Latest Offenders

Description

A man from Old Swan has been jailed for 14 years after being found guilty of child sex offences. 
 
Anthony Morrissey, 69, of St Oswald’s Street, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court today, Tuesday 4 June, when he was sentenced after being found guilty of rape, causing/inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child under 13 to watch sexual activity.
 
He was also given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be on the Sexual Offender Register for life.
 
Morrissey carried out the offences in Liverpool in December 2021 and he was arrested in February 2022. 

Description

A man has been jailed for 15 years for raping a homeless woman while he was on a night out and filming the attack.

Liam Stimpson, 24, from Llanrumney, Cardiff, was convicted of two counts of rape and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent on Thursday.

The attack on the 40-year-old, which Stimpson filmed on his phone, happened on 27 December last year in Cardiff city centre.

During sentencing at Cardiff Crown Court on Monday, Judge Jeremy Jenkins said the attack was “gratuitous, repeated and sustained violence against a woman in no position to defend”.

“You completely humiliated her – you took the last ounce of dignity from her,” Judge Jenkins told Stimpson, describing the attack as “bordering on sadistic”.

In a statement read out on her behalf, the victim said it had “changed my whole opinion of men”.

“I want this male to end up in prison for what he has done. I worry about him doing this to another female,” she said.

“I’m unable to socialise with others at the moment. I just want to be alone, to block out what has happened to me.”

Rhianydd Jones from the Crown Prosecution Service said the case "highlights the extreme violence and disregard for human dignity exhibited by the defendant", thanking the jury for their “careful consideration”, as well as the victim for coming forward.

A jury had already found Stimpson guilty of a separate charge of causing grievous bodily harm with intent.

'Shocking, heinous' attack

Det Insp Katherine Barry, from South Wales Police, said the footage of the rape was the "most shocking, heinous" she had seen in her 21-year career.

"The fact that the jury was exposed to it concerns me, because I have never seen anything like it," she said.

"It was sadistic, it was prolonged, this lady was humiliated, and it will stay with me for a very long time."

Det Insp Barry said Stimpson’s defence, that the victim had suggested filming as part of role play, was “ludicrous”.

"Any person with a shred of humanity watching it would see if for exactly what it was, which was a depraved, brutal attack, on a lone vulnerable female," she said.

She added that incidents like this in the city centre were "exceptionally rare" and she hoped the sentence would encourage victims of sexual offences to speak to the police.

Stimpson denied the charges, claiming the woman suggested the filming as part of role play after he paid her for oral sex.

Stimpson’s victim was punched and kicked during the attack under a bridge near Cardiff Central railway station in the early hours of the morning.

She begged her attacker to stop as she was stripped naked, beaten and raped twice.

Videos taken from Stimpson's mobile phone showed the woman with a severely swollen and bleeding face, her right eye completely closed.

She lifted her hands to her attacker and said: "Don't beat me up baby, don't beat me please. I've got kids."

Stimpson could be heard replying: "I'll tell you what to do. I'm the boss."

He then demanded she remove her coat, despite the cold and wet conditions.

She eventually escaped and ran naked into a nearby pub, telling early morning cleaning staff “I’ve been raped”.

The videos were discovered by police on the defendant's mobile phone.

He refused to provide the PIN, but officers guessed it was his date of birth.

Stimpson also admitted possession of cannabis.

Many of the jurors were in tears as they watched the footage.

Ruth Smith defending, said her client had been diagnosed with disabilities of a neurodiverse nature.

A psychiatric report had confirmed a longstanding diagnosis of ADHD, and he was more recently diagnosed with autism.

Ms Smith said her client found custody very difficult, adding he had been picked on and bullied in Parc Prison, Bridgend.

The court was also told his girlfriend is pregnant with his child.

As he was sentenced, Stimpson cried and rocked in the dock.

He refused to leave and had to be carried out by staff.

Description

A brave survivor has heaped praise on police and criminal justice partners after her abuser has been put behind bars after almost 40 years.

Andrew Blake subjected his victim to a tirade of sexual assaults in the 1980s and 1990s – starting from when she was just nine years old, and he was a teenager.

Now an adult, the brave survivor spoke out against her abuser in 2020 after having been left completely traumatised by the abuse for her entire life.

