Latest Offenders

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A man who sexually assaulted a teenager has been jailed.

Jamie Gorton, formerly of Burnley, assaulted the girl twice on one day in February.

The 34-year-old, appearing via video link at Burnley Crown Court on Thursday (December 12) kept his head in his hands and his sweatshirt over his face for the duration of the hearing.

When Judge Sara Dodd returned from a brief retirement to consider her sentencing remarks, she asked Gorton if he was more comfortable with his hands over his face, to which he replied "yes".

Before Judge Dodd had finished giving her remarks, though after she had told Gorton of his sentence, the defendant got up and left the conference room at the prison, leaving the judge to finish the final sentences of her remarks without the defendant present.

Lancashire Police put out an appeal to find Gorton earlier this year saying he spoke "with a Burnley accent" and that he had links to Darwen, Blackpool, and Fleetwood.

The offences took place in Blackpool. 

A victim impact statement read to the court by prosecuting barrister Aubrey Samson said the victim had self-harmed since the incident and has suffered from anxiety and flashbacks.

She said: "I can't believe this has happened to me."

John Woodward, defending said his client was now receiving the "best medication" for his mental health.

He said: "He feels he's getting better and feels confident that given time he'll be able to understand his difficulties and be able to act accordingly in the future."

Gorton, now of Osborne Road, Blackpool, and previously of an address in Burnley, has 21 previous convictions for 33 offences, including engaging in sexual activity with a child and failing to comply with notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order.

He was found guilty of assault by penetration and sexual activity with a child following a trial.

Judge Dodd, sentencing, said the victim in this case was "particularly vulnerable".

She said: "There has been significant psychological harm. I do not find the harm caused to have been severe, though this is not to underplay in any way the damage you have done to this young girl.

"You are rightly described as being unable to comply with court orders. I have no confidence you would comply with licence conditions upon your release."

Judge Dodd considered Gorton to be a dangerous offender and sentenced him to an eight-year prison term with a further five years on extended licence, making a total sentence of 13 years.

Description

A pervert who shared sick images of himself sexually assaulting a child has been locked up.

Liam Waldron appeared before Teesside Crown Court to be sentenced for a string of offences including sharing depraved sexually explicit images of children and possession of extreme porn involving a dog.

The court heard the 29-year-old was snared after West Mercia Police found evidence Waldron had been contacting a suspect in their force area and alerted Cleveland Police. Officers attended Waldron's Redcar home and found a number of devices with the depraved images on and also evidence of correspondence between the two. Police also discovered a photograph, which had been shared, of Waldron assaulting a child.

Philip Morley, prosecuting, said the defendant admitted he had been sharing and distributing indecent images on platforms such as Whatsapp and added: "He had been doing it regularly for some years and normally under the influence of drink and drugs."

Waldron, of Ryehills Close, pleaded guilty to a string of offences including the sexual assault of a child under the age of 13, taking indecent photographs of a child, distributing indecent photographs of a child, making indecent images and possession of an extreme pornographic image involving sexual activity with a dog.

The defendant also agreed to a number of other matters being taken into account, dating from June 2022 to June 2024, including possession of 110 category A images of children, possession of 79 category B images of children, possession of 33 category C images of children and 12 images of extreme pornography.

Robert Mochrie, mitigating, said: "As in all cases like this there is no rational explanation for this behaviour." He said in Waldron's case there was a combination of drug misuse and pressure from a third party to become involved.

He said: "There is nothing that can be sensibly said to try to mitigate his actions. The best mitigation is that he entered a guilty plea."

Judge Joanne Kidd said Waldron had shared images and was in discussions with other paedophiles and they shared some of "the most depraved ideas, desires and fantasies."

Judge Kidd said she took the view that this was fantasy and nothing more, but said the images were particularly depraved and showed "children being subjects of the most heinous violations".

Waldron was jailed for a total of 42 months and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

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A PERVERTED former Ayrshire school teacher who admitted taking secret, inappropriate, pictures of his former colleagues has avoided jail.

