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A paedophile who walked into a Sawtry home and sexually assaulted a young girl has been jailed.

Christopher Woods, 39, was captured on CCTV trying door handles in the early hours of 23 April last year.

Woods, who was carrying a pint glass, managed to get into the back garden of the victim’s home before entering the property.

The victim had awoken and decided to go downstairs where Wood spoke to her and then assaulted her.

Video doorbell footage captured him entering the garden and leaving roughly 40 minutes later.

The following day the girl told her mother and she contacted police.

When officers attended, they found the pint glass in the garden. Forensic tests revealed Woods’ fingerprints, and he was arrested.

Woods, of Garner Court, Huntingdon, denied assaulting a girl under 13 by touching and breaching an existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He was found guilty of both counts following a trial at Peterborough Crown Court last month.

Yesterday (11 December) at the same court he was jailed for four years and six months.

Description

A ‘predatory’ priest who repeatedly molested a sleeping train passenger has been jailed for 16 months at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Father Daniel Doherty, 61, from Falkirk, was the parish priest at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Falkirk.

Description

A sex offender who avoided police checks by sleeping rough has been jailed for a year.

Scott Notman, also a convicted football hooligan, lied to cops by saying he had been in hospital when they were looking for him. The 49-year-old was sentenced at Airdrie Sheriff Court when he admitted failing to disclose a change of address within three days.

Notman was put on the sex offenders' register for five years in July 2023 after being caught in a paedophile sting. A court heard he used an online dating site to contact a female he believed to be aged 14.

'Emma' turned out to be an adult member of a vigilante group posing as a teenager. Notman arranged to meet her but didn't turn up.

Airdrie Sheriff Court heard police officers from the sex offenders' monitoring unit went to Notman's home in Airdrie for a routine check four times in October this year. There was no sign of him and housing officers who turned up with an eviction notice also got no reply.

Annette Ward, prosecuting, said: "Police officers traced him in a social work office in Bellshill on November 5. He claimed he had been in Monklands Hospital between October 18 and November 4.

"Enquiries at the hospital established he'd attended at the emergency unit on November 3 but was discharged after examination."

Defence lawyer Tony Linden said Notman's sex offender status had put him "at a low ebb", adding: "As remarkable as it seems, he chose to leave his house, preferring to sleep rough.

"Of course, the first thing he was required to do was tell the police, given the clear concerns that arose from them not knowing where he was."

Sheriff Joseph Hughes told Notman: "Your record shows breaches of non-harassment and community payback orders. This is another example of non-compliance and it's really serious.

"It can't be allowed to continue as you are on the sex offenders' register until 2028."

In 2021 Notman was jailed for 15 months for breaking a Hearts football fan's jaw in an unprovoked attack after a game against Motherwell.

Description

A man who raped a woman twice while her children were in the house has been jailed.

Abdul Hamed, 35, of no fixed address, assaulted a woman in a "horrendous ordeal" after climbing through her window in Swindon in the early hours of 18 June.

"Hamed entered her home through a window in the middle of the night, significantly breaching her sense of safety and privacy in the one place that she should have felt safest," said DC Ashleigh Moran of Swindon Police.

Hamed has been sentenced to six years and eight months in prison at Swindon Crown Court.

'No remorse'

"This was a traumatic incident for the victim and I want to thank her and commend her for her incredible bravery that she's shown throughout this process," DC Moran continued.

The incident was reported to police the day after it happened, and Hamed was arrested.

He pleaded not guilty to the offences and was unanimously found guilty following a six-day jury trial.

"He has shown no remorse throughout this investigation and now faces several years behind bars for his actions," DC Moran added.

"I hope this sentencing will bring an element of closure for the victim and she can start to move forward with her life."

Description

A 30-year-old man has jailed for eight years at the High Court in Edinburgh on Wednesday, 11 December, 2024, after being convicted of serious sexual offences in Fife.

Darren Glass’ crimes included rape and sexual communications against a woman and a teenage girl between September, 2020 and June, 2022.

Detective Constable Steven Grant said: “Glass is a dangerous individual who now faces the consequences of his despicable actions.

