Latest Offenders York

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A FORMER police employee from York has been jailed for four years for possessing and distributing “depraved” indecent images of children.

Bradley Paul Smith, 36, who worked as a safety camera van operator with North Yorkshire Police, also admitted voyeurism.

Detectives found videos - which Smith had filmed - taken from inside the men’s changing room at a gym, a video of a teenager getting changed inside a bedroom and a child asleep on a bed.

Smith was arrested on February 6 last year and suspended from duty. He has since been sacked.

Detective Sergeant Lee Allenby, of the North Yorkshire Police online abuse & exploitation team, said it was “very concerning” that Smith, while still on police duties and on the same day he was arrested, had uploaded two serious Category A indecent images of children on his personal tablet.

He added: “This showed how deeply he was embroiled in this depraved and secretive world. However, there is no evidence or suggestion that offences were committed using police equipment.”

Smith was arrested after information was supplied police by the National Crime Agency.

North Yorkshire Police forensically examined numerous smart phones, tablets and laptops to secure evidence.

A large collection of indecent images of children, going back to 2011, were recovered including those classified in the most extreme Category A, as well as Category B and C offences.

The investigation team also recovered the videos taken by Smith.

Smith appeared at York Crown Court on February 10 where he pleaded guilty to making more than 3,000 indecent images of children, as well as distributing images, taking an indecent picture of a child and eight counts of voyeurism.

Smith was jailed for four years at York Crown Court yesterday.

He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders’ register.

DS Allenby added: “When the evidence of his offending was presented to him during the investigation, Bradley Smith initially claimed he was only interested in adult pornography and that the indecent images of children were downloaded accidentally.

“However, we were able to prove beyond doubt that he is a serious offender and it is pleasing that he admitted his guilt at court. He is now facing up to the consequences of his sickening actions.

“This case shows that North Yorkshire Police is determined and equipped to secure justice in such a complex investigation. Also that we operate without fear or favour even when the suspect works for the same police force.”

An NSPCC spokesperson said: “Smith has fuelled an industry where children suffer the most horrific abuse for the sexual gratification of sickening individuals like him, who can access these images and videos in just a few clicks.

“The NSPCC is calling on tech companies, law enforcement and government to work together to find ways to cut this vile material off at source.”

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A pervert who tried to meet up with a parent to abuse his two daughters was caught after it turned out to be an undercover police officer.

William Gerald Lenehan, from Preston, was in secret online contact with the officer for two months and used secure email accounts based in Russia so he couldn't be traced.

The 'determined and premeditated' 65-year-old also installed special software on his mobile phone making it 'difficult or impossible' to check his browsing history and also had access to the 'dark web'.

Preston Crown Court heard how police officers in Kent launched an investigation in early 2017 to 'identify and investigate individuals arranging to meet and facilitate sex offences with children'.

Prosecutor Mercedes Jabbari said Lenehan made contact with the undercover officer in May 2017 and used the email address name 'Exciting Times'.

Lenehan had email accounts with Russian-based Yandex and Protonmail and Ms Jabbari said they are 'known not to share information with local enforcement agencies'.

She told the court: "The defendant had earlier informed the undercover officer that he changes his email addresses frequently for security purposes and in fact advised the undercover officer to do the same."

Four days after making contact with the officer Lenehan told him to first send a picture of a sex act involving his daughter and then they could go on to "trade some heavy stuff".

Lenehan suggested they set up a group in a chat room application and the defendant used the name 'Gary'.

Ms Jabbari said between May and July 2017 Lenehan engaged in "explicit conversations concerning the abuse of children" with the officer.

She told the court: "The defendant was not only telling the undercover officer to perform indecent acts with his children but also expressing a description of what acts he too would wish to perform.

"He said he enjoyed their 'purvy chats' and even expressed disappointment at the situation saying 'pity this is all illegal'.

"He also tried to arrange a meeting with the undercover officer so they both could abuse the officers supposed young daughters who were three and six years of age."

Lenehan sent the officer a number of 'first generation' custom made images of children, including one of an eight-year-old girl holding a placard with the date and the defendant's Kik Messenger username.

