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A CUMNOCK sex offender caught with child abuse images and secretly-recorded films in toilet cubicles and school changing rooms has avoided jail.

Greg Richard was placed under strict supervision and will have his internet usage and any relationships monitored by the authorities after he admitted possessing indecent photos of youngsters, including a child being seriously sexually assaulted.

The 21-year-old, now of Bellgrove Street, Calton, Glasgow, also pleaded guilty to making voyeuristic images of males sitting in toilet cubicles and 'in school uniform' secretly recorded while they were getting changed.

The camera-shy creep previously hid in the male toilets at Ayr Sheriff Court from the Chronicle’s reporter for more than an hour, after he pleaded guilty last month.

The court heard Richard had since shown a 'high level of remorse'.

Procurator fiscal depute Alasdair Millar previously told the court that police officers attended Richard's then home in Kyle Court, Cumnock on June 1, 2023, with a search warrant.

A number of devices were recovered and amongst the sexually explicit material found, there were 117 unique still images, 114 of which were accessible. They showed males aged from four to 16.

Forty-three moving images were found on both devices, all accessible, with ages ranging from three to 16.

The descriptions of the images, including a child aged between three and five, being subjected to a serious sexual assault by an adult, are too horrific to be reported in detail.

Mr Millar added: "Regarding charge three, police found videos and voyeuristic images.

"Examples include a 55-second video in a changing room, with the camera often covered by a hand, showing various males getting changed into school uniforms.

"Next is a 110-second video in a changing room setting, again showing various males in school uniform getting changed into sportswear, focusing on one male in particular.

"A nine-second video in a classroom setting filmed under a desk shows a male in school uniform grabbing his genitals.

"They found a still image of a male sitting on a toilet using his phone taken from above a neighbouring toilet, his underwear is down below his thighs, it is not possible to determine his age.

"There is another still image in a toilet cubicle again and thereafter a video of the same thing.

"The Crown intend to destroy all of the devices."

When he returned for sentencing this week defence solicitor Christopher Large said first offender Richard "shows a high level of remorse" and self-referred to a support service.

The solicitor said: "He intends to engage in further psychological work with the organisation.

"I'm asking to impose supervision with conduct requirements.

"Mr Richard has already faced a degree of opprobrium in the community, he has lost close friends and even family as a result. He has had to leave the local area due to press coverage.

"He spoke to me of not feeling like leaving the house at all. There is a degree of pillorying of people for these offences.

"He will always carry negative press coverage and disgust at the offences, Google his name, that's what comes up.

"In my submission, the level of disapproval shown by those close to him and the public mitigates the sentence to a degree.

"The quantity of images is relatively low. I think he knows the wrong this harm causes."

Sheriff Mhairi MacTaggart said: "Mr Richard I have already made clear I will step back from custody sentence.

"Moving forward you are going to have to accept the seriousness of this offending. Whatever you and others might think these are not victimless crimes.

"When photographs like this are accessed there is an industry that builds up.

"You have made significant steps forward yourself to address this, you have to continue to do so, and I need to ensure you stay on this path."

He was placed on a community payback order with supervision as an alternative to custody and must take part in the Moving Forward, Making Changes programme, which aims to address such offending.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for two years.

Richard was told he must have no unsupervised contact with any children under 16, and he will have his internet use and any relationships monitored.

He will return to court for a review at a later date, with Sheriff MacTaggart adding: "If there is a positive report I will consider amending the order."

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A sex offender used a public computer at an arts venue library to search for indecent images of children, a court heard.

The manager at The Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, in Gateshead, became aware of the internet searches by Samuel Kettell and found the offending images, on November 15.

Newcastle Crown Court heard that Kettells activities raised concerns as the computer used by him was available for the use of the general public, including children visiting The Baltic.

When Kettell was arrested two days later, he was found to be in possession of amphetamines.

Graham OSullivan, prosecuting, said it was one of a number of breaches of either a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) or notification requirements as a sex offender which were imposed on Kettell after he was jailed at Durham Crown Court for downloading and distributing indecent images of children, in 2022.

