Latest Offenders Swansea

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Youth group volunteer Aaron Davies said he wanted to show the 13-year-old girl how babies are made A 19-year-old steward sent hundreds of explicit sexual messages and intimate photographs to what he thought was a young girl. Aaron Davies contacted what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl on Facebook and after weeks of grooming her they arranged to meet. But when he got to the bus station expecting to meet his online contact he was challenged and detained by a group of so-called paedophile hunters. Swansea Crown Court heard a group called Justice 4 Kids established a profile purporting to be that of a 13-year-old girl, complete with an age-appropriate photograph, online. Claire Pickthall, prosecuting, said the profile lay dormant until in February this year when Davies sent a friend request. This was the start of almost two months of communications between the parties. The barrister said Davies' messages soon became sexual in nature with the defendant asking intimate questions of the decoy, encouraging her to perform sex acts, and asking her to send pictrues. Davies, from Swansea , also sent the decoy two pictures of his genitals. The court heard Davies told the "girl" she should watch pornography so she could learn what to do sexually, told her he loved her, and said he wanted to go to Disneyland Paris with her. He also said he wanted to kiss and touch her and show her how babies are made. The prosecutor said in many of the replies by the decoy it was made clear the profile was that of a 13-year-old. In total the defendant sent more than 200 messages. Miss Pickthall described Davies' conduct as "classic grooming behaviour". The court heard the pair made arrangements to go to the cinema in Swansea on April 18 and at that point Justice 4 Kids contacted local paedophile hunters and handed them the information. When the defendant arrived at the city's main bus station expecting to meet the girl he was met by activists who called the police and took him outside. In his subsequent interview he said he was used to being around children because he was a steward at the Liberty Stadium in Swansea and also volunteered with a youth group. He said his aim had been to "educate and guide" the girl about what was coming as she grew up. Davies, of Heol Eifion Wyn, Llansamlet , had previously pleaded guilty to attempting to meet a girl after sexual communication and attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity when he appeared in the dock for sentencing on Friday. He has no previous convictions. Stephen Thomas, for Davies, said his client was very sorry for what he had done. Giving Davies a one-third discount for his guilty pleas judge Keith Thomas sentenced the defendant to a total of 12 months detention in a young offenders institution. He will serve half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Davies was also made the subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order to control his contact with children and his access to the internet and he will be a registered sex offender for the same length of time.

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'Wholly unrepentant' abuser Brian Andrew Rhys has been handed a 30-year sentence A man with a lust for young boys raped two youngsters after grooming them and showering them with gifts. Brian Andrew Rhys was convicted by a jury of 11 counts of indecency with a child, five counts of indecent assault of a male, five counts of a serious sexual assault, 12 counts of rape of a child under 13, a count of a sexual assault of a child under 13, and one count of witness intimidation. The offending involved two young boys dating between 1982 and 2018. Swansea Crown Court heard how manipulative and arrogant Rhys, 53, had groomed them and showered them with gifts before raping them. One victim impact statement read: I have had to carry this deep dark secret since being abused during childhood for more than 30 years. It is a heavy burden to bear and has affected my life and my mental health. Despite all that I know when he is convicted it brings a new chapter in my life. I will now look forward instead of back. The secret is a secret no more. A statement from his other victim read: When I was told by my mother the defendant had been convicted I felt very happy and slept well that night. It was the best I had slept since I can remember. "What he did affected my confidence and my schooling and caused stress and anxiety. I feel absolutely terrible about the things he did to me. Sentencing Rhys, Judge Paul Thomas QC said: "Over a period of around 30 years you systematically and calculatedly sexually violated two young boys. "In each case you used the trust placed in you to look after them to allow you to your wicked ends using grooming behaviour and showering them with gifts. You took steps to get each of them on their own and raped them over a long period of time. "It is clear from watching you give evidence you are wholly unrepentant. You will maintain your innocence for the purposes of your family. You're manipulative and arrogant and believed in your ability to pull the wool over people's eyes. "Your sexual tastes are deep-rooted. You clearly have a lust for young boys." Rhys, of of Banwell Street in Morriston, Swansea, was given a 30-year extended sentence comprising 24 years in prison and further a six years on extended licence. A sexual harm prevention order was made and he must sign the sex offenders register. Following the sentencing detective constable Joanne Pudner, who was praised by the judge for her role in the investigation at the conclusion of the case, said: We would like to praise the bravery of the victims for coming forward. Investigating sexual violence is a priority for South Wales Police and we are committed to investigating all reports of sexual abuse, regardless of when they occurred, in order to ensure that those who exploit the most vulnerable members of society are brought to justice.

