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A drama teacher who engaged in sexual activity with three teenage girls while working at a school in South Lanarkshire has been jailed.

Craig Smith, 43, preyed on the girls who were in fifth and sixth year at a secondary school between 2015 and 2016.

On Tuesday, he was jailed for two years and three months.

Smith took advantage of his “position of trust” by messaging them compliments on Facebook.

He sent two girls indecent images of himself.

The ex-principal teacher later became physically involved with both pupils while they were in the school’s drama department.

Smith was suspended after he was caught sending a third girl – aged 14 – a sexualised message, which sparked the investigation into his conduct.

The drama teacher had appeared on TV shows River City, Gary Tank Commander, and Soapstars and had performed at the Edinburgh Fringe.

The first-time offender pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to engaging in sexual activity with the three girls.

The court heard that one of the girls was prone to panic attacks and received a Facebook message “apparently concerned for her welfare”.

Normal topics were discussed at first, but things escalated with Smith sending more sexualised messages.

He said: “You looked really good today, you looked good in uniform.”

Smith sent a naked image of himself during the conversation.

Smith went on to be physical with the girl in the drama department.

Prosecutor Jenny Reid said: “Smith kissed the girl and touched her… this lasted five minutes.”

He also performed a sex act on the girl.

He committed two more acts on the girl in the department’s drama base and control room.

The girl blocked Smith on social media upon leaving school at 18 years old and did not hear from him again.

Meantime, Smith sent another pupil compliments on Facebook, telling her she looked “hot”.

He sent indecent pictures and videos of himself.

Smith kissed the girl in the drama department and touched her body before having her perform a sex act on him.

Smith’s messages to the girl stopped once she left school.

The third girl was 14 when Smith messaged her on Facebook in 2018.

He asked her inappropriate questions and requested a picture, which made the girl feel “uncomfortable”, and she told him “no”.

The matter was reported to the head teacher and the police were contacted. 

The father-of-two was suspended.

Chris Broadley, defending, told the court: “He tells me that this was a former life and something that happened some time ago and that in 2025 he views things differently.

“He appreciates the serious nature of his conduct.”

Smith was put on the sex offenders register.

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A man has been given a 24-year sentence for a series of sexual offences against children in Leeds.  

Karl Davison, 43, of Turnberry Gardens, Tingley, approached all of his victims on an electric scooter last summer, in some cases talking to them about the scooter or letting them ride it before assaulting them.  

Following a trial at Leeds Crown Court in February, Davison was convicted of three counts of sexual touching on a child aged under 13, one count of assault by penetration on a child under 13 and one count of sexual assault on a child under 16.  

The offences relate to five female victims aged as young as 10 and occurred in Thorpe, Middleton and Belle Isle on 6 and 7 August last year.  

Davison was caught after officers on patrol in Lofthouse stopped a man matching the description of the offender in the early hours of 8 August.  

Despite giving false details, Davison was quickly identified and arrested.  

Police then searched his home and found a mobile phone containing a large amount of explicit images. Davison pleaded guilty to a charge of possessing indecent images of children before his trial.  

Today (8th April), Davison was given a 24-year sentence consisting of 17 years in prison and a 7-year extended license period. He was also given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order which includes a ban on him entering parts of Wakefield and Leeds. He will be on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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Police discovered Peter Jemmett had committed sexual assaults over nearly 20 years after his arrest in a paedophile hunter sting in March 2023.

Officers seized his phone and found 42 videos of him abusing a sleeping or deeply intoxicated man, recorded from February 2004 to just a day before his arrest.

The victim was unaware until informed by police and confirmed he "had not consented to any of the acts" and was "very shocked" upon learning of the abuse. Jemmett, 63, formerly of Marshalls Cross Road in St Helens, now claims he is "at a loss" as to why he did it.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the footage showed Jemmett kissing the victim, exposing and touching his penis, and performing oral sex. The assaults stemmed from messages with a decoy child account on a dating app and WhatsApp. He also shared explicit images of the victim with the group, falsely claiming they depicted himself.

In April 2024, Jemmett was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and lifelong sex offender registration for the messaging offenses.

