Latest Offenders York

Description

A YOUNG man is today a convicted rapist starting five years in jail because he didnt listen to a woman saying no.

Max Liam Gregory, 21, showed no emotion as the victim told York Crown Court how his actions had left her in a bottomless pit, made her suicidal and given her more than a year of panic attacks, anxiety, depression and other problems.

She had told the jury how she had tried to push him off her and repeatedly said no as he raped her. He had responded by saying just two minutes, its fine and just 30 seconds, come on.

Gregory had claimed to a jury that he had cared for her by visiting her regularly in the week after the rape in his home in Escrick Court, Escrick, in July 2015. But Recorder David Dixon said his visits were also to try and stop her reporting him to the police.

York Crown Court heard she eventually spoke out after he went on holiday with his girlfriend.

The judge told Gregory: It was abundantly clear to you she was not consenting. You continued on regardless. You have heard the impact that you caused on her simply by not listening to the word no. In simple words, if you had listened, you wouldnt be here, she wouldnt have had the horrible time she has had, all down to you not listening.

He jailed Gregory for five years, put him on the sex offenders register for life and made a restraining order, banning him from having any contact at all with the victim for the rest of his life.

Gregory had denied rape but was convicted by a jury unanimously after two hours and 40 minutes in retirement.

Reading aloud a victim impact statement in a voice at times choked with tears, she said that after the rape: I then started to go into a bottomless pit. I started to get anxiety attacks. I still do.

She was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder, suffering flashbacks, nightmares and waking up in sweats.

Her work was affected and her condition progressed until she wanted to isolate myself from the world. She said: It got too much. On December 8, I arranged everything for my suicide.

She decided to put her affairs in order, but then saw her doctor who referred her to a home treatment team who helped her and continue to visit her daily.

I think about it (the rape) every day. I dont want to think about it any more, she concluded.

At the end of the hearing, the judge said she had been very brave to read her statement in court.

Gregorys barrister Geraldine Kelly said the womans mental problems may not have been entirely due to Gregory.

His girlfriend and family were standing by him and had attended his trial. He had never been in trouble with the police before and had committed no offences since.

Description

A YOUNG man had an "appalling addiction" for viewing indecent images of children, a court heard.

A judge told "immature and naive" Oliver Vause, 20, that he needed to grow up.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC told Vause: "Maybe now you know how desperately serious this is. Behind every one of these films and stills is some poor child being abused.

"These children are being abused only because there are people like you who want, and-or pay, and-or share these images.

"It must stop or you will be going to prison for a long time."

But the judge said a deterrent sentence could not be given in every case.

He added: "Everybody has spoken extremely highly of you. The probation service has rightly identified the public will be better protected in the long term if you can be helped, rehabilitated, and weaned off this appalling addiction that you have."

Prosecutor Richard Walters told Bradford Crown Court that Vause, of Midgley Road, Burley-in-Wharfedale, had pleaded guilty before magistrates to 16 charges of possessing hundreds of indecent images, between November 1, 2013, and May 13, 2015.

They included five videos - two at the most serious category A level, two at category B and one at the least serious category C level. Two charges related to category A still images, three stills at category B and four category C stills.

Mr Walters said there were two separate "roll up" charges involving 287 category B still images and 184 category C stills. Vause had also pleaded guilty to one charge of distributing an indecent image. Mr Walters said the Crown accepted it was possible that image had been sent by mistake.

Vause admitted a charge of failing to comply with a notification requirement, as a registered sex offender, by failing to notify police he resided at an address where a child under 18 was living, between February 24 and 26 this year. Mr Walters said the defendant had spent a night at his 18-year-old girlfriend’s address, where her 16-year-old sister was also present.

Mr Walters said it was a technical breach and there was no suggestion anything untoward took place.

The prosecutor said Vause was a man of good character before these offences.

Vause' solicitor, Nick Leadbeater, said the probation report on his client was very good.

Judge Durham Hall sentenced Vause to a three-year community order, with a 60-day rehabilitation activity requirement and supervision. He granted a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years, to monitor the defendant’s use of the internet, and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of computer equipment.

The judge told Vause: "You are only 20, but you know better. You had a nasty habit. It’s got to be stopped and be resolved."

Description

A Dewsbury man has been jailed for 10 years after he sexually abused a six-year-old girl.

