Latest Offenders

Description

A Nottinghamshire man who raped a fellow teenager has been jailed.

Kian Allsebrook, 20, carried out the assault on the young woman on 10 September 2020 when he was 18.

A jury found Allsebrook, of Selston, guilty of the rape of a person over the age of 16, following a four-day trial in April.

At Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday Allsebrook was jailed for two years and three months and was made subject of a four-year restraining order.

He must also sign the sex offenders register for the next 10 years.

Det Con Barry Haines said: "It is absolutely incomprehensible that anyone would ever force themselves on someone without their consent, in the manner that he did.

"I'd like to commend the victim for having the courage to share what happened to her with the police, so that we were able to help bring her some justice."

Description

A paedophile couple who sexually abused an eight-year-old girl on a video call and fantasised about kidnapping another child have been jailed.

Robert Stanley, 36, and his girlfriend Danielle Schofield, 34, were caught following an investigation from the National Crime Agency (NCA).

In August 2019, the couple had a video call in which Schofield sexually abused an eight-year-old girl.

Stanley took screenshots of the abuse for his gratification after he encouraged and incited Schofield.

The pair admitted arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, sexual assault of a child under the age of 13, taking indecent images of children and distributing indecent images of children.

Stanley, of Tilbury, Essex, was jailed for four-and-a-half years and Schofield, of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, for three years and four months at Bradford Crown Court on Friday.

NCA detectives began an investigation last April after receiving intelligence Stanley had accessed three Category A - the most serious - child abuse videos.

Officers arrested unemployed Stanley at Schofields home in Dewsbury, on 23 April last year.

He was released on conditional bail while the investigation continued.

Forensic examination of Stanleys mobile phone showed he had sent Schofield a Category B indecent image of a child on 6 May, 2019.

She was subsequently arrested on 20 May 2020. Schofield was also released on conditional bail while the NCAs investigation continued.

Officers uncovered disturbing chats between the pair in which they talked about child abuse, discussed alleged previous abuse of the girl and plotted future abuse.

There was evidence that Stanley had four Category B images on his phone including two screenshots he took of the video call where Schofield abused the eight-year-old girl.

Officers identified and safeguarded the youngster, the NCA said.

On 30 September, 2020, NCA officers arrested Stanley and Schofield for serious child sexual offences.

Jacque Beer, NCA regional head of investigations said: These were sickening crimes where Stanley and Schofield had disturbing conversations about their fantasies.

The couple were also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life and were made subject to sexual harm prevention orders.

Description

A man has been jailed after sexually assaulting a grandmother as she slept in her bed in Worcester.

Daniel Edwards, 28, entered the house through a kitchen window and then attacked the victim, in her 40s, in her bedroom, the court heard.

The woman, who had previously rejected him, woke up from what she thought was a bad dream, swore at him and told him to leave, jurors were told.

The father-of-one was found guilty of assault by penetration at Worcester Crown Court on Friday following the attack in a flat in Warndon in 2013.

Judge Nicholas Cole jailed Edwards for six years, half to be served in custody.

In the summer of 2013 the woman woke up to discover Edwards, who was “half-naked”, sexually assaulting her.

She thought she was having a “bad dream'” and then feared she was going to be strangled.

When she woke up the victim swore, asked Edwards what he was doing and told him to get out of her house.

He denied assault and claimed he only shook her to wake her because he was looking for somewhere to stay because he was locked out of his home.

The same woman had previously told Edwards she was “old enough to be his mum” as she rebuffed him.

The judge said the offence was aggravated because it was committed in the early hours of the morning and Edwards had been drinking.

Speaking after the hearing the victim said she had wanted an apology from Edwards but had never received one.

She thought he had “no conscience” about what he had done.

The woman, who declined the use of a screen when she gave evidence during the trial, said: "I'm still sad. I take no pleasure from this.

The victim, who cannot be identified, often sleeps on the sofa of her home because she cannot bear to sleep on the same bed where she was assaulted, has suffered mental health problems, has to see a psychiatrist and has been prescribed antidepressants.

Speaking of Edwards she said: "He's a sexual predator. I think women are safer now."

Edwards, from Pershore, Worcestershire, is subject to notification requirements indefinitely meaning he must inform police of any change of name or address.

He is also barred from working with children or other vulnerable people.