Defending, Charlotte Kenny said: "It is difficult to know what to say in cases of this nature. It is a most unusual case. He has suffered a stroke. He is left handed. He is unable to use his left hand now and has general mobility problems.

"He was educated at a special school. He has speech difficulties.

"He has presented over the years as a somewhat isolated character. Mr Jemmett informs me that, at the time when these acts were taking place, he too was also under the influence of alcohol.

"He does not have a history of earlier offending so far as sexual deviancy is concerned. When I asked the defendant why he thinks he committed the offences, he says that he is very much at a loss."

Jemmett admitted four counts of sexual assault. Appearing via video link from HMP Liverpool, he was jailed for an additional 40 months and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Sentencing, Judge Denis Watson KC said: "Not only did you sexually assault him, you did so when he was either asleep or passed out through alcohol. You set up your phone to record on video the acts that you carried out.

"These video clips ranged from a few seconds up towards minutes of activity, throughout which he was utterly unaware of what was going on.

"That this happened on so many occasions over such a prolonged period when he was unconscious and asleep are significant aggravating features.

"The further aggravating feature is that you actually chose to share some of these images to another, that other in fact being a paedophile hunter group who you were corresponding with."

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A Perth “pimp” who badgered a schoolgirl into creating OnlyFans-style content for his commercial gain has been blasted by a sheriff.

Sleazy Stuart McClure managed the teenager’s account, uploaded degrading photos and videos and pestered her when she was at school with customer requests.

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A 73-year-old Dunfermline charity shop volunteer quizzed a 14-year-old boy about his penis size and sexual history.

William Fraser began the sexual conversation with his victim at The Salvation Army in High Street on November 9 last year.

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A fleeing sex offender's attempts to escape justice have been branded "pathetic" by police after he failed to return to court to hear the jury's verdict.

Paul Ashworth, 71, was sentenced to nine years in prison and an additional year on licence at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday.

He had previously left the court when the jury retired to consider its verdicts on 7 February and failed to return in the afternoon when the verdicts were to be delivered.

Ashworth, of Wannock Close in Carlton Colville, was found guilty in his absence of three counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14 years old, relating to three separate victims aged between the ages of four and 11 which occurred between the early 1980s and early 2000s.

The court issued a warrant for his arrest and Suffolk Police traced him to Portsmouth after identifying his bank card was being used there.

Officers made inquiries with hotels in the area and found Ashworth had booked into one under an alias after getting a bus to Portsmouth city centre.

He was arrested at the hotel on 26 February and remanded in prison before his sentencing hearing on Monday.

Ashworth had pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of children and to absconding from court while on bail.

Det Sgt Kate Bond from the East Public Protection Unit said: "Paul Ashworth's pathetic attempt to evade justice by leaving the court when the jury went out was a final act of utter contempt on his part towards the victims.

"The crimes he committed were unspeakably abhorrent and robbed the victims of their childhoods."

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A pensioner has been found guilty of sexually assaulting his pet dog after a neighbour saw him abusing the animal through a gap in his curtains.

Terence Bennett, 67, was arrested after the passer-by was alerted to 'sickening' cries of pain from the canine, Portsmouth Magistrates' Court heard.

The 'anxious' Staffordshire bull-terrier and rottweiler cross called Ali was revealed to have suffered injuries and was given to the RSPCA.

Bennett denied doing anything with the dog claiming he had been 'brushing' the animal.

He said that the injuries had been caused by bones the pet had been eating.

However, he was found guilty of one charge of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.

The court heard Bennett had owned the nine year old dog for somewhere between five and eight years.

Opening the case, prosecutor Laura Jenking-Rees said that Kelly Nelson was walking home from the shops with food for her children in Gosport in October 2021 when she heard the 'sickening' sound of an animal in pain.

Ms Jenking-Rees said Ms Nelson had heard a "loud, distressed animal" that she described as "horrible" as if "the animal was in pain".

Ms Jenking-Rees then described what the neighbour could see when she looked into Mr Bennett's home.

She said: "She went home and spoke to a neighbour who advised her to report it to the RSPCA, they told her to call the police.

"The defendant was arrested and his dog was seized, the RSPCA officer described Ali as very nervous and anxious and as being one of the fattest dogs she had ever seen.