Leeds Crown Court heard after Nile Akram’s offending came to light he broke down and said: “I need help. I’ve got a thing for children.” He said he wanted to kill himself.

Abigail Langford prosecuting told the court that Akram, at the time aged 19, had let the youngster use his Playstation on January 22.

By chance she was being treated for a urine infection that day and when her mother later checked her for any soreness she mentioned something had happened to her when she was alone with Akram. He had told her not to tell anybody.

Her mother then used a teddy bear to get her to show her where he had touched her and what he had done.

When Akram was arrested he told officers he realised he had a sexual interest in children when he was about 10 or 11. He had started kissing the little girl and had progressed to other offences and knew what he had done was wrong.

Gillian Batts representing Akram said many of the offences against him came as a result of his own frank admissions to the police.

He had developed from looking at child pornography on the internet in the past to the physical offences involved.

“It is rare to come across somebody so very frank about their own problem. He acknowledges his wrong and the damage he has caused, his guilty plea is the best demonstration of that.”

“He knows he is going to receive a lengthy custodial sentence. What he wants is assistance, he is still only a young man and does not want to be the person he is.”

“One can imagine the effect on the complainant and her family.”

Akram, now 20, and of no fixed address, admitted four offences of oral rape, six of sexual assault and one charge of engaging in sexual activity. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Jailing him Judge Tom Bayliss QC said he had shown “remarkable insight” into his “deviant sexual tendencies” and had been candid with the police and courts, but they were serious offences.

“You began by looking at images on the internet when you were very young. You started by kissing this girl and then escalated to touching her and then these terrible acts occurred and you put pressure on her not to tell anybody.”

Description

Court hears he groomed girls with "truth or dare" games

A convicted sex offender has been jailed for nine years after he abused two schoolgirls following a game of truth or dare in his home.

Sentencing 50-year-old Carl Robert Whitehead at Leeds Crown Court Recorder Andrew Haslam said he had initially befriended the girls through their interest in his pet dog and then groomed them.

You developed your association with both of these girls on social media such as Facebook and contacted them over their mobile telephones.

He said Whitehead even paid for a top-up on one girls phone and they began visiting his home.

One text message suggested he had offered them alcohol although he knew they were not old enough to drink, being 13 and 14.

Recorder Haslam said a friend of Whitehead advised him to end the association and even contacted the police and they repeated that advice but he ignored them.

I am satisfied you ignored that advice because you wanted to develop an association with both girls, although you knew they were under 16, for the specific reason of taking sexual advantage of them.

You did that solely for the purpose of satisfying your own sexual desires. I am satisfied you groomed these girls for your own sexual purposes.

He said it did not matter who suggested the game of truth or dare it developed as you wanted it to. There was kissing then he suggested they remove their clothes and finally his touching them sexually.

Recorder Haslam said he believed Whitehead at least tried to go further, because he had subsequently bought them pregnancy testing kits and there was no other reason for that.

He had also put the girls through a trial and accused them of fabricating their accounts which had added to their ordeal. His behaviour had clearly had a psychological impact on them.

Whitehead, of St James Street, Heckmondwike, was found guilty by a jury on four charges of sexual activity with a child.

Kirstie Watson prosecuting told the court had previous convictions for indecent exposure in 1988, 1989 and on April 15, 2011 as well as a conviction for gross indecency with a six year old child in 1990.

Mathew Harding defending Whitehead said he still denied any offence against the girls.

He had already found his experience in prison difficult being subjected to bullying.

Description

A VIOLENT and sadistic paedophile who 'pranced and posed' semi-naked in ladies underwear while sexually abusing two children has been jailed for 15 years.

Derrick Hooley, 69, dressed up in black suspenders, a basque and French knickers to degrade and humiliate his young victims.

He was labelled 'a thoroughly nasty deviant' by the judge sentencing him last Thursday.

Hooley, a retired coach painter with Keighley and District Buses, was unanimously convicted of all 17 charges against him by a jury at Bradford Crown Court.

They involved the 'sustained, routine and relentless' sexual abuse of a boy three decades ago and the similar abuse of a girl over the same period.

The boy, now a man in his 30s, had been 'wholly destroyed' by Hooley, Judge Jonathan Durham Hall QC said.