Mr OSullivan said Kettell, formerly of Peterlee, County Durham, was made subject of the SHPO and registration requirements as a sex offender, both for ten years, as part of the sentence in 2022.

Concern was raised with Kettell by his risk management officer in June this year as he had pending no fixed address status.

Mr OSullivan said the defendant was reminded he was still required to register with police where was staying on a weekly basis.

When he was spoken to by police over unrelated matters on September 16, Kettell claimed to have no phone.

Having registered with police the next day, he failed to do so the following week, but when he was spoken to by police and searched, he was found to be in possession of two phones.

Kettell was arrested on October 10 and gave police a false name and tried to make off, but he was detained and admitted the breaches.

Mr OSullivan said an officer recognised Kettell when the defendant left Rustys bar in Newcastle, on October 25.

He was found to be in possession of an 8cm craft knife blade, which was hidden in his shoe, as well as a bag of amphetamines.

Kettell chose not to respond to police questions, but after his misuse of the Baltic Centre library computers, he was arrested again, on November 17, when he was also found to be in possession of a bag of amphetamines.

The defendant again chose not to answer police questions and has remained in custody in recent weeks.

Mr OSullivan said Kettell was also found in possession of indecent images in November last year and received a nine-month prison sentence, which he served prior to his release not long before his recent offending.

Penny Hall, for Kettell, said the facts of the latest breaches and offences, speak for themselves and the defendant admitted them all when he appeared before magistrates, who, duly, committed the case to the crown court for sentence.

Miss Hall said it has been the defendants lack of stable accommodation which has impacted his ability to comply with the various court orders.

She said the craft knife blade was carried by the defendant at a time when he was homeless, but it was never brandished.

Miss Hall said the defendant hopes to usefully use his time in prison and will made concerted efforts to find a fixed address by the time his release from the latest sentence nears, to ensure he compliance to court orders improves in future.

Judge Carolyn Scott said the possession of the craft knife blade and the defendants misuse of the public computer at the Baltic, to access pornography and indecent images of children, were the most serious of his offences.

You were doing so in a public place in a library where members of the public, including children, had access to that computer.

It is all aggravated by your previous convictions.

She imposed a total two-year prison sentence, of which he must serve up to half before being released on licence.

Judge Scott advised the defendant to comply with the terms of his various orders, upon release, or risk spending more time behind bars.

She renewed Scotts ten-year notification requirements as a sex offender, while he also remains subject of the terms of his existing ten-year SHPO.

Record details

Terence Raymond Lewis, (10/05/1988) of Bolton Street, Blackpool has been jailed for 9 years and 9 months with an extended 3 year licence period, following a comprehensive investigation by our Child Protection Investigation Unit in Stockport.

On Monday 12 June 2024, Lewis pleaded guilty to 19 counts of child sexual offences including one count of meeting a child following online grooming, one count of abducting a child, two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, four counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act, five counts of sexual activity with a child, and six counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

On Sunday 7 January 2024, a hotel receptionist alerted police in Stockport that an older man had checked in with a young girl, and it seemed suspicious. 

Thanks to the diligence of the receptionist, police were immediately at the scene and were able to arrest Lewis, and ensure the young girl was appropriately safeguarded and supported by specialist partner agencies. Following his arrest, he was charged with three offences and remanded to prison.

Lewis heinously groomed the 14-year-old girl over an online children’s chat forum, starting when she was just 11 years old, where he concealed his true identity, posing as a 14-year-old, using another child’s photographs under a false name.

An investigation was launched by our specialist safeguarding officers and the true extent of his offending was uncovered. After reviewing tens of thousands of text messages, police recovered thousands of images from his mobile devices and he was further charged with 16 additional offences.

In this case, the victim felt unable to fully disclose the abuse Lewis subjected her to, but our relentless officers pursued him regardless, and despite this being a victimless prosecution, we were able to bring Lewis to justice for his deplorable crimes.

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A FORMER Whitehaven Rugby League player has been put on the Sex Offender Register after he sexually assaulted a woman outside a town centre bar.

The victim of 37-year-old Dion Aiye’s unwanted sexual touching was waiting outside the Whitehaven nightspot with a friend at 1am on May 26 when the defendant reached around her body from behind.