Brian Smith has instead been placed on a community based order - which includes a number of requirements - as a direct alternative to custody.

The 52-year-old took the upskirt images while he was employed as an English teacher at both Stewarton Academy in East Ayrshire and Wellington School in Ayr.

The indecent photos were surreptitiously snapped over a near seven-year period between June 2015 and January 2022.

The 52-year-old pleaded guilty to a pair of charges in relation to operating equipment beneath the clothing of females at both schools - with the intention of enabling himself or another to observe the genitals, buttocks or underwear of the victims - when he appeared at Kilmarnock Sheriff Court previously on Tuesday, November 5.

The court heard that the incidents only came to light when Smith, of Cardhu Gardens in Kilmarnock, committed another offence - a breach of the peace - which he also admitted in the dock last month.

This incident took place on January 25 of last year at Tesco on West Shaw Street in Kilmarnock, procurator fiscal depute Gemma McKechnie told the court at that time.

Here, he followed a woman around the store with a mobile phone in hand. It was later discovered that - unbeknown to the woman involved - he had photographed images up her skirt.

Though Smith was caught out after she expressed her feeling of being followed to the shop's security guard.

The police were later made aware of the matter, and this ultimately uncovered other images held by the former teacher.

His details were obtained and then passed to police, who obtained a search warrant for his property.

A MacBook laptop and a hard drive were later analysed and found to contain "voyeuristic" images which depicted people associated with both Stewarton Academy and Wellington School.

Smith returned to Kilmarnock Sheriff Court on Friday, December 13, to be sentenced in relation to all three matters brought to light.

Defence advocate Janice Green addressed Sheriff Murdoch Mactaggart on his behalf before a final disposal was imposed, following the preparation of background reports.

She stated that these were offences "society disapproves of" which involved an "abuse of trust" - though commented that the content within was not "at the higher end of the scale".

Ms Green added: "He expresses extreme regret and remorse for affect on the victims and his own family. His guilt and shame is evident. That will now live with him.

"It is clear he has taken significant steps himself to try to manage his proclivities. He has been working with a registered counsellor intensively since May in order to address and face the underlying deviant motivations.

"Despite the setback in terms of his catastrophic fall from grace he continued to work when able to in a less public facing role. He intends to maintain this.

"He knows custody is something that could follow from these offences. Though a robust community order would serve the purposes of punishment.

"Allow him to continue to work toward rehabilitation. He is content to accept any condition that gives him his liberty."

Before sentencing, Sheriff Murdoch Mactaggart addressed the court in terms of the case.

Following a previous hearing, which followed on from the initial guilty pleas provided by Smith, it was determined by the court that some images did not meet the threshold required to be considered appropriate to the charges brought by the Crown.

As a result, two school pupils listed as victims, and one former colleague, were removed from the charges.

The Sheriff added that these images may have been considered criminal under a different charge - though the court was unable to amend those brought by prosecutors.

Addressing Smith, he added: You have pleaded guilty to three serious offences. You took advantage of your position of trust. People are entitled to feel safe in their place of work.

You did this for your own sexual gratification and caused them considerable stress.

In terms of the final charge (relating to Tesco in Kilmarnock) this lady was alarmed and distressed by your conduct.

You presented a risk to woman and this court needs to act to protect woman from you in future.

The 52-year-old was then placed on a community payback order, which will include a range of conditions.

Smith will be placed under social works supervision for a period of three years and will be required to complete the 'Moving Forward Making Changes' program - which helps adult men convicted of sexual offenses to lead a life without harming others.

He was also ordered to complete 210 hours of unpaid work over a period of nine months.

Further to this, he will not be able to use any internet enabled devices unless their written history of use is made available for inspection. He must not delete his browsing history at any stage.

Smith was also made subject to a restriction of liberty ordered which means he must remain within his home address between 7pm and 7am each day for the next three months. His movements will be electronically monitored during this time.