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A businessman and former taxi driver raped a girl dozens of times over two years.

Vincent Matthews groomed his victim, who was under the age of 13, into thinking she was in a relationship with him.

But instead the former director of Morriston RFC was abusing his victim.

The 56-year-old, of Cwrt Cilmeri in Morriston, pleaded guilty to six counts of raping a girl under 13 and two counts of attempted sexual assault.

Swansea Crown Court was told the actual number of offences was estimated to be "dozens".

John Hipkin, prosecuting, told the court Matthews' grooming had "succeeded in making her (the girl) believe she was in a relationship with him."

He added: "He began by squeezing her leg and kissing and cuddling.

"She did not know about or understand anything sexual, but this proceeded to taking her upstairs to a bedroom, paying her compliments, suggesting she take a bath, and proceeded to having sexual intercourse with her.

"She mentioned pinning her arms down to achieve the act, but it is emphasised by the Crown this case is one of extensive grooming.

"He would put a blanket over her mouth to prevent her screaming. He told her not to tell anyone what they were doing."

Susan Ferrier, defending Matthews, said: "It is clear he is somebody who does need help and by pleading guilty he is making himself available to whatever help is available during what he accepts will be a long sentence.

"He apologises not just to you (the judge) but to the victim and her family and his family. He has lost everything.

"He had his own business, that is gone. He will have a long time in custody to reflect what from the outside looked like the life of a successful middle age man and that is something he has to live with."

Sentencing Matthews, Judge Paul Thomas said: "You deliberately and cynically set out to rape a girl when you were in your mid fifties.

"At her age she was not only never mature enough to consent with what you were doing, it is highly questionable she understood the significance of what you were doing to her at that age.

"She does not. As is almost inevitable in these cases it has had a profound long term impact on her both psychologically and emotionally.

"These offences do not end when acts ends. There are consequences that go on for years and years and years.

"I suspect Mr Matthews, I do not have to tell you because you are an intelligent man.

"Your earlier involvement with the court system did not dissuade you.

"Your concern was only for your own sexual needs. You pursued her and made her consider you were in a romantic relationship with her. You were not. Your paedophile lust was your motivation.

"Your level of persistent, cynical opportunism and inability to control your attraction to pre-pubescent children means you clearly represent a very significant risk to pre-pubescent children in the future."

He added: "[After] Your business and sporting standing of many years, your public fall from grace is precipitous."

Judge Thomas gave Matthews an extended sentence of 23 years, with 16 years in custody and an extended seven years on licence.

He was also made subject to a sexual prevention order for life, and made to sign the sex offenders' register.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Gareth Morgan, of South Wales Police, said: We would like to praise the bravery of the victim for coming forward.

Investigating sexual violence is a priority for South Wales Police and we are committed to investigating all reports of sexual abuse - regardless of when they occurred - in order to ensure that those who exploit the most vulnerable members of society are brought to justice."

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A paedophile who used fake internet profiles to befriend and later blackmail underage girls has been jailed for eight years.

Shane Wakefield first came to the attention of the authorities after one of his victims, a child in Scotland, reported him to Snapchat after he threatened to publish indecent images of her unless she agreed to cooperate with his demands.

After Police Scotland were contacted by the online messaging app, officers were able to trace the offending account to 25-year-old Wakefield in Morriston, Swansea.

