Latest Offenders portsmouth

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Larry White, 55, now of Canal Walk, Portsmouth, was sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court on Monday for numerous sexual assaults including rapes on the girl who was then aged between 14 and 16.

The victim revealed she 'could not have asked for a better outcome' after White was jailed.

Det Con Leigh Rankin of the West Sussex Safeguarding Investigations Unit said: 'White came to know this young girl and took advantage of her vulnerability to sexually abuse her for his own gratification for two years.

'Eventually she felt strong enough to confront him and to tell us. We immediately took action, arresting White and carrying out a thorough investigation which established the full and appalling nature of his offending.

'His victim has given full support to the investigation and bravely gave her evidence in court.

'This case shows once again that we will resolutely investigate all such reports, support the victims and seek justice for them wherever possible.'

The victim said: 'I couldn't have asked for a better outcome. It took a long time to achieve this result but I'd do it all again without a second thought. This man was well practised in what he did and there is no doubt in my mind that there were victims before me.

'I hope upon reading this article, said victims can muster up the courage to tell their story or at least take comfort in the fact that Larry White is in prison paying for his crimes.'

White will be a registered sex offender indefinitely and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order severely restricting his contact with children, to last until further court order.

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Brian Hemborough 'systematically' searched for the abuse images, claiming he used them as a perverted 'safety net' to stop himself abusing children.

Hemborough was already being monitored by police - following convictions in 1989, 2004, 2013 and 2016 - when his devices were seized and checked.

So many images and videos were uncovered that police just took a sample of 15,000 from the 55-year-old's devices.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard some children were in 'discernible pain' in the images, and were as young as two.

Prosecutor Stuart Ellacott said the defendant twice lied to police claiming he had no internet-enabled devices, telling officers in December 2018 'he was hoping he would get something' like that for Christmas.

The socially-distanced public gallery containing two people erupted as judge Roger Hetherington jailed Hemborough with cries of 'he's ruined people's lives'.

One man shouted '12 months?' as judge Hethering jailed the defendant for 32 months.

Hemborough admitted eight charges of making indecent images, two breaches of a sexual offences prevention order and three charges of possession of indecent images.

He was secretly viewing the images between December 2015 and January this year.

Jailing him, the judge said: 'When the police attended your premises earlier this year it was found that you had a number of devices which on analysis were found to contain a very large quantity of indecent images at all levels and including moving images - on the basis of the sample taken, a little under 15,000.'

The judge said Hemborough had a 'very significant record of previous convictions including various contact offences' in 1989 when he was jailed for 10 years.

Detailing probation's findings, the judge added: 'You at times sought to justify what you did, to minimise the reality that you plainly harbour supportive beliefs in the area of child abuse and you have a high degree of preoccupation (in children) - all those are very troubling matters.'

He added: 'You told the police that you have used indecent images as what was termed by you as a safety net to prevent yourself committing contact offences.'

Hemborough must sign the sex offenders' register for life, and is subject to a lifetime sexual harm prevention order.

Philip Allman, mitigating, said his client was 'willing to address his issues' and added: 'He has gone to great efforts to learn about his desires and how to combat them.'

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Portsmouth Crown Court heard that Mark Blackwell, 69, preyed on the children - aged about 10 - for seven years in the 1990s.

When Blackwell was arrested in mid-January in 2018 police seized his devices and found the videos still in existence.

He was already on the sex offenders' register and under an order restricting his internet access after admitting 24 charges relating to indecent images in 2011.

When officers went back to his home on January 31 - around two weeks after his arrest - they found a perverted search terms and an image of a naked child with cartoon face on a new laptop.

Richard Onslow, mitigating, said Blackwell claimed to have 'strayed off the path'.

But judge Timothy Mousley QC did not brush off the crimes as easily as the defendant had tried to portray them.

Jailing Blackwell for four years and four months, he said: 'You are a man with a number of previous convictions for this kind of behaviour and the images have been retained for a long period.'

Nicola Hadley, prosecuting, said: 'They were asked to go out into the woods, videoed in provocative poses and sometimes with clothes on, sometimes with clothes off.'

The woods were in Hampshire. Some 76 indecent images also featured close ups of a girl's genitalia and body, the court heard.

Blackwell, who uses a wheelchair and is in 'deteriorating health', was cleared of charges accusing him of assaulting the two girls. He denied taking the images.

The prosecutor added Blackwell had been fined in 1972 after being convicted of assaulting a girl under 14.

Mr Onslow said Blackwell insisted he had 'taken the images without any sexual intent'.

