Latest Offenders

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A pensioner was found with a mirror as he attempted to spy on two young sisters while they were in showers at a Cromer holiday park.

Trevor Cator, 67, was seen by one of the girls on all fours after trying to peer under cubicles at Cromer Caravan Park.

Norwich Magistrates’ Court was told that he had claimed to police that a mirror found in his possession had been to read text on his mobile phone.

Stuart Cowen, prosecuting, said: “If you use a mirror for that the text will be backwards. The crown says there was a more sinister use.”

The two sisters, aged nine and 11, had been on holiday at the campsite on August 8 when they went into female toilets to use shower cubicles.

Mr Cowen said: “One of the girls heard something outside so she put a towel on and opened the door and saw the defendant on all fours within one of the toilets.”

She alerted her parents who confronted Cator who had fled into the male toilets and locked himself in a cubicle, the court heard

He later claimed to police that he had been caught short and rushed into the toilets without checking whether they were male or female.

Cator, of Barkers Herne in Cromer, pleaded guilty to attempted voyeurism.

The court was told he had previously been convicted of spying on two young girls changing in a cubicle at a Hemsby holiday park in 2013.

David Foulkes, mitigating, said there was no evidence his latest offence was more than an attempt at voyeurism. 

“What he saw was a girl emerging from a shower cubicle wearing a towel. He did not see into the cubicle and no recording was taking place,” he added. 

Committing him to be sentenced at Norwich Crown Court on January 8, magistrates told Cator: "These girls should have been in a safe place. This offence is so serious you need a greater punishment than we can give." 

He was given conditional bail banning him from any UK campsite and any public showers.

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Pervert Steven Hawkes was caught with horrific child abuse photos - after serving time for similar offending. The 42-year-old was jailed for 16 months in 2019 after he took personal photographs off customers’ computers at a Currys PC World store for his own sexual gratification.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard at the time he secretly copied hard drives while transferring shoppers’ data from their old devices to new ones which they had bought from the retail giant. He then viewed customers’ photographs – including a teenage girl’s school prom and pictures of women's breasts – at his home.

As part of the investigation, thousands of indecent images and films of children and extreme pornography featuring sex between humans and animals were also uncovered. He pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children, possessing extreme pornographic images, computer misuse and possessing cannabis.

But he received no help to address his problem and in December 2021, while misusing alcohol, he returned to perverted ways. Now Hawkes has been sentenced to nine months in prison, suspended for two years, at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court as the judge wants to give him a chance to receive treatment to address his issues.

Prosecutor Jas Dhaliwal said police received intelligence that the defendant's IP address had been used in connection with indecent images of children. They visited his address in Langley Street, Basford, at 7am on December 9, 2021.

Mr Dhaliwal said: "They seized two devices, a tablet and a mobile phone. They were analysed by experts. The tablet contained no indecent images. However there was evidence the device had been used to access folders regarding child sexual abuse."

Police recovered six accessible category A moving images from the phone; two category B movies; 58 prohibited still images and one moving image of a child; and one extreme pornographic image.

In his police interview in March this year Hawkes said he was misusing alcohol at the time. He said he was looking for that material so the police would arrest him and send him to custody.

Hawkes, of Langley Street, Basford, pleaded guilty to two charges of making indecent images of children; possession of a prohibited image of children and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

Hamish Noble, mitigating, said this offending was less serious than the 2019 matters but conceded his client's position was precarious because of his previous convictions. He said Hawkes did not receive much help to address his problem when in custody. He was released in April 2020, during lockdown, and had just two face-to-face meetings with probation in a 12-month period.

He said Hawkes is fortunate to have the support of his parents. But his finances were in a mess and he returned to alcohol misuse. Mr Noble said: "His position was quite bleak. He had no work, no money, debts, no relationship, and poor mental health. Alcohol may have acted as a disinhibitor."

Mr Noble said the offending happened during a two-week period. Hawkes has since consolidated his debts and reduced his alcohol consumption. Mr Noble added: "He recognises that is an issue. He can be punished in the community. There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation."

As part of the suspended sentence Hawkes must complete an iHorizon course; a rehabilitation activity requirement for 25 days and 160 hours unpaid work.

