Latest Offenders

Description

A former swimming coach has been sentenced to nine years in prison for sexually assaulting three children.

Tom Piggot, 21, from Welshpool, was convicted of a total of 10 offences, all of which he had denied, including two counts of rape, at a trial at Mold Crown Court in July.

The convictions also included possessing indecent videos and and images of children, many of which were in the most serious category.

He claimed his devices had been hacked.

Following his trial, Det Con Steve Williams, from Dyfed Powys Police, said it would not have been possible to secure the conviction without the "strength and bravery" of the victims in coming forward.

He added that some of the images found on his devices were "among the worst" he had ever seen.

Following his sentencing on Monday, Sandra Subacchi of the Crown Prosecution Service said: "Tom Piggott claimed he had not had any sexual contact with his child victims, and that his electronic devices had been hacked. Claims that the jury rejected.

"Rape is a devastating crime which the CPS is committed to tackling, and we were able to do so in this instance by these courageous children speaking up."

Description

Kyle Garner, 21, appeared in Chester Crown Court last week, May 26, to be sentenced for ten different charges related to ownership and distribution of indecent images of children, as well as encouraging someone to commit sexual crimes with a child, as well as himself arranging to meet an underaged person.

Prosecuting, Chris Hopkins told the court how Garner, of Chester Road in Preston Brook, was already subject to a suspended sentence and sexual harm prevention order, which prevented him from contacting children.

This was due to posting indecent pictures of children, for which he received 12 months, suspended for 24 months. 

He went on to describe how the Runcorn native had been found with 770 indecent images of children across multiple devices, including 13 extreme pornographic images.

As well as this, using an online app, he arranged for a 14-year-old to send them naked photos of themselves. Further, Garner arranged to meet them for sex, though this did not end up occurring.  

Mr. Hopkins went on to discuss the most shocking of the charges, in which Garner tried to arrange for another online user to rape their eight-year-old cousin.

In this incident, he was speaking to 14-year-old online. He engaged in a sexual conversation with the 14-year-old, having a long discussion with them about his sexual fantasies.

In this conversation, the defendant discussed his desire to have a sex slave who was between the ages of ten and 14.

The other user then informed Garner that their eight-year-old cousin was in the room.

The paedophile then told the user to rape their cousin for his pleasure. According to Mr Hopkins, there is nothing to suggest in the messages that this request was carried out.

In a separate incident found on the defendant’s phone, Mr Hopkins described a sexual conversation between Garner and a 14-year-old in which he had posed as a 15-year-old. In this conversation he requested sexual photos of the minor and had also briefly arranged to meet up for sex.

Defending Garner, Myles Wilson described an isolated man who “lives his life online.”

He reportedly was bullied at school and has a history of self-harm, stemming from his mother’s death when he was 8.

Garner was sentenced to five years in prison, with a minimum of three of these to be served in custody.

As well as this, he was placed on the sex offenders registry indefinitely.  

Description

A former teaching assistant was jailed after he deliberately used his position as a football coach to groom and abuse a young boy.

David Jones, described by a judge as a "serious risk to boys", first met the young boy when he was working at his primary school as a teaching assistant. The 33-year-old took an "instant liking" to the child and invited him to join a football club that he coached, with the young footballer doing so.

He began to groom him with text messages and lifts in his car with him integrating himself into the life of the boy's family. His parents innocently thought that the friendship was good for their son and improved his confidence but Liverpool Crown Court was told that his sexual abuse of the young boy led to him attempting suicide and has devastated his life.

When jailing Jones, Judge Anil Murray told him: “Your actions were carefully planned and designed to groom a child to take part in sexual activity with you for your sexual gratification.” The court also heard that some years later, in 2018, by which time Jones was a fully qualified teacher, he created a fake Instagram profile posing as an 11-year-old girl to contact a boy one year older.

He sent him messages that included "you're fit" and asked him to send naked photographs of himself. Fortunately, the boy was sceptical and told his mum about the messages who then contacted the police.

Officers managed to track the IP address of the account to a home of a couple where Jones had been house sitting at the time of the offence. He originally denied being to blame when interviewed and then wrote to the couple saying he had developed an addiction to pornography. He said that this had led to an increased interest in boys aged 12 and 13, however, when he was re-interviewed he made no comment.