An investigation was launched by the Force’s Safeguarding Department and Blake, now 52, attended a police station to be interviewed where he initially admitted to two instances of sexual abuse.

However, the investigation continued and in 2022, he was charged with a total of 16 offences of indecent assault – being that the offences took place before the Sexual Offences Act was introduced in 2003.

He continued to deny the allegations, however in February this year a jury at Newcastle Crown Court saw through his lies and he was convicted unanimously of all 16 offences.

On Thursday (May 30), Blake, of Parc Pentywyn, Deganwy, Conwy, Wales, was handed a three-year sentence behind bars at the same court.

He will also spend the rest of his life on the Sex Offenders’ Register and his victim will be protected by a life-long restraining order.

Description

A sleazy bus driver sat a 15-year-old girl on his lap and carried out sex acts with her while he was driving a late night passenger bus.

Paedophile driver Christopher McIntosh, 38, hit speeds of nearly 50 miles per hour as he crossed Fife with the vulnerable teenager sitting on him.

A court was shown footage from the internal bus camera which showed McIntosh and the girl cramped in together in the driver's cab during a two hour journey.

Dundee Sheriff Court was shown 16 minutes of clips from the journey which revealed that they were also using a mobile phone while McIntosh was at the wheel.

The court heard that McIntosh was driving late night buses for Moffat and Williamson between St Andrews and Glenrothes when he would meet the girl.

During the course of several journeys - when there were no other passengers on board - they would engage in sexual activity while McIntosh was driving.

McIntosh, from Dundee, admitted engaging in sexual activity during the course of a number of journeys between 20 March and 10 April last year. He admitted kissing and embracing the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, during repeated sexual trysts.

He was also found guilty after a trial of driving the number 64 double decker bus carelessly on various roads around Fife on 10 April 2023. He was found to have driven with a child in the driver's seat alongside him, with his arm around the child, and while repeatedly looking at a mobile phone.

Fiscal depute Michael Robertson told the court: "The CCTV is from an older bus and is not the best of quality, but there is a 16-minute video clip.

"The Crown have libelled that the accused drove dangerously as a child was sitting in the driver's seat alongside the accused, who had an arm round the child, and repeatedly looked at a mobile phone whilst driving.

"You can see the accused driving with a female passenger in the cab while he was in his official capacity working as a bus driver. You can see the illumination of the mobile phone.

"The Crown argue that there are risks to driving a large vehicle while using a mobile phone, whether there are passengers or not.

"Looking at a mobile phone is a distraction and a risk and having a passenger in the cab whilst driving the bus is a risk. The Crown submit it is dangerous."

Solicitor Larry Flynn, defending, said: "There is no argument that he was the driver. The driving was captured on CCTV."

McIntosh was charged with dangerous driving, but found guilty of the lesser charge of careless driving. Sheriff John Rafferty said the quality of the driving was unclear from the CCTV.

He deferred sentence on McIntosh for the preparation of social work reports and added his details to the Sex Offenders Register. He was granted bail.

It is understood McIntosh was well aware of the girl's age because she had initially shown her child's identity card to obtain free travel on the bus.

Description

An online sexual predator who thought that he was exchanging messages with a young girl aged under 16 was later found with more than 1,600 indecent images of children on his phone.

Daniel O'Connell believed that he was chatting with a real girl when he became involved in sexualised conversations on Snapchat – but really it was an undercover police officer who was working covertly to identify possible sexual offenders. The haul of indecent images that was discovered included 466 in the most serious category, Hull Crown Court heard.

O'Connell, 26, of Hull Road, Withernsea, originally denied attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity, for the purposes of sexual gratification, via online chat between March 28 and April 10, 2021 and three offences of making indecent images of children between January 1, 2019 and April 22, 2021.

The case had been adjourned on September 28 last year for a trial that was due to be held on May 7. Defence barrister Benjamin Donnell told the court at the original hearing that O'Connell denied the offences at that time because he claimed that the IP address that had been linked to his device had seemingly been "cloned" by someone else.

But at a resumed hearing on April 30, arranged ahead of the scheduled trial, the court was told that O'Connell was now pleading guilty to the charges and he was abandoning the cloning claims. He accepted the full prosecution case and he now did not want to take the case to trial.

