Latest Offenders

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A sex offender “went off the grid” and ended up living with a new partner and her young child without telling the police where he was. Derby Crown Court heard how Jamie Richardson also spent more than 24 hours at another woman’s house who also had a son and daughter aged under 18 during days of offending late last year.

The 33-year-old for mer Derby man also went missing from the address he had given to his supervising team which had been put in place after he was spared immediate custody for child sex offences. And when they went to his mother’s address searching for him, she told them he had first been living with her and then more recently at his new girlfriend’s home.

Dan Scothern, prosecuting, said Richardson was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order as part of a suspended sentence order imposed at Derby Crown Court in 2020 for offences of attempting to engage a child in sexual communication and attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act. He said: “On September 22, last year, police went to what they thought was his home address and when they arrived neighbours told them he had not lived there since April.

“They went to his mother’s address who disclosed he had been living with her but was now living in Uttoxeter with his partner and her child. Neither of those addresses had been registered with the police and that was one of the requirements of his notification requirements.

“He had also failed to notify the police that he was in a new relationship with a new partner who had a 10-year-old. The second complainant was a woman who contacted the police on September 26 telling them she was concerned that a male she was dating might be a registered sex offender and that he had stayed at her address for a 26-hour period.

“She has three children, two of which are under the age of 18 and he (the defendant) had failed to notify the police he had stayed at that address which was another requirement. He had also failed to notify the police, as he was required to do, of an iPhone and an iPad which he had used to communicate with the second complainant and that one method he used to communicate with her was through Snapchat which does not keep its internet history.”

Richardson, of no fixed address and who appeared over a video link from HMP Nottingham for this week’s hearing, pleaded guilty to four breaches of a sexual harm prevention order and five breaches of the notification requirements of being on the sex offender register. His only conviction was the 2020 one which saw him handed a 16-month jail term, suspended for two years, for the child sex offences.

Katie Hodgkinson, mitigating, said her client had pleaded guilty at the first available opportunity and was a carer for his partner, who was in the public gallery and who she said had recently been diagnosed with cancer.

She said: “He’s acutely aware of the position he has put himself in and he knows there is no excuse.” Judge Martin Hurst jailed Richardson for two years.

He said: “(You) went off the grid for at least nine months living with one woman who has a child for a significant period and you had contact with another woman, who also had children and stayed with her for more than 12 hours.”

The sexual harm prevention order remains in place as does the defendant being on the sex offender register, until 2030.

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A 20-year-old man from Bristol has been jailed for 18 years for rape and other sexual offences committed against five girls, all aged under 18.

Curtis Otley, of Showering Road, Stockwood, was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court yesterday (10 January), having been found guilty in September of 12 offences, including rape, attempted rape and sexual activity with a child, committed between 2020 and 2023.

Otley’s victims, whose bravery has been praised by officers, said his crimes had had a long-term effect on them.

In a victim statement read out in court, one of the girls said: “I was worried that people wouldn’t believe me and until I heard the verdict this remained a constant worry, hanging over my head – even though I knew that what I was saying had happened.

“I would say that at my age, most kids don’t go through this stress and are free to enjoy their lives and have fun. I feel like Curtis has taken a large part of this away from me.”

Another said: “I don’t trust anyone at all anymore.  I am quite reserved with male friends and find it difficult to let my guard down.”

And, speaking on behalf of her daughter, the mother of another of his victims said: “I have talked to her about future relationships with boys and men, when she’s older and she said she’s not interested, she feels that boys and men can’t be trusted.”

The investigation was led by the Operation Topaz team which is dedicated to investigating child sexual exploitation and has been supporting the victims.

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A TEACHER who incited people to abuse their own children for his sexual gratification has been jailed for 12 years.

Richard Clark pleaded guilty to 26 offences and asked for 54 others to be taken into consideration when he appeared at York Crown Court today (Tuesday, September 11).

Using fake digital accounts, he contacted people on Skype in the UK, the United States and Nepal and incited people to take sexual images or abuse their siblings, children or grandchildren and record it for his own gratification.

In one case he contacted a 15-year-old boy and encouraged him to carry out sexual acts on his cousins, aged one and two.