He sexually assaulted her over her clothing. She immediately pushed him away, telling him to get off her, said prosecutor Gerard Rogerson.

“The defendant was readily identifiable because he was wearing a pink cowboy’s hat,” said Mr Rogerson.

After being rebuffed, Aiye remained standing nearby.

“The woman's friend said she looked somewhat shaken by the incident,” continued Mr Rogerson. When door staff asked if she wanted to pursue the complaint she said yes.

The defendant later pleaded guilty to a single charge of sexual assault.

Mr Rogerson went on to read aloud an impact statement from the victim, who said the assault caused her a “great deal of anxiety.”

She feared bumping into the defendant, whose rugby league career meant he was a well-known in Whitehaven, which is the sort of town where “everybody knows everybody else’s business.”

The woman said the assault, outside the Shakers bar on Duke Street, had affected her concentration at work and she no longer socialised as much because she feared it might happen again.

The court heard that Aiye had two previous convictions, dating from 2021 and 2022, a battery and a harassment offence, though the latter did not involve the victim being put in fear of violence.

He was given a community order with unpaid work.

Marion Weir, defending, said that without seeking to minimise the sexual assault, the defendant, of Richmond Terrace, Whitehaven had ceased touching the woman as soon as he was asked to do so.

“From his point of view, it was a stupid decision taken in drink, which he bitterly regrets,” said Miss Weir.

“It has had a significant impact on him as well. Clearly, he appreciates the impact on the victim. He is no longer playing at Whitehaven Rugby League Club and his contract there is no longer in place.

“The future career he would have had in rugby league is in peril and he knows Your Honour’s primary concern will be that he was already subjected to a court order…. He has taken on board that some of his behaviour needs to change.”

Judge Michael Fanning noted that the defendant had a “limited record” for what was essentially domestic abuse but otherwise had had not been in trouble previously.

The judge told Aiye: “It’s a concern that within two months of being sentenced for those offences, you are at a night club where you simply presume you can touch up a young female because you have a sense of entitlement.

“Nobody in their right mind would presume that is something they are entitled to do. She pushed you away and said: ‘What the hell are you doing?’

“Not surprisingly, she was very upset by what you did and nervous about going to nightclubs again. It must be down to a sense of entitlement.

“I don’t know whether it’s because you’re a sportsman, or because you were in drink. Either way, you know it’s wrong.”

The judge accepted that the assault was at the “lower end of the scale” for sexual offences, though it would not feel that way for the victim. Judge Fanning imposed an 18-month community order with two requirements.

The first is that the defendant must complete 200 hours of unpaid work in the community and the second that he must complete five rehabilitation activity days so he can address the reasons for his offending.

Aiye will be on the Sex Offender Register for five years.

Record details

A former teacher and youth football club chairman with a track record of years of child abuse in the Bristol area is still a ‘committed, calculating and dangerous paedophile’, despite now being 72 and living on a caravan park in west Wales.

Christopher Flavin, who has already served two long sentences in prison in the past two decades, has been jailed again, this time for 10 years, with an extra five years supervision after that.

Flavin has six previous convictions for 33 offences and the prosecutor said his record "establishes beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant is nothing other than a committed, calculating, and dangerous paedophile".

Flavin’s most recent offending occurred in 2023 when he was living in Carmarthenshire, Swansea Crown Court has been told. The court heard he groomed and repeatedly sexually assaulted a schoolboy, asked the child for intimate photographs, and got the youngster to perform a sex act on himself while he filmed it.

Tom Scapens, prosecuting, said the abuse was reported to police officers who searched Flavin's property and found a mobile phone which contained more than 300 indecent images. Officers also found internet searches had been made on the device related to children including "pre-teen boy laying on a French beach" and "10-year-old boy black model".

The court heard Flavin then blamed his young victim claiming the boy was hypersexualised and sexually promiscuous and claiming the boy was a "prolific liar" who needed psychiatric help. The prosecutor said Flavin then sought to obstruct the progress of the case by repeatedly failing to attend court via videolink or refusing to engage unless he had first spoken to his solicitor when in fact he had no legal representation.