Hooley, who wore dark glasses and earphones during the trial, remained impassive in the dock as the jury's verdicts were returned.

A victim statement by the male victim said he had been robbed of his childhood and had recurring nightmares.

He still leapt out of bed taking swings at the man 'as though fighting him off'.

Hooley, of Main Street, Farnhill, abused the children in Skipton in the mid to late 1980s.

He was convicted of 12 offences of indecent assault and indecency with a child, relating to the boy, and five charges involving the girl, including indecent assault, indecency with a child, and taking an indecent photo of her.

During the trial the jury saw photographs of Hooley 'prancing and posing' semi-naked in women's underwear and male pouches.

His passion for photography cemented his downfall when the police seized pictures of him in what the judge described as 'a variety of fairly interesting positions'.

"This case is about a thoroughly nasty, deviant man who happened, inappropriately and cruelly, to parade naked and in women's clothing," he said.

Hooley told a pack of lies to the police and the jury when the evidence against him was overwhelming.

He told the court he was posing in frilly pants and bras to see if they fitted for 'a fancy dress do'.

Another outfit, of skeleton body paint, French knickers and a white cape, was to wear at a Halloween party, he claimed.

Hooley, who was born in Ilkley, had never been in trouble with the police before, his barrister Robin Frieze said.

He had been a self-employed sign writer and then worked at Airedale General Hospital, in Steeton.

During the trial, the male victim said he went to the police when Jimmy Savile's sexual abuse was made public in 2013.

Description

A 51-YEAR-OLD engineer has been jailed for 15 years for a catalogue of "disgusting and terrible" sexual abuse against a young girl.

Paul Yeadon preyed on the child when she was aged between six and 14, raping and assaulting her "hundreds and hundreds of times," Bradford Crown Court heard.

Yeadon was a long distance lorry driver living in Great Horton, Bradford, when he targeted the little girl almost 20 years ago, telling her it was "their secret".

His victim, now a woman in her 30s, told the court he abused her at least once a week for eight years.

He sexually assaulted her after they watched TV together "as a treat" and molested her in the cab of his lorry, prosecutor Adrian Dent said.

Yeadon pleaded guilty in November to five offences of indecently assaulting the girl when she was six or seven years old.

But he continued to deny raping and abusing her over a long period of time.

Yesterday, a jury convicted him of a further 13 charges, including three sample counts of rape, three offences of indecency with a child, six of indecent assault and one of attempted indecent assault.

Burly and bespectacled Yeadon, now of Beancroft Road, Castleford, West Yorkshire, stood impassively in the dock as the guilty verdicts were returned.

During the trial, the court heard that the girl confided to her mother what Yeadon had done to her when she was aged 14.

But although her mother was horrified and disgusted, he got away with it for decades because the teenager was about to take exams and could not face becoming caught up in a police investigation.

In 2013, she plucked up the courage to tell the police what Yeadon had done to her.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman told how she struggled to come to terms with the abuse.

Stress about the case had recently ended a recent relationship she was in and she suffered broken sleep and anxiety.

The woman wept in court as Mr Dent disclosed that she had flashbacks and was seriously unwell.

"I hope this brings closure and I can move on with my life," she said.

Yeadon's barrister, David McGonigal, said Yeadon was in his 20s when he abused the girl and had since led a blameless life.

He had always worked, giving up his job as an engineer only when the trial approached.

The Recorder of Bradford, Judge Roger Thomas QC, told Yeadon: "This was a catalogue of sexual offending against a young girl, going back to the late 1980s and early 1990s.

"Your victim was abused from when she was aged about six. You persuaded her and drove her into a position where she could not resist you."

The judge added: "This was disgusting and terrible abuse. There are hundreds and hundreds of offences spanning a considerable period of time."

Description

Two men who "laughed and boasted" about raping a girl outside a nightclub have been jailed for nine years.

Kristofer McLaren and Craig Whitelaw, both 21, attacked the 18-year-old on 10 August after meeting her at Club Amadeus, in Elder Road, Northallerton.

Teesside Crown Court heard the two men bragged about the assault to a taxi driver as they left the scene.

Police said McLaren and Whitelaw, both from Thirsk, treated their victim "like a piece of meat".

They were were found guilty of rape following a trial, but cleared of a second count of rape.

