Latest Offenders Paignton

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A Paignton man has been jailed for 12 years after admitting a string of sexual offences against children.

Craig Short, 53, of Woodland Mews, was sentenced at Exeter Crown Court on Tuesday (January 14) and made subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

Short’s crimes, which did not take place recently, involved a boy and a girl when they were aged between six and 15-years-old.

Short, who had previously pleaded guilty to indecency with a child, was charged with six counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and four counts of sexually assaulting a child.

In addition to the prison sentence, he was handed six years on extended licence, meaning he will serve the extra period in the community.

During the sentencing hearing, the court heard how Short sexually abused the male victim at a variety of locations and showed the boy pornographic videos.

The second victim in the case also described how she had been sexually abused as a child by him.

Short, who initially denied any wrongdoing when questioned by police, saying that the allegations against him were made up, later admitted his guilt.

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A man who avoided jail in 2019 after admitting to possessing thousands of indecent images of children has been sent to prison after he returned to his 'addiction'.

David Andrews, originally from Ivybridge but now from Paignton, appeared at Plymouth Crown Court where faced four charges. The first was that between January 2021 and February 20222 he distributed 28 indecent images of children of Category A, B and C - with A as being the most serious.

He also faced a count of breaching a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order - which was put in place following a hearing at court in 2019 - by being found in possession of a Nokia mobile phone and a USB memory stick which he was prohibited from having without first notifying police.

Andrews also faced one count of making five indecent photos of children of Category B and a further count of making 19 indecent photos of children of Category C. He pleaded guilty to all four charges.

In addition the 69-year-old admitted that he had breached a suspended sentence imposed on July 11, 2019 which the court heard was 24 months imprisonment suspended for 24 months.

Prosecutor Francesca Whebell told the court Andrews was caught after Devon and Cornwall Police were alerted by the National Crime Agency regarding the posting of images from an IP address linked to property in Ivybridge linked to Andrews. Another alert came from an email account which had posted Category A, B and C indecent images of children, linked to Andrews and a Nokia phone.

Police attended the property with a warrant in February 2022 and a number of devices were seized from Andrews. Ms Whebell said that during police interview Andrews said "It's my secret and I hate it".

In mitigation, Andrews advocate, Deni Matthews noted that during his statement Andrews had claimed "I'm not as strong as I thought". Mr Matthews said he wanted to draw an analogy with people who struggle with addiction adding that it was sadly the case that many people were brought before the court "because of a behaviour that they can't resist". He added that for many of those who were successful in "combating that devil within them it takes more than one attempt". He noted that Andrews felt "repulsion" at his own behaviour.

Mr Matthews noted Andrews had been a "hard working" man who had been "very successful" in a number of careers, including a period in the military as well as others which were "conducted in an exemplary fashion". He told the court that as a result of his previous conviction he lost his relationship with his wife and one of his sons. The court also heard that Andrews lost his job as a cleaner and now lived in "a sparsely furnished flat".

PlymouthLive previously reported how in 2019 Andrews was handed the suspended sentence after he was caught with more than 13,000 vile images of children including babies being raped. The former Royal Mail worker - and former Special Constable - had said at the time that he saw no harm in what he was doing.

At the time the sentencing judge told Andrews: "In interview you said you believed you were doing no harm to the children you were viewing. That is nonsense. If people like you did not view this abuse then it would not be perpetrated."

Turning to his latest offences, Judge Peter Johnson noted the previous offences for which he was given a suspended sentence. He said Andrews appeared to doing "quite well" but that he also had "an addiction" to these kinds of images. He also noted how Andrews had told police it was his "problem" and a "secret he had", later telling a probation officers that it was "your secret and [that] you hated it".

Judge Johnson said Andrews had hoped to go "on the straight and narrow" but had "unhappily succumbed to temptation as you candidly admit". He said it was clear Andrews had been deleting material on his devices.

The judge told Andrews these were "serious matters and of course you know that", but recognised that he had served his country and his community in various roles. He also noted how Andrews had lost his job, his relationship, his home, his partner and one of his sons due to his offending.

Judge Johnson said it was "very easy" in a sentencing exercise to concentrate on the offender, "but what you must also concentrate on are the victims of those images who were shown, in two cases, being raped - youngsters under the age of 10, going down to a relatively young age of five or so".

"It's very easy to think that because it's over the internet it doesn't involve real people", Judge Johnson told Andrews. "It does - it's as simple as that."

Taking into account the sentencing guidelines, the early guilty plea, the aggravating and mitigating factors of the case, Judge Johnson said he would pass a sentence of three and a half years of which he would serve half before being released on licence. In addition Andrews was told he would be made subject of another 10 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. The telephone and memory stick would be confiscated and destroyed and Andrews would be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Description

An entrenched paedophile was caught by undercover police sending sick sexual videos to what he thought were 12-year-old girls. Daniel Keenor used encrypted chat sites to share movies of very young children being abused by adults.