Judge Graeme Smith said: "This case is unusual because normally people who are found with indecent images are initially given a suspended sentence with a treatment requirement. If they then re-offend they are sent to custody.

"In your case, you were sent to custody the first time you offended. You were not given any assistance by way of treatment. The purpose of the court is not just punishment but also rehabilitation.

"The fact you have re-offended in exactly the same way would normally lead to immediate custody. However, the extent of your offending is less than on the first occasion and it is much shorter in terms of length. There has been a significant delay since your arrest in December 2021."

Hawkes was made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and was placed on the sex offenders' register for life.

Judge Smith added: "This is to rehabilitate you as well as punish you. If you are unwilling or unable to change, be in no doubt what will happen next time, custody."

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A man has been jailed for years after he stabbed another man in the back following a brawl. 

Florin Suta, 41, of Green Street, High Wycombe, was jailed for stabbing a man in the back in High Wycombe.

He pleaded guilty to one count each of Section 18 wounding with intent, possession of an offensive weapon in a public place, and failing to comply with notification requirements at a hearing at Aylesbury Crown Court on September 7.

He was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment at Aylesbury Crown Court on Friday, December 1 and he will be on licence for two years after his release.

The attack happened following an altercation involving several people on Green Street at about 11.50pm on July 14.

READ MORE: ‘Illegal' tobacco and vapes are seized in Aylesbury

On arrival, police officers located the victim, a man in his thirties, with a stab wound to his back.

Several members of the public identified Suta at the scene and notified officers that he was in possession of a knife, so they arrested him.

CCTV footage showed that as the victim left an address along Green Street, Suta emerged from an adjacent alleyway and stabbed the victim once in the back.

The victim escaped and he was pursued along the road by Suta, who then fell over.

After arresting Suta, officers discovered he had been living at a different address to the one he provided and he had failed to notify the police.

He is a registered sex offender, meaning one of his requirements is to notify police of a chance of address within three days of any change.

Suta was charged the following day.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Will Blundell, of South Buckinghamshire CID, said: “Suta attacked the victim with a knife in a targeted attack intending to cause injury. He then pursued the victim, who was running away from him, and was only prevented from causing further harm when he fell over.

“Suta remained in possession of the knife whilst he himself made a call to the police during which he showed no remorse for his actions.

“A large number of members of the public came out onto the street due to the disturbance and thankfully, no one else was injured as Suta continued to walk along the road armed with the knife prior to officers arriving.

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A pet-collecting paedophile who sexually abused two youngsters has been jailed for 27 years.

Fraser Brennan subjected the children to sickening abuse which has left both of them traumatised. Newcastle Crown Court heard the 35-year-old was previously convicted of sexually assaulting two other youngsters when he was 15 or 16 years old. He got a community order for that then was cautioned twice for breaching a sex offender registration requirement.

In relation to the latest case, the court heard Brennan kept a selection of animals, including a bearded dragon, snake and rabbits and he admitted the pets were attractive to children, although a judge said it was unclear whether he kept them for that purpose.

Brennan denied offending against the victims but was convicted of two counts of assault by penetration on one of them and attempted rape and two counts of assault by penetration on the other.

The abuse came to light after a school teacher was alerted and Brennan was arrested. He continues to deny any wrongdoing.

In a victim impact statement, one youngster said they are "more angry than ever" and has self-harmed. They added that they'll never forget it but hopes to use the experience to grow stronger.

The second victim said they have not been happy since the abuse and has depression, anxiety and has self-harmed.

Judge Christopher Prince jailed Brennan, of Camperdown, North Tyneside, for 27 years with an extended licence period of a further six years. He will also have to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Fiona Lamb, defending, said: "There's a different side to this defendant. His family are supportive of him."

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A “high risk” sex offender who abused young girls from the 1970s up until his arrest in 2021 has been jailed for 14 years.

Grenville Blower, 66, had denied abusing three pre-teen and teenage girls in the 1970s, 1990s and between 2017 and 2021.

Sentencing him to an extended 14-year sentence at Norwich Crown Court, Judge Katharine Moore said: “I regard you as a dangerous offender with a pattern of persistent and repeated behaviour.

“Plainly you are sexually attracted to pre-pubescent and young pubescent girls.”

Blower, of Lexham Road in Litcham, near Dereham, was convicted of 10 counts of indecent assault.