Edwards was cleared of assault by penetration against a girl aged 13 to 15, alleged to have taken place between 2008 and 2011.

The jury also cleared him of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence, with regards to the woman in her 40s.

Description

A sex offender has been put behind bars after using Snapchat and WhatsApp on his phone.

Paul Cummings was previously convicted of attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming in September 2020. The 38-year-old was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and notification requirement.

He went on to breach the order and attempted to engage in sexual communication with a child in November 2022.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how two police officers visited Cummings' home in South Shields on December 14 last year and examined his mobile phone. They discovered that the Snapchat app had been used the previous day.

Gabrielle Wilks, prosecuting, said the WhatsApp app had also been accessed the same day. She said: "Neither of the apps appeared to be present on the device and therefore they had been deleted."

When asked if he had used Snapchat the previous day, Cummings said: "I'm sorry I was only going to use it to pay for pictures of adults".

His phone was seized and found to contain 18 items of deleted website history, four alias names and a Lloyds bank account, which police had not been notified about. The history included visits to EE, BT, WWE, Lloyds bank and Hello magazine.

Cummings, of Woodhouse Court, South Shields, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a notification requirement and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

The court in Newcastle heard how he had already breached his sexual harm prevention order on five previous occasions.

Laura Miller, defending, told the court: "It was stupid, it was reckless, he knows that. He knows now the consequences. He's come today having been up for most of the night not being able to sleep because he's scared to go to prison today.

"He knows to expect a custodial sentence today and he's come prepared for that."

Ms Miller said that Cummings was currently in stable accommodation and he would lose that if he was to be sent to prison. She said he had previously worked well with the probation service and could be made subject to a suspended sentence order.

Recorder Tony Hawks told Cummings: "Because of offences that you have committed in relation to children in 2000 and 2022 you are a registered sex offender. You are also subject to a sexual harm prevention order. On no less than five previous occasions you have breached the notification requirements or sexual harm prevention order.

"It's said that you now understand what these requirements mean. Well you have been sent to prison twice already for breaching them so I find it difficult to know that you didn't know in advance what the consequences may be.

"You are a registered sex offender. These orders are in place to regulate your activity and any risk that you present to the public.

"You are a man who has persistently breached these requirements. And so I don't think there's any alternative other than to impose a period of imprisonment that will be immediate."

Recorder Hawks sentenced Cummings to 15 months in prison.

Description

A York company director who tried to give a '12-year-old girl' sex instructions and told her to think like a slave is today starting a jail term.

For six weeks, Timothy Michael Downie, 52, masqueraded online as a 19-year-old woman as he gave the 'girl' advice on how to perform sexual acts and encouraged her to find older boys to treat her sexually, Matthew Moore-Taylor, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

“Stop thinking of yourself as a little girl and start thinking like a Roman slave girl who needs to please her master or get thrown to the lions,” he told her on an online social media platform.

He also told her performing sexual acts with older boys would give her self confidence.

But the “girl” was an undercover police officer taking part in an operation to track down and arrest online sex offenders and Downie was arrested.

Downie, who ran a management consultancy, of Chestnut Avenue, Heworth, pleaded guilty to attempting to incite an underage girl to perform sexual acts and attempted sexual communication with a child.

He was jailed for 32 months, put on the sex offenders’ register for life and barred from working with children or vulnerable adults.

Judge Simon Hickey said Downie had believed he was talking to a real girl. 

For Downie, Sean Smith said he had never tried to meet the 'girl' or get her to send photographs of herself. He had also taken substantial steps in rehabilitating himself since his arrest in 2022.

Mr Moore-Taylor said the detective set up a false profile on Kik social media of a 12-year-old girl called 'Mia'.

On January 12, 2022, 'Mia' was contacted by a profile claiming to be Katy Brown, a 19-year-old York woman on a gap year. But it was really run by Downie. It had been on Kik for 2,866 days.

Early on in the conversation Downie asked 'Mia’s' age and when she said she was in Year 8, Downie started sexual messages, including asking about her sexual experiences.

Police amassed 34 pages of messages between the two between January 12 and February 28 in which Downie gave continuous sexual instructions and tried to persuade “Mia” to perform acts that she said she was reluctant to do.

In the messages were references to 'Mia’s' age of 12 years. The messages were not sent every day.

