Latest Offenders oxford

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RAF chiefs have housed a child rapist on a military family estate despite his guilty pleas to a series of sickening offences.

Air chiefs claim red tape stops them instantly kicking out disgraced serviceman Glenn Poyner. 

Instead the 35-year-old paedophile has been given a property near a primary school at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire.

He was apparently moved to the estate from a block housing unattached male colleagues because of threats made against him.

Terrified parents living at the base fear for their youngsters, who had been able to play outside in safety.

Poyner admitted multiple counts of raping a 13-year-old among other child sex crimes at a court hearing earlier this month. Among his victims was the relative of a colleague.

He is not due to be sentenced until August and senior officers have not yet discharged him from the forces.

Families expected him to be kicked out on the day of his guilty pleas but the officers have only just started to fill in the paperwork.

Until all the red tape has been cleared, the plan is for Poyner to be housed at the base, the Mail has learned.

Furious Benson residents accuse RAF chiefs of prioritising the paedophile's welfare over the safety of their children.

Poyner holds the rank of air specialist – a gender-neutral title recently introduced by top brass. He will be paid by the RAF until the discharge process is completed.

One mother said: 'I am petrified that this monster will use his last months of freedom to strike again.

'Where's the protection? There are children everywhere here, playing happily outside. I can't rest for a second.

'He should be behind bars. It is a disgrace the air chiefs still haven't kicked him out of the RAF.'

At Telford Magistrates' Court on May 12 Poyner admitted four counts of rape, an indecent assault and other sexual activities with children between 2018 and 2021.

He was stationed at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire, a UK centre for pilot training. He later moved to RAF Benson.

At the hearing, prosecutor Mark Connor told the judge: 'The defendant has entered guilty pleas which adequately reflect the offending behaviour over a number of years.

'The prosecution accepts those pleas with regard to the court's overall sentencing powers.'

Judge Peter Barrie granted Poyner bail ahead of a sentencing hearing scheduled for August 11, when he is expected to be jailed.

The judge also ordered a psychiatric assessment to consider the sex offender's threat to the public.

While Poyner was given a curfew and must wear a tracking tag, service families insist they should be spared the worry of him living nearby.

His property is being monitored by RAF Police, who have stepped up patrols of the estate following complaints from parents.

RAF Benson, near Wallingford, is a support helicopter main operating base.

The failure by chiefs to manage Poyner's case – and to prioritise the concerns of service families – is the latest in a string of embarrassing failures by RAF bosses.

It follows the shocking treatment of female personnel by pilots, including multiple claims of sexual assault, in the Red Arrows display team.

The head of the RAF, Sir Mike Wigston, has also faced criticism over a chronic shortage of frontline pilots and a recruitment policy that appeared to discriminate against white male applicants.

The RAF said: 'We are aware that a service person residing at RAF Benson pleaded guilty to a number of serious sexual offences.

'The RAF is unable to comment on individual cases, not offer comment while legal proceedings are ongoing.'

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A child rapist brought to justice for sexually abusing a young girl in the 1980s has been jailed for 15 years.

Joseph Fay, 66, subjected his young victim to repeated sexual assaults in the 1980s  - against a background of bullying violence.

Prosecuting, Charles Ward-Jackson told Oxford Crown Court that in her interviews with the police the victim described being beaten with a belt and had her head held underwater.

“There appeared to be a suggestion some of that was being done because she was not complying with his sexual demands,” said Mr Ward-Jackson, conceding that he had not been the prosecutor during the trial and was standing in for his absent colleague on Friday (May 19).

Judge Maria Lamb, who oversaw the trial, said she would treat the violence as an aggravating feature of the offending, as it was ‘very much part of the background’ to what Fay did.

Fay, of Blay Close, Blackbird Leys, was convicted by a jury in March of rape and indecent assault. Jurors were unable to reach a verdict on a count of indecency with a child.

Although he had previous convictions, they were for dissimilar offences of violence and theft – and were relatively old.