He said guilty pleas were eventually entered to some charges but others were denied and went to trial in May this year which the defendant did not attend. He said Flavin then failed to attend a number of post-conviction hearings.

In an impact statement which was read to the court the boy said he feels "sad and angry" when he thinks about what Flavin did and that he suffers nightmares. The child added: "I hope he never has the chance to do this to anyone again."

Flavin was an art teacher at Monks Park School in Southmead in Bristol for 26 years before leaving in 2003. Then living in Portishead, he had also been a coach and chairman at Gordano Valley Giants FC for many years in the 1980s and 90s. He was arrested in October 2005 after two young men came forward to tell police of sex abuse they suffered as boys, and Flavin was eventually jailed in September 2007 for almost seven years.

He was released from prison and went to live in Spain, and when further allegations from another boy abused back in the 1980s were reported, he had to be extradited back to the UK to face those charges. In November 2015, he was jailed for more than four years for that abuse, which took place from 1984 to 1988.

After he was released from that sentence, he went to live in west Wales, and had an address at a caravan park in Crickhowell, Powys, when he was arrested again - this time for more recent child sexual abuse.

The court in Carmarthen heard Flavin also has convictions for breaching a sexual harm prevention order by entering the grounds of Crickhowell High School and going to a children's play park in Pembroke Dock and for possession of indecent images. The images offending came to light when staff in a branch of Timpson saw him printing sexualised material involving children on a public printer.

Flavin was unrepresented when he appeared in court. When asked by Judge Geraint Walters if there was anything he wanted to say the defendant said he said he wouldn't agree with a lot of what the prosecution barrister had just said but "there's nothing I can do about [it]". He said his only real interest in life were his animals and without them "I have no real interest in carrying on".

Judge Walters told the defendant he had "spent a lifetime grooming and abusing" defenceless and impressionable young boys and said despite his advancing years that offending behaviour had continued. He noted Flavin had been handed two lengthy custodial sentences and been made the subject of sexual harm prevention orders and suspended sentences over the years but nothing had deterred him.

The judge said he had read the pre-sentence report on the defendant which made it clear there was no real remorse on the part of Flavin and made it clear that he sees himself as the victim. He said the report concluded the defendant should be categorised as a dangerous offender in the meaning of the legislation and he said that was a conclusion he endorsed.

This time Flavin was made the subject of a 15-year extended sentence comprising 10 years in custody followed by a five-year extended licence period. The defendant must serve two-thirds of the custodial element of the sentence before he can apply to be released but it will be up to the Parole Board to determine if he is safe to be let out. Flavin will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life and remains subject to indefinite sexual harm prevention orders.

Record details

Two people have been jailed following an investigation into payments for child sexual abuse.

Detective Constable Matthew Cranston, from Central East Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: This has been a truly harrowing experience for the child and I am glad that both people involved have received appropriate prison sentences.

"We remain seriously concerned about the predatory nature of Ahmads offending in this case. If you recognise him and have a specific concern about his interaction with a child, please get in touch with us on 101, contact @MetCC on X, or make a report on the Mets website.

Ferdous Ahmad, 38 (05.12.86), of Queensbridge Road, Brixton, and the woman, from Devas Street, Tower Hamlets, were found guilty after a two-week trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday, 30 September.

Ahmad was convicted of:

• Two counts of sexual assault
• Engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child
• Inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
• Sexual communication with a child
• Two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity
• Inciting a child to engage in sexual activity

The woman was convicted of:

• Two counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity
• Inciting a child to engage in sexual activity

We will not be confirming the womans identity so as to avoid identification of the child victim.

They were sentenced at the same court on Monday, 16 December.

Ahmad was sentenced to 12 years in prison and issued with a Sexual harm Prevention Order and Restraining Order.

The woman was sentenced to five years in prison.

Record details

A WEST Cumbrian man arranged to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex, unaware that the meeting was a sting organised by paedophile hunters.

The "teenager" that 42-year-old Cleator Moor man Leroy Sheehan was communicating with was in fact and adult decoy working with the Online Child Safety Team, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant, of Henry Street, Cleator Moor, admitted attempting to communicate sexually with a child and attempting to facilitate a child sex offence by meeting the “child” in Whitehaven.

