Latest Offenders Oxfordshire

Description

A man has been jailed for more than four years for child sexual offences. 

Andrew Grant, of Queen Street, Bampton, was sentenced to 54 months for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, being an adult attempting to meet a girl following grooming, arranging or facilitating sexual activity with a child and driving without third party insurance.

Grant, 58, was sentenced during a hearing at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, November 29. 

Grant was accused of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a girl under the age of 16 – namely 14 - in Eynsham between November 22, 2022 and February 18, 2023.

Between the same dates, he was accused of trying to meet the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, at Oxford Train Station after a period of grooming.

Grant was also charged with arranging/facilitating commission of offence of a sexual activity with a child in Eynsham between the same dates.

His driving offences took place on February 18 last year in Park End Street, at Oxford Train Station in a Nissan X Trail.

As well as being jailed, he was given six penalty points on his driving licence for the driving offence. 

Grant was also given a sexual harm prevention order and put on the sex offender register, both indefinitely. 

He was also barred indefinitely from working with children and vulnerable people. 

Description

Following an investigation by Thames Valley Police, a man has been jailed for two years and ten months after he was convicted of child sex offences in Burford.

Stephen Painter, aged 67, of Frethern Close, Burford, pleaded guilty to a count each of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming and attempting to breach a sexual harm prevention order, following a hearing at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on 19 March.

Appearing at Oxford Crown Court on the same day, Painter was jailed.

Between 3 and 25 February this year, Painter communicated in a sexual manner with a person he believed was a 14-year-old girl and was making arrangements to meet with her.

He was, in fact, talking to an adult member of the public, who gathered evidence, confronted him at his home address, and contacted police.

Painter was arrested on 25 February and charged the following day.

Detective Sergeant Mark Personius of Cherwell & West Oxfordshire CID, said: “Painter was already a registered sex offender, having previously been convicted of a similar offence.

“I am happy that this matter has been resolved so quickly and that Painter has been sent to prison.

“He poses a significant risk to children, and I hope that the community feels safer now that Painter is behind bars where he belongs.”

Description

A FORMER school bus driver in Witney has been jailed after raping a 14-year-old girl and encouraging a 13-year-old girl to send him naked photographs.

Peter Gibbs, 60, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court of three counts of historic child sex abuse which happened in the early 2000s – two counts of indecent assault and one count of rape – after being found guilty at trial.

Over two decades later, Gibbs, pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual communication with a child and making indecent images of a child after six naked photographs were found of the teen on his device in 2022.

Sentencing Gibbs, of Briary Lane, Carterton, to eight years and seven months imprisonment, Judge Michael Gledhill said: “You ought to be thoroughly disgusted with yourself.”

During the sentencing, it was heard that the historic counts were first reported to police in August 2001 after the victim made a report, telling her GP she had been raped.

It was heard the assaults had happened in his car as well as on a bus where he worked as a driver.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service dismissed the case.

Gibbs was not charged at the time but was arrested again in February 2021 when a school reported that Gibbs, who was the authority’s bus driver at the time, had been messaging a 15-year-old student.

In May 2022, Gibbs pleaded guilty to the counts relating to that incident and the victim in the latest trial, who is now an adult, was contacted again by police and the case was reopened.

A victim impact statement written by the woman and teen were read out in court.

The first wrote: “Peter Gibbs ruined my life. After it happened, I couldn’t go back to school. I was extremely embarrassed. I felt my parents were disappointed in me.

“What he did to me affects me on a day-to-day basis.”

The teen wrote: “He was a person employed to keep children safe yet he made as a child feel unsafe.

“I feel like I can’t enjoy myself like my friends do because of what he has done to me.”

Defending Gibbs, his barrister explained that the defendant has not been ‘eating, drinking or taking medication’ in custody and has been placed on ‘a particular watch’.

He said: “He is very, very sorry for what he’s done and he’s remorseful for his actions.

"The man has fully, completely and totally come to his senses and has expressed his great sorrow and shame to his partner.”

Description

A PAEDOPHILE has been jailed for eight years after threatening to kill himself if a 14-year-old girl did not send him naked photographs.

Ashley Bourton was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday (February 23) for three counts of attempted sexual communication with a child, five counts of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual communication and one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The 25-year-old was caught by four different online child activist groups who pretended to be young girls to catch predators.

They were: Justice For Kids, No More Secrets, Innocence From The Shadows, and Secrets and Lies Confronted.

Bourton was caught messaging the fake accounts videos of him masturbating, believe the accounts to be 13 to 15 year old girls.

