Latest Offenders

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A rapist from Fife who was said to regard sex with women as “his right” has been caged for nine years.

Scott Tullis will remain under close supervision for four years following his release from prison because of the risk he poses to women.

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A Keighley man has been locked up for more than three years for sex offences involving an underage girl.

Daniel Want was found guilty at Bradford Crown Court of two charges of sexual activity with a girl under 16, possession of a folding pocket knife, and sexual communication with a child.

Want, 33, of Parkwood Court, Parkwood Rise, Keighley, was jailed for three years and four months.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for life.

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A Keighley man who sent an indecent image of a child to her relative and filmed himself engaging in sexual contact with another has been jailed.

Aidan Whittingham, 21, distributed the nude photograph to a relative of one of the girls and secretly recorded some of the sexual activity he had with another under-age girl. He also had sex with a third teenage girl, but Bradford Crown Court heard on Monday she had been branded a "liar" by others - despite Whittingham being convicted.

Whittingham, of Whinfield Avenue, pleaded guilty to making indecent images of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child. He was found guilty of voyeurism and sexual activity with a child following a trial in October last year.

In addition to the five-year jail sentence Recorder Jackson KC also told Whittingham that he would now be subject to a sex offender registration with the police for life and he must also comply with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Barrister Abigail Langford, for Whittingham, highlighted his learning disability and other issues and said her client had already spent over a year in custody on remand. She said expert reports from a psychiatrist and a psychologist had referred to her client’s lack of maturity and his vulnerability.

But Recorder Jackson said Whittingham’s pattern of offending had escalated and he was satisfied that he had targeted young females. He said Whittingham knew what he was doing, and intended to do, and it was not a consequence of his learning difficulties.

The judge explained that Whittingham would have received an even longer sentence for his offending but for his young age and the difficulties that he had. Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Paul Maxwell from the Child Vulnerable to Exploitation Team in Bradford said: “We welcome the sentence handed down to Whittingham today. He is a danger to children.

“I would like to praise the bravery of the victims in coming forward and reporting these crimes to us. Offences of this nature are always taken very seriously, and we have a dedicated specialist safeguarding team who will support victims to get them justice.”

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An ex-BBC employee has been jailed after he being caught with over 58,000 indecent images of children.

David Mundy, 85, was arrested by National Crime Agency officers on April, 13 2022 after attempting to download illegal content.

The NCA investigation discovered Mundy to have not only searched for indecent images of children, but stored thousands of them on floppy discs, CDs, USBs and hard drives. His offending covered two decades.

Officers seized a total of 47 digital storage device during a search of Mundy’s home address and 31 were found to contain indecent images of children, and many had been labelled to indicate their contents, reports the Mirror.

This included Micro SDs marked “Misc = boy undone”; “Franze, Czech etc. lots” and “several vid+pix”, as well as a bag of discs, 124 of which contained illegal material. Mundy had accessed illegal content online that involved children as young as six years old, though the majority of the images involved boys between eight and fifteen.

He used a peer to peer sharing system to obtain this material, though he stated that he didn’t communicate with other members of the groups he used. At his address, NCA officers also found non-digital evidence of Mundy’s offending – including a 15-page double sided booklet called “sensitive content movies” sorted by keywords, and several how-to guides on accessing the dark web and ensuring anonymity online. He claimed he had yet to use them.

Mundy was charged the following year with three offences relating to indecent images of children. When interviewed, Mundy admitted to first looking at sexual images of children shortly before retiring from the BBC in 1998.

Stating that he was unsure what the definition of abuse was, he argued that his interest was only “in pleasure”. Almost 2,500 images found on his devices were category A, the most extreme. Mundy pleaded guilty to all three offences. Today, 29 April 2024, he was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court to 10 months imprisonment. Adam Priestley, NCA Senior Manager, said: “Despite clear evidence showing the scale of his offending, and the horrific nature of the content he repeatedly accessed, Mundy told officers that the images he had saved simply showed kids enjoying themselves.