His barrister, Jane Carpenter, asked the judge to bear in mind that the defendant suffered from poor health. Since his remand into custody 10 weeks earlier, he had struggled to get important heart medication.

On one occasion he had been left without his medication for several days, while on another he was told to take aspirin as an alternative to his prescribed drugs.

Ms Carpenter said: “I urge you not to give such a long sentence that he would have no realistic prospect of seeing life outside prison in his lifetime.”

Judge Lamb imposed 15 years’ imprisonment. Fay will also be subject to an extended year on licence as a ‘sex offender of particular concern’, having been convicted of the sexual offences against the child.

Welcoming the sentence, Thames Valley Police investigator Karen Zoldan said: “The victim in this case has had to endure many months of waiting, largely due to the Covid-19 pandemic causing a backlog of cases.

“But she wanted her voice to be heard and we were determined to bring Fay before the courts to be held accountable for his horrendous offending.

“The impact that this abuse has had on the victim has shaped her life and had a massive impact on her.”

She added: “I would like to pay tribute to her for her patience and for putting her trust in us to bring Fay to court.

“He will now serve a very lengthy prison sentence as a result of his actions, and I hope that this will help the victim to move on with her life.”

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A convicted sex offender failed to sign on at the police station – claiming he’d gone down with a migraine after taking a blow to the head from a tyre lever.

Jordan McDonagh, 26, was jailed in 2017 for 40 months after embarking on a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl.

He was subsequently recalled to prison on licence and given further jail time for breaching sex offender notification requirements in 2021.

On Tuesday (May 9), Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard that McDonagh was released from prison on licence in 2022 and put up in a bail hostel in Milton Keynes.

Having returned to Oxford, he was placed in ‘various hotels by probation’, his advocate Nadine Colyer said.

He ‘mistakenly’ thought that, having spoken to the probation service, this would mean that he would no longer be registered at the Milton Keynes premises that had previously been his address registered with the police.

As a result, he failed to register his new addresses with the police within three days of moving – a requirement of all registered sex offenders.

Now homeless and living in a tent in Cowley, he is required to register his details at the police station every seven days.

He was meant to sign on at the police station in late March, but turned up a day late.

Defending, Ms Colyer said: “He had been at work on March 24, he’d been hit on his head by a tyre lever and this caused him a migraine.

“As a result, he finished work early on March 25 and took the following day off.”

She said McDonagh accepted that his injury did not prevent him from reaching the police station that day.

“He is currently living in a tent in a nature reserve in Cowley. His public protection officer is fully aware of his whereabouts,” Ms Colyer added.

McDonagh was working part-time as a tyre-fitter, with hopes of being taken on full-time. With more hours, he would be able to obtain somewhere to live.

The defendant admitted breaching his sex offender notification requirements. The magistrates declined to deal with the matter there and then, bailing McDonagh and ordering a pre-sentence report from the probation service.

He will be sentenced on June 6.

The offence to which he has pleaded guilty carries a maximum penalty of five years’ imprisonment when dealt with at the crown court.

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A disgraced rapist police officer claimed to have been looking at indecent images of children – to help him with post-traumatic stress.

Former traffic cop Richard Hale, 41, was handed a seven year jail sentence in 2016 for raping a woman after overpowering her in his bedroom in Carterton in 2001 – two years before he joined Thames Valley Police.

He continues to maintain his innocence to the charge.

On Thursday (April 27), Oxford Crown Court heard that Hale was released from prison on licence in April 2020, within weeks of the first national lockdown being imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mitigating, Lyall Thompson told Judge Ian Pringle KC: “All found that [lockdown] very difficult to come to terms with.

"It must have been even harder for someone who had been in custody for approximately three-and-a-half years.”

His client had described it as like ‘going from one type of prison to another’, Mr Thompson said.

A former roads policing officer who had seen crashes on a ‘regular basis’, he suffered from ‘significant post-traumatic stress disorder’, the court was told.

He experienced nightmares, headaches and ‘intrusive thoughts’.

It was suggested that this was one of the reasons why he was looking at indecent images of children.

