Latest Offenders

Description

An electrician who distributed videos of himself raping a young girl on the internet has been jailed for almost 16 years.

Thomas Gwilliam-Carter, 39, from Leominster, was identified by National Crime Agency investigators after child abuse images he’d posted were found on devices belonging to a U.S. suspect arrested by the FBI.

Chat logs showed that Gwilliam-Carter, using the online pseudonym ‘keepedging247’, told other paedophiles on the Wickr platform that he planned to drug a child to make raping her easier. He then went on to share videos of the abuse and later admitted that he had drugged the child with Phenergan, a mild sedative.

Gwilliam-Carter was arrested by NCA officers at his home address on 1 October this year, and his mobile phone was seized.

This was forensically examined and found to contain 3,651 indecent images of children (IIOC) in categories A-C (A being the most severe), some of which showed babies being raped. The child he’d raped has been safeguarded.

Gwilliam-Carter pleaded guilty to one count of rape of a child under 13, three counts of making IIOC and five counts of distributing IIOC at Worcester Crown Court on 7 November.

He was sentenced at the same court today (8 December).

NCA operations manager Phil Eccles said: “Gwilliam-Carter inflicted the most terrible abuse on a young girl and distributed videos he’d made of it online, all for his and other paedophiles’ pleasure.

“Child sexual abuse is a global threat and this case highlights why the NCA’s close cooperation with international partners is so vital in tackling it.

“We also work tirelessly to protect those affected by child sexual abuse and disrupt offenders who pose a sexual threat to children, ensuring they face justice.”

Description

A Manchester man has been jailed for 12 months after being caught in possession of an indecent image of children and four counts of sexual communications with a child under the age of 16 years.

Paul Michael Buckley aged 50 of Church Street was initially arrested on Monday 5 December 2022 and charged on Tuesday 6 December 2022, for the offences he carried out between June and August this year and in March 2021.

He also recorded himself following a schoolgirl for several minutes, at a close distance and in interview had openly admitted this was something that he has done.

The investigation was led by the Sex Offender Management Unit and District Intelligence Unit (DIU). Sergeant Richard Anderton said: “We are pleased that Paul Buckley is now off the streets and no longer a danger to girls in the area.

“We strongly urge anyone who is subject to this kind of attention to contact GMP and let us know. It’s important to us that the streets of Manchester and surrounding districts are safe for everyone, and we are committed to getting sex offenders arrested and charged for their crimes.

Description

A teenager who got a primary school-aged girl to perform sex acts on him has been jailed for five years.

The girl – now a young woman – spoke of the ‘sense of dread’ she felt on ‘each and every occasion’ she was invited into Jake Nolan’s bedroom to endure what she later realised were sickening sex assaults.

Having given evidence at Nolan’s trial in October, the woman – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – spoke of the devastating impact the now 26-year-old’s abuse has had upon her.

Prosecutor Mark Seymour suggested that the impact on the victim could amount to ‘extreme psychological harm’, putting the offending in the most serious category in the sentencing guidelines given to judges.

“If the level of harm in terms of psychological impact that is obviously writ large in the statement doesn’t constitute extreme harm it is really quite hard to see what would – short, actually, a complainant ending her own life,” the barrister said.

Sending him to prison for five years for rape of a child under-13 and causing or inciting a child under-13 to engage in sexual activity, Judge Maria Lamb told Nolan: “The impact which you have had upon your victim has been devastating. It is clear – quite wrongly – that she blamed herself for what had been done to her.

“She has no reason to reproach herself at all.

"She was a child at the time these things were perpetrated against her by you.”

Judge Lamb described the victim’s impact statement as ‘heartbreaking’.

Had Nolan been an adult when he carried out the abuse and not a child in his early teens, he would have faced a prison sentence around twice as long as the one he actually received.

John Carmichael, mitigating, reminded the judge of his client’s difficult upbringing. Noting that the offences had been committed while Nolan was drunk or under the influence of alcohol, he said: “One asks oneself the question what on earth is he doing with the alcohol? Where was the control from the family?”

