complain if he sent him immediately to prison and said people would expect a deterrent sentence given the abhorrence with which such crimes are viewed . But he said he decided "by the narrowest margin" the public would be best served by a suspended sentence.

Shaun Routledge, defending, said: "His best point is his early guilty plea.

"He is in his 40s and of good character and has worked throughout his life and supports his daughter and ex partner.

"He turned to alcohol and his relationship broke down."

Description

Police have welcomed the prison sentence handed to a former prison officer who sexually abused two schoolgirls after he was finally brought to justice.

Pervert John Saunders indecently assaulted his first victim in the mid-1990s but was not prosecuted despite the young victim reporting his abuse.

However, he then preyed on another schoolgirl in 2018 and when she reported the abuse the following year the previous matter was re-opened.

Saunders, of Liverpool Road, Cross Heath, Newcastle, had denied two charges of indecent assault and one charge of assaulting a child under 13 by penetration but was convicted of all three offences by a jury in October.

The 68-year-old was locked up for 13 years with an extended two years licence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court last week.

Welcoming the sentence, DC Gary Cliffe, of Staffordshire Police, said: I am delighted with the sentence handed to Saunders and we hope this sentence is a reminder that we will continue to do whatever it takes to bring the perpetrators of these heinous crimes to justice no matter how long ago these attacks took place."

Saunders must serve half of the custodial term - six-and-a-half years - before he can be considered for release by the parole board. After his release he will serve the rest of the total 15 year sentence on licence. He was placed on the sex offenders' register for life.

Description

Alan Hawkins, of North Shields, has previous convictions for indecent assault and possessing and distributing indecent images

A serial pervert is back behind bars after police found an indecent image of boys on his phone.

Alan Hawkins has been jailed previously for indecent assault and possessing and distributing indecent images.

When police went to the registered sex offender's home in September this year, they examined his phone and the first picture they found in his photo gallery was the indecent image.

The court heard it was of the most serious type, category A.

Now the 57-year-old, of Saville Street West, North Shields, who has 23 previous convictions, has been jailed at Newcastle Crown Court.

The court heard he was jailed for 18 months for indecent assault in 1997, got five years for possessing and distributing indecent images in 2008, three years for possessing indecent images in 2018 and a suspended sentence last June for breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

On September 30, police attended his home and the latest offence was discovered.

Description

A prison officer who demanded sexual favours from female inmates in return for privileges has been jailed for six years and nine months.

David Whitfield took advantage of 12 women over a five year period at HMP Low Newton, in Durham, BBC reports.

The jail is the North East's only all women prison.

Following a three-week trial at Teesside Crown Court, the 36-year-old, of Colman Avenue in South Shields, was found guilty of misconduct in a public office.

Whitfield was cleared of a charge of sexual assault on a prisoner.

Prosecutor Anne Richardson said Whitfield would enter one prisoner's cell while she was naked and brush up against her, the BBC reports.

The jury was also told the pair regularly engaged in sexual acts - although it did not progress to intercourse - and in return the prisoner would be given advanced warning of cell searches and confiscated items would be given back to her.

The trial heard Whitfield, who no longer works for the prison service, would also watch inmates through their cell hatch and indicate he wanted them to undress.

Many of the inmates were described as vulnerable having previously suffered abuse.

Recorder David Gordon sentenced him to six years and nine months in jail.

A Prison Service spokesperson said: “The vast majority of our staff carry out their duties to the highest standard and we will not hesitate to punish any individual that breaks the rules.”

Description

A predatory taxi driver who sexually assaulted a passenger as she slept in the front seat of his car has been jailed.

Bozlul Hoque, 44, has been sentenced to eight years behind bars after he drove his 21-year-old victim to a secluded street and abused her in April 2019.

Newcastle Crown Court was told how the black cab driver had picked up the female student from outside a city centre bar in the early hours of the morning.

She got into the front seat and asked to be taken to her home address but she fell asleep during the journey.

The terrified victim awoke a short time later to find Hoque had parked in a secluded street and was sexually assaulting her.

She screamed at the driver who then transported her to her to a friend’ address where the victim reported what had happened to police.

The married father-of-three was arrested but denied sexually assaulting the woman and claimed she had been intoxicated and unable to provide him with her address.