A small number of child sex abuse images in categories A to C were found on his digital devices together with prohibited images of children and extreme pornography.

Sentencing, Judge Pringle told Hale: “You say that you started to access images because it would deal with the pain you felt from some of the trauma you underwent when you were serving as a police officer.

“I frankly find that explanation difficult but I’ve read a report about you; a trauma therapy report. You went and got trauma therapy off your own back; at least that says something about you.”

He said: “Make no bones about it, by accessing these images you create a market and that market then takes young children and has them grotesquely abused for your pleasure.

“I hope that you remember that if you are ever tempted to look at such images again.”

Hale, of Peel Place, Carterton, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to possession of indecent and prohibited images of children and possession of extreme pornography.

The judge imposed 16 months’ imprisonment suspended for two years. Hale must do 120 hours of unpaid work and sex offender rehabilitation programmes.

When Hale was sentenced in 2016, then deputy chief constable - now chief constable - Jason Hogg said: "There is no place in the force for those who commit offences of this nature."

The force said it was unable to provide a photograph of Hale as it claimed it did not have one. 

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An 'extremely dangerous' sexual offender has been caged after waging an eight-year reign of terror over two children. Alala Kesahit has been jailed for 20 YEARS following a police investigation into the offences across Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire.

For nearly a decade, evil Kesahit regularly abused and assaulted two children under the age of 16. He was also physically abusive to a woman, assaulting her and causing bruising to her face and a cut lip in 2017.

The historic offences were reported to Thames Valley Police on September 28, 2022, and Kesahit was arrested the following day. He was charged on September 30, 2022.

Detective Constable Sophie Holliss said: "These offences came to light thanks to the huge amount of bravery from Kesahit's victims to stand up to his offending behaviour. That they came forward to report these horrific crimes displayed tremendous courage, and I would like to personally thank them for putting their trust in the police to keep them safe and seek justice for them."

The 31-year-old pleaded guilty to 14 separate offences on December 21, 2022 and admitted to another offence on January 13, 2023, in two hearings at Oxford Crown Court. He pleaded guilty to five counts of rape of a child, eight counts of sexual assault by penetration, one count of sexual assault by touching, and one count of assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

His guilty pleas were accepted by the Crown Prosecution Service. A remaining seven not guilty pleas will lie on file.

Kesahit, from Oxford, was jailed for 20 years with a further four years on licence – a total sentence of 24 years at Oxford Crown Court on Thursday (April 27). He must also sign the sex offenders' register for life and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and restraining order for life.

"Kesahit is an extremely dangerous offender and the sentence reflects this dangerousness," Det Con Holliss said. "I hope that the lengthy prison sentence he has been given provides the victims with some closure and the ability to move forward with their lives in the knowledge that they are now protected from him.

"I hope that this sentence shows the wider public that the police will take reports of this nature seriously, no matter what the passage of time, and that victims will be listened to and supported."

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A sex offender who’s banned from every library in Oxfordshire shouted that British justice ‘stinks’ after he was sent to the cells for losing his temper in court.

Later, Judge Michael Gledhill KC suggested it was ‘very concerning indeed’ that former music teacher Alan Roberts was said in a probation pre-sentence report to want to ‘volunteer in any capacity that makes access to young boys easier’.

“The authorities and the charities doing work in this area must be made absolutely clear that Alan Jack Roberts should not be involved in any way – directly or indirectly – he must not have an opportunity of going anywhere near young boys,” the judge said.

He added that there was a ‘huge danger allowing this man from becoming involved’ in a volunteering capacity with children.

However, 73-year-old Roberts was not in court to hear the judge’s words, having been sent to the cells at the start of the hearing when he repeatedly interrupted the prosecutor and judge.

He shouted that he could not hear with the judge was saying, that he had ‘no idea what is going on here today’, then in reply to a comment from the judge said: “Thanks very much if that’s your attitude.”

Roberts, who was later said to be suffering from extreme stress, suggested that he had told ‘them’ he should not be in court as he would struggle to keep his calm.