Clark, of Topcliffe Road, Sowerby, near Thirsk, North Yorkshire, pleaded guilty to charges including 10 offences of arranging or facilitating child sex offences and 12 counts of inciting or causing indecent images of children.

Clark, 29, also tricked boys at a school into taking indecent images or video of themselves, whilst using fake social media accounts in which he posed as a teenage girl.

The teacher also kept a record of his victims, categorising them based on their appearance, the size of their genitalia and comments about the ways that he had abused them.

The court heard on Monday a witness statement from a parent of one of the boys in which she said he had “robbed them of their youth” and left them unable to trust male teachers.

A witness statement from the headteacher of the school where pupils were targeted said the school had employed school nurses, psychologists and counsellors to deal with the impact of Clark’s actions on students and teachers, but he feared some students would never recover from their ordeal. Others were likely to miss out on opportunities to go to high-ranking universities because of the emotional and mental ordeal they experienced prior to their exams.

Clark also pleaded guilty to three charges of possession of indecent photographs of a child and one of possession of an extreme pornographic image.

This morning, Judge Andrew Stubbs QC told Clark: "These offences reveal you to be manipulating others to abuse children like some kind of malign puppet master.

"You incited offences of familial or incestuous abuse against children. These activities have been traced worldwide."

Judge Stubbs said his crimes revealed him to be a "persistent predator", whose victims felt trapped by fear of exposure. He added: "The victim statements which have been referred to in court show how you have robbed your victims of confidence, character and potential life chances."

He handed him a sentence of 12 years, to spend a further eight years on licence. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which he will remain on for the rest of his life.

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A man raped a woman after spraying her with his aftershave, telling her: "I want you to smell like me." Abdul Qadir, 21, met the woman on a social media dating site.

After exchanging details, he invited her to his flat. The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told her friends and family where she was going, before getting a taxi to the property in Stockport.

Qadir and the woman chatted and kissed on the sofa, before he sprayed her with his aftershave. She said it was 'weird behaviour'. He then took her to his bedroom, before touching her intimately.

The woman said he was rushing and that it was 'too much', Minshull Street Crown Court heard. Qadir pulled off her leggings and underwear before raping her.

"You said no, I should have listened," he told her after the attack. After the woman reported Qadir to the police, he told them: "I met the girl on social media, I asked her to take her leggings off, she said 'no', I had sex with her... I got carried away."

Qadir, of Buxton Road, Great Moor, was jailed for three years and two months. He earlier pleaded guilty to rape.

Daniel Calder, prosecuting, told the court Qadir met the woman online last year. They exchanged numbers and chatted on WhatsApp. They then arranged to meet at his flat.

"They kissed and then the defendant sprayed her with aftershave, telling her 'I want you to smell like me'," Mr Calder said.

"He then gave her a tour before they sat on his bed and kissed again. He then attempted to remove her clothes before she told him it was too much and that he was rushing."

Qadir asked the woman if she was on the pill before taking his clothes on and getting a condom. "She told him they were not going to have sex," the prosecutor continued.

He told her he was 'horny' and climbed on top of her. After being raped, the woman went to the bathroom and told her family what had happened.

The woman recorded Qadir on her phone admitting he had raped her and apologised. He later sent her messages asking if she was okay.

Qadir was arrested that afternoon. He told police what he had done, saying he got 'carried away'.

'What happened to me will always be with me'

In a statement, the woman said the incident is always on her mind, adding: "I keep thinking about how I could have stopped it. I just want to forget about it and move on with my life.

"I was looking forward to the date. Now it takes me back to what happened and I relive the trauma all over again. My sleeping pattern is all over the place, for a while I struggled to eat and I worry about strangers.

"Something so private and personal was taken from me and I will never get it back. What happened to me will always be with me - it feels like a physical scar."

David Bruce, for Qadir, said the fact his client pleaded guilty showed 'courage rarely seen in cases such as this'. "This is a relatively young man with no previous convictions," he said.

"He made a mistake, a bad mistake... an unlawful mistake. He acted out of character and he does show remorse."

Mr Bruce said Qadir came to the UK Kingdom from Iraq when he was 16, before going into the care system. His application for asylum was turned down and he was planning to rea-appeal before he was remanded into custody.