Nolan’s older brother had been jailed for sexual offending of his own, the court heard. Mr Carmichael said his client had grown up with a ‘lack of role models’.

The defendant’s education had been disrupted, he had ‘intellectual difficulties’ and he had not worked for a number of years.

Nolan, of Grange Beck, Didcot, will be on the sex offender register for life and will be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. 

Description

Michael Hewitt, 19, had failed to start a relationship with the girl so he set up a fake social media account in March 2020 and contacted the victim – immediately asking for sex.

The victim, who was 15 at the time, did not respond. However, Hewitt persisted and the victim began to reply. Over time, he tricked her into starting an online relationship with the fictional soldier who claimed to be serving in Afghanistan. 

After messaging for several weeks, and after constant requests, the victim sent him intimate photos and videos.

Hewitt then began mentioning himself in messages sent by his alias to the victim.

On 12 May, Hewitt sent an email to the victim from another fake account, claiming to be the father of his alias. The message claimed the “soldier” had died in Afghanistan and that his dying wish was for the victim to start a relationship with Hewitt.

The victim’s mother became concerned about the relationship after not seeing any British military deaths reported in the news and contacted police.

Officers visited Hewitt to speak to him about his friendship with the soldier. He denied knowledge of the man and the investigation continued.

He was later arrested by East Cambridgeshire officers, his electronic devices seized and the IP address at his home linked to messages supposedly sent by the fake soldier and the soldier’s father.

Hewitt, of Swaffham Prior, Cambridge, denied two counts of causing or inciting a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, but was found guilty by a jury at Cambridge Crown Court.

On Friday (2 December) at Peterborough Crown Court he was jailed for 18 months. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years and given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years.

PC Guy Spencer said: “Hewitt went to great lengths to complete this deception and take advantage of the victim.

“She fully believed Hewitt’s alias was real and the online relationship was genuine. To deceive someone and then abuse that trust is awful. 

“I hope that Hewitt spends his 18 months in custody considering the impact his actions have had on the victim and her family.

“Finally, I would like to thank the victim for her courage in giving evidence and her patience for what has been a long investigation.”

Description

A sick paedophile who entered into a relationship with a 15-year-old girl while knowing how old she was has been jailed.

Andrew Burrows, 38, from Castleford, has been jailed for more than eight years after being found guilty of a catalogue of sexual offences Burrows was found guilty by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of four counts of sexual activity with a child following a trial in September.

He has now been jailed for eight years and six months.

Jurors heard how Burrows had entered into a sexual relationship with his 15-year-old victim in the Kirklees area in 2017, knowing she was under the age of consent. She later reported the offences to West Yorkshire Police and they were investigated by the Kirklees Child Safeguarding Unit.

DC Carole Haste, who led the investigation said following Burrows' sentencing: "We welcome the sentencing of Burrows who took advantage of a young, impressionable victim who he knew to be under the age of consent. The victim gave her evidence in court and remained calm, dignified and articulate. I hope seeing Burrows brought to justice can now give her some closure and allow her to move on with her life.

"All reports of sexual offending made to West Yorkshire Police are fully investigated by specialist officers with the needs of the victim at the heart of every investigation."

Description

A CONVICTED sex offender has been hauled in front of the courts after creating accounts on Plenty of Fish, Kik and Badoo.

Patryk Orlowski appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday for failing to comply with a court order.

The 40-year-old of Salerno Road, Southampton, previously admitted to creating online usernames on multiple websites in breach of notification requirements imposed on him in 2020.

On the dating app Plenty of Fish he had created the username “PATSOTON123”, whilst on the messaging app Kik he went by “PATKUAS82”.

The court heard how he also set up accounts on the on dating sites BBW Cupid and Badoo. 

 He was convicted in 2020 of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child using chat applications.

Having pleaded guilty at the time, Orlowski was ordered to sign the sex offenders register, meaning he must notify police of any new usernames created.

But after breaching that this year, he pleaded guilty to five charges of failing to comply.

Orlowski was released on bail and is due to appear at the same court for sentencing on February 2 next year. 

A pre-sentence report has been ordered. 