He abused the first victim on "multiple occasions" some when she was aged under 13 and he was 15 but others when he was aged over 18. 

Philip Farr, prosecuting, said it was "repeated and persistent" activity which happened on "several occasions".

His second victim was also assaulted multiple times in the 1990s when he touched her while she was just 14.

The third victim was aged between six and 11 when she was abused by the defendant when he was aged in his 60s

One of the victims read out a statement stating she has "cried myself to sleep thinking about what he has done to me".

She said any time she thinks about what happened it "makes me upset" adding that ever since it happened she has been "scared of old men" not knowing whether they wanted to do the same things to her.

Another victim said he had tried to "bury so, so deep" what he had done to her as she "didn't think anyone would believe me" but had been in "utter turmoil" as a result of what the "monster" did to her.

She said the "horrific events" she had been through as a result of this "devastating ordeal" would never leave her.

Another of the victims said she had "kept this to myself" for decades and wished she had the courage to have come forward sooner.

Judge Katharine Moore said a probation report had described Blower as “high risk” and “in denial” about his offending. 

She said the passage of time “makes it difficult now to assess your maturity” when he began offending in the 1970s aged 15 but from age 18 he was “highly culpable”.

Making him subject to a 20-year sexual harm prevention order, she said it was clear his “sexual interest in young girls remains undimmed”.  

Stephen Mather, for Blower, said he is a “simple man” who is "not in the best of health" and was experiencing prison for the first time.

He added that he knew he needed to be punished but insisted these matters were the "only offending" he had committed.

He will serve nine years in prison and five years on licence and will be subject to sexual offending notification requirements indefinitely.

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A man who raped a woman and forced her to have sex with other men while he watched has been jailed.

Gary Shaw also sexually assaulted another woman and engaged in controlling and coercive behaviour towards her.

He forced his victims to bravely recount their ordeals after denying the offences – but a jury at Derby Crown Court saw through his lies and after a trial in September found him guilty of rape, causing a person to engage in sexual activity without their consent, controlling and coercive behaviour and sexual assault.

The 53-year-old, of Market Place, Belper, was sentenced on 15 November when he was jailed for 12 years and handed restraining orders banning him from having any contact with the women. He must also sign the sex offender’s register for life.

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A Wirral man has been jailed today, Tuesday 5 December, for kidnapping and breaching an order.

Robert Byrne, 56 years, of Fountain Street, Birkenhead was sentenced to five years and four months in prison with five years on extended licence after he pleaded guilty at Liverpool Crown Court.

He was also issued with an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order with three further conditions added.

A deprivation order has been issued in relation to clothing and radio seized by Merseyside Police.

The court heard that in February a 13-year-old boy was upset and had entered a Liverpool city centre shop in the early of hours of the morning, asking the shopkeeper to contact police as he was reported missing.

While reporting it to police via phone the shopkeeper saw Byrne walk past the shop and asked for his assistance, as Byrne had previously identified himself as an undercover police officer.

Wearing clothes similar to a police uniform, Byrne took the teenage victim to a nearby fast-food place where police officers tracked him down and arrested him.

Police took the young victim safely home.

After Byrne’s arrest, several items consistent with a police uniform were seized.

The investigation was led by Detective Inspector Victoria Tinsley from the Sex Offender Unit who ensure that sex offenders living in the community are closely monitored.

She said: “This was very disturbing incident where Byrne preyed up on the young victim’s circumstances of being vulnerable and upset.

“What was also alarming was that Byrne had previously told retailers that he was a police officer working undercover. This showed the lengths his predatory behaviour would go to in order to win the trust members of the public by impersonating a police officer. 

“Thankfully genuine police officers quickly tracked Byrne down, and the young victim was taken safely home before any potential harm came to him.

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A convicted sex offender failed to tell police of his whereabouts while living in a tent on the streets of Norwich.

Jon Hannon, 36, is required to inform police where he was living after being placed on the sex offenders register for life following a conviction in 2014.  

Norwich Magistrates’ Court was told that when someone is homeless they are required to update police about their location every week.   

But the whereabouts of Hannon was not been known after he failed to keep police informed while living in a tent in April this year and on a second occasion when he was evicted from a homeless hostel.

Sally Harris, prosecuting, said: “You will appreciate how important it is for an offender of this type that the police do know exactly where he is residing.”

