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A "dangerous" convicted sex offender got a nasty shock when a 12-year-old schoolgirl that he was exchanging explicit and highly sexualised online messages with turned out to be an undercover police officer trying to trap paedophiles.

Perverted predator Connor Smith had already been jailed in the past for seven years but, after he was released from prison, it did not "deter" him that the decoy girl was only 12, Hull Crown Court heard.

Smith, 43, of Eastfield Road, Market Weighton, admitted attempting engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity between July and August.

Judge Alexander Menary told the court that Smith had been jailed at Hull Crown Court for seven years in July 2018 for two offences of sexual activity with a child. He had been given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

The offences, from 2016, involved him befriending and forming a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and having sex with her on a number of occasions when she should have been at school.

Smith served a significant period of that prison sentence but he was twice released on licence. He had been recalled to prison because of other concerns from the probation service.

After he was released, he began communicating with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl but who was really an undercover police officer. "The fact that she was a 12-year-old girl did not deter you," said Judge Menary.

Smith encouraged the decoy girl to commit sexual acts. He had a worrying interest in children but he had not acknowledged this. The probation service regarded him as posing a risk of serious harm to children through further offences.

Billy Torbett, mitigating, said that Smith pleaded guilty at an early stage. "There is no denying that his behaviour is, quite simply, unacceptable," said Mr Torbett.

"He is ashamed of himself, as he should, quite frankly, be. He is remorseful for his offending."

Smith had kept out of trouble for a time after his release from prison but he "ruined that" by committing the offences. He was realistic about facing a prison sentence again.

Smith, who was already in custody, was jailed for four years after being branded a "dangerous" offender. He will be on extended licence of five years after his release from prison.

He must register as a sex offender for life and the indefinite sexual harm prevention order will continue.

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A “high-risk” self-confessed paedophile from Dundee who victimised a girl on TikTok has been jailed “to bring home the seriousness” of his predatory offending.

Raheel Bajwa, 20, bombarded the girl with images and videos on apps like TikTok and Snapchat for more than a year from an address in Dundee.

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A VIOLENT sex offender has been jailed for nine years after orchestrating a series of fire attacks on homes of potential witnesses in his upcoming court case.

Josh Neil, 25, hired two men from Aberdeen to terrorise a family while behind bars, demanding that they set fire to the doors of addresses in Penicuik, Midlothian with promise of payment if they provided video footage as proof.

Four separate attacks were carried out in the town, with two of them endangering the lives of young children present in the homes.

Stephen Barry and Ty Hyland, both from Aberdeen, were part of a gang that struck after the mum made physical and sexual accusations against a man.

As previously reported by the Press and Journal, Neil admitted acting with others while he was in Peterhead’s HMP Grampian and Barlinnie Prison, in Glasgow, to wilfully set fire to two homes in Penicuik in November 2022 and May 2023.

He further pled guilty to disorderly conduct in November 2022 while acting with others when an accelerant was poured over the door of a house.

Neil is currently serving a sentence for a conviction of serious abuse against a woman, with his earliest possible release date being December 2027.

However, on Friday he was sentenced at the High Court in Edinburgh to another nine years for offences related to the fire attacks.

His nine-year jail term will be served following his present stint behind bars.

Detective sergeant Narelle Allan said: “Josh Neil will now face the consequences of his despicable actions.

“I hope his conviction and sentencing will bring justice to all involved, who have shown great strength in reporting what happened to them.”

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A known sex offender has been jailed after he sexually exploited a 15-year-old girl.

Craig Coney, 37, of no fixed abode in Devizes, groomed and treated the girl as if he was in a relationship with her for more than six months.

Coney was found guilty of five counts of penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 15 years on no fewer than 13 occasions at a trial.

On December 20, 2024, at Salisbury Crown Court he was sentenced to nine years imprisonment.

He is also subject to the requirements of being a registered sex offender and an indefinite sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) which prohibits him from contacting the victim and having any unsupervised contact with any females under 16.

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An Ebbw Vale man has been sentenced to life imprisonment after he was found guilty of more than 10 sexual offences against children.

Colin Morris, 48, pled guilty to all offences, including three counts of rape of a child under 13, two counts of attempt rape, one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, six counts of making indecent images of children and three counts of distributing indecent images of children.

