Latest Offenders York

Description

A child sex offender has been jailed after pleading guilty to 14 offences committed against three child victims between 2001 and 2019.

Stuart Alexander, 56, was sentenced to 11-and-a-half years in prison at Bradford Crown Court yesterday (Monday, December 12). He pleaded guilty to 14 non-recent indecent assault offences against three child victims.

Alexander, previously from Elland, was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). An investigation into the offences began back in August 2019 and was conducted by Calderdale child safeguarding detectives when a report was made relating to one of the child victims.

The investigation into the offences was led by DC Katy Wilson of the Calderdale District Safeguarding Unit, who praised the bravery of the victims. In an official statement released by West Yorkshire Police, DC Wilson said: "Stuart Alexander abused the trust of these children who were in no position to defend themselves in the most abhorrent way, and the sentence he received reflects the seriousness of his actions.

"I want to praise the bravery of his victims who wanted to see justice done and who have supported our prosecution throughout. I hope they can have some sense of closure from seeing Alexander answer for his crimes and receive a significant custodial sentence.

“We would encourage any victims of unreported sexual offences in Calderdale District, whether recent or historic, to contact the police. I can promise victims that all reports with be thoroughly and sensitively investigated by specially trained officers."

Description

A 50-YEAR-OLD man has been jailed for two years and nine months for offering drugs and money to a teenage schoolboy in return for sexual activity.

Martin Brett was abusing cocaine and alcohol when he sent a series of messages to the child with the clear intention of abusing him, Bradford Crown Court heard today.

Brett, of Rye Street, Keighley, made some attempt to dispose of evidence on his phone when the police were alerted by the concerned mother of another boy.

He made no comment when questioned by the police but went on to plead guilty to causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication with the same boy.

Prosecutor Jayne Beckett told the court that Brett began messaging the child on Facebook. At first it was just general chat but then the boy began to find some of the messages ‘weird.’ He had told the defendant his age and did not respond when he began asking him questions about his penis.

When the mother of a friend found out what was going on, the police were contacted.

Brett’s barrister, Abigail Langford, said the offences were some time ago and there was a long delay in bringing the case to court.

She said Brett had a degree of understanding and remorse. He had problems with his mental health and had been using alcohol and cocaine at the time.

There was no actual sexual contact with the boy and Brett had no previous convictions for sexual offences.

But Recorder David Gordon said it was clearly Brett’s intention to engage in sexual activity with the boy.

There was grooming behaviour and the offer of cannabis and money. Another aggravating feature was the disparity of age between Brett and the teenager. He had also made some attempt to dispose of evidence on his phone.

Recorder Gordon said the matter was reported to the police by the concerned mother who had heard what was going on. That had put a stop to things.

Although Brett had difficulties with depression and anxiety, the doctor’s report did not state that he was suffering from any psychiatric illness. He had abused cocaine and other substances in the past.

Brett was made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he must sign on the sex offender register, also indefinitely.

Description

A paedophile who called himself Captain Filth has been spared prison after downloading over a thousand sickening images of children.

Andrew Wells, 59, from Harrogate, downloaded and viewed images of children as young as two years of age, York Crown Court heard.

Barrister Harry Crowson, for the prosecution, said police swooped on Wellss home on April 13 after receiving intelligence about illegal activities on his computer devices.

Wells, of Rutland Road, was at work at the time where he was subsequently arrested. He handed over his mobile phone to police who seized several more electronic devices from Wellss home including an iPad, desktop computer, a memory card and hard drive on which they found 1,413 indecent images of children.

Of those repugnant images, 173 were rated Category A the worst kind of such material.

Mr Crowson said Wells had been downloading the depraved material for at least five years, between August 2015 and 2020.

On the iPad, police found the KIK app on which Wells had communicated with other paedophiles. His username on the app was Captain Filth. The messenger app was linked to an email account entitled No Good Boy.

Police found multiple conversations Wells had had with others which involved fantasy of the most vivid sort which was too heinous to be articulated in court.

It appears that the KIK chats (involved) him and another egging one another on and gaining sexual satisfaction from their conversations, added Mr Crowson.

Wells told his equally depraved interlocutor that he had pictures he could share with him at another time.

When the other man told him he would like pictures of 16-year-olds, Wells told him that 16 (was) a bit old for me.

During the debauched online chats, Wells, who told the man he was living in the Netherlands, sent what appeared to be one single indecent image, accompanied by unprintable remarks about the child in question, but the prosecution said that many other images may have been deleted.

