Latest Offenders

Description

A "sexually deviant" pensioner stood on furniture while performing sex acts out of his bedroom window as horrified children watched on.

Robin Cunningham repeatedly flashed kids outside his home over a period of more than a decade. The previously convicted sex offender was said to have "derived sexual gratification from being seen" by the youngsters, who were left "corrupted" by his sickening actions.

Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Wednesday, how he regularly exposed himself from the window of his home on Burnthwaite Road in Knotty Ash while masturbating. Olivia Beesley, prosecuting, described how his perverted behaviour - which persisted for some 11 years - was witnessed by children wearing their school uniform and aged as young as four, while one recorded him with her mobile phone.

Cunningham would "sometimes stand on the bed or dressers" to "become more visible" to his victims. The 68-year-old has one previous conviction for indecent exposure, being fined in 1998 after "masturbating in the street towards females".

A statement read out to the court on one complainant said he had shown a "calculated pattern of behaviour" and that she would be left "struggling for the rest of her life" as a result. She added: "I was inducted into a dark and malicious world I was not ready to experience."

Cunningham, who was said to suffer from diabetes and anxiety, formerly worked for an insurance company before taking redundancy aged 50. Tom Watson, defending, told the court: "This is a deeply troubling case.

"He has caused very severe distress by his behaviour over a considerable period of time. The evidence is that his particular sexual deviance is exhibitionism, and that anyone can be targeted.

"It may be a step too far to say it is targeted rather than sexual excitement from the knowledge someone is watching. It seems to fit someone who has become entrenched in non-consensual exhibitionism and that sexual deviance.

"He understands that has included children here. This sexual deviancy does need to be addressed.

"It seems there has been, by him, a complete cessation in this behaviour. We are now over two years from that point in time.

"He is keen to explore what is going wrong in his life. He had been a working man up until the age of 50.

"He appears to have become ever more isolated and removed from the rest of the world. His isolation appears to be a significant factor in this sexual deviancy, which is something he felt from an early age.

"He has come to court today with his bag packed. He is deeply concerned, and in particular fearful, for his wife - who is 76 and depends on him.

"He has come with the right attitude, and he has not come expecting favours. What is required at this stage is intensive and meaningful intervention. This is not a life he wants for himself. It is deeply humiliating for him and for his entirely innocent wife.

"This needs to be addressed. Although he is on the thinnest of thin ice, it might be a sentence that could be suspended.

"He has been staying out of trouble. The signs are good."

Cunningham admitted five counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and three of exposure. He was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

Sentencing, Recorder David Knifton KC said that the defendant had engaged in "disgusting behaviour" and added: "On numerous occasions over a period of 11 years, you deliberately masturbated while standing naked in your bedroom window so you could be seen. It is clear to me that you derived sexual gratification from being seen in these circumstances.

"Your actions undoubtedly had a corrupting effect. You have frankly admitted that you have had a sexual interest in exhibitionism from an early age.

"You became bored and socially isolated. To your credit, you have demonstrated a commitment to seeking to change your behaviour."

Cunningham was told to sign the sex offenders' register for life. He was also handed a sexual harm prevention order and a restraining order preventing him from contacting the complainants, both of which will run for the next 10 years.

Description

Sex offender Luke Jackson who stayed in the same house as a child without informing the police has been spared jail. The 34-year-old was convicted of sexual assault and intentionally touching a woman in 2018.

He was sentenced to a community order and placed on the sex offenders' register for five years. But he failed to comply with the notification requirements of the register by staying 12 hours or more in a house without telling the authorities; spending seven nights or more at an address in Fegg Hayes without notifying the police; and failing to register a Snapchat user name of 'Jacko01p*sshead'.

Now Jackson has been sentenced to 24 weeks in jail, suspended for two years, at North Staffordshire Justice Centre. Prosecutor Shelley Galluccio said Jackson was convicted of sexual assault on October 24, 2018 and was placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.

She said Jackson completed his notification with the police on February 4. Miss Galluccio said: "However, he did not provide any alias names he had used.

"On April 20 police were made aware he had been in a relationship with a woman and was having contact with her child and staying over at an address he had not given them.

"The woman said she had met him in a bar in Newcastle. He used a social media name of 'Jacko01p*sshead' which had not been notified to the police.

"He stayed at the woman's house for five to seven nights in one block and her son had been present.

"On April 20 her ex-partner arrived and made him leave the property. The child had been present at the address during this time. The woman was not aware of Jackson's history."