“This could not be further from the truth. Behind each image is a vulnerable child who has been violated and abused for the benefit of offenders like Mundy. “We at the NCA are committed to protecting children and ensuring that individuals who collect this material, creating a demand for abuse content, are held to account.”

Mundy has been added to the sexual offender's register for 10 years.

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A man who raped and sexually abused a child has been jailed for 18 years.

Martyn Garland carried out a catalogue of horrific abuse against the girl who hadnt even reached her teens.

His crimes came to light when she reported the matter to police years later.

In a victim impact statement, she said: I have spent many years crying for the little girl that got trapped inside of me after he destroyed my innocence and my childhood.

The trauma has hung over me like a shadow that has crept into every part of my existence leaving me feeling like a lost cause, like Ive been damaged beyond repair.

I havent been able to put my trust into anybody for almost 20 years and I dont believe that there is anybody that I will ever fully trust.

There have been times where I have felt suicidal because the pain has been too much where I have turned to alcohol to stop me from feeling for a moment. But I know that deep down I dont want to die. I have too much to live for.

I just so desperately want, need, the pain to stop.

I am trying so hard to be stronger. This has honestly impacted everything that I do. Each day I wake up and I have to force myself to get out of bed when all I want to do is just lay there.

I live it every day. Its because I dont feel like any of these words are enough. They dont truly convey exactly how much hes destroyed and how much of my life hes truly taken away. I know I would be an entirely different person and had an entirely different life had this not happened and that is a difficult thing to comprehend.

Garland, 50, of Mercaston Close, Holme Hall, Chesterfield, was arrested and subsequently charged with a number of offences including rape, sexual assault, cause/incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and assault by penetration.

He denied the offences, forcing the woman to go through a trial but a jury saw through his lies and he was convicted after a trial at Derby Crown Court.

He appeared at the same court for sentencing on Friday 19 April where he was jailed for 18 years with an extended licence period of a year. He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

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A PAEDOPHILE who began raping children on his 12th birthday paid tribute to murdered six-year-old Alesha MacPhail, it has emerged.

Kristofer Johnstone, now 33, preyed on two girls in a 15-year campaign of abuse.

And in a horrifying twist, a picture of him holding a heart-shaped balloon in memory of tragic Alesha was shared online before he was unmasked as a beast.

Alesha, of Airdrie, was raped and murdered by fiend Aaron Campbell, then 16, who abducted her as she visited her grandparents and dad on Bute in 2018.

Johnstone, of Kelloholm, Dumfriesshire, was convicted after a trial at the High Court in Glasgow of abusing the children — aged between five and 11.

He struck between his 12th birthday on February 28, 2003 and 2018, in Glasgow’s Knightswood, nearby Maryhill, Paisley and on the Isle of Bute.

Caging the married dad of two for ten years this month, judge Alasdair MacFadyen said: “The evidence of sexual abuse was overwhelming, alarming and distressing.

“As a teenager and an adult, you committed serious offences against young children. Your actions appeared motivated by your deviant sexual desires.”

He was also put on the sex offenders register indefinitely and banned from contacting both his victims.

Monster Campbell, now 21, of Bute, was jailed for at least 27 years, cut to 24 on appeal, in 2019.

We told how he struck up a warped pen pal relationship with a caged sex offender.

He rarely leaves his cell for fear of attacks by fellow cons sickened by his crimes.

He was brutally beaten in 2022 in his cell at Polmont Young Offenders.

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A sex offender has been jailed after breaching the terms of a court order. Adam Kerley, 26, was made the subject of a sexual risk order in November 2022, shortly after he was arrested as part of another police investigation.

In addition to forbidding contact with children under the age of 16, the order also compelled Kerley to make any phones, computers or tablets available for police inspection. It also compelled him to register details of any social media accounts with officers at Nottinghamshire Police’s public protection department.