The court heard that O'Connell was in communication with a decoy 12-year-old girl whose profile on Snapchat had been set up by undercover police in a bid to catch possible online sexual predators.

Messages were exchanged between the fake girl and O'Connell. He believed that he was chatting online with a real girl. The conversations became sexual and O'Connell asked the fake girl to send him a picture of her chest.

No suggestions of a meeting between them were made and nothing of that type was arranged. The conversations came to an end and O'Connell was later arrested.

Police found indecent images of children on his phone. They included 466 in the most serious Category A, 384 in Category B and 791 in Category C – a total of 1,641 images. The pictures were said to have been inaccessible because they had been deleted previously.

O'Connell, a carer, had no previous convictions. Mr Donnell was not asked to provide any mitigation after the judge indicated that he intended to impose a suspended prison sentence.

O'Connell was given credit of 15 per cent for his late pleas of guilty, which was less than he would have been given for early pleas. He lost some credit because the case had originally been listed for trial.

O'Connell was given a 66-week suspended prison sentence, 31 days of a sex offender treatment programme and 20 days' rehabilitation. He was given a six-year sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender for 10 years. The images on the phone will be erased.

Description

A "creep" child sex abuse offender from the Isle of Wight used video games on his phone to "lure" a young girl before abusing her, a court has heard.

Paedophile Adrian Colvin, of Pennycress Drive, Newport, was jailed at the Isle of Wight Crown Court on Friday, May 31.

Court heard of the "profound and lasting" effect his offending has had on the girl.

On April 24, Colvin was convicted by jury trial of three counts of sexual activity with a child under 13, and two further charges of assaulting a girl under 13 by penetration.

The offences, which he denied, happened on the Isle of Wight, between June 13, 2018, and December 1, 2021, when the girl was aged between nine and 12.

Court heard how Colvin's crimes were brought to the attention of police in 2022.

The girl explained how video games on Colvin's phone were used to lure her and then she was invited round, prosecutor, Tim Devlin, said.

During those visits, Colvin would touch her inappropriately and sexually assault her, court heard.

Mr Devlin said the victim thought he was a "creep" and tried to stop him by kicking.

A victim impact statement read to the court heard how, since the abuse, the girl suffers with mental health issues.

She has missed a lot of school as she struggles going anywhere on her own.

"I'm no longer myself. It is always there in my mind", the statement said.

For Colvin, Thomas Acworth said the 27-year-old is an "isolated" figure who was neurologically under developed, in comparison to others his age.

With no previous convictions, Colvin is a young man who had never been in trouble before, Mr Acworth said.

He feels the convictions have brought his life to an end but Mr Acworth said hope is not lost for him and he can become an effective member of society again.

Recorder Elisabeth Bussey-Jones said Colvin's offending showed elements of grooming and has had a "profound and lasting effect on a vulnerable person."

"These offences are so serious", she said. "Whether you will offend again, only time will tell."

Colvin was sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years and ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

Description

An Aberdeen sex offender found with more than two days’ worth of child abuse video has been warned he has narrowly avoided going to jail.

Michal Lauryn appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted possessing more than 10,000 indecent images of children and hours of video – some of which featured “sadistic” content.

Description

A man has been found guilty of raping a woman who agreed to share his bed because she “trusted him”.

Neil Kennedy’s victim said she was given alcohol and crack cocaine before he forced himself on her at his then-home in Keith.

Description

A serial sex offender has been given a community order after he told York magistrates he was a reformed character.

David Stansfield, 48,  had previously served a prison sentence for what a judge called his “vile addiction” to indecent images of children.

York magistrates heard that since 2016, Stansfield has been subject indefinitely to a court order restricting his use of the internet and enabling police to monitor him. He is also on the sex offenders’ register.

On February 5, 2021, police on a routine visit to his home discovered a phone he had hidden from them that contained 230 indecent images of children.

Stansfield, of Middlethorpe Grove, Dringhouses, pleaded guilty to having indecent images of children of the least serious category.

His solicitor Chris McGrogan told magistrates: “The gentleman who appears before you today is in a very different position and situation to the person who committed the offences.”

Stansfield now had a full-time job with a family firm where he was welcome and had made friends and had also made friends at a car club. He had not been before a court for three years.

“There are significant number of positives that are present in his life that weren’t present three years ago," said Mr McGrogan.

