Latest Offenders Wales

Description

A man raped a vulnerable 11-year-old girl in his flat after grooming her on the messaging app Snapchat.

When police arrested Alex Prosser they found more than 1,200 films and pictures on his phone showing babies and children being sexually abused. A report into the defendant described him as the "epitome of a predator paedophile".

His barrister said the 34-year-old has a deep sense of shame for what he had done - "as he should".

Swansea Crown Court heard that Prosser initially made contact with another child on Snapchat, and through her went on to start communicating with an 11-year-old girl.

Carina Hughes, prosecuting, said the girl made her age clear to the defendant and he told her he was 16. She said Prosser then engaged in "clear grooming behaviour" including making persistent requests for naked pictures of the youngster and sending her photos and videos of his penis.

The defendant arranged for the child to go to his flat, and when she arrived he cuddled her on his bed before touching her breasts and genitals. Prosser then made the child perform oral sex on him.

The court heard the abuse came to light after the girl's mother found the Snapchat exchanges, contacted Prosser to confront him and then reported the matter to the police.

Miss Hughes said when officers went to the defendant's Port Talbot flat he was not at home - but officers found blood outside the property and forced entry. Inside they found a trail of blood, and a bloody knife.

An injured Prosser was subsequently located on the slipway near the RNLI station on Aberavon seafront. His phone was seized and examined, and on it officers found 1,249 indecent videos and pictures, including 700 Category A images showing the most extreme kinds of sexual abuse. The court heard some of the children in the images were estimated to be around 18 months old.

Prosser subsequently gave a largely "no comment" interview but told officers he had been "waiting to die for the last 10 years" and said his life was difficult and he had "had enough".

In an impact statement from the victim's mum, which was read to the court, she said that since learning of the abuse she had trouble sleeping - but when she does sleep, she had nightmares about what had happened to her daughter. She said the young girl rarely talks about she went through but when she does "she blames herself and apologises". The mum added that what had happened to the family was "every mother's worst nightmare".

Alex Prosser, of Trinity Court, Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to the rape of a child under 13, assault of a child under 13 by penetration, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of possessing incident images of Class A, B and C, and possession of extreme pornography when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.

Eugene Hickey, for Prosser, said it was clear from a pre-sentence report that the defendant led a lonely and isolated life and suffered from depression and low self-esteem which had led him to self-harm. The barrister said the main mitigation he could forward were his client's guilty pleas which meant there would be no trial, adding: "He has a deep sense of shame - as he should."

Judge Catherine Richards told Prosser he had raped and sexually assaulted a vulnerable young girl. She said she had carefully considered the contents of the pre-sentence report into the defendant - the author of which had described him as the "epitome of a predator paedophile" - and she was persuaded that an extended sentence was necessary.

With discounts for his guilty pleas Prosser was given a 13-year extended sentence comprising 10 years in custody with a three-year extended licence period. The defendant must serve two-thirds of the custodial element before he can apply for release but it will be for the Parole Board to decide if he can be let out at that point. He was also made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order, and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

Description

A sex offender found guilty of raping and abusing children has been jailed for 23 years.

David Hayes went on the run for more than two years before being arrested in Spain where he was working as an English teacher.

The former press officer at Bangor City Football Club had denied 12 charges including child rape, sexually assaulting children aged 10 or under, and inciting them to engage in sexual acts.

But Hayes, who tried to evade justice by fleeing abroad, was found guilty by a jury in February

Hayes, of Bridge Street in Llanrwst , carried out the abuse over a three-year period.

Judge Rhys Rowlands said he remains a "high risk to children".

At Mold Crown Court on Tuesday, he sentenced Hayes to three concurrent extended sentences of 15 years for two rapes and an oral rape.

He was given a consecutive extended term of eight years for another serious sexual assault. He is also given an extended licence of two years in total meaning he will serve 23 years in jail, plus two years on licence.

The extended element of the sentence, given because of his danger to children, means he must serve at least two-thirds of the term before being eligible for parole, although Judge Rowlands says it may well be he serves his entire sentence of 23 years before he is released.

Normally a convict would be eligible for parole on licence after serving half their sentence.

Judge Rowlands described Hayes as "a pretty inadequate individual with a distorted view of life", saying the offences against two young children were of the "most appalling depravity".

Hayes was once one of Europol's most wanted people and North Wales Police issued a number of appeals for sightings of him, including an item on Crimewatch.

