Latest Offenders Southampton

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Shaun Higginson, 47, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to a total of eight offences including one count of attempted rape of a female under 16, one count of gross indecency with a girl under 14 and six counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14.

The charges relate to offences that took place against one child between 1987 and 1992 in Southampton.

Today, Higginson was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court to a total of 13 years in jail and handed a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Detective Constable Mark Harris from Hampshire Constabulary’s Amberstone team said “Firstly I would like to commend the woman for her courage and bravery in telling us what happened to her when she was young.

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Stephen Lea, 53, of Logan Close, Southampton was found guilty of one count of rape and 13 counts of indecent assault on a child, following a trial at Southampton Crown Court.

The court heard that Lea began abusing his young victim in 1994 and continued until 1999.

Lea’s offences were reported to the police after the victim disclosed what had happened to a relative.

Lea was sentenced to 17 years, with an extended licence period of one year. He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and ordered to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Detective Constable Marie Leather from Hampshire Constabulary’s Amberstone team said “Lea’s offending took place over a prolonged period of time.

“I cannot praise the victim enough for the bravery and courage she has shown in reporting what happened. Lea’s actions have had a significant impact on her and it has been something she has been trying to come to terms with throughout her life.

“I hope this sentence goes some way in helping her move forward.

“I also hope this sentence will encourage others who have suffered this type of abuse, no matter when it happened, to come forward and speak to us. We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and work hard to bring offenders to justice.”

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A SOUTHAMPTON man has been jailed for asking a 12 year old girl for sex.

Reice John Wills was described as an "isolated young man" in a "sad place" - and convicted at Southampton Crown Court after he was caught messaging the girl on Facebook.

Southampton Crown Court heard how Wills contacted the girl on messenger in July this year - making obscene suggestions of how they could celebrate the girl's thirteenth birthday.

But it also heard how Wills spent time in the attic of his mother's house alone - and had a history of being bullied.

The court was told how the 24 year old suffers from a limp, a speech impediment, cerebral palsy and epilepsy.

Richard Tutt, mitigating, said Wills knew he had been "extraordinarily foolish" but that he was "remorseful" and had acted out of "desperation."

He added that Wills is "quite an isolated young man" with "only one loyal friend" and said: "He has been bullied throughout his life. It has made him socially isolated and tends to spend a lot of time inside.

"His self-confidence is quite low, his self esteem is quite low. He has access to the internet. It's easy for him to get gratification from younger girls.

"The reason he has done that is because of the way he has been feeling about himself."

Mr Tutt went on to say Wills had "no intention of doing anything" with the girl he messaged - and that he has "struggled to form age appropriate relationships."

But he also said that Wills "fears for the future" and is keen to find "purpose in life," - concluding his mitigation by saying Wills "is in a sad place and it's from that position that he comes from."

But handing the two year eight month sentence to Wills, Judge Parker said Wills had "specifically targeted a 12 or 13 year-old girl as she was a relatively easy target."

He added: "You are either in denial of the fact that you have an unsavoury interest in teenage girls or you have no understanding or insight into that concern of yours in children.

"It is obvious that you are sexually active. You pose a significant risk of serious harm to these girls and it's very difficult to see how long that will last.

"Either you recognise or not what you have done causes very serious harm to young girls."

In the summer of 2016 Wills, of Blackthorn Road Southampton, pleaded guilty to causing a child of under 16 to watch a sexual activity and asking her to undress.

He was handed a 12 month suspended sentence.

On October 19 this year Wills was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, breaching a sexual harm prevention order by deleting internet history, having unsupervised contact with an under 16-year-old, and failing to comply with notification requirements.

On his release he will also have to serve an extended licence period of six years' supervision from the authorities.

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Eliot Easterby, 44, was given a three year community order when he appeared for sentence at Southampton Crown Court following his conviction last month.

Jurors had heard how police armed with a search warrant arrived at his home at 6.45am on January 22 last year, following a tip off from Canadian police as part of a major international operation.

In a four and a half hour search, they found ten DVDs and examined his computer, a hard drive and three memory sticks on which they discovered almost 700 images.

Almost 300 had been viewed on the computer but deleted. Another 374 had been downloaded and stored.

The prosecution accepted the images were of the least serious category.

DVDs included Water Wiggles and More Water Wiggles, showing boys cavorting in paddling pools.

They also discovered a hoard of boys underwear beneath his bed, which had been left behind when he took scouts on trips as leader of Hamble Sea Scouts.

It took jurors less an hour to convict Easterby, who taught maths at Sholing Technology College and has written teenage ghost stories, guilty on 13 counts of possessing and making indecent images and not guilty of one other charge.

He had denied all the allegations.Passing sentence today, Judge Peter Henry said the jury had in his opinion quite rightly convicted him of the charges that involved boys aged between 8 and 15.

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A music teacher has avoided being sent to prison after he pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornography involving animals.

Edmund Warbrick, of Middle Road, Sholing, Southampton, Hampshire, was sentenced to six months in prison suspended for two years at Southampton Crown Court after he admitted the 18 offences of child sex abuse images and two counts involving animals.

The 48-year-old, who has been sacked by Sholing Technology College where he worked for 20 years, was also given a sex offences prevention order which bans him from working with children for 10 years and he was ordered to sign on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

Warbrick, known as Jim at the school, was also given a two-year supervision order, ordered to pay an £80 victim surcharge and £340 costs.

Martin Brown, headteacher at The Sholing Technology College, said: “We are aware that a former member of staff, employed by The Sholing Technology College from 1 September 1994 until 15 December 2014 - pleaded guilty to 18 counts of possession of child pornography and has been sentenced in Southampton Crown Court.

"We have been fully co-operative in the police investigation against this former member of staff.

“The safety of our students is of paramount importance to us and is therefore something we take very seriously. As a college we review our safeguarding arrangements on a continuous basis and as a result have robust procedures in place to protect our students.”