Lastly, the former teacher was placed on the sex offenders register for a period of five years from his court appearance.

Description

Paul Sild, aged 34, from Hartlepool, pleaded guilty to more than 20 offences of sexual assault, possession of indecent images and extreme pornography.

Sild was arrested and charged by Hartlepool CID officers in June, after a number of women came forward to report incidents which had taken place on residential streets in the town in May.

Officers found that Sild had approached women who were unknown to him in the street and used a syringe to squirt them with a substance, which was found to contain traces of his DNA. He had filmed these assaults on his mobile phone, which he carried in a hollowed-out book to conceal it.

Following his arrest, officers found evidence of further sexual assaults which had not been reported to police, along with indecent images of children and extreme pornography on his mobile phone.

Sild received four-and-a-half years in prison, with an 18-month extended licence.

Description

A 42-year sentence has been imposed on a man who raped and sexually assaulted a number of women and girls in the Dover and Canterbury areas.

Ian Hamilton was charged with numerous sexual offences after Kent Police's Cold Case Investigation Team reviewed a 1988 investigation into an attack on a girl in the village of Hersden.

That in turn linked him to a 1992 report concerning abuse he inflicted on a child in Dover in the mid-1980s.

Cold case investigation

Detectives began tracing and interviewing people who had come into contact with Hamilton around that time, leading to a number of women revealing they had also been the victims of violence and sexual abuse at his hands.

In total, officers identified a further nine women who had been victims of sexual offences between 1977 and 2000, and a man who had been seriously assaulted by him in 1991.

As a result, more than 50 previously unreported offences were investigated and Hamilton was arrested at his home in Snodland in March 2024.

Following his arrest, a computer in his possession was found to contain more than 1,500 indecent images.

The 63 year old stood trial at Inner London Crown Court and was convicted by a jury of all 59 charges including rape, indecent assault and causing grievous bodily harm, having admitted possession of indecent images at the start of the trial.

Jailed

On Friday 13 December 2024, he received a sentence of 42 years and one month. His Honour Judge Silas Reid described Hamilton as 'cunning and sadistic' and a 'monster of the night'.

Description

A man has been jailed for six years and three months, after being convicted of sex offences.

Dillon Robb, aged 29, of HMP Hewell was convicted of four counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15 and two counts of engaging in sexual communications with a child.

He was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court today (Friday 13 December). Robb was also given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and has been placed on the sex offenders register for life.

The offences took place in Telford between August and September 2023.

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A MAN who met an underage girl for sex after grooming her online has been locked up for six-and-a-half years.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Damien Hughes set up a fake Instagram account under the name “Simon” and sent a friend request to the teenager.

Over the next three months they exchanged messages, which became sexualised, and he sent a video of himself masturbating.

He also asked the teenager to send nude photographs of herself and encouraged her to agree to meet in a hotel for sex despite knowing she was under the age of consent.

During the school holidays they met up three times and on two occasions Hughes, now 41, had sex with the girl in his car.

The court heard that the girl tried to call a halt to the situation, but Hughes would tell her that he would miss her and was “really upset”.

The relationship was discovered when a relative of the girl spotted a message from Hughes on her phone and responded pretending to be her.

He then investigated her Instagram account and found sexually explicit photographs and videos as well as messages arranging to meet up.

The police were informed, and, on being arrested, Hughes gave “no comment” answers in an interview.

When his phone was examined it showed where he had travelled to meet the girl and CCTV footage was located that placed the pair at the scene.

A forensic examination of his car found evidence of sexual activity.

Hughes was picked out by the teenager in an identity parade but denied the offences and went to trial where he was found guilty by a jury.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Laura McBride the teenager said her experiences with Hughes had left her feeling “very worried, anxious, and intimidated” as he had taken advantage of her vulnerabilities.

She revealed she had undergone therapy and suffered from trust issues that had impacted other relationships.

She said: “Each day I must live with the memories and flashbacks of what he did to me.”