Jackson, of Vale Street, Stoke, pleaded guilty to three charges of failing to comply with the notification requirements of the sex offenders' register.

Janice Sain-Reiners, mitigating, said: "It was a new relationship. He did not want to tell her of his past. That was his error. He should not have been in the company of a child without any proper notification or exploration by the authorities.

"There are alcohol issues which affect his way of thinking. He self-referred to Stoke-on-Trent Community Drug and Alcohol Service (CDAS) but they did not phone back."

She added that Jackson has the offer of work with a fencing and timber company.

Magistrates suspended the sentence as they believe there is a good prospect of Jackson being rehabilitated. As part of the suspended sentence Jackson must complete a six-month alcohol treatment requirement; an accredited sex offenders' programme and a rehabilitation activity requirement for 55 days. He was ordered to pay £185 costs and a £154 surcharge.

Description

A man who was caught by a paedophile hunting group after he attempted to meet a 14-year-old girl in Grantham was today (Wednesday) jailed for 16 months.

Steven Slater, 59, was apprehended after he attended Grantham railway station on July 24 last year and in fact met a 46-year-old woman who was acting as a decoy to target sex offenders.

The paedophile hunting group made a citizen’s arrest of Slater, who was living in Grantham at that time, and contacted Lincolnshire Police.

Lincoln Crown Court heard Slater had been in contact with the decoy on social media for two months.

The decoy had made it clear during their very first contact that Slater was talking to someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl, the court was told.

Phil Howes, prosecuting, said Slater caused the decoy to watch a sexual video on the very first day of their contact and later asked her to take a photograph of her breasts.

Mr Howes told the court: "There was evidence the defendant had tried to cover his tracks by removing many of his messages.

"He did not realise those live conversations had been recorded."

In total 23 video recordings were made over 14 different days, the court was told.

Mr Howes said there was also talk on July 8 of the girl travelling to Grantham railway station and meeting the defendant, who would take her fishing.

This progressed to the decoy telling Slater that she had bought a £45 open ticket.

"The defendant tells her he was looking forward to meeting her," Mr Howes added.

"The arranged meet on 24 July took an unexpected turn after the group contacted the police to say they had carried out a citizen’s arrest in Queen Street, Grantham."

During his first interview, Slater said he thought the girl was 17.

The court heard that since his arrest, Slater had moved to an address in Gains Close, Canvey Island, Essex, and his marriage had ended.

He admitted five offences between May 20 and July 24, 2022.

They included causing a 14-year-old girl to watch sexual acts, attempting sexual communication, attempting to cause or incite a girl to engage in sexual activity of a non-penetrative nature and attempting to meet a girl aged under-16 following grooming.

Neil Sands, mitigating, told the court Slater entered his guilty pleas at the very first opportunity when he appeared before Lincoln magistrates and argued a suspended sentence would allow him to work with the Probation Service.

"All of these offences arise during the same 61-day period," Mr Sands added.

"I have seen his shame [over] what he has done and Your Honour can no doubt see that over my shoulder.

"He is not a man who lied about his age. It was on his Facebook profile. He wants nothing more to do with the internet."

Passing sentence Recorder Graham Huston accepted no real child was involved but said the communications ran to hundreds of pages.

Recorder Huston told Slater: "In this case you attended Grantham railway station to meet a 14-year-old girl who you had been communicating with. In fact it was an adult."

"It is clear you deliberately set out grooming this girl," the Recorder added.

"You viewed her as a sexual object from the beginning."

Slater was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and must register as a sex offender for the same period.

Description

A pervert driving instructor has been convicted of sexually assaulting more teenagers during lessons after a fresh investigation.

Findlay Munro preyed on young women learning to drive in Edinburgh, touching them and making inappropriate comments.

Munro dodged a jail sentence last year after admitting targeting four victims while giving them lessons.

The 63-year-old appeared at the city’s sheriff court on Wednesday to plead guilty to offences against a further four pupils.

Two of the victims were just 17 when creepy Munro took advantage of being alone in a car with them.

The court heard how he sexually assaulted the teens by touching their legs.

Munro also made inappropriate comments to another two women while teaching them to drive.

Sheriff John Cook deferred sentence until next month for reports.

Munro appeared in court last September for sentencing after admitting the four earlier charges.

He was given two years supervision with a conduct requirement to undertake “offence-focused work”.

He was also put on the sex offenders register for two years.

But the court heard on Wednesday how further offences dating back to 2014 had been uncovered.