Judge Anil Murray told Jones, of Loxley Road, Southport, that every parent of every boy he had taught “will be wondering whether you have committed any other offences. He said: "You are an intelligent man and you used your intellect to commit these offences.”

He said that he was satisfied that he had “selected the boy for grooming due to your sexual attraction to him from the beginning”. And he told him that the victim “says that his whole childhood was taken away from him by you”.

He said he accepted that Jones has lost his career but pointed out, “It is all your own fault”. Judge Murray said that Jones posed a high risk of re-offending. He added: “I am satisfied you present a serious risk to boys.”

He jailed him for three and a half years and ordered him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life. He imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a restraining order for 15 years.

Jones admitted the Instagram offence involving inciting a child under 13 to commit a sexual act involving sending him photographs. He denied two offences of sexually assaulting the schoolboy footballer - one happening on at least five occasions - and an offence of causing him to engage in sexual activity but he was convicted by a jury after a trial.

Gareth Roberts, prosecuting, told how the two sexual assault offences on the schoolboy involved him putting his leg on his leg and rubbing his crotch. The third offence involved him asking the boy to touch his penis which the boy refused to do.

Mr Roberts told the jury that eventually the victim had enough of the texts and the touching and attention and left the football club. The prosecutor explained: “He didn’t want to tell anyone what had happened to him, he was embarrassed about it.”

But some time later he found that Jones had been in contact with his parents wanting to talk to them about rumours about him and so he told them about what Jones had done to him. Mr Roberts said: "He cried as he told them”, then his parents rang the police.

In an impact statement read to the court today, the victim told how he was having counselling and the offences have “impacted my day to day life”. He said that while at school he tried to commit suicide and became very angry but has since managed to control his anger.

He now has trust issues and only speaks to his family and girlfriend. The victim also said he has mental health issues and was afraid of bumping into the defendant. Hugh Barton, defending, said that Jones “has lost everything".

He said: “It wasn’t just a job, it was something he was passionate about and he was passionate about his coaching. He maintains it was not some sinister job to gain access to children.”

He pointed out that there were no other complainants and said that Jones was now a logistics manager for a salad production company after twice being promoted. Mr Barton added that the defendant “is a man who struggles with his identity”.

Description

Two vile and depraved brothers from Bedford and Kempston who raped and sexually abused children have been jailed for almost 15 years between them.

Connor, 24, and Kiyle Lappin, 22, were both found guilty of raping a child under 13.

Connor was also found guilty of sexual assault of a child under 13, while Kiyle was found to have indecent images of children on his phone.

Connor, of Clover Way, Kempston, was sentenced to nine years for rape and three years and eight months for the sexual assault, to be served concurrently.

Kiyle, of High Street, Bedford, was found guilty of rape and pleaded guilty to seven separate offences linked to indecent images of children.

He was sentenced to three years and four months for the rape and a total of 22 months for the images offences.

This will be served consecutively, taking his total sentence to five years and two months.

DC Samantha Ostley, who led the investigation, said: Connor and Kiyle Lappin clearly pose a risk to children in our community.

Their actions are vile and depraved, plain and simple. I am glad they will now be going to prison for a very long time.

We will always be on the side of victims of sexual abuse, regardless of their age, gender and background, or the circumstances of the offence.

It is never too late to come forward and get justice. We will do everything in our power to support you at every stage of the process.

The pair were also made subject to sexual harm prevention orders for life at Luton Crown Court on Friday (19 August).

Description

Three Kirklees brothers who groomed and sexually abused teenage girls have been jailed for a total of over 60 years.

Zafar Qayum, 42, and his brothers Ansar, 45, and Mohammed Jabbar, 41, all from Dewsbury were found guilty of a catalogue of sickening sex offences following a trial at Leeds Crown Court. Zafar was found guilty of six counts of rape, three counts of aiding and abetting rape and five counts of indecent assault, against three victims, Ansar was found guilty of four counts of rape and attempted indecent assault against two victims and Mohammed was found guilty of two counts of rape against one victim.