Ms Jabbari told the court that it 'indicated the defendant had obtained them from a source not far removed from the original abuser'.

The images were later traced to a man in Torquay who was arrested and convicted, the court heard.

Officers also used Lenehan's internet provider address from Kik Messenger to trace him to an address on Devonshire Place in Preston.

The defendant was away working in France but was arrested at Manchester Airport the next day.

A mobile phone was seized containing 61 indecent images and videos of children, including one category A - the most serious - three category B and 57 category C.

Ms Jabbari said the victims were aged between five and 10 and one of the abuse videos lasted more than five minutes.

Attempts had also been made to delete the images on the phone which had been in the defendant's possession since 2012.

The prosecutor said: "The phone was found to have multiple means of secure communications and means of access to the internet making it difficult or impossible for such communications or browsing to be intercepted or detected.

"There were programmes for the effective permanent deletion of images and software to hide [Virtual Private Network] addresses making it difficult to trace the location of the user.

"There was also software to enable the user to access content on the dark web."

'Period of insanity'

Lenehan pleaded guilty to encouraging a man to take and send him indecent images of children, distributing indecent images and possessing indecent images.

Defence barrister Shirlie Duckworth said: "This was for him a period of insanity where he had no insight into the harmful effects of his behaviour.

"If the court is inclined to look at the longer term protection of the public and rehabilitation of this defendant then supervision in the community would allow rehabilitation and longer term protection."

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A sexual predator who subjected three young girls to years of abject suffering has been jailed for 30 years after a jury found him guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault.

Graham Howard, 47, claimed the girls were lying but the overwhelming evidence stacked against him led to a jury returning unanimous guilty verdicts on all 18 charges he had denied.
 
They included multiple rapes and indecent assaults on the victims – one of whom was just six years old when the abuse began, York Crown Court heard.

Over a period of about 10 years, the girls were subjected to horrific sexual assaults at properties in Scarborough, York and Selby.

The evidence presented to the court was so horrific that one juror was reduced to tears.

Howard - formerly of Scarborough but now living in Knottingley, West Yorkshire - denied all charges including 11 counts of rape, as well as gross indecency with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and indecent assault.

The victims - none of whom can be named for legal reasons - were systematically abused between the late 1990s and about 2009.

Prosecutor Mike Greenhalgh said that Howard, who at the time worked at the Rowntree factory in York, offered the victims treats such as chocolate, sweets and magazines if they kept quiet about his sickening crimes.

One victim said: “You couldn’t tell anybody because he always told you not to. He said he would just deny (the abuse).”

She said Howard forced her to carry out sex acts on him, adding: “I just froze. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

She didn’t tell anyone initially because she was “in denial, just scared, having (had) it drilled into my head that I couldn’t tell anyone”.

The girl, who began self-harming by her early teens, added: “He’d buy you things: sweets, magazines; give you money. Most of the time it was after… sex. You’d get treats for that.”

One of the victims said Howard “really creeped me out” and would often whistle at her. During one attack she was screaming with fear.

Each of the girls was raped multiple times and made to perform degrading sexual acts on Howard.

One of them said she had turned to drink and drugs in her early teens because she was struggling to cope following years of abuse.

“I had no confidence and became very timid,” she added. “When (Howard) was hurting me and sexually abusing me, I used to be so hurt and confused. I was too scared to tell anyone what was happening to me. It wasn’t until I got older that I realised that what he was doing to me was wrong.”

One by one, the girls came forward to police in about 2017 but even though Howard was finally brought to justice, they said their lives had been ruined.

One of the victims said she had suffered from depression and anxiety and still had nightmares about her childhood, as well as flashbacks to the abuse.

The girl said Howard had “destroyed my life” and even though she had managed to turn it around with the help of counselling, it was “going to take a long time to recover from what he did to me”.

Another victim said: “I was a small child, young and defenceless. At a young age I started to self-harm because I felt it was the only way to release the pain. I had anxiety and depression to the point where I couldn’t sleep at night. As an adult I still get nightmares about what happened.”

At the adjourned sentence hearing on Friday, judge Sean Morris labelled Howard a “vile” sexual “deviant” who had used the girls as his “sexual play-things”.