Munro admitted touching a 17-year-old’s leg without consent during lessons between August 2014 and April 2015.

He also pled guilty to sexually assaulting another 17-year-old by repeatedly touching her leg without consent during lessons between September 2015 and March 2016.

Munro admitted making inappropriate remarks and comments about a third pupil’s appearance for the purposes of gaining sexual gratification between September 2015 and April 2016.

And he admitted the same charge against a fourth woman between December 2019 and March 2020.

Last year the court heard how Munro, of the city’s Baberton area, repeatedly targeted four victims before a police investigation landed him in court.

Those offences took place between 2017 and 2021.

A mother previously told the Record how her 17-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted by “scumbag” Munro. She paid for her daughter to receive weekly two-hour lessons from him when he was an instructor through Red Driving School.

She said: “She came back after the first lesson and told me Munro called all his pupils his ‘girlfriends’. I thought it was bizarre, but my daughter said it was fine, she just wanted to pass her test.

“Looking back, she would get really, really anxious before every lesson but I put it down to nerves.

“Then another girl said police were speaking to Munro’s pupils and my daughter said some things had happened to her.

“I got her to write it down, because it was difficult for her. It was awful to read. I was so angry and contacted the police myself to report it.”

Munro pled guilty to sexually assaulting the teen on various occasions on Edinburgh roads between December 2020 and August last year by touching her on the head and rubbing her thigh.

Description

A vile pervert who sent his partner a video of himself performing a sex act in front of a young girl said "what have I done" as police stormed his home.

Three months after Phil Hudson, 33, and the woman broke up, she went to Huyton police station and reported he was saying things about a child that disturbed her. She told officers “he started to disclose his fantasies and desires around children”, said Kate Morley, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, August 15.

She said he sent her a video of him engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. She still had the video on her phone and gave it to officers for investigation.

Liverpool Crown Court heard the 33-year-old university graduate, who had been working at Pets at Home and had a partner, was arrested on June 15 this year at his home in Garston. When being arrested he said “What have I done?”

He said he had had “a fling” with the woman and “had to leave his job and she was accusing him of serious offences.”

Miss Morley said when Hudson's phone was forensically examined, officers found seven indecent images of children as well as extreme pornography. When interviewed the man, who has no previous convictions, claimed to have no interest in children but he subsequently pleaded guilty to nine child sex offences and possessing extreme pornography.

His lawyer, Peter White said: “Clearly something unhealthy has been lurking in the background and eventually shown its ugly face.”

The court heard the video, lasting just over one minute, which he had sent to his former lover, showed Hudson performing a sex act in front of a young girl, while he was naked and holding his phone recording the incident.

When his own phone was examined a similar nine second video was found, said Miss Morley. She said the indecent photographs also found on his phone showed girls and boys aged between eight and 14.

Hudson, formerly of Lincoln Street, Garston, pleaded guilty to two offences of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, taking the indecent video and distributing it, four offences involving taking, making and possessing indecent photographs of children, possessing a prohibited image of a child and possessing six extreme pornographic images.

In interview he said he had sent the video to his former girlfriend as he thought she was interested in things like that, but had deleted it from his own phone as “he was mortified.” He went on to say he had had thoughts about bestiality “but that didn’t mean that he was going to do it".

Mr White said Hudson no longer maintained denials about the offences in a pre-sentence report and accepts his guilt.

He said: “Clearly there has been an unhealthy interest which needs to be addressed.”

He added it was hoped the defendant could be helped by rehabilitation courses.

Jailing him for 27 months the judge, Recorder Eric Lamb, said: “It will come as a considerable surprise to discover someone such as yourself, who had not been in trouble before, at the age of 33 comes before the court for such serious and grave offences.”

He said he had treated the girl “as an object you considered suitable to satisfy your own sexual requirements.”

Recorder Lamb told him: “You told police you did not have a sexual interest in children. Your actions belie that which you said to the police.”

He ordered him to sign the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same length of time.

Description

A man who secretly filmed two children in a bath and then shared severe child sex abuse images has been jailed.

Lee Bowdler, 52, of Bilsthorpe, Nottinghamshire, admitted using a hidden camera in a bathroom and owning 271 indecent images of children, some of which he posted on Twitter.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Bowdler had a "clear sexual interest" in children.

He was jailed for one year at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday.

Bowdler was also and handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order

The NCA identified Bowdler after he posted indecent images of children on Twitter using an online moniker.

