Latest Offenders Rhondda Cynon Taf

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A man has been jailed after making hundreds of indecent photographs of children and having sexualised online conversations with children.

Daniel Bennett, aged 21 admitted to 19 charges of sexual offences which included making indecent photographs of children, engaging in sexual communication with a child, threatening to disclose private sexual photographs and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Last Thursday, he was jailed for nine years and four months at Wolverhampton Crown Court and has been placed on the sex offender register for life.

Officers from the Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team received intelligence that a social media account had made sexualised comments to another user who was 14 years old.

We traced the IP address back to an address in West Bromwich, which is where Bennett was living at the time.

Bennett’s electronic devices were seized for forensic examination and following enquiries, we identified four victims.

We found nearly a thousand images of indecent images of children on his devices.

Using social media, he told young girls he was 16 years old and, on some occasions, organised to meet up with the girls.

Bennett, of Ferndale, South Wales blackmailed one of the girls into sending more explicit images of herself in fear their conversations would be made public.

DC Waqass Choudhry from our Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team, said: “This investigation was complex and hugely challenging.

“Bennett is a dangerous offender and I would like to thank all the families and the victims who came forward. Their bravery and tenacity has led to him being imprisoned for a lengthy amount of time.

“His depravity and flagrant disregard for the victims, some of them as young as 12, knew no bounds.”

We believe Bennett also targeted more children and we are urging other victims to come forward.

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A depraved elderly paedophile raped and sexually assaulted a young girl while filming the abuse. The ordeal left the girl contemplating suicide as she felt she "didn't deserve to live anymore".

Roger Stapleton, 75, of Llantrisant, carried out a campaign of horrific sexual crimes against the victim who was of primary school age when the abuse began. He raped the girl on multiple occasions and sexually assaulted her while she was holding a baby.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard the defendant possessed videos of himself raping and sexually assaulting the victim.

When he first abused the victim, by touching her intimately with his fingers, he told her: "It's okay, this is normal". The assault caused her extreme pain and she screamed. Stapleton told her not to tell anyone what he was doing to her and groomed her by giving her money and alcohol..

The offences came to light after a family member of the victim was made aware of a page on Facebook that the defendant had followed which contained images of half dressed teenagers. This led to the victim reporting the matter to the police in 2023.

Outlining the facts of the abuse prosecutor James Wilson said when Stapleton first raped the victim she was in pain but could not scream out as the defendant placed his hands over her mouth. The rape lasted for 10 minutes, and left the victim bleeding, but Stapleton walked off "as if nothing happened". Stapleton went on to rape the victim on four other occasions

On occasions he sexually assaulted her by touching her chest, performing oral sex upon her, rubbing himself on her, and touching her while she was holding a baby. Upon being told this Judge Paul Hopkins KC said: "I just have to reflect on the enormity of the depravity in this case. It's an appalling case."

A number of cameras were subsequently seized by police including multiple camera and memory cards on which was stored videos of Stapleton raping and sexually assaulting the victim. In total there were 13 Category A images, 29 Category B images, and 26 Category C images. The defendant had also made search terms including "teen porn". The defendant was also found to have made internet searches for a phone message tracker app and had a diary in which he made reference to having sex with the victim.

Stapleton, of Llantrisant Business Park, was arrested and pleaded guilty to five counts of rape, one count of assaulting a child by penetration, six counts of sexual assault, and three counts of making indecent images. Judge Hopkins said: "He had no choice but to plead guilty. Even though the evidence was overwhelming I am still required to give him full credit although he had no alternative."

In a victim personal statement read to the court the victim said: "My mental health got so bad I started to self-harm and cut my arms or legs every day and started thinking about ending my life. I began to plan ending my life but never went through with it. It made me feel I didn't deserve to live anymore and didn't feel like I was good enough. I felt that was the reason I was alive – so he could do things to me and that was all I was good for. I constantly blamed myself for what he did although none of this was my fault and I realise that now. I felt isolated, lonely, angry, and ill-equipped to handle these feelings or do anything about them...