Blackwell must sign the sex offenders' register for life. A sexual harm prevention order restricts his internet use for life. He was convicted of six indecent image charges.

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Twisted Darren Callaghan, 48, Southsea in Portsmouth, laced his date's drink before claiming she had taken the drugs of her own accord causing her to turn into "like something out of the Exorcist"

A rapist who spiked his victim's drink with ecstasy and blamed her injuries on a 'demon' has been handed a 16 year extended prison sentence.

Darren Callaghan, 48, claimed his victim had became "sex-crazed" after taking MDMA.

And the monster claimed it caused her to act "like something out of the Exorcist."

When she woke semi-naked in the morning, with 80 injuries all over her body, he tried to bizarrely convince her they were caused by supernatural activity.

But a court was told "this was nothing to do with ghosts" and Callaghan had laced her drink with drugs before raping her.

Callaghan was found guilty of rape, administering a noxious substance with intent to stupefy, and assault after a trial at Warwick Crown Court in October.

On Tuesday, he was a given a 16-year extended prison sentence and will only be freed if the Parole Board considers it safe to do so.

Callaghan will then be on licence for any period that remains of his sentence and for a further five years as well as having to register as a sex offender for life.

Sentencing, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said the case was one of "the most appalling pieces of violence associated with rape that the court has witnessed in many years."

He told Callaghan: "Your actions have as good as ruined her life.

"You met her on a dating website. You brought drugs with you and were keen to give them to her.

"It was a powerful form of MDMA, and you well knew it would have a massive impact on someone not used to taking it.

"You gave her such drugs with a view that she would be incapacitated.

"This was to be sex for your own perverse and twisted desire, and sex where you could beat and abuse her.

"You said she had had a seizure and that her home was possessed. This was a cruel aspect of your behaviour.

"You showed yourself to be a dangerous and manipulative man."

Throughout the hearing Callaghan, of Southsea, Hants., interrupted the judge by loudly proclaiming his innocence.

Kim Preston, defending, said: "He feels passionately and indignantly about his version of events.

"He had a distortion in his mind about whether she was able to consent during the intercourse which took place.

"This defendant did not set out that night to go to her home and assault and rape her."

But Judge Lockhart QC added: "That may be your assessment. You must be mindful that my assessment is different, and the jury's finding is very different."

The court had heard Callaghan drove 140 miles from the south coast to meet the woman in Rugby, Warks., for a date after they met on the internet.

Prosecutor Adrian Fleming said "Darren Callaghan, while out with someone he had met over the internet, spiked her drink with MDMA, or ecstasy.

"He put it in her drink without her knowledge and, having done that, he assaulted her causing a number of injuries, and he raped her while she was in a state partly brought about by the administering of the drug.

"The combination of the spiked drink and the large amount of alcohol she had had to drink left her incapable of consenting to sex."

He explained that Callaghan had met the woman through a dating app.

During their online chats they talked about sex and he even sent her an intimate picture of himself.

Mr Fleming said: "They got on so well that an arrangement was made for him to travel up to Rugby for a face-to-face meeting."

She said he became "a little boisterous" and got physical when he arrived at her house, trying to pull her trousers down, until she told him to stop.

The pair then visited various pubs in Rugby, where she had five or more glasses of wine before they got a taxi back to her house.

When they got back she recalled Callaghan making them both a Jack Daniels and Coke, despite her feeling "pretty drunk".

Mr Fleming added "She thought her drink tasted a bit funny, and soon after she began to feel unwell and had some sort of seizure.

"She recalls falling down and her memories after that are vague. It's the Crown's case that he had put MDMA in her drink. She is very clear she did not take it knowingly.

"Although the defendant has admitted giving her a small amount of MDMA, he says it was at her request.

"The next thing she recalls is waking late the following morning, naked apart from her bra, and Callaghan lying next to her, naked.

"She was aware she had injuries all over her body, and she asked if he had punched her in the face.

"He said no, and that she was possessed and that there was a demon in her house.

"But it's the Crown's case that this ghost had nothing to do with what happened.

"She says Callaghan appeared to be trying to blame her injuries on the supernatural.

"The inescapable fact is that somehow she got very real injuries all over her body. This was nothing to do with ghosts.

"She has no recollection of having sex with him whatsoever. If she was incapable, any sex he had with her was rape."

After the case, Detective Inspector Cindy Stephenson, of Warwickshire Police, said: "This was a horrific crime that has had a profound impact on the victim.