Police went to Downie’s home, arrested him and confiscated his internet equipment. He didn’t answer their questions about his sexual crimes. He had no previous convictions.

Mr Smith handed in letters from Downie's family that the judge said showed a different side of him and how shocked and surprised they were by what he had done. 

Co-director of Safer Lives sex offender rehabilitation agency and qualified probation officer Andrew Green gave evidence on behalf of Downie and the rehabilitative work he had done with the agency.

He said he believed Downie would not reoffend.

Mr Smith said Downie had also worked with a psycho-sexual-therapist and completed 48 sessions.

Description

A victim of a convicted child sex offender has spoken out for the first time about her harrowing ordeal.

The girl was just a child when Michael Griffiths sexually assaulted her, permanently shattering her trust in others forever.

Griffiths, 34, from Tameside, was jailed for 11 years and three months for his crimes in October 2023. They include 17 counts of sexual activity with a child.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, one of his victims has revealed how the trauma she endured continues to devastate her life.

“I knew it was wrong,” she said. “I couldn’t do anything about it. I didn’t tell anyone for a year. My behaviour was off and I was stressed. I couldn’t tell anyone why; I just said it was school.”

Griffiths sexually assaulted the girl on three occasions over the course of several years. Though she was desperate to tell others what had happened, she worried nobody would believe her.

“I was just scared of him,” she added. “[During one assault] I just froze. I didn’t know what to do.

“I did want to tell people. He probably got more comfortable after he realised I wouldn’t say anything. It made me feel disgusted; it was revolting and I couldn’t do anything about it."

The victim says the assaults have impacted every aspect of her life – from relationships to school grades.

“[It’s affected] literally everything,” she added. “My school grades did drop a bit because of him.

“I don’t think I can ever look at anyone and not think they have malicious thoughts. I don’t think I can ever fully trust a person again because of it.

“My counsellor has been a big help. I had really bad anxiety when it all came out. It just felt so unreal; I wasn’t expecting it to come out like it did.

The victim says she is slowly starting to rebuild her life. “I’m doing a lot better than when it came out and when it happened,” she said.

“I feel like I’ve come to accept it now. I know I can’t change it and it wasn’t my fault and there’s nothing I can do about it now.

“It belongs in the past. Now I just do what I can to move on.”

Griffiths was also convicted of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Description

A sleazy bus driver sat a 15-year-old girl on his lap and carried out sex acts with her while he was driving a late night passenger bus.

Paedophile driver Christopher McIntosh, 38, hit speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour as he crossed Fife with the vulnerable teenager sitting on him.

A court was shown footage from the internal bus camera which showed McIntosh and the girl cramped in together in the driver's cab during a two hour journey.

Dundee Sheriff Court was shown 16 minutes of clips from the journey which revealed that they were also using a mobile phone while McIntosh was at the wheel.

The court heard that McIntosh was driving late night buses for Moffat and Williamson between St Andrews and Glenrothes when he would meet the girl.

During the course of several journeys - when there were no other passengers on board - they would engage in sexual activity while McIntosh was driving.

McIntosh, from Dundee, admitted engaging in sexual activity during the course of a number of journeys between 20 March and 10 April last year. He admitted kissing and embracing the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during repeated sexual trysts.

He was also found guilty after a trial of driving the number 64 double decker bus carelessly on various roads around Fife on 10 April 2023. He was found to have driven with a child in the driver's seat alongside him, with his arm around the child, and while repeatedly looking at a mobile phone.

Fiscal depute Michael Robertson told the court: "The CCTV is from an older bus and is not the best of quality, but there is a 16-minute video clip.

"The Crown have libelled that the accused drove dangerously as a child was sitting in the driver's seat alongside the accused, who had an arm round the child, and repeatedly looked at a mobile phone whilst driving.

"You can see the accused driving with a female passenger in the cab while he was in his official capacity working as a bus driver. You can see the illumination of the mobile phone.

"The Crown argue that there are risks to driving a large vehicle while using a mobile phone, whether there are passengers or not.

"Looking at a mobile phone is a distraction and a risk and having a passenger in the cab whilst driving the bus is a risk. The Crown submit it is dangerous."

Solicitor Larry Flynn, defending, said: "There is no argument that he was the driver. The driving was captured on CCTV."

