Latest Offenders Solihull

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A pizza delivery driver plied three teenage girls with alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting and raping one of them in his car. Wahid Bik, who drove around Solihull and Shirley, groomed his victims who were left with emotional scars.

The-43-year-old committed the offences over a month-long period between December 2021 and January last year. He spotted his first victim, a 13-year-old girl, in November 2021 as she was walking home alone. In passing sentence Judge Andrew Smith KC said: "You pulled up in your car and engaged her in conversation and I am sure that you offered her both alcohol and cannabis during that first meeting."

He said it was the beginning of gaining her trust. He said: "You chose girls who were at a vulnerable stage in their teenage lives."

Bik also got the phone numbers of the girls and started to message them. He added: "You sought to make yourself an essential component of their lives by offering them vapes, alcohol and cannabis."

Bik would also pay them compliments telling one she looked like a "supermodel" and another that she was a "pretty lady." The judge said: "You groomed the girls who you ultimately committed serious sexual offences against."

In December the defendant offered to meet and collect two 14-year-old girls. He plied them both with alcohol until they were both severely affected and took them to a secluded location where he climbed into the back seat and carried out a sex attack on one of them.

Just over a week later Bik took two other girls aged 14 and 13 to a secluded location and, after also plying them with drink, began by touching one of them on the leg during the journey. He then kissed her before going on to carry out a more serious sexual attack on both of them, twice raping the other girl.

At one point one of the victims tried to use her phone to get help but Bik took it from her. Eventually one of them did manage to message a friend which lead to the defendant later being arrested with both girls still in his vehicle.

Bik of Walsgrave Drive, Solihull, who had previously been found guilty, following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court of two charges of rape, two of attempted rape, three of sexual assault and two other serious sexual offences, was jailed for 22 years.

Judge Smith said what Bik had done had had a "profound" effect on the victims and their families and added: "It has made them feel unsafe and left them with emotional scars that will be difficult, at the very least, to heal."

He told Bik: "You have shown absolutely no remorse for your criminal acts.

"Your offending was both sustained and involved significant planning. You took the risk of committing the offences on the night of January 30 and 31 having committed serious offences just a few weeks earlier.

"This demonstrates a pattern of behaviour." He said it was only as a result of chance that he was stopped.

Antonie Muller, prosecuting, said: "He used alcohol and other intoxicants. It is an aggravating feature that there were other people in the car and he himself was intoxicated."

Abigail Nixon, defending, said: "He is effectively of good character who came to this country and became educated and got a university degree and had good employment."

Description

A 'sleazy' Solihull man who sexually assaulted a teenager on a train has been jailed. Ben Pountney, 30, targeted the 17-year-old victim on a quiet train.

Pountney, of Swallows Meadow, Solihull, boarded a quiet train from Stratford-Upon-Avon and sat opposite the victim, Warwick Crown Court heard. He proceeded to persistently ask the teen about her shoes and went on to sexually assault her, before leaving the train.

Labelled "vile" by investigating officers, Pountney pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault at a trial on December 5 2022. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison at trial on Thursday, January 26.

Officers say Pountney was identified and arrested following help from the public and a media appeal.

The court heard how on Tuesday, October 13, 2020, the 17-year-old victim was travelling on a quiet train from Stratford-upon-Avon when a man boarded a few stops later and sat opposite her. She noticed the man looking at her and after a short while, he began speaking to her. He persistently asked about the shoes she was wearing and her shoe size.

He stated that he wanted to buy a similar pair for his niece while getting closer to the girl and leaning in towards her. He then sexually assaulted her and got off the train.

Following a number of enquiries and a media appeal to the public, Pountney was later identified and arrested. Investigating officers at the British Transport Police said actions like Pountney's will not be tolerated on the transport network.

'Vile' offender

Investigating officer Police sergeant Daniel Hart said: “Pountney is a vile offender who targeted a lone teenager and subjected her to a distressing sexual assault.

"His sleazy behaviour is a prime example of the harassment and intimidation of women and girls which we are dedicated to tackling on the network. It simply won’t be tolerated, and we will bring offenders to justice.

"If you are a victim of, or a witness to, a sexual offence on the railway - I urge you to report it to BTP by texting 61016 or via the Railway Guardian app. We will always take you seriously."

Pountney was sentenced to 20 months in prison, handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years at his sentencing last month.

Description

A former school teacher has been jailed for a string of historical sex offences against young girls after he handed himself into police 36 years later.

Solihull man Peter Jenkins, 53, who also ran a church holiday club with his wife, groomed schoolgirls before subjecting them to sexual assaults between 1984 and 2005.

One of his victims was a 12-year-old girl who Jenkins befriended while he was at university and another was abused when he became a teacher.

A teenage helper at the holiday club he ran with his wife later became a babysitter for the couple and following years of grooming he also began abusing her at 16.

A court heard his interest in underage started in his teens and continued into his 20s when he got married where his offended continued over the space of 21 years.

His crimes eventually came to light when a solicitor contacted West Midlands Police to say their client wanted to disclose offences he had committed.

Detectives began to try and trace the women Jenkins claimed to have abused as young girls and identified and contacted four victims.

He went on to admit 15 charges, including rape, indecent assault, sexual assault, unlawful sexual intercourse and inciting a girl to commit an act of gross indecency.

Jenkins, also known as Peter Greenham, of Solihull, West Midlands., was jailed for 13 years at Warwick Crown Court on Friday (12/8).

He will also be on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Detective Constable Gemma Rowan, of West Midlands Police, said: We always treat cases with the utmost sensitivity but this was especially true with this investigation as we had to contact the women who Jenkins had identified, out of the blue.