“You are a very dangerous man to young children and women,” he added.

He said that Howard - who had pleaded guilty to three separate charges related to the abuse of the same children before the trial - had put the girls through “mental torture” and had shown no remorse.

Howard, of Croft Avenue, Knottingley, showed no emotion as the judge handed down the 30-year sentence.

He was told he must serve at least two-thirds of the 25-year custodial element of the sentence, with an extended five-year period on prison licence. It means his very earliest release date will be in 16 years’ time, when he will be 63.

He was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order which bans him having any unsupervised contact with under-age children.

Detective Constable Rosie Rogers, of Scarborough CID, said after the hearing: “This is one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever dealt with. No child should have to go through the terror and pain that they suffered at (Howard’s) hands.”

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Security guard, 53, who worked for One Direction, Stacey Solomon and Tulisa is jailed for seven years for pretending to be a taxi driver and sexually assaulting drunken clubber, 24

The 24-year-old victim told York Crown Court she believed her drink had been spiked during a night out in the city centre with friends.

She said she felt mangy and totally out of it as she left Vudu.

Dominic Spiteri, 53, Parliament Street, Norton, came up to her, said he was a taxi driver and offered to take her home on mates rates.

Once they were alone in his vehicle, he started molesting her and took her to a lonely layby in the countryside, where he sexually assaulted her so hard, she was in pain for days afterwards. She said she couldnt stop him because of the state she was in but kept saying no.

Spiteri, who worked as a doorman on city centre clubs, denied claiming to be a taxi driver or spiking her drink.

He claimed from the witness box that she had introduced him to her friends inside Vudu. In the car, she had flirted with him and initiated sexual contact.

He denied witness statements that the victim had vomited when they reached the hotel where her friends were staying.

The jury convicted Spiteri, of sexual assault after four hours in retirement.

The victim was particularly vulnerable due to her personal circumstances, Judge Simon Batiste told Spiteri. She was alone in a taxi with you, late at night where she was obviously clearly incapable due to her intoxicated state.You took advantage of that.

You have not shown one shred of remorse for your behaviour.

This was a horrible attack.

He jailed Spiteri for seven years, made a lifelong sexual harm prevention order forbidding him to have a woman alone with him in a car or contacting the victim in any way and put him on the sex offenders register for life.

The victim cried as the jury returned their verdict at the end of a four-day trial.

The judge said she had suffered considerable psychological harm .

In a personal statement she said she felt violated, now couldnt trust men and didnt like to be alone with any man.

Keith Allen, for Spiteri, said he was now suffering from depression and under the care of a psychiatrist.

The victim told the jury she had been reluctant to go to the police initially because she had had a bad experience when she had been a complainant in a different case.

The jury heard that the original police officer in charge of the Spiteri case had been taken off it.

The victim said the officer had not carried out basic investigations or

arranged for her to give her evidence via video link, as is standard in sex cases.

The jury heard a second officer took over the case and gathered the

evidence against Spiteri.

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A MAN arrested in an anti-paedophile police sting at a York supermarket has been jailed for three years.

Christopher George Walton, 33, was sitting in a Berlingo van whose rear seats had been removed and had “a large supply of condoms” and other items that could be used in sexual activities, said Paul Newcombe, prosecuting.

He was waiting to meet a schoolboy nearly 13-year-old called “Noah” whom he had told via social media he would meet him at a Lidl supermarket car park, take for a drive and “see what happens”.

But in reality “Noah” didn’t exist. His profile on Grindr social media had been created as part of a police operation and 15 minutes before he was due to arrive at 4pm on January 14, police pounced.

“The defendant was shaking as he was arrested and said “I knew it”,” said Mr Newcombe.

Walton, of Ingleborough Avenue, Tang Hall, pleaded guilty to two offences of attempting to incite a child into sexual activity and one of attempting to meet a child after sexual grooming.

He was jailed for three years, put on the sex offenders’ register for life and made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order curbing his contact with boys under 16 and use of the internet and electronic devices.