"The defendant was interviewed under caution, he denied all the allegations, attributing it to a grudge his neighbours had.

"There are a number of aspects to this offence that show unnecessary suffering has been caused when the court considers the eye witness and veterinary evidence."

Ms Nelson, who lives a few streets away, told the court it was 'obvious' to her what Mr Bennett was doing and that Ali's cries were 'chilling'.

Ms Nelson said: "I heard an animal in pain, it wasn't normal, I have got a dog and if I was to here a cry like that I would be straight outside."

"It was chilling, an awful noise."

When asked by Ms Jenking-Rees what she could see, Ms Nelson said: "It was obvious what he was doing, put it that way."

In his defence, Mr Bennett insisted he would never have sexual activity with his dog and that the rear injuries may have been caused by her eating bones.

He said: "I swear on my mother's life, I would not do that sort of thing.

"I certainly was not doing that, I was brushing her maybe.

"I think it is disgusting. I swear the injuries were not by me, she has been eating a lot of bones."

He also claimed that Ali was an anxious dog because she had been bitten by a previous owner.

Mr Bennett was found guilty by District Judge David Robinson who said it was a 'serious offence'.

The pensioner will be sentenced in June.

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Update

Repeat Child Sex Offender Andrew Parsons reportedly Breaching Sexual Harm Prevention Order

Andrew Parsons, 55, of Eastdene Road, Seaham, is reportedly breaching his court-imposed Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by advertising a glory hole on the Grindr app, potentially targeting unsuspecting victims, a local community group in the town has revealed.

Parsons, a convicted child sex offender, is banned from such activity under the terms of his order.

Parsons was originally snared in 2017 by Newcastle-based vigilante group Dark Justice, after attempting to meet what he believed was a 15-year-old boy for sex. The boy, in fact, was a decoy profile.

During their chats on Grindr, Parsons was told the boy was underage, yet still arranged a secret meeting, where he was intercepted by police.

He pleaded guilty at Newcastle Crown Court for attempting to meet a child following grooming. The judge sentenced him to 18 months in prison, imposed a SHPO, and ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Parsons has a prior conviction for sexual activity in a public toilet and is considered a high-risk offender.

2021-02-01

The 51-year-old chatted to a "boy" called James on gay dating app Grindr, not realising it was a decoy profile set up by Dark Justice.

Despite being told James was only 15 and a virgin, Parsons asked if he was "discreet" after describing in detail the sexual acts they could do together.

When a meeting was arranged Parsons said it should be "kept a secret".

Prosecutor Lee Fish told Newcastle Crown Court: "The defendant asked if anyone knew that James was coming to his house and he said no.

"What then happened was members of Dark Justice and the police went to the agreed meeting point and the defendant was arrested."

Parsons admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming, in April 2017.

The court heard he has a previous conviction for sexual activity in a public lavatory.

Judge Robert Adams sentenced Parsons to 18 months behind bars. and imposed a sexual harm prevention order and told him he must sign the sex offenders register, both for ten years.

The judge told him: "James said he was a virgin and had never done this before.

"This did not deter you.

"You gave him your contact details, where you lived, well aware what you were doing was wrong.

"You asked if he was discreet and could keep a secret."

The court heard Parsons claimed he had "turned a blind eye" to the boy's age and was "disgusted" by child sex abuse.

Judge Adams added: "No sexual activity with a child did occur or in fact could have occurred. No child existed, it was a decoy.

"This is a sentence which cannot be appropriately suspended, although non-custodial options are available, it seems to me there has to be some form of deterrent in cases like this, where people take risks, not expecting to be caught.

"Had this person been a child, significant harm could have been caused."

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A sex offender has been returned to jail after flouting a court order and hiding evidence from the police.

Alan Richardson, aged 50, was banned by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order from keeping undeclared internet-capable devices or deleting his browsing history.

Believing he may have committed additional offences online, officers visited Richardson’s home in Stapleford on 18 June last year.

After a lengthy delay, he eventually opened the door to let the officers in – but not before performing a factory reset on his tablet.

As well as unearthing that deceit, a police digital forensics officer also discovered that a specialist anonymised search engine was previously active on the same device.