There were further chilling conversations with others on Skype in which Wells and his interlocutors appeared to come to a mutual agreement that they would delete the spicier photos.

Mr Crowson said there was an incalculable number of other images that were deleted and couldnt be recovered in the Skype chat logs as Wells and the others had tried to cover each others tracks.

Wells had used encrypted-chat and cleaning software, as well as two private-network apps, to hide or delete the depraved material.

The private-network apps hid the identity and location of the user visiting the illicit sites, hence Wellss claim that he was from Holland.

Tech-savvy Wells also used an app designed to hide user passwords on external hard drives, enabling the user to upload images and then lock them, so nobody (else) could gain access.

However, Mr Crowson said police had the technical tools to break through this lock.

Wells appeared for sentence on Thursday, December 8 after admitting three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of distributing an indecent image.

Defence barrister Sean Smith said Wells had spectacularly lost his good character but claimed his offending over the five years had been sporadic rather than persistent.

Since his arrest, he had completed a rehabilitation programme voluntarily and references from his employer spoke of how he was valued within the work community and the good he did for others in that business.

Judge Sean Morris said it would have been easy to sentence Wells with anger (and) emotion after reading the sickening online chats, but this had to be tempered with the fact that Wells had only been charged with distributing one indecent image.

He noted that, after having sunk to this, Wells had taken steps to address his deplorable behaviour and helped to care for his elderly mother, which meant he could suspend the inevitable jail sentence.

Wells was given a 16-month suspended prison sentence and placed on the sex-offenders register for 10 years.

He was ordered to complete 300 hours of unpaid work and 40 rehabilitation-activity days. He was also made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order to curb his online activities.

Description

A convicted sex offender was caught deleting his internet history on his mobile phone within hours of getting it back from police.

Serial offender Ronald Harcourt was jailed in 2019 for more than two years after he was caught with a tablet computer hidden in a wash house.

He had been given an extended ten-year sentence in 2014 after it was revealed he was part of a worldwide ring exchanging child abuse images.

Harcourt, who shared indecent images with other paedophiles, had a collection of almost 4,000 images on his phone.

As a result of his latest offence, the 60-year-old, who was recalled on licence following his arrest, was sentenced to another eight months in prison.

Nigel Soppitt, prosecuting, said the defendant had deleted the browser history on his mobile phone shortly after getting it back.

Harcourt, of Raithwaite House, Helmsley Drive, Guisborough, pleaded guilty to breaching his sexual harm prevention order following his arrest on May 5 last year.

Simon Walker, mitigating, told the court that it could not be ascertained what he had deleted but reminded the judge of the short period of time his client had been in possession of his mobile phone.

Judge Jonathan Carroll said: “Having deleted your search history on the same day you received it back there was very little time for you to have committed any further offending.

“It still leaves the question what it was that you were so keen to erase.”

Description

Far-right extremist Simon Sheppard had previously denied the Holocaust happened.

A notorious far-right extremist who made sick jokes about Jews being exterminated during the "Holohoax" set himself up as an eccentric "mad scientist" in a cynical bid to entice girls into having sex for a so-called "sexperiment".

Simon Sheppard pretended to be a psychologist when he approached girls in Bridlington and gave them a card inviting them to take part in the bizarre bogus sexual experiment. The 65-year-old, who has strong links to Hull, has now been jailed for three years and nine months.

Sheppard, of Promenade, Bridlington, had been convicted by a jury on February 18 after a trial at Hull Crown Court of eight offences involving attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and inciting the sexual exploitation of children in Bridlington.

Recorder Tahir Khan KC told a sentencing hearing at Bradford Crown Court that a 21-year-old woman went with a friend to Bridlington on July 17 last year. Sheppard approached them, made conversation and asked them how they were and if they wanted to go on an adventure.

"You were claiming to be a scientist who had degrees and was conducting an experiment," said Recorder Khan. "You were saying you were accredited."

They declined the offer of going for a walk and having a drink. "He was holding himself out to be a psychologist," added Recorder Khan.

Three weeks later, on August 12 last year, two 15-year-old twin girls were at Bridlington pier when Sheppard approached them and handed them a card and encouraged them to go with him. "The girls were confused and thought that the invitation that you were extending was creepy and they began to leave," said Recorder Khan. "You got up and started to follow them. They ran and later told their mother what had happened."