Further investigation by officers in January 2023 revealed that Kerley was in possession of an undeclared mobile phone and also had access to undeclared social media accounts. He later pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a sexual risk order.

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Kerley also admitted to two counts of making indecent images of children after a small number of child sexual abuse images were found on his phone after his initial arrests. Two were graded as category A – showing the most serious abuse that can be perpetrated by adults against children.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday, April 23, Kerley, of Radford Road, Nottingham, was jailed for a total of 16 months. He was also made the subject of an additional sexual harm reduction order which will be used to restrict and monitor his behaviour when he is released.

Detective Constable Hannah Newbold, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Court orders of this nature are put in place to protect children from harm, which is why people who breach them in this way can expect to go to prison – as can anyone we find in possession of child sexual abuse images. People who view these images may believe they are not hurting anyone, but the reality is that real children are being subjected to appalling levels of physical and psychological harm to produce these images.

“That’s why we take this kind of offending so seriously and work hard to bring people like Kerley to justice."

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A twisted predator has been jailed after grooming a teenage girl from Birmingham. Vile Aaron Harvey was caged for 18 years for rape and sexual assaults on the victim.

The 35-year-old, from Rugeley, Staffs, groomed the girl over a period of two years. Harvey’s sick crimes came to light when the girl bravely spoke out, telling officers the abuse first started when she was 14.

Harvey was arrested on August 14, 2022 and taken into custody. Officers seized his iPhone where they discovered extreme pornographic videos and website searches for extreme sex.

Harvey pleaded guilty to one charge of rape, eight sexual assaults and one charge of possessing extreme pornography when he appeared at court earlier this month. He was then handed a sexual harm prevention order and a restraining order as he was sent to prison at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Friday, April 26.

DC Kayleigh Driscoll, from the complex child abuse investigation team, said: “Harvey was a predatory individual who groomed his victim, sexually assaulted her on numerous occasions and raped her.

"We are pleased with the sentence which send out a clear message that people who target vulnerable young people for their own sexual gratification will be taken to court, convicted and will face many years behind bars.

“I must praise her courage for speaking out and reporting Harvey’s offending. We hope her bravery encourages others subjected to sexual abuse and rape to come forward. We are here to help and listen.” The force noted "survivors of rape are protected by law and have life-long anonymity."

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Convicted paedophile who instructed a 14-year-old girl to carry out sex acts on video calls with him whilst he masturbated.

Ethan Rich, 24, of Cwmann, was jailed for nine years and nine months for a series of sexual offences, with an additional three years extended licence period.

Rich was already subject to a sexual harm prevention order and was on the sex offenders register for life after he was convicted in August 2020 of “strikingly similar” offences to those he was back before the court on.

Dyfed-Powys Police attended Rich’s address on August 30, with his mum answering the door. Rich – who was living in a caravan at the rear of the property – didn’t reply when asked by officers whether he had access to mobile phones.

He admitted he had a phone when his mum encouraged him to “tell the truth”, prosecutor Hannah George said.

The officers were also told he had been staying at an address in Cellan for seven or more days between May 28 and July 8 without notifying the police.

Rich was bailed and that phone was registered with the police.

In October, officers received a report that he was contacting a 14-year-old girl, Ms George said.

He was arrested at his home address, and after Rich’s previously registered phone was seized, a second phone could be heard vibrating.

Each of the phones were analysed, and it was found Rich had a WhatsApp account under the name ‘Bob Ross’ and a Snapchat account under another false name. He had also made searches for ‘how to change your display name on Snapchat’ and ‘how to sign in to Snapchat on two accounts on an iPhone’.

“The defendant was aware she was under the age of 16,” Ms George said, adding that the girl had sent Rich pictures of her in her school uniform and of her classroom.

The court heard he had also searched for ‘age of consent’, ‘young teen’, and ‘what is a paedophile’.