Description

A sex offender who gave a woman “zombie” drug Black Mamba before groping her breasts in the street has been jailed.

Mohammed Khalid Hussain, 35, preyed on the woman after spotting her outside a hotel in a city centre.

He offered her a cannabis spliff which was laced with Black Mamba.

Within minutes the victim became “stupefied” and Hussain grabbed her breasts.

Hussain carried out the attack outside the Fownes Hotel in Worcester on June 25 2020 during a Covid-19 lockdown.

A passerby witnessed the assault and dragged Hussain off the woman. He was arrested after the woman reported him to police.

Hussain denied sexual assault but was found guilty following a trial at Worcester Crown Court.

He was cleared of administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower to allow sexual activity.

Hussain, of Worcester, was jailed for 11 months and placed on the sex offenders register for ten years when he appeared at court on Wednesday (7/12).

He was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting the victim for five years.

Detective Constable Pete Ryland, of West Mercia Police, said: “Hussain approached the victim and offered her a spliff, unbeknownst to her it was Mamba.

“She subsequently suffered a ‘Mamba’ attack whereby she was physically stupefied.

“Hussain then purposely, and for his own gratification, touched the victim’s breasts.

“The attack was witnessed and he was physically pulled away from the victim.

“She describes the impact of the sexual assault as psychologically long lasting and she is still coming to terms with what Hussain did to her.

“With the support of agencies and counselling she is hoping to put this behind her.

“The victim in this case showed courage in coming forward and resilience throughout the trial.”

Description

A retired Wiltshire police officer has admitted offences relating to indecent images of children.

Robert Gabbott, 64, also known as Bob, pleaded guilty to collecting and distributing hundreds of vile child abuse images when he appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court.

The married defendant, of Elizabeth Close, Melksham, was told to register as a sex offender within 72 hours of the hearing in late November.

The case was deemed too serious to be dealt with by magistrates, with the case sent to Swindon Crown Court. He will be sentenced in January 2023.

Gabbott – who is also a member of Wiltshire Freemasons and helped out marshal at the Melksham vaccination centre – accepted two charges of distributing indecent images of a child in categories A and B.

He also accepted three charges of making (collecting) indecent images of a child – including 200 in category A, 199 in category B and 457 in category C.

Category A images – which can be moving or still – involve penetrative sexual activity, category B involve non-penetrative sexual activity and category C includes images not falling within categories A or B.

The offences were dated between 18 September 2021 and 14 January 2022.

Gabbott was released on unconditional bail until sentencing.

Description

A paedophile caught viewing child sex abuse images was spared jail because of his own past as a victim.

Anthony Lowe, who has been prosecuted for possessing child sex abuse before, was handed a suspended sentence rather than being sent straight to prison.

The 51-year-old former prison warden had downloaded 85 category A images (penetration, bestiality or sadism), 19 category B and 46 category C images when he was busted on October 28 last year.

Judge Benjamin Nolan told him: ‘The most obvious way of dealing with you would be to send you immediately to prison.

‘However, I’ve read your psychiatric report which indicates that you have your demons as a result of being abused as a child.’

He came to this decision after Lowe’s defence lawyer also told Teesside Crown Court how her client had become ‘isolated and depressed’ during lockdown.

His partner was working in a care home and Lowe was left on his own for long periods of time.

‘This was a momentary relapse,’ the attorney said.

The court also heard how Lowe ‘has chronic PTSD after witnessing a work colleague die and an inmate committing suicide’.

His partner has now rearranged her working hours so she can be at home with him on the weekends.

Lowe, from Linthorpe, Middlesbrough, was handed a 12-month prison term, suspended for two-years.

He was ordered to attend an accredited sex offender treatment programme and 60 rehabilitation days.

He will also sign the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Description

A paedophile from Forest Gate has been found guilty of sexually assaulting girls aged under 13 at a swimming pool where he was an instructor.

Emmanuel Brown, 60, was convicted of three counts of sexual assault by touching on December 5 after a trial at Wood Green Crown Court.

The court heard how Brown ran lessons at the swimming pool in Northumberland Park and had done so since 1995.