An NSPCC Cymru/Wales spokesperson said: Hayes tried to evade justice for the appalling crimes he committed against children and the long jail term imposed reflects the danger he poses.

He forced his young victims to relive in court the abuse they suffered at his hands and they must be commended for their bravery at speaking out and helping to put Hayes behind bars where he cannot hurt others.

While justice has finally caught up with Hayes, it is important that the survivors of his abuse receive the support they need to help rebuild their lives.

Description

Clos yr Onnen, with its well-kept homes and neatly manicured gardens, is like thousands of unassuming suburban streets throughout Wales.

Just a stones throw from the medieval castle in the charming seaside town of Kidwelly, the quiet and overlooked cul-de-sac is outwardly unremarkable.

Childrens bikes and scooters lean against lamposts as cars trundle back and forth on school runs, journeys to work, and trips to the shops.

This Carmarthenshire estate is, on the face of it, certainly not the most likely setting for a satanic paedophile ring.

Yet it was here that former Tesco security guard Colin Batley, now 56 years old, established his depraved cult which saw children and young adults intimidated into having sex in the most horrific circumstances.

As ordinary, law-abiding families went about their daily lives in the dozens of homes in Clos yr Onnen Batley and three of his neighbours established an occult-inspired sex ring which stole the childhoods of its victims.

The full, shocking scale of the abuse perpetrated by the cult came finally came to light when they were jailed for a total of 36 years in 2011 with quasi-religious sect leader Batley warned he may never be freed.

But the roots of what happened in Kidwelly began some two decades before when Londoner Batley moved to Carmarthenshire.

Having relocated in the 1990s he established a homemade cult of which he was the self-styled high priest.

After Batley and his wife Elaine, who were married 28 years before they split ahead of their trial, had moved to Wales they were followed by Jacqueline Marling and Shelly Millar, who each moved into the same street and were part of the cult.

Inspired by the works of arch-satanist Aleister Crowley, who died in 1947, female members of the sect referred to Batley as My Lord.

Women in the cult, which they called The Church, filled their homes with ancient Egyptian idolatry and wore Eye of Horus protection symbol tattoos on their arms celebrating Crowleys worship of the Egyptian hawk god Horus.

Cult members would dress in hooded robes during occult rituals which usually took place before group sex.

A number of houses in the same cul-de-sac were used for the regular cult sex sessions as part of their swinging lifestyle.

Scruffy and jobless Batley, who had several missing teeth, would read from the occult bible, The Book of The Law, written more than a century ago by Crowley as well as his other works Equinox of the Gods and The Book of Magick.

He would also order cult members to have sex together and ensure that other members were present to film it.

The recorded material, though, is all believed to have been destroyed before Batleys arrest.

He was apparently tipped off by friends in London about the impending raid on his home two days before it happened.

Batley, who was 48 when he stood trial over five weeks at Swansea Crown Court in the early part of 2011, was said to have used the cult as a form of brainwashing to justify abuse to his victims.

One schoolboy, by that time an adult, told the trial Batley had repeatedly abused him as a child.

A schoolgirl, also by then an adult, said she was forced into joining the cult through fear for her life.

Batley told her a cult assassin would kill her if she did not take part in an elaborate initiation ceremony.

It started with a 10-minute lecture on the occult by him but concluded with sex.

The schoolgirl said she was later ordered to Batleys home on regular occasions when she would have to have sex with him.

She was also taken to satanic sex parties where she would be passed round to have sex with strangers.

At one an altar was set out with a goblet of red wine, an incense burner, and salted bread and sect members later disrobed or, in their words, became skyclad and had sex.

Giving evidence against Batley via videolink during the trial one victim claimed all he had to do was click his fingers to make a woman strip.

And she claimed that soon after she met Batley, when she was just 11, he told her to have sex with him or she would go to the abyss.

I did not want him to do what he was doing but I did not have a choice because what Colin said was what happened. What Colin said went.

Batley was also accused of stepping in to try to prevent a young woman from aborting a baby he believed he may have fathered so it could be a child of the occult.

During the trial prosecutor Peter Murphy QC told the jury: The offences were committed against a background of persistent psychological coercion and fear using the vehicle of the occult. The victims were brainwashed, frightened they felt they had no choice.

The perverted events described in court took place over several decades in both Kidwelly and addresses in London.

