Latest Offenders

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A Midlands physiotherapist who abused a patient has been locked up. Robert Merfyn Williams denied a single count of sexual assault and stood trial at Shrewsbury Crown Court.

But jurors convicted him of the charge following a two-day trial in December 2024. The trial heard how the 66-year-old assaulted his female patient when she went to his practise in Mardol, Shrewsbury.

The victim had gone to see Williams for treatment to her painful knee. Williams has now been jailed for 15 months for his crime.

The defendant, of Pensfold, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury, was also told to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years. West Mercia Police's Detective Constable Nick Williams, from Shropshire's reactive CID, praised the victim for coming forward.

He said: "I commend the courage of the victim in this case to come forward and for her resilience and determination over the last couple of years as she waited for the trial to take place. I am pleased with the court result and sentencing and I hope the knowledge that police will take such allegations seriously and will do their best to bring offenders of sexual crimes to justice, will give other victims the confidence to come forward."

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A "disgusting and manipulative" rapist who abused a woman so she "feared for her life" has been jailed.

Amaniel Tewelde threatened and coerced his victim over several years and ignored her pleas to stop sexually assaulting her, Greater Manchester Police said.

The 37-year-old, from Collyhurst in Manchester, was found guilty in November of two counts of rape, controlling and coercive behaviour, and perverting the course of justice.

Tewelde has been sentenced at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court to 15 years in prison, given a restraining order, and placed on the sex offender register for the rest of his life.

'Feeling trapped'

The court heard Tewelde first met the woman in the Salford area in 2014 and then sexually assaulted her.

On another occasion, police said Tewelde ignored her pleas for him to stop touching her and went on to rape her.

He continued with controlling and coercive behaviour in the months that followed, threatening not to see her or care for her if she did not have sex with him.

Detectives said the woman feared for her life if she did not listen to him.

The court heard that, during a visit to Blackpool, Tewelde raped her again.

Det Sgt Graham Parry said: "Tewelde's disgusting and manipulative actions led to a woman feeling unsafe and with nowhere to turn to, leaving her isolated.

"By alternating between caring and controlling, Tewelde left the woman feeling trapped and I am glad he is now finally behind bars where he belongs."

He said after years of abuse the woman was "finally allowed a voice" in court after an "incredibly tough journey" and officers were "thankful for her perseverance".

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Dean Williams, 29, from Abercynon has been jailed for nearly five years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a young girl.

Appearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday 24 January, Williams was sentenced to four years and eight months for sexual activity with a child and 22 months for making an indecent image of a child, with the sentences running concurrently.

The assault took place in a park in Caerphilly in August 2022 after Williams, then 26, had added the then 13-year-old victim on Snapchat.

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A Morecambe man has been jailed after raping a 16-year-old girl after he lured her back to his flat.

Registered sex offender Jonathon Downie was jailed for five years after pleading guilty to rape at Preston Crown Court.

Downie’s victim was at a party on August 7 2024.

Downie, after luring her back to his flat, gave her alcohol, and started sexually touching her. She told him to stop.

Despite her pleas for Downie to stop, he continued to rape her.

Eventually, the victim managed to push him away. Downie proceeded to ask her “did I rape you?”

When she replied “yes, why didn’t you stop when I told you to?”, he responded “are you going to get me done?”

An investigation commenced, and Downie was arrested on suspicion of, and later charged with, rape and sexual assault.

Downie, 25, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to rape at Preston Crown Court and was sentenced to five years in custody.

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A sex offender travelled more than 100 miles to "abuse children". Anthony Goward is one of 1,000 people arrested to date by detectives from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) in connection with online child sexual offences.

Goward, from Braunstone, Leicestershire, later found himself jailed for four years and four months in May 2023. The then 52-year-old drove more than 100 miles to Warrington to meet with a woman who he believed was going to facilitate his access to two young children with the intention of abusing them.

Instead, he was met by NWROCU officers who were waiting for him. He pleaded guilty to child sex offences and was jailed. He was also told he would be on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life and be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 15 years.

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A man has been jailed for 16 years after being found guilty of rape, sexual assault, and causing a child under 13 to watch / look at an image of sexual activity.