"I would like to commend his victims for their strength in coming forward during the investigation. Their information was essential in helping us build the case against him and our thoughts remain with them. I hope this outcome provides them with some sense of closure.

“If anyone has been a victim of a sexual crime, please report it. We have detectives dedicated to investigating such offences. You can be assured that you will be fully supported by officers and our partner agencies."

Description

A man from Stowmarket has been jailed for more than two years for a rape he committed as a teenager.

Alex Welham appeared in the dock at Ipswich Crown Court on Friday.

He had pleaded guilty to a charge of rape of a girl under 13, and a charge of multiple incidents of sexual assault of a girl under 13, which the court heard took place on at least 10 occasions.

The offences were committed between 2014 and 2016. Welham was 13 when the abuse began, and 15 when it ended. The victim was several years younger than he was.

The abuse was reported to the police in 2023.

A statement was read to the court by Matthew McNiff, prosecuting, on behalf of the victim. In it, she described the profound impact Welhams abuse had had on her life.

Addressing Welham, now 24, who she described as the monster that ruined my childhood, she said: You killed the child in me, forcing me into a world I neither understood or was ready for.

She continued: You took my smile away. The abuse was, she said, disgusting and unforgivable.

The victim said that she felt pride that she had managed to come forward and report the abuse. She spoke of her determination to use my voice to help other victims of child abuse.

Joanne Eley, representing Welham, told the court that he had described being sexually curious having been exposed to pornography. He also described being bullied throughout high school, and has since been diagnosed with depression and anxiety, Miss Eley told the court.

Judge David Wilson said that these offences were committed when Welham was a child, which would need to be reflected in his sentence.

Cases of this nature provide notorious difficulties for sentencing court, he said.

He also acknowledged that the impact of Welhams abuse continues to be felt by the victim.

This was not simply experimentation as a teen boy this was targeted planned behaviour over a period of time, he said, adding that the abuse was accompanied by warnings that the victim should keep quiet.

For the rape, he sentenced Welham to two years and eight months in prison. For the sexual assaults, he sentenced Welham to nine months, which he will serve concurrently.

Both these sentences were reduced in light of Welhams age at the time of offending, and his guilty pleas.

Description

A 58-year-old man has appeared at Swansea Crown Court today (Wednesday December 11) charged with child sex offences including attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, an adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and breaching a sexual harm prevention order

David Parton from Penarth was arrested in October after arranging to meet a child under 13 following conversations held on-line.  He has been sent to prison for six years.

He will then have to serve a further four years on license as he has been classed as a dangerous offender bringing the total sentence to 10 years. He also has a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be classed as a sex offender for life. 

The investigation, which was carried out by Tarian, the Regional Organised Crime Unit for southern Wales, identified Parton as targeting children in southern Wales and enticing a child to commit sexual acts. 

Description

A man has been jailed after sexually assaulting a girl and taking and sharing indecent images of her. Ryan Woolsey, 25 years, of Withensfield, Liscard was put behind bars for 13 years and eight months.

Woolsey was convicted of two counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, two counts of making indecent photographs of a child, possessing an indecent photograph of a child, distributing an indecent photograph of a child and taking an indecent photograph of a child.

During the course of the investigation into Woolsey’s offending, officers seized Woolsey’s devices and found he had taken and shared indecent images of the victim as well as assaulting her.

Detective Inspector Rob Pritchard said: “I know that people hearing the details of Woolsey’s crimes will feel complete revulsion at the way he exploited a young child. His crimes are quite simply despicable. Woolsey had no regard for the impact his behaviour would have on the victim, and thought only of his own sordid gratification.“Sex offending has a huge and devastating impact on victims and their families, and that harm can last a lifetime. I want to pay tribute to the victim in this case and her family, whose courage in coming forward and co-operating with the investigation has been humbling.“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the team who investigated Woolsey, whose actions have helped put him behind bars and spare this child and others from further harm and exploitation. I hope Woolsey spends the long time he has in prison considering the terrible impact of his actions.”Det Insp Pritchard added: “Merseyside Police is completely committed to protecting children from sexual abuse and stopping those who seek to do them harm – including those who share images of that abuse. Our Unity team is dedicated to preventing sexual offences and protecting people from the trauma and hurt sexual abuse can inflict.