He was arrested in September 2015, with police later finding he was using social media platforms Kik, Snapchat and MeowChat to contact girls across the UK and abroad.

He often befriending his victims on apps before asking them for pictures, often in return for gifts like iTunes vouchers.

He then used the initial pictures as leverage to demand graphic images and videos.

Wakefield, of Cwm Arian, Swansea, was subsequently charged with a string of offences relating to eight victims.

On August 10, at Swansea Crown Court, he was found guilty of four counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, eight counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one count of possessing extreme pornography, three counts of possessing indecent images of a child and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

On Monday, Wakefield was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and will be placed on the Sex Offenders' Register indefinitely.

Sentencing, Judge Paul Thomas said: The wickedness of what you did over a significant period of time to a huge number of young girls cant be underestimated.

You went online seeking out girls of your preferred age of 13-16. You started off by bribing them with vouchers to send you sexual photos including their faces, then you blackmailed them to send you sexually explicit images, and if they didnt comply with your demands you would put them on Facebook and on the internet so their friends would see.

By these utter callous means you forced them to send pictures of their genitalia and performing sexual acts on themselves. Several of them begged you and said they had self-harmed in the past and this made them want to do it again. Anyone with any sort of heart would realise the torment these girls were facing, but your response was brutal.

To put them through that shows the depravity of your nature. There has not been a hint of remorse, just denial. Maybe its for the benefit of your parents so you can make out its a horrible misunderstanding.

The simple fact is you are a committed paedophile. The harm you have caused is incalculable.

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Constable Richard Jones, of South Wales Police, said: "Shane Wakefield is a cold and controlling individual who has shown no remorse for his actions.

He deliberately set out to target young girls for his own sexual gratification and the level of depravity shown by him has left a lasting impact on everyone involved in this case.

This has been among the most harrowing cases I have dealt with in almost 20 years, and I cannot commend enough the young girls who worked with us to ensure he was brought to justice.

The impact Wakefields actions have had on the young victims is immeasurable. Many of them were driven to self-harm, both during and after his reign of abuse and they, and their families, have shown immense courage throughout the lengthy investigations and the court proceedings.

I hope todays sentencing brings them some closure and comfort as they attempt to move forward with their lives.

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Police have arrested a paedophile who went missing on the same day he was convicted of 16 offences.

David Hart, from Morriston, Swansea, failed to show up at the city's crown court for the last day of his trial on Tuesday.

Hart, a 60-year-old taxi driver, was arrested by South Wales Police at an address in Morriston on Wednesday.

His victim was just 11 or 12 when he began a campaign of abuse, which lasted for 14 years.

Officers said the hunt for Hart was "immediately treated as a top priority".

Hart was convicted of 12 charges of rape, two of indecent assault, one of assault by penetration and one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm on Tuesday.

'Life-changing consequences'

Judge Geraint Walters said his victim had described "some of the gravest sexual offences".

He adjourned sentencing, saying Hart faced "many years" in prison.

During the trial, the court heard some of the abuse was carried out in front of a camera with hundreds of people watching at times.

Hart's victim said the abuse had caused extreme pain and she thought she may have been drugged.

She told police: "I blame myself. I never did enough to stop him. I had opportunities to stop him but I was too afraid. I hate myself. I feel disgusted I let him do these things. I dream of it."

Judge Walters said it "obviously leaves a permanent psychological mark" and "someone can't be subjected to this behaviour without life-changing consequences".

It was thought Hart been admitted to Morriston Hospital, but police discovered he was not there.

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A deviant who groomed a young girl online then sexually assaulted her when they met has been locked up.

Swansea man Alexander Sebastian Wyn Davies was 19 at the time of the offences – and his victim just 12.

Davies, now aged 20, of Rosehill Terrace, Mount Pleasant, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting an underage girl to engage in sexual activity and one count of sexual assault when he appeared in the dock at Swansea Crown Court for sentencing.