Magistrates gave Stansfield a 30-month community order with a 45-day rehabilitative programme, 40 days’ rehabilitative activities and 200 hours’ unpaid work.

They also made him subject to a new indefinite sexual harm prevention order with extra provisions including one about taking lie detection tests. He will now be on the sex offenders’ register until May 2029.

Alison Whiteley, prosecuting, said Stansfield was convicted in November 2012 at York Crown Court of six charges of having indecent images of children. He was given a three-year community order with a rehabilitation programme and made subject to a court order forcing him to tell police about all his internet devices among other provisions.

In May 2016, Stansfield was back before York Crown Court for having more indecent images of children which he had tried to conceal on his phone by installing an app. This time he was jailed for 12 months and Judge Paul Batty QC said he had a “vile addiction” to indecent images of children.

In February 2021, police found he had hidden another phone from them.

In May 2021 Stansfield appeared before York Crown Court for a third time charged with breaching a sexual harm prevention order and he was given an 18-month community order with rehabilitative activities.

Ms Whiteley said Stansfield had not helped police because he hadn’t told them about the illegal contents of the phone and they had had to analyse it forensically to find them.

If he had told them, the latest indecent images charge could have been dealt with by the judge in May 2021.

Mr McGrogan said Stansfield had been “very forthcoming”.

“It is totally incorrect (to say) he had not assisted the police,” said Mr McGrogan.

In 2021, Stansfield had been isolated with no-one to turn to. He had turned to drink and space cakes.

Description

A victim of a convicted child sex offender has spoken out for the first time about her harrowing ordeal.

The girl was just a child when Michael Griffiths sexually assaulted her, permanently shattering her trust in others forever.

Griffiths, 34, from Tameside, was jailed for 11 years and three months for his crimes in October 2023. They include 17 counts of sexual activity with a child.

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, one of his victims has revealed how the trauma she endured continues to devastate her life.

“I knew it was wrong,” she said. “I couldn’t do anything about it. I didn’t tell anyone for a year. My behaviour was off and I was stressed. I couldn’t tell anyone why; I just said it was school.”

Griffiths sexually assaulted the girl on three occasions over the course of several years. Though she was desperate to tell others what had happened, she worried nobody would believe her.

“I was just scared of him,” she added. “[During one assault] I just froze. I didn’t know what to do.

“I did want to tell people. He probably got more comfortable after he realised I wouldn’t say anything. It made me feel disgusted; it was revolting and I couldn’t do anything about it."

The victim says the assaults have impacted every aspect of her life – from relationships to school grades.

“[It’s affected] literally everything,” she added. “My school grades did drop a bit because of him.

“I don’t think I can ever look at anyone and not think they have malicious thoughts. I don’t think I can ever fully trust a person again because of it.

“My counsellor has been a big help. I had really bad anxiety when it all came out. It just felt so unreal; I wasn’t expecting it to come out like it did.

The victim says she is slowly starting to rebuild her life. “I’m doing a lot better than when it came out and when it happened,” she said.

“I feel like I’ve come to accept it now. I know I can’t change it and it wasn’t my fault and there’s nothing I can do about it now.

“It belongs in the past. Now I just do what I can to move on.”

Griffiths was also convicted of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Description

A man has been jailed after sexually assaulting a grandmother as she slept in her bed in Worcester.

Daniel Edwards, 28, entered the house through a kitchen window and then attacked the victim, in her 40s, in her bedroom, the court heard.

The woman, who had previously rejected him, woke up from what she thought was a bad dream, swore at him and told him to leave, jurors were told.

The father-of-one was found guilty of assault by penetration at Worcester Crown Court on Friday following the attack in a flat in Warndon in 2013.

Judge Nicholas Cole jailed Edwards for six years, half to be served in custody.

In the summer of 2013 the woman woke up to discover Edwards, who was “half-naked”, sexually assaulting her.

She thought she was having a “bad dream'” and then feared she was going to be strangled.

When she woke up the victim swore, asked Edwards what he was doing and told him to get out of her house.

He denied assault and claimed he only shook her to wake her because he was looking for somewhere to stay because he was locked out of his home.

The same woman had previously told Edwards she was “old enough to be his mum” as she rebuffed him.

