Latest Offenders

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Sex offender Niall Griffiths breached a court order - by using an app which does not track internet searches. The 31-year-old used the DuckDuckGo app which allows devices to not retain internet history.

And he also breached a community order by missing unpaid work appointments. Now Griffiths has been ordered to carry out a further 30 hours unpaid work and been hit with a £479 court bill at North Staffordshire Justice Centre.

Griffiths was handed the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in 2016 after admitting two offences of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. But he breached the order on December 1, 2021 by using DuckDuckGo.

Prosecutor Suzanne Swindail said: "The police attended the defendant's address to conduct a routine visit. They checked his mobile phone. It was suspected an app, Bumble, had been deleted. A further download showed Kik had been deleted and Bumble had been deleted, placing him in breach of the SHPO. It also showed he had accessed DuckDuckGo which allows the phone not to retain internet history, placing him in breach."

Griffiths, of Anchor Road, Longton, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the requirements of a community order and breaching the SHPO.

Mark Harrison, mitigating, said the SHPO breach was two years old. He said the probation service was anxious to continue to work with Griffiths.

He added: "He is anxious to cooperate with the probation service."

Magistrates fined Griffiths £200 and also ordered him to pay £185 prosecution costs, £60 costs to the probation service, and a £34 surcharge.

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A 65-year-old man laughed as he carried out a solo sex act on a bus, while keeping his eyes trained on a lone female passenger, a court has heard.

John Moffat committed the depraved act on a public Stagecoach service between Greenloaning and Muthil in Perthshire.

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A 50-year-old sex offender has been jailed 30 years after he abused two girls.

Glen Johnson, of Waltham Close in Peterborough, abused the girls in the 1990s. He also ill-treated four children during the same timeframe, court heard.

He was arrested in 2020 and, in police interview, admitted the abuse but claimed he didn't know why he had done it.

Det Sgt Rebecca Welberry, described the abuse as "traumatic" for the victims.

Johnson admitted four counts of child cruelty and three counts of indecent assault on a child and was jailed for four years and two months at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.

He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life, given restraining orders against his victims indefinitely and also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for life.

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A PAEDOPHILE teacher who was jailed after molesting children at a Wirral school has been banned from returning to the classroom for good.

Charles Ellis was jailed for three years in December 2019 after being found guilty of 10 sexual assaults on girls aged eight to nine over a period of 17 years. This led to four more victims coming forward two of whom Ellis abused while working at a Liverpool primary school.

A Teacher Regulation Hearing (TRA) has now banned Ellis a former Chester Zoo keeper from the classroom permanently.

A report from a hearing held by the TRA in September, said Ellis chose not to attend and said in writing: My position is that following my three convictions, I do not plan to return to teaching and so do not understand what else there is to discuss? Continuing in his absence, the panel were told how Ellis began his stint in the Wirral in 2002.

In June 2017, the school became aware of a serious allegation in respect of his conduct, which was being investigated by the police. He was dismissed for gross misconduct a year later.

He was subsequently jailed in 2019 for three years, prompting new victims to come forward. Having pleaded not guilty to his first offences, forcing the victims and their families through the ordeal of a trial, Ellis admitted to six counts of indecent assault and five counts of sexual assault.

Judge Thomas Teague, QC, said Ellis, targeted one victim in Liverpool under the guise of helping her with her work. He rubbed the childs legs and bottom and sometimes touched her bottom under clothing.

Ellis behaved in a similar way to a second girl in Liverpool, but didnt touch her under clothing. He touched one girl at the Wirral school on her legs, lower back and bottom, again after she sought help.

He must sign on the Sex Offenders Register and obey a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.

The TRA panel found that the seriousness of the offending behaviour that led to the conviction was clearly relevant to Ellis ongoing suitability to teach given the nature of the conviction and the fact that the victims were pupils. The panel considered that a finding that these convictions were relevant offences was necessary to reaffirm clear standards of conduct and maintain public confidence in the teaching profession.

In deciding to ban Ellis from the classroom for life, officials said they had considered the very serious nature of his offences, including the sexual assault of children that he taught, and the absence of any evidence that he had demonstrated any insight into his behaviour and its impact on his victims.