On his devices, Rich had seven Category A indecent images of the girl. Amongst these were recordings of five video calls between them from between October 1 and 3. In the videos, Rich was instructing the girl to carry out various sexual acts on herself while he could also be seen masturbating on the calls.

He was also charged with a further breach of his sexual harm prevention order relating to this communication with an underage girl.

Rich was arrested and initially claimed in interview that he believed the girl was 19.

He later pleaded guilty to four offences of breaching a sexual harm prevention order, one of breaching the sex offender notification requirements, one of possession of indecent images of a child, and five offences each of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and engaging in sexual activity in presence of child.

Georgia Donohue, in mitigation, admitted that it was “inevitable” that Rich would receive a very lengthy prison sentence”.

Ms Donohue said the defendant was “perhaps someone who presents as significantly younger than his chronological age” and that he had recently been diagnosed with ADHD and was receiving support for autism.

She added that Rich “struggled with his mental health”, which was “perhaps exacerbated” by his drug use.

Ms Donohue said Rich realised “he has to deal with the repercussions of his actions”, and had spent his time in custody well – getting a job as a cleaner and starting to learn French.

Sentencing Rich, Judge Paul Thomas KC said: “In the past, you have made the subject of orders which led to you undergoing courses. It is clear that despite a great deal of effort being put in by the criminal justice system to get you to change your ways, you have learnt nothing – or at least nothing positive.

“Your immaturity is a source of danger to young girls as you do not learn your lesson.”

Rich will remain subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and must remain on the sex offenders register for life.

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A woman who sexually abused a young boy and shared images of the incidents has been jailed following an investigation by specialist safeguarding officers in Leeds.

Emily Hedigan, aged 21, of Broadlea Grove, Bramley, pleaded guilty to eight offences when she appeared at Leeds Crown Court on February 29.

She was convicted of offences of causing or inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity, sexual touching of a boy aged under 13, taking, making and distributing indecent images of a child, and possession of cocaine.

Police were alerted on January 29 this year after a person obtained Hedigan’s mobile phone and found images of the boy on it.

She was arrested and her phone was examined by expert digital forensic investigators who recovered video and still images of her sexually abusing the child on a number of occasions.

Further work by digital media investigators established that Hedigan had been sending the images to a man elsewhere in the country in exchange for money.

She admitted the offences when interviewed but claimed she had been providing the images under duress.

She was sentenced to a total of four years and eight months imprisonment at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.

She will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life and was also given a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

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A couple who believed they were meeting a naive 14-year-old girl for sex at a railway station were caught out when they were instead confronted by paedophile hunters.

Neil Tranmer and his then girlfriend Kerry Burdall, who had hoped to engage in unprotected sex sessions with the young girl and even wanted her to fall pregnant, were met instead by seven members of an online paedophile hunters group, Hull Crown Court heard.

The 'teenage girl' they had connected with on Facebook did not exist, but the couple were unaware of this and fully intended to "follow it through" after making a "deliberate decision" to meet and take advantage of her sexually, reports Hull Live.

Tranmer, 35, formerly of Clarence Road, Bridlington, but recently living in Hornsea, and Burdall, 39, of Limedane, Orchard Park estate, Hull, both admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child in Bridlington between April 13 and 19, 2021.

Harry Bradford, prosecuting, said that an online protection group set up profiles of fake girls aged between 10 and 14 in a bid to catch online sexual offenders.

A fake 14 year old girl received a friend request on Facebook from Burdall and was asked, "Hi. How old are you? " The decoy character responded: "I'm 14. How old are you? " To which Burdall replied, revealing herself to be "36" accompanying her message with a photograph and sentence stating: "That's my boyfriend."

She followed with another message, questioning: "Do you want to share him? He be your boyfriend too."

When probed by the decoy about how they could share him, Burdall responded boldly: "Have sex with him."

The decoy accountholder then posted: "I am a virgin. Can I have sex at 14? " Burdall gave her approval assuring: "Yes. Would you want him to use a condom? " She told the girl they resided in Bridlington, suggesting she could tell her mother that she was visiting a friend.