"While I am sure she will never fully get over what Callaghan did, I hope she can take some comfort from this verdict and start to move on with her life."

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Garry Byrne lay in bed in the room he lodged in at a married couple's home swapping images with more than 400 people across the 32 groups - copying his favourites from his Samsung phone to two laptops.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard the 55-year-old loner confessed having a sickening sexual interest in children aged between six and 15 but had videos of a toddler boy of 18 months being abused.

When he was arrested at home Byrne, co-founder of GDC Waste Limited in Portsmouth, immediately admitted officers would find indecent images on his two laptops, phone and USB stick.

In all, he had 4,211 child abuse images - including 755 videos and 614 still images rated as category A, the most serious classification.

Prosecutor Sally Mertens said: 'On the phone there were 27,329 images which were ungraded but they have been flash reviewed (by police). The majority appear to have been of children and would fit into categories A, B and C.'

Ms Mertens revealed Byrne, who has since moved from his home in Langley Road, Fratton, has two convictions for attempting to incite gross indecency with a six-year-old boy in 2004.

Byrne sent 56 images on WhatsApp groups but the court heard they were received by multiple people meaning they were distributed more than 15,000 times.

Judge William Ashworth said: 'Each of these images represent a moment, a memory, for those children when they would have been in an environment with abusive adults - likely to be either away from the care of their parents or abused at the hands of their parents, and subjected to horrifying ordeals which will no doubt scar them forever.

'It's the trade in those images that perpetuates the need or perceived need for people to continue to abuse those children in this terrible manner behind closed doors.'

He added Byrne shared the abuse images to 'thousands and thousands' of people via WhatsApp groups. The charges showed he distributed 104,000 images.

Ms Mertens said: 'He admitted to having a sexual interest in young boys. He said that, despite his previous conviction of attempting to incite gross indecency with a child, he had never approached a child.'

Byrne claimed his watching abuse images was 'his release and that prevents him from offending against children,' Ms Mertens said.

Byrne, a chronic alcoholic who had drunk the equivalent of two bottles of vodka a day until recently, admitted three charges each of distributing and making indecent images of children between May 2017 and February 2018.

Daniel Reilly, mitigating, said Byrne was thrown out of his home at the age of 13 after telling his Irish Catholic father he was gay - leaving him staying with friends – and entered into prostitution once at 14 in London.

Byrne had halved his alcohol intake, sought counselling, seen a psychiatrist and was set to be welcomed to a counselling programme if he had not been jailed.

The defendant had searched 'why am I a paedophile?' on his phone, the court heard.

Byrne was jailed for three years and put on the sex offenders' register for life. A sexual harm prevention order was imposed for life.

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A TWISTED pervert who downloaded a ‘paedophile manual’ containing graphic instructions on how to abuse children, including babies, has been jailed.

Depraved paedophile Ross Clifford, of Toronto Road, Fratton, admitted downloading the manual onto a memory stick as well as thousands of indecent images of children – some showing toddlers as young as two – being abused.

Appearing via video link from Winchester prison, the 40-year-old, sat silently as his sickening list of offences was read out in Portsmouth Crown Court.

Sentencing, Judge David Melville QC said: ‘One cannot really have a more serious catalogue of offences before the court particularly bearing in mind you were before this court in the last part of 2017 for similar offences. 

‘You must know how the children who take part in these films are abused. If it wasn’t for the likes of you accessing this information those children would not have been abused. 

‘The pain and distress that they would have suffered is disgusting. It’s something that will probably be with them throughout their lives and it’s an appalling thought that that distress and upset will probably work its way out through their lives all because people like you want to view these images.’

After police raided Clifford's address on February 12 and seized computer equipment and mobile phones, examiners found 1,195 category A images – the most serious level, 786 category B and 3,001 category C. 

They also uncovered 221 category A moving images of children being sexually assaulted as well as 56 category B ones and 13 category C.

The 25-page paedophile manual was also found, which contained vile ‘diagrams’ of how to molest children.

Speaking of the most extreme images, Judge Melville said: ‘They are of the worst type. They show penetrative sexual activity with children as young as two years old.’

Clifford had previously been convicted of similar offences in 2017 and was sentenced to eight months in jail, suspended for two years.

For Clifford, Karen Walton said her client accepted his crimes but urged the court not to jail the 40-year-old and instead put him on a three-year community sentence and treatment programme.

She said: ‘He has accepted all of his behaviour and he has accepted he needs help.

