Latest Offenders

Description

A man who made covert explicit videos of teenage girls and women has been jailed for three years.

Luke Greenfield, 25, of Trinity Lane, Beverley, claimed the recordings were consensual, but was later charged with 18 counts of voyeurism.

He was also charged with three counts of having sex with a female under 16, two counts of making indecent images and two counts of taking indecent images.

Greenfield pleaded guilty to the charges shortly before his trial had been due to start.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and handed a five-year restraining order at Hull Crown Court on Thursday.

'Inexcusable crime'

Police launched an investigation last year after a woman reported that Greenfield had made an explicit video of them without her consent, and when she confronted him, "he’d threatened to publish it online".

Officers later found a camera and other electronic devices, along with more than 30 explicit videos of 27 girls and women on a mobile phone.

The victims had been filmed at Greenfield's home and place of work, Humberside Police said.

Officers identified two teenage girls and several of the women, who said they had no idea Greenfield had taken explicit videos of them.

Det Con Daniel Radford, who led the investigation, said: “It is without a doubt that Greenfield is a dangerous sexual offender who manipulated women and girls for his own predatory desires.

“Highly calculated, Greenfield lured the women and girls to his home and made false promises to them about future plans and endeavours, when really he had an ulterior motive.

“Whilst I am pleased he eventually admitted to his inexcusable crime, sparing the victims the upset of a trial, Greenfield showed no remorse for his unforgiveable actions throughout the entirety of the investigation."

Description

He has today (1st August 2024) been given a sentence at Preston Crown Court for 22 years.

He lured the women into his vehicle as they made their way home from nights out by leading them to believe he was a taxi driver. He then drove them to remote locations before subjecting them to serious sexual assaults.

The first incident happened on the 3rd of October 2021. The victim got into Asmal’s car in Preston city centre. He drove for about ten minutes, raped his victim in the car and then dropped her off back in the city centre. She flagged a member of the public down for help.

The second incident happened on 4th of March 2023. The victim had been on a night out in Darwen and ended up in Asmal’s car. He drove her to a secluded area on the outskirts of Darwen where he then raped her. Asmal managed to get the victims phone number and called her at the start of April. She did not answer the call on that occasion because it came up with ‘no caller ID’.

Asmal called her again on 8th of April 2023 and this time she did answer. The victim recognised the voice as the man who had raped her but did not know his identity. She ended the call after Asmal asked the terrified victim ‘If she wanted to do something?’

Asmal raped his third victim on the same evening he made that call. The victim got into Asmal’s car in Darwen town centre. Driving her towards Bolton, in the opposite direction of her home, Asmal said: “You don’t want to pay for this taxi, do you?”

He stopped in a secluded area and raped her. He then dropped her off at her home address.

We identified Asmal after his black Toyota Yaris was picked up on CCTV cameras.

Asmal, 35, now of no fixed address but formerly Balaclava Street, Blackburn, appeared at Preston Crown Court on in November and pleaded guilty to four counts of rape.

Judge Heather Lloyd deemed Asmal to be a dangerous offender and sentenced him to 17 years in custody with a further five years on extended licence. He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Description

A WIRRAL man who breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) has been jailed for 20 months.

Wayne Thomas, was sentenced yesterday (Thursday, August 1) at Liverpool Crown Court.

Thomas, 23 and from Birkenhead, is a Registered Sex Offender and required to adhere to conditions under the Sex Offender Register and his SHPO.

Bell was found to have breached his conditions when he had unsupervised contact with a young girl under the age of 18, without the consent of the child’s parent and the approval of Children's Social Services.

Description

A Gosport man who filmed himself raping a woman as she slept has been jailed for two decades.

Louis Charles Cann, 38, raped two women multiple times in a ten-month period in Portsmouth and Gosport, police said.

Salisbury Crown Court heard that the women were manipulated by Cann, threatened with violence and verbally abused, and one of the women was physically assaulted by Cann when she said no to having sex with him.

Passing sentence on Thursday, Judge Adam Feest KC remarked on the humiliation, degradation, blackmail and manipulation used by Cann, in order to rape these women, with the judge noting that one of the women was treated like a rag doll.

He said: Neither I nor anyone listening to this case can properly understand the long-lasting trauma, distress, and fear that your actions have caused.