Tariq Khawam, prosecuting, described what happened.

He said volunteers working with the paedophile hunter group use fake child online profiles to flush out adults who have a sexual interest in children.

This involved the creation of fake profiles.

In July of last year, the group created a Facebook profile for what appeared to be a 14-year-old girl, complete with a photo. On June 13, Sheehan sent the person a friend request.

He told her his age and said he was feeling “low,” after recently losing his partner. Mr Khawam said: “The witness said she was sorry to hear that; and she said she was 14.”

In subsequent messages, Sheehan asked if they could communicate on WhatsApp. Telling her she looked older than 14, he asked for a topless photo. He went on to discuss having sex with her.

The contact then agreed to meet Sheehan at Whitehaven railway station. When he arrived there, he was confronted by the Online Child Safety Team volunteer and two of her colleagues.

After making a “citizen’s arrest”, they called the police. The defendant had no relevant previous convictions, the court heard.

Tim Evans, defending, said that while Sheehan did not comment during his police interview, he had been honest with probation staff. A background report spoke of a “rapid deterioration” in his mental health and two suicide attempts.

At the time of his offences, he was drinking four litres of vodka a day, and he consumed eight litres of whisky over a period of days, as he tried to “drink himself to death.”

“None of that is an excuse but that is the background for what is described as the disinhibitory impact on his offending,” said Mr Evans.

The report explained that Sheehan, grieving after the death of his partner, was in a “very dark place” when he committed the offences.

The barrister added that Sheehan, who had a mild intellectual disability, was far from being a classic predatory online sexual offender of the sort often seen in the courts.

Judge Michael Fanning recognised the defendant’s psychological difficulties and the loss of his partner a week before the offending.

“It’s clear you were drinking vastly to excess,” the judge told Sheehan, accepting that this would have disinhibited the defendant. The judge continued: “But you are 42, three times the age of this supposed 14-year-old girl.

“You thought you were engaging with a genuine 14-year-old girl." Sheehan intended to have sex with her and there was no indication of him being influenced by alcohol when he went to Whitehaven to meet her. 

“You knew what you were doing,” added the judge.

He jailed Sheehan for two years and eight months and ruled that he must be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade and subjected to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.

Record details

A Fife football coach sent videos of himself performing a sex act, along with sexualised messages, to someone he thought was a child.

James Devine, at the time a senior figure at the John Thomson Football Academy in Cardenden, was unaware he was chatting online to an adult member of a paedophile hunter group.

Record details

Calls have been made for changes to restrictions on sex offenders after a Dundee pensioner who tried to groom a girl online was spotted attending a children’s dance event.

James Yule was photographed attending a majorette event in Inverness in November.

Record details

A man has been jailed for chatting sexually online with a 13-year-old girl, during which he offered her “a grand” to send him images of herself in her underwear.

The three-day exchange of messages with the girl in September put 28-year-old Luke Ovington in breach of not only a Sexual Harm Prevention Order but also a suspended prison sentence imposed in July last year for exactly the same type of behaviour.

Ovington had already been before the court for minor breaches of the order for which he received community orders, in November last year, but his luck ran out after his arrest for his latest offending.

Durham Crown Court was told Ovington received a ten-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, in July last year, for the online sexualised exchanges with a 12-year-old girl.

He was also made subject of a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), forbidding him from contacting underage girls and restricting his use of the Internet, as well as registration as a sex offender.

Philip Morley, prosecuting, said despite those prohibitions and with the suspended sentence hanging over him, Ovington engaged a female child in conversation on Snapchat which went on for three days in September.

Mr Morley said unlike some online “stings”, this was a real child who, despite making it clear that she was aged 13, kept receiving messages of a sexualised nature from the defendant.

Using the alias of ‘Ryan’, in breach of the terms of the SHPO, he suggested that the girl keep their conversation a “secret” from her parents.

He asked her for pictures and told her what he would like to do to her, suggesting giving her “a grand” if she sent him her picture in her underwear and told her he loved her.