‘I absolutely accept that is a hugely upsetting and most devastating offence for those young children. The difficulty with somebody who admits that kind of offence is that punishment doesn’t necessarily alleviate the risk when he is released.’

Judge Melville refused this and jailed Clifford for four years and three months. Clifford will serve half of this before being released on licence.

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An ex-British Army officer is facing jail after he spent thousands of pounds watching children being sexually abused live on the internet.

Andrew Whiddett, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, also discussed flying out to the Philippines - where the sickening videos were filmed - to commit abuse himself, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.

The 70-year-old ex-lieutenant colonel, who was awarded an MBE for service in Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to six charges relating to the sexual abuse of children at Croydon Crown Court on Wednesday.

The NCA said his crimes were committed in the UK after he left the Army and finished private contractor work as head of security at the British Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

Following his guilty pleas, the NCA said Whiddett had directed the live-streamed abuse over Skype with "known Filipino child sex abuse facilitators".

Whiddett had conversations with a woman between September and October 2016, in which he made clear he "wanted to sexually abuse a child when he visited the Philippines that October", the NCA said.

Investigators were able to prove that he made 49 payments to the woman totalling £8,584 between January 2015 and July 2017.

On November 21, 2015, Whiddett paid £31.41 to watch a nine-year-old girl abused, the NCA said.

Travel records show Whiddett flew to the Philippines capital Manila on October 21, 2016, and other messages between Whiddett and abuse facilitators were also discovered by officers.

The NCA said it had passed intelligence to Filipino counterparts who made one arrest and safeguarded six children aged between three and 14.

After Whiddett was arrested in October 2017 at Heathrow Airport he admitted in interview to sending 158 payments to the Philippines but said these were for live adult sex shows.

He declined to answer questions in another interview in March 2018.

In court on Wednesday he admitted one charge of attempting to cause or incite a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity in November 2015.

Whiddett also pleaded guilty to a charge of intentionally causing or inciting a girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity in September 2016.

Under a further charge he admitted that in September 2016 he intentionally arranged or facilitated the commission of a child sex offence.

He will also be sentenced over guilty pleas to three charges of making indecent photographs of a child, involving a total of eight category C and three category B images.

Following the guilty pleas Judge Nicholas Ainley warned Whiddett: "You should prepare yourself for a period of imprisonment."

Judge Ainley had issued a temporary order banning the publication of photos of the defendant because his lawyers claimed it would place him in "particular peril".

But legal representations from the press made in court on Thursday saw this restriction lifted by the judge, who admitted the order was made "in error".

Whiddett, who has no previous convictions and is on bail, will be sentenced at Croydon Crown Court on May 22.

NCA senior investigating officer Gary Fennelly said: "Andrew Whiddett was directly responsible for the soul-destroying abuse of children thousands of miles away from him.

"He thought he could get away with abusing Filipino children from the comfort of his own home.

"Anyone like him should realise the NCA and UK police will never give up our pursuit of offenders who commit these horrific crimes.

"The NCA does important work with international law enforcement partners in the Philippines to combat these sorts of crimes."

An NSPCC spokesman said: "Whiddett's actions have helped to fuel a sickening industry where children are horrifically abused to order.

The effects of sexual abuse can last a lifetime and we hope that the children involved are receiving support and safeguarding to get their lives back on track.

"The internet is used as a gateway to child abuse far too frequently. The NSPCC is campaigning for providers to take greater responsibility for what's shared on their platforms and cut off this vile material at source."

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HGV driver John Ellison, 64, of Walton Road, Farlington, was found guilty of two charges of actual bodily harm and a single charge of raping a woman, a Crown Prosecution Service spokeswoman said.

The offences date back to the 1990s.

A judge at Preston Crown Court ordered him to sign the sex offenders' register for life when he was sentenced in February.

Ellison denied the charges against him.

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Copnor resident Michael Palmieri started up conversations with a number of boys before attempting to seduce them between 2010 and 2017, Portsmouth Crown Court heard.

But 60-year-old Palmieri, who also had a catalogue of vile indecent images and movies of children crying while being abused, was eventually caught out by an online police investigation.

The court heard how the defendant, who previously served 21 months in jail in 2003 after he crept into a 10-year-old boy's bed before touching him, had tried to maintain his innocence.

But his desperate attempts to convince police that he was not 'interested in boys' was shown up as bare-faced lies after overwhelming evidence of his offending.

Prosecutor Natasha Dardashti said: 'The defendant said he thought he was talking to men posing as boys after revealing it was a fantasy of his.

'In one exchange of messages, a boy said he was 14 years old and Mr Palmieri said he was 56.'