Batley who smirked as the horrific allegations against him were laid bare in court repeatedly denied the accusations against him as he spoke out in his own defence.

He denied he ran a cult or was in any way a leader. He did admit having an open sexual relationship with his wife and enjoying threesomes with co-defendant and second in command Jackie Marling, with whom he had a long-standing affair without the knowledge of his wife.

The cult was smashed by police in the summer of 2010 when two courageous victims, a man and a woman, went to them with their stories of abuse at the hands of Batley and the other defendants.

Five complainants, whose identity is protected by law, came to the subsequent trial to describe how they were taken or lured to the homes at Clos yr Onnen and subjected to sex attacks.

Several broke down and sobbed as they recalled what they had been through.

They also said others, who had not come forward, were also made to perform unspeakable acts.

Batley also forced victims into prostitution, with prosecutor Mr Murphy saying the controlling and manipulative sect principal took a 25% cut of any cash other members earned.

Millar, then 35, was said to have got through 3,000 clients in a two-year period while acting as a prostitute in massage parlours in Swansea and Bristol.

The trial heard how Batley purchased a 21,000 luxury caravan in February 2010 using a 3,210 cash deposit despite having no obvious income.

Batley, who dismissed his role as a feared high priest of his own religion as a load of rubbish, claimed he made 10,000 a year breeding pedigree rottweilers for sale and said he also bred Siamese cats.

And he claimed some of his money came from gambling on the dogs and horses.

During the trial it emerged that following their arrests the preceding summer the Batleys had separated.

While giving evidence she accused her husband of laughing at her from the dock as she stood in the witness box.

She said: I feel embarrassed to be married to him.

And she added: Ive changed, you wont get the better of me now.

She told the court that while she and Marling had been involved in threesomes and had had a fling together she only found out later that her husband and Marling had been having a long-term affair.

The discovery was made when Marling sent him a birthday card with the words To my husband on it.

Of her marriage, Elaine Batley said on one occasion he sent a photo of her to the Readers Wives section of a pornographic magazine and this led to them meeting other couples for group activities.

As the defendants were led down the steps to court cells after being remanded in custody following the guilty verdicts against them Elaine Batley could be heard screaming I ******* hate you at her husband. Crying and sobbing was audible from the cell steps.

Barely containing his contempt for the defendants as he jailed them for total of 47 charges, Judge Paul Thomas QC told them: You besmirched the unsuspecting community of Kidwelly by setting up a community within a community which involved rape, child sex abuse and prostitution.

The trial was so harrowing that jurors were offered counselling.

The defendants and their sentences

Colin Batley

The self-styled 'high priest' of the cult grew up in Shoreditch, London, and once worked for Tesco as a night security guard.

He also ran a fruit and vegetable stall. He spent 28 years married to wife and co-defendant Elaine.

Batley claimed his late lorry driver father sexually abused him as a child.

Asked in court about his fascination for Egypt the 48-year-old just said: Egypt? I dont mind Egypt.

He was convicted of 35 offences including 11 rapes and numerous child sex crimes.

Sentencing him to an indeterminate prison term on public protection grounds and ordering him to serve at least 11 years before being eligible for parole, Judge Paul Thomas QC told him: When this case was opened to the jury you Colin Batley were described as evil.

That in my view is an accurate statement of your character. You set yourself up as the ruler of a sick little kingdom surrounded by three women who danced as your willing attendants regarding you as their master.

Its clear you dedicated your life since the age of 12 or 13 to satisfying your sexual urges by any means at your disposal.

You left your victims psychologically scarred and treated them as sexual playthings.

Elaine Batley

She grew up in East London and had tattoos including the Eye of Horus on her arm, a pentagram above Egyptian script on her leg, Tutankhamun on her back plus another Egyptian script on her back which she claimed she did not understand.

When asked if she had ever been to Egypt during her trial the then 47-year-old said she would like to have gone but had not visited because of the heat.

She also told the court she liked the ancient Egyptians because they were good to their slaves.

She admitted to an affair with Jackie Marling and a fumble with Shelly Millar and told the court she was interested in Aleister Crowley and read his work.

According to one of the victims in the case Batleys wife was treated like a slave but the judge said she became a willing participant in her husbands wickedness.

The jury heard how a young boy was tricked into having sex with her

She was jailed for eight years after being convicted of indecency with children.