Police received separate reports in June and July 2020 from girls, aged under 13 at the time of the assaults, who were taught by Brown.

This was followed by a third girl who also alleged that Brown sexually assaulted her during their lessons.

The abuse of the girls took place between 2010 and 2019.

Brown will be sentenced at the same court in February.

Det Con Andri Andreou, of the North Area Command Unit, called Brown "a dangerous sexual predator" who "poses a significant risk to young children".

Brown used his position of trust to carry out sustained sexual assaults on these three girls his behaviour is utterly deplorable."

The detective urged anyone else who may have been abused by Brown to speak to police.

Anyone who is a victim of sexual abuse or who has information about such offences is asked to call police on 101 or 999 in an emergency.

Description

A serial sex offender branded a “real and imminent danger” has been caged for sexually assaulting a woman in Dundee.

Remorseless Ian King forced himself on his victim at a premises in the city’s Lyon Street in November, last year.

The 36-year-old exposed himself to his victim before grabbing her.

The woman managed to fight him off before he fled down the street.

The distressing attack was a breach of King’s Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO), which was imposed following a string of sex crimes nearly a decade ago.

He had been banned from touching, speaking to or even approaching women, with some exceptions for retail transactions and family events.

King was told he could not start a relationship, unless the woman had been made aware of his full history of sexual offending.

He appeared in the dock before Sheriff Gillian Wade and admitted the assault and a breach of his SOPO.

He was handed an extended sentence of five years and 10 months, of which, he will serve 34 months in custody.

Grim reading

Sheriff Gillian Wade told King: “All of the background reports I have attained in relation to you make for very grim reading indeed.

“In particular, you are now assessed as a very high risk of sexual offending in the future.

“Community-based interventions and public prevention measures which have been imposed have served as no deterrent.

“You continue to breach your Sexual Offender Prevention Order in the belief that – as you yourself said – you would ‘get away with it’.”

She said: “You have the potential to cause serious harm and that is a real and imminent danger unless work is carried out to address your sexual offending.

“These offences also show an escalation in your behaviour, indicating an attack on a lone female, with no victim empathy or remorse.”

The sheriff said King had “no regard for court orders whatsoever”.

She added: “You will require to demonstrate a significant shift in your attitude before you can be safely released.

“To this extent, I consider that an extended sentence is essential.”

Lone female attacked

Solicitor Linda Clark, defending, told the court: “The Criminal Justice Social Work report makes for somewhat depressing reading.

“It presents someone who has had a lonely, isolated existence and who has been unable thus far to form a relationship within the normal boundaries.”

She said: “Unfortunately, in this case, an opportunity was afforded to him.

“He struck up a conversation with the complainer, before leaving the locus and then returning.

“He strikes up a further conversation with her and then entirely misconceives the perception that she wished to return any form of affection.”

She said: “Mr King is realistic and he is entirely aware that a custodial sentence will be imposed.”

King’s victim said he had pestered her several times and kept asking to use her toilet.

She said when he appeared for a fourth time, she felt something pressing against her back and looked round to see he had exposed himself.

Criminal history

King’s lengthy criminal record dates back to the mid-2000s.

In 2007, he admitted assaulting a female shop owner by running his hand up her leg as she cleaned shelves.

He was banned from having unsupervised contact with children and entering public parks.

In 2009, he was jailed for repeatedly phoning a driving instructor and making obscene comments.

And during a hearing in 2013, he complained that a curfew he had been placed on was “too restrictive”.

The court allowed him to have a break from his electronic tagging order at weekends, so he could go to the cinema.

One Dundee charity said the move “defied all logic”.

Description

A sex offender breached a court order when he befriended a mum at a foodbank and posed for a selfie with her 11-year-old daughter.

David Scott, known as Ritchie, previously admitted to asking underage teenagers to send him naked pictures and served two years in prison following the offence in 2017.

He’d sent two 13-year-old schoolgirls sexually explicit pictures of himself through Snapchat and repeatedly demanded naked images in return.

The 25-year-old was then placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and ordered not to communicate with anyone under the age of 16 for five years.