Hannon pleaded guilty to failing to comply with notification requirements.

He also admitted breaching a 24 week suspended prison sentence imposed after he was convicted for actual bodily harm in March.

The court was told he has 10 previous convictions for 19 offences including other breaches of court orders. 

Jonathan Perkins, mitigating, said on both occasions when he failed to notify police he had found himself abruptly homeless.

“Normally when a person is subject to notification orders they have annual sign-ins but when a person is homeless they are subject to a weekly notification with the police even if their tent is pitched in the same area as it was the week before,” he said. 

“So we have the unfortunate situation where those with the most unstable and precarious lives, who are generally the most vulnerable, have a burden that weighs on them 52 times more heavily than those with a place they can call their own.”  

Hannon was fined £240 and told to pay costs of £166. 

Magistrates told him: “Regardless of it being a burden, you must report to the police whether you like it or not.” 

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A man who was convicted of violent offences and serious sexual assaults has been jailed for 10 years.

James Christopher Armour, 57, was convicted following a trial at the High Court in Stirling on Thursday, 23 March 2023.

He was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow today, Wednesday, 31 May, 2023.

The offences were committed in the Fife area between 1983 and 1989.

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Disgust as Ayrshire sex beast first aider worked at charity event while on bail

Scott Faulkner appeared at a string of events after being released on bail in 2021 including the Ayrshire Hospice Go Purple Walk.

A caged sex beast continued to work as a first aider despite facing trial for rape and abduction of a teenage boy.

Creep Scott Faulkner continued to carry out his job providing emergency care at major events.

The Ayrshire Post can reveal the shameless first aider from Cumnock attended a string of events between July 2021 and September 2021, despite being charged for offences in February of that year. 

The 34-year-old was jailed at Glasgow High Court last month for 12 years after he was previously convicted after a trail in Edinburgh of six charges.

But despite facing those charges in 2021, Faulkner popped up at UK music festivals as far away as London and Peterborough.

Scott Faulkner continued to work with now defunct Burnside Event First Aid (Image: Burnside Event First Aid) 

The then suspected rapist also appeared at events back home, including the Ayrshire Hospice Go Purple Event.

Another chilling image shows Faulkner smiling behind a mask as he raises his hands up in the air in celebration.

This week the Ayrshire Hospice have stressed they were unaware of charges Faulkner was facing and that he broke their trust by appearing at their event.

Burnside Event First Aid boss at the time, Jonathan Peffers, has claimed he wasn’t aware of Faulkner’s attendance at such events until this newspaper alerted him to Faulkner’s appearances.

 Scott Faulkner was sentenced at Glasgow High Court last month 

Following his arrest Faulkner was removed as director of Burnside Event First Aid with Jonathan Peffers appointment in March 2021, as listed on Companies House.

Mr Peffers who now owns his own first aid firm Skylark Event Medical Services claims he was “out of the country” when Faulkner ghosted in to work three events, including the Go Purple Walk.

A spokesperson for Skylark Events Medical Services: “Both Jonathan Peffers and Skylark Event Medical Services Ltd deplore the behaviour and actions of Scott Faulkner that were the subject of his conviction.

“Mr Peffers was not aware of Scott Faulkner’s behaviour and actions. After he was charged and released on bail, Scott Faulkner strenuously denied to Mr Peffers that he had committed the acts of which he was ultimately convicted.

“Following Scott Faulkner’s release on bail, Mr Peffers did not give authority for Mr Faulkner to attend any events. Mr Peffers was unaware until yesterday, (6 June 2023), that Mr Faulkner had attended an event at Ayrshire Hospice in September 2021.

“Mr Peffers was unaware until today (June 7, 2023) that Mr Faulkner had attended events in Peterborough and London in July 2021.

“Mr Peffers did not authorise Scott Faulkner’s attendance at these events, all of which occurred when Mr Peffers was out of the country. Neither Mr Peffers or Skylark Event Medical Services Ltd have a continuing relationship with Scott Faulkner.

“Skylark Event Medical Services Ltd prides itself on providing excellent medical and rescue support services for its customers’ events and the priority now is to continue working with those customers to ensure all their future events are adequately supported.”