Whitelaw was also convicted of sexual assault, for which he was sentenced to four years in jail to be served concurrently.

'Sustained attack'
Det Insp Fiona Wynne, from North Yorkshire police said: "I am delighted that justice has been delivered for the victim.

"She was subjected to a sustained attack by McLaren and Whitelaw. They treated her like a piece of meat and left her bleeding and distressed.

"They laughed and joked about it afterwards, even boasting to the taxi driver about what had just happened when they left the scene."

The victims' parents paid tribute to the force, saying: "From the minute the police picked our daughter up she has been treated with the utmost respect and sympathy by everyone who has had contact with her."

Description

A family wept as the bus driver who sexually abused their teenage daughter was jailed at Bradford Crown Court today (Monday).

Dale Codling, 26, of Kirk Lane, Hipperholme, who had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of grooming and engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a 13 year old girl on October 21, 2013 was jailed for 12 months.

The offences took place while Codling was working as a First Bus driver on a school route in Calderdale.

Judge Rose, sentencing Codling - a father of one - said: The grooming of a child is not something that happens as an error of judgement or a one-off mistake - you were 25 and she was 13.

No man of your age has the right to act in such way with a child.

Codling groomed her by lavishing her with compliments on Facebook and by phone, which the prosecution said made her feel good about herself.

The court heard that when Codling took the girl for a drive on October 21, 2013, he kissed her. After she kissed him back, he then touched her inappropriately and the girl asked him to stop.

Codling drove the girl home but continued to remain in contact with her.

The girls mother later found out a month later and reported him to the police.

Gerald Hendron, defending, said Codling felt ashamed of himself and asked the judge to consider his immediate admission following his arrest and subsequent guilty plea.

Description

A pervert who sexually abused a 13-year-old schoolboy has been jailed for three years.

Adam Greenhough, 30, drove over to the Bradford area in January 2011 to pick up the boy after school and a judge heard yesterday that the teenager was still wearing his school uniform when he was driven on to moorland where the abuse took place.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Greenhough, who has since been diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome and autism, initially contacted the boy through an internet chat site which was meant for over 18s. But before their meeting he became aware that the youngster, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, was under 16.

Judge Peter Benson said despite that Greenhough, who had no previous convictions, went on to arrange a meeting with the teenager where the sexual abuse took place.

The judge said Greenhough, who was himself 26 at the time, must have appreciated that the complainant was much younger than him and a vulnerable young man.

You, nonetheless, went on to seek sexual gratification with him, said the Judge Benson.

Greenhough had always denied the offences until he entered guilty pleas in March this year and last September a previous trial at which the complainant gave evidence had to be abandoned.

Judge Benson said the impact statement relating to Greenhoughs offences indicated the strain and misery suffered by the boy and his family as a result of his refusal to accept his responsibility until a late stage.

Greenhough, of Mixenden Court, Halifax, pleaded guilty in March to two offences of sexual activity with a child and one of meeting the youngster after sexual grooming.

In addition to the three-year prison sentence, Judge Benson made an order banning Greenhough from having any contact with the boy again. And he will also have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life.

Barrister Edward Bindloss submitted that a suspended prison sentence could be considered in his clients case, particularly bearing in mind his difficulties and the impact that any prison sentence would have on him.

Mr Bindloss pointed out that the case did not involved any threats or inducements towards the young boy and Judge Benson accepted that it was not the usual case of predatory grooming.

This was out of character and there is no pattern of misbehaviour,'' said Mr Bindloss. It is a single incident and it is three-and-a-half years ago. In the three-and-a-half years there has been no repeat of this incident at all.

After the case Detective Inspector Chris Stones, of West Yorkshire Polices Protective Services Department, said: Greenhough took advantage of his victims age and vulnerability to carry out a sex attack on him. I would like to thank the victim for his courage in coming forward, and hope that the sentence passed down today will give him some closure.

West Yorkshire Police will always investigate offences involving the abuse of children thoroughly and sensitively, with a view to bringing those responsible to justice.

Description

AN evil rapist and paedophile who abused victims as young as eight has been jailed for 18 years - after admitting a 15-year reign of terror.

Glen Turton, 59, groomed, raped and assaulted his innocent victims.