Jacqueline Marling

She grew up in Poplar, East London, and was 42 at the time she stood trial.

Marling initially denied to police officers that she was a prostitute but her car was spotted making regular trips to brothels in the centre of Swansea and Bristol.

She sported an Eye of Horus tattoo on her arm and had a figurine of a cat goddess in her home plus a drawing of the Mask of Tutankhamun and one of the hawk-headed Egyptian god Horus.

She had affairs with Colin Batley and Elaine Batley.

Described as ringleader Colin Batley's "second in command", she was jailed for 12 years for aiding and abetting rape and child sex offences.

Jailing Marling, the judge told her: After Colin Batley you are the most culpable in this horrific scenario. Your relationship with him brought together two kindred evil spirits.

You were clearly besotted with him and The Book Of The Law and I view you effectively as his second in command in all this.

You may or may not take this as a compliment but you have fully lived up to the ideals of your mentor Aleister Crowley.

He added: Throughout the trial you have not displayed a flicker of emotion. The tears in your eyes now I take to be tears of self-pity.

Shelly Millar

The 35-year-old sobbed as she was found guilty of two counts of indecency with children, one of which involved having sex with a 12-year-old boy.

Having grown up in Kent, Millar had an Eye of Horus tattoo on her arm and admitted to having around 3,000 clients as a prostitute during a two-year period working in Swansea and Bristol.

She was jailed for five years.

In the aftermath of the court case neighbours in Clos yr Onnen described Batley as an evil bully.

His rundown home had a torn and ragged England flag pinned outside while two rottweiler dogs named Sekhet after the Egyptian lion goddess and Toots, short for Tutankhamun could often be heard leaping at the door.

People nearby described how Batley who also had a cat called Rameses used to walk around the estate with his two dogs as if to intimidate people.

Colin Batley is the most disgusting and vile man you could meet, one neighbour said at the time.

One woman said: Batley and one of his friends used to have a van calling regularly, with a consignment of contraband tobacco and, we think, pornography. They used to head off to France on fortnightly trips and sometimes were gone for as long as six weeks. It makes you wonder if part of their cult activity was going on there too.

Seven years later street resident John Wheatland still remembers being able to hear one of the victims crying at night.

He didnt know why and says he had no idea whatsoever of the awful reality of what was going on.

She would cry every night, sobbing, he said.

I didnt know why and I never raised suspicions but I should have known something wasnt right.

Mr Wheatland also described an extraordinary incident as he worked in the garden of his home and saw a teenage girl done up to look like a film star nearby.

He estimated her to be aged 14 or 15.

She looked at me and said: Do you want sex then? I was shocked. I dont know what I said but I went inside.

Id never heard anything like that before.

The woman who had dressed her, her said, used to dress up in very short skirts and high heels and walk to Batleys house.

Recalling the day the cult members were arrested in the summer of 2010 he said he had been leaving his house at around 8.30am when he saw police cars in the street.

When I came back they were gone, he said. I had no idea what it was about.

This is a quiet neighbourhood. When all those Londoners came down it was very strange.

Batley was very arrogant. Apart from that there was nothing suspicious about him. We didnt speak.

Speaking in 2014 one of the victims of the cult who published a book under the pseudonym Annabelle detailing what she had been through over 11 harrowing years of abuse described how her own mother, Jackie Marling, abused her under Batleys orders.

Nothing can hurt me as much as my mum and that man, she said.

My mother was an evil woman and Ill never forgive her.

By then a mother herself and living happily in another part of the UK, she told how she was just seven years old when first forced to watch her mother perform a sex act on Batley.

At the age of 11 she was raped by him in her own home and three years later she was made to take part in group sex with her mother.

I went to the sentencing in court because I wanted to see her one last time, she said. I wanted her to reach out to me, to say it was all his fault and she was under his spell.

But she didnt. She just made a face and asked what I was doing there.

She went to prison unrepentant and I suppose that made me realise it wasnt just him. She was evil too. As a mother myself I can hardly believe how she treated me. It was unnatural and cruel.

But there is no point getting depressed about it, you have to live for the future. But I never want to see her again. Nothing can hurt me as much as they did but that is what makes me stronger.

She described how the children abused by the cult were cut off from their peers and forced to take part in long church services and obey Batleys every whim.

We werent even allowed to look in his eyes, said Annabelle.

He ruled our little community with an iron will and we were made to do what he ordered for fear of angering the Gods.