But forensic examination found his DNA on the victim and he was charged with sexual assault and later pleaded guilty at court.

On Tuesday Hoque, of Croydon Road, Newcastle, was jailed for eight years at Newcastle Crown Court.

Following the case, the investigating officer at Northumbria Police praised the bravery the victim had shown throughout the investigation and subsequent court proceedings.

Detective Constable Joe Birkett said: “This should have been a five minute journey but we were able to use CCTV and mobile phone data to prove the victim was in the car for 30 minutes.

“Hoque tried to claim this was because of her intoxication but forensic analysis showed he had physical contact with her and the mountain of evidence against him resulted in a guilty plea.

“He was a licenced taxi driver who had undergone vulnerability training and was in a position of trust. His sole duty should have been getting his customer home safely.

“Instead he abused that position of trust and I welcome the significant custodial sentence handed to this sexual predator by the judge.

“This result would not have been possible if it were not for the bravery of the victim in this case and I want to take this opportunity to thank her for having the courage to come forward.

“We hope this sentencing can bring her some comfort and shows other victims of sexual assault that we will do everything in our power to put predators behind bars.”

In a victim impact statement read during the sentencing hearing, Hoque’s victim said her abuser took advantage of her ‘in the worst possible way’.

She said: “This assault on me occurred more than two years ago and yet I cannot shake the memory of this event from my mind.

“The nightmares are still happening, the night terrors still wake me up breathless and panicking, the anxiety of traveling in a taxi is still there.

“But for the last two years this man has denied what he did. He has lied continuously to the Police in his interviews and he has sought out every way to avoid being held responsible.

“I don't believe he has one ounce of remorse in his body. He is simply pleading guilty because the evidence against him is overwhelming and he has been backed into a comer.

“I can’t help wondering how many other single drunk females have climbed into his taxi like me and suffered similar things. I doubt I was the first but I hope I will be the last.”

Description

A NHS computer expert downloaded sick indecent images of children a second time during "extraordinary" delays in his case when police lost evidence.

Ross Morton was arrested as long ago as 2014 for having the illegal material but his case went off into the long grass when "exhibits went missing".

The evidence was later found by Northumbria Police but by that time Morton had gone on to offend again in the same way.

Now, after a further three year delay - and seven years after his initial arrest - he has finally been brought to justice.

However a judge hit out at the "extraordinary amount of time" it had taken the authorities to prosecute him.

Newcastle Crown Court heard it was in December 2014 that police went to his then-home in Sunderland and found hundreds of indecent photographs and movies on his mobile phone, featuring children as young as four.

He had also used search terms indicating he was seeking out such material.

He was released under investigation and then interviewed again in 2016 and asked about disturbing chats police found on the Kik platform, including reference to film of a six-year-old engaged in sexual activity.

Andrew Findlay, prosecuting, said Morton told police it was just role-playing and he faces no charges in relation to that activity.

He was released under investigation again and nothing happened until police went to his home in Longbenton, North Tyneside, in July 2018.

His equipment was seized and hundreds more indecent images were found, including some of the most serious kind and featuring children as young as four and five.

Mr Findlay said: "He was interviewed again and admitted accessing indecent images through the dark web as a result of the previous police investigation.

"He said he had not known the dark web existed until that point and said he was searching out of curiosity.

"He said he wanted to be more informed about what he was being investigated for and said it made him physically sick and not aroused."

Morton, 28, of Station Road, Gosforth, Newcastle, pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent images of children and possessing an extreme pornographic image and was sentenced to 18 months suspended for two years with 150 hours unpaid work. He must also do a sex offenders treatment course and will be subject to sex offender registration and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Recorder Jamie Hill QC told him: "The fact is children who are photographed or filmed are essentially being abused.

"The creation of those images is fuelled by the market of people who want to view them."

The judge added: "I'm struggling to understand how this has taken so long to get to court. You have been waiting for this day of sentence for seven years. That's an extraordinary length of time.

"I'm told the explanation is at some stage the police had lost the exhibits then re-found them.

"That seven year delay is tempered somewhat by the fact that three years ago the police found some more images which does you no credit, of course.

"Again there has been a three year delay since that point which is an extraordinary amount of time."