In other conversations the defendant pretended he had a son he abused and made graphic overtures to those on the receiving end in the chat rooms – including comments 'I would love to see you naked' and 'that's me daddy'.

During police interview in May 2018, Palmieri denied his involvement in the offences. Ms Dardashti said: 'During his conversations online he said he thought the people he was talking to were adults posing as young boys.

'He denied ever wanting to meet up and also denied he sent images. He said he had no interest in children but was just lonely and wanted someone to talk to. There was grooming behaviour and planning to what he was doing.'

In defence, Rob Bryan, said the images sent to chat room users were not of his own genitalia with his motivation 'role play'.

Police investigations showed the defendant had 134 images on his computer and 132 movies showing various degrees of abuse being inflicted on children.

Palmieri, of Stubbington Avenue, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, two charges of distributing indecent images and six counts of attempting to incite a child into sexual activity.

The offences were committed while he was serving a suspended prison term for driving while disqualified.

Judge William Ashworth said: 'The effect on these children would have been demeaning and may lead to possible irreparable problem.'

He added: 'The images showed children in extreme stress with some of them tied up with rope while they were crying. You accept your interest in young boys and failed to see the harm in your offending.'

Palmieri, who worked as a supervisor at Balfour Beatty, was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order as well as being locked up for 40 months.

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A prowling paedophile who groomed and groped a vulnerable child has been jailed for five years.

David Joll befriended the vulnerable 12-year-old, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, before touching his bottom over his trousers twice.

The 58-year-old pervert, who is in a relationship with another sex offender currently serving time in jail, was branded a 'true paedophile' by a judge who refused to show him leniency.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard how Joll, of Northern Parade, Hilsea, has a string of convictions for assaults on boys and having child abuse pictures.

His most recent convictions, including just last year, were for indecent images – with his lawyer claiming viewing these stopped him from going out abusing boys.

Judge Roger Hetherington rejected the last-ditch bid for freedom from his defence – pointing out Joll had meant to be completing a sex offender treatment when he was preying on the boy who was playing truant from school.

Joll had taken the boy to his home a day after the abuse and even given him his mobile number, having already groomed him by giving him cash and non-alcoholic drinks.

Probation assessed him and found he has a problem with alcohol and said he poses a very high risk of further sexual offending, the court heard.

Addressing Joll, judge Roger Hetherington said: 'Turning to your previous convictions, these show that you are a true paedophile in the worst sense of that word who has committed a number of serious contact offences against young boys – true it is that the last of those was in 2004, 2003 but there were a number of them and they were plainly very significant offences.

'Who is to know that if things hadn't been brought to a halt in relation to this boy, something far worse than what you had in fact been convicted of doing to him might not have occurred.'

He added: 'Your have a partner that you wish to resume a life with who is himself a convicted sexual offender serving a custodial sentence for historic sex offences and you are assessed as posting a very high risk of sexual offending posing a high risk of harm to children.

'It's my judgment that you do fulfil the criteria of dangerousness.'

The judge found Joll is dangerous, finding that could – but did not – lead to him receiving an extended term on licence.

In a statement read by prosecutor Matthew Lawson the boy said: 'I feel sick about all of this, I feel better he is in prison as he can't get out of prison – I want him in prison.'

Joll, who had been held on remand, had denied touching the boy but was found guilty by a jury.

Judge Hetherington increased the sentence due to Joll's previous convictions and said there was no mitigation for his actions.

A sexual harm prevention order was imposed for 10 years restricting Joll's contact with children. He must sign the sex offenders' register for the same period.

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A teenager who was groomed and raped in a series of 'appalling' assaults watched as her abuser was jailed and said: 'He is a monster'.

Perverted Jamie Williams looked blank-faced as he was handed a 13-year jail term for repeated sexual assaults and two rapes on the young girl.

Williams, 32 of Inverness Road, Buckland, was convicted of four charges of sexual assault, two more serious sexual assaults and two rapes.

Sentencing, judge Roger Hetherington said: 'These were appalling offences which were the result of a degree of planning on your part.'

He added: 'With any young girl it would have had a very traumatic effect and unsurprisingly that's precisely what has happened in this case.'

Probation found Williams poses a high risk of serious harm to children but the judge stopped short of ruling he was dangerous, which could have led to Williams receiving an extended sentence.

The girl, who cannot be named, told of her frustration at having to wait for a third trial for justice to be done after the first jury was dismissed and a second trial date was abandoned as medical evidence was compiled.