Mr Newcombe said “Noah” had told Walton at the start of their exchanges in early January he was “nearly 13” and that he was at school. Walton had been the first to turn their exchanges to sexual content, and had asked him more than once to send him a sexual picture of himself. “Noah” had not done so.

For Walton, Keith Allen said as part of their Grindr exchanges, the 33-year-old had told “Noah” he was too “skint” to buy him a McDonalds and they wouldn’t be able to drive far because he didn’t have much fuel.

On two occasions, he had also not contacted “Noah” for days at a time and “Noah” had resumed the contact

At the time of the offences, Walton had been suffering from depression, but not on medication.

As soon as he had been released following his arrest, he had gone to his GP and got anti-depressants.

Mr Allen said police must have submitted a profile with a false date of birth because Grindr was restricted to adults.

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Wayne Thompson targeted the young boy :: He later came into contact with children when he met a 16-year-old on social media

A sex offender who targeted a very young boy in a sick campaign of abuse has been branded a dangerous offender by a judge.

Wayne Thompson's crimes were exposed in December when a jury found him guilty of sexual abusing the boy.

He had already admitted breaching a sexual offences protection order (SOPO), imposed some years ago when Thompson was found in possession of child abuse images.

Now, the 39-year-old has been locked up for six years - with an extended licence period of four years - for a host of depraved crimes.

Branding Thompson a dangerous offender, Judge Stephen Ashurst told him he "posed a significant risk of serious harm".

"I have read all the reports about you," said the judge.

"The worrying aspect is your continued denial of the offences, your continued denial of your sexual attraction to young boys, and despite being served with an order, you've continued to have contact with children.

"Your compliance has been superficial, and the measures taken have not been adequate to stop you offending."

The victim's mother told Teesside Crown Court on Monday that since the abuse her son "wasn't the little boy I gave birth to".

She said he'd needed medication after suffering nightmares and crippling anxiety, which became worse as December's trial date approached.

The boy gave evidence - and Thompson was found guilty on three counts of sexual assault and two of engaging in sexual activity with a child. He was acquitted of a rape charge.

But the court heard that as Thompson continued to abuse the boy, he was separately convicted at court of possessing indecent images of children, where he was given a SOPO.

This banned him from coming into contact with children without notifying the police.

But prosecutor Jo Kidd told the court on Monday that Thompson later met a 16-year-old boy on social media.

Thompson visited his home, where other children were living, and even accompanied the teen on family trips to Beamish, Lightwater Valley and soft play centres, with children present, putting him in breach of the order.

Thompson admitted those breaches at Teesside Magistrates' Court last July.

Mitigating, Stephen Littlewood said Thompson had "suffered from his own difficulties and has had mental health difficulties".

"This is no excuse," he said. "But from the letter the court has received from his father, it shows he is capable of kindness.

"He has looked after his 93-year-old grandmother and he may never get to see her again, out of custody."

Mr Littlewood accepted that Thompson, of Somerset Road, Guisborough, had breached his SOPO a number of times, but said there was no question he abused the other children he came into contact with.

Judge Ashurst said Thompson would serve his six year sentence, but then be subject to an extra four years of an 'extended licence' - and also made his SOPO indefinite.

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A sick paedophile who treated his teenage daughter as his 'wife' has been found guilty of sexually abusing her.

Elliott Appleyard, of Gilthwaites Crescent in Denby Dale, raped Carol Higgins 'three or four times a week' during the 1980s when she was aged between 13 and 15.

After a seven-day trial at Leeds Crown Court, a jury of seven women and four men took one hour and 50 minutes to unanimously find the 71-year-old guilty of 15 charges.

The father-of-three was convicted of five counts of rape and 10 counts of indecent assault.

Miss Higgins, who bravely waived her right to anonymity and sat in the public gallery with her partner, brother and other family members, smiled and cried after the verdict was delivered.

She had first reported the abuse to police in 1985, but was told she would be accused of being a liar and it would 'blacken her name' if she pursued a prosecution.

Miss Higgins, who is now 49 and a mum-of-two, went to police again in 2015.

The court heard that after Appleyard's wife left him, he put her engagement ring on his daughter's finger.

Miss Higgins said her father 'wanted to treat me like a wife' and told her they would 'live together happily ever after'.