In Batleys Church, children were led to believe they were proving themselves to the Gods by passing tests, which usually involved sex with either him or other cult members.

Annabelle recalled the first time he raped her when she was just 11 years old.

The worst thing about it was the fact that he made me think I was doing it out of choice, she said.

It was awful. The most painful and shocking thing that had ever happened but it was my path, thats what he told me, and if I didnt do it I would go to the Abyss, which was our version of hell.

Colin knew how to manipulate you, to make you believe anything he said.

But Annabelles most horrific experience was when her own mother assaulted her at the age of 14.

Afterwards, Colin asked me if I enjoyed it and I knew what I had to say I had to say yes. But inside I felt like dying.

The tests did not end there at 14 she was forced into a relationship with another cult member five years her senior and by then she was having regular group sex with Batley and her mother.

I was a schoolgirl by day and a sex slave at night, she said. It got so bad that at one point I tried to take my own life.

Aged 18, three months after having Batleys child, she was forced into prostitution.

It was the love of her daughter that saved her and gave her a reason to live she bravely escaped in the dead of night when her baby was one year old.

By the time of her escape she had slept with over 1,800 men the proceeds of which had all gone towards the Church.

After the case another victim descrived how Batley forced her to put on a satanic symbol and raped her as a teenager.

The woman described how he ruled the cult by fear.

[Colin] was the boss. He barked orders at everybody including me.

People just did what they were told. He had Rottweilers that were scared of him but vicious to everyone else.

At 15 I had to have sex with Colin. He said it was an initiation into the occult.

He said he did not want to do it but it had to be done. He said if I did not follow orders I would be killed. People higher up in the cult would do it, he said.

Reflecting on his jail term she added: A hundred years would not be enough for Colin Batley.

But at least now myself and the other victims can start to rebuild our lives outside of the shadow of that contemptible man.

She was originally from London but was brought to Wales by Batley where she was abused and passed round to other cult members who had sex with her.

She said: He said the occult was strong in Wales.

Description

A couple said to be like 'Fred and Rose West' have been found guilty of raping and indecently assaulting three young children.

Peter Griffiths was accused of using his "suggestible" wife Avril, who has a very low IQ, as bait to groom the children with alcohol and cigarettes.

During their trial, Cardiff Crown Court was told the pair "repeatedly sexually abused three young girls" between the 1970s and 1990s.

Jurors heard Peter and Avril Griffiths both raped the three girls.

One of the victims described them as being like "Fred and Rose West", the notorious English serial killers.

She told the court: "I think if you ask most families in Barry, they'd hate them."

A jury at Cardiff Crown Court took less than four hours to return unanimous verdicts finding them guilty of rape, indecent assault and taking indecent photos of a child.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins QC said: "You can both expect a considerable sentence for the offences of which you have been found guilty.

"If I am satisfied either of you is a dangerous offender, an extended sentence or even a life sentence would be appropriate."

Prosecutor Caroline Rees QC told the court the couple took one of the girls "dogging" and would "have sex with her in the back of a van while others looked on".

The court also heard one of the girls was taken on a boat in the Bristol channel where she was raped by Peter Griffiths and that Avril Griffiths also allegedly sexually assaulted the girl on the boat.

The girl later told police she had been "ripped apart physically" after suffering injuries.

The pair denied all the charges.

When he gave evidence in his own defence during the trial Peter Griffiths denied rape and sexual assault but admitted sleeping with one of the girls.

He told the court there was a foursome involving himself, his wife, the complainant and another man.

Asked why the foursome took place, he replied: Tomfoolery. Messing about. One thing led to another.

He thought she was 17 or 18 and when asked if she could have been closer to 10 he responded: "No way."

David Etherington QC asked his client if he ever took the complainant "dogging" in a van and he said that "never" happened.

One complainant alleged she was sexually abused several times on a boat but Peter Griffiths told the court he had a good memory of everything that happened on the boat because that was how he earned his living.

He said his first boat was called Unity and he used to take customers on fishing trips, charging 8 per person.

The court heard he sometimes took police officers on fishing trips, which were arranged through the South Wales Police social club.

He said he provided tea and coffee, not alcohol, and could provide equipment like fishing rods if required.

Addressing the allegation there were "sex parties" on the boat, his barrister Mr Etherington said: Im going to ask you a blunt question. Did you ever provide anything other than fishing rods and drinks, such as girls?