David Houghton (20/04/1978), of Milton Close, Stretford, was found guilty in November following a trial at Manchester Crown Court. He had been remanded in custody until his sentencing today (29 January 2025), which was a 15-year custodial sentence, with an additional 12 month licence period.

In 2019, a teenage girl made a disclosure that she had been the victim of sexual abuse over a period time by Houghton, beginning in around 2013, in the Trafford area. The girl was approximately nine-years-old when the abuse started.

Houghton, who abused his position of trust with his victim, carried on with his disgusting actions on a regular basis, threatening the girl that she couldn’t tell anyone else.

Once the girl bravely came forward, Houghton was first interviewed by police in 2019.

Following a thorough investigation, he was charged with the offences, all of which he was found guilty of at trial. He will also have to sign the sex offender’s register for life.

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A previously convicted child sex offender has been jailed again after police found indecent images of children of the most serious category in his possession. 

Nigel Stephen Collins, 75, from Redcar, has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after being charged with making indecent images of children after nearly 850 of the most serious category of pictures were found on his computer.

Collins’ offending came to light when Cleveland Police’s management of sexual or violent offenders unit (MOSOVO) carried out an unannounced visit to his home to ensure compliance with court orders stemming from two prior convictions for similar offenses.

During the visit, officers reviewed Collin's computer and discovered he had accessed child abuse images again.

He was subsequently arrested, interviewed and then charged and remanded until his court appearance last Friday, January 24. 

PC James Sexton of the MOSOVO unit said: “Collins is clearly still a dangerous individual with an enduring interest in making or accessing child abuse images.

“We work tirelessly to ensure everyone subject to restrictions and conditions are monitored so that any breaches like this are detected and dealt with.

“I’d like to thank my colleagues from the force’s Digital Forensic Unit for working so quickly on this case; their assistance ensured we were able to return a high-risk offender back to prison.”

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A Sittingbourne man who sexually abused vulnerable children over several years has received 23 years' imprisonment.

Matthew Smith’s offending started in 2008 and he went on to target four victims over subsequent years.

In 2020, one of his victims disclosed their ordeal to a trusted third party and then contacted the police. Further victims were later identified as the investigation progressed.

Arrested

Smith, formerly of Sittingbourne, was arrested on 1 March 2020, and was later charged with multiple offences against children including rape and sexual touching.

He was also charged with sexual communication with a child after he contacted another victim online.

Smith pleaded not guilty at Maidstone Crown Court and was convicted of 32 indictments following a trial.

Sentenced

On Friday 24 January 2025, Smith, aged 39, was given an extended sentence of 31 years. This has a custodial period of 23 years of which he will have to serve two thirds before he is eligible for parole.

On his release, Smith, will have to serve a further eight years on licence. He will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender notification requirements indefinitely.

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A man has been charged in connection with offences in relation to indecent images of children.

Samuel Erlandson, 36, from Ruabon, is charged with two counts of making indecent images of a child.

He was remanded into police custody to appear before Mold Magistrates Court on Saturday, November 23rd.

Erlandson subsequently pleaded guilty to both offences and will appear before Llandudno Magistrates Court for sentencing on Monday, December 30th.

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A serial sex offender who targeted a young girl left the victim struggling with "trauma" and the "immense" impact of her ordeal.

The girl had since "faced many obstacles" because of what she had suffered and this had taken its "toll over the years" on her, Hull Crown Court heard.

John Hill, 58, of Malm Street, off Anlaby Road, west Hull, denied five offences of indecent assault but he was convicted by a jury after a trial. He also denied six offences of indecency with a child but he was convicted of four of them.

Dale Brook, mitigating, told the trial that Hill intimately touched the girl. "He told her she was a good girl," said Mr Brook.

"She thinks that he was grooming her and building up to wider sexual activity. It did progress." More serious sexual behaviour took place. The victim eventually contacted the police.

Hill was arrested but he denied any sexual abuse of the girl. "He said that he didn't know her and had no recollection of her," said Mr Brook.

The victim told the court: "I now struggle with trauma. It impacts me more than I ever thought it would. I know I have faced many obstacles because of it. It takes its toll over the years.