On August 21 last year, two girls were at the fairground at Bridlington pier when Sheppard - "wearing a suit" - handed one of them a card, which she took. "You disappeared quickly from the direction you had come," said Recorder Khan. "You were encouraging these young girls to participate in a so-called experiment but they had the good sense not to."

On August 31 last year, Sheppard approached two 14-year-old girls who were sitting on a wall eating ice creams and "came very close to them" before handing them cards. He told them: "Just read it." The invitation was for them to have sex for £150. The police became involved and investigated Sheppard's activities.

"You persisted in claiming that you were a psychology expert and you weren't doing anything wrong," said Recorder Khan. "The police found no evidence that you were, or are, a psychologist, nor could they find any scientific publication connected to you on a website. You were passing yourself off as a scientist.

"You passed yourself off as a scientist and approached girls in the hope that they would participate in penetrative sexual activity in exchange for money. You blamed the victims for what happened."

Gareth Henderson-Moore, mitigating, said that there was no evidence that Sheppard had a specific interest in children and he has no previous convictions for sexual offences. "There were no images recovered from any device," said Mr Henderson-Moore.

"There have been no previous markers of any kind to indicate concerns about children and he says that he does not have any interest in children. He has been rather broad in the people that he has targeted in this enterprise and there are statements from adults also who were targeted in the same way.

"The offending has arisen as a result of his wilful disregard for the age of the persons he approached rather than a particular targeted interest in minors."

The offences were very unpleasant. Sheppard had vulnerabilities and had a marginalised childhood and adolescence. "He considers himself to something of a mad scientist and it is perhaps that which has led him into trouble on more than one occasion," said Mr Henderson-Moore.

"He has spent a considerable amount of time on remand. He was convicted in February and has waited in excess of nine months to know his fate. That has been nine months of anxiety. He continues to be vulnerable in a custodial environment and reports that he has difficulties with other prisoners."

In addition to his jail sentence, Sheppard was given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender for life.

History of racism and Holocaust denial

Sheppard had been jailed for nine months at York Crown Court in June 2018 after being convicted by a jury of using racially aggravated words to a Sky engineer. He had "barracked" the man while he was working on a satellite dish at a neighbour's flat in June 2017.

Sheppard, then living in Selby, was also given a five-year criminal behaviour order. He had told the court that he was not happy that a black man had been given a flat in his block of flats and denied intending the neighbour to overhear racist abuse. It had been claimed that Sheppard regularly used a racist word when he saw the neighbour.

In 2008, Sheppard claimed asylum in the United States under freedom of speech laws after failing to turn up at court towards the end of a seven-week trial at Leeds Crown Court, where he was accused of publishing racially aggravated material. He was convicted in his absence of a series of charges relating to possessing, publishing and distributing racially inflammatory material.

He failed in his asylum application and was deported back to this country after being detained at a Los Angeles airport. He was later jailed for four years and 10 months but the sentence was eventually cut by a year after an appeal.

The material was anti-Semitic and racist, with what police described as "despicable references to the Holocaust". Police said at the time: "You have to remember that there are people in our community who lived through the Holocaust. They don't deserve to have their experiences treated in this way."

Sheppard claimed that he was not breaking the law because he used an internet server that was based in the United States, but a judge ruled that the prosecution could go ahead. Sheppard claimed that he was being persecuted because of his right-wing views.

The police investigation began after a complaint in 2004 about a leaflet called "Tales of the Holohoax", which had been pushed through the door of a synagogue in Blackpool. It was traced back to a post office box in Hull registered to Sheppard. One leaflet found by police suggested that the Auschwitz concentration camp was a holiday camp provided by the Nazis and that Jews from all over Europe went there to enjoy a free holiday.

In 2000, a trial at Hull Crown Court was told that Sheppard, then aged 43 and living in Westbourne Avenue, west Hull, had claimed that there was "nothing wrong with being racist". He had been found with election leaflets parodying the deaths of the Jews in the Holocaust.

The police were called in after complaints from members of the public. He declined to offer pleas and not guilty pleas were entered on his behalf.

Sheppard and a youth delivered the two-sided leaflets to homes in the Avenues area of Hull ahead of the European elections. There was reference to the "country being spoiled by millions of immigrants from the Third World" and he suggested that white people, black people, Asian people and Jewish people should be segregated by "selective breeding".

Sheppard had been found with 153 leaflets. The youth had another 248. The prosecution told the court: "He told the police there was nothing wrong with being racist and he was campaigning on behalf of the British National Party."