Recorder Hill said he would suspend the sentence as probation assessed him as a low risk of reoffending and capable of living a constructive life.

Stuart Graham, defending, said: "Through his actions, he has thrown everything away.

"He had a good job. That was suspended and he is in no doubt he will be sacked. He was an IT support expert for the NHS.

"If the police had done things right in 2014 he probably would not have offended again.

"It's seven years he has had this hanging over him. It all went quiet for two years from 2014 to 2016. He contacted the police several times trying to get hold of particular officers with no reply coming back. I don't know if it was embarrassment on the police's behalf for losing the exhibits.

"Then it was not for another two or three years that everything was back before the court again."

Mr Graham said Morton was "appalled" and felt "revulsion" at the images and he had been "exceedingly tearful", especially at the prospect of having to tell his family what he had done.

He added that Morton had been doing charity work and trying to make up for what he had done "including staying in the NHS in these difficult times".

A spokesperson for Northumbria Police said: “We are committed to bringing cases to court in a timely manner and working with our criminal justice partners to help ensure this happens.

“We recognise that on this occasion there has been a delay. We are, however, pleased that justice has been carried out.

“We will ensure any learning points from this case are taken forward.”

Description

A paedophile network pervert who took illegal photos of a child was caught with thousands of indecent images of youngsters.

Adam Lumley exchanged thousands of photographs and videos with like-minded sex offenders online.

The 29-year-old, convicted of indecent exposure last year, had amassed his vile collection between 2013 and 2020.

Newcastle Crown Court he also distributed some of the material and was part of a network of paedophiles sharing images online.

Now Lumley, of Stanton Street, Arthurs Hill, Newcastle, has been jailed for more than three years.

Judge Julie Clemitson told him: "A large number of victims were caused great harm in the making of those images.

"People like you who trade in indecent images of children perpetuate the misery those children suffer as they are abused to produce those images for other people's sexual gratification."

Lumley pleaded guilty to distributing indecent images and possessing 2,611 of the most serious, category A, images, including 1,628 movies. He also had 1,674 category B and 3,021 category C.

The ages of the children ranged from babies to 15 year olds.

There were many thousands of other images on his devices and cloud platforms that police did not examine to see if they were illegal.

He admitted he planned to upload some pictures he took of a child doing a private act in exchange for more material from other users.

Lumley also admitted voyeurism, possessing extreme pornography involving an adult and a dog and possessing prohibited images of a child.

When he was interviewed by the police, he admitted he had a sexual interest in children.

Andrew Findlay, prosecuting, said: "He had spoken to others (on online cloud platforms) about their interest in children, fantasising about sexual activity with children and images were exchanged.

"There's clearly an active involvement in a network that creates and shares images of children."

Lumley was jailed for three years and two months and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and sex offenders registration for ten years.

The court heard he has lost his marriage as a result of his offending and he he has become very isolated, with most of his family distancing themselves from him as they are appalled.

Brian Hegarty, defending, said he had been candid about what he had done from the outset.

He added that Lumley has been viewing pornography since he was 13, soon after his dad died, his mum having died when he was 11.

Mr Hegarty said: "He was very isolated and spent most of his time in his room involved in what was thought to be gaming activities but was him looking at pornography.

"Initially he looked at adult pornography but the searches he conducted caused him to look at indecent images. It's a habit which has developed over a number of years.

"He accepts he had a significant number of images and videos of the very worse sort."

Description

A "vile" paedophile who subjected two young girls to a campaign of sexual abuse has been jailed.

Edward Brady, 61, from Heaton, indecently assaulted two young girls for more than 10 years where he forced the young girls to carry out sex acts on him and he sexually touched them.

He also placed a camera in a toilet roll holder in a bathroom to obtain footage of his victims for his own sexual gratification.

But the victims bravely came forward and Northumbria Police's Safeguarding unit launched an investigation.

After he was questioned by police, Brady was charged with two counts of indecency with a child, three counts of indecent assault and one count of voyeurism.

Brady of Coast Road, Heaton, pleaded guilty to all six offences and was sentenced to seven years and eight months at Newcastle Crown Court last Friday.