The decoy girl asked if she could get pregnant and Burdall replied: "Yes." The girl asked: "Are you ok with your boyfriend having sex with me?" Burdall replied "Yes" and, when the girl asked what his name was, she replied: "Neil. You can add him on Facebook if you want to."

Further interaction ensued between the decoy and Tranmer following a friend request sent to her. Upon asking Tranmer: "Are you Kerry's boyfriend? " He confirmed: "Yes. Do you want me as your boyfriend? ".

After the decoy's prompt: "Did Kerry tell you I am 14? I have never had a boyfriend before." Messages were exchanged at the same time between Tranmer and Burdall.

The girl asked Tranmer: "Do you want me to get pregnant?" He replied: "Yes." Tranmer asked her if she wanted to see explicit pictures of him and he sent two photographs. He asked her if he could see intimate pictures of her and he asked her what colour her underwear was.

He asked explicit sexual questions. Arrangements were made for the girl to meet Tranmer and Burdall at Bridlington railway station at 1.10pm.

Tranmer and Burdall continued to send messages about sexual activity. Seven members of the paedophile hunters group went to Bridlington railway station and saw Tranmer and Burdall.

They were confronted during a live streaming encounter and the police were alerted. Burdall said: "I should not have done it. I feel guilty for what I have done."

Tranmer claimed during police interview that Burdall had made him go to the railway station to meet a 14-year-old. He claimed that he did not mean to send the decoy girl messages about sex and that they were meant for Burdall and not the girl.

Burdall denied sending any of the messages apart from giving her age and claimed that her account had been hacked and that she did not send any pictures. They both had no previous convictions.

Michele Stuart-Lofthouse, mitigating, said that Tranmer pleaded guilty. He had suffered a difficult upbringing and had problems.

Dale Brook, representing Burdall, said that she had, at the time, moved in with Tranmer and thought that the relationship was a "mutually loving" one but the nature of the offences had made her look again at it.

She thought that Tranmer wanted another girlfriend. "It may seem a naive and tall story," said Mr Brook. "Since this offending, she has settled down. She is in a relationship with a new fiancé. They have accommodation together. There has been no further offending.

"These offences were not actually carried out because it was a decoy. There is no actual victim."

Judge Richard Woolfall said: "They did actually go to the railway station to meet this child. Their intention was to follow it through. The pair of you thought at the time that it was a real child."

They arranged to have unprotected sex with the girl and this could have led to pregnancy. "She was a decoy but the pair of you believed that it was a real 14-year-old girl," said Judge Woolfall. "She said that she was a virgin but that didn't put you off."

Judge Woolfall told Burdall: "There was talk about not wearing a condom and that your boyfriend would want her to get pregnant and that, if that happened, she was to tell her mother that it was a mate's brother.

"All she had to tell her mum was that she was going to see a mate. You sent her pictures. The pair of you were texting her at this point about having sex with her. You sent photos and told her not to tell anyone or show them to anyone.

"You told her that she must not report him to the police. You arranged to meet the next day at the Bridlington train station. There was talk about what sexual positions she would want.

"The next day, you travelled and went to the train station, expecting to meet her, but you were apprehended by the group of people who had effectively set all this up and the police were called.

"This was a deliberate decision made by the pair of you. The harm is less because no actual victim existed. It still makes it a serious offence, however.

"You did both go to the railway station with the intention of meeting this child and it was obvious what was intended because you so graphically described it in those texts.

"She was encouraged and told not to report the behaviour. Pregnancy was a possibility. You each preyed on a vulnerable member of society, a child who you believed was a genuine child.

"Both of you attended at the train station expecting her to attend so that physical acts could take place."

Tranmer was jailed for two-and-a-half years and Burdall was locked up for two years and three months. They were each given an eight-year sexual harm prevention order.