He was convicted by the jury of publishing and possessing threatening, abusive or insulting leaflets.

Description

John Forsyth from Heckmondwike was sentenced to 26 years at Leeds Crown Court today (Nov 24), for six sexual offences, including rape, committed against two young boys between 2005 and 2006.

The 53-year-old, who was already a registered sex offender, was jailed for two offences of raping a child under 13, two offences of sexual activity with a child under 13, attempted rape and sexual assault.

The offences were committed against two victims in West Yorkshire.

They came to light in early 2020 when both victims separately approached police over a two month period to advise of the abuse they had suffered.

A full investigation was launched by the Kirklees Child Safeguarding Unit, resulting in Forsyth later being arrested and charged.

Forsyth was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court on Monday, September 26, following a trial and will have to serve two thirds of his sentence before he can apply for parole.

DC Amy Green, of Kirklees Police, who led the investigation, said: “John Forsyth clearly poses a significant danger to young children and we welcome the strong sentence handed down by the court today.

“The appalling offences he committed against his then young victims has affected them both deeply throughout their lives and starkly illustrates the dreadful impact this awful offending has.

“Both myself and prosecution barrister Kitty Colley would personally like to thank them both for reporting this. It has taken a lot of courage to disclose such horrific abuse, and we recognise that men can find it very difficult to report being victims of offences of this nature.

“At times it was uncomfortable for them, particularly given a lengthy court process affected by Covid-19, and they both just wanted justice and closure. We have that now."

She added: “Forsyth’s conviction, and that of other sex offenders for non-recent crimes, again illustrates that the passage of time is no barrier to justice.

“We continue to urge all victims of unreported sexual assault to come forwards, no matter when the offending took place. We will always listen and do all we can to investigate, provide support, and seek justice for you.”

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He is an East Yorkshire farmer who presented himself as a charitable fundraiser who made regular trips to Nepal to help impoverished communities.

A pillar of his community, Ian Banks raised thousands of pounds to help build a hospital in the Himalayas and regularly took gifts from locals, including on one trip 100 knitted teddies, for Nepalese children.

But this week Banks has been exposed as a sex offender who used his connections in Nepal to become involved in child sexual exploitation. At Hull Crown Court, he admitted charges connected to the sexual abuse of children.

The court heard Banks had initially been arrested in 2019 and it was suspected at the time that he had been involved in "significantly more serious" matters, but these were not pursued against him.

But on the day he was due to face trial on lesser charges this week, Banks admitted sexual abuse charges relating to his activities in Nepal. One of the charges involved the abuse of babies and toddlers.

Although he was not involved in the actual sexual abuse of "incredibly small children" by his activities, he was still helping to fuel the sick trade, the court heard.

Retired farmer Banks, of Dunnington, near Driffield, also admitted attempting to cause or incite the sexual exploitation of a 17-year-old boy in May 2014 by asking him to be involved in pornography through sending an indecent image of his body.

He also admitted two offences of making an indecent image of a child, one in the most serious Category A and the other in Category C, on March 5, 2019. Banks had pleaded guilty on the day of a scheduled trial before magistrates.

James Holding, prosecuting, said that Banks had regularly visited Nepal and had a number of Nepalese business cards. He was arrested at his home on March 5, 2019 and his phone was searched. He was taken into police custody but made no comment.

Chat logs were found on Facebook in which he had asked for naked pictures to be sent to him. He had said that it would be "totally their secret". He was sent a Category A image.

There was a further chat and a Category C image was sent. The activities of Banks had caused the sexual exploitation of a child, said Mr Holding. Pictures of children aged one, two and three years old were involved but Banks seemed to think that they were, in his word, "funny".

Ian Phillip, mitigating, said that Banks was arrested in 2019 and it was suspected at the time that he had been involved in other "significantly more serious" matters, but these were not pursued against him.

The images were recovered from numerous chat logs. "It was not suggested that he had been seeking out these images online," said Mr Phillip. "Nevertheless, he was sent them. They are at the less serious end of the scale of offences that appear at this court."

Banks had been on bail for 13 months, with a curfew. He was of previous good character and had been assessed as being at a low risk of re-offending. "There is no suggestion that, since his arrest in 2019, there have been any concerns whatever," said Mr Phillip.

Judge Sophie McKone told Banks: "These are very young children but they are not contact offences."