"He was the man who groomed and abused me. He has no remorse. He is a paedophile and a child molester and nothing he does will change that.

"This whole ordeal has been immense. I know I will be dealing with this for the rest of my life. He is the face of my abuser. I am no longer afraid."

Charlotte Baines, mitigating, said: "There is really very little that can be said, given that the defendant was convicted after a trial by the jury.

Judge Richard Woolfall told Hill: "These are very serious offences. The guidelines make it plain that a significant sentence will be required."

Hill was jailed for 15 years and he will be on extended licence of one year after his release from prison. He was branded an offender of particular concern.

Hill had been on bail during the trial but he was remanded in custody on December 6 after the jury returned its verdicts.

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This is the face of a paedophile pensioner every parent should know as he is now a free man. Brian Topliss has been released from prison after serving half of his decade-long sentence.

The now 81-year-old was jailed for ten years in November 2019 after a series of sickening child sex offences. The sex offender befriended his victims, luring them into his Alum Rock home to play computer games.

Topliss, who was sentenced when he was 76, also offered to take the children to 'parks or swimming'. Instead, he repeatedly abused one boy and regularly invited others into his home.

In November last year, he was released from prison having served five of the ten years. Now it's thought he's living in Walsall following his release. The Ministry of Justice stressed he - as well as any prisoner released on license - would be subject to strict conditions. This would range from curfews to exclusion zones and include the threat of being returned to prison if breached.

"Anyone released from prison faces strict conditions while on licence, such as curfews and exclusion zones, and can be returned to custody if they breach them," a Prison Service spokesperson said.

Topliss was freed on November 18 last year, five years on from his sentence at Birmingham Crown Court - where his offending was branded a "gross abuse and a breach of trust." Judge Sarah Buckingham said at the time: "You are a man who, for many years, has had and acted upon a sexual interest in children."

The pensioner groomed boys and filmed them performing sexual acts at his home. His offending only ended when one victim told a social worker and nurse of their abuse and police became involved.

As police raided his home, officers found Topliss had also stored and catalogued around 15,000 indecent images for his own sexual gratification. One of his victims, a man now in his 30's, was "befriended" by Topliss when he gave him swimming and diving lessons.

"He groomed him and treated him as his favourite," prosecutor Steven Bailey had told Birmingham Crown Court. He then went on to abuse the boy repeatedly and "went further" when he realised he could get away with it.

The sex offender also invited a number of other boys to his home on a regular basis. There. he would show them pornography, give them drugs, sweets and get them to perform sexual acts, the court heard. Topliss recorded what went on and police later recovered 173 still images and three videos.

Mr Bailey went on: "Over a period of about 13 years he took, made and consumed images. He only stopped when the police became involved. They show a household where there were no sexual boundaries. 'It is my house and my rules' seem to have been his thought process."

He said Topliss had also tried to conceal what he had done by "burying" indecent images in a video which was ostensibly holiday footage. Included in the images that Topliss had downloaded were four extreme pictures of extreme pornography involving animals.

Topliss, who lived in Maitland Road before his prison term, had admitted four charges of gross indecency with a child, seven of taking indecent images of a child, three counts of possessing indecent photographs of a child and one count of possessing extreme pornography.

"Topliss befriended his victims by offering his home as a place to play computer games, or by taking them to parks or swimming. But he had a hidden agenda and abused those who trusted him in the most deviant way," Det Con Julia Griffin, from the West Midlands Police public protection unit, said after the case.

"No one can underestimate the effect sexual abuse can have on a child as they grow into adulthood and I can only praise the bravery of those who relived their experiences by coming forward. I am pleased that Topliss pleaded guilty and spared his victims the ordeal of a trial. I hope the sentence gives them some comfort."

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A man convicted of multiple child sex offences, including rape, has been given an extended sentence of 18 years.

Jason Yongblah, aged 56, formerly of Weedon Close, Northampton, began abusing the girl when she was just 12 years old.

His offending escalated from sexual touching to rape, and also saw him send the girl multiple inappropriate text messages.

These proved to be his undoing after a relative of the girl saw one by chance, leading to a report to Northamptonshire Police.