He was arrested at work in Colwick in May 2022.

Officers said they found 271 indecent images, some in the highest severity category, on eight of Bowdler's devices.

A secret recording of two children taking a bath, which Bowdler had filmed using a hidden camera, was also recovered by the NCA.

At Mansfield Magistrates' Court on 7 February. Bowdler admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of distributing images and one count of voyeurism.

NCA operations manager Adam Sprague said: "Lee Bowdler clearly had a sexual interest in children, shown both by the footage he shot in the bathroom and the child abuse images he'd accumulated.

"There is a global demand for such material, so the NCA will never waver in its commitment to protect children from sexual abuse and bring perpetrators to justice.

An NSPCC spokesman said in the East Midlands, child abuse image offences, recorded by UK police, "have surged by 81% in just five years".

"Behind every one of the indecent images Bowdler downloaded and distributed are children, many who will have suffered abuse which could cause lasting harm," he added.

Description

A PAEDOPHILE drug dealer who raped three teenage girls -- one just days after her THIRTEENTH birthday - has been jailed.

Karl Calder-Harley, 26, targeted the 13-year-old after finding her on TikTok.

He messaged her on Snapchat, and she after agreed to meet him, he drove her to a spot near Throsk, Stirlingshire.

He told her he had a knife and then assaulted her in his customised Ford Mondeo.

The High Court in Stirling heard that he gave the "naive" youngster money, took her phone off her while she was in his car, and after the rape told her not to save any of the Snapchat messages they had exchanged.

The rape occurred in December 2020 just two to three days after the child's 13th birthday, when Calder-Harley was almost 24.

The incident came to the attention of police.

Calder-Harley was arrested and gave a "no comment" interview.

Officers spoke to other girls he might have associated with.

The court heard a 15-year-old girl revealed that she too had been raped by Calder-Harley, who used to collect her in her school uniform from her Stirlingshire high school.

At the time, in April to June 2016, Calder-Harley -- who has since been convicted for being concerned in the supply of cocaine and has a previous conviction for an offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act -- was 20.

He was only 18 when he raped his first victim, a woman, also 18, with whom he had been in a relationship between June 2013 and June 2016.

The woman, who gave evidence from behind a screen, said the incident had left her crying and she had pleaded with him to stop.

He continued through her tears.

She told jurors: "I was saying stop, stop, but the minute I would move he forced me back down on the bed."

She said she had been manipulated, had her phoned smashed, her clothes ripped, and had been punched and pushed downstairs by Calder-Harley during their relationship in Stenhousemuir, also Stirlingshire.

After a four-day trial at the High Court in Stirling, a jury of eight women and seven men took less than three hours to find Calder-Harley, an unemployed dumper driver, of Stenhousemuir, guilty of three charges of rape and one of having under-age sex. He had denied the charges and said the rapes never happened.

He sobbed and blubbered as the verdicts were returned and judge Lord Colbeck revoked his bail.

He was remanded in custody for reports until October 3rd at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Prosecutor Chris Macintosh said Calder-Harley had "preyed on three naive and immature young girls to satisfy his own needs".

Solicitor-advocate Simon White, defending, reserved mitigation.

Description

A man who subjected a young girl to a three-year "campaign of rape" has been jailed for over 19 years.

Anthony Reynolds, 42, from Melton Mowbray, pleaded guilty to charges of raping a girl aged 13 and two charges of raping a girl under 13.

He was sentenced to 231 months in prison at Gloucester Crown Court.

Judge Ian Lawrie told the girl: "You should be proud of your courage. You didn't budge an inch."

In a victim-impact statement the girl, who is from Gloucester, said: "I was wondering why this was happening to me and what I had done to deserve it?"

Prosecutor Ellen McAnaw told the court that the victim was about 10 years old when the offending started and was 13 when she told a school friend in January of this year.

Ms McAnaw said it was "effectively a campaign of rape".

Police were alerted and the girl told them how Reynolds had been raping her about once a fortnight for three years or more.

She said: "After he did it to me I would just sit there crying and terrified. At school, I couldn't concentrate and it was all I could think about.

'I lost confidence'

"Now I have told someone about it, I know I will never see him again and I feel safe."

"I lost confidence in myself," she said. "I thought I was fat and ugly. I just wanted to be someone else. I didn't like who I was."

The girl's mother said in a statement: "My daughter will, without doubt, carry this with her for the rest of her life.

"What this man has done to my daughter has completely broken me."