He said from behind the heavy glass of the dock: “If this is British justice it stinks; stinks.”

After being accompanied from the dock by a custody officer, Roberts’ muffled shouting could still be heard – including him repeating the word ‘bull***t’.

Prosecuting, Michael Speak told Oxford Crown Court on Monday (April 24) that Roberts was originally before the courts in the early 1980s when he was convicted and jailed for indecent assault.

He found himself back at the crown court in 2016 to be sentenced for using library computers to search for indecent images of children two years earlier.

In 2019, he was sentenced for breaching the sexual harm prevention order imposed in 2016 and designed to limit his unrestricted access to the internet.

On Monday, Mr Speak said digital devices seized when he was arrested for the 2019 matters were not analysed until 2021, when it was found he had a ‘small number’ of child sex abuse images in categories B and C.

The court heard he had software on his computer that enabled it ‘to be wiped’ and that staff at two Oxford libraries contacted police after seeing Roberts using library computers. The desktop computers do not save users’ internet history.

Both represented a breach of the 2016 sexual harm prevention order, Mr Speak said.

Roberts, whose address was given at his first hearing in the magistrates’ court as HMP Bullingdon, spent a day short of a year in prison on remand awaiting trial until he was bailed last summer.

He pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

Mitigating, Gordana Austin said Roberts had been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. Among his physical health complaints were sleep apnoea and problems with his blood pressure. He had been ‘extremely stressed’ about the court hearing.

A music teacher until his indecent assault conviction in the 1980s, he subsequently worked as a bus and coach driver, computer literacy trainer and piano tuner, Ms Austin said.

Judge Gledhill imposed a two year community order as an alternative to a prison sentence, saying it was ‘not in the public interest today to send him back to prison’.

Referring to the 12 months Roberts did on remand – the equivalent of a two year prison term – the judge said: “He has served his prison sentence or a great part of what would be appropriate in this case.”

He described Roberts, who it was said is banned from every public library in the county, as a 'menace to libraries' as a result of his unauthorised use of the facilities' computers.

As part of his community order, Roberts must do up to 60 rehabilitation activity requirement sessions with the probation service.

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A brazen pervert who groped a woman in full view of CCTV cameras in the city centre McDonald's has been jailed.

Neil Shorter’s trail of inappropriate touching saw him twice target the same member of staff at Littlemore Hospital, where the 53-year-old was detained as part of a court order imposed for earlier sexual offending, and attempt to sexually assault a lone woman in a Didcot charity shop.

The charity shop offence was committed on the same day as his lunge towards a female student’s legs in the McDonald’s restaurant in Cornmarket.

Those final sexual assaults or attempted sexual assaults, which were committed on November 30 last year, came just days after he was discharged from Littlemore Hospital.

This was after a doctor questioned whether the defendant was in fact suffering from the mental health problems that had resulted in him receiving a hospital order at Truro Crown Court the previous year.

Jailing the Oxford man for 18 months on Wednesday (April 5), Judge Ian Pringle KC said: “Many would say that I ought to take a course of action today which would result in you getting some help – some treatment.

“You’ve got two previous convictions where you got help or treatment. Certainly, when at the hospital you were being helped and treated.

“And it’s made no difference to you.

“I not only want to do something which will cease your behaviour in the future – this sort of behaviour – but I also have a duty to protect the public and I’ve come to the conclusion that only a prison sentence in your case is appropriate.”

Earlier, prosecutor Matthew Knight told Oxford Crown Court that the first of Shorter’s three victims was assaulted at Littlemore Hospital, where she worked as a member of the care staff.

He made her and other members of staff uncomfortable. He would ‘look them up and down’, often licking his lips while doing so, and made lewd and ‘suggestive’ comments.

On April 27 last year, the woman was required to conduct checks on him before he was allowed out of the hospital on ‘escorted leave’. As she did so, Shorter grabbed the woman’s bottom, Mr Knight said.

Two months later, on June 26, he ignored her warning that it was out of bounds and walked into a sports equipment cupboard – brushing past the victim’s body in what he later accepted was a sexual assault.