It was said the offences were committed between 1999 and 2004 against three girls who were between 13 and 15 when they were sexually abused. All girls were described as particularly vulnerable at the time they came into contact with the Qayum brothers. Police investigations began in 2017 after one of the victims reported what had happened to her.

The court said one of the victims came forward after she watched a documentary she realised what had happened to her could still be reported.

Jurors were unable to reach verdicts in two counts - one relating to Zafar and another relating to Ansar. These counts were instructed to lie on file.

As the trio were sentenced on Friday, the court heard how they had preyed on three teenage girls. Prosecutor Rupert John Doswell said the aggravating features in the case included the targeting of particularly vulnerable victims who were sometimes missing from home, and the fact Zafar instigated and encouraged his younger brother Mohammed to carry out his offending. Mr Doswell said: "He was the instigator and facilitator."

Mr Doswell said Zafar Mohammed was 20 at the time of the offending against two of the girls which went on for some years. He was between the ages of 23 and 25 when he abused another. Mohammed is now 41-years-old and was 21 or 22 at the time.

During the sentencing, the emotional victim impact statements of the three victims - now adult women - were read out to the court. In them, they told how the abuse had impacted their lives. One woman said she was a young teenager when the abuse started and has suffered with anxiety throughout her life. She said: "After the abuse stopped I would fly off the handle at the smallest of things. Nowadays, I feel void of emotions. Part of this is because of the medication I take for my mental health, I believe is due to the abuse I have suffered."

The woman says she still fears the Qayum brothers will come after her, and added: "The feeling has never left me. Even when cars pass my house slowly, I think it is them looking for me. It is always in my mind that they are coming back for me."

She also told how she remembered "kicking off" at school when some men tried to get her into their car and she was told off by a teacher who said she "shouldn't be getting into cars with Asian men" and that she was bringing shame to the school.

Another woman told the court how she was "exploited" by the Qayum brothers when she was 13. She said Zafar "made her feel special" and filled a hole in her life. She said throughout the abuse she became "less tolerant" of people and got expelled from school - hiding the fact from her father for three months. She said this led to her becoming a "prisoner in her own home" as she was "in fear of being mentally and physically tortured."

The woman said: "At the age of 17 the person who abused me stopped being part of my life and this pushed me into another relationship with another man who I would describe as abusive as well."

She said that after she gave evidence during the trial she felt for the first time her "voice was heard" and added: "I will never forget what happened to me but feel some sort of acceptance and after 20 years I can put this thing behind me and live my life with my family."

The Qayum's third victim told the court she had a "great, happy childhood" up until the age of 13 and her "teenage years very much destroyed my adult life." The woman said she "never really felt normal" and has had relationships with the wrong kind of people thinking "that was how a normal relationship should be."

She said: "I still have bad dreams about what they did and panic they will come and find me and hurt me. There is no way in this world my son would ever behave like these monsters. This part of my life has been kept in a locked part of my brain. They took my innocence and damaged me. I just think I will have to go with this life I have been given, to try my best to be happy and love myself."

Mitigating for Zafar Qayum, Katherine Pierpoint said he was 19 or 20 when the offences were committed and the "disparity was about five to nine years between the complainants. The disparity in age is not as great as you see sometimes in these cases and his age at the time may be linked to his level of maturity." She said there had been no offending since the offences had been committed and he is now "established as law-abiding and hard-working."

Ms Pierpoint said Zafar Qayum now has a wife and four young children who will be affected by his custodial sentence.

Fiona McNeil, for Ansar Qayum also put forward that the disparity in age between the brothers and their victims is not as great as those usually seen in other cases. The court heard that last year Ansar pleaded guilty to his involvement in a kidnapping offence that saw him and others take a 17-year-old and beat him following a collision with a Lamborghini car. Calls from Qayum's phone were made to the boy's parents to make demands.

He was jailed for 10 years and nine months for that offence.

Mitigating for Mohammed Qayum, Kitty Colley, said the victims told how he presented a different demeanour to that of his brothers. She said: "He was described by two victims in this case as not offending against these other girls but as present and himself relatively nave.