Tranmer must register as a sex offender for life and Burdall must notify her details to the police for 10 years.

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A teenage sex offender has been jailed after he was found to have communicated with a child.

Ryan Walker, 18, was given a 14-month youth detention order at Carlisle Crown Court on Thursday.

The court heard Walker, who pleaded guilty to the offences, had engaged in sexual communication with a child and had caused a child to watch an indecent image.

He had also failed to comply with notification requirements of the sex offenders register.

Det Con Anna Ritson, from Cumbria Police, said Walker's phone was seized as part of the investigation and undeclared accounts found.

"Officers located a number of online usernames and a new passport which had not been notified to police by Walker, who was well aware of his notification requirements," she said.

“Also located were messages exchanged between Walker and a child.”

She added: "Our main priority is to protect vulnerable people from sexual harm and we work hard to monitor and manage people who are subject to such orders."

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A 55-year-old man from Beaconsfield has been sentenced to nearly a decade behind bars for sexually assaulting three people.

Richard Cunningham, of Maxwell Road, was found guilty of sexually assaulting three people by a jury on February 28, following a week-long trial at Aylesbury Crown Court.

He was also found guilty of assault by penetration and not guilty of one count of rape in relation to offences committed in Chalfont St Peter between 2015 and 2019.

Cunningham was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison on Friday, April 19.

The 55-year-old also previously pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker after her pushed a female police officer to the ground on Maxwell Road, causing a head injury that required hospital treatment.

Detective Inspector Christopher Birtles said: The three victims in this case were brave and resolute and this conviction shows their determination to see not only justice for what happened but also to prevent it from happening to anyone else.

Richard Cunningham preyed on these vulnerable victims and the sentence he received reflects the awful nature of the crimes he committed.

I hope this case shows that we will always support victims of sexual offences and do all we can to put offenders before the courts.

We also simply will not accept assaults on our dedicated and hardworking police officers while serving the public so Im glad Cunningham has also been brought to justice for this offence.

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A man who had sexual activity with an underage South Yorkshire girl in the back of a van has been jailed by a Sheffield court.

Mohammed Qasim, aged 38, of Sable Crest, Bradford, appeared before Sheffield Crown Court last week for sentencing after admitting to engaging in sexual activity with a 15-year-old girl in the back of a van. Police said he threatened to kill the girl, who is from Barnsley and cannot be named for legal reasons, if she told anyone.

Qasim, who told his victim he would buy her things if she kept quiet, was jailed for four years last Wednesday (April 17) following a lengthy investigation by South Yorkshire Police.

Det Cons Rosie O'Grady, who works in Barnsley's Protecting Vulnerable People (PVP) team, said:

"This sentence follows meticulous work from our officers who strived to bring a child sexual offender to justice.

"Exemplary forensic work helped to secure justice but ultimately, this conviction wouldn't have been secured had it not been for the brave testimony of Qasim's vulnerable victim.

"I want to commend the girl and her family for their courage in coming forward to tell us about what happened, and I hope the passing of this sentence.”

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A PREDATOR has been branded ‘evil’ by a person he ‘systematically’ sexually abused while they were a child and he was an adult.

Graham Simcock has been handed a custodial term of almost two decades for 145 separate incidents of historic sex offences against multiple children.

The 59-year-old laughed during one horrific incident of abuse before repeating the act straight after, with victims feeling ‘powerless’ to stop him.

He admitted 28 counts of sexual offences against children at a previous hearing, including indecent assault, gross indecency and attempted rape.

Simcock appeared back before Chester Crown Court to be sentenced, with the court hearing that some of the incidents, had they been committed today, would now be classed as rape.

The victims are entitled to lifelong anonymity by court order and must not be identified.

The facts of the case were outlined by Myles Wilson, prosecuting, who explained that the defendant ‘systematically’ sexually abused multiple children in Warrington decades ago.

He was an adult at the time, with all victims bravely attending the sentencing hearing in person, along with their families.