Judge Michael Gledhill sentenced Bourton, of Wigod Way, Wallingford, to five years imprisonment plus a three year extended term due to the defendant being classified as a ‘dangerous’ and ‘high risk offender’.

Opening the case, prosecutor Steven Attridge said Bourton had been caught messaging the fake accounts on various platforms, including online chatrooms and WhatsApp in May last year.

He messaged ‘Lucy Jane’, who he thought was a 13-year-old girl, on Facebook using his account ‘Playboy25’, asking her for naked photos.

 Another account, pretending to be a 13-year-old girl named ‘Carrie’, was run by an East Midlands Specialist Unit and Bourton was caught messaging her saying: “If I was you dad and you saw me d*** would you ask to use it?”

An account run by ‘Secrets and Lies Confronted’, pretending to be a 14-year-old girl called Freya, caught Bourton threatening to commit suicide if the teenager did not send naked photographs.

Upon arrest on May 22, officers also found search terms on the defendant’s phone indicating he had been looking for indecent images of children.

Bourton was previously jailed in April 2021 for sexually assaulting a six-year-old old and several other child sex offences.

Defending Bourton, barrister Gordana Austen said the 25-year-old suffered from physical and mental difficulties. 

 She said he is on the autism spectrum and suffers from anxiety and depression.

“He lives a very isolated and lonely life,” she said. “He says he tries to date and communicate with adults but they ignore him which is why he finds it easier to communicate with children.”

Sentencing Bourton, Judge Gledhill said: “You are a very high risk offender according to both the probation officer and your own psychiatrist and I’ve come to the conclusion that you are, what is known in law, as dangerous.”

Description

A CONVICTED sex offender has avoided jail for a second time after being caught living with a 17-month-old baby despite a court order.

Aaron Kitney, 34, was first jailed in 2019 for having sex with a 15-year-old which he claimed was a ‘consensual’ relationship at the time.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child and was jailed for eight years and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). He was released on licence in March 2022.

Kitney later moved in with a 21-year-old mum who had a 17-month-old boy. Kitney was obliged to tell the mum and the local childcare services about living with a child under 16 but failed to do so.

He was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (February 22) for breaching the order.

Sentencing him to a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, Judge Michael Gledhill said: “No one thinks you have an inappropriate interest in young male children but it was covered in the SHPO.

“If you had just told the mother and the child support services about the SHPO the likelihood is they would have said, ‘He isn’t interested in a young 17-month-old boy, let’s gets in touch with your solicitor and vary the order’.

“But you brought this all on yourself.”

The court heard that Kitney, of Gaveston Road, Didcot, had told the mum-of-one about his previous convictions but had not informed her of the conditions of his SHPO.

After hearing about her new partner, the mum’s own parents became concerned and researched Kitney.

Upon finding out about his previous convictions, her parents called the police and he has been in custody for about six months.

Kitney did have other accommodation at the time, after living homeless in a tent for about four months, but upon arrest, most of his items including clothes were found at her home.

Defending Kitney, barrister Gordana Austen said that Kitney worked as a groundworker six days a week and as a cleaning five days a week in the evenings.

“So he did try to keep himself busy,” she said.

Concluding the case, Judge Gledhill said: “It’s your own stupid fault. Just keep yourself to yourself. Learn a lesson and don’t come back before this court again.”

Judge Gledhill didn’t order ‘trail monitoring’ as it thought it would be ‘over the top’ and there were no orders for unpaid work as the judge wants Kitney to focus on his own work.

He will, however, need to complete 55 rehabilitation activity days.

Description

Following a Thames Valley Police investigation, a man from Bicester has been convicted of rape and other child sexual offences.

A jury unanimously found Hayden Nolan, aged 31, of Bernwood Road, guilty of two counts each of rape of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, and sexual assault of a child under 13 at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (7/12).

He is due to be sentenced on 11 January next year.

Nolan raped and sexually assaulted a child under 13 numerous times. He was charged on 15 December last year.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Bryn Smith, of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: “Hayden Nolan is a predatory sex offender who has now been convicted three times of offences against children.

“Nolan is a danger to children around him. He is extremely manipulative and an experienced liar. 

“He groomed the child victim in this matter over a few months, starting with touching over clothing which then quickly escalated to rape.

“This abuse only ceased when he was imprisoned after being caught making arrangements to meet a teenage girl for sex in early 2019. The girl was in fact a decoy child operated by a law enforcement officer.