"The collective evidence suggests that he had been exposed to matters and not involved in offending against others by his brothers. One woman described his personality in stark terms and that was consistent across all complainants and the victim." The court was told Zafar Qayum's crimes of aiding and abetting rape related to encouraging sexual intercourse between Mohammed Qayum and one of the girls. Ms Colley said that on the first occasion of Zafar doing this, Mohammed "pretended and didn't go on that time to offend."

She said: "He was described as being the total opposite to his brothers and they [the victims] felt protected by him." She added that he is a man of good character, a dad and family man who helps care for the brothers' parents.

Zafar Qayum was jailed for 30 years, Ansar Qayum for 20 years - a sentence which will be added onto that which is already serving - and Mohammed Jabbar Qayum for 13 years.

As he sentenced them, Judge Marson said: "They were targeted and groomed for sexual gratification by the offer of alcohol, drugs and a more exciting way of life. They were paid insincere compliments. At one stage, (one victim) became pregnant and had an abortion when she was 14. Who the father was was not known."

The judge said it was only when one of the victims watched a documentary that she realised what had happened to her could still be reported. He slammed the three brothers as "cowards" for putting the victims through a trial. and added: "It is clear to me that your victims will never fully recover from what you did. Their experiences with you will haunt them and affect their lives in the future."

Speaking directly to Zafar Qayum, he said: "One [victim] was so vulnerable that she believed she was in a genuinely loving relationship with you. Over a period of years you controlled, abused her physically and used her for your own sexual gratification. Matters only came to an end when you completely destroyed the contents of her flat. I have no doubt that had she been in the flat that night you would have caused her significant physical harm. You aided and abetted your brothers to rape her. You took advantage of these girls while they were under the influence."

The judge said that in one of the victims' evidence she told how Zafar knew of her real age and would say: "We are here to f*** all of the white girls and f*** the Government." Judge Marson said the victim "saw that as a joke" but added that what happened to her and the other girls "was no joke."

Following the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Ian Thornes of Kirkless Police said: "This has been a deeply distressing and highly disturbing case involving the dreadful sexual abuse of young females by three brothers. The court heard some highly disturbing evidence of how poorly these young victims were treated with all three brothers being found guilty of encouraging the sexual abuse of victims.

"We welcome the substantial sentences handed down to them at court today and believe these reflect the gravity of the acts they committed. I want to praise the courage of the woman in this case whose determination to seek justice has ensured these men have been forced to account for their actions. We continue to urge victims to come forward and can promise all reports will be thoroughly and sensitively investigated."

Description

A Wirral man who was Principal of an international school in Iraq has been jailed after grooming and attempting to sexually exploit children around the world using social media.

Nicholas Clayton, 38,of Charles Road, Hoylake, was working in the Kurdistan region of Iraq when he used Facebook Messenger to contact children as young as 10 in multiple countries, grooming them and asking them for photos.

After receiving intelligence that a 13-year-old boy from Cambodia had been contacted on Facebook messenger by a man who asked for photos of his naked upper torso, National Crime Agency investigators identified Clayton as the perpetrator.

He had subsequently arranged to pay for the boy to travel to Malaysia so they could meet.

Clayton was arrested by NCA officers when he returned to the UK. To mitigate the potential risk of further offending, NCA officers successfully obtained a court Sexual Risk Order, which prohibited Clayton from worldwide travel while the investigation continued.

Investigators then obtained further messages from social media platforms, which showed Clayton had been in communication with hundreds of boys aged from 10 to the late teens around the world over a period of just three months.

Chats were found with victims in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Iraq, Morocco, Turkey amongst others.

Clayton appeared at Liverpool Magistrates Court on 23 August where he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual communication with a child under 16 years and one charge of inciting the sexual exploitation of a child.

He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday (20 September) to 20 months imprisonment and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 15 years.

Recorder Ian Harris described Claytons behaviour as persistent, repulsive and insidious.

Hazel Stewart, from the NCA, said: Nicholas Clayton abused his position of trust as a head teacher by attempting to sexually contact and exploit children, using technology to access hundreds of potential victims across the globe.

Clayton was very cautious and careful in his communications, making them appear to be innocent, but as NCA investigators we could see the patterns of predatory grooming he was using on vulnerable children.

Description

A man has been jailed for rape after his 19-year-old victim recorded herself pleading with her attacker to stop, and him later confessing to the crime, on her mobile phone.