Judge Angela Nield told him: "She did not wish to engage in intimate sexual relations with you. She told you 'no' on a number of occasions. She was a stranger and vulnerable. It's clear that you fully understood what she was saying because you subsequently, and very quickly, apologised to her.

"There is no doubt what happened to her. You told the police you would tell them the truth - that you had raped her."

Qadir was jailed for three years and two months; ordered to sign to the sex offender register for life and banned from contacting the woman. The case will be referred to the Home Secretary who will decide if and when he is deported.

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A man who subjected a young girl to a decade of rapes and sexual assaults has been given an extended 16 year sentence. Henry Wilson began to abuse his victim when she was aged just five.

Swansea Crown Court heard details of the impact Wilson's offending has had on his victim, and police have praised the bravery of the female in coming forward to report what happened while acknowledging that no sentence can give the victim her childhood back.

Henry Steven Wilson, aged 59, of Matthew Street, Dyfatty, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to multiple counts of rape of a child, indecency, and indecent assault when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. His victim has life-long legal anonymity.

With a discount for his guilty plea Wilson was given a 16 year extended sentence as an "offender of particular concern" comprising 15 years in prison followed by a one-year extended licence period. The defendant must serve two-thirds of the custodial element of the sentence before he can apply for release but it will be for the Parole Board to determine if he is safe to be released. Wilson will be on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order to control his access to children.

Speaking after the sentencing South Wales Police detective constable Rebecca Williams, the officer in the case, said: "Henry Wilson’s crimes are appalling, disturbing, and upsetting. It is clear he poses a real and significant risk to children. I know that no sentence can make up for the devastating damage he has caused and give this brave victim their childhood back, but I really do hope that they can now start to rebuild their life knowing they are safe from their abuser.

"I would like to publicly praise the victim who has demonstrated a huge amount of dignity and incredible strength supporting this investigation. They should be proud of their courage which means that Henry Wilson is now behind bars for a significant amount of time."

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A MAN branded as dangerous by detectives has been sentenced to 12 years after admitting child sex offending.

Ryan Baskerville, 30, from Liversedge, was jailed at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday after admitting sex offences against a young child.

The 30-year-old was sentenced to seven years in prison with five years on licence, and was also made subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Baskerville's offending came to light after the victim spoke of what had happened prompting a report to be made to Kirklees Police.

A full investigation was launched by the Kirklees District Child Safeguarding Unit resulting in Baskerville being arrested and later charged.

DC Angus Whitehead, of the Kirklees Child Safeguarding Unit, who led the investigation, said: “I would like to praise the courage of the victim.

"They have shown great fortitude throughout the investigation and court processes.

“I welcome the sentence handed down by Leeds Crown Court to Baskerville for his abhorrent crimes.

"He is dangerous and manipulative offender.

“We would encourage any victims of unreported sexual offences whether recent or non-recent to come forward and contact the police. We handle all reports with the utmost sensitivity.”

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An Evesham man was sentenced to seven years in prison for two counts of rape at Worcester Crown Court yesterday (Tuesday 9 January).

Jason Harris, 37, of Peewit Road, Evesham, was convicted of the two offences with seven-year terms to run concurrently and handed a restraining order of 15 years in respect of his female victim.

Harris was acquitted of a further rape charge and two sexual assault charges against a different woman and cleared of a sexual assault of a third woman.

He was ordered to be a registered sex offender for life, meaning he will have to notify the police of certain information such as his home address when he is released from prison, and he will also be managed by a specialist officer upon his release.

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A convicted sex offender is back behind bars after repeatedly breaching the terms of his court order.

Colin Luke harassed and stalked people living and working in Langley Park over a four-week period in October last year.

The 69-year-old exposed his genitals to shoppers at the village’s Premier Store on one occasion, and then repeatedly harassed staff at the Co-op store and a hair salon.

He visited both businesses an excessive number of times, commenting on the appearance of staff members and invading their personal space.

He also talked to several children in the village and visited a children’s play park, which breached the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) prohibiting him from having any contact with children.

Luke had only just been released from prison when the offences occurred, after serving a sentence for the abduction and sexual assault of a schoolgirl in Bowburn in 2014.

Officers from Durham Constabulary’s Public Protection Unit launched an investigation and Luke was quickly arrested.