Description

Clive Nightingale, 80, a former chairman of Little Tew’s parish council, was said to have looked at the sick material out of ‘curiosity’.

On Thursday (October 5), Oxford Crown Court heard that some of the children in the indecent images found on the West Oxfordshire man’s computer were estimated to be under one year old.

But the former schoolmaster was spared an immediate jail term by Judge Michael Gledhill KC, who cited Nightingale’s age and previous good character.

“My heart goes out to your wife in particular and, indeed, to the rest of your family. How thjey must have felt when the police arrived at your home and found these filthy images on your computer I can’t begin to imagine,” he said.

Judge Gledhill added: “What a way to end your career; in a dock of a crown court, having pleaded guilty to these appalling offences.

“I’m not going to lecture you anymore. I’m not going to send you immediately to prison, because of your age, you pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity, your good character [and] the reference I have read.

“The message has got to go out that those who indulge themselves in this so-called addiction will be punished severely.”

He imposed 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years, with Nightingale ordered to do 120 hours of unpaid work and up to 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

Earlier, prosecutor Julian Lynch said police officers visited the defendant’s home with a warrant and seized his laptop.

Although he answered no comment when he was interviewed by the officers, analysis of the computer showed he had been looking at indecent images of children from 2015 until 2022.

There was evidence of 176 images and two videos in the worst category, including one involving a child estimated to be less than 12 months old. He had 270 files in category B and more than 560 in category C, the court heard.

Nightingale, of Little Tew, near Chipping Norton, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to possession of indecent images of children. He had no previous convictions.

Mitigating, Richard Davies said his client felt a deep sense of shame and was remorseful for what he had done.

He realised that if it was not for ‘people like him’ the children would not be abused in order to create the images at which he was looking.

A former English teacher and head of department, Nightingale had volunteered for the National Trust and acted as chairman of Little Tew Parish Council.

“It’s shocking to see a man of that background in this particular position,” Mr Davies said.

Nightingale will be on the sex offender register for a decade and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Description

A paedophile who paid the equivalent of £100 for Filipino child sex abuse shows faces years behind bars.

Self-claimed hospital ‘research doctor’ Mukhesh Bharti, 46, sought to blame a friend turned drug-dealing blackmailer, named in court as ‘Vicky’ or ‘Vijay’, for the fact police found scores of indecent images of children and vile WhatsApp conversations on his phone.

But jurors rejected the claim that the Punjabi-speaking mystery man was responsible for arranging the sickening live shows, setting up his friend by ensuring Bharti’s face was in the screen recordings of WhatsApp video calls in which children were made to carry out obscene acts.

After deliberating for around 140 minutes, the jury returned to court on Thursday (September 21) to return unanimous guilty verdicts.

Bharti, his eyes fixed on the judge as the verdicts were read out, was convicted of six counts of making indecent images of children, six allegations of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child, arranging travel of another person with a view to their sexual exploitation, and possession of a prohibited image of a child.

Judge Nigel Daly adjourned sentencing until October 23. He ordered a pre-sentence report from the probation service, which will look at whether Bharti is such a high-risk offender he should be given an extended sentence.

“He’s going to get a substantial custodial sentence for this,” the judge said.

Bharti, of Overmead, Abingdon, was remanded in custody.

Description

A man who installed a spy cam in a staff bedroom then claimed he hadn’t been ‘perving’ on female colleagues has been spared prison.

Steven Bradley’s lie that the hidden camera had not been working was unmasked when police found a series of clips, including one showing the 47-year-old installing the equipment.

The former care home worker admitted voyeurism but denied possession of a series of indecent images of children that were found on his wife’s iPad and another computer device.

He was convicted last month, with jurors rejecting his claims that he had no idea how the vile material got on his electronic equipment.

Summing up the case to the jury, Judge Michael Gledhill KC suggested there was no such thing as the ‘porn fairy’, a mystical creature claimed by teenage boys to leave filthy material in woods.

Bradley returned to Oxford Crown Court on Friday (August 11), when he was given a six month suspended prison sentence with 150 hours’ unpaid work.

Prosecuting, Brian Reece said Bradley had contacted a colleague in 2021 apologising for ‘betraying her trust’ and saying she would not see him again.

It transpired he had hidden a ‘spy camera’ in a staff bedroom at a supported living block. He claimed he had ‘seen nothing’ as it did not work, although that later proved to be a lie and the device was working.

The court heard Bradley told another of his female colleagues that he was ‘into her’, Mr Reece said. “[He] enquired if he had a chance with her. He didn’t.”