The 46-year-old also suggested meeting up with the girls to have sex and give them drugs. What he did not know was that the 'children' were undercover police officers.

Cops went to his house in Paignton and arrested him. Keenor is a registered sex offender with a long history of similar offending.

Exeter Crown Court was told he had previously completed a sex offender programmes to change his deviant behaviour but it had not worked. He admitted 18 offences relating to the sharing and possession of indecent images and to attempting to engage children in sexual communication and activity.

Recorder Mathew Turner said he posed a risk of offending again. He jailed him for seven years and nine months and added an extra sentence of two years and nine months to be served on licence.

Police started their investigation into his online activities in 2022. He made contact with a succession of undercover officers posing as children or parents. A feature of all Keenor's offending was his use of sites such as Wikr, WhatsApp and Kik to chat and send images.

In June of last year he contacted what he thought was the father of a 12-year-old on a fetish website and quickly diverted the chat to an encrypted platform. He discussed having sex with the child and plying her with drugs. He then sent the 'father' 109 indecent movies of children. Some were in the most serious category and included infants as young as two years old.

Keenor also made contact with what he thought was the mother of a 10-year-old and suggested meeting her to have sex. He shared further movies.

In December he sent a friend request to an undercover officer posing as a 12-year-old girl called Ruby. He asked for sexual images of her and sent some of a penis and other extreme images involving animals.

His offending continued into 2023 when he shared further images and encouraged the fictional child to "get naked" and engage in sexual activity.

Keenor was jailed for two years in 2013 for distributing indecent images and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order to control his behaviour. He went on to breach that order several times and commit similar offences.

A pre-sentence report by probation described him as entrenched and persistent in his behaviour. Recorder Turner said the defendant's offending started after the break-up of a relationship and his risk increased due to leading an isolated life.

He said he had no doubt Keenor posed a significant risk of committing similar offences in the future and an extended sentence was merited.

Keenor, of Rosemary Gardens, must serve two thirds of his seven years and three month sentence before the parole board considers whether he is safe to release. He will be subject to an extended licence period for the full 10 years.

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A former soldier has been jailed for having sex with a vulnerable 13-year-old girl who he groomed online while pretending to be a teenaged boy. Matthew McKay used a false name and internet profile and said he was 15 when he contacted the girl through Instagram and Snapchat.

He persuaded her to send him naked selfies and responded with photos of his private parts and eventually met the girl for sex. By then she realised he was an adult but he claimed to be in his 20s, when in reality he was 35.

The girl, from the South Hams, already had emotional issues and was so traumatised by the sexual abuse that she tried to take her own life. McKay was already a registered sex offender, having been caught by a paedophile hunters sting operation in 2018, while he was still a serving soldier and based at the Duke of Gloucester barracks at South Cerney, near Cirencester.

He groomed and had sex with the girl in Devon in 2021, when he was in the middle of a sex offenders treatment programme, which he was sent on as a direct alternative to prison when he was sentenced for the earlier offences in August 2019. His behaviour should have been controlled by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) which allowed the police to monitor his computers and phones. He got around it by buying a secret mobile which he did not declare to the police.

He was also a registered sex offender but flouted its rules by moving out of his home near Ivybridge and into his bosss home in Paignton, even though there were four children living there. Police found sex aids and a realistic model of the middle part of a child when they searched his home.

Matthew McKay, aged 36, formerly of Uptown, Ugborough, but now of Paignton, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child, one of meeting a child following grooming, and one of sexual communication with a child. He also admitted three counts of breaching a SHPO or the sex offenders register and six of making possessing indecent images of children. These included three offences of recording images which he got the 13-year-old to send him.

He was jailed for ten years with a six year extended licence by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court, who was the same judge who freed him and sent him on the sex offenders course in 2019.

The judge deemed him to be a dangerous offender, made a new SHPO, barred him from working with children and put him on the sex offenders register for life.

He told him: Within a short time of your last appearance at this court, and while subject to the order, you started offending again, this time, unlike the earlier matters which involved adults acting as decoys, you moved on to a real child.

In a short time, you were up to your old tricks, engaging in sexual communications, inviting the girl to produce images of herself, in direct breach of the SHPO and using a phone which you did not tell the police about.

Matters got much, much worse and you ended up meeting the girl and penetrating her mouth and vagina. It caused her concern and worry and she thought at one time she might be pregnant.

Her victim personal statement and that of her mother make extremely worrying reading. Your actions caused immense upset and affected her mental health. She made a serious attempt to take her own life. Her mothers statement showed there was a marked impact on the education and school life of a young girl.