McIntosh was charged with dangerous driving, but found guilty of the lesser charge of careless driving. Sheriff John Rafferty said the quality of the driving was unclear from the CCTV.

He deferred sentence on McIntosh for the preparation of social work reports and added his details to the Sex Offenders Register. He was granted bail.

It is understood McIntosh was well aware of the girl's age because she had initially shown her child's identity card to obtain free travel on the bus.

Description

An online sexual predator who thought that he was exchanging messages with a young girl aged under 16 was later found with more than 1,600 indecent images of children on his phone.

Daniel O'Connell believed that he was chatting with a real girl when he became involved in sexualised conversations on Snapchat – but really it was an undercover police officer who was working covertly to identify possible sexual offenders. The haul of indecent images that was discovered included 466 in the most serious category, Hull Crown Court heard.

O'Connell, 26, of Hull Road, Withernsea, originally denied attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity, for the purposes of sexual gratification, via online chat between March 28 and April 10, 2021 and three offences of making indecent images of children between January 1, 2019 and April 22, 2021.

The case had been adjourned on September 28 last year for a trial that was due to be held on May 7. Defence barrister Benjamin Donnell told the court at the original hearing that O'Connell denied the offences at that time because he claimed that the IP address that had been linked to his device had seemingly been "cloned" by someone else.

But at a resumed hearing on April 30, arranged ahead of the scheduled trial, the court was told that O'Connell was now pleading guilty to the charges and he was abandoning the cloning claims. He accepted the full prosecution case and he now did not want to take the case to trial.

The court heard that O'Connell was in communication with a decoy 12-year-old girl whose profile on Snapchat had been set up by undercover police in a bid to catch possible online sexual predators.

Messages were exchanged between the fake girl and O'Connell. He believed that he was chatting online with a real girl. The conversations became sexual and O'Connell asked the fake girl to send him a picture of her chest.

No suggestions of a meeting between them were made and nothing of that type was arranged. The conversations came to an end and O'Connell was later arrested.

Police found indecent images of children on his phone. They included 466 in the most serious Category A, 384 in Category B and 791 in Category C – a total of 1,641 images. The pictures were said to have been inaccessible because they had been deleted previously.

O'Connell, a carer, had no previous convictions. Mr Donnell was not asked to provide any mitigation after the judge indicated that he intended to impose a suspended prison sentence.

O'Connell was given credit of 15 per cent for his late pleas of guilty, which was less than he would have been given for early pleas. He lost some credit because the case had originally been listed for trial.

O'Connell was given a 66-week suspended prison sentence, 31 days of a sex offender treatment programme and 20 days' rehabilitation. He was given a six-year sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender for 10 years. The images on the phone will be erased.

Description

A "creep" child sex abuse offender from the Isle of Wight used video games on his phone to "lure" a young girl before abusing her, a court has heard.

Paedophile Adrian Colvin, of Pennycress Drive, Newport, was jailed at the Isle of Wight Crown Court on Friday, May 31.

Court heard of the "profound and lasting" effect his offending has had on the girl.

On April 24, Colvin was convicted by jury trial of three counts of sexual activity with a child under 13, and two further charges of assaulting a girl under 13 by penetration.

The offences, which he denied, happened on the Isle of Wight, between June 13, 2018, and December 1, 2021, when the girl was aged between nine and 12.

Court heard how Colvin's crimes were brought to the attention of police in 2022.

The girl explained how video games on Colvin's phone were used to lure her and then she was invited round, prosecutor, Tim Devlin, said.

During those visits, Colvin would touch her inappropriately and sexually assault her, court heard.

Mr Devlin said the victim thought he was a "creep" and tried to stop him by kicking.

A victim impact statement read to the court heard how, since the abuse, the girl suffers with mental health issues.

She has missed a lot of school as she struggles going anywhere on her own.

"I'm no longer myself. It is always there in my mind", the statement said.

For Colvin, Thomas Acworth said the 27-year-old is an "isolated" figure who was neurologically under developed, in comparison to others his age.

With no previous convictions, Colvin is a young man who had never been in trouble before, Mr Acworth said.

He feels the convictions have brought his life to an end but Mr Acworth said hope is not lost for him and he can become an effective member of society again.