Richardson, who was previously jailed for making indecent images of children, later admitted to two counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday 31 March he was jailed for two years.

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A man has been jailed for almost 20 years for multiple sexual offences against a child.

Gabriel Philip Chirwa, 38, of Holders Road, Amesbury, was sentenced to 18 years imprisonment, plus four years on extended licence, for four counts of rape and multiple other sexual offences.

The incidents were reported in August 2022, when the victim told her mother about the abuse, which took place over a two-year period.

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Con Fiona Rawlings of Wiltshire Police's Child Abuse Investigation Team said: "Chirwa is an incredibly dangerous offender who has shown absolutely no remorse despite the horrendous abuse he inflicted on a young girl.

She praised the victim for her bravery, adding that she appreciated "the toll" that the abuse, investigation and court process had on her.

"Hopefully today's sentencing can bring an element of closure and she can look to move forward," she said.

In her personal statement, the victim said: "He had made me completely disgusted with myself, I was so young. I ask myself, 'why me?'.

"You [Chirwa] never cared. I hope you will care when I am free to live the life that you can't."

After the incidents were reported, Chirwa was arrested, and following an investigation, was charged with the following offences:

• Four counts of rape
• Two counts of sexual assault by penetration
• One count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity

He denied the offences, requiring a trial by jury at Winchester Crown Court in December last year.

Chirwa will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely, which will forbid him from any contact with the victim and from having any unsupervised contact with any person under the age of 16.

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Tyler, of Railway Street, Braintree, was arrested by officers in May last year after a woman reported an intimate photo of herself had been posted on an online forum without her knowledge or consent.

Detectives immediately launched an investigation, and their enquiries revealed several other women’s images, many manipulated or created using deep fake technology, had also been uploaded to the site.

Enquiries lead detectives to a specific user who had made 173 posts between March 2023 and May 2024. Many of the posts contained images which had been taken from the victims’ social media pages and then deep faked to make the women appear as though they were naked.

Other intimate images uploaded onto the site by the user were not deep faked, but had been shared without the owners’ knowledge or consent.

The user’s account was linked to Tyler and he was arrested. He made no comment during interview, but following the thorough investigation charges were authorised by the CPS.

Tyler was charged with 15 counts of sharing a photograph or film of a person in an intimate state for the purpose of sexual gratification and 18 counts of harassment without violence.

He pleaded guilty to all 33 charges when he previously appeared at Colchester Magistrates Court.

He sentenced him to a total of five years in prison, he was placed on the sex offenders' register and given an indefinite restraining order against his victims.

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A child abuser who "smuggled" a girl past police officers and gave her a sexual infection has been jailed for 13 and a half years.

Curtis Cruickshank, 21, breached a sexual risk order (SRO) by messaging the 15-year-old girl on WhatsApp before carrying out a number of sex acts with her, Newcastle Crown Court heard.

Judge Stephen Earl said Cruickshank was a "dangerous" offender who posed a "very high risk of serious harm" to children and women.

Cruickshank admitted 19 offences including penetrative sexual activity with a child. He will have to serve a further six years on extended licence upon his release from prison.

'Hid from police'

Cruickshank, of no fixed address, was made subject of an SRO in 2021, part of which banned him from contacting children online after earlier sexual offending, the court heard.

He had already breached that order 11 times, including by deleting his internet search history and failing to hand his phone over to police for inspection, when he contacted the girl in November 2023, prosecutor David Povall said.

Despite being told she was 15, he quickly turned the chat sexual and made her watch sexual videos of him while encouraging her to film herself, the court heard.

Within days he had met her several times around Newcastle and performed multiple violating sex acts, which the girl described as rough and painful.

On one occasion he took her to his home, but the pair were spotted by a CCTV operative who, knowing of the SRO, alerted police, Mr Povall said.

Officers went to the house but Cruickshank hid both himself and the girl before "smuggling" her out later, the prosecutor said.

'Victim blaming'

The offences came to light when the girl feared she might be pregnant and told her father.

She was found not to be pregnant but a test revealed she had chlamydia, which Cruickshank had given her.

In a statement read to the court, the girl said she had not realised the "enormity" of what had happened and she was an "easy target" for Cruickshank, adding: "He preyed upon my vulnerability."