Rhys Roser, 24, has been sentenced to seven years and eight months in prison for the 2015 attack.

Roser denied the charge when first arrested by police but then went on the run after hearing about the recording of the attack, and later pleaded guilty in court.

The attack took place in a flat in Maida Vale. The teenager managed to switch on her phones audio recorder when Roser first made unwanted advances, before she locked herself in a bathroom.

The recording proved that the victim, who was 19-years-old at the time, had told Roser to leave me alone, the prosecution said in court, the Daily Mirror reported.

After raping the teenager, Roser is heard saying on the recording: Youre not going to stand up in court and tell everyone you were raped, way too embarrassing.

Dont f****** tell anyone, its real simple.

According to Metro.co.uk, Recorder Matthew Lowe told Roser: You were heard saying that you had gone mad and were wrong in every way, and went on to plead with her not to report what happened and put pressure on her.

She describes it as emotional blackmail. What you did to her that night has had significant psychological and emotional effects.

Description

A long-serving teacher at a Derbyshire school has been sentenced for having a sexual relationship with a pupil.

Mark Fidler, who was removed from his post last year, wept in the dock as he was jailed.

He was working at Belper School when he began having intercourse with the teenager, whose identity is protected by law.

During their time together, a court heard she sent him a topless photograph of herself as well as pictures of her in her underwear which were found in a drawer in his office by a colleague.

The 49-year-old was spotted alone with the victim in his classroom, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

He later admitted they had been away together and had sex and that he had bought her gifts such as underwear, jewellery and clothes.

He originally pleaded guilty at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court last month but a court order prevented Derbyshire Live from naming the school.

Naming Belper School in the public interest

At the sentencing, the prosecution applied to the court to prevent the media from naming the school where Fidler worked.

However, our reporter successfully counter-argued to Judge Steven Coupland that naming Belper School and Sixth Form Centre as his place of work was in the public interest.

Dismissing the prosecution application and handing Fidler a 22-month jail term, Judge Coupland said: “You had been a teacher for more than a quarter of a century and head of music for a number of years.

“You were in a position of responsibility and knew what the rules were about sexual contact with pupils.

“Your teacher’s ethos must have told you about that."

Damage to the victim

“You should have taken steps to distance yourself from her but instead you moved closer," said the judge.

“She gave no victim statement but the reality is the damage this has caused her is impossible to quantify.”

Leanne Summers, prosecuting, said Fidler, of Johnson Drive, Heanor, had worked at Belper School since 1993 and had been head of music since 2002.

Fidler was dismissed from his role in December 2018 following an internal investigation.

She had stayed over at his home

Miss Summers said: “After being dismissed, a colleague was looking in the defendant’s office drawers and found a memory stick which contained pictures of the victim topless and in her underwear.

“He was arrested and candid, saying the lines had become blurred and that they were seeing each other three times a week.

“He said she had stayed over at his home, they had been away together that he had bought her gifts such as jewellery, clothes and underwear.”

'Honest man who lost sight of his responsibilities'

Miss Summers said that, as part of the police investigation, Fidler’s phone had been seized and it was discovered he had been Googling whether what he and the victim were doing was illegal or not.

She said the victim was interviewed by the police and admitted she and Fidler had been involved in a sexual relationship.

At Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court in July, Fidler pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a girl while in a position of trust and one count of possessing 13 indecent images of the victim – 10 pictures and three videos.

Andrew Wesley, mitigating at the sentencing hearing in Nottingham, said his client has children of his own who he now no longer sees and has no previous convictions of any kind.

He said he started suffering depression following the break-up of his relationship with his former partner.

Mr Wesley said: “It was when there was nothing left to hide that he co-operated with the police.

“He is fundamentally an honest man who lost sight of his responsibilities as a teacher and an adult.”

Description

A twisted Snapchat predator from Lincolnshire has been jailed after grooming, abducting and having sex with a schoolgirl.

Daniel Potterton from Kirton, Boston, targeted the 14-year-old girl in June before luring her into a string of sexual acts which lasted a number of weeks.

The 20-year-old was sentenced to six years in prison at Newcastle Crown Court and told he must sign the sex offenders register. He will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life and subject to an indefinite restraining order.