He was later charged with six offences, including exposure, stalking, harassment, and breaching a SHPO, which he admitted.

He appeared at Durham Crown Court today (January 10) where he was jailed for two years and four months.

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A PAEDOPHILE has been locked away by the courts after he was found to be in possession of a sickening stash of photos.

The photos found on a laptop belonging to Keith Secker involved children being sexually abused.

The 46-year-old was later charged with three counts of making indecent images of children (IIOC), one of possessing IIOC and one of breaching a suspended sentence order.

He indicated guilty pleas to all charges before the magistrates’ court, with the case committed to Chester Crown Court for sentence.

The court heard from Karl Scholz, prosecuting the case, how the matters came to a head in February last year.

Police seized Secker’s laptop in Runcorn and submitted it for a forensic examination, with the results confirming the presence of child sex abuse images.

In total, 83 IIOC were discovered, with examples from each of the three categories such images are graded.

Of the 83, 37 were classified as category A – the most severe category involving child rape – while 29 were category B and 17 were category C.

Before sentencing, judge Simon Berkson remarked that the only appropriate sentence he could impose was one of immediate custody.

This was due to the severity of the offences and due to the defendant already being made subject to a suspended sentence order at the time the offences were committed.

Secker, of East Lane in Runcorn, was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment and ordered to sign the sex offender register for the next 10 years.

It was also ordered that he pay a statutory surcharge to fund victim services of £187, while a further order was approved to deprive the defendant of his laptop seized during the police investigation.

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A convicted sex offender who knew he was not allowed any contact with girls under the age of 16 let a young child sit on his knee at a church.

Derby Crown Court heard how Richard Clarke chased a second young victim around the same place of worship and spoke to a third one in a local cafe knowing full well he was forbidden from doing so by a court order.

The 70-year-old, of Matlock, was jailed for 30 months in 2014 for possessing sick child abuse images of underage girls. Now he has two years to stay out of trouble or risk being returned back behind bars for another stint.

Handing him a 16-month prison term, suspended for two years, Judge Martin Hurst said: “When I read this case last night I thought ‘this man is going to go to prison’ because he’s had contact with three different children, two at the church and one at the cafe. I don’t accept for one minute your claim that she’s (the first victim) climbed on your knee.

“You know you are not allowed to have any contact and you knew you were not allowed to chase (the third victim) around the church to do up her shoelaces. This would have led to your head being near her groin area and you have come close to committing a touching offence which, if you had committed one, would unquestionably have led to an immediate prison sentence.

“You make sure you have nothing to do with young children and you go to that church just to worship.” Annabel Lenton, prosecuting, said all three offences happened during April and May of 2023.

She said the first one took place when he was spotted with a young girl sitting on his knee at the church and when it was noticed the girl was removed. The prosecutor said: “In interview, he said the girl had climbed onto his knee.

“The second offence happened when a 13-year-old girl was in a cafe in Matlock with some friends and as she left the defendant said hello to her. She returned home and told her parents.

“The third offence happened at the same church (as the first one) when he was seen chasing a young girl around as her shoelaces were undone. He caught up with her and tied her laces and he later said he did this as he did not want her to trip over.”

Miss Lenton said Clarke, of Dimple Road, was jailed for 30 months in 2014 for a number of counts of possessing indecent images of children. She said as part of that punishment he was handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and was placed on the sex offender register, also for 10 years.

The defendant pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching the order. Sam Lowne, mitigating, said his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity when he appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates’ Court.

He said: “Speaking plainly, from the conversation I had with Mr Clarke, it does appear that over the years, since the order was imposed, an element of complacency has crept in.”

Clarke’s order will remain in place and he will remain on the sex offender register.

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A convicted sex offender who had twice been spared prison in just eight months completely ignored the chances that he was given and soon started sending highly sexualised messages to a decoy 12-year-old girl.

Heavy drinker Brian Greenaway thought that he was talking to a real girl and he sent explicit pictures of himself to her. He even warned her that she ought to be careful who she chatted to online because she was young, Hull Crown Court heard.