Description

A paedophile who sexually abused a teenage girl and had more than 15,000 indecent images of children and animals on his laptop has been jailed for more than a decade.

Police raided the home of registered sex offender Russell Duncan Frederick Weatherley in 2022, after receiving information he possessed indecent images of children.

Officers recovered a laptop with more than 15,000 indecent images and arrested the 62-year-old, of Bearpark, County Durham.

Detectives also found a folder on the device named after the victim, who Weatherley had preyed on decades earlier.

Weatherley had forced the girl to carry out sexual acts, often photographing or filming them.

The 62-year-old was charged with more than 30 offences and in court, pleaded not guilty to six counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl and five counts of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

He went to trial and was found guilty of all the offences as well as changing his plea to guilty for a further 18 counts of making indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography with an animal.

He was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison at Teesside Crown Court on Friday (December 6).

Following the sentencing, DC Liam Padget, who led the investigation, said: “Weatherley is a monster in every sense of the word and that is how the victim described him so we hope this sentence allows her to finally start to heal from this ordeal.

“I would like to commend the victim and her family for their bravery and perseverance during the investigation.

“She has had to carry the burden of abuse for many years, and this sentence reflects society’s abhorrence of crimes such as this.

“Durham Constabulary will always investigate offences of this nature and place victims at the centre of everything we do. If you have been a victim of abuse, please reach out. We will believe you.”

Description

A sexual predator followed a vulnerable woman as she got a taxi home from a night out before assaulting her for over an hour in a dark alleyway.

The young woman had been out with friends in Fallowfield when her friends ordered her an Uber home using her phone. But a car began to follow them.

CCTV showed Abbas Ahmed, 32, following closely behind the taxi before the woman stopped the journey home short. She then got out of the cab and began walking home, appearing to ‘walk into a parked car’ and seemed ‘clearly drunk’, prosecutor Geoff Whelan said.

“The defendant parked further up and noticed her walking down the road and quickly caught up with her,” he said.

“He grabbed hold of her hand and put his arm around her. She was unsteady on her feet.”

At one point the woman was seen to point towards her address, before Ahmed led her towards an alleyway. He then kissed her hand to encourage her, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Whilst walking over to the alleyway she was seen to push him away before he grabbed her hand. In the alleyway he sexually assaulted her.

The woman would later tell police that she had no memory of the taxi journey and only vague memories of being bent over and feeling something pulling her shorts and underwear down before pushing against her.

“The Crown’s case is that she was simply too intoxicated to consent,” Mr Whelan said.

The woman thought the assault took place over the course of five and ten minutes. However, CCTV revealed the ordeal lasted an hour before Ahmed left the woman alone in the alleyway.

She could be seen on the footage briefly illuminated by a passing car’s headlights as she was propped up against a wall with her dress pulled up to her waist.

As Ahmed left the scene, the young woman managed to find her way home where she met up with her friend. She had her underwear in her hand, it was said.

Whilst she got ready for bed, she mentioned to her friends about a ‘man in an alleyway’, but as they were unsure of what happened they thought to let her rest. A couple of days later she informed the police that she had been sexually assaulted.

In footage of the incident played to the court, the taxi is seen driving up the road to make sure the woman was OK. As he had seen she was ‘not in distress’ he drove away.

During the hour-long assault, the woman was seen to momentarily stumble out of the alleyway looking disorientated and dazed.

Ahmed’s DNA was later found on her genitals, the court heard.

In a statement, the woman said she struggles with fear, anxiety and sadness. She said she had struggled with friendships and whilst she had no physical injuries, she suffered a ‘mental toll’.

She added that she now doesn’t drink and feels unsafe around men. “I’m doing my best to move forward, but the effect still lingers," she added.

The court heard that Ahmed had a previous conviction for sexual assault, in which he had followed his victim in a car.

Mitigating, Gemma Maxwell said: “Parts of the journey, she was kissing him and holding his hand.

“The offences began upon losing his job. He was at a low ebb and was lonely and had time on his hands.”