When his devices and an iPad belonging to his wife were analysed, they revealed he had more than 200 indecent images of children although only one apiece in the worst categories of A and B.

Mitigating, barrister James Hay said Bradley suffered from an ‘adjustment disorder’, a mental health condition affecting his ability to cope with stressful situations. His partner was standing by him.

Sentencing, Judge Gledhill told the defendant he should have accepted legal advice and pleaded guilty to the three counts of possession of indecent images.

“It was complete nonsense,” he said of the man’s defence. “Who else could have put them there but yourself?”

Bradley, of Haydon Road, Didcot, will remain on the sex offender register for seven years. He was given a sexual harm prevention order limiting his access to the internet.

Description

A convicted sex offender was watching porn on a phone he wasn’t allowed to have and using a dating app called ‘WhatsFlirt’.

Stewart Heather, 48, was found to be living at his supposedly ex girlfriend’s house in June, despite telling police officers the previous month that the relationship was over.

There was a two-year-old living at the woman’s property. Social services were unaware that Heather, who was subject to an eight month suspended jail sentence for sending explicit messages with what he thought was a teen girl, was in the house. He had not informed the police of his change of address.

On Thursday (July 27) defence brief Bethan Chichester said her client had not fully understood the terms of the sexual harm prevention order imposed when he was given the suspended sentence last year.

At the time of the first offences the couple had split up and, in using the ‘WhatsFlirt’ app, he was ‘simply trying to lift his spirits’.

Heather subsequently moved in with the woman in order to ‘assist her’, as she was struggling with her mental health, the court heard.

Ms Chichester said Heather was not the ‘regular sort of offender’ of the type usually in front of the courts for child sex offences.

He had been candid in telling her that when he embarked on the behaviour that previously saw him hauled before the courts he was ‘bingeing on cocaine and amphetamine’ and ‘turned to chatting to people online’.

The defendant was deeply ashamed of his actions, the barrister said.

Earlier, prosecutor Nick Ferrari told the court that the police officers responsible for managing Heather in the community visited him at his caravan on May 11.

Then, he claimed to have abstained from viewing pornography, was no longer in a relationship and was ‘doing better’.

He claimed that an Alcatel mobile phone found by the officers and that had not been registered with them was a temporary replacement, his having recently broken.

Mr Ferrari said the phone had been used to look at pornography and to set up an account on ‘WhatsFlirt’.

In mid-June, the police returned to Heather’s caravan in order to conduct a formal interview about the fact he had breached his sexual harm prevention order by having the unregistered mobile and setting up a new social media account.

He was not in the mobile phone. Eventually, they tracked him down to his former partner’s property.

There, they also found a Kindle device that had been used to view pornography and registered with a new email address in Heather’s name.

On the device was a conversation between Heather and his partner in which he appeared to recognise that he would be in trouble if the police caught him living at her property.

Heather, formerly of Schofield Avenue, Witney, pleaded guilty to breaching his sexual harm prevention order and the sex offender notification requirements.

Sending him to prison for 26 months, Judge Michael Gledhill KC said: “I want to send a very clear message out from this court that anybody with your perverted desire to look at filthy pictures, sexual pictures, on the internet or to engage with children for sexual purposes will be dealt with very, very harshly by the courts to deter people like you from doing what you’ve done.”

Description

A man who raped a sleeping teenager in 2019 has been jailed.

Jarrett Good, aged 22, of Murcott Road, Upper Arncott, Bicester, was sentenced to three years and six months’ imprisonment following a trial at Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday (5/7).

A jury unanimously found him guilty of one count of rape at the same court after a three-day trial.

At around 8am on 29 December 2019, Good raped the victim, a girl in her teens, while she was sleeping.

He was arrested on 31 December 2019 and was charged on 28 June 2022.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Sam Hunter of the Child Abuse and Investigation Unit, said: “I would like to commend the bravery of the victim in coming forward, as well as the investigation which was carried out. Good has has been brought to justice for his crime.

“I hope that this case demonstrates to other people who may have been the victim of such offending that it is never too late to come forward and talk to the police.

“We will listen to you, investigate and do everything that we can to ensure criminals like Good are brought to justice.”

Description

An RAF cadet group leader from Carterton molested one of his young charges while on a radio course with the air force.

Corporal Gary Larner, 28, who has been decorated for his service overseas, was described as having groomed two 15-year-old female cadets in 2018 and 2019.