The defendant replied: Never".

Avril Griffiths, 61, did not give evidence in her defence. But a psychological report was presented to Cardiff Crown Court by a consultant clinical and forensic psychologist.

It stated her IQ was "extremely low". In 1972, she was assessed when she was 15 years old and was found to be someone who failed to understand "what was really being said to her" and was "terribly suggestible".

The 1972 assessment "still stands", the court was told.

Peter Griffiths, 65, from Barry Road in Barry, denied eight counts of rape, three counts of indecent assault, and three counts of taking indecent photographs of a child.

He was found guilty on all counts except one charge of taking indecent photographs, which was dropped.

Avril Griffiths, 61, from the same address, denied five counts of rape, two counts of indecent assault, and three counts of taking indecent photographs of a child.

She was also found guilty on all counts except one charge of taking indecent photographs, which was dropped.

The jury took less than four hours to return unanimous verdicts.

They will be sentenced on October 18 and were remanded in custody.

Judge Jeremy Jenkins QC told the couple: You can both expect a considerable sentence for the offences of which you have been found guilty.

If I am satisfied either of you is a dangerous offender, an extended sentence or even a life sentence would be appropriate.

Description

A mosque teacher who sexually assaulted young girls as they read to him in Koran studies at a mosque in Cardiff has been jailed.

Mohammed Sadiq, who taught at the Madina Mosque for more than 30 years, denied 15 counts of indecent and sexual assault, but was found guilty of all but one count by a jury after trial.

Judge Stephen Hopkins QC said: You have not and you are still not showing any remorse at all for what you did.

You appear to have no understanding of the harm and humiliation you inflicted on four young children, as they were.

He was jailed for 13 years at Cardiff Crown Court and the judge imposed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Opening the case, prosecutor Suzanne Thomas said: It was while he was teaching at the mosque, the prosecution say, that the defendant took advantage of his position.

The court heard that 81-year-old Sadiq created a culture where physical punishment was normal.

Prosecutors said he was a member of the mosque, then on Woodville Road in Cathays, until it was destroyed by fire in 2006.

Ms Thomas said: In addition to attending for worship, he was involved in other aspects of running the mosque at one time as treasurer.

Then he was involved in teaching Koran studies to primary school age children, which took place at the mosque after school.

The court heard the boys and girls in the class would call Sadiq uncle as a sign of respect.

The allegations involved four alleged victims and related to the period between 1996 and 2006.

Sadiq, from Lake East Road in Cyncoed, was found guilty of six counts of indecent assault and eight counts of sexual assault.

Mike Jenkin, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: These women have shown remarkable courage in coming forward to speak about the abuse they suffered at the hands of Mohammed Haj Sadiq when they were young girls.

Sadiq was a respected figure in the community with considerable influence and power which makes the bravery of his victims all the more admirable.

The evidence given by these women meant the prosecution was able to present a compelling case to the jury, resulting in the guilty verdicts.

Detective Chief Inspector Rob Cronick of South Wales Police said: "Mohammed Sadiq abused his position of trust within the community he served.

Last months verdict shows the magnitude of Sadiqs offending and the devastating effect this has had on his victims.

These four young women have shown immense courage in coming forward and telling us about the abuse they suffered and enduring the further anguish of a crown court trial.

As a result of the verdict and todays sentence I believe there may be members of the community who may now feel confident enough to speak to the police or our support agencies.

Anyone with any information concerning this matter or who may have any other concerns should call a dedicated NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 where specially trained staff will talk to you and offer support.

Alternatively you can call South Wales Police on 101 quoting the reference: 1600442164.

Investigating sexual violence is a priority for South Wales Police and may I provide reassurance that all allegations of non-recent sexual abuse will be investigated.

There are also a number of support agencies available to anyone who wishes them to be their point of contact if they have any concerns. South Wales Police can sign post victims directly to them.

Our priority is to keep victims, and potential victims safe. We are committed to helping the vulnerable and have dedicated teams to help and support anyone who may have been affected by this investigation or any other circumstance.

An NSPCC spokesman said: This was an appalling breach of trust and Sadiq has rightly received a significant prison sentence for these heinous offences. He abused his authority and the faith placed in him to carry out a succession of sexual assaults against vulnerable children.

Clearly Sadiqs actions have had a huge impact on his victims, both at the time and since, but it is thanks to their bravery that he has been brought to justice.

