Latest Offenders Pontypridd

Description

A 15-year-old was sexually assaulted by a man who approached her outside a shop and threatened to hold her knife to her throat and rape her. When the victim told her his age he continued to follow her and repeatedly grabbed her as she tried to escape.

Seekio Wittridge, 25, approached the girl outside a Tesco Express in Cardiff in April last year after she had got off a bus. She saw the defendant staring at her and he was in possession of a wooden plank.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday heard Wittridge slightly barged the victim into the store windows in North Road and he told her she was "beautiful". She ignored him and tried to cross the road but he walked alongside her as she tried to speed up. He grabbed her right arm and pulled her back and repeated to her that she was "beautiful".

The victim told him she was only 15 years old and he claimed he was 14, which she knew to be untrue on account of his appearance. The defendant then told her he was 25 and when she brought up the 10-year age gap he said: "So that's 10 years in prison for me is it?"

Prosecutor Ruth Smith said Wittridge put his arms out to touch the victim and stroked her to her upper chest and touched her skin around her collar bone. He stroked her outer legs on both sides back and forth and she swatted his hand away. The defendant pulled her back again by the shoulder which caused the victim to kick him in the shin and tell him to go away.

The victim began recording the incident and left a voice message for a male friend to come to the scene and was crying as she did so. Wittridge became aggressive, asked the victim if she was speaking to her boyfriend, and threatened to assault him with a plank of wood.

He went on to repeatedly asked the victim to "f*** him" and when sherefused he made a threat to hold a knife to her throat and rape her. The male friend arrived at the scene and was hugged by the victim who said Wittridge had touched her chest and she felt "disgusting".

The friend questioned the defendant who apologised and again described the victim as "beautiful". He also claimed again he was a teenager but the victim struck Wittridge with a chocolate bar and told him he was lying. When asked why he was carrying a plank of wood the defendant said it was his walking stick. He eventually apologised and said he "didn't want any trouble".

The police were called and the defendant was arrested. He admitted speaking to the victim and claimed she had accused him of being a paedophile. Wittridge, of Yr Hen Fuarth, was initially placed in a secure hospital over concerns he was experiencing psychosis but later pleaded guilty to a count of sexual assault. The court heard he had previous convictions for assaulting an emergency worker and a public order offence during which he followed a woman he spoke to outside a pub and asked to go to her home to have sex with her.

In a victim personal statement the girl said: "The incident has made me not want to walk out on my own anymore and have to ask friends to come with me everywhere I go. It made me anxious about talking to new people, especially men who are talking to me in the street, even though they might not have any intentions. I am angry and upset about most things that happen now in life. Since the incident I have a shorter fuse with everything that goes wrong. I shower and feel gross about myself, leading to me crying a lot."

In mitigation Andrew Davies said it was most likely his client was suffering with psychosis at the time of the offence as a result of psychoactive substance abuse. He said the defendant wishes to stay away from drugs and wants to "settle down".

Sentencing, Judge Lucy Crowther said: "This must have been an extremely frightening experience for a 15-year-old girl on her own in the middle of the day... The effect of your behaviour has been grave on this young woman."

Wittridge was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, sex offender notification requirements, and a restraining order each lasting for 10 years.

Description

A paedophile sent a picture of his genitals to someone he believed was an 11-year-old girl and told another girl to think of sex "like kissing Harry Styles". At least one of the accounts he was speaking to was a decoy being run by an undercover officer.

Joel Jones, 38, began talking to domeone he believed was an 11-year-old girl called but it was in fact a decoy account run by an undercover police operative. Their initial conversation took place on social media site MyLOL which is for teenagers aged between 13 and 17 years old.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard Jones told the decoy his name was James and he said he was 15 years old and from Swindon. He asked her: "Do you want to see my d***?" and asked her if she had a boyfriend. The defendant also asked her if she masturbated and told her she had a "great butt".

The conversation moved to Wickr where Jones again instigated messages of a sexual nature. He went on to send images of his penis and testicles on Snapchat. He messaged her: "Any pics of you? Let's see."

Information was passed to South Wales Police who identified Jones from his MyLOL and Wickr profiles. He was arrested on July 22, 2021, and his Samsung mobile phone was seized.

On the phone was a Skype application which was found to contain a series of messages in 2018 from a profile belonging to what appeared to be a 13-year-old girl. Attempts were made to identify the girl, which were unsuccessful, so police were unable to ascertain whether it was a real girl or a decoy.

During the conversations the defendant claimed to be a 17-year-old boy and asked the girl if she liked older boys and told her she had a "cute body and bum". Jones added: "Do you ever role play, where you act out roles and have sex?" He told the girl he "fantasised" about sisters and mothers and asked her if she fantasised about her dad or masturbated.