On November 30, around a week after he was discharged from hospital, he was caught on CCTV staring at a woman in the Cornmarket McDonald’s before walking behind her and making a grab for her leg.

Later the same day, he was in a charity shop in Didcot. Video footage from inside the store showed him ‘targeting females by his gaze’ before, eventually, making a grab for a lone woman while no one else was present.

Shorter, of Woodstock Road, Oxford, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court to three counts of sexual assault and one of attempted sexual assault. He was last before the courts in Truro in 2021 for sexually assaulting a woman in Falmouth.

Mitigating, Gareth James asked the judge to impose a suspended prison sentence with requirements to work with the probation service in the community, saying it would protect the public ‘far more effectively’ than sending his client to prison.

He said Shorter had ‘evident difficulties in his thinking’, as shown by his sexual behaviour. It appeared Shorter was suffering from some form of early onset dementia and was an alcoholic.

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A girl groomed by a predatory paedophile when she was still in primary school branded him the ‘monster under the bed’.

Kieran Whiting, 38, began his ‘campaign’ of sick abuse when the victim was still in primary school, bending her to his will by promising to buy her confectionery from the shop and telling her that he would be ‘done in a minute’.

He posed the child in order to both take photographs of her on his mobile phone and to perform sexual acts in front of her.

On Tuesday, Oxford Crown Court heard that his sexual abuse of the child stopped for around a year when he moved to Yorkshire.

But when he returned to Oxford around a year later, he molested the girl a final time – telling the now teenager ‘this is how you lose friends’ in reply to her repeated pleas that he stop.

The abuse came to light after the girl told a friend, her mother learned of the allegations and called the police.

In a victim personal statement read to Judge Nigel Daly by prosecutor Lauren Sales, the girl said she had seen a video on social media about a ‘monster under the bed’.

She had tried to find the film again so she could show the judge ‘what I mean’.

“He is my monster under the bed,” the girl said of the defendant.

She said of the abuse: “He kept coming back I thought it would never end. I think without me telling someone he would have raped me.”

The girl said she had suffered significant mental health problems as a result of the abuse and had made an attempt on her life.

Whiting, of Champion Way, Oxford, was found guilty in January of assault of a child under-13 by penetration, causing a child under-13 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to engage in sexual activity. He had no previous convictions.

Jailing him for 16 years and imposing an extended four-year licence period, Judge Daly quoted the probation officer who had written the pre-sentence report, which described the defendant as being ‘utterly remorseless’ and without regard for the ‘legal or moral considerations’ in the pursuit of his own sexual gratification.

“Preventing Mr Whiting from reoffending will not be a straightforward task,” the probation officer added. He concluded the defendant posed a high risk of causing harm to children in the future.

Judge Daly said: “Essentially, I agree with the conclusions that are made by the probation officer.”

The judge said Whiting had groomed the girl and betrayed her trust to ‘satisfy his deviant sexual [interest]’. There were elements of ‘humiliation and degradation’ in the defendant’s treatment of his victim, he added.

He told the defendant there was ‘no real mitigation’ that could be said in his support.

A statement from the detective in charge of taking the case to court, which was read to the judge, said that Whiting had begun relationships with three different women while he was awaiting trial.

All three – each of them single mums with young daughters – were unaware of the charges he faced until they were contacted by the police.

Whiting was given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and restraining order preventing him from contacting his victim or her mother. He will remain on the sex offender register for life.

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A man was downloading vile child sex abuse images from his 'hidden' bedroom.

Liam Wishart, 35, told police officers who arrested him after a raid on the Bloxham home he shared with his mum that he had no indecent images of children and that he was sexually attracted to those of his own age.

But his lies were exposed when forensics specialists analysed his digital devices, uncovering 266 images in the most serious category – A – 115 in category B and 127 in category C.

Among the material found were images showing very young girls being sexually abused, Oxford Crown Court heard.

There was also evidence he had searched the internet for indecent images of children and chatted with others with a similar interest between 2016 and 2021.