Potterton randomly added the girl on Snapchat in June and began chatting with her. Her parents ended up confiscating her phone after becoming concerned about the contact and she reacted by causing damage to their home while shouting and swearing and they contacted police, reports Chronicle Live.

Potterton drove to South Tyneside and contacted the girl from near her home and she went out with him in his Vauxhall Corsa, turning off the GPS on her phone. The girl, who was a virgin, had sex with him in the car.

She was reported missing by her parents and when she returned home she had love bites and was described as "obsessed" with him and refused to cooperate with a medical examination, saying she believed she was in a relationship with him.

Newcastle Crown Court heard the girl also texted her parents asking if she could go away with him for 10 days but they refused. She also said she needed her passport to go to France and "didn't appear to think there was anything wrong with her having sex with him.

Glenn Gatland, prosecuting, said: "He said he was going to prison anyway so he might as well do it again." Police saw the defendant's car crossing Wearmouth Bridge on August 2 and the girl was in the car with him and he was arrested.

In a victim impact statement, the girl's mother said: "It has caused me to feel like I'm having a nervous breakdown, I feel weighed down and I feel like a zombie.

"Her behaviour has turned manic since I found out she was speaking to him. She doesn't care about the danger as long as she can be with him.

"We have taken her phone off her and she is always searching for it. She will do anything and everything to get what she wants.

"She has turned the whole family's world upside down. I feel broken and all our hearts are breaking. She thinks she can do what she wants and calls me an idiot when I try to educate her."

Her dad added: "We have had to put locks on every door except the bathroom. Every time we leave the house we have to lock every room and it feels like a prison. If we don't, she would search everywhere to get hold of bank cards or phones."

Potterton, of Dennis Estate, Boston, pleaded guilty to child abduction, two counts of sexual activity with a child, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and meeting a child following sexual grooming.

On a second occasion, Potterton drove back up to the North East and the girl went to meet him again. When her mother discovered she was not in her room in the early hours, police were contacted. She then came home at 5am.

Judge Christopher Prince said: "(The girl) bears a deep resentment (to her parents) notwithstanding their efforts to do everything they can to try to help. The effect on them has been profound and distressing. They are quite simply utterly at their wits end at their inability to do more to help her.

"You were fully aware of what you were doing and fully aware you were breaking the law yet you took the most cynical view that as you were going to prison anyway you would engage in sexual intercourse with her a second time."

Steven Reed, defending, said Potterton was of previous good character and said immaturity contributed to his offending.

After the case, Detective Sergeant Jodie Faulkner, of Northumbria Police, said: "This is a very upsetting case that saw Potterton target his underage victim on social media before sexually exploiting her over a number of weeks. His behaviour has had a shattering impact on both his victim and her family. I sincerely hope his conviction in court offers them some comfort.

"As soon as we were made aware of this case, we were determined to get hold of Potterton who we learnt had been travelling long distances from Lincolnshire over a number of weeks to sexually exploit his victim."

Description

A 55-year-old man from Ipswich has been jailed for the illegal filming or photographing of children and adults.

Ian Butcher, of Woodbridge Road East, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday, Monday 12 February, where he was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment.

He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years, which places restrictions on his use of any computer or device capable of accessing the internet and the storing of digital images. He must notify police of any purchase of such devices and allow officers access to inspect any devices or storage immediately on request.

Butcher had pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing on Friday 6 October to the following four offences:

• one count of taking an indecent photograph of a child (namely taking six videos)
• one count of making an indecent photograph of a child (namely the possession of 16 indecent images)
• two counts of voyeurism (in both cases recording the private act of an adult)

The offences relate to eight separate victims, aged between 12-years-old and 32-years-old. Six are children and two are adults.

The incidents - which occurred over a period of 19 months - involved cases of children being filmed while getting undressed in a changing room; the possession of indecent images of children; and adults being filmed whilst showering.

The first incident was reported to Suffolk Police at the beginning of December 2022 by a teenage girl, who said she had been filmed by Butcher over the top of a cubicle in the changing rooms at a swimming pool a number of years earlier.

Detectives immediately began an investigation and Butcher was first arrested just over one month after this first disclosure, on 13 January 2023. Following his arrest, Butchers phone was seized and officers from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team were then able to analyse its contents.