He was today (Monday 23 December) sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 21 years at Newport Crown Court.

This proactive investigation was launched by our cybercrime team in April when we received intelligence that Morris had accessed indecent images of children online.

We then conducted a warrant at his property in Ebbw Vale and seized digital devices. Examination of these devices led us to identify further offences, including the rape of two children.

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A man sexually assaulted a girl in the back of his car after messaging her under a false name and driving her towards the moors.

Waseem Ullah, 28, picked the girl up after she was reported missing to police on June of this year.

He then drove her around Bolton before driving towards the moors in Darwen where he sexually assaulted her in the back of his car. 

Police say that Ullah had spoken to an underaged girl on social media, saying he would pay her to “chill” with him, £20 for an hour, £40 for two. 

The victim said she was underage and didn’t want to meet up with him, but he persisted and said, "see me sometimes and I pay u and u can get stuff with it".

Ullah then started sending sexually explicit messages and asked for explicit photographs of herself from the girl.

This was reported to police in May 2022 after the victim's mother found the messages and Ullah was arrested.

He was bailed but broke restrictions by committing further crimes.

Police say that this was when he used a false name on social media to arrange a meeting with the girl who went missing in June before sexually assaulting her near Darwen.

Specialist officers spoke to the girl who told them what happened and how she had met Ullah.

The officers then identified that the contact number the victim provided of the suspect was registered to Ullah, of Mobberley Road, Breightmet.

He was then spotted driving in Bolton on June 9 and seen emptying and cleaning his car.

Ullah was arrested, charged and remanded.

He at first denied his crimes but eventually pleaded guilty to causing a female 13 or over to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity.

Ullah also admitted to two counts of sexual assault, engaging in sexual communication with a child, and breach of court bail conditions.

Brought before Bolton Crown Court, Ullah was jailed for six years with a four-year extension.

PC Becky Greenwood, of the Bolton Complex Safeguarding Team, said: “Waseem Ullah showed no remorse for his behaviour and denied his criminality until he was faced with indisputable evidence.

"He was persistent in his attempts to exploit the survivors in this case, and I am pleased that we were able to secure the evidence to send him to prison for a long time.”

She added: “I would like to thank the girls who spoke to us and bravely disclosed Ullah’s depraved behaviour. 

“We know that this sentence goes no way to make up for what Ullah subjected them to, but we hope they can draw some comfort from the fact he is now behind bars.”

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A registered sex offender who began sexual chats with what he thought was a 14-year-old boy has been jailed. Aaron Batchelor, 29, sent messages to the boy who was actually an undercover police officer.

Batchelor, of Wootton Avenue, Fletton, Peterborough, sent messages on Snapchat and WhatsApp between June 5 and July 3 of this year. He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison at Cambridge Crown Court on Friday (December 20).

He admitted attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and three counts of breaching, and two attempted breaches, of a sexual harm prevention order.

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A Doncaster paedophile has been jailed for four years after being pleading guilty to child sexual offences.

Harvey Cooper was apprehended on Monday 23 October after communicating with who he thought was a 12-year-old boy online and through social media.

Cooper had even gone as far as buying them a train ticket to they could meet.

Officers were waiting at Doncaster train station to arrest Cooper when he was arrived to meet the child.

Following his arrest, officers searched his address and seized 25 electronic devices.

PC Steph Armitage, of South Yorkshire Polices Internet Sexual Offences Team (ISOT) said: As the digital world continues to expand, with access to the internet at pretty much everyones fingertips and new social media platforms being introduced, this is a growing area of criminality that carries a large amount of risk, as the victims are the most vulnerable members of our communities children.

For obvious reasons, many of our investigations happen behind the scenes as we look to take some of South Yorkshires most dangerous predators, like Cooper, off our streets. We will continue to work tirelessly to keep children safe.

Appearing at court on Friday 22 December, Cooper, formerly of East Lane, was sentenced to four years for arranging / facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. He was also sentenced to 12 months for engaging in sexual communication with a child and two years for arranging to meet a boy under 16 years of age following grooming. Both of these sentences will run concurrently.

Cooper is also subject to a ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), a barring order and a victim surcharge.