Police officers raided the property in June 2021, after receiving a tip-off that Wishart had been downloading the vile child sex abuse material.

His bedroom – the door to which was hidden behind a bookcase – was searched and his digital devices seized.

The officers also found a can of pepper spray. The spray is classed as a prohibited weapon under firearm laws.

A cache of £28 notes was found and he was initially charged with possession of counterfeit money.

However, the charge was eventually dropped. On Friday (March 31) judge Recorder Paul Reid told prosecutor Robert Lindsey that he was ‘puzzled’ as to why the charges were brought in the first place, characterising the fake notes as ‘Monopoly money’.

When he was interviewed by the police, Wishart submitted a prepared statement denying that he was in possession of indecent images of children or that he had used ‘peer to peer’ websites to obtain them.

He claimed that friends would use his laptop and that the WiFi at his house was not password-protected.

Wishart, of Courtington Lane, Bloxham, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to possession of indecent images of children and possession of the prohibited weapon. He had no previous convictions.

Gordana Austin, mitigating, said the Bloxham man was his mother’s carer and worked from home as a graphic designer. He had spent six weeks in prison on remand.

Imposing nine months’ imprisonment suspended for a year-and-a-half, Recorder Reid told Wishart: “The pre-sentence report reveals that you have an understanding now of the particularly vile nature of this practice, because as I have said it is not just being in possession of these disgusting photographs

“They are not just disgusting photographs. They show the commission of disgusting offences against children.

“Each of these hundreds of photographs is a further abuse.”

Wishart was ordered to do 100 hours of unpaid work, up to 60 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay £425 in costs.

He was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offender register for 10 years.

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Detectives probing the disappearance of wanted child sex offender Abm Uddin say there is no evidence he has fled abroad.

A warrant for the 38-year-old’s arrest was issued by a judge at the start of March when he failed to turn up to his sentencing hearing at Oxford Crown Court.

Recorder Samantha Presland, who issued the warrant, was told that Uddin had last been seen by colleagues at the restaurant where he was working in Goring on February 28. He got into a taxi, giving the impression he was going to the railway station, and has not been heard from since then.

The judge feared he could be heading abroad, although family members claimed he had not been in contact with relatives in his native Bangladesh.

She told the barristers: “He definitely scarpered [and] he’s got a week’s head start on everybody.”

Abm Uddin's last known sighting at Goring railway station Picture: Thames Valley Police (Image: Thames Valley Police)

Last night, Thames Valley Police confirmed that checks have been made with Border Force and there was ‘no evidence he has gone abroad’.

This week, the force issued Uddin’s mugshot as well as a CCTV image of the at-large convicted sex offender at Goring railway station on February 28.

Appealing for information about his whereabouts, PC Kate Sherwood said: “If anybody see him, do not approach him, but call Thames Valley Police on 999, quoting reference number 43230106575.”

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A homeless man who raped a woman who tried to help him has been sentenced to 11 years in prison. Malcolm Plaisted, aged 35, of no fixed abode, was handed the sentence yesterday (March 30) at Oxford Crown Court.

He will be on licence for six years after his release. Plaisted initially went not guilty to one count of rape and one count of possession of a knife in a public place, but changed his plea to guilty on March 9.

The attack happened on November 12 last year, when he knocked on his victim’s door in Oxford, asking for a cigarette and a coffee as he had been out all night. After welcoming him into her home, Plaisted dragged the woman onto a bed and raped her.

He continually did so despite being begged to stop. He was arrested and charged the next day (November 13) and was remanded in custody.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Ellie Middlemass, of Oxford CID, said: “This was an incredibly harrowing case to investigate due to its violent nature and the fact that a vulnerable woman was harmed in her own home.

“Her home was a place that she had every reason to feel safe. She let Plaisted in to her address to make him a cup of coffee, and Plaisted embarked on a horrific attack.

“Despite the victim suffering significantly as a result of this incident, she has supported the investigation throughout and she should be highly commended for the bravery and resilience she has shown. Plaisted has been given an extended prison sentence and he is a very dangerous offender.