But Ritchie landed back in the dock after breaching the Sex Offences Prevention Order by being friendly with an 11-year-old girl who he met at an Aberdeenshire foodbank.

‘Laughing and joking’

Fiscal depute Ruaridh McAllister told Aberdeen Sheriff Court that Ritchie had met the girl’s mum while volunteering at the foodbank between June and August this year.

He was in the company of the woman and her daughter, aged 11, on various occasions but failed to tell them about his conviction or the court order still in place.

The fiscal said the woman saw Ritchie “making cups of tea and coffee for people” along with two children at a social event.

“She saw how they were all getting on well and laughing and joking”, he said. “During this occasion, the accused also sat at a table with them and chatted.”

Met young girl for ice cream

A matter of weeks later, Ritchie was invited to join one of the women from the foodbank at an ice cream parlour.

He agreed to join them, despite knowing that her daughter and another 11-year-old child would be there. Ritchie posed for a selfie there too, the court was told.

The same month, Ritchie accepted an offer of help with moving home from the 11-year-old girl’s mum who picked him up in her car with her daughter.

He also chatted with the same mother and daughter at a bus stop the same month.

“On August 20 2022 police officers carried out a home visit with the accused”, the fiscal added. “During this visit, several new ‘contacts’ were identified from a check of his mobile telephone.”

Two of these were the two ladies from the centre and he advised officers that he was “friendly with them both” but hadn’t told them about his Sex Offenders Prevention Order.

When a police officer later told Ritchie he must tell the 11-year-old’s mum about his order he “reluctantly agreed”.

But when officers checked in with the lady two days later he had failed to come clean to her.

“She told the officers the accused did speak to her the night before but she made it clear he did not disclose his conditions to her”, Mr McAllister explained.

“She was unaware he was prohibited from communicating with anyone under the age of 16.

“She appeared angry and upset about this and said that, if the accused had notified her of the Sex Offenders Prevention Order, she would have not allowed him anywhere near her daughter.”

‘A lovely individual’

Defence agent Leonard Burkinshaw represented Ritchie, who has been remanded in custody since August, and told the court his client “is a lovely individual”.

He appeared in the dock after being transported from HMP Grampian prison in Peterhead and admitted breaching his Sex Offences Prevention Order.

Mr Burkinshaw said Ritchie “finds it very difficult to make friends at all” and hasn’t been able to secure work because of his conviction.

“He is a lovely individual and this welfare centre was a place where he could volunteer”, the solicitor said.

“This welfare centre operates as a food bank and he was using its services. The manager there was made aware of his conditions.

“He was allowed to enter and to assist them by handing out teas and coffee to people there.

“The lady involved volunteers there as well and he accepts that he didn’t specifically tell her of his conditions. However, the manager was aware.

“He accepts it’s his obligation to tell each and every person.”

‘Paid a price’

Mr Burkinshaw added that Ritchie was never alone with the woman’s daughter or any other child under the age of 16.

“Albeit he didn’t inform them of the conditions, and that was important to do, he has paid a price for that.

“It was a friendship that he was clinging to. That has been difficult for him in the past and it will be going forward for him too.”

The defence lawyer accepted that jail was inevitable for his client but suggested it was “not the most heinous breach”.

Sheriff Morag McLaughlin noted it was not the first time that Ritchie had breached his order and so a period of imprisonment was inevitable.

She jailed Ritchie, already a prisoner at HMP Grampian, for 12 months.

But the sentence was backdated to his remand date of August 2022.

Description

A convicted sex offender told police they would find his CV on a seized memory stick – before coming clean and explaining it contained sick child sex abuse images, a court heard.

Christopher Brown, 34, was also found to have flouted the terms of his sex offender notification requirements by spending the night in an – adult – woman’s bed, spending more than 12 hours living away from his registered home.

When police contacted the woman at the start of this year, she was unaware that the man with whom she had been sleeping was a three-times convicted sex offender. She had been seeing the man since October 2021. 