"He ruined my life and because of it I didn't get to enjoy my childhood and teenage years as much as I should have. I should have been out with my friends all the time actually enjoying my but I spent my time crying and self-harming in my room wondering what I had done to deserve this... He ruined my childhood but I won't let him ruin my future."

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Scott Light, 32, spent 19 minutes waiting inside the toilet of the bowling alley before shuffling towards his young victim and assaulting him physically

A man sexually assaulted a boy in the toilets of a bowling alley. Scott Light already had a history of attacking children when he targeted the eight-year-old.

Light, from Aberdare, went to the venue one evening last December and the way he looked at children near him caused one family to ask to be moved to another lane. They said the 32-year-old had "creeped the children out". He then went into the toilets and waited for 19 minutes at the urinals before an eight-year-old boy entered.

Prosecutor Claire Pickthall told Cardiff Crown Court: "The child began using the urinal and described the defendant shuffling closer to him. The defendant said: 'Can I?'"

Light then committed an offence of sexual touching for around five seconds. The boy described being in shock and running out as fast as he could. The adults who had taken him to the alley informed staff who entered the toilets and found one of the cubicles was locked with Light inside. The employee prevented anyone else entering the toilets and waited for police who attended soon afterwards and arrested Light. He gave a "no comment" interview. Ms Pickthall said the CCTV footage showed a "degree of planning" from Light in waiting 19 minutes for a child to enter.

The defendant, of Mary Street, pleaded guilty to sexually touching a child aged under 13. While employed as a railway worker in 2017 he was jailed for 18 months after admitting attempted voyeurism and possessing more than 2,000 indecent images of children. He had gone into the toilets of St David's shopping centre in Cardiff before placing a mobile under a cubicle door to film a dad and his two-year-old son.

Light is also awaiting sentence for offences dating back to 2006 in Northern Ireland when he attacked three children a boy and two girls. He has pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault and three of possessing indecent images. The victims came forward in 2018.

Speaking about last year's bowling alley attack the victim's mum said it had changed him from a "happy and carefree" boy to one who struggles with fear of public toilets and lack of trust in social situations. "His right to innocence has been eroded by the events that night," she added. "He asks: 'Why did he do that to me?' How do you explain to a boy that he was sexually assaulted? No child or his family should ever have to go through this."

John Ryan, mitigating, said the assault was "not prolonged" after his client had requested a "quick touch". He added: "In the past he has always had such thoughts and been able to manage but against the background of the Covid pandemic, loneliness, isolation, and boredom he went out to watch people to have some interaction. He drank significantly and this proved a disinhibiting factor which led to the offence."

Mr Ryan said Light has not "victim-blamed" and has made "frank admissions". But Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke pointed out that Light had denied the Northern Ireland offences in his interview with the probation service despite having already pleaded guilty to them. The barrister replied that he was "not sure where that came from". The judge also questioned Light's statement in the presentence report that he was not sexually attracted to male children.

Passing sentence Judge Lloyd-Clarke said the victim had been left "shocked and upset" by the attack. She added that only an immediate prison term would be appropriate given aggravating features such as Light being on bail for the Northern Ireland offences at the time as well as the comments he made in the presentence report. She imposed a three-year prison term and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

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Update:South Wales Police confirmed Ian Campbell was arrested in Brighton on Wednesday night and is in police custody

Police are hunting a sex offender who has been on the run for two years.

Ian Campbell, 40, from Rhondda Cynon Taf , was jailed in 2016 for possessing indecent images.

He was released from prison in 2017 but failed to comply with his licence conditions.

He is now wanted by police for breaching his licence.

Officers believe he was once in the Brighton area and might still be there.

Sergeant Ben Rowe said: He has failed to comply with strict licence conditions and is a wanted man.

It is concerning that somebody with his offending history is not currently being managed in the community - somebody somewhere will know where he is.

Our investigations indicate that at some point he visited the Brighton area since he went on the run.

He could be living and working under an alias, so, our appeal is to anybody in Brighton, and indeed the rest of the UK, to get in touch if they have seen him or if they know where he is.