She said that after the first time he raped her she asked him what her grandfather - his father - would think of what he had just done to her.

She said that he replied:

"He believes the same as me - that grandfather's should break their daughters in like the Indians do."

"He'd try to make me feel like it was normal, he said other friends did it with their fathers," she said.

Appleyard also kept photos of his daughter in her underwear in a box and took her to a tattoo parlour in Barnsley to have a tattoo of a rose between his nickname Sam and his forename tattooed on her shoulder - a tattoo which she later had lasered off.

Peter Hampton, prosecuting, said the abuse had 'destroyed all of her adult life' and she had received counselling for many years.

The jury also heard Appleyard's wife and the children's mother was threatened with a machete for having a 'sex dream' and had a shotgun pointed at her head.

Appleyard was remanded in custody and will be sentenced tomorrow morning (Friday).

A man in the public gallery called Appleyard a paedophile as he was sent down.

Miss Higgins, who now lives in Ackworth, wrote an autobiography titled 'Conquering the Impossible: Making the Dream Come True' which was published in 2015.

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A MAN caught by a vigilante group trying to make sexual online advances to what he thought was a 14-year-old boy has been spared prison.

Daniel Mark Cheeseman, 26, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today (THURS) for two offences he committed during a five-week period last year.

Cheeseman had previously admitted attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity; and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child by sending an explicit image.

The court heard how Cheeseman was confronted at his place of work in Kendal by members of the vigilante group, who live-streamed the encounter on Facebook and contacted police. It emerged he had been in regular contact with what he thought was a 14-year-old boy but which was actually a decoy used by the group.

After reading a background report and references, Judge Peter Davies told Cheeseman he would not receive the professional help he needed in prison. A 12-month jail term was suspended for two years.

Cheeseman, formerly of Kendal, and now living near Harrogate, must complete an accredited sex offender treatment course, 100 hours unpaid work and rehabilitation. He must sign the sex offender register, and abide by the strict terms of a prevention order, both for 10 years. This has got to stop. This us your opportunity to stop, Judge Davies told him.

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The victim of an Ackworth paedophile who has been jailed for child sex offences says she is uncertain if she will ever recover from her horrific ordeal.

Mark William Allen, 31, was given a 12-year sentence at Leeds Crown Court for sustained abuse of the girl dating back to the early 2000s.

Allen, who was living in Thirsk, North Yorkshire, at the time of his arrest, was found guilty after a trial in which his victim, who is now 25-year-old, was forced to give evidence.

Granted lifelong anonymity, she told the Express: “My life has been so badly affected that I’m not sure I can ever move on from this but at least I can rest better at night knowing he isn’t able to harm any other children.
“I struggle day to day with severe anxiety disorder, depression and PTSD-like symptoms.

“I have been heavily medicated for some years due to the significant trauma I’ve sustained.”

She said Allen was a family friend whom she met when she was just six and he began acting in a ‘overly friendly’ manner which escalated over time, showering her with gifts and complements.

By the time she was 11, she said he was coercing her into sexual abuse which lasted for the next three years. However, he would swear her to silence, telling her he was in love with her and that he would be in trouble if anyone found out.

His victim added: “As a child I found it difficult to keep secrets from my family, knowing it was wrong but also wanting to protect the man that had by then become my ‘boyfriend’.

“It sounds crazy now as an adult but it was such a difficult situation for a young girl to comprehend that I didn’t really realise the ramifications of his actions until I was much older.”

It was only when she was told in 2013 that Allen was jailed for other sexual offences that she was able to build up the courage to tell the police of her own experiences.

Speaking after Allen’s conviction, Det Insp Vanessa Rolfe of the Wakefield District Child Safeguarding Team, said: “Allen committed some horrendous abuse against a very young and vulnerable victim and we are pleased this has been reflected in the substantial sentence he has received at court.

“He clearly poses a real danger to children and I hope his victim will take some comfort that he has been brought to justice and is answering for his crimes against her.”

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A rapist who is transitioning to female has been locked up for life after sexually assaulting inmates in a women's prison .