Sentencing Hughes, of Westbourne Grove, Halifax, at Bradford Crown Court Mr Recorder Andrew Haslam KC said he had denied his crimes “despite overwhelming evidence”.

He jailed Hughes for a total of six-and-a-half years, imposed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order, and said he must sign the sex offender’s register for life.

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An "opportunistic sexual predator" has been jailed for four years after sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a woman.

Mohammed Sanana denied approaching two women in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, before sexually assaulting and attempting to rape one of them on the steps near the library on Clarence Street.

The victim repeatedly told Sanana "no", told him to go away and pushed him, when the incident occurred on a night out in March at about 20:30 GMT.

Sanana, formerly of Ambrose Street in Cheltenham, was convicted by a jury following a week-long trial at Gloucester Crown Court.

During the trial, the 22-year-old claimed he knew the victim and said his actions were consensual.

However, the jury unanimously found him guilty on 11 November.

As well as the prison sentence, Sanana will be placed on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

He was sentenced on 6 December.

'Unforgivable attack'

In a statement provided by the woman, she said the court process was "very daunting", despite having support from a Sexual Violence Advisor.

"This entire court process did not need to happen and could have all been avoided if he had just admitted to what he had done instead of fabricating a whole story about meeting me before.

"I hope that he is able to learn from this process and will think twice about his actions in the future.

"I hope that him being convicted of this offence will help to prevent something like this from ever happening again to someone else in order to protect other people in the future," she said.

Det Ch Insp Dave Shore-Nye, of Gloucestershire Police, said:

"Sanana is an opportunistic sexual predator who is now rightly behind bars.

"He subjected a woman to a terrifying and unforgivable attack which has impacted her life significantly, and I hope his prosecution and conviction will bring her some sense of justice."

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A judge has jailed a ‘dangerous’ woman for violent physical and sexual abuse.

Angel Hill, 20, was handed an extended sentence for her crimes. Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Hill, who is transitioning from male to female, had demonstrated ‘violent, manipulative and controlling behaviour’.

She pleaded guilty to assault by penetration, sexual assault, strangulation and threatening with a bladed article in relation to the victim. “I conclude you have no insight regarding your behaviour at all,” Judge Jason MacAdam told the defendant.

“I see no evidence whatsoever that would lead me to conclude you are motivated to change your behaviour. Your approach being ‘it’s all about me’. The consequences of your actions don’t seem to register in your thought process, or if they do you ignore them. I find you to be dangerous, in the legal sense.”

Hill, of High Peak, Derbyshire, was sentenced to an extended sentence of 11 years, including seven years in prison and four years on extended licence.

Prosecuting, Stuart Neale said that the victim had struggled to breathe when Hill committed the strangulation offence. He said that Hill had said ‘I’m going to kill you’ earlier on the same occasion.

In a statement read to the court, the victim told how the incidents had affected their mental health. Defending, Julian Goode said that the defendant is still a young person and has not yet reached full maturity.

He said that she has experienced serious mental health issues, and argued that she was genuinely remorseful. Judge MacAdam said that he would reduce the sentence to take account of the defendant’s youth and mental health. He also reduced the sentence by 20 per cent because she pleaded guilty.

“The victim in this case was spared the ordeal of having to give evidence,” the judge said. He ordered Hill to sign the sex offender’s register. Hill was told she would have to serve at least two-thirds of the seven year custodial sentence before being considered for release.

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A teenager has told a court she attempted to take her own life after being repeatedly sexually assaulted by an older colleague at a McDonald’s in Perth.

The young woman was one of three female employees tormented by Joshua McKeown in 2022.

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A paedophile who walked into a Sawtry home and sexually assaulted a young girl has been jailed.

Christopher Woods, 39, was captured on CCTV trying door handles in the early hours of 23 April last year.

Woods, who was carrying a pint glass, managed to get into the back garden of the victim’s home before entering the property.

The victim had awoken and decided to go downstairs where Wood spoke to her and then assaulted her.