This means Ellis is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or childrens home in England.

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Yuval Keren, 56, of Lyndhurst Gardens in Pinner, was previously a rabbi at Southgate Progressive Synagogue. 

In July 2022 police were alerted that a user was uploading suspicious images to online storage provider Dropbox. 

Keren was arrested at his home and several devices were seized. 

Officers found a total of 1,694 indecent images of children – including 189 category A images, which show the most extreme abuse. The images dated back to 2010 and indicated that Keren had been viewing vile images repeatedly for 13 years.

On October 11 this year Keren pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of children, one count of possessing extreme pornographic images and one count of possessing prohibited images of children. 

On Wednesday (December 13) Keren appeared at Amersham Crown Court where he was given a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. 

He will be required to complete 40 hours of rehabilitation activity and 180 hours of unpaid work. 

He will be on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and was given a five-year sexual harm prevention order. 

Keren was suspended from his post as rabbi immediately after his arrest and no longer holds a position. 

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A BRADFORD man who raped a young girl has been handed a nine-year prison sentence.

Ashley Nibbs, 34, appeared via a video link from HMP Leeds for his sentence hearing at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday after he had pleaded guilty to two rape allegations and two charges of sexual assault.

The victim of Nibbs’ crimes must not be identified for legal reasons, but the court heard that his abuse of her had left her suffering nightmares.

Immediately after committing the offences Nibbs, of Wickham Green, Holme Wood, denied that anything had happened and accused the girl of lying.

Although he had pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier court hearing, Judge Jonathan Gibson noted that in a pre-sentence report Nibbs still maintained his denials.

Barrister Brooke Morrison, for Nibbs, said he had no relevant previous convictions and the sentence he was facing today was an extremely daunting prospect.

She said her client suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and his condition had been exacerbated while in prison.

Miss Morrison said Nibbs was receiving abuse on a daily basis because of the offences and he feared for his life.

“Since his arrest for these offences he has lost everything,” said Miss Morrison.

Judge Gibson said he had to sentence Nibbs for serious sexual abuse of the complainant and there had been strong evidence against the defendant.

He said Nibbs only had himself to blame for the catastrophic effect of his offending.

The judge explained that after a trial Nibbs would have been jailed for 12 years, but guilty pleas in such cases were a matter of importance and he was entitled to a 25 per cent reduction in the sentence.

Nibbs will have to serve two-thirds of the nine-year prison sentence, but Judge Gibson also imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order which restricts his contact with females under 18 in future.

Nibbs will also have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life.

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A PERVERTED Carlisle man has been jailed and put on the Sex Offender Register after he chatted online with a "child" about sex.

Ben Howat, 40, pleaded guilty to three offences at the city’s crown court, where a prosecutor said the defendant was caught in an online police sting during which he believed he was chatting to a 12-year-old girl.

It was actually an under-cover police officer.

Howat, of Thirwall Gardens, Carlisle, admitted downloading child abuse images, and attempting to communicate sexually with a “child” and attempting to make the same child watch sexual activity.

The court heard that he committed the sexual communication offence between April 12 of this year and April 27. He tried to make the child watch online sexual activity on April 13.

The images offence related to 10 Category C child abuse images, which the defendant downloaded on dates in December 2021.

Howat was jailed for 19 months.

The judge also put the defendant on the Sex Offender Register for 10 years and made a sexual harm prevention order which will restrict the defendant’s online behaviour for the same period.

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A prisoner at HMP Elmley in Sheppey is facing an additional sentence after he carried out further sex offences within his cell.

Terrance Kamara repeatedly exposed himself to a member of prison staff after they responded to him pressing an emergency alarm bell.

Kamara would request items such as a pen or paper, and when the victim returned he would be exposed and committing an indecent act.

The 27-year-old had initially been jailed in October 2022 for two-and-a-half years, following a string of sex offences earlier that year which included three incidents of indecent exposure.

Guilty pleas

His latest offences in the prison, located close to the village of Eastchurch, happened during July, August and October 2022 and led to him being charged by Kent Police with three counts of exposure.