A 17-year-old boy was involved in the attempted sexual exploitation offence and "incredibly small children" were featured in the indecent images offences.

"I accept that you didn't ask for these images but you kept them," said Judge McKone. "You asked for indecent photos of somebody who was 17 and that's illegal. That person was a child and that should not have happened.

"The courts do take very seriously the possession of indecent images of children. There may be only three images but the children are real children and they are actually being abused. Although you have not touched a child yourself, you do contribute to the abuse of children in some way by retaining those images."

Judge McKone said there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in his case. Banks was given a 10-month suspended prison sentence, 30 days' rehabilitation and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order. He must register as a sex offender for 10 years. A computer will be forfeited.

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 A “PREDATORY” online sex offender is back behind bars because he evaded police checks while on parole.

Adam Matthew William Lee, now 32, was jailed for two years in March 2021 after he used social media to try to persuade people he believed were schoolgirls aged 13 and 14 to perform sexual acts online. They were actually adults and told police about him.

As part of the sentence at York Crown Court, he was made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) that enables police to monitor his online activities.

Recorder Andrew Dallas told Lee after hearing details of his crimes: “It shows you were behaving in a way that was predatory.”

York Magistrates Court heard that following his release partway through the sentence, he bought an internet device which he concealed from supervising officers.

Lee, of Burnsall Drive, Holgate, pleaded guilty to breaching the SHPO between September 20 and October 7 this year.

He was jailed for 34 weeks. Magistrates told him his new offence was very serious because he had been on prison licence at the time and it was a breach of a court order.

In addition to the prison term, Lee was ordered to pay a £187 statutory surcharge and £85 prosecution costs. He remains subject to the SHPO until March 2031. 

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Jordan Leigh Courtney was previously found guilty of making and distributing indecent images in 2016.

A Yorkshire sex offender has been jailed for the possession and distribution of indecent images of children.

Jordan Leigh Courtney, from Skipton, was sentenced to four years in prison with an extended licence of two years at York Crown Court. He also breached a sexual harm prevention order, and has now been made subject to an indefinite one.

Courtney, 25, was found guilty in 2016 of making and distributing indecent images of children. He was stopped from possessing any device that accessed the internet after that.

After that Courtney had to register weekly at a police station so the police could monitor his whereabouts. When he attended an offender management meeting in April 2022, it was found Courtney had deleted data from his phone.

The phone was seized and analysed by North Yorkshire Police - they found many indecent images of children. Some of these were classed as extreme category A images.

Because he breached his sexual harm prevention order, Courtney was sent back to prison in June 2022.

Police searched Courtney's former address on Cawder Road and another undeclared phone he had while he was in prison. Video footage and more disturbing category A images were found and as soon as Courtney was released from prison he was arrested again.

He pleaded guilty to four charges of breaching his sexual harm prevention order, six charges of making indecent images of children, four charges of possessing prohibited and extreme images and two charges of distributing category A images.

Detective Constable Tom Sutcliffe from the force’s Online Abuse and Exploitation said: “Courtney showed utter disregard for the restrictions placed upon him by being in possession of these images. He has repeated ignored the courts and has gone on to amass and share the most disturbing content. Those who obtain and distribute child abuse material directly contribute to the sexual exploitation of children, because the children involved are continually re-victimised every time the images are viewed.

“Thanks to the expertise of North Yorkshire Police’s Digital Forensic Unit and the dedication of the investigating officers, Courtney could not deny the charges put against him, and the evidence they uncovered has put him where he deserves to be - behind bars.

“This sentence should send a clear message that we can and will track down anyone involved in downloading or distributing indecent images of children and will use our expertise to uncover the digital evidence that will lead to a conviction.

“We are currently working with agencies around the world to attempt to identify and safeguard the children in the images that Courtney had gathered and shared.”

Description

A drunken and aggressive sex pest forced himself on a shocked 17-year-old girl and made "unwanted sexual advances" to her - including leaving a blood-stained palm print on her T-shirt after he smashed a bottle of wine.

Heavy drinker Ashley Wilcock turned nasty when the girl asked him to stop what he was doing and he kissed her and intimately touched her during a frightening and "unsavoury" confrontation lasting 30 to 45 minutes. He seemed to have a "problem with women" and broke the wrist of a woman after becoming involved in a later fight between two women, Hull Crown Court heard.

Wilcock, 25, from Goole, admitted sexually assaulting the girl on June 13, 2018. A charge of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence was dropped.

Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, said that Wilcock sent a text message to the girl saying that he would be passing her home in Goole and asking her if she wanted to share a cigarette with him. He had been drinking and he went into her home. He was "coming on" to her and she asked him to leave but he became argumentative and challenged her.

In his aggressive state, Wilcock smashed a bottle of wine and cut his hand after picking up pieces of broken glass. He tried to kiss the girl on her neck, leaving a mark, and touched the top of her thighs and her chest over her clothes, leaving a blood-stained hand print on her T-shirt.

The incident lasted 30 to 45 minutes. "She kept asking the defendant to leave and that he should stop making advances towards her," said Mr Evans.

"The defendant would follow her, refusing to leave the property and coming back in. She attempted to use her mobile phone to contact the police. The defendant took it from her and threw it on a nearby chair.

"The defendant eventually left by climbing over a rear garden and leaving the property. This was clearly a prolonged and sustained incident." Wilcock went to the girl's workplace the next day and apologised.

Wilcock has, since the incident, been convicted of assaulting a policeman, causing criminal damage to a girlfriend's light and, in November 2019, a violence offence involving breaking the wrist of a woman after getting involved in a fight involving two women.

Nick Peacock, mitigating, said: "It was an unsavoury incident, no doubt about it, very unsavoury. He fully accepts it. This all happened four years ago now.

"It happened at a time when this young man clearly had a problem with alcohol, although he appears to be dealing with it now. Alcohol was the problem and, if he can deal with that, there will be no issues.

"He has cut down greatly. He barely drinks and he barely goes out." Wilcock's girlfriend was due to have a baby shortly and he had been working for two years.

Judge Mark Bury told Wilcock: "You made unwanted sexual advances to her. You were not just making advances, you were aggressive and you were drunk. She tried for three-quarters of an hour to avoid you by going out into the garden.

"In your favour, you did try to apologise the next day when you had sobered up." The incident and some of Wilcock's later convictions seemed to show that he "may have a problem with women".

Wilcock, recently of Margaret Road, Fairfield, Barnsley, was given a one-year suspended prison sentence, a sex offender programme, 55 days' rehabilitation and an alcohol abstinence requirement. He was ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

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Tom Lundgren also had extreme animal pornography and other indecent images, court hears.

A man who secretly filmed people in bathrooms on hidden cameras has been jailed.

Tom Lundgren, 24, was also found to have more than 7,500 indecent images and dozens of extreme pornographic pictures on his electronic devices.

He was jailed for 18 months at Leeds Crown Court on Friday after admitting a string of offences.

Police officers found the indecent images on his devices when they went to his home in Gomersal, West Yorks., in May 2020.

Among them were 1,855 pictures in the most serious category as well as images of victims he had recorded using devices hidden in bathrooms.

There were also 1,507 category B images and 4,461 category C images as well as 35 extreme pornography images, West Yorkshire Police said.

The force said said it had “worked hard” to track down the people Lundgren had recorded without consent.

He pleaded guilty to charges including making indecent pictures of a child, possessing an extreme pornographic image involving an animal, and eight charges of voyeurism.

He has been jailed for 18 months and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Speaking after sentencing, PC Simon Meakin of West Yorkshire Police, said: “On seizing his devices, we found over 1,800 of the most serious category A images as well as images of victims he had recorded for his own gratification using hidden recording devices.

“Any act of voyeurism represents the most appalling invasion of a person’s privacy, and we have worked hard to locate victims of these offences.”

Description

A woman sobbed as a court was told how she had taken videos of herself performing sex acts next to a child and shared them in a group chat set up for sick perverts.

Sitting in the docks of Hull Crown Court, wearing a black trouser suit with restraints attached, Sonia Chivers, 29, began crying as the prosecuting barrister listed details of her 'perverted' child sexual abuse offences. In the public gallery a 'support network' of family members, including her mother, were in attendance.

Along with the videos, she also took an indecent image of the child and shared it online. While she claimed she received no sexual gratification from sharing the content, she said she 'liked the attention' she got from other users on a platform called Kik where child abuse was being discussed.

She pleaded guilty to making and distributing 1 Category B video, making another Category B video, making and distributing 1 Category C image and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. Richard Butters, prosecuting, told the court on January 16, 2020, an undercover police officer joined a Kik group chat where users discussed sexual abuse against children between the ages of zero and four. The officer engaged in a chat with the defendant.