The married airman touched both girls, tried to kiss one while they were on a cadet course with the Royal Air Force, pestered them over social media, and got both to send him explicit photographs of themselves.

One of his victims told detectives that Larner told her she owed him. She was unsure what he meant, she said, but thought that she might have got on courses through the cadets as a result of entertaining his communication.

The second girls dream of a career in the RAF as a medic had been abandoned, the court heard. The girl suffered from anxiety and nightmares following the defendants abuse of her.

Jailing him for 40 months at Oxford Crown Court on Friday (June 9), Judge Maria Lamb told the disgraced serviceman: You had a position in the RAF that gave you significant responsibilities in terms of your behaviour towards the young cadets under your leadership and that position you sorely abused.

You abused too the trust of the parents of those two girls, who must have assumed that when they were attending the meetings that they did with you that they were attending meetings with somebody who bore in mind the safeguarding of their daughters.

Because you seriously undermined the safeguarding provisions which had been put in place by the RAF, not least by persisting in contacting them over social mediadespite having been warned not to do so.

Prosecutor Gabrielle McAvock told the court that Larner, then around 23 years old, met both his victims through his voluntary work with the air cadets.

Both girls were 15 when they were touched sexually by the RAF man and sent him explicit photographs at his request.

She sent him photographs of her body at his request, the court heard. He also went to her home while her mother was at work, removing her trousers and touching the girl.

The second victim was also 15 years old when, in September and October 2019, she was targeted by the cadet leader.

In September 2019, while on an RAF radio course, he slipped his hand beneath a table and touched the girls thigh over her combat trousers. He tried to kiss her later the same day.

On other occasions, the pair were said to have kissed in a field near the girls home. Like the first victim, she sent Larner images of herself at his request.

Ms McAvock said the offending was aggravated by the fact Larner had failed to respond to previous warnings by his bosses in the RAF after it was found he was talking to the cadets on social media.

Interviewed by the police in 2020 then again the following year, Larner denied the allegations and claimed not to have met the girls outside cadets.

The defendant, of Robinson Close, Carterton, initially denied any wrongdoing but eventually pleaded guilty in April to six charges of sexual activity with a child, sparing the girls from having to give pre-recorded evidence.

Although not charged with further offences, the court heard in April that detectives had uncovered text messages between Larner and a third cadet unconnected to the two victims in which they spoke in graphic, sexual terms.

The prosecution had hoped to put the texts in front of the jury at Larners trial as evidence of the RAF mans alleged bad character, but the Crowns application was refused by the judge.

Alistair Grainger, mitigating for Larner on Friday, said his client was a decorated airman with a number of restricted honours awarded by senior RAF officers that were so secret the judge was not entitled to have sight of them. Among the character references provided in his support was one from a Squadron Leader Parry.

Larner had been commended for his involvement in humanitarian efforts, including in the wake of the 2015 terrorist attack on a beach resort in Tunisia, the court heard.

The barrister pointed to his clients remorse, quoting Larners words that he had disgraced himself.

The airman will remain on the sex offender register for life.

Description

Following an investigation by Thames Valley Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit, a man has been sentenced to prison for a number of child sex offences in Oxford.

William Swandle, aged 65, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault of a child by penetration and two further counts of sexual assault of a child in a hearing at Oxford Crown Court on 27 April.

Returning to the same court for sentencing on Friday (26/5), Swandle was jailed for a total of eight years with an additional year to serve on licence.

The offences all occurred over a two-year period in Abingdon against a single female victim aged under 13.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Sarah Tibble of the Child Abuse Investigation Unit, said: “The young victim in this case has suffered the most horrendous of crimes, which nobody should have to experience.

“She has been incredibly brave in coming forward and reporting this to the police, and I want to commend her and her family for doing so.

“Swandle has now been sentenced to a significant prison sentence, which reflects the seriousness of his crimes.

“I hope that the victim and her family feel justice has been served.

“Thames Valley Police is committed to bringing offenders such as Swandle to justice. We will always listen to and support victims of such abhorrent crimes and put offenders before the courts to face the consequences of their actions.”

Description

RAF chiefs have housed a child rapist on a military family estate despite his guilty pleas to a series of sickening offences.

Air chiefs claim red tape stops them instantly kicking out disgraced serviceman Glenn Poyner. 

Instead the 35-year-old paedophile has been given a property near a primary school at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire.

He was apparently moved to the estate from a block housing unattached male colleagues because of threats made against him.

Terrified parents living at the base fear for their youngsters, who had been able to play outside in safety.