The judge said the offence was aggravated because it was committed in the early hours of the morning and Edwards had been drinking.

Speaking after the hearing the victim said she had wanted an apology from Edwards but had never received one.

She thought he had “no conscience” about what he had done.

The woman, who declined the use of a screen when she gave evidence during the trial, said: "I'm still sad. I take no pleasure from this.

The victim, who cannot be identified, often sleeps on the sofa of her home because she cannot bear to sleep on the same bed where she was assaulted, has suffered mental health problems, has to see a psychiatrist and has been prescribed antidepressants.

Speaking of Edwards she said: "He's a sexual predator. I think women are safer now."

Edwards, from Pershore, Worcestershire, is subject to notification requirements indefinitely meaning he must inform police of any change of name or address.

He is also barred from working with children or other vulnerable people.

Edwards was cleared of assault by penetration against a girl aged 13 to 15, alleged to have taken place between 2008 and 2011.

The jury also cleared him of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence, with regards to the woman in her 40s.

Description

A York company director who tried to give a '12-year-old girl' sex instructions and told her to think like a slave is today starting a jail term.

For six weeks, Timothy Michael Downie, 52, masqueraded online as a 19-year-old woman as he gave the 'girl' advice on how to perform sexual acts and encouraged her to find older boys to treat her sexually, Matthew Moore-Taylor, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

“Stop thinking of yourself as a little girl and start thinking like a Roman slave girl who needs to please her master or get thrown to the lions,” he told her on an online social media platform.

He also told her performing sexual acts with older boys would give her self confidence.

But the “girl” was an undercover police officer taking part in an operation to track down and arrest online sex offenders and Downie was arrested.

Downie, who ran a management consultancy, of Chestnut Avenue, Heworth, pleaded guilty to attempting to incite an underage girl to perform sexual acts and attempted sexual communication with a child.

He was jailed for 32 months, put on the sex offenders’ register for life and barred from working with children or vulnerable adults.

Judge Simon Hickey said Downie had believed he was talking to a real girl. 

For Downie, Sean Smith said he had never tried to meet the 'girl' or get her to send photographs of herself. He had also taken substantial steps in rehabilitating himself since his arrest in 2022.

Mr Moore-Taylor said the detective set up a false profile on Kik social media of a 12-year-old girl called 'Mia'.

On January 12, 2022, 'Mia' was contacted by a profile claiming to be Katy Brown, a 19-year-old York woman on a gap year. But it was really run by Downie. It had been on Kik for 2,866 days.

Early on in the conversation Downie asked 'Mia’s' age and when she said she was in Year 8, Downie started sexual messages, including asking about her sexual experiences.

Police amassed 34 pages of messages between the two between January 12 and February 28 in which Downie gave continuous sexual instructions and tried to persuade “Mia” to perform acts that she said she was reluctant to do.

In the messages were references to 'Mia’s' age of 12 years. The messages were not sent every day.

Police went to Downie’s home, arrested him and confiscated his internet equipment. He didn’t answer their questions about his sexual crimes. He had no previous convictions.

Mr Smith handed in letters from Downie's family that the judge said showed a different side of him and how shocked and surprised they were by what he had done. 

Co-director of Safer Lives sex offender rehabilitation agency and qualified probation officer Andrew Green gave evidence on behalf of Downie and the rehabilitative work he had done with the agency.

He said he believed Downie would not reoffend.

Mr Smith said Downie had also worked with a psycho-sexual-therapist and completed 48 sessions.

Description

A Huntly man has been placed on the sex offenders register after police raided his home and found his device full of indecent images and videos of children.

Christopher Barron, 29, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted having over 400 images and around 40 videos featuring child abuse.

Description

A 'manipulative' paedophile who tried to recruit vulnerable young girls as escorts after posting modelling ads on Craigslist has been jailed. Shaker Sharif sexually abused five teenagers, who he knew to be under 16, by constantly asking them for sexual videos and photos, screen recording them engaged in sex acts on Facetime, and paying them for other sexual content.

The 44-year-old predator, of Middleton Avenue, in Greenford, Ealing, West London, appeared in an olive green hoodie at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday, May 30, where he was jailed for three years and nine months for the vile sex crimes committed between 2015 and 2016. Prior to the hearing, Sharif had been on a restrictive sexual risk order since 2020, limiting his contact with children.