Cann, of Rampart Row, was charged with nine counts of rape following an investigation by Operation Amberstone Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabularys specialist rape and serious sexual offence investigation team.

He denied the charges - but was found guilty of all the offences on Wednesday, June 5 by a jury.

Detective Sergeant Samantha Brown, from the Operation Amberstone Team, said: The level of sexual violence and abuse that these women have suffered at the hands of this awful man is truly shocking.

These women were degraded, manipulated and assaulted in the most appalling way.

Nonetheless, they have shown incredible courage in standing up to this cowardly individual, and because of their strength and bravery Cann will now spend a lengthy period of time in jail.

She added: We want anyone who has been affected by rape or sexual abuse to have the confidence to report this. You will be believed, and we will do everything in our power to bring offenders to justice.

Cann was sentenced to 20 years in prison, with an additional extended five-year licence period.

He was also handed a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

Description

A victim has been praised by police after a "dangerous and predatory" paedophile was jailed. 

Detective Constable Dawn Capper paid tribute to the girl's courage after sex offender Jason Mcauley was jailed for 18 months at Southampton Crown Court. 

The court was told how the child reported the sexual nature of messages she was receiving from the 45-year-old to her friends and school. 

He was arrested and when officers examined his phone, they found three Category C indecent images of a toddler.

Mcauley, of Ventnor Court, pleaded guilty to engaging in sexual communication with a child and making indecent photographs of a child and was sentenced on Monday. 

Det Con Capper, of Southampton’s Child Abuse Investigation Team, led the investigation into the offending which took place in early 2023.

She said: “One of our jobs in the specialist Child Abuse Investigation Team is to target those who attempt to exploit and abuse children sexually.

“I would like to say thank you to the victim in this case for coming forward and reporting Mcauley’s crimes. It’s not an easy thing to do, but their courage has ensured that a dangerous and predatory man will now face the consequences of his actions in prison.

“We always take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and work hard to bring offenders to justice.

“Anyone who has any concerns at all about child abuse can contact us at any time – we recognise that not everyone has the confidence to speak to police, but there are support services available that can help you if you are a victim of abuse.”

Description

A CONVICTED paedophile was caught staying with a Barrow mum and her children, a court heard.

Aaron Pollard was jailed for 27 months at Swansea Crown Court in March 2019 for sexually assaulting an underage girl after plying her with alcohol and cannabis.

The 28-year-old admitted breaching the terms of his ten-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and for failing to comply with notification requirements.

Prosecutor Ellie McManus told Preston Crown Court Pollard had been in regular contact with the mother’s young daughter in Barrow this year.

She said the defendant shouted to the mother: ‘You do not know me, you have never seen me before babe’, as he was arrested.

The court heard Pollard had been in a sexual relationship with the mother after originally communicating via Snapchat.

Ms McManus told the court the defendant was homeless and that he would either sleep on the streets or in his car.

She said the defendant would stay at the woman’s address for a few hours but never overnight and that he had contact with her daughter regularly on a daily basis.

The court heard Pollard was also at a party where girls aged between seven and ten-years-old were present.

Ms McManus added he would drive her daughter to school on occasions while she was in the car and that he would make attempts to avoid the police in Barrow.  

She said Pollard had failed to inform the mother that he was a registered sex offender.

The prosecution said the victim was ‘shocked’ and ‘upset’ when discovering who the defendant was.

A police inquiry was launched after Pollard was arrested outside McDonald’s on Dalton Road on May 2 this year for being drunk and disorderly, the court heard.

Officers attended his registered mother’s address who revealed her son had not been at the address address since April 19 this year.

In mitigation, Emma Keogh said her client’s offending began after Christmas last year after the breakdown of a relationship where his son was taken into the care of social services.

Ms Keogh said: “He turned to alcohol as a clutch and his behaviour worsened.

“He began speaking with another woman online and their relationship progressed quickly. He found himself in Barrow with no money and unable to get back to Swansea because his car had broken down.

“He knows he should have gone to the police and told them about the situation, but he buried his head in the sand.

“He regrets his actions and has already had three months in custody to reflect on the ramifications.

“His mother is now very ill and requires the help and assistance from her son. He very much wants to be rehabilitated.

"I urge you to consider suspending the sentence of imprisonment today.

However, His Honour Judge Graham Knowles said he was left with no other option but to jail Pollard for 18 months.