Recorder Elisabeth Bussey-Jones said Colvin's offending showed elements of grooming and has had a "profound and lasting effect on a vulnerable person."

"These offences are so serious", she said. "Whether you will offend again, only time will tell."

Colvin was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years and ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

Description

An Aberdeen sex offender found with more than two days’ worth of child abuse video has been warned he has narrowly avoided going to jail.

Michal Lauryn appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted possessing more than 10,000 indecent images of children and hours of video – some of which featured “sadistic” content.

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Description

A convicted sex offender who did gardening work at a north Suffolk school as a volunteer in breach of a court order has been jailed for 16 months.

Kevin Corrick visited the school to deliver gardening products and to cut grass over a period of 10 months without telling anyone he was banned from going to schools under a sexual harm prevention order, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Corrick, 63, of Nightingale Court in Blyburgate, Beccles, admitted four breaches of a sexual harm prevention order made in 2012 after he was jailed for 15 years for raping and sexually assaulting a schoolgirl and making indecent images of children.

The breaches related to him entering an educational establishment between March and December 2023 and working in a youth organisation when he was banned from doing so under the terms of the order.

He also admitted failing to notify the authorities that he had an Amazon tablet and a new bank card.

Jailing him for 16 months, Judge Emma Peters said sexual harm prevention orders had an important use in ensuring that people convicted of sex offences were regulated in the way they lived their lives when they were released from prison.

The court heard that Corrick had attended a school over a period of 10 months as a volunteer supplying items to the school and providing gardening services through the Man Shed community project.

Asked by police why he didn’t tell anyone he was the subject of a sexual harm prevention order, he said he didn’t want to lose his role.

He denied visiting the school to get access to children but admitted being sexually attracted to children.

He told police: “I can’t help what’s in my head.”

Claire Matthews, for Corrick, said her client had not had any unsupervised contact with children and his role had been limited to delivering gardening products and lawn strimming at the school through Man Shed.

She said Corrick had been released from prison in 2019 and had not reoffended since his release.

She said he realised he had done wrong and was remorseful.

Description

A SEX offender from Rugby who downloaded almost a thousand indecent images of children has been jailed for two years.

Martin Harvey, 66, of Ferndown Road, was being monitored by officers and the probation service following a previous sexual offence.

And in 2023 it was discovered that he had deleted some of his internet browsing history – breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

He was also found to have a hard drive containing almost a thousand indecent images of children.

When Harvey was interviewed by officers, he claimed he had deleted browsing history on his phone because he had been having issues with ‘pop ups’ and he believed that might fix it.

He then claimed that he had bought the hard drive because he wanted to research ways to reinstate his search history.

When officers asked why the hard drive contained indecent images of children, Harvey said he had ‘drifted back into the old days,’ adding, ‘I was stupid’.

He was subsequently charged with breaching his SPHO and for downloading indecent images of children.

On Wednesday May 29, Harvey appeared before Warwick Crown Court where he was jailed for 24 months.

DC Lauren Cooper said: “We are thankful to the courts for this sentence.

“I hope this serves as a warning to others who believe they can continue to offend in this way.

“Viewing indecent images of children creates a market for the sexual abuse of children, and I want to be absolutely clear – if you are involved in the production or viewing of materials like that, it’s only a matter of time before we are at your door.”

Description

Today (Thursday 30 May), Nicholas Moxham has been found guilty of a series of depraved and abhorrent offences against women, including rape, prostitution, slavery and sexual assault, many of which took place in his home where he set up secret cameras to watch his victims and film his disturbing behaviour.

Nicholas Moxham (5/3/72), of Briarfield Road, Heaton Chapel, was found guilty of the following offences after 5-week trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court:

• Controlling prostitution for gain x6
• Requiring a person to perform forced or compulsory labour x3
• Rape x6
• Attempted rape
• Assault by penetration x3
• Voyeurism x13

Moxham first came to the attention of the police in June and July 2020 when witnesses reported seeing someone called ‘Nick’ in the company of sex workers and often loitering near homeless shelters.

Over time, he recruited six women as sex workers, arranging for clients to visit his home and an address in Longsight, Manchester.

Many of these encounters were covertly filmed by Moxham using specialist equipment including secret cameras hidden in pens.

On several occasions, videos showed Moxham raping or sexually assaulting women, sometimes whilst they were unconscious.