Greenaway, 58, of Spring Bank West, Hull, admitted attempting to engage in sexual contact with a child, attempting to invite a child to engage in sexual activity and failing to comply with his notification requirements as a sex offender. Stephen Welch, prosecuting, said that a member of an online anti-child abuse group became aware of communications by Greenaway with a decoy 12-year-old girl on Facebook and then WhatsApp between September 1 and 4 last year.

Greenaway used his correct name and said that he was 57. His profile contained details about him and it included his date of birth and his home city. These correctly matched Greenaway's actual details.

He sent a clothed picture of himself, saying "That's me" and he warned the fake girl: "Just be careful who you chat with on here." He told her "You're young" and asked if she had a boyfriend.

Greenaway contacted her again and said: "Hi, it's Brian". The conversations became more sexualised and he started using more graphic language. He told her where to find an intimate part of her body, but he asked her to delete the messages, saying it was "because I'm an adult and you're a minor".

He sent a picture of his private parts to the decoy girl and he asked her for an intimate picture of herself. He also sent a video of himself committing a sex act and he talked about sexual matters.

He was arrested on September 6 and his phone was seized. He had convictions for 80 previous offences, including indecently assaulting a girl and gross indecency with a girl.

He also had convictions for failing to register his details as a sex offender in 2003 and 2005 and engaging in sexual communication with a child in West Park in January last year, when he was given a suspended six-month prison sentence and ordered to register as a sex offender for seven years.

He was back in court in August last year for breaching the order, but it was allowed to continue. The latest offences were in breach of that order.

'Lonely and naive'

Hannah Turner, mitigating, said that the offences took place over a short period of time spanning seven days and Greenaway admitted that there was a "disparity of age" between him and the fake girl. He had a worrying list of previous convictions, but he was lonely, naive and perhaps vulnerable at the time.

He had shown significant remorse for his actions. "He has readily acknowledged that he has a problem with alcohol," said Miss Turner.

Judge Mark Bury told Greenaway: "You contacted who you thought was a 12-year-old girl. Before very long, the conversation became more sinister and sexual. You knew what you were doing because you asked her to delete your conversations.

"There was no actual harm done to any child because there wasn't one. It was a decoy. I can't ignore your intention. You knew full well that you were talking to a 12-year-old girl and you were instructing her to carry out sexual acts for your own sexual gratification.

"This wasn't just once but a number of times, albeit over a short period of time. The time now has come where you have to serve a prison sentence.

"You haven't complied with the suspended sentence order. You have reoffended. You fully believed that it was a real 12-year-old. You were sending to her pornographic pictures."

Greenaway, who was already in custody on remand, was jailed for two years and four months. The sentence included a consecutive six months after the suspended sentence from last year was activated. The phone will be forfeited.

Approached children in West Park

At a previous hearing in August, the court heard that Greenaway landed himself in hot water after going to probation service meetings while "under the influence of alcohol" and drinking while he was there. He was also "making sexual innuendos to people" and it "could not be more ironic" that he was doing that in view of why he was actually there, the court heard that day.

Greenaway had originally been spared prison for making completely inappropriate sexually charged comments to children in West Park, Hull. He had admitted engaging in sexual communication with a child at the park in 2020.

Greenaway had been brought back before the court in August when he admitted breaching the order. He either failed to attend the Horizon sex offender programme or had been drinking before doing so. He attended while under the influence of alcohol and then drank while he was there.

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A WOULD-BE rapist who 'strangled' a woman during a violent sex attack after a night out has been jailed.

Sex offender Khaled Meridja, of Brampton Road, Oxford, had denied one count of attempted rape, one of assault occasioning actual bodily harm and two of sexual assault.

At the end of his trial at Oxford Crown Court in August jurors took four hours and 31 minutes of deliberations to find him unanimously guilty of all counts.

At his sentencing hearing at the same court today his defence barrister revealed that the 29-year-old still 'stands by his instructions' despite his conviction.

During the case, prosecutor Sally Hobson told jurors the attack on the woman – who cannot be named for legal reasons – began with a night out.

The victim was out in Oxford with a friend on the night of October 21 last year before going to Euro Bar and then on to JT’s Cocktail Bar & Club.

It was not long after that in the early hours of the following morning they met Meridja, neither having met him before and neither knowing him.

While at Meridja’s home the assaults on the teenage victim and attempted rape all took place.