Kamara was also charged with the sexual assault of another victim inside the prison, as well as an assault on an emergency worker.

Kamara, previously from Tilbury, Essex pleaded guilty to all the charges and on 30 November 2023 was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court to a further 56 weeks’ imprisonment. He was also added to the sex offender register for 10 years. 

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A man has been sentenced to more than nine years for multiple counts of sexual offences against underage girls, including rape and sexual assault.

Harry Dobson, of Village Road, Waverton, Chester, was given a sentence of nine years and six months at Chester Crown Court on Friday 8 December.

The 19-year-old was previously found guilty of nine counts of sexual offences against children, including rape, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Dobson was 18 when he committed the offences, which span from November 2022 – April 2023.

The first victim was 15 years old when she was sexually assaulted by Dobson at the Mercure Hotel, Chester, on 20 November 2022. Dobson had pressured her into a sexual act. This was reported to police on 29 November after the victim disclosed what had happened to her teacher.

The second victim was a 14-year-old girl who was pressured into sexual activity with Dobson, despite him knowing her age, after they started speaking to each other on SnapChat.

This was documented on text messages where Dobson used emotional blackmail to manipulate her into complying with his demands. On two occasions Dobson raped the victim. This was reported to police in May 2023 after occurring earlier in the year.

Dobson was charged and remanded in May 2023.

He was found guilty following a two-week trial which took place in October 2023.

On top of his sentence, Dobson must sign onto the Sex Offender Register for life and is subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. Dobson was also handed a restraining order in relation to both victims in the case.

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A convicted sex offender has been jailed after Hertfordshire police discovered an Amazon Fire tablet at his home.

Sean Keane has sentenced to two years in prison today (Thursday, December 14) for breaching a court order for the second time.

Following a previous conviction, the 61-year-old was supposed to inform the police if he had a new phone or internet device, and of any online aliases that he has used online.

When officers visited his home in London Colney on May 4, he admitted he had bought a new phone a few days earlier from a neighbour. 

He claimed that he had attempted to call the officer assigned to him, but no longer had his number.

Having denied being in possession of any other devices that could connect to the internet, an Amazon Fire tablet was found after police searched his home.

In addition, the officers discovered that he had been using his mother’s maiden name on Facebook Messenger, without informing them of the alias.

The man from Birchway, London Colney appeared for sentencing after pleading guilty to three offences of breaching a sexual harm prevention order, and for failing to comply with sex offender notification requirements.

In October 2019, he had been jailed for 33 months for breaking a court order within a week of being sentenced for attempting to communicate with a child, and attempting to meet a child after grooming.

When the police raided his then-home in Hemel Hempstead they found two phones that he had not registered with the police.

Defending, Alexandra Monaghan said Keane was in ill health and had let himself down.

She said that he had suffered from loneliness and had a traumatic childhood, during which he had been abused.

Upon sentencing Keane, Judge Michael Roques said: “You were previously sentenced to prison for breaching a court order and you wilfully chose to breach it again.

“I am concerned you will commit further offences.”

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A monster who sexually abused a toddler had his head in his hands as he was jailed for serious sexual assaults. The girl, aged just four at the time, was sexually touched by Andrew Michael Hansford in West Dorset on no less than three occasions.

The girl, who cannot be identified due to legal reasons, told Hansford that the assault hurt her, but he carried on. She bravely told her mother about the abuse and its pain and they immediately reported the sexual assaults to Dorset Police.

In a moving victim impact statement to Bournemouth Crown Court, the girl’s mother spoke of the horror of the sexual abuse. The abuse also had significant harm on the victim, with her being “terrified of men”.

She said: “I’m enjoy just having my daughter back. I don’t want her to be made to suffer anymore. I want her to see that not all men are monsters. She was just a child and doesn’t deserve the hurt she has been put through.”

The girl, now aged six years old, is now recovering from the serious abuse she suffered at the hands of Hansford. Sexual Trauma and Recovery Services (STARS) is continuing to support the victim.

Hansford was arrested and denied any incident took place. Hansford, aged 29, and of Belben Road in Poole, was charged with two charges of assault by penetration of a girl under the age of 13. He denied the charges and triggered an extensive trial, but was found guilty.