Sentencing him as a ‘dangerous offender’ under sentencing provisions, Judge Patrick Field KC said: “The evidence shows that you are a sexual predator. You preyed upon a lone female unknown to you.

“She was alone and vulnerable. She was very drunk, so drunk that she was unable to consent to what you did and unable to remember what happened.

“You were fully aware of her condition. She tried to resist but was overpowered by force or persuasion.”

He described the offence as ‘thoroughly organised, planned and premeditated.

Ahmed, of Meade Grove, Longsight, was handed 50 months imprisonment with an extended licence period of 48 months.

He was also made subject of the Sex Offenders Register and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order.

Description

A man raped a woman in her own home after travelling to Wales to meet her. Sean Murphy then assaulted his victim a number of times including by banging her head against the wall.

Swansea Crown Court heard an impact statement from the victim of the sexual violence in which she said the experience had left her feeling "broken" inside. The 52-year-old defendant has been jailed for seven and a half years and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. Police have praised the bravery of the victim and said without her coming forward "a very dangerous man would still be on the streets".

The court heard the rape happened in May last year in Swansea. Murphy sexually assaulted and raped the woman in the bedroom of the property then subjected her to a number of physical assaults in different rooms. The offending was subsequently reported to police and Murphy admitted the physical assaults but denied the sexual offending. He was convicted at trial in October this year.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Alycia Carpanini, the complainant said she was trying to be strong for the sake of her daughter but inside she was "broken". She said the pain and damage of what Murphy did would live with her for the rest of her life. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter here.

Sean Murphy, of Stanbrook Road, Burford, Shropshire, had previously been convicted at trial of sexual assault and rape when he returned to the dock for sentencing. He had also previously pleaded guilty to three counts of battery. Megan Fletcher-Smith, for Murphy, said the defendant maintains his innocence and was "devastated" by the verdicts of the jury. She said seven personal references submitted to the court – including two from former partners of Murphy – speak of him "in the most glowing of terms" and said those who wrote the references are finding it very difficult to reconcile the man they know with the offences he has been convicted of. The barrister said her client's family had attended court during the trial but Murphy had not wanted them present for his sentencing such was his shame.

Judge Catherine Richards said it was clear that on the night in question Murphy had been "determined to have sexual intercourse" with his victim despite her protestations. She said following the sexual assault and rape the defendant had then subjected the woman to a series of assaults and that Murphy was fortunate that the decision had been taken to charge him with assaults by beating and not assaults occasioning actual bodily harm.

Murphy was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. He will serve two-thirds of that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Murphy will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

Speaking after the sentencing South Wales Police detective inspector Sharon Gill-Lewis said: "Sean Murphy’s offending was despicable and he has rightly been sentenced to a lengthy jail term. I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of the victim in coming forward without whom a very dangerous man would still be on the streets."

Description

The "predatory and manipulative" actor is facing a lengthy jail term after being convicted of 26 sex offences against women and children on Tuesday (December 10). 

The 24-year-old, of Albrighton, Shropshire, was found guilty of all charges brought against him, including raping a teenager during acting classes, following a four week trial.

Wolverhampton Crown Court heard how he forced pupils in his drama class to recite Shakespeare naked and also engaged in nude role-play scenarios. 

The actor  - who starred in BBC's Doctors and was an uncredited student in Netflix's Sex Education - sexually assaulted one girl over a seven-year period and also filmed budding teen actress naked on his iPad. 

Jurors were told he had been a sexual predator from a child with his criminality stretching back to when he was aged just ten. 

Through out the course of his trial, pictures began to surface from his public Instagram - featuring some of his past works and trips to premiers. But some of them hit a strikingly different tone in light of his predatory actions. 

One photo shows him posing for selfies with beloved British actor Asa Butterfield, who played a lead role in Sex Education, while Westwood appeared only in the background. 

Others showed him dressed as iconic characters popular films and TV shows - including one of him dressed like David Tennant's tenth doctor from the BBC series Doctor Who - which may have inspired the actors choice of coat for his trial. 

Another, which set a stomach-churning tone following the conviction was a snap of him dressed like the children's fairy-tale character Peter Pan, who whisks kids off to Neverland to never grow up. Westwood played the leading role in Peter Pan The Musical at Birmingham's Blue Orange Theatre back in 2018. 