During a warrant at his home on 17 August 2021, officers found a woman, described as ‘pale and malnourished’, under a duvet on his living room floor. Immediate safeguarding measures were put in place to protect her, and the investigation advanced to identify other victims.

During this raid, officers recovered computer hard drives, storage devices and spyhole cameras, despite Moxham’s attempt to dispose of the evidence by throwing a hard drive out of his bedroom window as police entered his house.

Detective Sergeant Lee Attenborough, of Stockport CID, said: “This is one of the most horrific and upsetting cases my team has ever had to deal with.

“Moxham is a controlling and predatory sex offender who thought he was untouchable, denying his horrendous crimes right to the very end, forcing his victims to go through the ordeal of a trial.

"He showed absolutely no regard for any of his victims, some of whom won’t even know they were targeted due to the calculated and covert methods he used to take advantage.  

“His offending was well-planned and continued whilst he was under investigation, even boasting to one of his victims that he was too clever for police.

"His victims have been extremely brave, and I can only commend them for coming forward to give evidence against Moxham. I know this hasn’t been easy, but thanks to their courageous actions, Moxham is off our streets and will now face a considerable time behind bars.

“I know that reporting crimes like this can be incredibly difficult and traumatic, but we would urge anyone who has suffered violence or controlling behaviour of any type to come forward.

“If anyone has been affected by this case or believes they may have been targeted, we have specialist officers who can help.

“We are determined to bring offenders to justice and make Manchester a safer place for everyone."

Description

A CREEP who filmed young girls from behind without their knowledge or permission at Greenock's Oak Mall was yesterday spared a jail sentence for the 'extremely disturbing' crime.

Stewart Stenhouse - now on the Sex Offenders Register - was snared in the shopping centre after a shocked witness watched him follow a group of children and record them on his mobile phone.

The 44-year-old pleaded guilty to the breach of the peace offence prior to being sentenced at Greenock Sheriff Court.

A sheriff declared that the 'extremely disturbing' video Stenhouse had captured had a 'significant sexual element' to it.

Sheriff James Varney told Stenhouse yesterday: "I reviewed the footage in this case, which was extremely disturbing."

However, a community payback order was imposed as a direct alternative to a custodial term.

Lawyer Ellen Macdonald told the sentencing hearing: "He appears to have insight into this offending and into the fact that it would have had an impact on the girls that were involved."

The court previously heard how Stenhouse targeted four young females in the mall and videoed them without their knowledge or permission on June 17 last year.

A prosecutor said his actions raised 'extreme alarm' and suspicion among other people in the centre and an eyewitness saw Stenhouse following the group of ‘young girls’ at around 3.15pm.

Procurator fiscal depute Pamela Brady said: “The accused was walking behind them and was videoing the girls on his phone.

“He had followed them for several metres with his phone at stomach level.

“The witness was extremely alarmed by what he saw and notified security staff.

“He was immediately of the opinion that the accused was videoing the young girls for sexual gratification.”

Following intervention from the witness, Stenhouse attempted to ‘run away’, the court was told.

He eventually admitted his actions to security staff, who then contacted police.

Stenhouse was later arrested by officers who had reviewed CCTV footage from inside the centre.

He replied ‘no comment’ after being charged.

Prosecutor Mrs Brady explained that the footage on his phone captured between the girls’ knees and waists.

The fiscal depute added: “The Crown position is that there was a sexual element to this behaviour.”

He eventually admitted his actions to security staff, who then contacted police.

Stenhouse was later arrested by officers who had reviewed CCTV footage from inside the centre.

He replied ‘no comment’ after being charged.

Prosecutor Mrs Brady explained that the footage on his phone captured between the girls’ knees and waists.

The fiscal depute added: “The Crown position is that there was a sexual element to this behaviour.”

Description

A man from Swansea has been jailed for multiple child sex offences.

34-year-old Phillip Bowler, from Mount Pleasant, sent messages of a sexual nature to a child before arranging a meeting to force them to delete the messages. He then touched the victim inappropriately.

Bowler later sent multiple further communications to the child, making considerable effort to incite them into sexual activity. He also sent the victim a video of himself which was of a sexual nature.

Phillip Bowler has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for engaging in sexual communications with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and for arranging/facilitating of child sexual offences.

He will be a registered sex offender for life.