Judge Earl said when challenged about his offending, Cruickshank sought to "victim blame".

He said Cruickshank, who also admitted meeting the girl after sexually grooming her, had been assessed as posing a "very high risk of serious harm" to children and women.

Cruickshank was also made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offender register for life.

Speaking after sentencing, Det Con Claire Ashurst of Northumbria Police said Cruickshank was a repeat offender who had shown a "constant and unwavering sexual interest in children".

She said he "continually and brazenly ignored" a court order and had been "repulsive".

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Following a Thames Valley Police investigation, a man has been sentenced to prison for a series of sex offences in Banbury.

Robert Coleman, aged 42, of Swan Road, Gloucester, was sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison following a hearing at Oxford Crown Court on Friday 28 March.

Coleman has also been placed on the sex offenders register for life, the sexual harm prevention order for life and given restraining order for life on each of the victims.

Coleman pleaded guilty to one count each of assault of a female aged 13 and over by penetration with part of body/thing, take an indecent photograph/pseudo photograph of a child and distribute an indecent photograph/pseudo photograph of a child. Coleman also pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault in the same hearing.

In May 2021, Coleman used a social media account to upload indecent images of a child. Further intelligence obtained by the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, tracked these images to an address in Banbury, and officers executed a warrant and arrested Coleman on suspicion of voyeurism.

During police interviews, Coleman denied taking indecent images of a child, but admitted to uploading these images and videos to the social media platform.

After seizing Coleman’s mobile phone, officers discovered 279 indecent images and videos of children and women on his device. During police interviews, Coleman answered with ‘no comment’ to all questions.

Coleman was arrested on 8 July 2021 and charged on 8 November 2024.

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A registered sex offender from Maidstone has been jailed for six years after he used the internet to send explicit images and messages to a user he believed to be a young child. 

On 17 July 2024, a Kent Police offender management team was alerted to suspicious activity linked to Terry Coleman’s use of social media.

Coleman, 60, had been subject to the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) following previous convictions for illegal child images, and began interacting with a Snapchat user purporting to be a teenage girl.

For the two weeks that followed, Coleman bombarded the account with sexualised messages and explicit photos and videos of himself.

He encouraged her to engage in inappropriate conversation, and requested she engage in sexual activity and share intimate photos.

On 1 August, officers attended Coleman’s home address in McKenzie Close, Aylesford and arrested him.

A search led to the seizure of a smart TV, capable of accessing the internet, which Coleman had not registered with Kent Police as required by the SHPO.

Guilty pleas

Coleman was charged the same day with attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and causing a child to look at a sexual image.

He also admitted breaches of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order, failing to comply with notification requirements, and possession of cannabis.

He pleaded guilty and was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on 2 April 2025 to six years' imprisonment. 

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A 58-year-old man from Newport has been jailed for four years after he admitted sexually assaulting a child on the Isle of Wight.

Adrian Stone appeared at Isle of Wight Crown Court on Monday 13 January where he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault on a female and one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

He was sentenced to a total of four years in prison with an additional extended license period of four years at the same court on Thursday 3 April. He is also subject to a Restraining Order and a new Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Stone had made contact with a girl he knew under the age of 16 on 3 September 2024, messaging her out of the blue to suggest they go fishing together.

On 17 September, Stone picked up the girl in his car and took her for a drive unsupervised and without her parents’ consent.

At this time, Stone was subject to a SHPO – handed to him following a previous sexual offence conviction – which prohibited him from having unsupervised contact of any kind with any girl under the age of 16, without the consent of the child’s parent and on the proviso that the parent had knowledge of his previous conviction.

The girl was driven to a secluded location near the River Medina where Stone sexually assaulted her. He then drove her home, but refused to let her out of the car until she hugged him. The girl agreed, at which point Stone gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Stone continued to message the girl after the incident, but the girl subsequently disclosed the messages and the assaults to friends and family.

He was later arrested by police and initially denied everything in interview, before admitting to police that he had lied to officers about the messages to the victim.

However, he continued to deny the sexual assaults, but soon admitted these when he appeared in court.

Stone, of Horsebridge Hill in Newport, also pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communications with a child when he appeared before Magistrates on 11 November 2024.