As well as being put behind bars, he was also placed on the sex offenders' register and banned from working with children for life.

The former fairground worker and roadie pleaded guilty to a catalogue of offences.

He admitted 16 counts of rape and indecent/sexual assault over a 15-year period.

His abused victims ranged in age from as young as eight to 20.

Turton, of Burrows Grove, Wombwell, a three times divorcee, pleaded guilty to all 16 counts when he appeared at Sheffield Crown Court last month.

A friend of one of his victims spoke of fears that Turton may have subjected other victims to horrific abuse and appealed to them to still come forward.

He said: "We have good reason to believe there are other victims out there and that he has been committing offences of this type for even longer than 15 years.

"I would appeal to any victims to come forward.

"It's not likely to make much difference to his jail sentence, but it will allow those victims whose lives he has ruined to at last start to move on.

"The man was a monster, totally lacking in human compassion. He was evil personified.

"Everyone involved now want to try to rebuild their shattered lives. We all hope he rots in jail and is never ever allowed out."

Description

'It would be cruel to send you to jail': What lenient judge told sex offender who stalked schoolgirls

A JUDGE took pity on a sex offender and decided sending him to prison would be utterly cruel.

Andrew Jackson, 48, twice stalked schoolgirls aged 13 and 14 and attacked a disabled woman he claimed was a prostitute.

But Judge Jeremy Richardson QC allowed him to walk free, saying it would border on cruelty to jail him because he suffers from Asperger syndrome.

He told Jackson: You deserve to be sent to prison. But sending someone like you to prison would be utterly cruel.

You are very much to be pitied. You have never had a full sexual relationship. It must be very frustrating.

He added: I have a public duty, but it would be quiet wrong to impose a cruel punishment.

"Quite frankly you could not cope in prison. I have no doubt your life would be a misery.

Hull crown court heard Jackson had already been spoken to twice by police for stalking children in playgrounds and wooded areas in the seaside town of Bridlington, East Yorks.

He showed one girl aged 13 a picture of his privates.

Police said he sexually questioned two 14-year-old girls before asking: Are you legal?

He then molested a 21-year-old woman in a park.

The womans friend heard her screams and dragged Jackson off her.

Judge Richardson said he had aggravated matters by falsely claiming the woman had prostituted herself to him for 20.

Martin Sharpe, prosecuting, said police in Bridlington were so concerned about Jackson they wanted a Sexual Offences Prevention Order imposed on him to keep him out of childrens playgrounds.

Patrick Palmer, defending, said Jackson had an IQ of 75, lived at home with his parents, did not work and had suffered all his life from an undiagnosed condition.

Jackson, of Bridlington, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexual assault by touching, knowing that the woman did not consent.

Judge Richardson sentenced the pest to a two-year community order with a supervision requirement in the hope that it might alter his behaviour.

He also imposed a 10-year sexual offences prevention order on him and put him on the sex offenders register for five years.

The judge told Jackson: Young girls have to be protected in your area.

You have to learn to control yourself. I regard sexual offences as a very serious crime. Usually the men involved deserve to be sent to prison.

It would not be right here. It would be bordering on cruelty.

However, if you harass any more girls, you will end up in jail.

Description

A CHILDRENS outdoor activities centre manager who pretended to be a woman to gain acceptance into an international paedophile ring has been jailed for four years.

Jonathan Garner-Harris, a former deputy director of the Marrick Priory centre, near Richmond, North Yorkshire, claimed to be a woman with two daughters aged 12 and 14 in order to be accepted as a member of a nudist website which encouraged child abuse.

Garner-Harris, 37, was investigated by Durham Police and pleaded guilty at Durham Crown Court to 20 offences.

His case was transferred to Portsmouth Crown Court where he was sentenced by Judge Roger Hetherington who heard a trial involving other members of the ring which abused two young children.

Garner-Harris was yesterday jailed for four years for three charges of inciting a child sex offence and four months for each of 17 counts relating to indecent photographs of children. The sentences are to run concurrently.

The court was told that Garner- Harris, who appeared by videolink, was involved in internet chat with ringleader Robert Hathaway during which he encouraged the Portsmouth-based offender to abuse the two young children.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, told the court that Garner-Harris used computers at his parents home in Chester-le-Street, and also at Marrick Priory, to carry out the explicit chat and to look at indecent images.