It is absolutely right that people who suffered child sexual abuse know where to turn for support and feel confident that their voices will be heard, no matter how much time has passed since their ordeal.

Description

A depraved Jehovah's Witness church elder who raped a fellow worshipper and abused vulnerable schoolgirls was today jailed for 14 years.

"Predator" Mark Sewell, 53, showed "not a shred of remorse" for his crimes, said the judge who sent him down.

The disgraced businessman was convicted of eight historic sex charges against four women following a three-week trial at Methyr Tydfil Crown Court.

Former Butlins holiday camp driver Sewell was today locked up for a total of 14 years at the same court.

Addressing the heavy-set defendant directly, Judge Richard Twomlow told him: "You caused upset and distress to varying extents in the lives of our people.

"Two in particular suffered years of distress and a feeling of being ignored and disbelieved.

"You have showed not a shred of remorse."

Greying Sewell, of Porthkerry Road, Barry, frowned and occasionally closed his eyes as he followed proceedings via video link from Parc Prison in Bridgend.

At times Sewell, wearing a black short-sleeved polo short, was seen to breathe heavily.

He was last week found guilty by a jury of six sexual assaults against two young girls in the 120-strong Barry congregation more than 20 years ago.

Sewell was also convicted of raping a fellow churchgoer in an attack which left her knickers "shredded" and saw her fall pregnant.

Jurors also found him guilty of indecently assaulting another woman by rubbing his groin against her bottom as she made a cup of tea.

The burly defendant had denied nine counts spanning a period of more than eight years.

He was acquitted by jurors of one count of indecent assault, while Judge Twomlow directed the four men and eight women to return not guilty verdicts on a further three counts of indecent assault during the course of the trial.

The judge said Sewell had "groomed" his first victim and coerced her into keeping his campaign of assaults secret.

"She had the courage, though, recently to bring these matters forward again and at last has seen you brought to account for what you have done to her, which has had a tremendous effect on her and her family over the years," said Judge Twomlow.

Sewell abused his position of trust in the Jehovah's Witnesses to exploit and abuse her and another young girl, said the judge.

Sewell's suggestion that the woman he raped had "controlled" him was rejected "completely" by the judge, who told him: "You wanted a relationship with her and tried to persuade her to run off with you."

He later attacked her in what the judge called a "brief and violent rape", which he denied for years.

"The consequences of you denial have been very significant to the victim," said the judge, who added she had "had to live for years in the knowledge of what you did to her".

Describing the moment when the father of his third victim caught Sewell giving his schoolgirl daughter a topless massage, the judge said the defendant acted in a "typically aggressive, self-justifying and blustering" fashion by "telling him to get out even though you were in the wrong".

Indecently assaulting his final victim by rubbing himself against her was "part of a relentless attempt" to get her to accept his "lascivious suggestions" and have sex with him, the judge said.

Sewell was jailed for a total of 14 years.

For three counts of indecent assault against his first victim he was given three concurrent four-and-a-half-year jail terms, to run concurrently with one another.

For the offence of rape he was jailed for six and half years, to run consecutively.

For three indecent assaults against his third victims he will serve two-year jail terms which are concurrent to one another but consecutive to his other sentences.

For the final count of indecent assault he was jailed for a year, to run consecutively, meaning his total sentence was 14 years.

Sewell showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down.

He must also sign the sex offenders register for life and will be banned from ever working with children.

The judge also ordered him to pay a 120 victim surcharge.

When the trial opened the court heard how respected Jehovahs Witness Sewell used his position of power as an elder in the Barry congregation to exploit and abuse women and children.

Prosecutor Sarah Waters said he had used his influence "to perpetrate such sexual abuse over a number of years for his own sexual gratification".

At the start of the trial she told the court: "He is a sexual predator that took opportunities available to him to satisfy his sexual desires.

"For example he would use his high position in the Jehovah's Witness congregation to act in a sexually inappropriate manner with women, being 'touchy-feely' and insisting that he kiss them on the lips."

During the trial witnesses described how he would kiss women and children on the lips using his tongue, while one victim recounted how he bribed her into kissing him by giving her alcohol.

Another victim told how Sewell would give her topless massages when she was just a teenage schoolgirl.

Description

Claire Semmens gave the boy to Aaron Hughes who filmed the rapes on his mobile phone so he could watch them on his computer.