Mr Morley said the police were alerted and he was arrested in possession of his phone, which was seized for examination, but Ovington had deleted a lot of the incriminating messages.

In interview, he made no comment to police.

Mr Morley said the defendant breached the terms of the SHPO by not only communicating with an underage girl, but also by deleting his messages.

Ovington, 28, of Linden Place, Newton Aycliffe, admitted charges of sexual communication with a child, breaching a SHPO and possession of a small amount of cannabis found in his possession upon arrest.

Tony Davis, in mitigation, said psychiatric and probation reports prepared for last year’s hearing were still pertinent.

“Clearly, this was a persistent, deliberate breach and I can’t argue with the Crown’s assessment.”

Mr Davis said the defendant’s background includes contact with mental health services during his adult life.

“Perhaps, here, he has slipped into his dark ways again.

“His fascination with smoking cannabis and going online is only going to lead to the revolving door of going into and out of custodial institutions.

“But he has been using his time in custody usefully.”

Judge Nathan Adams told Ovington: “You find yourself back here again, relating to your behaviour in September this year, in breach of a suspended prison sentence and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order only imposed on July 14, last year.

“Despite all the clear warnings, you find yourself back here again for breaching all those orders you were under.

“You were told the girl was only 13, nevertheless you spoke to her about masturbation and tried to solicit images of her in her underwear.

"You offered her £1,000 for those images, and then you said you would leave her alone.

“This was undoubtedly the sort of behaviour those orders were trying to prevent.

“It’s quite clear it would only lead to s significant prison sentence.”

Judge Adams imposed a total 28-month prison sentence, including six months activated from last year’s suspended sentence.

Ovington will be subject to new ten-year SHPO and registration requirement periods, starting afresh from Friday (December 13).

The judge also ordered forfeiture of the seized cannabis and Ovington's mobile phone.

Record details

A PROLIFIC paedophile found in possession of more than a thousand indecent images of children has been jailed.

Richard Simon Morris, aged 59 and of Bournemouth, appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court on Friday, November 29, 2024, to be sentenced after admitting three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Morris was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison, with an extended licence period of a further 18 months.

On Wednesday, June 28, 2023, an offender manager and his colleague visited Morris, who was a registered sex offender and the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, at his home address.

The officers asked to inspect his phone, and the defendant produced a different one to the device he had been seen using moments earlier. They challenged Morris, and when he showed them the other device, officers saw what they believed to be indecent images.

Morris was arrested, and a number of electronic devices were seized.

The defendant was released on bail, and when officers paid a further visit to his address on Wednesday, August 23, 2023, an inspection of a mobile phone again revealed suspected indecent images.

In total, officers uncovered more than 1,500 indecent images of children. These were categorised with 282 at the most serious Category A, 446 Category B images and 811 Category C images which were both accessible and inaccessible.

Detective constable Phillip Riggs of the Paedophile Online Investigation Team said: "Richard Morris is a persistent offender who continued to illegally access indecent images despite being a registered sex offender and the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, showing a clear lack of remorse for his previous offending or the sanctions imposed on him by the courts.

Record details

A convicted sex offender targeted children after he was released from prison for similar offences.

Joseph Parkin has now been jailed for eight years after admitting sexual activity with a teenager after being released from custody for similar sexual offences.

He also admitted to communicating with two other teenagers, putting him in breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Parkin, 26, who was formerly living in the Belle Vue area of Wakefield, previously pleaded guilty to four charges of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a boy under 16 years-old and two charges of breaching a Sexual Harm Protection Order. He appeared at Leeds Crown Court last week for sentencing.

He received an eight-year custodial sentence and was made subject of an extended licence period of six years on his release from prison. One of the victims reported the offences against him to the police in October 2023.

West Yorkshire Police said Parkin was quickly identified, arrested, charged and remanded in custody. He has been held on remand since that time.

A police spokesman added: "Further enquiries established telephone contact that Parkin had had with a number of children. This contact was all thoroughly investigated by specially trained officers which resulted in the police identifying the further offending."

Record details

Francis O'Connor brutally assaulted his victim by grabbing her throat and putting his legs around her neck, before later trying to rape her as she slept.