The defendant incited her to masturbate and to use her fingers and a hairbrush to perform sex acts. Prosecutor Owen Williams said Jones told the girl to think of sex like "kissing Harry Styles". He also asked if she was "home alone", told her to strip naked, and said he was masturbating and told her to do the same with a cucumber and a hair brush handle.

When he was interviewed by police Jones claimed he committed the offences "out of curiosity". Jones, of Danygraig Street, Pontypridd, pleaded guilty to attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to communicate with a child in a sexual manner. The court heard he had one previous conviction for driving with excess alcohol.

In mitigation Matthew Comer said there was no evidence to suggest his client had interacted with a real child. He said the defendant was concerned about the stress caused to his wife who knows about his offences and stands by him. The barrister added: "This is something that he's never going to do again and he will stop being so selfish. He has some insight into the triggers and causes of his offending behaviour and accepts responsibility."

Judge Shoman Khan sentenced Jones to a total of three years imprisonment. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender notification requirements.

Description

A paedophile found in possession of video of babies being raped fell to his knees and wept when the police turned up at his door. He told an officer that he was a "horrible person" after more than 1,000 indecent images of children were discovered on various devices.

Desmond Wright, 38, of Pontypridd, was arrested at his home on May 31 after South Wales Police received intelligence that child abuse material had been uploaded to a file-sharing site. Some of the material was linked to the defendant's address in Garth Avenue, Glyncoch, and officers attended his home at 7am.

A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court heard Wright answered the door and allowed the officers into his house but following his arrest he went down on his knees and began crying. When one of the officers spoke to him calmly he said: "Stop talking to me being nice – I'm a horrible person."

Prosecutor John Ryan said a number of electronic devices were seized and the defendant was taken into custody. During his interview he said he could connect to servers and search for and download child abuse images. He said he had "tried to stop himself" several times and when asked what he viewed he said: "Don't want to say."

Wright described himself as a "hebephile" and was attracted to "pubescent children" aged between 13 and 15 years old. But when a Samsung phone and various hard drives were examined videos were discovered of a baby between zero and two years old being raped.

Mr Ryan said the defendant was found in possession of 194 category A images, 211 category B images, and 1,108 category C images. He was also found in possession of five extreme images depicting women having sexual activity with dogs and 68 computer-generated images of child abuse. A total of 42,109 files had been downloaded but officers stopped their examination once the threshold for charges had been met.

Wright also made internet searches for "dead", "necrophilia", and "gore flicks". He pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images and possessing extreme images. The court heard he had previous convictions for possession of indecent images for which he was sentenced to a community order.

In mitigation Tim Evans said his client was living on his own and appeared to have had a "solitary existence" since leaving school aged 16. He described the defendant "dissolving into a mattress on the floor" upon the police arriving at his home. He said Wright was suffering from "serious depression" and was an "addict of this dreadful material". As a result of his offending he has lost his accommodation and his employment.

Sentencing, Recorder Dyfed Thomas said: "These are not just images – they're real children being subjected to sexual offences and real harm and stress. You saw them for your own sexual gratification. If it were not for people like you the demand for [these images] wouldn't be there."

Wright was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment. He was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Description

A paedophile who sexually groomed and manipulated an underage teenage girl has been jailed.

Huw Davies, 32, of Pontypridd, Wales, manipulated his victim until she became "infatuated" with him as well as filming them having sex.

The 32-year-old's calculated methods of grooming the girl began with complimenting her on her appearance and encouraging her to talk to him about issues she faced, WalesOnline reported.

He would even go as far as to pick her up in his car as he constructed a relationship where the victim saw him as a "big brother figure".

However, things took a dark turn after he forced the victim to have sex with him at his parents' home when she was a young teenager, a sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard.

The victim said they had slept together several times when she was underage as she began to develop romantic feelings for Davies.

She said: "I was in love with the person who was abusing me." He told her to keep the relationship a secret because of her age.

The relationship between Davies and the victim ended when she was 17 and in 2021, she watched a documentary about paedophile businessman Jeffrey Epstein and subsequently confronted Davies, who made excuses for his behaviour.

She later contacted the police as the defendant attended a voluntary interview where he denied any sexual contact with the victim but was arrested after videos of the pair having sex were discovered.

Davies later pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual activity with a child but was found not guilty of two counts of rape.

She added: "When he wanted sex with me I felt confused by it all and scared. I didn't understand what was going on and I remember feeling really confused about the dynamic changing in our relationship.

"Things got too much for me and would make me feel guilty for wanted to end things... I started to feel like a sex object.

"I felt that's all he ever wanted. I got older and more wiser to what was happening. I started to see he was manipulating me and groomed me for one purpose."

In mitigation David Leathley said his client Davies was regarded as an "honourable man" but those who knew him and described him as "intelligent and hard working".

He said the defendant has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which causes bones and his joints to dislocate easily, adding that Davies' dad reckons he "wouldn't last a year" in prison.