According to Companies House filings, the pervert was formerly a director of a dissolved property management company, Tenantbox Limited, which previously advertised rooms across London, while offering landlords a zero per cent management fee. Among the accounts followed by the company's Twitter page are a massage equipment company and a user called 'Sexpestinthecity'.

Shaker met his first victim, a 14-year-old girl, in 2015, using the pseudonym 'Jay Biggs' to swap sexual images with her, including fully naked photos. Prosecutor Corinne Bramwell said he used 'grooming' methods, like sending links to pornography websites and reference to his escorting business. "He would talk about meeting girls and providing 600 for happy endings," said Ms Bramwell.

For months the sickening conversations continued until the girl told Sharif it seemed like he only wanted indecent images of her masturbating or for her to have sex with him. After telling her, in his twisted mind, they were in a relationship, he carried on asking for the photos, with reference to sex and masturbating together. In all, 159 indecent images of the girl were recovered by police.

The second victim was just 13 years old when she started chatting to Sharif on a teenage dating app in August 2016. The app meant for teenagers has been known as 'a playground for paedophiles' since 2014 when the NSPCC issued a warning to parents. The girl claimed she was 19 years old, while Sharif was aged 36, some years above the maximum intended age range.

This time Sharif asked if the girl was a virgin, and preyed on her vulnerabilities when she disclosed self-harm and being bullied at school. Within a day of starting the conversation, he sent the girl a photo of his penis and called her 89 times. He also asked her for contact details of friends, to which she provided a number. Ms Bramwell said there was evidence Sharif called that number.

In September of that year, Sharif asked for more pictures. When the girl asked what of, he told her 'I want to see your body, tits, p**sy, all'. The victim of Sharif's persistent demand for photos sent him two more images, which only prompted him to ask again. She eventually told him she would stop because he was 'annoying' and she was not allowed to.

In relation to his next victim, a 17-year-old girl, Sharif was caught with 164 indecent images. Messages from the former property manager included 'I wish you were older' and offers to make money out of her if she would 'trust' him. After telling her 'how much girls make in the sex industry' he asked her to come to London. Police later found evidence of 55 payments to her bank account.

A fourth victim was 15 years old in 2015 when she responded to Sharif's Craigslist advert for teen models claiming she was aged 16. Their conversations developed with Sharif asking if she wanted to join the agency, while she disclosed a rate of 170 a shoot. After the girl responded to two more adverts, Sharif asked if she would do 'sexual shoots or videos' in Shepherd's Bush.

The final victim received multiple bank transfers of between 10 to 20 in exchange for sexual content when she was just 14 years old in June 2015. The messages - described as 'plainly manipulative' by Ms Bramwell - included Sharif's claim that he 'loved' the girl and accused her of not caring about him. As the victim pointed out, it was Sharif who did not care about her and would talk about other girls and sex, rather than asking her how she was, Ms Bramwell told the court.

Ms Bramwell referred to Sharif's legitimate adult escorting activities, but could not provide evidence that his abuse of the girls was 'commercial'. Referring to a recent probation report, she accused Sharif of victim blaming due to his 'disconnect between being ashamed and remorseful'. "How he talks about the complainants effectively puts blame on them for starting conversations," she added.

'In part, this is a victimless case'

Sharif was arrested at his home on September 27, 2017 on an unrelated matter, during which devices were seized containing evidence of his child exploitation. He denied 20 counts - which included making indecent images of children, inciting children into sexual activity, and causing the sexual exploitation of children - at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court in October 2022.

At a pre-trial hearing in 2023 he reversed his pleas on five counts, but the case was still set to go to trial for the remaining 15 counts in March of this year. With all his victims ready to face him in court, Sharif then reversed another seven pleas just 10 days before the trial, bringing his confessions to 12 of the charges. The Crown decided it was not in the public interest to pursue the remaining eight counts which were left to lie on file at Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday.

It means Sharif admitted five counts of causing the sexual exploitation of a child, two counts of paying for the sexual services of a child, one count inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and four counts of making indecent photos of children in Category C.

Defence counsel Zacharias Miah called for a suspended sentence as he outlined the long delay in bringing the case to court and the recommendation of a community order by the probation service. While he conceded the same report write concluded Sharif posed a high risk of harm to children, he said this could best be managed outside of prison.