She said: Like others involved, he used the guise of being interested in nudism to keep in contact with people who had similar sexual interest in children. This quickly turned to sexually explicit conversations about children.

Garner-Harris told police he had been acting out a fantasy and had not intended to hurt anyone, added Ms Maylin.

Amanda Rippon, defending, said: He is a man who has devastated his good character.

He was extremely well thought of, not only in his community but in his church.

His family has been absolutely devastated by this and he is acutely aware of the misery he has heaped on their heads.

Sentencing Garner-Harris, Judge Hetherington said: I accept that Robert Hathaway needed no specific encouragement from you to commit these sort of offences, but your part in fuelling his offending in these chats was, along with others, an important contribution towards the abuse of these two young children.

The managment board at Marrick Priory said the manager was suspended as soon as they became aware of the allegations. He later resigned.

A spokesman added: We would like to assure schools and youth groups that Marrick continues to operate as normal with our large and dedicated staff teams which conform with best practice and national safeguarding guidelines.

Description

A CHILD abuser who committed a series of offences against two girls more than three decades ago has been jailed for five years.

Leeds man Robert Glendinning was jailed at Bradford Crown Court yesterday after a judge heard details of his repeated abuse of the children in the late 1970s.

Glendinning, of Dorset Terrace, Leeds, admitted charges of indecent assault and indecency with a child.

He also pleaded guilty to attempting to rape one of the girls.

The victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, are understood to live in the Huddersfield area.

The 52-year-old confessed to his offending during discussions with his lawyers and the court heard that in 1993 he was also jailed for six-month for an unrelated offence of indecent assault against another girl.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall, QC, said the victim impact statements provided by the two complainants emphasised the dreadful, traumatic and ever-present shadow the offences had cast over their lives.

The judge said it was to their credit that they had found the courage to go to the police.

Glendinning was arrested early this year and his barrister Neil Clark said despite not having all the evidence against him the defendant had been insistent on pleading guilty.

Mr Clark asked the judge to take account of the fact that Glendinning had not committed any further offences for 18 years and he described his client as essentially a loner who lived in rented accommodation.

Judge Durham Hall made Glendinning the subject of an indefinite sexual offences prevention order which includes a ban on having any contact with the complainants.

Glendinning will also have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life following his release from prison.

Det Con Emma Summerscales, from West Yorkshire Polices Child and Public Protection Unit, said: We welcome the sentence given to Glenddining by the court, and his conviction again demonstrates that even if an offence has taken place many years previously we will always work to bring offences to justice.

We also hope that Glendinnings conviction will bring some comfort to his victims.

Description

A rapist who had evaded justice for more than 25 years was finally jailed yesterday after a local newspaper reporter uncovered vital evidence to crack the case.

Financial adviser Kevin Moloney, 44, went on trial last year for the sickening rape of a 69-year-old woman in her home in 1985.

He had been arrested after new DNA evidence came to light from a ‘cold case’ review by police, but he walked free when the jury couldn’t agree on a verdict.

The victim died nine years ago and Moloney, a divorced father-of-two who was 19 at the time, claimed she consented to sex.

But Nicky Harley, a reporter with the Hull Daily Mail, investigated the case and achieved what the prosecution had failed to do by exposing the defendant’s story as a lie.

Humberside Police had lost vital crime scene photographs and when Mrs Harley tracked down the retired superintendent who originally led the inquiry she discovered he had kept copies of his own.

A photograph of the smashed back door supported the victim’s original account that he had forced his way inside. Moloney claimed the elderly widow consented to sex on the sofa after they had a drink together.

However, a picture of newspapers and rubbish piled up on the sofa indicated the reclusive victim’s version that she was raped in the hallway was more believable.
Moloney was due to have a retrial at Hull Crown Court, but faced with the additional evidence he pleaded guilty to rape and was jailed for four years.

Mrs Harley was praised by the judge and given the High Sheriff’s Award in recognition of her vital role in the case.

Judge Michael Mettyear said he was ‘quite sure’ that the journalist’s conscientious work in uncovering fresh evidence led to the defendant pleading guilty. He said :’He knew he had nowhere else to turn.’

Adding: ’I praise her without criticism of the officers investigating the offence. They were not to know the superintendent had evidence that could help the case.’