Video doorbell footage captured him entering the garden and leaving roughly 40 minutes later.

The following day the girl told her mother and she contacted police.

When officers attended, they found the pint glass in the garden. Forensic tests revealed Woods’ fingerprints, and he was arrested.

Woods, of Garner Court, Huntingdon, denied assaulting a girl under 13 by touching and breaching an existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He was found guilty of both counts following a trial at Peterborough Crown Court last month.

Yesterday (11 December) at the same court he was jailed for four years and six months.

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A ‘predatory’ priest who repeatedly molested a sleeping train passenger has been jailed for 16 months at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Father Daniel Doherty, 61, from Falkirk, was the parish priest at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Falkirk.

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A sex offender who avoided police checks by sleeping rough has been jailed for a year.

Scott Notman, also a convicted football hooligan, lied to cops by saying he had been in hospital when they were looking for him. The 49-year-old was sentenced at Airdrie Sheriff Court when he admitted failing to disclose a change of address within three days.

Notman was put on the sex offenders' register for five years in July 2023 after being caught in a paedophile sting. A court heard he used an online dating site to contact a female he believed to be aged 14.

'Emma' turned out to be an adult member of a vigilante group posing as a teenager. Notman arranged to meet her but didn't turn up.

Airdrie Sheriff Court heard police officers from the sex offenders' monitoring unit went to Notman's home in Airdrie for a routine check four times in October this year. There was no sign of him and housing officers who turned up with an eviction notice also got no reply.

Annette Ward, prosecuting, said: "Police officers traced him in a social work office in Bellshill on November 5. He claimed he had been in Monklands Hospital between October 18 and November 4.

"Enquiries at the hospital established he'd attended at the emergency unit on November 3 but was discharged after examination."

Defence lawyer Tony Linden said Notman's sex offender status had put him "at a low ebb", adding: "As remarkable as it seems, he chose to leave his house, preferring to sleep rough.

"Of course, the first thing he was required to do was tell the police, given the clear concerns that arose from them not knowing where he was."

Sheriff Joseph Hughes told Notman: "Your record shows breaches of non-harassment and community payback orders. This is another example of non-compliance and it's really serious.

"It can't be allowed to continue as you are on the sex offenders' register until 2028."

In 2021 Notman was jailed for 15 months for breaking a Hearts football fan's jaw in an unprovoked attack after a game against Motherwell.

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A man who raped a woman twice while her children were in the house has been jailed.

Abdul Hamed, 35, of no fixed address, assaulted a woman in a "horrendous ordeal" after climbing through her window in Swindon in the early hours of 18 June.

"Hamed entered her home through a window in the middle of the night, significantly breaching her sense of safety and privacy in the one place that she should have felt safest," said DC Ashleigh Moran of Swindon Police.

Hamed has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison at Swindon Crown Court.

'No remorse'

"This was a traumatic incident for the victim and I want to thank her and commend her for her incredible bravery that she's shown throughout this process," DC Moran continued.

The incident was reported to police the day after it happened, and Hamed was arrested.

He pleaded not guilty to the offences and was unanimously found guilty following a six-day jury trial.

"He has shown no remorse throughout this investigation and now faces several years behind bars for his actions," DC Moran added.

"I hope this sentencing will bring an element of closure for the victim and she can start to move forward with her life."

Description

A 30-year-old man has jailed for eight years at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 11 December, 2024, after being convicted of serious sexual offences in Fife.

Darren Glass’ crimes included rape and sexual communications against a woman and a teenage girl between September, 2020 and June, 2022.

Detective Constable Steven Grant said: “Glass is a dangerous individual who now faces the consequences of his despicable actions.

"I would like to commend his victims for their strength in coming forward during the investigation. Their information was essential in helping us build the case against him and our thoughts remain with them. I hope this outcome provides them with some sense of closure.

“If anyone has been a victim of a sexual crime, please report it. We have detectives dedicated to investigating such offences. You can be assured that you will be fully supported by officers and our partner agencies."