Faulkner was put on the sex offenders list indefinitely

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A serial rapist who targeted three women in Fife while they were sleeping has been jailed for 10 years.

The High Court in Dundee heard Jody Petrie, 37, attacked his victims while they were under the influence of drink or drugs after they fell asleep.

Petrie denied the offences, which took place from 2017 over four years in Tayport and St Andrews.

Judge Lady Drummond said Petrie would continue to pose a threat to women and had not shown any remorse.

He will also be supervised for three years following his release from jail.

Lady Drummond said: "You raped these women when they were at their most vulnerable.

"They suffered not only the physical impact, but long-standing psychological harm."

Petrie was found guilty by a jury of three separate charges of rape involving three different women.

The court heard he attacked his first victim in Tayport in 2017.

The jury found him guilty of raping his second victim in St Andrews in January 2019, and another woman in the same town in 2020.

Two further sex attack charges were found to be not proven by the jury.

Petrie also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

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Anthony Insall, aged 49 from Yarm, has pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children, both Category A images and Category C images, at Teesside Magistrates’ Court today, Friday 15th September 2023 and will be sentenced on 11th October 2023.

Investigating Officer, Detective Constable Barnes from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team said: “Anthony Insall searched for indecent images and content on the internet. He was found to have accessed the child abuse material over, at least, a 15-month period.

“The behaviour committed by Insall, and those who commit crime of a similar nature, is entirely abhorrent and causes significant harm to vulnerable children.

“Whilst this is an online offence, there are real victims out there living with the scars of abuse in this cycle of suffering. People who commit crimes of this nature are not invisible and we will ensure we do everything possible to bring them to justice.”

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A man has been jailed after he urinated on a train seat, chucked the seat cushion in a man’s face and sexually assaulted a woman. 

Harry Burgess, 25, was travelling on a train to New Eltham with friends on April 4 when he started acting up. 

At one point in the journey he exposed his genitals in full view of other passengers and urinated on a seat. 

He then threw the cushion at a male passenger, hitting him in the face. 

Then at New Eltham station he sexually assaulted a woman as she boarded the service. 

Detective Constable Matt Smart said "Burgess’ loutish and crude behaviour was humiliating and intimidating for the woman he singled out. 

“He is now serving time behind bars for his pathetic attempts to impress the friends he was travelling with. Sexual assault and violence of any kind is no joke as Burgess can now testify.” 

Burgess, of Brodrick Grove in Greenwich, pleaded guilty to sexual assault and assault by beating at Bromley Magistrates’ Court. 

On Monday (September 18) he was jailed for 24 weeks and handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order. 

He was also ordered to pay a £154 surcharge. 

DC Smart said: “We take all reports of sexual harassment and unwanted sexual behaviour seriously and will support victims throughout our investigations. 

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A former school child protection officer who sexually abused his pupils has been jailed.

Alexander Charles Ralls, 47, was found guilty of over 40 non-recent sexual offences at Bradford Crown Court.

The court heard he had carried out the offences while working at York public school Queen Ethelburga's.

Ralls, of Hazel Mead in Bedfordshire, was jailed for 16 years on Monday, and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

During a six-week trial at Bradford Crown Court, it was heard how, over a four-year period, Ralls used his position of trust to exploit his victims in the UK and on school trips abroad.

He was suspended from teaching and subsequently dismissed in 2015 following a disclosure made by a former student, according to the school.

'Sickening actions'

North Yorkshire Police said Ralls posed as a person with medical knowledge who told his victims to remove their clothes to examine them and then molested them.

Ralls was found guilty of 31 charges of sexual assault, 10 charges of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent and two charges of assault by penetration.

Investigating officer Det Con Suzanne Hall said Ralls had used his position of trust to "coerce and influence".

Det Con Hall added: "The extent of his offending was staggering and the fact that he continued to use the same excuse of providing medical care to carry out his sickening actions, shows his utter arrogance towards and contempt of his victims."

A spokesperson for Queen Ethelburga's said "significant improvements in safeguarding practices" had been made since then.

The spokesperson said the school wanted to express their "heartfelt sorrow and regret" to the victims.

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A senior project manager at power firm SSE has been caught with a cache of obscene child abuse images.

Police raided David Dickie’s Perth city centre home after learning illicit files were being downloaded to devices connected to the property.

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