Poyner admitted multiple counts of raping a 13-year-old among other child sex crimes at a court hearing earlier this month. Among his victims was the relative of a colleague.

He is not due to be sentenced until August and senior officers have not yet discharged him from the forces.

Families expected him to be kicked out on the day of his guilty pleas but the officers have only just started to fill in the paperwork.

Until all the red tape has been cleared, the plan is for Poyner to be housed at the base, the Mail has learned.

Furious Benson residents accuse RAF chiefs of prioritising the paedophile's welfare over the safety of their children.

Poyner holds the rank of air specialist – a gender-neutral title recently introduced by top brass. He will be paid by the RAF until the discharge process is completed.

One mother said: 'I am petrified that this monster will use his last months of freedom to strike again.

'Where's the protection? There are children everywhere here, playing happily outside. I can't rest for a second.

'He should be behind bars. It is a disgrace the air chiefs still haven't kicked him out of the RAF.'

At Telford Magistrates' Court on May 12 Poyner admitted four counts of rape, an indecent assault and other sexual activities with children between 2018 and 2021.

He was stationed at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, a UK centre for pilot training. He later moved to RAF Benson.

At the hearing, prosecutor Mark Connor told the judge: 'The defendant has entered guilty pleas which adequately reflect the offending behaviour over a number of years.

'The prosecution accepts those pleas with regard to the court's overall sentencing powers.'

Judge Peter Barrie granted Poyner bail ahead of a sentencing hearing scheduled for August 11, when he is expected to be jailed.

The judge also ordered a psychiatric assessment to consider the sex offender's threat to the public.

While Poyner was given a curfew and must wear a tracking tag, service families insist they should be spared the worry of him living nearby.

His property is being monitored by RAF Police, who have stepped up patrols of the estate following complaints from parents.

RAF Benson, near Wallingford, is a support helicopter main operating base.

The failure by chiefs to manage Poyner's case – and to prioritise the concerns of service families – is the latest in a string of embarrassing failures by RAF bosses.

It follows the shocking treatment of female personnel by pilots, including multiple claims of sexual assault, in the Red Arrows display team.

The head of the RAF, Sir Mike Wigston, has also faced criticism over a chronic shortage of frontline pilots and a recruitment policy that appeared to discriminate against white male applicants.

The RAF said: 'We are aware that a service person residing at RAF Benson pleaded guilty to a number of serious sexual offences.

'The RAF is unable to comment on individual cases, not offer comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.'

Description

A disgraced rapist police officer claimed to have been looking at indecent images of children – to help him with post-traumatic stress.

Former traffic cop Richard Hale, 41, was handed a seven year jail sentence in 2016 for raping a woman after overpowering her in his bedroom in Carterton in 2001 – two years before he joined Thames Valley Police.

He continues to maintain his innocence to the charge.

On Thursday (April 27), Oxford Crown Court heard that Hale was released from prison on licence in April 2020, within weeks of the first national lockdown being imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mitigating, Lyall Thompson told Judge Ian Pringle KC: “All found that [lockdown] very difficult to come to terms with.

"It must have been even harder for someone who had been in custody for approximately three-and-a-half years.”

His client had described it as like ‘going from one type of prison to another’, Mr Thompson said.

A former roads policing officer who had seen crashes on a ‘regular basis’, he suffered from ‘significant post-traumatic stress disorder’, the court was told.

He experienced nightmares, headaches and ‘intrusive thoughts’.

It was suggested that this was one of the reasons why he was looking at indecent images of children.

A small number of child sex abuse images in categories A to C were found on his digital devices together with prohibited images of children and extreme pornography.

Sentencing, Judge Pringle told Hale: “You say that you started to access images because it would deal with the pain you felt from some of the trauma you underwent when you were serving as a police officer.

“I frankly find that explanation difficult but I’ve read a report about you; a trauma therapy report. You went and got trauma therapy off your own back; at least that says something about you.”

He said: “Make no bones about it, by accessing these images you create a market and that market then takes young children and has them grotesquely abused for your pleasure.

“I hope that you remember that if you are ever tempted to look at such images again.”

Hale, of Peel Place, Carterton, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to possession of indecent and prohibited images of children and possession of extreme pornography.

The judge imposed 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years. Hale must do 120 hours of unpaid work and sex offender rehabilitation programmes.

When Hale was sentenced in 2016, then deputy chief constable - now chief constable - Jason Hogg said: "There is no place in the force for those who commit offences of this nature."

The force said it was unable to provide a photograph of Hale as it claimed it did not have one.