A folder was found in the image gallery of his phone, which contained 11 videos, all of which were voyeuristic in nature and all but two appeared to have been filmed in changing cubicles at swimming pools. The remaining two appeared to have been filmed in a domestic setting.

There were also 20 screenshots, where the videos had been played and then a photo captured when nudity was visible. 16 of these were of children and four of an adult.

Eight victims were subsequently identified, but six remain unidentified. Of these at least three appeared to be children, with the others of an indeterminate age.

The court heard that Butcher had been a Scout leader at the time the offences had been committed, and he had been involved with the Scout Association for almost 40 years, reaching the level of Assistant District Commissioner. Some of the victims in these cases were children who were participating in scouting activities.

Detective Constable Santiago Nield, from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: Ian Butcher was a person in a position of trust and in the majority of the cases we identified, his offences involved a clear abuse of that trust.

The crimes we discovered took place over a period of almost two years, so his offending was persistent for a significant length of time. Although not all of the victims were children, the majority were and so he clearly had a sexual interest in juveniles.

I want to thank all the victims who have worked with us for their bravery, especially as the fact that they had been victims of this type of offence wouldve come as a complete surprise to them and a very disturbing one at that. They all had their privacy violated, but in the case of the children also their trust and part of their childhoods too.

I would also like to commend the bravery of the first girl who made contact with us, who was clearly crucial to his offending being uncovered. She hadnt felt able to come forward at the time the incident occurred, as she had been so shocked and didnt want to believe it had happened, but as she got older she became more confident in herself and her recollections.

I would also like to thank the Scout Association, who cooperated with our investigation from the outset and assisted us with whatever we required from them.

Hopefully this case demonstrates that we listen to and hear victims of these types of offences and will investigate allegations, taking swift action wherever possible.

Description

A pizza delivery driver plied three teenage girls with alcohol and drugs before sexually assaulting and raping one of them in his car. Wahid Bik, who drove around Solihull and Shirley, groomed his victims who were left with emotional scars.

The-43-year-old committed the offences over a month-long period between December 2021 and January last year. He spotted his first victim, a 13-year-old girl, in November 2021 as she was walking home alone. In passing sentence Judge Andrew Smith KC said: "You pulled up in your car and engaged her in conversation and I am sure that you offered her both alcohol and cannabis during that first meeting."

He said it was the beginning of gaining her trust. He said: "You chose girls who were at a vulnerable stage in their teenage lives."

Bik also got the phone numbers of the girls and started to message them. He added: "You sought to make yourself an essential component of their lives by offering them vapes, alcohol and cannabis."

Bik would also pay them compliments telling one she looked like a "supermodel" and another that she was a "pretty lady." The judge said: "You groomed the girls who you ultimately committed serious sexual offences against."

In December the defendant offered to meet and collect two 14-year-old girls. He plied them both with alcohol until they were both severely affected and took them to a secluded location where he climbed into the back seat and carried out a sex attack on one of them.

Just over a week later Bik took two other girls aged 14 and 13 to a secluded location and, after also plying them with drink, began by touching one of them on the leg during the journey. He then kissed her before going on to carry out a more serious sexual attack on both of them, twice raping the other girl.

At one point one of the victims tried to use her phone to get help but Bik took it from her. Eventually one of them did manage to message a friend which lead to the defendant later being arrested with both girls still in his vehicle.

Bik of Walsgrave Drive, Solihull, who had previously been found guilty, following a trial at Birmingham Crown Court of two charges of rape, two of attempted rape, three of sexual assault and two other serious sexual offences, was jailed for 22 years.

Judge Smith said what Bik had done had had a "profound" effect on the victims and their families and added: "It has made them feel unsafe and left them with emotional scars that will be difficult, at the very least, to heal."

He told Bik: "You have shown absolutely no remorse for your criminal acts.

"Your offending was both sustained and involved significant planning. You took the risk of committing the offences on the night of January 30 and 31 having committed serious offences just a few weeks earlier.

"This demonstrates a pattern of behaviour." He said it was only as a result of chance that he was stopped.

