Latest Offenders Suffolk

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A man who still denies molesting a child despite being convicted of sexual assault after a three-day trial has been given a six-year jail term.

Aaron Clayton, of College Close, Horringer, near Bury St Edmunds, was sentenced amid stormy scenes at Ipswich Crown Court.

Judge Rupert Overbury said when he had met the victim he had found her to be cheerful and engaging girl who did not appear to have been adversely affected by what had happened to her.

However, he said a victim impact statement painted a very different picture.

This prompted a loud remark from one of the 32-year-olds family and friends in the public gallery.

Judge Overbury halted the hearing and asked for Claytons supporters to be cleared from the court.

Further shouting and swearing followed from a number of people.

When order was restored after police and the courts usher had shepherded the men and women from the court, Judge Overbury resumed sentencing, although he allowed the defendants father back in.

The judge made it clear to Clayton what had gone on would not be held against him and would not sway his sentencing.

The court heard during his trial Clayton had disagreed with various prosecution points.

Judge Overbury told him: You set out to challenge the voracity of some of the police officers (evidence), but plainly you were someone who would seek to take any point that was to your advantage in the promotion of what plainly was an untrue defence.

Earlier in mitigation Claytons barrister Jo Eley stated her client still denied he had sexually assaulted the girl despite a jurys guilty verdict.

However the judge said Clayton who had 27 previous convictions for 43 offences, although none for offences of a sexual nature posed a high, but not substantial risk to children.

In addition to his jail term Clayton was made subject to the sex offenders notification requirements for life and given a sexual offences prevention order to limit his contact with children.

The judge added: It is necessary to protect young people from any future offences by you. I am under a duty to pass a sentence that is commensurate with your offending.

Half of Claytons six-year term will be served in prison, the remainder on licence.

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Goes by the name Reece Mason.

A teenager has been jailed for the rape of a 51-year-old woman in Ipswich.

Reece Davies, 19, of Star Lane in Ipswich, pleaded guilty to rape at the town's Crown Court.

The attack happened in Wroxham Road early on 17 July after the victim shared a taxi with Davies and he assaulted her in the street.

He was jailed for five-and-a-half years for rape and 12 months for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, to run concurrently.

Det Ch Insp Stuart McCallum said: "This was an extremely traumatic ordeal for the victim who was subjected to a callous attack.

"The viewing of CCTV to help secure this outcome was vital in our investigation, and this result demonstrates what a useful tool CCTV can be, assisting police to solve this and many other different types of crime."

Davies was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

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Police have smashed a global child abuse network which was co-ordinated through a UK-based internet site.Global agencies, led by UK investigators, examined more than 700 suspects, including 200 in the UK.

The ring was run by Timothy Cox, 28, of Buxhall, Suffolk, who admitted nine offences and has been handed a sentence which could mean he dies in jail.

A judge at Ipswich Crown Court told Cox: "You are obsessed with images of children being sexually abused."

Chatroom infiltration

Cox ran a website called "Kids the Light of Our Lives" which let users exchange abuse images, the court heard.

Timothy Cox saw a "gap in the market", the court heard

Judge Peter Thompson told Cox: "These are shocking images which involve very young children - in the worst cases being subjected to sadistic, painful abuse which you, for some distorted reason, appear to take enjoyment from."

"Anybody who thinks they can carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a rude awakening" Jim Gamble CEOP.

More than 75,000 indecent and explicit images were found on Cox's computer and there was evidence that he had supplied more than 11,000 images to other site users.

Cox pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children at an earlier hearing and was handed an indeterminate sentence.

Cox posed "significant risks", the judge said, and had to be imprisoned for "for public protection".

Under the terms of his sentence, he must satisfy the authorities that he is fit for release and does not pose any threat to the community before he can ever be set free.

Ian Robertson, of the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP), told BBC News 24 that the ages of the children whose images were exchanged on the site ranged from babies to teenagers.

After he was arrested in September 2006, undercover officers spent 10 days infiltrating the chatroom, assuming his identity to collect evidence about other users.

When Cox was arrested, undercover officers placed a message online saying he had gone for his tea and would be back in half an hour to avoid raising suspicions.

As many as 70 online paedophiles were waiting to download images of abuse.

Investigators from the Australian Federal Police, the US Department of Homeland Security and Toronto Police took part in the online surveillance operation.

In total, 31 children were saved as a result of the investigation, CEOP said.

Cox lived with his parents, sister and 26-year-old girlfriend in a large farmhouse and worked at the family's micro-brewery. The website was operated from his bedroom.

CEOP said Cox hosted the website using the pseudonym "Son of God" - a reference to "G.O.D", the online identity of the owner of another paedophile site shut down by police last year.

The court heard Cox spotted a "gap in the market" after the other site was closed.

Simon Spence, prosecuting, told the court: "For what must have been hours at a time he was online either viewing these images of children, arranging the chat room or communicating with other paedophiles."

'Horrific Activities'

Jim Gamble of CEOP said his capture "sends a powerful warning to those using the internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children".

He added: "From the apparent 'safety' of his home, Cox spent hours each day planning, promoting and encouraging the abuse and exploitation of children.

"In doing so he provided a service to hundreds of like-minded individuals, enabling those with a sexual interest in children to share indecent images and discuss further plans for abuse.

"Anybody who thinks they can carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a rude awakening."

Cox had been identified after intelligence connecting the site to the UK was passed to CEOP by Canadian investigators.

Detective Constable Stefan Jochan said: "He doesn't fit any kind of traditional image of paedophile. He had a veneer of respectability."

The investigation uncovered another member of the same ring, Gordon Mackintosh from Hertfordshire, who attempted to keep the website going after Cox was arrested.

Mackintosh, 33, used the names "silentblackheart" and "lust4skoolgurls". More than 5,000 images were found on his computer as well as 392 indecent movie files.

He pleaded guilty to 27 charges of making, possessing and distributing the material and is due to be sentenced on June 29.

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A teaching assistant who groomed a 13-year-old girl for sex is believed to be the first sex offender to be sentenced under tough new legislation. Jamie Gunn, 25, of Haverhill, Suffolk, admitted seven offences and was jailed for three years.

He was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court under new laws aimed at tackling paedophiles.

They said under old laws the sentence passed down would have been no more than a year in length.

Gunn pleaded guilty to offences of grooming, sexual touching and sexual activity - charges introduced as part of the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

The act, which came into force in May, increased the penalty for having sex with a child aged between 13 and 16 from a two-year maximum to a 14-year maximum. Having sex with a girl aged under 13 carries a maximum life sentence.

The act also introduced the offence of sexual grooming - designed to combat the activities of paedophiles who use internet chatrooms to contact children.

The court was told Gunn was an information technology specialist at the school and the girl had initially made contact with him via email.

But Judge John Holt said the girl was in no way to blame for what had happened and that Gunn had to bear the responsibility for grooming her then meeting her for sex.

He banned Gunn from working with children indefinitely and ordered him to sign the Sexual Offenders' Register.

He said Gunn would serve half his three-year sentence before becoming eligible for parole.

'Stupid mistake'

The court heard Gunn's offences had come to light after the girl's mother saw something suspicious on her computer.

Robert Sadd, prosecuting, said the two had exchanged explicit text and email messages over about a month.

Mr Sadd said Gunn had not forced the girl to have sex and had asked whether she was sure about taking such a step.

Roger Harrison, for Gunn, said his client had made a full admission to police, taking the blame and saying it was "a stupid mistake".

He said Gunn had not gone to work at the school with the intention of meeting young girls and did not believe he had paedophile tendencies.