She messaged that she was 'feeling horny' and said she might call the child into the room. She continued to describe sick things she wanted the child to do to her and claimed the child 'knew what to do as routine'.

She added she would film the acts next time. On December 5, 2020, Chivers was arrested, two videos and an image were recovered from her phone.

In one of the videos, Chivers was committing a sex act as a child's TV programme could be heard in the background, towards the end of the video, a child's head can be seen on video. In the other video, Chivers can be heard speaking to the child as she committed a sex act, Mr Butters told the court.

In the Category C image that was created and distributed, the child's head was cropped out but part of their genitalia was exposed. When Chivers was arrested, she admitted to the offences and said she felt disgusted by herself after she had taken the videos.

She has no previous convictions. Chiver's defence barrister, Richard Thompson, told the court it was impossible to mitigate why anyone who came from a loving family would go on to commit such criminal offences as Chivers did.

He said Chivers was experiencing loneliness and therefore engaged in attention-seeking behaviour. He added that she did face up to what she has done.

Mr Thompson reiterated that Chivers had no previous convictions, after the incident, she was released on bail and did not re-offend. She knew this day would come and tried her hardest to live her life.

She had a supportive family and found employment. He claimed she had a strong support network to help her, some of whom were with her in court.

Judge Sophie McKone told Chivers what she has done was gross, sickening and perverted. She said Chivers received sexual pleasure from knowing the child was watching and even encouraged the child to watch.

Judge McKone accepts Chivers, of Driffield, was emotionally isolated at the time of the offences, while it may explain it, it does not excuse it. She sentenced Chivers to 40 months in prison, she is also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and has been placed on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely.

After her prison sentence was read out, Chivers was taken away from the docks, but her loud weeping could continue to be heard in the courtroom from a distant room for minutes after she left.

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A hypnotherapist has been jailed for more than two years after forcing a woman to engage in sexual activity while she was ‘under his spell’.

Ian Roper, 58, ‘commanded’ his victim to remove her clothing while making her think she was sitting on a hot sun bed and rubbing sun cream on her body, Bradford Crown Court heard.

When the woman woke up, Roper attempted to ‘put her under again’ so she wouldn’t know what had happened to her.

He pleaded guilty at the trial despite initially claiming the allegations were false to the police and he was handed a 29 month sentence by the judge.

Officers also found five indecent images of children and one prohibited image of a child on Roper’s laptop.

He pleaded guilty to the possession of indecent images.

Recorder David Gordon told Roper his interests had been motivated by ‘selfish and sexual’ desires.

The judge also said Roper would have to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years and enforced a restraining order against him.

Recorder Gordon further imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, which includes a ban on Roper working as a hypnotherapist.

Addressing Roper, he told him his offending was a very clear breach of trust and said he had engaged in a sustained assault on a complainant who had been vulnerable.

He said: ‘It is clear from her victim impact statement that she has suffered no serious physical injury, but she has suffered severe psychological harm.’

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A ROOFER who sexually attacked a woman in her own home when he visited her has been jailed.

Ryan Cameron, 26, pretended he had called for a taxi when the woman asked him to leave, said Andrew Espley, prosecuting.

But he was lying and he then sexually assaulted her, pulling her to her bedroom during it.

When she repeatedly protested, telling him "no" and to go home, he replied: "Ssh, you know you want it".

Afterwards, he accused the woman of lying until she attended a courthouse to give evidence in a courthouse against him, York Crown Court heard.

"This young woman trusted you to come into her home. That was an invitation but it was limited," Judge Simon Hickey told Cameron.

Cameron had attacked her in her own bedroom where "any woman must be entitled to feel safe".

"It can only be an immediate custodial sentence."

He jailed Cameron for 27 months and made him subject to a restraining order banning him from contacting the woman indefinitely.

Cameron will also have to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

The woman told York Crown Court that Cameron had made life difficult for her since the sexual assault which she was still coming to terms with.

She believed he was punishing her for telling police about what he had done.

"He has turned my life upside down and made it complete chaos," she said in a victim impact statement.

She had been prescribed anti-depressants and was having counselling.

Cameron had initially denied sexually assaulting her and had made out she was a liar until she went to court to pre-record her evidence and be cross-examined by his barrister, said the woman's statement.

It is common now for complainants in sexual cases to pre-record their evidence and be cross-examined by the defendant's barrister on video. The video is then shown to the jury in the defendant's trial, which may be many months later.