Bravely she watched from the public gallery at Portsmouth Crown Court as 32-year-old Williams was sentenced over video-link

In a statement read out by prosecutor Matthew Lawson, the girl said: 'I was just a little girl. I hope I can get my life back.

'I will not let what he has done to me stop me from being successful.'

She added: 'I think that he is a monster – I'm so relieved that he was found guilty.'

In a statement, her family said: 'Our lives changed forever and after nearly two hellish years we are still putting the pieces back together.

'We hope January next year will be a new beginning for all of us and we can't thank enough all those involved in bringing the case to trial and getting justice.'

'On occasions I thought he was going to get away with this,' she said.

Forensic medical evidence agreed by the prosecution and defence revealed the pain the victim suffered.

After telling police about the attacks she once saw into Williams in the street. 'I was left physically shaking and crying,' her statement said.

The defendant had applied 'subtle pressure' in trying to stop the girl from reporting the attacks to police, the court heard.

Williams was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life. He denied all charges.

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GROOMED by her stepfather from the age of 13, Shannon felt forced into keeping the abuse he carried out as a dark secret known only to them.

Such was Alan Stanhope's perverted influence on Shannon, now 21, he insisted that she call him dad and legally change her surname to his.

For years she was too scared to speak out to anyone.

But today she is planning for the future after bravely telling her mum, police and ultimately facing her abuser in court at a trial.

Alan Stanhope, who had threatened her, was jailed for 10 years after being convicted of nine charges of sexual activity with a child.

Now with him behind bars Shannon is much happier – she has a boyfriend and is pregnant expecting a girl.

Speaking to The News after waiving her anonymity, she said: 'The reason I came forward and reported the crime, as well as protecting my family and myself, was that I had to fight for my life.

'The life I knew deep down I was supposed to have – happiness without judgement.

'And the feeling of "walking on eggshells" to go away as soon as I walk through the door. The future, of being married with children – that was never going to happen because Alan never accepted me moving on, or living. He wanted to run away with me.'

For years Shannon was bombarded with sexually explicit messages from her stepfather, who tried to find reasons to be alone with her and carry out the abuse.

He got together with Shannon's mum when Shannon was just 13 – and spent years ingratiating himself into the Portsmouth family.

'I felt I couldn't live life any more and I got really down,' Shannon said.

'I was screaming out for help but nobody could.

'It wasn't until November 2016 when my mum found out, she became suspicious.

'I just told her to look at his phone and see what he's been sending me and she saw everything, all of the messages saying that he loved me and he wanted to do stuff with me.'

Stanhope, 39, of Spenlow Close, Buckland, denied all the charges, claiming his phone sent messages by mistake, but was found guilty.

Shannon added: 'I want to get this out there, not to be malicious, but to raise awareness.

'Even though I am still embarrassed over what happened to me for during the seven years he was in my life,

'I do not want this to happen to another child.

'What I experienced was horrific, and it was against my will to keep it "our little secret" and make everything seem fine between us to family and friends.'

Predator talked his way into family life

SICK Alan Stanhope told young Shannon the abuse he carried out was just 'us time'.

The 39-year-old spent years taking advantage of the trust he had been given when he met Shannon's mum.

But while portraying himself as the 'perfect stepfather' he was secretly stealing his stepdaughter's childhood.

Shannon said: 'It became an evening thing, every now and again when my mum went up to the bath and that left us alone – he called it "us time".

'The first time it happened, it happened so quick I couldn't believe it. All he said was "did you enjoy it?" and I said "no".

'After that time it was on a weekly basis, up until I was 19, and more towards the end.

'He said that he was in love with me.'

The pervert would message Shannon while she was out with friends and tried stopping her from going out.

'He was pestering me to do sexual things – and he didn't like it when I said no, and there were times he would even when I said no,' she said.

'It got to the point where I felt I wasn't being left alone, I felt like I was just being harassed and I couldn't move forward with me life.'

But now Shannon has relief that Stanhope was jailed.

She faced her abuser in court, giving evidence to jurors who returned unanimous guilty verdicts.

She said: 'I do feel better now he's in jail – I feel much safer. I feel like I got justice although it was nerve-wracking, before I went to the stand I was having a panic attack.'

Gilian Finch, from charity CISters, said: 'Abusers are skilled manipulators which is how they stay undiscovered for so many years. They manipulate not only their child victims but also adults around the child too.'