Reynolds initially denied the offences and pleaded not guilty to charges of raping a girl aged 13 on 21 January and two charges of raping of a girl under 13 between 21 December 2019 and 20 December 2022.

But he changed his pleas to guilty when the girl attended court, ready to give evidence against him to a jury.

Emotional pain

Shenaiya Kharegat, defending, said that although Reynolds had not admitted the offences from the start he now "accepts full responsibility and has made no attempt to minimise his behaviour...

"He has reflected on his actions and fully understands the effect of his offending on the victim and her family."

Judge Ian Lawrie told Reynolds that the statements he had heard had made clear the "pain, emotionally and psychologically, that your abuse has caused".

He imposed jail terms totalling 231 months as well as a lifelong sexual-harm-prevention order and a restraining order.

The judge said he had allowed a discount of 12.5% on the sentence to reflect that Reynolds had belatedly pleaded guilty, sparing the girl the "torture" of giving evidence.

Judge Lawrie added that Reynolds will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence before he can be considered for parole.

"It takes courage to come forward about things like this," the judge told the girl. "I know the appalling strain it puts on everyone.

"You should be proud of your courage. You didn't budge an inch and that made him feel he didn't have room for manoeuvre."

Description

A former Hackney councillor has avoided jail after admitting possessing indecent images of children.

Recorder Jonathan Ashley-Norman told Tom Dewey: “You have taken considerable steps since your arrest to address your offending behaviour.”

Handing him down a 12-month suspended sentence, he said: Your actions have had a devastating impact on your life and your closest family.”

He gave him credit for an early guilty plea and the work he had done to overcome his problem in looking at indecent images of children.

He also ordered devices to be forfeited, told Dewey to pay £500 costs and put him on a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which will restrict his contact with children.

Thomas Dewey, who was elected as a Labour councillor for De Beauvoir ward, was arrested by detectives from the National Crime Agency who seized laptops and tablets at his home in Hertford Road in Hackney, just days before May’s local elections last year.

He had a “huge problem” with looking at indecent images of children from the internet for his own use, Wood Green Crown Court heard.

Last month, the 36-year-old admitted a charge of making five category A indecent images of children, a further charge of making 41 category B indecent images, as well as making 203 category C indecent images of children, on 29 April 2022 in Hackney.

Images are graded with category A considered the worst.

Dewey, now of Hampshire, also admitted a charge of possessing 78 extreme pornographic images of children on 29 April 2022 and having 1,523 prohibited images of children in his possession on or before 20 January 2022.

The court heard images date from between 14 January 2008 to 27 April 2022, two days before his arrest at home in Hackney where he was “the sole occupant.”

The NCA seized two laptops, two tablets and a hard drive and Dewey was arrested and cautioned at 7.03am.

They had identified four “CyberTipline” reports which has user ID to a google drive and Dewey had uploaded indecent images of children to his personal account

Description

A former well-known Manchester DJ has avoided jail after being caught with indecent images of children breaching a court order. Scot Reedy, 36, had previously been before the courts for similar offences when he was sentenced to a suspended prison term in February 2021.

Along with the sentence, he was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which stated he must inform his offender manager of any devices he owns that are capable of accessing the internet.

However, during an unannounced visit from Greater Manchester Police, officers found twelve devices, with one containing computer-generated indecent images of young children.

Appearing at Manchester Crown Court today (August 14), Reedy admitted to breaching the order and was sentenced to a community order.

Brendan O’Leary, prosecuting, told the court that on September 5 2020, Reedy appeared before Tameside Magistrates in relation to offences of possession of indecent images of children. He was sentenced for those crimes on February 15, 2021, to a 16 month jail term which was suspended for two years, and ordered to complete the Horizon programme, which is delivered to male sex offenders who are at risk of reoffending.

He was also handed a SHPO to run until February 2031, with a number of conditions including that he must inform his offender manager of any devices that can connect to the internet.

“On March 23 of last year, the offender manager from GMP’s Sex Offender Manager Unit along with another officer attended his home address to conduct an unannounced visit to assess the defendant’s behaviour in the community,” the prosecutor said.

“Found on the defendant’s phone were photos which were prohibited. As the phone was seized, the defendant said: ‘I can prove to you I didn’t download them on purpose’.”

The phone was examined, and officers found 330 inaccessible prohibited images of children, along with social media searches for indecent images which took place on one day in December 2021.

The searches included ‘paedo bait’, ‘minor NSFW’, ‘incest’ and ‘IRL shota’. The court heard that ‘shota’ is a term used to describe sex between a child and an adult.