The court heard Davies met the girl on Facebook, and after exchanging a series of messages arranged to meet her.

He then performed sex acts on her at a train station, and in a park in the Neath area.

Davies was sentenced to 14 months in a young offenders institution and placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years.

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A murderer who spent 17 years in prison for dousing an ex-girlfriend in petrol and setting fire to her is back behind bars after being caught with child sex abuse pictures.

Ian Anthony Harris downloaded the indecent pictures after visiting internet sex chatrooms.

However, officers from the South Wales Police On-line Investigation Team (Polit) were alerted to his activity and swooped on his Swansea house.

In 1988 Harris murdered his ex, Mandy Jackson, after she ended their relationship - he went to her flat in Uplands, poured petrol over her as she made a cup of tea and threw a match on her. Police later found her charred body by the kitchen table.

Harris was given a life sentence for murdering the 21-year-old.

Dean Pulling, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on February 10 this year officers from Polit received information about activity involving a computer linked to an address in the Ravenhill area of the city.

Harris was out, but officers went to his place of work and took him back home - in a bedroom at the property they found a desktop computer containing 18 indecent images including one of Category A, the most extreme kind. Officers also found evidence Harris had shared a Category B image.

The 52-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of distributing an indecent image of a child and three of possessing indecent images when he appeared in custody in the dock.

The court heard that during his police interviews Harris said he had downloaded the images after visiting internet chatrooms where the talk was invariably sexual, and in a variety of forms. He said he had uploaded an image - of Category B - after somebody in a chatroom asked to see it.

The prosecutor said Harris had convictions for some 22 offences including murder.

Harris was released from jail in 2006.

He was recalled to prison after his arrest on the indecent images charges.

Dan Griffiths, for Harris, said his client accepted that in due course he would have to convince the parole board he was no longer a danger.

The advocate said his client was a family man who had started a new relationship after his release in 2006, and had spent six years working as a greenskeeper at a Swansea golf course.

Recorder Ifan Wyn Lloyd told him possessing indecent child images was a serious matter.

He said: Behind every one of these images there is a child being abused - these are not just images, these are real children being abused so people like you can get some sort of perverted pleasure from viewing them.

Harris was sentenced to a total of eight months in prison, and will be on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years. He was also made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order controlling his access to the internet.

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Paul Neumann pleaded not guilty to the charges, however he was found guilty and was convicted of the offences, which were dated in October in November 2015.

The court heard how Neumann had pursued young and vulnerable women after offering them alcohol, and afterwards raped and sexually assaulted them.

Officers at Morriston CIDs specialist sexual offences unit, commended the three victims for coming forward and giving evidence for such a horrible case.

Neumann was sentenced to 12 years behind bars for rape and two counts of sexual assault.

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Ronald Preddy, 73, used threats and bribes to encourage children into sexual acts A former colliery security guard labelled a remorseless sexual predator has been jailed for 18 years for sexual offences against boys. Ronald Preddy, 73, of Dunraven Street, Glyncorrwg, in Port Talbots Upper Afan Valley , had denied offences including rape and indecent assault going back to the 1990s against two boys. But at a Swansea Crown Court trial he was found guilty of the offences and was sentenced by Judge Huw Davies QC on Friday. The judge described Preddy as a remorseless sexual predator who had committed offences over a 25-year period using bribes in one case as low as 50p and in some cases using threats to encourage children into sexual acts. The trial heard evidence relating to two sets of offences against two boys, one relating to the 1990s, the other said to have occurred more recently. The court heard the offences took place in the South Wales area and that Preddy had been, until his retirement, a security guard at a coal mine. In 2004, Preddy was jailed for eight years for separate sexual offences, also involving a young boy. Judge Davies said over a 12-year period, Preddy had been before Swansea Crown Court three times for sexual offences, each time denying he had done anything wrong. The judge told Preddy: You have shown no remorse whatsoever. Preddy was given in total a 21-year extended prison sentence but with a custodial element of 18 years. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.