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Stuart Perrett, 44, of Wesley Street in Old Cwmbran, Cwmbran was sentenced to two years imprisonment, suspended for two years, at Newport Crown Court on December 20, where it was heard he had possessed and distributed thousands of pictures and videos of young children being raped.

Prosecutor Christopher Evans told the court that in many of the videos you could hear the child crying and see them try to pull away while adults forced cruel acts of sexual violence upon them.

The deeply shocking level of abuse that the children, some which are classed as babies, faced in the videos, is too gruesome and barbaric to write in this paper.

After receiving information that Perrett was engaging in paedophilic activity, an undercover police officer contacted him under an alias.

Perrett was living in the Llanmartin area of Newport at the time.

Police found 1,106 images on his iPhone, still and moving, of "extreme pornography" involving children and animals, dead and alive.

366 of these images were classed as category A, the most serious kind, with examples read to the court describing the violent rape of children as they were "screaming and crying".

Mr Evans, prosecuting, stressed the "pain and distress" of the children and babies, all aged between one and 10, in the videos and pictures Perrett was distributing.

Appearing on Perrett's behalf, Sol Hartley acknowledged the "highly unpleasant offending."

Mr Hartley told the court that because of Perrett's offending, "his completely normal life has fallen apart."

"This is a man who has worked for all of his life, but has lost his job because of this, and lost his family.

"He still has some contact with his wife," who was present in court, "and the only contact he has with his children is on FaceTime.

"Despite his mental health struggles, he is a man who can be managed within the community."

Upon sentencing, Judge David Wynn Morgan said: "It is bad enough to have images on your computer to look at. It is another thing altogether to send them to other people.

"It is sick, that if it wasn't for people like you children would not be exploited.

"The damage inflicted on these victims is terrifying, and so it is impossible to imagine how any child, however young, can recover from this.

"You were once a good father - you are now going to have to live with the destruction of these relationships for the rest of your life."

Judge David Wynn Morgan sentenced Perrett to two years in prison, suspended for two years, with 250 hours of unpaid work, 30 days of rehabilitation activities and 12 sessions of mental health treatment.

The judge warned Perrett that the time completing his unpaid work will not be easy.

"The extraordinary thing about our justice system is that no matter how bad a person is - they will never be as bad as a person who has done what you have done.

"They won't make life pleasant for you."

Perrett is also on the sex offenders register and is subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

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Jordan Emms, 38, of Barrow, was locked up for three years at Preston Crown Court on December 16 after being found guilty of sexual assault by touching and causing/inciting a child to engage in sexual activity following a six-day trial in November.

The offences do not relate to his employment at Thwaites School, near Millom.

A Cumberland Council spokesperson said: “We can confirm Jordan Emms was employed as Headteacher at Thwaites School.  He was appointed following confirmation of successful references and relevant checks.

“The safety and wellbeing of pupils is always a priority. As soon as we were made aware of the allegations against him, immediate steps were taken to suspend him from the school.

“We can confirm that these offences do not relate to his employment at Thwaites School.”

Records online show Emms was replaced as headteacher at the school in Hallthwaites, Millom, in August 2023.

Preston Crown Court heard the offences took place in Ulverston and related to incidents involving one victim.

His Honour Judge Gioserano also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for seven years and ordered for Emms to be placed on the Sex Offenders Register.

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A judge has jailed a Grimsby man for four offences of rape of a child.

Danny McNaughton, 38, of Wellington Street, Grimsby, was found guilty by a unanimous jury for the offences of four counts of rape of a child and six counts of sexual activity with a child. The jury at Grimsby Crown Court also found him guilty of three counts of sexual assault of a child under 13.

Other offences included four counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child and causing a child to engage in sexual activity. The case was brought by the prosecution led by Richard Butters. Judge Gurdial Singh sentenced McNaughton to 14 years in prison. He was also put on the Sex Offender Register for life.

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A man has today been jailed for more than 10 years after he raped a child in Basingstoke.

Declan Westwell, 29, of no fixed abode, raped the teenage girl – who was not known to him – in the Oakridge area on Wednesday 8 May this year.

Following a fast-paced investigation, Westwell was identified and arrested. He was subsequently charged with raping a girl aged 13, and remanded in custody.

He denied the offence but was found guilty following a trial at Winchester Crown Court last month.