Passing sentence, Judge Knowles said: “In cases similar to this, women sometimes know of a man’s history, but in this case you did not tell her the truth at all.

"You deceived the mother and her four children. You were present in her house more than you care to admit.”

“You are deemed to pose a high risk of reoffending and you are deemed to be of serious harm to the public.

"This was clearly a persistent breach. I cannot say there is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation, nor do you have particularly strong personal mitigation.

“The reality is, this is clearly a case where appropriate punishment can only be achieved by immediate custody.”

Description

An online sex offender has been jailed after downloading and sharing hundreds of ‘horrific’ child sexual abuse images.

Paul Smith, aged 41, came to the attention of Nottinghamshire Police when his IP address was linked to illicit images and videos stored on an online file sharing site.

When he was arrested in February 2022, Smith admitted to using the site to access images of adults, but also made voluntary reference to ‘child porn’ – saying that he made a point of instantly deleting any such images.

Officers then began a more detailed search of his then home address in  Grimston Road, Radford, and seized electronic devices.

Forensic examination of his mobile phone confirmed his use of the file sharing site and uncovered multiple prohibited images.

It also contained a damning history from use of an online chat application in which he shared and viewed hundreds of links to images and videos featuring children and babies.

Most of the images were graded as Category A – depicting the most serious sexual abuse of children by adults.

Smith, of Radford, initially denied any wrongdoing but later pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing indecent images of children and three counts of making indecent photographs of children.

He also admitted to possessing a prohibited image of a child, and possessing an extreme pornographic image of an animal.

Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Monday (29 July) he was given a seven year extended prison sentence and added to the sex offenders’ register for life.

He was also made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order that will tightly restrict his access to children and the internet once he is released.

Description

A convicted sex offender made a bomb threat to the police after he breached an order preventing him from having unmonitored access to the internet. He told a 999 operative: "If I light this I don't have to go to court and I don't have to go to prison."

Kynon Crisp, 18, of Cardiff, made a 999 call on June 16 and told the operator a friend had made a "canister bomb" which he was going to ignite. The defendant said: "My mate is good at explosives and he's made me a canister bomb and I am tempted to light this. He told me to put it under the gas line which will make the gas explode, kill me, and blow up the flat."

A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court heard Crisp told the operator the bomb would "go bang" when heated and said: "If I light this I don't have to go to court and I don't have to go to prison."

Police attended the defendant's home in Tudor Street, Riverside, where they found a block of deodorant cans tied to each other and covered in wax. Crisp was arrested and taken into police custody.

Prosecutor Alice Sykes said the defendant was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years after he was convicted of sexual assault and voyeurism. Prior to the bomb hoax incident Crisp had attended Cardiff Bay police station as part of his conditions but was found to have downloaded a VPN on a new phone in order to mask his IP address and watch pornography.

Crisp later pleaded guilty to making a bomb hoax and breaching a sexual harm prevention order. In mitigation Ruth Smith said her client was a "complex individual" with learning difficulties and had the understanding of a 12-year-old. She said the defendant had a difficult start in life and was placed into care at the age of nine years old.

Judge Daniel Williams sentenced Crisp to a total of six months imprisonment. The defendant will serve half the sentence in custody before he is released to serve the remainder on licence.

Description

A paedophile sent videos of himself performing a sex act to someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl – but he was speaking to an undercover member of the police force. He also asked the decoy for naked images of herself.

Hywell Hardman, 31, of Bridgend, sent messages to the decoy on Snapchat between February 8 and 13 this year using an account with a false name. He claimed to be 17 years old and the decoy told him she was just 13.

A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court on Thursday heard the defendant asked the decoy for a picture and an image of a girl aged about 13 was sent back. He said he would like to see more photos of her while she was in school and asked her about the colour of her underwear.

Prosecutor Matthew Comer said Hardman asked the decoy for naked pictures and to send intimate images of herself. He sent photographs and videos of himself which included his penis and of him performing a sex act. The language used was sexual in nature.

Hardman, of Stormy Down, was arrested and later pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause/incite a child to watch an image of sexual activity. The court heard he was of previous good character.

In mitigation Ruth Smith said her client left school with no qualifications and had had difficulty in the past with bullying. He was in a relationship when he carried out the offences and is a father-of-two who now only has supervised contact with his children.