Mother-of-two Mrs Harley, 32, was in court and cried when she heard she was being honoured with an award. She said later: 'Every journalist hopes to make a difference in the work they do and I am pleased I was able to do that.’

Commenting on finding the vital photos, she said: 'I knew the jury were asking if there were any pictures of the scene and they were told that there weren't because they had been destroyed over time.'

She arranged to interview retired Detective Superintendent Barry Lilley for a background article about the case and was astonished with the results.

‘I told him about the situation with photographs and said he should have copies of his own. He told me he needed to check in his loft and then he called me back a couple of hours later to tell me he’d found them.’

Mr Lilley said he routinely kept his own copies of crime scene photos. 

He said: 'I'm pleased these photos have now formed the backbone of the prosecution evidence, which finally brought a guilty plea to this despicable, serious crime.'

After escaping justice as a teenager the rapist went on to marry and have a family. He was tracked down when DNA taken for a minor cannabis offence in 2009 was matched to scientific evidence from the rape by a ‘cold case’ review team.

Commenting on the case, the head of Humberside’s Major Incident Team, Detective Superintendent Dena Fleming, said it was a ‘tragedy’ the victim had died not knowing her attacker would be brought to justice, adding: 'Her family will hopefully take some comfort from the fact that justice has finally been done. My sympathy and that of my team goes out to them.'

DS Fleming promised to continue to investigate other unsolved sex attacks, but made no mention of the reporter’s role in cracking the case in her statement.

Description

A CHURCH caretaker who abused children as young as seven has been jailed - more than 25 years after his crimes.

Over a 16-year-period, Michael Adamson molested four girls in the congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - including two in the church's boiler room.

He abused a third in her home when he came around to tune her piano while she was off school ill.

When he stopped, he "gave her a look as if to say Don't say anything or you are dead'," said prosecutor Dr Tina Dempster.

York Crown Court also heard how elders at the church knew of Adamson's crimes as long ago as 1998 and allowed him to continue worshipping there.

Adamson, of Thornwood Covert, off Foxwood Lane, York, who also played the church organ, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault committed between 1966 and 1982. Judge Stephen Ashurst told Adamson: "You have enjoyed your liberty and you have held on to your position of apparent respectability in the wider community and in your religious community," Adamson now faces excommunication from the church.

Child abuser is put behind bars

A PAEDOPHILE jailed for sexually attacking youngsters at his church now faces excommunication, York Crown Court heard.

Elders of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints knew about organist and caretaker Michael John Adamson's crimes a decade ago and allowed him to continue worshipping there after a three-week suspension, said Tina Dempster, prosecuting.

He had abused four girls aged seven to 15 during a 16 year period, including molesting two of them in the boiler-room of the church's Acomb chapel. All four belonged to families in its congregation.

He abused a third when he visited her home to tune the piano and she was off school with illness. When he stopped he "gave her a look as if to say Don't say anything or you are dead'," said Dr Dempster.

But though all four kept silent for years, they finally spoke out and Adamson admitted his crimes 26 years after they stopped.

His barrister, Geraldine Kelly, said he will now appear before a church court where "there is every likelihood he will be excommunicated".

"He looks to his family and the church for support and understanding; he looks to his victims for forgiveness," she said.

Calling him a hypocrite, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, jailed Adamson, 63, of Thornwood Covert, off Foxwood Lane, for six years.

"You have enjoyed your liberty and you have held onto your position of apparent respectability in the wider community and in your religious community," he said. He added that Adamson had betrayed the trust of the girls' parents, who were church members, and had a lasting effect on all four girls, now women.

Adamson pleaded guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault committed between 1966 and 1982.

In addition to the jail term, the judge restricted his activities for the rest of his life under a sexual offences prevention order, banned him from ever working with children again and put him on the sex offenders' register for life.

Speaking of the suspension in 1998, Miss Kelly said: "Coming before the church and being dealt with by the church elders at that stage of his life was a real punishment. It was shame and disgrace."

The church was a major part of his life, and he had had to prove himself with other church members after the suspension, a process that took three to four years. After police became involved earlier this year, he was again regularly interviewed by church members.

He had not committed any crimes in the last 26 years and had spared his victims the ordeal of giving evidence by pleading guilty.