Our initial enquiries were largely carried out during the pandemic, when many people were already feeling isolated and vulnerable, so our specialist officers were at pains to ensure the women were supported and guided through the process as carefully and considerately as possible.

We felt it was important that the women who had been subjected to Jenkins abuse were given the opportunity to come forward and talk about their experiences.

It is testimony to the strength and power of these women that they supported this successful prosecution and have now been able to see Jenkins locked up for many years.

We know that Jenkins groomed these girls at a time in their lives where personal circumstances made them vulnerable and he used his position of power and trust to abuse them.

The effects of this type of behaviour have long lasting and scarring effects. We do not underestimate how traumatic this can be.

We work with a range of other agencies who can support victims of sexual abuse, no matter how long ago it happened.

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A former West Midlands Police constable and ex-serviceman who downloaded sickening child pornography films has escaped going to jail.

Father-of-two James Duffield, who told police he had been sexually assaulted as a child, was found to have pictures of children as young as four on his laptop.

Duffield, 34, from Solihull, had previously admitted three charges of making indecent images.

He was handed a 12-month suspended sentence.

Philip Brunt, prosecuting at Birmingham Crown Court, said Duffield downloaded 106 movies of categories A, B and C.

“The police received information that an IP address had been downloading indecent images,” he said.

“As a result, a warrant was issued to attend and search that address on August 23 last year.

“They attended in the early hours of the morning, knocked on the door and went inside.

“They recovered a large number of internet-enabled devices.

“In particular they were interested in two laptop computers.

“It was on the laptop computers that the indecent images were found.

“There is also evidence on the computers of various search terms such as ‘Paedo Mum’.”

Mr Brunt said the images had been accessed between December and April 2015.

When quizzed, Duffield – who quit as a policeman before he was sentenced – initially said he had downloaded films and other items but never knowingly indecent images.

But he later made a full confession.

Mr Brunt said: “He commented in that interview that he himself had been abused as a child and that led, in some part, to his accessing the images.

“He did make revelations that were investigated by the local police force but that investigation led nowhere.”

Mr Brunt said the ages of the children who were abused ranged from four to ten and the longest movie was 17 minutes.

Passing sentence, Judge Simon Drew QC said: “You had a career in the services and also in the police force and, at the time of the commission, of these offences you were a serving police officer.

“You are one of the least people one would expect to be before the court for offences of this sort.

“The real gravamen of these offences is not your conduct but the impact on those who appear in those images.”

But the judge accepted the future risk he posed was relatively low.

Adrian Keeling QC, defending, said: “Duffield was abused when he was younger.

“He made no complaint at the time and therefore received no help or assistance.

“The first time he came cross any of these images was on file sharing software and it chimed with what happened to him.

“He has already suffered quite a heavy degree of punishment.

“First he had lost his good name and secondly he has lost his job.

“He resigned immediately.

“That has caused financial strains and pressures upon his family which hurt him deeply.”

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A sex beast who repeatedly raped a woman as his girlfriend slept in the next room has been jailed for 12 years.

Twisted Darren Nesbitt, 44, of Dorridge , invited the victim to stay at the Solihull house he shared with his partner after a leak left her without running water.

But police said the heavy drinker plied her with booze and groped her as they smoked cigarettes in the garage.

He then forced himself on the 49-year-old victim in a spare bedroom as his partner slept.

Nesbitt was arrested when she confided in a colleague and then told police about the attack, which happened on August 22, 2014.

He claimed the allegation was false but detectives traced another woman who said Nesbitt sexually assaulted her at his home in the same year.

He was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court after being found unanimously guilty by a jury of three counts of rape and one of attempted rape.

Nesbitt must also sign the sex offender register for life.

Investigating officer, Det Con Jon Barker, of West Midlands Polices public protection unit, said: Nesbitt invited the woman into his home and offered her his hospitality by cooking and plying her with alcohol.

Then he attacked the woman while his partner retired to bed.

Its a shocking breach of trust and left the victim hugely distressed and struggling to come to terms with what happened.

She did the right thing in disclosing the offences to us.

The victim was a very credible witness at court and conducted herself impeccably.

Nesbitt, on the other hand, kept changing his story and this clearly struck the jury.

This case should act as reassurance to anyone who has been raped or sexually assaulted that we take all reports seriously and allegations will be thoroughly investigated.

Mr Barker said Nesbitts victim was supported by specialist officers and RSVP in Birmingham a charity that offers support and help to sexual violence survivors.

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A SENIOR Midland councillor who kissed a girl of 16 as they danced at a birthday party has been forced to sign the sex offenders’ register.

The sexual assault, in a “moment of utter madness” by former Solihull Council deputy leader Ian Hillas, had ruined his life and reputation, Wolverhampton Crown Court was told.

Hillas, who represents Castle Bromwich ward, was given a 12-month conditional discharge by Judge Michael Challinor following the assault in Cradley Heath. The Judge told Hillas, who had been suspended from the Conservative group after his arrest, that he had been “branded as a sex offender”.

Sarah Buckingham, defending, said: “He has suffered public humiliation and he has been socially and professionally excluded.”

She told the court that politics had been Hillas’s life and he had been devoted to serving the needs of the community.

She said: “There was no planning or sinister intent behind the offence.

“In a moment of utter madness he kissed her on the cheek and on the neck.

“Almost immediately he was embarrassed and appalled by what he had done and he pulled away.”

Hillas, 43, of Oakwood Croft, Solihull, admitted sexual assault.

He was also ordered to pay the girl £500 with £2,151 costs and told to register as a sex offender for a year.

The Judge said Hillas was not a public danger and did not ban him from working with children.