Prosecutor Andrew Wallace said: "When giving acting lessons, he again used this as an opportunity to touch his pupils inappropriately. These are schoolgirls we are talking about, teenagers. Imagine asking Dame Judi Dench to recite Hamlet naked - she would tell you where to go."

Westwood sexually assaulted and raped one pupil who described how he would hold her down by the wrists, forcing her to bite him to get away. He also called the police on one of his victims whilst harassing her.

When one of the girls complained to her parents about his behaviour Westwood told her mum she owed him £18,000 due to the contract he made her sign, including a clause which said she had to pay for missed lessons. His victims watched on in horror as he continued to work on television and frequently boasted about having stars as friends on social media.

After parents reported Westwood to the police, so did the college he was teaching at, and from his first police interview he lied and blamed the victims. Mr Wallace told the court: "Alexander Westwood is a supreme manipulator. "All these charges have a common theme, of inappropriate touching and predatory behaviour."

Instead of pleading guilty to the raft of sexual abuse and rape charges the actor lied to the bitter end, forcing his victims the horrific ordeal of facing him in court.

After cross-examination by Westwood's lawyer James Bloomer KC, several of the young women giving evidence against him left the court in floods of tears. Westwood looked on from the dock, showing no emotion. He will be sentenced on February 25 next year.

Description

A “DANGEROUS predator” recorded himself as he sexually assaulted a woman in her own bedroom.

Anurag Sharma, 21, from Abertillery, was found guilty of rape, assault by penetration and sexual assault of his victim by a jury following a trial.

After he attacked her, the defendant fled to France in the back of a lorry when he was on bail.

He was arrested at Dover when he tried to return to the UK undetected, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

In a moving victim impact statement, the woman said that Sharma was a “dangerous predator” and described her ordeal as “horrific”.

She told him: “You no longer have power over me and I'm not your victim. I have survived.”

The offences happened last summer.

Matthew Cobbe, prosecuting, said: “The victim was vulnerable and there was a degree of planning on the defendant’s part to achieve his offending.”

Dale Beeson representing Sharma asked the judge to show his client “mercy”.

His barrister said the defendant had arrived to live in the UK from India and was the son of a heart surgeon.

“This is a young man who has no previous offences and he comes from a good family background and had a good education,” Mr Beeson stated.

“He had been dating a girl for quite some time. He was very much in love with her and thought his future was going to be with her.

“Unfortunately, that lady moved to Canada for her education.”

Mr Beeson added: “Mr Sharma has ruined his life. He’s relatively resigned to that fact that he's lost his good character.

“He's going to lose his liberty, he’s lost the respect of his family and brought great shame upon them.

“His actions have brought the whole deck of cards tumbling to the ground.

“He knows that deportation will follow.”

The judge, Recorder Paul Hartley-Davies, told Sharma: “You knew she was intoxicated.

"I'm also concerned to read that you're assessed as posing a high risk of harm to the public."

He jailed the defendant for nine years and told him he would serve two-thirds of that sentence in custody before being released on licence.

Sharma will have to register as a sex offender for life

After the defendant was taken to the cells, Recorder Hartley-Davies commended the woman for her courage.

Description

A man has been jailed for 12 years after he was found guilty of multiple child sexual offences.

Stephen Prestidge, 58, of Burton-on-Trent, was sentenced to 12 years’ imprisonment last Friday (13 December) after being found guilty at the same court on Tuesday 10 December. 

He was found guilty of four counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, three counts of causing/inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and three counts of sexual assault on a female. 

Prestidge has also been put on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

The offences took place in Staffordshire. 

Description

Matthew Wiles, 34, was found guilty of 11 child sexual offences and two physical mistreatment charges for raping two children under 13.

The court found Wiles guilty of no remorse for the pain and suffering caused to the children. One of the children has been diagnosed with autism, and their education has been significantly affected.

Wiles was jailed for 18 years and given an extended license period, bringing his total sentence to 19 years.

He must register as a sex offenders' register for the rest of his life and be subject to a 25-year sexual harm prevention order.