Antonie Muller, prosecuting, said: "He used alcohol and other intoxicants. It is an aggravating feature that there were other people in the car and he himself was intoxicated."

Abigail Nixon, defending, said: "He is effectively of good character who came to this country and became educated and got a university degree and had good employment."

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A Snapchat groomer who used the social media app to abduct a vulnerable schoolgirl has been jailed.

Brandon Mason, 19, admitted child abduction and making 55 indecent images of his victim.

A judge said he "groomed" the girl to send him sexualised images and encouraged her to run away from her home in Flintshire, north Wales.

Mason, of Austrey Grove, Birmingham, was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

On Tuesday, Caernarfon Crown Court heard Mason made contact with the pre-teen schoolgirl - who cannot be named - over the popular smartphone app Snapchat.

After convincing her to meet him, they both caught a train and made a 100-mile trip together from north Wales to Birmingham. They were found when police stopped a bus in the English city in September 2022.

Patrick Williamson, defending, said Mason had no previous convictions, but did have a "sad and depressing" history involving mental health issues.

Judge Nicola Saffman told Mason: "You got into her head so much, she being an extremely vulnerable child. You manipulated her."

She said it had taken many months to start to repair the damage done to the girl. The victim was "enthralled" by Mason, the judge said, and didn't disclose to police everything which occurred.

The judge said Mason incited the victim to take indecent images and had even encouraged her to harm herself.

Mason was handed restraining and sexual harm prevention orders, which will last indefinitely.

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Jordan Morgan, 29, spoke to the girl on the social media app and told her he was 15.

He then arranged to meet her in Preston, Lancashire, on 14 May before taking her to woods off Banbury Drive and raping her.

Morgan, from Murray Street, Salford, was jailed at Preston Crown Court after admitting rape and grooming.

Lancashire Police said Morgan was identified following mobile phone and social media analysis and arrested at his home.
CCTV and clothing recovered from his home placed him at the scene and his DNA was present on an apple juice bottle officers found in the woods.

PC Koryann Stevens said: "He is clearly someone who presents a very real danger to children by his perverted sexual interests and calculated and planned behaviour.

"He lied to the victim in this case as part of his grooming behaviour, with the ultimate aim of carrying out a serious sexual assault on her.

"This is clearly an offence which has had a profound impact on the young victim and her family."

Morgan was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order, which prevents him from having any unsupervised contact with any child under 16, and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.

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A convicted rapist who lied that he was forced into having sex with his victim has been jailed. Dalvir Singh, aged 48 and from Sandwell, was investigated by West Midlands Police’s Public Protection Unit after a young woman visited her GP surgery and told staff about the sexual abuse she had been subjected to.

Singh was arrested and admitted he had sex with the woman ‘on more than one occasion’ but made false claims it was ‘under duress’. The brave woman gave evidence in a video-recorded interview and police said that was key in securing the conviction.

Singh, from West Bromwich, was found guilty of rape and sexual abuse at an earlier hearing. He was jailed for 15 years at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday, February 6.

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A Doncaster man who sexually assaulted a child while they were asleep and bragged about it in texts to another convicted paedophile has been jailed for over a decade.

Ryan Madine subjected his victim to multiple sexual attacks which he filmed and sent to James Mitchell, who has also been put behind bars after admitting child sexual offences. Mitchell encouraged Madine to commit the offences and both shared child abuse images with each other.

Madine was charged in April 2023 following a thorough 18-month investigation by officers from Doncaster's Protecting Vulnerable People (PVP) Team who worked closely with our Digital Forensics Unit and colleagues at Nottinghamshire Police.

The investigation revealed video messages of Madine including him sexually assaulting and performing oral sex on a vulnerable young child with officers also finding over 700 indecent images of children on a digital device.

Madine initially denied having any sexual interest in children but later pleaded guilty to an array of offences, including assaulting a child under 13 by penetration, sexually assaulting a child, voyeurism and sexual communication with a child. He also admitted five counts of making indecent photographs of a child and two counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child.

Madine, 24, who is from the Edlington area, and Mitchell, 31, who is from Retford in Nottinghamshire, were sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court earlier today (2 February), with both of them jailed for 11-and-a-half years. Both will be on the Sex Offenders' Register for life and there is a restraining order in place for life.