She added: 'I would urge anyone (male or female) who lives in the Portsmouth area and has experienced sexual abuse to reach out for help.'

n Portsmouth Abuse and Rape Counselling Service on the women's helpline on (023) 9266 9511 or the men's helpline on (023) 9266 9516. Lines open Monday 1pm-3pm; Wednesday and Friday 7pm-10pm.

n Treetops Sexual Assault Referral Centre in Cosham 24 hours a day on 0300 123 6616.

n Women in Hampshire who are over 18 and were abused as children by immediate or extended family can call CISters on (023) 8033 8080 helpme@cisters.org.uk

'There is plenty of support available for abuse victims'

NEVER feel unable to report sex abuse that took place years ago.

That is Shannon Stanhope's message to others who may be suffering in silence. She said: 'I waited too long to report this. I have missed out on my childhood. I would urge anyone who is in a situation like this, to disclose it. I have come out on the other side now. I am now 21 and I am with an amazing partner and we have a baby girl on the way. My life has completely turned around and it was worth it 100 per cent. There is plenty of support.'

Det Con Nicola Cupper said: 'These non-recent cases are really damaging to people. Even though it hasn't happened yesterday what they say is taken seriously, no matter how long ago something happened – it's never too late to report it.'

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THIS was the shocking moment an armed paedophile tried to snatch a young schoolgirl from the street.

The girl, who cannot be named, snapped the photo as Roger Seath cornered her against a wall in Southsea.

Now as the 45-year-old pervert has been jailed, a judge praised the 14-year-old girls actions that made her would-be attacker freeze and alerted a group driving past.
The driver confronted Seath, as the terrified and tearful girl was led to safety, and police were called.

When police arrived Seath, who had threatened to spank the girl if she did not go with him, said guilty as charged.

He had followed the girl, matching her pace as she walked across the road to get away from him, prosecutor Robert Bryan said.

Sentencing Seath to 33 months in prison, judge Anne Arnold said: This was a particularly vulnerable victim a 14-year-old schoolgirl. She was certainly threatened by you with being spanked.

Because she, very fortunately, had been pre-warned by her parent, was an intelligent and alert girl with sufficient wherewithal to do exactly what shed been told to do if approached by somebody such as yourself and that was she took your photograph, freezing your approach long enough to be assisted.

After it was revealed Seath has no previous convictions, the judge added: It probably makes it all the more worrying that unpredictably youve committed this offence at this particular time in your life.

She added: You do appear to be a danger to children.

The girl had been told by her mother to take a photo of anyone who approached her or hit out if she was touched, following a previous report of schoolgirl being approached.
Mr Bryan revealed Seath had spent the seven days after arriving in Portsmouth following schoolgirls and videoing them on his iPhone.

Footage played at Portsmouth Crown Court showed Seath walking just 2ft away from two other teenage girls, saying: The smaller one is cuter through, the 14-year-old wasnt interested, I offered her 20 quid and everything.

Im going to have to go now, thats all your getting.

It was unclear if Seath had been talking on the phone to another person while recording, Mr Bryan said. Two other videos showed him discreetly filming two girls on city streets.
Investigators found he had more than 300 images of girls from a social media network.

Chat logs showed he had messaged, called and tried to video call 10 young teenagers, including bombarding one girl he found online.

Seath made 4,246 searches on his phone in seven days 600 a day with the majority related to teenage girls.

He admitted attempted abduction with intent to commit a sexual offence and having a bladed article.

David Reid, mitigating, said Seath has little memory of the incident or the time leading up to it, and had the butter knife on him as he was homeless but living in a hotel.

He does recognise this young girl would have been very scared about what he did and the public in general would be concerned about his behaviour, he said.

Seath, previously of Osborne Road, Southsea, must sign the sex offenders register for 10 years, and a lifetime order restricts his access to children. He must pay a 170 victim surcharge.

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A PAEDOPHILE nursery volunteer's cover was blown after a Christmas card from a charity supporting sex attackers was spotted at her home, it has been reported. Tracy Lyons, 46, from Portsmouth, was jailed in 2011 for her role in a paedophile ring after she admitted filming herself abusing a two-year-old boy and sending the video and images to Colin Blanchard. A neighbour had visited Lyons who was going by a different surname at her home in Southampton but saw a Christmas card signed from all your friends at Circles, a support group for sex offenders. The Mirror said the charity is a social network aiming to rehabilitate offenders by providing volunteer friends. Her new pal confronted her on Christmas Eve after discovering her past online. She called police and fled. Lyons, formerly of Hewett Road, North End, was released from jail in 2011 after serving nine months of a four-year sentence after admitting two indecent assaults on a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and three counts of distributing indecent photographs of children. She volunteered at Izzies Neighbourhood Nursery, in North End, in July 2008, although police said no abuse took place there. As reported, the paedophile ring was masterminded by Blanchard, from Rochdale, whose partner Vanessa George sent him abuse images. He was jailed indefinitely with a minimum of nine years.