Reedy was arrested, and a further 12 devices were recovered, each capable of accessing the internet. They also found a ‘childlike’ sex doll in his possession, for which he was not subject to prosecution.

He was said to have three previous convictions for 16 offences including for making indecent images of children.

In mitigation, Joshua Bowker said the 12 devices found did not have any criminality on them. Of the images recovered, he said they were 3D generated images, and so no actual children were pictured.

“There is significantly more harm in actual images of children, rather than computer generated ones,” he said.

He said his client had a ‘lax attitude’ towards the court order and said there was a degree of ‘forgetfulness’ in his compliance with it.

Mr Bowker added that Reedy has an autism diagnosis, of which he is still coming to terms with, and is willing to work with probation to assist him. “He is ashamed of himself,” he said.

Sentencing, Judge Elizabeth Nicholls said Reedy had served the equivalent of a 10 month sentence in custody whilst waiting to be sentenced, and there would be ‘greater protection to the public’ if dealt he was with in the community.

“It will be hard to find anyone who will take a risk that I have today, in the hope that you will be rehabilitated or that you will be able to manage the addiction that you currently have,” she said.

“You have cooperated well with the course in the past, and the probation service are satisfied you can be sentenced in the community.”

Reedy, of Meadowgate Road, in Salford, was sentenced to an 18 month community order, 25 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 130 hours of unpaid work. He previously pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited image of a child, failure to notify with the requirements of the Sex Offences Act and breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He remains under the terms of the Sex Offenders Register and Sexual Harm Prevention order for 10 years.

Description

A BRAZEN sex offender nicknamed himself “Amapedo” when he contacted what he thought was a 14-year-old girl online.

However, William Wilson later discovered that “Sophie”, the target of his predatory behaviour, was actually a fake identity set up by a paedophile hunter group, a court heard.

After making disgusting requests of the decoy “schoolgirl” and sending her indecent images of himself he was confronted by members of the Wolfpack group at his home in West Lothian from where video of his confession was streamed live on Facebook.

Wilson, 51, from Kirknewton, pleaded guilty on Monday to attempting to communicate indecently with a person he believed was an under-age girl.

He attempted to cause her to participate in sexual activity and asking her to photograph of the genitals of a seven year-old girl and send the image to him for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification or of humiliating, distressing or alarming her.

Christine Brownlie, prosecuting, told Livingston Sheriff Court that the fake profile picture posted on the website Meet24 around 20 March 2022 was of a young white girl aged 12-14. She said it was clear that the photo was of someone under the age of 18.

Within a few hours of setting up the account it was contacted by Wilson, calling himself 'Amapedo' and stating "I like you”, quickly followed by explicit messages.

The decoy replied as Sophie telling the accused that she was 14 years old and from Birmingham.

'Amapedo' then sent Sophie a message stating: "I just love young girls your age. Any pics of you in your school uniform with skirt? Can I see?"

When she replied that she didn't think she had any pictures he asked, "Any of you with your legs open?"

The decoy told 'Amapedo’ that she didn't have pictures like that on her phone, but she was then asked if she had a younger sister and if she did would she be willing to provide a picture for him.

The accused asked to take the conversation to WhatsApp, and the decoy provided a phone number and told the user to add her on WhatsApp, but rather than communicating via WhatsApp, she received a phone call from someone asking to speak to Sophie then began to receive text messages.

Two days later further contact was made with the profile Sophie on Meet24 with someone using the username Grampa70, who also turned out to be the accused.

The user Grampa70 also sent her explicit messages.

The child profile was thereafter contacted by a user also identifying themselves as Grampa70 on the app Meet4u and she asked him to confirm the last 4 digits of his phone number to confirm it was the same person.

Wilson did so and again sent her sexual messages in which he asked if she could take pictures of her seven-year-old sister due to having "a big thing for young girls".

Following this the user Grampa70 told to her to forget it and asked her to delete his number.

Details of the chat between the decoy and Wilson were passed on to the West Lothian Wolfpack paedophile hunting group, as was the accused’s home address.

At about 7.30pm the same day three members of the group – one woman and two men – knocked on Wilson’s door and the woman streamed his reaction live on Facebook.

When she informed Wilson she was at his address because of his online activity he replied “Aye, aye” and invited them in.

Police were contacted and screen shots of the messages and images sent by the accused were handed to them.