Karen White, who was born a man but identifies as a woman, raped two women and stabbed her neighbour before sexually assaulting two inmates in HMP New Hall in Flockton, near Wakefield .

The 'predatory' and 'manipulative' 52-year-old was branded a 'significant risk of serious harm to children, women and the general public' at Leeds Crown Court today.

White, who was previously called Stephen Wood and David Thompson, had cross dressed in the past but only began gender reassignment when she was remanded into custody.

While on remand in the B wing of the female prison and wearing a wig, makeup and women's clothing, she sexually assaulted two inmates between September and October last year.

Christopher Dunn, prosecuting, described the defendant as 'allegedly' transgender.

He said: "The prosecution say allegedly because there's smatterings of evidence in this case that the defendant's approach to transitioning has been less than committed.

"The prosecution suggest the reason for the lack of commitment towards transitioning is so the defendant can use a transgender persona to put herself in contact with vulnerable persons she can then abuse."

White, of Elphin Court in Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, was first arrested after attacking a 66-year-old neighbour with a steak knife last year.

White threatened: "I'm going to kill you"

The victim was accused of trying to kiss White and 'slobbering all over' her before being stabbed with a knife.

White threatened: "I'm going to kill you. If I don't do it now, you won't know when or where but I am going to kill you."

Two women then came forward with rape allegations. One was raped while pregnant and another was raped repeatedly, causing internal injuries and her to fear she could not have children in the future. Both women had tried to take their own lives as a result of the rapes.

While on remand, White approached an inmate in the queue for prisoners to get medication.

Mr Dunn said: "The complainant, while waiting, felt something hard press against the small of her back. She turned around to see the defendant stood there. She could see the defendant's penis erect and sticking out of the top of her pants, covered by her tights."

Another inmate told how she was in the prison workshop with White when the defendant was making 'inappropriate comments about blow jobs'. White then grabbed her hand and put it on the defendant's left breast with the words: "Oh look, they're not real ones."

White later told a probation officer she 'could abuse a child and think nothing of it' and said she needed 'to be put in hospital or she would abduct a child and kill it'.

'You represent a significant risk of serious harm to children, to women and to the general public'

White was found guilty of one count of wounding following a trial at Bradford Crown Court and later pleaded guilty to three counts of rape against two women and two counts of sexual assault against inmates.

She had previous convictions for indecent exposure, indecent assault and gross indecency committed against a 12-year-old and a nine-year-old boy.

Now in men's prison HMP Leeds in Armley with shoulder-length blonde hair, she was locked up for life with a minimum of eight years and 116 days, of which she will serve half before being eligible for release on licence.

Judge Christopher Batty said: "You are a predator and highly manipulative and in my view you are a danger.

"You represent a significant risk of serious harm to children, to women and to the general public."

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A TEACHER who incited people to abuse their own children for his sexual gratification has been jailed for 12 years.

Richard Clark pleaded guilty to 26 offences and asked for 54 others to be taken into consideration when he appeared at York Crown Court today (Tuesday, September 11).

Using fake digital accounts, he contacted people on Skype in the UK, the United States and Nepal and incited people to take sexual images or abuse their siblings, children or grandchildren and record it for his own gratification.

In one case he contacted a 15-year-old boy and encouraged him to carry out sexual acts on his cousins, aged one and two.

Clark, of Topcliffe Road, Sowerby, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to charges including 10 offences of arranging or facilitating child sex offences and 12 counts of inciting or causing indecent images of children.

Clark, 29, also tricked boys at a school into taking indecent images or video of themselves, whilst using fake social media accounts in which he posed as a teenage girl.

The teacher also kept a record of his victims, categorising them based on their appearance, the size of their genitalia and comments about the ways that he had abused them.

The court heard on Monday a witness statement from a parent of one of the boys in which she said he had “robbed them of their youth” and left them unable to trust male teachers.

A witness statement from the headteacher of the school where pupils were targeted said the school had employed school nurses, psychologists and counsellors to deal with the impact of Clark’s actions on students and teachers, but he feared some students would never recover from their ordeal. Others were likely to miss out on opportunities to go to high-ranking universities because of the emotional and mental ordeal they experienced prior to their exams.