Detailing the offending, Mr Wilson spoke of how one victim woke to find Simcock performing a sexual act on them while they were asleep.

The defendant would reassure them that it was only a dream, ask them about the dream and ask them not to tell anyone else, ‘sugarcoating’ what happened with ‘bribes of sweets and money to keep silent.

The court heard how Simcock’s behaviour ‘grew bolder’, with him pursuing his ‘fetishes’ with the victims and telling them that if they told anyone about what he was doing, they would be in ‘as much trouble as him’.

It was said that some of the acts that he would do to the victims would constitute rape had they occurred today, with the court bound to look at the offences as they would in the time period they occurred.

After one perverted and horrific incident, which left a victim in tears and caused them to run from the room, Simcock laughed, apologised and performed the same act again.

“The defendant gave them gifts in return for sexual activity,” Mr Wilson said, adding that when one victim reported the abuse to another adult, they ‘became angry and demanded evidence’.

Another reported what had happened to an adult, but they were ‘not supported’ the matter was ‘swept under the carpet’.

The defendant would show the victims pornography while touching them inappropriately and asking for the same in return.

After performing a sex act on one of the victims, the predator said it was ‘just a bit of fun’ and told them to ‘relax’.

The court heard multiple victims attempted self-harm as a result of Simcock’s abuse, which also caused other physical and mental problems.

Simcock, who has no previous convictions, was arrested in May 2022 but answered ‘no comment’ to questions put to him during his police interview.

One victim, who suffers from sleepless nights and flashbacks, said it was ‘incredibly difficult’ to prepare an impact statement as they had ‘no point of reference other than the abuse’.

“When I started to understand what was happening, I felt completely powerless to stop it,” they wrote.

“Due to the stigma and shame, I tried to avoid as much as I could. I tried to raise it but I was told I was disgusting and that I better have proof.

“I felt worthless and that no one would do anything to stop it.”

Another, who also suffers from flashbacks, said in their impact statement that they are ‘destroyed mentally and physically’.

“From a young age, I always had pain and trauma. I was always told it was normal and that I had to keep the secret,” they said.

“I never questioned him in fear of being abused more. I felt dirty and disgusted. That man is evil, selfish and controlling.”

The victim added that the ‘sick’ defendant used them to ‘get his own kicks’, and that he now faces ‘justice for his historic, disgusting sexual desires’.

Mr Wilson stated that the defendant caused ‘severe psychological harm through grooming’ and highlighted a ‘significant disparity in age’ between him and the victims.

Mitigating on behalf of his client, Jonathan Duffy, defending, said: “I make it clear the defendant accepts that what he did was seriously wrong.

“He wants his victims to know that he acknowledges the harm he caused them and understands that while he apologises, he knows this will sound hollow.

“He wants them to know he is sorry. He also does not want me to say anything perceived as an excuse for what he has done.”

Mr Duffy highlighted that his client has ‘intellectual and learning difficulties’, but that he understands that the court must past a lengthy custodial sentence.

Before sentencing, judge Simon Berkson said: “There are a number of offences and multiple victims – 145 separate incidents of sexual offending against children.

“This is a case of a lengthy campaign of child sexual offending. You abused them over a period of time in a systematic fashion.”

He termed the abuse ‘persistent, horrific and cruel’, commenting that it had a ‘depraved and perverted theme’.

“You used and abused them for your own depraved sexual gratification. The matter was sadly swept under the carpet,” Judge Berkson continued.

“It is fair to say it has had a marked effect on the victims.

“It can only be hoped that by coming forward now and you entering guilty pleas that they may start to move forwards from the past and their lives will improve.”

Simcock, of Ryfields Retirement Village in Orford, was sentenced to 19 years and four months in prison, with a year on extended licence on his release.

In addition, he must sign the sex offender register for life and abide by indefinite restraining orders prohibiting him from contacting the victims, and he is also barred from working with children.