Defending, Robert Griffiths, told the court that Hansford accepted he was going to prison for this serious offence. It was also noted that Hansford has ADHD and attempted self-harm.

He said: “It has to be a custodial sentence and it has to be a sentence of some length, but I do ask you to take into account that the conditions in prisons are still not particularly good.”

Judge Evans outlined how “vulnerable” the victim was. She added it was repeated behaviour and spoke of the distress he caused her family.

She said: “The effect on the victim and her mother has been one of huge distress. The girl is still very young at six and she has become frightened of men and in particular in fear of having to see you again.

“This court cannot know what the long-term impact will be but there is likely to be long-term impacts. You also caused huge distress to her mother. She blamed herself and she is not to blame in any way, but it is entirely human to blame oneself and ask oneself the question of ‘what if?’.”

As Judge Evans delivered her sentence, Hansford had his head in his hands and appeared to look emotional.

Hansford was sentenced to 15 years in prison and issued a sexual harm prevention order for 20 years and placed on the sex offenders register for life. Hansford was also issued a restraining order against his victim not to contact her directly or indirectly and was placed on a list of people barred from working with children. 

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A man who stalked, sexually assaulted and raped a number of women across Scotland has been jailed for more than 12 years.

Steffan Cox - who was said to have "an obsessive and highly dangerous interest in rape" - repeatedly targeted young women he met on social media and dating apps.

The 25-year-old's "appalling and predatory behaviour" included making anonymous and indecent phone calls, threatening to rape his victims.

Judge Lord Young said: "One of the recipients of your phone calls was aged just 15 at the time.

"You told another woman that you would rape her so that her son could hear her screaming. It is not difficult to imagine just how terrifying the calls must have been to these women."

Cox was sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow on Wednesday after being convicted of 21 sexual offences that occurred between 2016 and 2022.

He had previously pleaded guilty to indecent communication offences back in February.

Cox was jailed for 12 years and nine months. He will also be supervised for a further four years upon his release from prison and was added to the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

Lord Young noted that Cox continues to deny responsibility for the most serious offences but spared him from an order for lifelong restriction.

The judge explained: "You are still a young man with one analogous previous conviction and I consider that you ought to be given an opportunity to demonstrate that you can return to society after rehabilitation without the ultimate sanction of an order for lifelong restriction being imposed."

However, Lord Young noted that Cox had exhibited "escalating and compulsive sexual offending".

He added: "Your previous conviction in 2017 involved making sexually violent calls to two teenagers, but that conviction has not caused you to change your behaviour. Indeed, quite the reverse.

"You clearly have an obsessive and highly dangerous interest in rape."

Detective Sergeant Julie Nedley, of the National Rape Taskforce, said Cox was now facing the consequences of his "appalling and predatory behaviour".

DS Nedley added: "The victims have shown great courage in coming forward with vital information, making sure he was held accountable for his actions, and ultimately convicted.

"I want to take the opportunity to thank the public and partner agencies for their assistance and information provided, particularly in providing support to the women involved.

"I hope this sentence provides a sense of closure for them and sends a clear message that all reports of sexual abuse, regardless of the passage of time, will be thoroughly investigated by Police Scotland and victims will be supported throughout."

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A pervert who sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl on a train has walked out of court a free man. 

Ilie Preda, 56, was travelling on a train between Wimbledon and Waterloo at around 4pm on April 24, 2021. 

Three girls, aged between 16 and 18, were also travelling on the train and said they noticed Preda dancing around while calling himself Captain Morgan, prosecutor Gregor McKinley said.  

“The defendant then became bothersome and tried to talk to the three girls. He told one of the girls ‘I love you’ and tried to move forward in an attempt to kiss her,” Mr McKinley said.

The girls told Preda to back off and then when the train arrived at Wimbledon they tried to get off.  

But Preda then moved towards the 16-year-old girl, tried to hug her and moved his hands towards her thighs in an attempt to lift her skirt.  

He then tried to touch the 18-year-old girl on the bottom.  

The incident was reported to British Transport Police and Preda was arrested when he got off the train in Waterloo. 