He was also given an indefinite restraining order and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which places strict restrictions on him as well as certain requirements he will have to comply with upon his release from prison.

Detective Constable Karin Mcmorrow led the investigation and hopes the sentencing can help the women move on with their lives.

Det Cons Mcmorrow said: "This has been such an awful case. Brady is a vile man and thankfully behind bars where he belongs. He exploited two innocent girls for his own sickening sexual gratification leaving his victims with a lifetime of emotional suffering.

"They have been so brave to speak out and I hope their strength can help encourage other victims who have suffered abuse - no matter when in their lives - to come forward.

"These victims are living a life sentence for what Brady has done to them but I hope the sentencing today can give them some closure."

Anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse - recent or non-recent - are urged to report it to police via the Northumbria Police website or contact 101.

There is also independent support and advice available through Victims First Northumbria.

Description

A young girl was repeatedly raped after her family pressured her to drop earlier allegations against her abuser.

When the vulnerable child finally plucked up the courage to report that she had been abused by Craig Wight, it seemed her nightmare would be over.

But in an "appalling" development, members of her family persuaded her it would be best if she withdrew the complaint.

The youngster did as she was asked but months later Wight subjected her to a series of even more serious sex attacks, including multiple painful rapes.

Now the 43-year-old paedophile, who groomed the victim by telling her he loved her, has been jailed for 15 years at Newcastle Crown Court.

Sentencing Wight, Judge Stephen Earl said it was "appalling" that the victim had been pressured into dropping the earlier allegations, which were of a less serious type than what went on to happen.

The judge outlined a series of despicable acts which he labelled "abhorrent abuse".

Judge Earl said: "He repeatedly told her he loved her and he spoke about how the relationship could develop more when she got to 16.

"He took advantage of her vulnerability.

"This is not love, this is a form of control.

"You don't love someone when you are 40-odd and they are (a child) and you are ... raping them."

The judge paid tribute to the victim for reporting what had happened to her.

He said: "It's an amazing testament that she's got the courage to report these matters.

"She has been failed by the adults in her life.

"She has felt isolated, out of place, vulnerable, emotional, a child unable to cope.

"These are phrases that burn themselves into your consciousness when you read them."

Wight, of Hadrian Court, Killingworth, North Tyneside, admitted 18 sex offences including three of rape, although he raped her "at least four or five times", the court heard.

Judge Earl told Wight he would have to serve two-thirds of the 15 year sentence and will be on the sex offenders register for life and subject to a sexual harm prevention order

The judge told him: "You had a clear warning when she made and retracted, through pressure, her first complaint.

"I can only express horror for the way you have callously acted towards her."

Judge Earl said there was "very little mitigation" in Wight's favour.

Description

Pervert Andrew Parsons was snared by paedophile hunters after turning up to a "secret" meeting with an underage boy.

The 51-year-old chatted to a "boy" called James on gay dating app Grindr, not realising it was a decoy profile set up by Dark Justice.

Despite being told James was only 15 and a virgin, Parsons asked if he was "discreet" after describing in detail the sexual acts they could do together.

When a meeting was arranged Parsons said it should be "kept a secret".

Prosecutor Lee Fish told Newcastle Crown Court: "The defendant asked if anyone knew that James was coming to his house and he said no.

"What then happened was members of Dark Justice and the police went to the agreed meeting point and the defendant was arrested."

Parsons admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming, in April 2017.

The court heard he has a previous conviction for sexual activity in a public lavatory.

Judge Robert Adams sentenced Parsons to 18 months behind bars. and imposed a sexual harm prevention order and told him he must sign the sex offenders register, both for ten years.

The judge told him: "James said he was a virgin and had never done this before.

"This did not deter you.

"You gave him your contact details, where you lived, well aware what you were doing was wrong.

"You asked if he was discreet and could keep a secret."

The court heard Parsons claimed he had "turned a blind eye" to the boy's age and was "disgusted" by child sex abuse.

Judge Adams added: "No sexual activity with a child did occur or in fact could have occurred. No child existed, it was a decoy.

"This is a sentence which cannot be appropriately suspended, although non-custodial options are available, it seems to me there has to be some form of deterrent in cases like this, where people take risks, not expecting to be caught.

"Had this person been a child, significant harm could have been caused."