The Force’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) went on to uncover the scope of Yongblah’s crimes, and he was charged with 19 offences, including rape and repeated sexual assaults.

After admitting one count of sexual communication with a child and three counts of making indecent images of a child, Yongblah went on trial on the rest of the charges, with the jury finding him guilty on all counts on October 8.

On Friday, January 24, Yongblah appeared at Northampton Crown Court where he was given an extended sentence – used for criminals convicted of specific offences who are deemed to be dangerous – made up of a total of 17 years’ imprisonment and a further one year on licence.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and made subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, designed to prevent further offending once he is released.

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A man has been sentenced to 17 years in prison having been found guilty of sexual offences, including child sex offences, in Southampton and Coventry.

David Blackstock, 57, of Harnall Lane West in Coventry, appeared at Southampton Crown Court on Friday (24 January) for sentence having previously being found guilty by a jury of rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and four counts of indecent assault.

The court heard how in August 2020 the victim, who is now in her 40s, contacted police to report that Blackstock had raped her when she was just 13 and he was 29-years-old. The woman reported that Blackstock had lied about his age when she first met him in 1996, telling her that he was 19, however within a matter of months she realised his true age when he began receiving 30th birthday cards. The court was told how the victim went on to be subjected to controlling, abusive and violent behaviour at the hands of Blackstock.

Blackstock pleaded not guilty to the offences he was charged with, however a jury found him guilty on August 19 2024 following a trial at Southampton Crown Court.

He has now been sentenced to 17 years in prison. He was also made subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and a restraining order in relation to the victim.

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A St Helens man has been jailed today, Monday 27 January, for the rape and sexual assault of two girls.

Declan Tracey, 22 years, from St Helens appeared at Liverpool Crown Court and was sentenced to seven years in prison. The judge put him on the Sexual Notification for life and put a restraining order in place for 14 years.

Tracey pleaded guilty to 10 sexual offences committed between 2016 and 2020, which were oral rape, eight counts of attempted rape.

Detective Sergeant Bob Sandham said: “I would like to praise the courage and dignity the two young victims have shown throughout the investigation. While no sentence will repair the damage he has inflicted on them and their innocence has been taken away, I hope this conviction has secured some justice for them.

“Violence against women and girls will simply not be tolerated and we will work tirelessly to bring perpetrators to justice.”

Detective Sergeant Sandham added: “We are committed to protecting victims of sexual offences, and anyone who reports an incident to us will be safeguarded and supported throughout the investigation by Specially Trained Officers and Sexual Violence Advocates who will provide all the relevant support.

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Officers who monitor the risk posed by sex offenders secured a prison sentence for a man who repeatedly breached a court order and attempted to engage a child in sexually charged conversations.

In October last year, Alastair Dixon, 35, was found to have sent sexualised messages and images to an online decoy posing as a 14-year-old boy.

He committed this serious offence despite being the subject of a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), imposed at Ipswich Crown Court in August 2023.

These orders place limits and monitoring conditions on offenders’ use of electronic devices and day-to-day activities.

Our Management of Sexual Offenders and Violent Offenders team (MOSOVO) are focused on ensuring these stringent court orders are adhered to and any breaches swiftly detected.

These officers work alongside the probation service to prevent and deter further offending.

The team was able to link Dixon to a number of offences.

In another breach, we received a report he was in possession of an unauthorised smart phone.

Subsequent investigation found he had installed deletion software on computers at his home.

It was further found Dixon attempted to pervert the cause of justice by creating an email address in an innocent man’s name, before sharing a link containing indecent images of children.

He was arrested, charged and admitted a range of offences including:

• Attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.
• Attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child.
• Seven breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
• Failing to comply with notification requirements.
• Perverting the course of justice.

Dixon, of Pilborough Way, Colchester, admitted each charge due to the evidence gathered against him and appeared for sentence at Ipswich Crown Court on Wednesday 22 January.

Judge Emma Peters said he committed “sophisticated, serious offences” and sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment.

Dixon was made the subject of a lifelong SHPO and will be subject to notification requirements for the rest of his life.

In 2024, MOSOVO made 125 arrests, secured 286 charges and solved nearly 370 investigations.