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A sex monster who repeatedly raped an underage girl leaving her pregnant boasted he was copying his rapist dad, his ex-girlfriend has revealed.

Bethany Hazell was just 15 and 16 when she was sexually assaulted by James Hunt, whose father Neil Hunt was jailed for 12 years for raping a woman on the street.

The supermarket worker, who is currently serving eight years in prison for three attacks on Bethany, now 21,told her: "Dad did it so I have done it now."

Hunt, 21, was jailed in 2013 for the attacks - and raping another woman - after boasting of his crimes to a friend, who was a PCSO.

At the age of 12 he had watched TV reports of the 2007 trial of his dad at Winchester Crown Court , where the jury heard how he sprang from his car, threw the woman to the ground and violently raped her before driving home and slipping into bed beside wife Heather.

Bethany, of Cosham, Portsmouth, is now bringing up three-year-old daughter Teagan-Hope, who she had as a result of the second rape.

She said: "It looks like he is proud that he is like his dad. It's like he thinks it's a cool thing. It just makes me feel so sick. It is disgusting."

Bethany and Hunt met at a district Scouts camp in 2010 when they were both just 15 but things quickly took a sinister turn.

She recalled: "I felt like I was in love with him - that it was going to be forever - but it was only three or four months into the relationship that things got nasty.

"We were arguing about something - I can't remember what - and he went to punch me but at the last second he punched the wall directly beside my head.

"I was scared. Warning bells rang but I just really loved him. He apologised and he seemed genuine about it - it was only once and he didn't actually hit me."

Six months into the relationship Hunt committed the first rape when he demanded sex for the first time and she said she wasn't ready.

He ignored her protests and pinned her down and repeated the crime ten months later.

The third rape happened at her family home when Bethany was 20 weeks pregnant - while her parents were downstairs.

Bethany, who has waived her anonymity, said: "James isn't bothered by what he's done. He was like, 'Oh well, dad did it so I have done it now.'

"He is even using it to flirt with people, in a twisted way.

"I saw a conversation between him and a girl and he said, 'Oh no, you won't be interested in me because I've done a terrible thing.'

"At the time when it was happening he seemed genuinely remorseful but from his comments now, it looks like he is proud that he is like his dad."

Bethany said she lived in constant fear of Hunt's unpredictable mood swings and violent outbursts.

She said: "I was going to a Christmas party once so he hid the dress I was going to wear so I couldn't go. Other times he would hide my purse so I couldn't go out.

"He was quite aggressive some of the time but the rest of the time he could be really nice. He used to get me loads of little presents - things he knew I would like."

Asked why she did not leave Hunt or go to police, she said: "I felt trapped.

"It was scary at the time but at other times he was fine and everything was good so I tried to make it into less of an issue.

"I think I knew he was a bad person but I made the issue into a smaller thing. I was just very naive.

"I thought, 'He does love me. He just gets a bit angry sometimes. I probably wind him up.'"

Bethany said Hunt and his father, who had two other children and was separated from his mother, lost contact in October 2006 when he was arrested for a minor crime.

A DNA check linked him to an unsolved rape from 17 years previously and his mother Helen, now 49, later told him the truth about his father.

Hunt and his father have recently got back in touch and now Hunt's mother - who has forgiven her son - wants them to meet her little girl.

Heather was recently refused access to Bethany's daughter by a court.

Bethany claims Heather has been secretly passing Hunt photos of the little girl and Hunt has written to Bethany from prison cell, begging to see her.

Bethany, who is bringing up her daughter at her parents' home, said she has suffered from post-natal depression, anxiety and PTSD since her relationship with Hunt.

She said: "I find it difficult to trust people. If someone close to you can do something like this, what can someone who doesn't know you do?

"It has ruined my life in a way. I had to grow up so quickly."

Bethany eventually left Hunt in November 2012 when her daughter was a baby because she feared he might turn on the little girl.

He was arrested three months later after boasting of his crimes to a PCSO mate who told his superiors.

He was charged with four counts of rape - three against Bethany and one relating to a second girl.

He pleaded guilty and was jailed for eight years at Portsmouth Crown Court in October 2013.

His father had his sentence reduced on appeal to seven years.