“He will also be on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.Thames Valley Police is absolutely committed to tackling violence against women and girls. Plaisted will serve a substantial prison sentence as a result of his abhorrent behaviour, and I hope that this conviction and sentence will serve as some solace to his victim.”

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A ‘lonely’ convicted paedophile appearing before a crown court judge for the fourth time in 10 years was spared a spell in prison – for having McAfee anti-virus on his laptop.

But Anthony Edwards was warned that the ‘only sanction available’ if he breached his sexual harm prevention order again or committed further offences in the next two years would be an immediate jail term.

On Thursday, Oxford Crown Court heard that 63-year-old Edwards was originally given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offender register for life after he was convicted in 2013 of sexually assaulting a girl.

He was later convicted of having indecent images of children and, in 2018, of flouting the court order designed to limit his access to the web.

Prosecuting, Robert Lindsey said a police officer installed monitoring software on Edwards’ HP laptop in October 2018.

Three months later, in January 2019, Edwards asked his supervising officer if he could ‘defragment’ the laptop’s hard drive. “The officer said no,” the prosecutor told the court.

By 2020, the defendant raised concerns that his laptop was running slowly and that it might have been hit by a computer virus. The officer was ‘somewhat suspicious’ of Edwards’ explanations, Mr Lindsey said – prompting the judge to add: “I’m not surprised.”

Checks showed that although the police monitoring software was still installed on the computer, it had not been working since April 2019.

Edwards had downloaded McAfee anti-virus software and the computer’s hard drive was ‘empty’, indicating that the convicted sex offender had deleted his internet browser history in spite of a court order banning him from doing so.

Edwards, of Ballards Close, Shipton-under-Wychwood, pleaded guilty to breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

He also admitted breaching sex offender notification requirements by failing to attend a police station within three days of his annual requirement to ‘re-register’ his details in 2021.

Mitigating, Gordana Austin said her client felt ‘isolated and lonely’. His mother, with whom he lived and for whom he cared, sadly died last year and the council was looking to move him to supported accommodation.

Sentencing him to a two year community order, Recorder John Hardy KC told Edwards: “Courts impose orders upon you and people like you for reasons.

“Where those orders are breached, courts normally take the view that a person who’s been leniently sentenced in the past is being contemptuous of the order of the court and therefore immediate custody is the only sanction available.

“That will be the case if you breach the order I am now about to impose.”

Edwards was ordered to complete up to 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days and was banned from deleting his internet history or tampering with ‘e-safe’ software installed on his devices by the police.

He must pay £200 in costs to the Crown Prosecution Service.

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A company director told a 14-year-old ‘girl’ who asked him for a job that she could be ‘daddy’s sex slave’.

Paul McCombe, 49, had been due to stand trial at Oxford Crown Court on a charge of attempted sexual communication with a child.

But he pleaded guilty on Monday (February 20) after a judge threw out submissions that the prosecution should be stopped as McCombe had been ‘entrapped’ in the undercover police sting operation.

McCombe. who has previously been convicted of sending sexual messages to children, added the ‘girl’ on Snapchat on July 15. The Oxfordshire man claimed to be called Connor Jones, a man in his late 20s.

By July 19, the girl ‘M’ – in fact a decoy account run by an undercover police officer – asked ‘CJ’ whether she knew him. He replied: “No.”

They began exchanging messages. Those made it clear McCombe understood the girl’s purported age, as at one point he asked: “When was you 14? You are sexy.”

Over the ensuing days, they sent a series of images to each other. None of hers were sexual, while his showed his exposed groin.

In another exchange, she told McCombe she was going to Asda with her mum and asked him she should ring him. “Yes, as long as you are naked hahaha,” he replied.

‘M’ asked the defendant what he did for a living. Told that he ran his own company, she asked him for a job. He said: “You can be daddy’s sex slave.”

Later in their correspondence, he said he would come to see her and made a veiled reference to sexual activity that could happen between them on that visit. She had earlier told him she lived in Newcastle, while McCombe said he lived in Oxford.