 Brown claimed to have been confused about what he could do under the terms of his notification requirements. He even produced a ‘schedule’ for detectives, trying as best he could to list the times and dates he had been at the woman’s home.

Prosecutor Alex Radley told Oxford Crown Court that during a first search of his home, Brown initially suggested that his curriculum vitae would be found on a memory stick that had not been registered with police.

Later, he confessed: “I’ll be honest. My CV isn’t on the memory stick. There’s stuff there I shouldn’t have.”

The defendant’s devices were analysed and, in total, he had 804 images and videos in the worst category, 252 in category B and 43 category C videos. He had three ‘extreme’ pornographic videos.

Brown, of South Street, Banbury, admitted possession of indecent images and breaching sex offender notification requirements.

The court heard he was first put on the sex offender register in 2016, when he was given a suspended sentence for indecent exposure. The 10 week sentence was later activated after he failed to comply with the court order.

He had since been convicted of having indecent images of children and breach of a sexual harm prevention order. 

A probation officer, going through her pre-sentence report with the judge in court, said she was recommending an immediate prison sentence – to the slight surprise of the judge.

Brown had been given a number of previous chances to comply with the probation service, she said.

Mitigating, Gordana Austin said her client recognised his offences had been committed when he was ‘on his own, lonely’. From living on his own, he had moved back in with his parents.

He was said to have previously worked as a chef then cycled through agency jobs before being taken on as a handyman on constructions sites – a job that he enjoyed.

Recorder Paul Reid jailed the defendant for a total of two years. 

Description

A CONVICTED sex offender has avoided jail despite being caught with more than 100 prohibited images of children.

A court was told how Richard Todd kept 108 computer-generated images on a mobile phone.

The photos were discovered when police visited his property in Shirley Road to check on him due to his previous convictions.

The images had been computer generated and depicted adults and children, prosecutor Mark Ashley told the court.

Four of these were classed as category A images, the most severe type. 

 Having previously been convicted of sexual assault in 2008 and a further incident in April 2011, the 30-year-old is subject to a lifelong sexual harm prevention order.

The incident on November 9, 2020 came just nine months after serving another sentence for a previous offence.

Mitigating, Ed Wilde said Todd is “extremely distressed to find himself before the court again”.

He added that he has “accepted his guilt” and is “sincerely sorry”.

"Support is a thing that this man needs," he said.

"Mr Todd needs to learn how to live out here."

Todd pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited image of a child last month. 

 Mr Wilde invited the judge to impose a suspended sentence as he said the matter is something that can be “dealt with by a sentence in the community”.

Recorder, James Watson KC, said Todd’s previous convictions “place the nature of [his] ongoing life in jeopardy.”

However, he told him: “I’m giving you this further opportunity to put this behaviour behind you”.

Todd was given a four-month jail sentence suspended for two years.

The judge also ordered the forfeiture of the mobile phone and made Todd subject to 55 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

A further sexual harm prevention order will run alongside the existing one for the next 10 years. 

Description

A paedophile found guilty of raping his victim at least 28 times and subjecting her to sexual abuse has been jailed.

Carl Purdy, 58, from Leeds, repeatedly raped the young girl when she was aged between seven and 13, often after driving her to lay-bys, police said.

Following his trial at Leeds Crown Court in October, he was also found guilty of indecently assaulting two other young girls.

On Monday, Purdy, of Ring Road, Beeston, was jailed for 25 years.

He was convicted on multiple counts of rape, sexual activity with a child, indecent assault and unlawful sexual intercourse with a child.

Purdy was charged in April 2021 after the first victim disclosed the abuse she had suffered to a health practitioner before contacting police herself.

Officers then identified the two further victims.

Speaking after the sentencing, Det Supt Lee Berry, head of crime and safeguarding for the Leeds district, said: "Purdy is a predatory paedophile who offended at the worst possible level against vulnerable young children and caused significant harm and trauma to those victims.

"It is important we recognise and commend the considerable courage the victims have shown in giving evidence at court after Purdy insisted on making them endure a trial despite the weight of evidence that saw him eventually convicted," he added.

Purdy was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and placed on the sex offenders register for life.