Latest Offenders

Description

A Nottingham paedophile caught with more than 1,000 vile child abuse images was told by a judge the young people he was getting sexual pleasure from viewing were sentenced to “a living death”.

Malcom Corbett also exchanged sex messages with a 13-year-old girl telling her “it’s a shame the law does not take into account people’s emotions”.

But Poppy, the teen the 55-year-old thought he was engaging in disgusting and illegal chats with, was really a decoy. And when the police went to arrest the defendant and his then West Bridgford flat, they found 600 of the most serious category A child sex pictures and videos.

Handing him an 18-month jail term, suspended for two years, at Nottingham Crown Court, Judge Stuart Rafferty said: "You should be ashamed of yourself. A man of your age propositioning girls, who you believed were real girls, aged 13, is simply outrageous.

“Yes, you are disabled, yes, you are lonely, yes, you have too much time on your hands and yes, you don’t get on with the people you were living with but you were living a fantasy. You amassed over 1,000 indecent pictures of children and if you bothered to look at the faces on those photos you would see fear, sadness and misery.

“Because every one of these children you were looking at was a real person and every one of them will never be a whole person again because of you and people like you. These children will never be whole again, they can’t be because their innocence has been taken away from them.

“Their privacy has been taken away from them and their soul has been taken away from them. They have been sentenced to a living death.

“But if I send you to prison all you will do is sit in your cell feeling sorry for yourself thinking you have not done anything wrong. Don't you dare come back before me again and don’t you dare spend another minute not being ashamed of what you did.”

Gareth Gimson, prosecuting, said Corbett used two social media applications to chat online to Poppy, who the defendant believed was a 13-year-old girl. The prosecutor said in messages he told her he “loved younger girls” asked her to send him pictures of herself and when the decoy did, he told he she “looked gorgeous”.

Mr Gimson said: “He said in one message ‘it’s a shame the law does not take into account people’s emotions’. He asked if she had a PayPal account, and the reason for that is that he told her he could ‘send her a little money’.

“He sent pictures and a video of himself lying on his bed.” The prosecutor said the police were alerted to what was happening and went to his then address in Greythorn Drive.

Mr Gimson said a phone was examined and found to contain 600 of the most serious category A child abuse images, 432 category B and 160 category C. He said there were internet search terms including “young girl nudism” and “teen underwear”.

Corbett, now of Mansfield Road, Blidworth, Mansfield, pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and three counts of making indecent images of children. He has no previous convictions.

Raglan Ashton, mitigating, said his client “would very much take advantage of the help and the support the probation service can offer him”.

As part of the suspended sentence order, the judge ordered the defendant to attend 35 rehabilitation sessions with the probation service, placed him on the sex offender register for five years and handed him a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

Description

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."

Description

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".

Description

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.

Description

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.

Description

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.

Description

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.

Description

A man who incited two girls to engage in sexual activity has been jailed after being convicted of his crimes.

Gavin Macken was sentenced to a total of eight years imprisonment at Leicester Crown Court yesterday (Monday 27 January).

On 3 December last year, 38-year-old Macken was found guilty of five counts of sexual activity with a child and three counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following a trial at the same court.

His offending began in 2018, when he incited one of his victims to pose for sexual photographs. He also sexually touched the other victim over a two-year period. The offences he committed were disclosed to police by both victims in 2020.

Macken, of Brookfield Rise, off The Fairway, was told by the judge that he abused his victims in a gross and vile way.

Description

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.”

Description

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.

Description

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.

Description

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.

Description

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."

Description

A former assistant head teacher has been jailed for more than two years after she sexually assaulted a pupil.

Catherine Pearl, from Abingdon, had been working at Didcot Girls' School whilst the victim was a pupil at the school.

The 50-year-old pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a girl as an adult abusing a position of trust in November last year.

Pearl was sentenced to two years and four months in prison during the hearing at Oxford Crown Court on Friday.

The offences were reported to Thames Valley Police in 2023, and Pearl was charged in October 2024.

Investigating officer Det Con Sarah Tibble paid tribute to the victim, who she said had shown "such bravery" in coming forward to report the offences and "put her trust in Thames Valley Police to bring Catherine Pearl to justice".

"If you are a victim, or have any suspicions about a crime no matter when it took place, please contact Thames Valley Police," she added.

Description

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.