They also watched the video stream which showed the accused sitting within his living room admitting to communicating indecently with who he believed to be a child aged 14 years old.

The accused was cautioned and charged and replied: “I’m sorry, I don’t know what else to say.” He later added: “Yes, I done it. I put my hands in the air.”

Sheriff Susan Craig called for a background report before sentence, warned Wilson that he may face a custodial sentence and added his name to the sex offenders’ register.

She said he would be told the length of time he would remain subject to notification requirements when he returned to be sentenced on 14 September.

Description

A sex offender who grabbed a woman and tried to kiss her has been jailed. Bhavesh Voralia, 50, attacked the victim in a block of flats in The Drive, Peterborough, at about 9am on September 3 2021.

He grabbed her breasts and smacked her, telling her he loved her. The terrified victim then managed to run back to her flat.

On Tuesday (August 8, 2023), at Cambridge Crown Court, Voralia, of The Drive, Peterborough, was jailed for one year, having been found guilty of sexual assault and two counts of failing to comply with Sex Offenders Register notification requirements.

Voralia had been on the register since being convicted of another sexual assault at Peterborough Magistrates’ Court on June 13 last year. However, he flew from Heathrow Airport to Ahmedabad in India three days later, meaning he did not notify police within three days of his conviction, of his name, date of birth and home address, as required.

It also meant he’d failed to notify the police no less than seven days in advance of any intended period of foreign travel.

PC Mohsin Raja said: “This was a despicable assault by Voralia and I would like to thank the victim for her cooperation with us in seeking a prosecution.

“In failing to adhere to his notification requirements, he has shown a blatant disregard for the law.”

Description

The victim of vile sexual and physical cruelty as a child described the abuse she suffered as a ‘tattoo for all to see’.

The woman was in court on Monday (August 14) to see now 80-year-old Lionel Wood finally face justice for his years of abuse, committed when she was a child some four decades ago in Banbury.

In June, jurors at Oxford Crown Court heard how he repeatedly molested the girl, including subjecting her to what now would have been charged as oral rape of a child.

He was found guilty in less than an hour and a quarter of four counts of indecent assault.

In an impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Brian Reece, the victim said her earliest memories were of being physically and sexually abused by a man she ‘should have been able to trust’. 

She described the abuse as making her feel like ‘damaged goods’, comparing it to a tattoo ‘for all to see’. “It’s something you can’t hide from,” she said.

The woman detailed how she had struggled with physical ill-health, difficulties with self-destructive substance misuse, depression, suicidal thoughts and a series of abusive relationships.

“[The defendant] made me feel intense fear, humiliation, like a possession to be controlled and used at will,” she said.

The girl was molested while she was alone with the defendant. The abuse developed, with the girl subjected to what would now have been charged as oral rape of a child but at the time was an offence called indecent assault.

In her impact statement, the victim detailed an awful catalogue of physical abuse at Wood’s hands, although he faced no criminal charges for physically assaulting the girl.

Recorder Samantha Presland jailed him for 14 years, telling the defendant: “What should have been happy childhood memories have been completely and utterly distorted.”

He will serve two-thirds of the sentence in custody before being eligible for release.

In mitigation, Catherine Ravenscroft said her client continued to deny wrongdoing and, since being remanded in prison after his trial, had made an attempt on his life.

He was particularly concerned for his elderly partner, who was in her 90s and for whom he was providing a significant amount of support before he was remanded in custody.

The judge imposed an indefinite restraining order, preventing Wood, of Broadway, Worcestershire, from contacting his victim for the rest of his life.

Having been jailed for 14 years, he will also remain on the sex offender register indefinitely.

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A murderer who strangled a teenager to death before leaving her half naked body in a field has walked free from court after breaching rules imposed on him by the courts.

James Duggan was found guilty of the murder of Rebecca Ryle in Australia back in 2006 and was jailed for life, having emigrated Down Under from Liverpool as a child. He has since been released from this sentence and was deported back to the UK last year, but has continued to have brushes with the law.

Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Monday, that the now 38-year-old was subject to indefinite notification requirements in January this year after being convicted of breaching a sexual risk order (SRO) and battery. Duggan, of School Lane in Rainhill, had been given this SRO in August 2022 following his return to this country due to a "sexual motive" behind the killing.

Shannon Stewart, prosecuting, described how he then failed to inform his offender manager of a relationship he had formed with a woman as he was required to do as part of the order, which the police became aware of after an incident in which he punched her in the stomach. The killer was released from this 26-week sentence on July 11 and was required to sign the sex offenders' register within the following three days, but failed to do so.