Mr Espley said Cameron had not visited the woman for several months before the evening when he sexually assaulted her.

At the end of the evening, she asked him to leave so she could go to bed.

He claimed he had ordered a taxi and was waiting for it, but turned on a film and settled down on the settee.

He then began the sexual assault, during which he had used force on her.

Afterwards, he had rolled himself a cigarette and really called a taxi, which had arrived quickly.

Defence solicitor advocate Graham Parkin said Cameron apologised for his actions and their impact.

He had not been convicted of any offence before or afterwards. His parents were standing by him.

The judge said the offence was out of character but there was little chance that Cameron would be rehabilitated until he recognised what he had done.

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A serial sex offender has been jailed for over three years for sexually assaulting an infant girl after “luring” her into an enclosed space.

Kenneth Stephen Fowler, 64, a drifter and heavily convicted paedophile from Knaresborough, assaulted and then performed a lewd act in front of the youngster, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Richard Herrmann said that Fowler had over 100 previous criminal convictions, of which 18 were child-sex offences.

Fowler’s last such conviction was almost 30 years ago, but on August 6 this year, when heavily drunk, he lured the young girl into a public enclosed space, put his arms around her and began touching her “excessively”.

He then tried to remove her clothing before taking off his own clothes to reveal an intimate part of his body. He then performed a lewd act in front of her.

Mr Herrmann said: “(The victim) said he didn’t say anything (and that) she felt scared and she froze.”

She then moved “very quickly” away from the enclosed area, after which an adult witness saw Fowler buckling up his trousers.

Fowler told the witness, in an “aggressive manner”, that he was “about to set fire to the place”.

Matters were ultimately reported to police who searched Fowler’s flat in Knaresborough and found among his clothes a pair of girl’s knickers.

Fowler, a homeless drifter, was arrested and charged with indecent exposure, sexual assault of a child under 13 and sexual activity in the presence of a child.

He initially denied the offences but ultimately admitted the latter two charges. The Crown ultimately quashed the exposure charge.

He appeared for sentence via video link today after being remanded in custody.

Mr Herrmann said Fowler’s wicked behaviour had caused “great distress” to the girl and her family.

The girl’s mother said her daughter had since had nightmares about Fowler and her horrifying experience: “She has been very quiet since it happened (and) doesn’t want to talk about it anymore.”

Fowler, originally from Scotland, had 104 previous convictions for 223 offences dating back over 50 years. Eighteen of those were sexual offences, including many for indecently exposing himself in front of children.

In the 1980s, he was jailed on multiple occasions for indecent exposure with intent to sexually assault a female, and another offence of unlawful intercourse with an under-age girl. In one incident in 1988, he exposed himself to a 13-year-old girl and performed a lewd act in front of two young boys.

His last exposure offence was in 1994 but he continued to regularly appear before the courts for offences such as shoplifting and being drunk and disorderly.

In October 2019, he received a 16-month jail sentence at York Crown Court for arson and damaging property.

That offence, described as a “revenge” attack, occurred in August 2018 when he torched a charity clothes store for the homeless at the Wesley Centre in Harrogate run by Harrogate Homeless Project, which had helped him get back on his feet after years of living rough.

Fowler, who was again drunk and had some kind of “grudge” against the charity, also smashed a window with a hammer, causing nearly £1,500 damage.

The charity relied completely on donations such as clothes and the damage had resulted in severe disruption to the organisation.

Defence barrister Brian Russell said that after a 30-year gap in his sexual offending, Fowler had “for an inexplicable reason…suddenly reverted to entrenched behaviour which he had managed to avoid for almost (three decades)”.

Judge Simon Hickey told Fowler: 

“At the age of 64, you are still interfering with children…and were touching again an extremely young child.

“While heavily intoxicated, you were to lure this child into the public (enclosed space). She was scared; she froze.”

He said the child was clearly “in very great distress” and told Fowler: 

“I find you a worrying and dangerous individual.

“This has changed the little girl’s life and she even…stuffs toys under her bed (for fear of) someone like yourself being under (there).”

The judge said Fowler clearly had an “unhealthy interest in young girls”.

Fowler was jailed for three years and four months. He was told he must serve two-thirds of that sentence behind bars and would only be released when the Parole Board deemed it safe to do so.

Due to the judge’s finding of dangerousness, Fowler was told he would have to serve an extended three years on prison licence once he was released from jail, for the protection of young girls.