Lawyers for McCombe had tried to get the incriminating Snapchat messages he sent the decoy account thrown out, which would have cut the prosecution’s case at the knees.

Recorder John Ryder KC did not buy Richard Sutton KC’s argument that McCombe was the victim of police entrapment and messages that were ‘come hither in nature’. He ruled that the messages were admissible – and so could go in front of the jury.

After that ruling, McCombe, formerly of an address in Shrivenham, returned to courtroom four and entered his guilty plea to a single count of attempted sexual communication with a child under-16.

He was granted conditional bail to return to court on April 21.

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Detectives praised the bravery of child home predator Gerald Raffells three victims.

Gerry Raffell, now 74, was working in two childrens homes in Yarnton and near Wallingford when he carried out the sickening abuse against the three boys. One of the boys was molested with a rubber bullet, while others were abused in their dormitories or in the bath.

Jailing him for 11 years at Oxford Crown Court on Friday, Judge Maria Lamb said of the victims: They were in desperate circumstances: isolated, without the support of their families, and you betrayed their trust. You can read our full report from the sentencing hearing here.

Welcoming the double-figure jail time, Cowley police stations DC Martin Turner said: The victims of these abhorrent offences were vulnerable children, who should have had every right to feel safe.

Raffell abused his position of trust to commit these offences.

Even though a significant amount of time has passed since the offences, when they came to light, we commenced an investigation.

Thames Valley Police is absolutely committed to investigating offences such as these, no matter what the passage of time.

He added: The bravery of all of the victims meant that a serious sex offender has finally been brought to justice.

Raffell was responsible for assisting vulnerable children in their time of greatest need, and he callously used their vulnerabilities to his advantage in a grotesque breach of trust.

He has now been given a lengthy prison sentence, and I hope that this will serve as solace to the victims that justice has been served.

No matter how long has elapsed, we commit to investigating non-recent offences, and we will always seek to bring offenders before the courts to face up to their offending and face justice.

His comments echoed those of Judge Lamb, who told Raffell on Friday: I have heard, as we all have, the victim personal statement read out to this court which talk about the effects of what you did upon each of these individuals.

All can understand that they may feel that the sentences which this court imposes can never reflect the enormity of what was done to them.

But I hope they have at least the consolation of know that they faced their abuser in court and they were believed by the jurors that heard this case.

Description

A paedophile was found guilty of faking an inability to speak while appearing in court.

Convicted sex offender Jason McDonagh, 36, appeared before Oxford Crown Court on Tuesday after beaching the terms of his release from prison.

The jury found McDonagh, of no fixed address, guilty of mute of malice rather than by visitation of God under a centuries-old law.

McDonagh made few audible responses during the two-hearing.

He had also refused to speak to officers who were sent to check on him after he was released from jail last year having served a 10-year sentence for molesting two sister, aged eight and five.

McDonagh was supposed to notify police about where he was living.

Sarah Magro, a police officer visited McDonagh between July and August last year.

He had come to police attention in the spring when he was sleeping rough in an alleyway between Bury Knowle Park and the Waitrose supermarket in Headington, Oxford.

Ms Magro said McDonagh, who it was said spoke with an Irish accent, would not give his name and told officers they could refer to him as a******e.

He generally spoke in monosyllables, the court heard.

McDonagh was subsequently taken to the Phoenix psychiatric ward at Littlemore hospital, where staff were able to confirm his identity.

Officers later checked the police national computer system and confirmed McDonagh was a registered sex offender wanted by the Metropolitan Police for allegedly breaching the terms of his release, the Oxford Mail reported.

Jailing him for two-and-a-half years at Oxford Crown Court on Wednesday, judge Nigel Daly told McDonagh: You disappeared off the radar, sleeping rough and making it extremely difficult for the authorities to track you.

"And, when they caught up with you, you made every effort to avoid identification.

McDonagh made no audible response when judge Daly asked whether he wished to question the witnesses.

Instead, he generally shook his head and pursed his lips.