Duggan was subsequently arrested again on July 17 and told detectives under interview that he had "phoned probation but got no reply". He has been remanded in custody since.

The defendant received life imprisonment with a minimum term of 11 years in April 2006, having been convicted of Ms Ryle's murder. The Western Australian Supreme Court heard during his trial that Duggan, who moved to the country from Merseyside aged 11, had met his 19-year-old victim in a pub in Perth on the evening of May 5, 2004 and offered to walk her home.

But he then strangled her for three minutes in a park just metres away from her home and left her half-naked body in a field, to be found by police officers a few hours later. Justice Lindy Jenkins said she had died "alone and degraded", with her murderer - who was also a teen at the time - ultimately serving nearly 18 years.

Duggan was refused parole following a hearing in 2019, due in part to his "lack of acknowledgement of wrongdoing and apparent lack of remorse". But his case was reviewed again in September 2021, when the Attorney General recommended his release after he had "imparted remorse and regret towards the offence, as well as acknowledging the victim" - leading to him being freed in March 2022 and later deported.

Ken Heckle, defending, told the court that his client had gone to an address on Round Hey in Stockbridge Village following his latest release, having been instructed to live there by the Probation Service. He was also ultimately found at this house and detained.

Mr Heckle added: "He goes to where he is directed to go, but simply forgets to advise the police. This is not somebody who has gone off the radar.

"It is not a sinister breach. It is a breach borne out of stupidity.

"There are family members on Merseyside who still are supportive of him. His grandmother is certainly one of them.

"The defendant maintains that he has been drug-free since January. He is fit and healthy and is trying to rehabilitate himself into the country.

"Circumstances have got in his way and he can only blame himself, but in this instance it is more of a technical breach rather than a sinister breach and someone trying to avoid the authorities. I ask your honour to give him this one chance."

Duggan, who appeared in the dock wearing a white t-shirt and black Adidas tracksuit bottoms and sported greying dark hair and a beard, admitted failing to comply with notification requirement and failing to comply with a suspended sentence order. He was handed a nine-month imprisonment suspended for two years, 180 hours of unpaid work, a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 30 days, a six-month alcohol abstinence requirement and a 12-month drug rehabilitation requirement as well as being told to complete a relationships programme.

Sentencing, Recorder David Knifton KC said: "This is not a case of going off the radar, it is simply a case of failing to notify the police of the address at which you were living. I am unable to accept that this is an inadvertent breach.

"You have a history of drug and alcohol misuse. This is your second breach in the first six months of the order being made.

"I am satisfied, given the acceptance on your part of the seriousness of your offending and your need to address your underlying issues, that this is a case in which I can suspend the sentence of imprisonment I must impose. There is, in your case, a realistic prospect of rehabilitation."

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A "dangerous" man has been jailed for 13 years and 8 months after pleading guilty to sexual offences relating to two children in Hertfordshire.

Michael Hargrave, 31, from Loch Crescent in Edgware, admitted six charges at St Albans Crown Court on August 10.

He was arrested at and address in Kings Langley on May 11, 2023, after a 14-year-old girl from Hemel Hempstead reported engaging in sexual activity with a man she had met online.

While Hargrave was in custody, further investigations found there was a nine-year-old victim in Hemel Hempstead, whom officers were then able to safeguard.

He had been speaking to the girl via Snapchat using his online alias.  

Hargrave was subsequently charged with:

• Two counts of sexual communication with a child.
• Three counts of sexual activity with a child.
• Two counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act.
• One count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activities.
• Three counts of a breach of sexual harm prevention order.
• One count of failure to comply with notification requirements.

The offences took place between January 2022 and April of this year.

Hargrave met both victims initially on Snapchat and then arranged to meet the 14-year-old victim in person, and subsequently committed offences against her.

Detective Sergeant Sam Jarvis, from the child online safeguarding team, said: “This was a good result for the team, who have taken another very dangerous offender off the streets thanks to the bravery of the two victims.

“We will continue to identify and proactively target those within Hertfordshire who pose a sexual risk towards children.”

His sentence was extended for another five years on licence, he will be on the Sex Offenders' Register, and must abide indefinitely by the conditions of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Licence conditions are a set of rules that an individual must follow if they are released from prison but still have part of their sentence to serve in the community.

The licence can be revoked, and an individual can be recalled to custody at any time during the licence period if the probation service considers that an individual has breached conditions of their licence.