Detailing her ordeal the victim said it made her feel like she was 'going to die.'

She said: “[Meridja] was grabbing hold of my breasts and I [said] ‘what the hell are you doing get off me’ and then he pushed me up against the wall.

“Then he was strangling me so much I could not breathe.

"He was just strangling me and I didn’t know what to do.”

She said that she tried to fight him off and during the incident he sexually touched her and tried to pull down her trousers.

Describing how she felt she said: “I just thought I was going to die.”

The court heard at yesterday's sentencing how the attack had 'forever changed' the woman who said she also now suffers sleep difficulties as a result of her ordeal.

In mitigation defence barrister Graeme Logan said his client 'stands by his instructions' given during his trial.

He added, however, that Meridja 'understands he has to be sentenced'.

It was also revealed that Meridja had first come to the UK illegally in a lorry after fleeing Algeria before travelling through France.

Sentencing, Judge Maria Lamb called the offence a 'determined attempt' to rape the teenager.

She added: "This incident only ended because she got away from you and not because you desisted.

"She fled and fell down the stairs during the course of it [...] and was helped by a bus driver who took her to St Aldate's .

"I commend the public spiritedness and responsible [action] taken by the lady bus driver who helped a young woman clearly in distress."

He was jailed for a total of seven and a half years and must sign the sex offenders register for life.

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The managing director of an 8 million technology firm who exchanged explicit messages with teenage girls on Snapchat has avoided going to jail.

Austin Kitchen, 36, posed as a 25-year-old man with flash pictures of his luxury Tesla and BMW cars.

He targeted three victims, including one girl, 15, who was bombarded with compliments from him on a daily basis and showered with gifts.

He told her: "You look really hot", adding: "I want to sleep with you, bend you over and throw you on the bed."

Kitchen, a married dad of two, also told another girl, 14, that she had "nice boobs".

The boss of family run Velden Engineering in Bolton, Greater Manchester, was arrested after the dad of one of the victims saw the explicit messages while checking his daughter's phone.

One message by Kitchen read: OMG, what Id give to have my head between your gorgeous legs right now.''

Others said: Is it wrong that I find the idea of you in a school uniform a turn on? If you wanted you could entertain me tonight with some pics and show me you're worth spoiling.''

Police searched the businessman's mobile phone and discovered a pornographic video of another unidentified girl, aged between 15 and 17, pleasuring herself.

The incidents happened between April and November 2017 after IT expert Kitchen took over as the managing director from his father.

The firm has featured twice in the BBC TV series Troubleshooter, with Sir John Harvey Jones.

In a statement the 15-year old victim's mother said: ''She was a bright child who wanted to do well in life and had dreams and aspirations for the future - but this has had a distressing impact on her.

''She has struggled in school in the final months and could not do well with the stress of the exams due to the thought of having to stand up in court in front of strangers.

"She tried to go to college but with her anxieties, she had to seek professional help after she said she didnt want to live anymore and she said she was self harming.

"We as a family feel this situation will have a lasting affect on her.''

Kitchen, of Horwich near Bolton, admitted to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual communication with a child and possessing indecent images of children.

He was given a 10 month jail sentence, suspended for two years at Bolton Crown Court.

This is after he told the court he is "addressing his issues".

The dad has been forced to live away from his partner of 20 years and their two daughters since his arrest.

Prosecutor Joe Boyd said: The first victim was aged 15, and she came into contact with someone on Snapchat with the name of Austin Delusham, now identified as the defendant.

''He contacted her everyday and said she was pretty and found her attractive.

"They spoke about her time at school and her problems at home and he would comment on all her photographs asking her to send him one in her school uniform, which she did.

"He responded saying you look really hot and told her he was 25.

''She confided she was 15, but that did not deter him and he continued to communicate with her.

"The conversation soon became sexual as the defendant told her he wanted to sleep with her, bend her over and throw her on the bed.

These comments scared her yet he meanwhile continued to ask her for images, contacting her throughout the night to the point she turned her wifi off in an attempt to stop the contact.

She then spoke to him about the fact her e-cigarette was broken and he immediately purchased one for her.

"He then said that it was her birthday coming up and promised to buy her lots of presents.

''She then asked for clothing and requested a North Face coat.