A babysitter has been jailed for 16 years for giving a three-year-old boy to a known paedophile who drugged and raped him as he slept.

Claire Semmens, 28, handed the little boy to depraved Aaron Hughes, who was jailed for life for the sex attacks on the sedated toddler.

Hughes, 32, filmed the rapes on his mobile phone so he could watch them over and over again on his computer.

He was caught when police did a routine check on his computer because they believed he had breached a court order by downloading child pornography.

The court heard horrified officers found Hughes had filmed himself raping a child twice at the home of Semmens while she was babysitting children.

Both attacks were on the same three-year-old and Hughes claimed they happened on the same night.

But police checked the videos and spotted the little boy was wearing different pyjamas and that Hughes had a different ring on his finger.

Prosecutor Laurence Jones said: "The rapes were carried out at separate times - but both were on the same boy and they happened in Semmens' bedroom.

"Semmens not only supplied the boy but provided a room which enabled Hughes to commit the act and film it in a relatively safe haven.

"By her own admission Semmens knew Hughes was a child sex offender who was banned from having any contact with children.

"But she was trying to satisfy Hughes's perversions for young male children."

The court heard Semmens was sexually attracted to Hughes's gay lover and the three had become close friends.

Hughes had a previous conviction for raping a six-year-old boy and Semmens hoped that by providing children to Hughes it would clear the way for her to have a relationship with his lover.

Mr Jones said: "Aaron Hughes had to be kept happy so she would supply him with a young boy.

"She had the opportunity to do this because she was a babysitter, regularly looking after boys aged between three and six."

The court heard Hughes and his lover moved into a flat in Roath, Cardiff, next door to where Semmens provided a regular babysitting service.

But it wasn't until police raided Hughes's home that they discovered he was preying on one of the little boys staying next door - with Semmens' consent.

Mr Jones said: "When Hughes was interviewed by police he admitted sedating the three-year-old boy before raping him.

"In the video clip you can see the little boys' eyes are closed.

"Hughes told police the rapes happened on the same night but the boy is wearing a different set of pyjamas and Hughes is wearing different jewellery.

"Claire Semmens had also developed a taste for child pornography herself and images were found on her laptop computer."

The court heard police also found computer images of the bare bottoms of two other boys babysat by Semmens.

Hughes and Semmens disappeared when they realised the images found on their computers would send them to jail.

The pair pawned their jewellery and took a train to Gatwick Airport fleeing in such a hurry Semmens' pet hamsters were left to die of starvation.

When they were arrested Hughes told police he suffered from a multiple personality disorder and he was not responsible for raping the little boy.

Semmens and Hughes sat stony-faced in the dock at Cardiff Crown Court with a prison officer sitting between them.

Semmens, of Roath, Cardiff, admitted two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and possessing indecent images.

She was jailed for 16 years and barred from ever working with children again and must sign on the sex offenders register for life.

Hughes, of Roath, admitted two charges of rape, possessing indecent images and breaching the terms of his sex offenders prevention order.

He was jailed for life and told he would not be considered for parole until he served 12 years in prison.

Hughes will be on license for life and barred from ever working with children and must sign on to the sex offenders register for life.

Judge Phillip Richards told the pair: "These were genuinely horrendous offences which include the rape of a young child who was three years old.

"It almost defies belief that any human being would do such a thing to such an innocent young child.

"You, Semmens, made that child available not once but twice to your paedophile friend and permitted him to carry out his vile activities with that young child in your bedroom.

"You knew full well he was a child abuser and the level of breach of trust is probably worse than Hughes.

"Each of you are going to spend a long time in prison before you see the light of day."

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Mark Bridger was told he would die behind bars after being jailed for life for the murder of April Jones.

Bridger was given the sentence in May, 2013, after a jury at Mold Crown Court found him guilty of abducting and murdering five-year-old April before disposing of her remains.

Handing Bridger a whole life tariff, Mr Justice Griffith Williams branded him a "pathological liar" and a "paedophile".

The judge said: There is no doubt in my mind that you are a paedophile, who has for some time harboured sexual and morbid fantasies about young girls.

He added that Bridger had stored on his laptop "not only images of pre-pubescent and pubescent girls but foul pornography of the gross sexual abuse of young children.

Bridger became just the 32nd person in UK history to be handed a whole life tariff after being found guilty of murder.