This sexual attack took place just week after Preda had left left members of the public terrified when he walked around the Kingsbury area with a plastic imitation gun.  

At around 4pm on April 8, 2021, police received two calls saying they had a real gun pointed at them.  

One woman, who was sitting in a car on Brampton Road, said: “He locked eyes at me, took the gun from his waist area and raised it at me. He then walked towards me while imitating the fire action.”  

Another man said: “I thought he would kill me or someone else. He was pointing the gun at other people who seemed to be ducking out of the way.”  

Whilst the man was on the phone to police Preda walked towards him and pretended to pull the trigger.  

He said that at the time he thought a bullet had got stuck in the barrell of the gun, which was why it was not firing.  

Preda was arrested near the scene and it was only then that police discovered it was not a real gun.  

Preda said he had been at a children’s party and was carrying toy gun for his son in a carrier bag.  

He said he saw a man standing outside his home so he took the plastic gun out the bag and pretended to shoot as a joke.  

Preda said he was walking round making a “tat tat” shooting noise and didn’t believe people would think it was real.  

Preda “poor joke” and said the incident may have stemmed from cultural difference – as he had only moved to the UK from Romania in 2018.  

Think this line is missing words before "poor joke"

Judge Usha Karu, Recorder of Southwark, said: “It’s not a cultural difference to think it’s ok to go around in public pretending to fire an imitation gun. I’m sure that’s not what they do in Romania.” 

On Tuesday (December 12) Preda appeared in court to be sentenced for sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, possessing an imitation firearm, failing to surrender and a Section 4 public order offence. 

Judge Karu sentenced him to six months in prison, suspended for one year.  

He will be required to register with police for seven years under the Sexual Offences Act 2003. 

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A Southampton man has been jailed for supplying cocaine - and for having indecent images of children.

Marcel Witkowski, 24, appeared before Southampton Crown Court facing three charges of making an indecent photograph of a child.

Between July 31 in 2021 and October 4 the same year, he made three category B indecent images of a child, two category C images of a child, and one category A image of a child – the most serious kind.

The charge of making an indecent image relates to the file being on a device.

Witkowski admitted three charges of making an indecent photograph of a child.

He also admitted to supplying cocaine, a class A drug, and possession of cannabis, a class B drug.

Witkowski, of Scott Road, Southampton, was jailed for two years and four months and subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

He was also ordered to register as a sex offender and pay a victim surcharge.

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A Cambridgeshire sex offender who "failed to learn his lesson" was caught with more indecent images of children.

Police officers who visited Aaron Goosey's home unannounced became suspicious after checks revealed he had deleted a social media messaging app.

The 44-year-old already had 36 convictions including exposure, making indecent images of children and breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and Sex Offenders Register notification requirements. As part of his SHPO, Goosey, 44, is monitored by Cambridgeshire Police's Management of Sexual or Violent Offender (MOSOVO) team.

After the visit by officers in April, Goosey’s phone was seized. It was found to contain 46 indecent images of children and one video of the same nature.

Further checks revealed the images were sent on a messaging app since deleted by Goosey – something he is banned from doing by the terms of his SHPO. Chats on Facebook Messenger had also been deleted and Goosey had failed to tell police of a new alias name he had used, breaching his Sex Offenders Register notification requirements.

Goosey was arrested but denied using the messaging app he had deleted, denied seeing any indecent image and said he had never heard of the alias name. However, he later admitted charges including two counts of making indecent images of children, failing to comply with Sex Offenders Register notification requirements and breaching a SHPO.

At Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (December 8), Goosey, of Pennine Way, Peterborough, was handed a total of two years and six months in prison. He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and the SHPO already in place was extended indefinitely, to monitor any future offending.

Constable Beckie Hallam, who investigated, said: “The main aim of the MOSOVO team is to protect vulnerable children, whether in the real world or online. Cases such as these help to highlight that work, which most of the time goes on behind the scenes. A child is victimised when an indecent image is taken and every time it is viewed or shared.

“Goosey’s offending shows he had failed to learn his lesson. I hope he now reflects on his actions and he will continue to be monitored by the team on his release from prison.”