"She put it in the basket to highlight which one she wanted and he purchased it for her and sent it to her home address. Approx three weeks later he purchased some leggings for her explaining that he was helping to cheer her up.

''When she asked what he wanted in return he said that he wanted to sleep with her.

"She said she was unsure because of her age but he urged her to meet him and the two met on several occasions- although they were never alone.

''On the first occasion he met her at some local shops in Leigh.

"He attended at her request and brought her cigarettes.

"He then placed 20 in her coat pocket and when he drove away he messaged her saying did you like that money?.

"At the time she was with her friend. On another occasion he met her at Boothstown and gave her and her friend a lift to the park.

The two had now been communicating over a number of weeks and towards the end of this period, unbeknown to her, her father started to check her Snapchat account and he saw a number of messages between Kitchen and her that caused him a great deal of concern.

''He saw messages that said are you not ready yet? Looking sexy as f..k in your uniform? Xxx its wrong how much Id want to completely destroy you wearing that... things Id do would be so bad.

Please try and be patient BBE, Ive spent over 200 on you so far so you cant say Ive not been generous especially as its not even your birthday for a few months.

''You will get everything you want you just need to be patient and wait till we do more.

When he saw the messages he contacted the police.

Officers later spoke to colleagues in Hampshire who said Kitchen had also been chatting to two other girls from the south of the country.

One said he offered to buy her pizza from Domino's and asked for her address so the food could be sent there.

He also sent pictures of his cars, plus other pictures of his face and in return asked for "cheeky pictures" if she wanted him to get her a jumper she liked.

She also received a message from Kitchen saying he was driving ''down her way'' and asked if she wanted to meet him at a hotel.

The girl did not meet him.

The third victim said Kitchen showed her pictures of his Apple Mac computer and of jewellery from Pandora.

He asked if she liked the earrings and asked for her address. He also asked if she had a boyfriend and if she liked the website called Pretty Little Thing.

A few days later a pair of Pandora earrings arrived for her, and he asked her for a picture of her with the earrings.

The victim said the defendant knew she was 14 as he had seen her Instagram account.

He also asked her what body part she liked, saying she had "nice boobs".

The victim said she told him she was 14 and that she "didn't have any boobs".

On another occasion the defendant had offered to buy her a pizza but she refused.

In mitigation, Kitchen's lawyer Steven Swift said: He is someone who finds it very very difficult to talk to or discuss the substance of the allegations.

"He is taking steps and trying to address his thinking and there has been no further offending of the last two and a half years.

"As a result of the offences he is not living at home and he is living with his parents.''

Sentencing, Judge Richard Gioserano, said: You were engaged in grooming behaviour, in particular the use and promise of gifts to encourage those girls to interact with you.

"There was a significant disparity in age and you lied about your true age.

''You have been with your partner now for nearly 20 years.

"You have been a hard working family man.

"You have two daughters of your own. You worked hard and made your way through and up the family business and you are now the managing director of it.

"That fact does not save you but until now you have not shown signs of being capable of such a thing, according to your character references.

''You must now live with that, you must live with the harm, not only caused to the girls, but also the harm to your partner and your own children.

"There is little you, or I, can do to repair the emotional harm to those girls.

"I have reservations about your genuine remorse.

"In my judgement, you seem to be put in fear of addressing the whole of your distorted sexual thinking.

Kitchen was also ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work, abide by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of 1,800.

Description

A voyeur who hacked into home security cameras to spy on unsuspecting homeowners also used a hidden camera to film families in Butlins, Swindon Crown Court heard.

Sentencing John Wood, 42, to two years imprisonment suspended for two years, Judge Peter Crabtree labelled the mans crimes a systematic campaign of voyeurism over a period of six years.

Prosecutor Russell Pyne told the court Wood had been snared by the south west regional organised crime squads cyber unit during a joint investigation with the FBI into super-hacker Colton Grubbs, whose software LuminosityLink allowed users to secretly activate cameras and microphones to secretly record people in their own homes.

Detectives discovered that dad-of-one Wood had bought the software in July 2015, although there was no evidence he had used it.

But when officers analysed Woods computers they found a huge cache of secret video recordings hed made between 2011 and 2016.