Clark also pleaded guilty to three charges of possession of indecent photographs of a child and one of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

This morning, Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told Clark: "These offences reveal you to be manipulating others to abuse children like some kind of malign puppet master.

"You incited offences of familial or incestuous abuse against children. These activities have been traced worldwide."

Judge Stubbs said his crimes revealed him to be a "persistent predator", whose victims felt trapped by fear of exposure. He added: "The victim statements which have been referred to in court show how you have robbed your victims of confidence, character and potential life chances."

He handed him a sentence of 12 years, to spend a further eight years on licence. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which he will remain on for the rest of his life.

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'I don't usually have to deal with children, I deal with villains,' says judge

A former soldier and his accomplice who raped an underage girl when they were teenagers have been jailed for four years each, in what the judge said was one of the most difficult cases of his career.

Brandon Bowmaker, 21, and Callum Dowson, 22, attacked the girl on a railway line near Guisborough, Cleveland, in 2012 after threatening to leave her in the woods in the dark.

The girl told police she had already had consensual sex with Bowmaker with Dowson nearby before they both demanded sex with her, which she refused.

Aisha Wadoodi, prosecuting, said the girl was scared when they said they would abandon her, particularly as she was unfamiliar with the area, which by then was pitch black.

She repeatedly asked them to stop as they raped her, with both youths repeatedly swapping over, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Bowmaker, a former infantryman, was 15 at the time while Dowson was 16.

Judge Sean Morris, sentencing, said the victim and Bowmaker were too young to have consensual sex before the rape.

Children will be children and they will experiment and explore, he said.

He added: This has probably been one of the most difficult cases I have dealt with.

I dont usually have to deal with children, I deal with villains.

Addressing the defendants in the dock, he said: You are men now, all three of you as the pre-sentence report describes, were children.

Their victim read a statement from the witness box expressing how the ordeal had psychologically affected her and led her to self-destructive episodes.

Although she said life was too short to hate the pair, she said: It is now time you paid for what you have done.

They denied the offences but were convicted by a jury last month.

Nigel Soppitt, defending Bowmaker, of Woodhouse Road, Guisborough, said the former soldier was good at his career, which he has now lost.

He said: He is a thoroughly decent man these days, he had made a huge mistake in his early teens, he knows he has to be punished for that.

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A former primary school headteacher has been locked up for more than seven years after admitting to grooming and committing sexual offences with a teenage boy in Derbyshire.

Robin Scott, 53, was in charge of Woodlesford Primary School in Leeds at the time of the offences when he preyed on the vulnerable youngster in Glossop.

The offences were committed in the Glossop area against the youngster - who cannot be named for legal reasons - and do not relate to anyone at the school.

Scott appeared before Derby Crown Court on Monday, July 23, where he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child and one of meeting a child following sexual grooming.

After the case, Detective Sergeant Steve Bruce, who led the investigation said: Robin Scott groomed a young man and then engaged in sexual activity with him on a number of occasions.

Im pleased we have been able to get this result in court and hope it shows just how seriously we treat offences like this.

Scott was initially charged with ten counts of sexual activity with a child and one of sexual grooming, between February 2017 and June 2018, when he appeared before Chesterfield magistrates court in June.

He later pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child and one of meeting a child following sexual grooming which was accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service and he was dealt with for these charges alone.

The 53-year-old, of Wycar, Bedale, North Yorkshire, was sentenced to seven years and four months of custody.

Prosecuting solicitor Becky Allsop told a previous Chesterfield magistrates court hearing offences came to light when Scott was spotted with the 15-year-old victim and police were contacted.

The defendant had been accused of initially being in contact with the youngster via social media from when the boy was 13-years-old, according to Mrs Allsop.

Mrs Allsop added that when matters allegedly became more sexual the youngster was allegedly taken by Scott, who is a headteacher, to a Travelodge.

Defence solicitor Julie Page had told the magistrates court hearing Scott had spoken to the youngster who had complained about family issues.

Ms Page said Scott accepted he knew the complainant and that they met through a chatroom.

Scott also claimed it had been a difficult time because his own mother has dementia and she has been living in a home and his father was struggling to cope, according to Ms Page.