The victim bravely managed to fight him off and get to safety, but not before 30-year-old O'Connor grabbed her throat again in another terrifying assault.

O'Connor, of HMP Doncaster, then fled the scene in the victim's car and stole £300 of cash from her before officers located him and arrested him.

After answering no comment to all questions during a police interview, he was charged with multiple offences after an investigation by the PVP team.

While on remand in custody, O'Connor was heard on a phone call encouraging a relative to contact the victim in order to get her to drop the charges against him.

He told the relative to "sort it out" and "go round to speak to her and then put me on speaker phone".

A second investigation was subsequently launched and O'Connor was charged with the additional offence of attempting to intimidate a witness.

The calibre of evidence secured in both investigations led to O'Connor pleading guilty to intimidating a witness, attempted rape, intentional strangulation, affray, theft and driving a motor vehicle without the owner's consent.

Last Thursday (12 December), he was jailed for 11-and-a-half years at Sheffield Crown Court, with a four-year extended licence period.

Detective Constable Chloe Wharmby, who was the officer in charge of this case, said: "O'Connor subjected his victim to a brutal, horrifying and unforgivable attack which has impacted her life significantly.

"What she endured was utterly traumatic and I want to commend the victim for her bravery and courage in coming forward and reporting O'Connor's crimes to us.

"Even in the face of intimidation, she remained resolute, and I hope O'Connor's prosecution and conviction will bring her some sense of justice and allow her to move on from this awful ordeal.

"We remain absolutely committed to targeting perpetrators of sexual assaults and tackling violence against women and girls.

"The PVP team worked diligently on this case to safeguard the victim and build up a strong case against O'Connor which has now resulted in a lengthy prison sentence.

"If you have been a victim of a sexual assault, please come forward and report it to us. You will be listened to and we will support you through the process in order to secure justice for victims."

O'Connor must sign the Sex Offenders' Register indefinitely and has been given a restraining order which prevents him from making any contact with his victim.

Record details

A foster carer found guilty of indecently assaulting two girls more than 20 years ago has avoided a prison sentence.

Alastair Legge, 52, was convicted following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of two counts of sexually assaulting the girls at an address in Macduff and within a car during journeys across the region.

Record details

A man who sexually assaulted a teenager has been jailed.

Jamie Gorton, formerly of Burnley, assaulted the girl twice on one day in February.

The 34-year-old, appearing via video link at Burnley Crown Court on Thursday (December 12) kept his head in his hands and his sweatshirt over his face for the duration of the hearing.

When Judge Sara Dodd returned from a brief retirement to consider her sentencing remarks, she asked Gorton if he was more comfortable with his hands over his face, to which he replied "yes".

Before Judge Dodd had finished giving her remarks, though after she had told Gorton of his sentence, the defendant got up and left the conference room at the prison, leaving the judge to finish the final sentences of her remarks without the defendant present.

Lancashire Police put out an appeal to find Gorton earlier this year saying he spoke "with a Burnley accent" and that he had links to Darwen, Blackpool, and Fleetwood.

The offences took place in Blackpool. 

A victim impact statement read to the court by prosecuting barrister Aubrey Samson said the victim had self-harmed since the incident and has suffered from anxiety and flashbacks.

She said: "I can't believe this has happened to me."

John Woodward, defending said his client was now receiving the "best medication" for his mental health.

He said: "He feels he's getting better and feels confident that given time he'll be able to understand his difficulties and be able to act accordingly in the future."

Gorton, now of Osborne Road, Blackpool, and previously of an address in Burnley, has 21 previous convictions for 33 offences, including engaging in sexual activity with a child and failing to comply with notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order.

He was found guilty of assault by penetration and sexual activity with a child following a trial.

Judge Dodd, sentencing, said the victim in this case was "particularly vulnerable".

She said: "There has been significant psychological harm. I do not find the harm caused to have been severe, though this is not to underplay in any way the damage you have done to this young girl.

"You are rightly described as being unable to comply with court orders. I have no confidence you would comply with licence conditions upon your release."

Judge Dodd considered Gorton to be a dangerous offender and sentenced him to an eight-year prison term with a further five years on extended licence, making a total sentence of 13 years.