"In part, this is a victimless case," argued Mr Miah. "As some of them are not involved in these proceedings. It was all based on data from his laptop and phone."

Ms Bramwell hit back at this by reading out one of the victim's impact statements, in which the girl blamed her depression, anxiety, and panic attacks on Sharif's abuse.

Mr Miah pointed to Sharif's previous good character, poor mental health at the time, and obesity as he reached for mitigation. The barrister also highlighted Sharif's progress with various schemes for sex offenders, including a 'Sexaholics' clinic and the Safer Lives programme, and his compliance with the sexual risk order made in 2020.

'High level of manipulative behaviour'

Recorder Sam Robinson KC dismissed the recommendation of the probation officer, and Mr Miah's arguments for a suspended sentence, as he jailed Sharif for nearly four years. The judge highlighted Sharif's 'pattern of of long manipulative communications with vulnerable young girls', some of which lasted years, and left them with 'serious psychological harm'.

Referring to the lead offence, Recorder Robinson said: "I'm in no doubt the chats between the two of you were manipulative and controlling. The fact you sent links to porn websites and references to escort agencies. You sought to entice her about what other girls made in the escort business. She could make 600 with a happy ending. She, 15 years old, said she would like that money. You could see the power which you had over her."

Summarising the case, the judge added: "Your offending throughout these two years shows a high level of manipulative behaviour. You were constantly asking for images of young vulnerable girls. You persistently asked for sexual photos and videos and wanted to get some of them to act as escorts and come and meet you.

"You have described yourself as being deeply ashamed of your behaviour. So you should be. You have caused your victims a great deal of psychological distress."

Recorder Robinson fell short of finding Sharif legally 'dangerous', which would have led to longer licensing conditions upon release, but he did impose a seven-year sexual harm prevention order. Sharif must sign on the sex offenders register for life and pay a 170 victim surcharge. His sentence for the lead offence aggravated by the other offences, which earned him lesser concurrent sentences.

Description

A sex offender has been put behind bars after using Snapchat and WhatsApp on his phone.

Paul Cummings was previously convicted of attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming in September 2020. The 38-year-old was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and notification requirement.

He went on to breach the order and attempted to engage in sexual communication with a child in November 2022.

Newcastle Crown Court heard how two police officers visited Cummings' home in South Shields on December 14 last year and examined his mobile phone. They discovered that the Snapchat app had been used the previous day.

Gabrielle Wilks, prosecuting, said the WhatsApp app had also been accessed the same day. She said: "Neither of the apps appeared to be present on the device and therefore they had been deleted."

When asked if he had used Snapchat the previous day, Cummings said: "I'm sorry I was only going to use it to pay for pictures of adults".

His phone was seized and found to contain 18 items of deleted website history, four alias names and a Lloyds bank account, which police had not been notified about. The history included visits to EE, BT, WWE, Lloyds bank and Hello magazine.

Cummings, of Woodhouse Court, South Shields, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with a notification requirement and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

The court in Newcastle heard how he had already breached his sexual harm prevention order on five previous occasions.

Laura Miller, defending, told the court: "It was stupid, it was reckless, he knows that. He knows now the consequences. He's come today having been up for most of the night not being able to sleep because he's scared to go to prison today.

"He knows to expect a custodial sentence today and he's come prepared for that."

Ms Miller said that Cummings was currently in stable accommodation and he would lose that if he was to be sent to prison. She said he had previously worked well with the probation service and could be made subject to a suspended sentence order.

Recorder Tony Hawks told Cummings: "Because of offences that you have committed in relation to children in 2000 and 2022 you are a registered sex offender. You are also subject to a sexual harm prevention order. On no less than five previous occasions you have breached the notification requirements or sexual harm prevention order.

"It's said that you now understand what these requirements mean. Well you have been sent to prison twice already for breaching them so I find it difficult to know that you didn't know in advance what the consequences may be.

"You are a registered sex offender. These orders are in place to regulate your activity and any risk that you present to the public.

"You are a man who has persistently breached these requirements. And so I don't think there's any alternative other than to impose a period of imprisonment that will be immediate."

Recorder Hawks sentenced Cummings to 15 months in prison.