The magistrates court had heard Scott was also having to make redundancies at his school.

Ms Page said Scotts initial contact with the teenager had not been sexually motivated.

She said: He had met a young boy and put himself in a vulnerable position and he compromised his own position by providing guidance and support.

Following the case, Det Sgt Bruce added: It doesnt matter how old a victim is, what the circumstances are, or how much time has passed. I would urge anyone who may be a victim of sexual abuse to contact the police, or one of our partner agencies.

When we receive reports like this, we put all of our efforts into safeguarding vulnerable people and making sure people like Robin Scott face justice for their crimes.

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A child rapist released early from prison was found working on a children's amusement ride, a court has heard.

Stephen Wilson, 60, had served six years of a nine-year sentence for a string of sexual offences against children when he was released from prison on December 6, 2017.

Wilson was made the subject of an indefinite sexual offences prevention order, which prohibited him from working with anyone under 16, either in a paid or voluntary capacity, without the explicit permission of police.

However, on March 29 this year a detective from Humberside Police spotted Wilson operating Wacky Races, a popular amusement ride on Bridlington's promenade.

'He was physically lifting them out'

Phillip Evans, prosecuting at Hull Crown Court, said: "The defendant was the operator of that amusement. In that capacity, he was helping children off the ride. He was physically lifting them out."

Wilson later claimed the ride was aimed at older children, but Mr Evans said the officer was quite clear about what he saw.

"DC Marsh said they were between three and five years of age," said the prosecutor.

Officers waited for a "discreet moment" before moving in to arrest Wilson so as not to cause undue alarm to parents.

Wilson, of Winston Court, Bridlington, pleaded guilty, at the first opportunity, to breaching the sexual offences prevention order.

He had sexually attacked children before

Mr Evans gave the court details of the most relevant of Wilson's 22 previous convictions for 67 offences.

On December 7, 2010, at Grimsby Crown Court, Wilson was convicted of one count of rape of a child under 16, two counts of gross indecency with a child, and one count of indecent assault on a child under 16.

Dale Brook, for Wilson, said his family had disowned him following those convictions, resulting in an "isolated existence".

Since his arrest, Wilson has remained in prison, which has he has found "exceptionally difficult", said Mr Brook.

"He has been bullied," said the barrister, before admitting a pre-sentence report was "an almost entirely gloomy document".

Mr Brook made clear, however, that Wilson's motivation for working on the ride was purely financial. Wilson needed to earn money to furnish his flat, he said.

'You are anything but trustworthy'

The barrister appealed to the Recorder Richard Woolfall to hold back from jailing his client, pointing out his poor mental health and a knee complaint that requires surgery.

However, Record Woolfall said Wilson must have known working on a children's ride would put him in breach of the order.

"It appears to me you did not tell your employer of your history," he told Wilson, referring to the earlier convictions.

"It is right that parents would think anyone operating such a ride would be trustworthy. You are anything but trustworthy.

"There is compelling evidence that your risk of sexual harm is unmanageable in the community."

Wilson was jailed for two years, of which he must serve around half before he is eligible for release on licence. The sexual harm prevention order continues indefinitely.

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Mark Birtles picked up his victim, who was then aged under 18, one evening in April last year and drove to a remote area before raping her.

The 20-year-old, of Laburnum Road, Mexborough, was arrested that month after the girl went to hospital and reported what had happened.

Birtles was found guilty of rape following a three-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court, which ended on Friday, and was jailed for six years.

He was given an additional one year prison sentence for breaching a suspended sentence for harassment, though this will run concurrently with the other sentence.

Detective Constable Cheryl McCorkell, who led the investigation, said: "Birtles had offered the victim a lift one evening last April before he stopped in a remote area near Bolton-upon-Dearne and raped her.

"She has shown immense courage in coming forward and reporting what happened and was forced to endure the trial after Birtles continued to deny his guilt, despite the substantial evidence gathered against him.

"I'd like to thank and praise the girl for showing such strength and bravery as she gave evidence during the trial. The conviction is a testament to that and I hope that knowing Birtles is behind bars for the next six years goes some way in helping her to move forward with her life."