Sentencing, Judge Daniel Williams said: "You saw [the victim] as someone you could groom and sexually abuse. You made her think you were indispensable. She was as she described brainwashed by you."

On top of a sentence of six years and nine months imprisonment, Davies was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, sex offender notification requirements, and a restraining order.

Description

Malcolm Crane was also found to have moved address without telling police.

A convicted paedophile was caught with two mobile phones despite being banned from owning the devices.

Malcolm Crane had been convicted at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court in May 2019 for offences of attempting to incite a child under the age of 13 to engage in a sexual act and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

As part of his sentence he received a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and was advised of notification requirements which included telling police of any change in address.

He had last registered his details on January 4, 2021, and had been due to return to do the same a year later but he didn't do so despite a reminder.

Police attended his home and there was no answer at the door and no subsequent contact. On January 13, 2022, police attended his partner's address in Port Tennant and found the 50-year-old there. They arrested him and also found him to have two phones in his possession with access to the internet, which was another breach of the order.

Upon police interview he claimed to have been unaware of the annual notification requirement despite having done so in the past. He said he believed the order came to an end at the end of his probation period.

Crane, of Dyffryn y Coed, Church Village, Pontypridd, appeared at Swansea Crown Court for sentencing having admitted breaching the conditions of a sexual harm prevention order and two counts of failing to comply with notification requirements.

Mark Davies, mitigating, said: "He understands he chose not to report and chose to purchase the mobile phone. There is mitigation that thankfully the phone was not used to commit offences."

Judge Paul Thomas sentenced Crane to 20 weeks in prison.

Description

Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins has been sentenced to 35 years for a string of child sex offences including the attempted rape of a baby.

Watkins, 36, from Pontypridd, pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court last month to 13 child sex offences.

His two co-defendants, who are the mothers of children he abused, were jailed for 14 and 17 years.

Sentencing the three, Mr Justice Royce said the case broke "new ground" and "plunged into new depths of depravity".

Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in prison with a further six years on licence, but he will be eligible for parole after serving two thirds of the prison term.

He was sentenced alongside the two mothers known as Woman A and Woman B who also pleaded guilty to child abuse charges.

Woman A was jailed for 14 years and Woman B was sentenced to 17 years in prison.

Watkins admitted the attempted rape and sexual assault of a child under 13 but pleaded not guilty to rape.

He also admitted conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal.

During sentencing, Mr Justice Royce said: "Those who have appeared in these courts over many years, see here, a large number of horrific cases," he said.

"This case breaks new ground. Any decent person... will experience shock, revulsion and incredulity."

He added it was a "classic case that the evidence was so overwhelming" there should not be credit given.

The judge said Watkins had a "corrupting influence", and had shown a "complete lack of remorse". He also said Watkins posed a significant risk to the public in particular to women with young children.

He told Woman A: "What you were both doing is both sickening and incomprehensible" and said to Woman B that she did not regard her child as a human being.

Earlier on Wednesday, defending barrister Sally O'Neill QC said how Watkins "belatedly realised the gravity of what happened" and was "deeply, deeply sorry".

She told the court how he had developed an "obsession" with filming himself having sex and had become addicted to drugs at the age of 30.

She said Watkins had no memory of the crime involving Woman A and her son, where he admitted to the attempted rape of a baby.

"Because he had no memory he could not believe he had done that," she said, adding he had now "confronted reality" over what he had done.

Watkins was on 15-minute suicide watch while on remand, the court heard.

Jonathan Fuller QC, defending for Woman A, said she felt genuine remorse and was devastated by what she had done.

Christine Laing QC, defending Woman B, said she was clearly remorseful for her behaviour and the loss of her child was her punishment.

Meanwhile, South Wales Police are investigating whether Watkins also committed offences in Germany and America and the IPCC has confirmed it was investigating three police forces over the case.

Detective Chief Inspector Peter Doyle, senior investigating officer, said the sentences reflected the gravity of the crimes and the investigation uncovered "the most disturbing child abuse evidence" he had seen in his 28 years as an officer.

"Today's sentence does not mark the end of our investigations and we will work tirelessly to identify any other victims or witnesses and seek the justice they deserve.

"In the last few weeks we have received further information that will now be looked at by the investigation team."

Earlier he said the investigation was large scale because the amount of data involved - 27 terabytes - was "four or five times" the size of the databases held by South Wales Police.

And he said how he was sure there were other child victims.

Suzanne Thomas, Senior Crown Prosecutor at CPS Wales, said Watkins was the ringleader and the defendants conspired to commit "appalling crimes of abuse against young and defenceless victims".

She added: "He is a highly dangerous and manipulative individual who preyed on his victims in a calculated manner.

"The other two defendants were active participants in the most shocking abuse of their own children. They too have received sentences that reflect their admissions of guilt for these offences.

"It is incomprehensible that adults would commit such appalling acts against children and young people and our thoughts remain with the victims and those close to them."