Westwell was jailed for a total of ten and a half years at Winchester Crown Court today (20 December).

DC Thomas Bailey, from the Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “Declan Westwell used a false name and persona in order to coerce the girl – whom he had just met in a passing encounter. Despite knowing her age, he raped her, then warned her not to tell anyone what he had done.

“She later made a report to the police, and Westwell was taken into custody. He denied the offence, but was ultimately found guilty by a jury, who were unanimous in their decision.

“The sentence passed today includes an extended licence period of four years, recognising the danger which Westwell poses to the public. Once released, he will be on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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A 36-year-old man from Essex has been sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment with an extended licence period of four years for sexual offences against boys.

Darren Hornsby, of Spring Road in Clacton-on-Sea, was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court last Thursday, 5 December 2024. He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for life and ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely.

Investigating in Essex

An investigation against Hornsby was launched by Essex Police in 2019 following intelligence regarding online activity involving indecent images at an address he was residing at.

On 28 February 2019, a search warrant was carried out at the premises. A number of electronic devices belonging to Hornsby were seized and found to contain indecent images of children:

• 68 category A images and 26 videos
• 172 category B images and 41 videos
• 250 category C images and 4 videos

A video was identified by Essex Police of a male child aged between five and seven years being sexually abused; only the hands of the abuser could be seen.

The OIC, Detective Constable Emma Edwards, suspected the abuser in this video was Hornsby. Due to this officers enlisted the help of a forensic hand expert, Dame Professor Sue Black, who carried out a comparison.

On 14 April 2021, Hornsby was charged with six counts of making indecent images of children, one count of taking indecent images of a child and one count of sexual assault with penetration of a boy under the age of 13.

Hornsby pleaded guilty to the six counts of making indecent images of children, however denied taking an indecent image of a child and the sexual assault.

Dame Professor Sue Black gave her evidence in court which assisted the jury to guilty pleas on both counts in less than an hour, heard in November 2024.

Offences in Suffolk

On 4 June 2023 a report was made to Suffolk Constabulary relating to sexual assaults on boys at an address in Trimley St Martin.

These offences took place on 1 and 2 June 2023 and involved two boys in their early teens.

Enquiries established that Hornsby had befriended the boys several months before and had invited them to the address in Trimley.

Hornsby was arrested, charged and remanded in relation to the sexual offences. He initially denied these but pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault on a male and two counts of inciting a boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity without consent, on the second day of trial.

Hornsby was sentenced to nine years’ imprisonment for the offences in Essex and six years’ imprisonment for the offences in Suffolk. These are to be served consecutively, bringing his total jail term to 15 years, as well as four years on extended licence.

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A man made "unwanted sexual advances" to a vulnerable teenage girl, leaving her crying and in shock.

Father-of-five Shabajul Haque brazenly kissed and touched the girl during unpleasant encounters with her but he later tried to talk his way out of trouble and deny that it happened, Hull Crown Court heard.

Haque, 46, of Pendrill Street, off Beverley Road, Hull, admitted two offences of sexually assaulting the girl on March 29, 2022.

The court heard that the teenage girl had mild learning difficulties. Haque kissed her on her cheek and, on another occasion, followed her, kissed her and ran his hand along her thigh while they were out of sight from any other people.

She told her mother and another person what had happened and the matter was reported to the police. The girl had been left crying and shaking afterwards.

Charlotte Baines, mitigating, said that Haque had five children, aged between 17 and two years old. He worked late afternoons and evenings. He had no previous convictions. Haque was helped during the court hearing by a Bengali interpreter.

Judge Alexander Menary told Haque: "You made unwanted sexual advances towards her. You admitted your offending at an earlier hearing." Haque later tried, however, in a probation service interview, to dispute the offences.

"You maintain these offences did not take place," said Judge Menary.

This was due to an unwillingness to face up to what he had done and was "from a position of shame rather than a blanket denial", said Judge Menary.

Haque was given 60 hours' unpaid work and 25 days' rehabilitation. He must register as a sex offender for five years.

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Child abuse videos were found after an Angus man’s partner tried to remind him about a Covid test before a festival visit.

Luke Walker’s former partner discovered a secret mobile phone that contained discussions in a group chat about abuse material.