There are a substantial number of aggravating features. I take into account the massive harm you have done. I find you are a dangerous offender who poses a significant risk of causing serious harm to young girls by further offending.

Mr Joss Ticehurst, prosecuting, said McKay met the girl online when he was using the false name of Tom Smith and claiming to be 15. She realised he was much older during their Instagram and Snapchat exchanges but only learned his real name when he was arrested.

He flattered her by calling her amazing and telling her how attractive he found her. He gave her the nickname sexy girl in their online chats. He turned their chats to sex and met the girl for the first time when they were both shopping in Newton Abbot in October 2021. He recognised her but she did not know it was him until he sent her a message saying how good it was to see her.

He then arranged a second meeting at which they had sex and he told her she was a good girl. Police found hundreds of child abuse images he had downloaded from the internet on his phone as well as naked videos which she had sent him on Snapchat and which he had recorded from one phone to another to prevent her knowing what he was doing.

Mr Lee Bremridge, defending, said McKays work on the sex offender treatment programme had been disrupted by Covid lockdowns and he did not have the chance to receive the full benefits from it.

He said McKay joined the army when he was 16 and served his country with distinction until the previous offences came to light, ending his career. He has a strong work found other work ethic and found another job after returning to Devon.

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A 70-year-old sex offender has been jailed for assaulting a child.

Geoffrey Abson, of Derrell Road, Paignton, touched the seven-year-old between the legs on two occasions, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He initially denied doing anything wrong but later admitted he needed help. 

Abson is a convicted sex offender with a previous conviction for a similar offence back in 1989.

The defendant said he was 'disgusted and ashamed of his actions'.

Judge David Evans said: "I have to sentence you for not one but two assaults on a girl aged under 13."

He said the defendant held 'distorted sexual attitudes towards children'. Abson was jailed for 16 months.

"Immediate prison is the only appropriate sentence. This sort of offending is too serious for a suspended sentence or any other kind of sentence."

Abson was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which bans him from contacting girls under 16.

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A former music teacher has been jailed for attempting to groom undercover police posing online as girls under 16.

Christopher Perry, 30, sent explicit messages to decoy accounts from two separate forces over weeks last year.

Perry admitted two counts of attempting to incite a child to sexual activity and two of attempted sexual communication with a child.

Perry, of Lancaster Drive, Paignton, was jailed for two years and eight months at Exeter Crown Court.

Perry was caught after sending explicit messages to fake accounts of girls aged 11 and 12 from the North West Regional Crime Unit and West Midlands Regional Organised Crime Unit, the court heard.

Sex offenders register

He was arrested at Gatwick Airport as he headed for a summer camp in Philadelphia in June 2019, after police became concerned at his potential contact with children.

Judge Peter Johnson also put Perry on the sex offenders register for life and made him subject of a indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, allowing police to monitor his online activity.

He said: "It is clear you were doing it for your own sexual gratification, which you described in graphic detail.

"It is quite clear the harm you intended to cause. The problem with online or remote abuse is that there is a risk of being oblivious or uncaring about the psychological effect.

"It is impossible to pick up visual cues and there is a risk of causing incalculable harm through the inappropriate early sexualisation of children."

Description

A prolific criminal from South Devon has been jailed for 10 years for sexually assaulting a woman in her home.

Royston White broke down the woman's door then armed himself with knives before the terrifying assault, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He demanded she tell him her PIN number so he could take out cash to buy drugs.

She wrote it down for him and he sexually assaulted her.

When police arrested White, also known as Southhall, he threatened to slit the woman's throat.

The defendant, 40, of Church Street, Paignton, was found guilty at a trial in April of assault by penetration, blackmail and possessing ketamine. He also admitted possessing two knives in a public place.

He refused to attend most of the trial and stayed in his cell for the sentencing on Monday. The court was told he was studying Buddhism in jail.

Recorder Martin Meeke QC said White had rarely worked and had notched up 61 previous court appearances, mostly for dishonesty offences but some violence.

He considered whether to impose an extended sentence but had decided, after reading the pre-sentence report, that the defendant did not pose a danger to the wider public.

"The defendant has been a drug addict for many years," said Recorder Meeke.

"He said during the trial it would be easier to say which drugs he had not taken rather than those which he had.

"At its worst he had a drug habit of £300 a day."

The trial was told White would regularly steal to feed his habit. He admitted he would 'make a complete a***hole of myself' if he did not get what he wanted.

Mr William Parkhill, for White, said he was an intelligent man whose senses were confused by drugs. He could not remember the sexual assault.

South Devon police commander Ch Supt Keith Perkin tweeted after the hearing: "Due to an excellent investigation from the South Devon Sexual Offences & Domestic Abuse Team, Royston Southall has been sentenced to 10yrs imprisonment. This was not an easy investigation and outcome, a credit to the investigators."