He had also hacked into peoples private webcams and other camera-enabled devices to secretly watching them in their own homes. A programme, Blue Iris, more commonly used to organise CCTV feeds, had been used so he could monitor different illicitly-accessed cameras. There were 1,400 video files saved in a file named Blue Iris Videos, the majority of which showed people having sex at home. Videos linked to 45 different IP addresses had been uncovered.

One of his victims, a London man whose home security camera was accessed by Wood, said in an impact statement: It made me feel vulnerable and violated that the sanctity of our home has been accessed.

Wood also had almost 300 videos that he had shot himself. He used a camera to film women from windows in his home, devices hidden in his house and at a holiday cottage and took a hidden camera to Butlins, Bognor Regis, in November 2012, to film women in changing rooms.

One of his victims, who had been filmed using the toilet in Woods own home, said in a victim statement that she was absolutely shocked and disgusted that hed deliberately made recordings of me behind closed doors.

Another woman said: The truth is its frustrating to think there are people out there that do things like this.

The 77 videos shot over five days at Butlins showed over 167 victims - including children, although no indecent material was found on Wood's computer. None of the victims had been identified by police.

Wood, formerly of Station Road, Minety, pleaded guilty at the magistrates court to six counts of voyeurism and two charges under the Computer Misuse Act.

John Wood leaves Swindon Crown Court on Tuesday

Nicholas Wragg, defending, said his client had been diagnosed with various mental disorders including autism, hoarding disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. He was receiving therapy. He was married with a daughter with learning difficulties, had the support of his family and was the main breadwinner in the house.

Wood, who was of previous good character, had fully admitted his offending when he was interviewed by the police in 2018. He had stayed out of trouble in the three years since he was arrested.

Mr Wragg told the court: The defendants understanding of the harm he has done to others has not been done on an emotional level, because he lacks that capacity. It has been on a purely intellectual level that he had come to learn of that impact on others. That is so difficult for people who have that ability to understand and appreciate it.

The quantity and nature of the offending is serious but the defendant has recognised that and used his time well. It is of course a work in progress, but he has shown commitment and after all this time there is a reasonable prospect of rehabilitation.

He said some of the people whose cameras Wood hacked had been selling sex shows to voyeurs although the lawyer admitted his client had hacked into the video streams and was watching without the performers permission.

Judge Crabtree acknowledged Wood had mental health difficulties, but challenged claims he had not been sexually motivated. He noted the man had targeted attractive women, saying the fact he had concealed cameras and denied wrongdoing when confronted by one of his victims pointed to him knowing that what he was doing was wrong.

Under the terms of his suspended sentence order, Wood must complete the Horizon sex offender rehabilitation programme, 30 rehabilitation activity days and 100 hours or unpaid work.

He must abide by a 10 year sexual harm prevention order and sign onto the sex offenders register for 10 years.

The judge warned Wood about breaching the terms of his suspended sentence, telling him he would be jailed. "My starting point will be to say I got it wrong and Mr Wood doesn't want to be rehabilitated."

Description

Sheffield Crown Court heard on November 4 how Dean Holloway, aged 60, formerly of Balmoral Road, Woodhouse, Sheffield, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and to two counts of attempted rape against a child aged under 16.

The complainant, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was a young teenager at the time of the offences in the 1990s, according to prosecuting barrister Nicola Quinney.

Ian Goldsack, defending, said: These incidents of wrong-doing were very short-lived and secondly they occurred in a very short window of time.

The attempted rapes were attempts, according to Mr Goldsack, because Holloway was not physically aroused and he told the police that had been the case because he knew what he was doing was wrong.

Mr Goldsack added: This is not a man who is in any way proud of what he did many, many years ago as a much younger man.

"He has lived with it in all the intervening time and he has always known this one day would come.

Holloway was described by Mr Goldsack as a hard-working man who has never troubled police or the courts before and he has been the subject of a number of supportive testimonials including from family.

Judge Peter Kelson QC acknowledged Holloway has expressed remorse and his references show he is regarded as an honest and beloved family member.

He also recognised Holloways early guilty pleas ensured the complainant was spared from enduring a trial.

Judge Kelson sentenced Holloway, now of Kingsley Road, Stafford, to four years of custody.