Sentencing, Judge Daniel Williams said the offences were "too serious to be dealt with by anything other than an immediate custodial sentence". Hardman was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment and was made subject to sex offender notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

Description

A Hastings man who raped a vulnerable woman has been jailed for ten years.

Nathan Ackerley, 28, of School Road in Hastings, raped a woman as she slept after taking her back to his home in October, 2021.

She woke up during the attack, in which he had cut her clothing, managed to escape and came directly to a police station to report the crime.

While she was supported by specialist officers, Ackerley was located and arrested on suspicion of rape.

A search of his phone found he had taken pictures of the victim while she was asleep.

He was subsequently charged with rape, sexual assault by touching, sexual assault by penetration and voyeurism.

On Friday, 19 July, he was convicted of all charges and the following Monday – 22 July – he was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, with a minimum period of two thirds.

He was also given a restraining order against the victim and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Description

A foot fetishist and serial sex offender breached a court order just a month after being released from prison.

Luke Merry, 30, was jailed for 18 months in 2019 after Leeds Crown Court heard he how he had committed two charges of sexual assault on a child under 13 and one offence of voyeurism at a Vue cinema.

He had also previously been convicted of outraging public decency by sitting under a desk that was being used by a female and performing a sex act and performing a sex act while looking at images of women's feet.

On Tuesday, Sheffield Crown Court heard how Merry, of Lakeside Boulevard, Lakeside, Doncaster, was released from his last sentence in December last year and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which he breached in January. Prosecutor Richard Sheldon said it was then that he "disclosed he had a laptop and produced a phone and gaming computer.

"In February 2024, he failed to notify the police with a change of address and accepted a conditional caution and agreed to take a polygraph test. The police visited him to check the internet enabled devices and he handed over a number. He was asked about hard drives as the officers could see them in a drawer."

Officers, the court heard, recorded Merry having 17 internet enabled devices. Only three of those were registered. A phone was also found to have Snapchat on, with a username of lukemerry93 on the application. There was also 366 items - including emails - in a deleted folder on the phone. Merry was prohibited from deleting any internet history.

Cheryl Dudley, mitigating, told the court "a lot of information" had been handed to the court, including a psychiatric report and pre-sentence report. She said the probation service required Merry to have a formal assessment for autism and he had been recalled to prison and then remanded into custody since April this year.

Ms Dudley added: "There is room for rehabilitation and the opportunity for rehabilitation that could be grasped...There are factors that support the conclusion that he has autism." The court heard Merry had admitted failing to comply with notification requirements, breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and deleting internet history.

His Honour Judge Reeds KC jailed Merry for 14 months and told him: "You were not long out of prison when you breached your Sexual Harm Prevention Order and notification requirements.

"You were cautioned in February 2024 about being in breach of those requirements. That was a warning but you nevertheless continued to ignore the requirements of that order. You knew what you must not do. It was written down for you and you did it any way."

Description

Nigel Reeson, 58, began sexually assaulting the young girl in 1994, with the abuse taking place on regular occasions until the early 2000s.

Cambs police said Reeson sexually touched the girl on multiple occasions, including one instance when he got into a bath with her.

In 2010, Reeson sexually assaulted another girl at her home.

A force spokesperson explained: “Last year the victims reported what had happened and Reeson was arrested at his home in Abbots Drive, Crowland, near Peterborough.

“He admitted six counts of indecently assaulting a girl under the age of 14, inciting a girl under 16 years of age to commit an act of gross indecency and assaulting a girl by touching.”

On Friday, July 26, at Cambridge Crown Court he was jailed for three years and eight months.

DC Anna-Mae Dawson commented: “Reeson subjected the first victim to a prolonged period of awful abuse, before assaulting another girl.

“I’d like to commend the victims for the strength they showed in reporting what had happened. Once again, this case shows that time is not a barrier to bringing perpetrators of abuse to justice. If you’ve been a victim of abuse, I’d encourage you to report what happened.”

Description

A former secondary school teacher who admitted downloading hundreds of indecent photos and videos of children performing sex acts has been handed a suspended sentence.

Joshua Pope, of Lancaster Gardens, Plymouth, pleaded guilty at Plymouth Magistrates' Court on June 11 to three charges - namely making indecent photos of children of category A, B and C, with A being the most serious and depraved.

The prosecutor told Plymouth Crown Court today how police received information that a Dropbox account linked to 26-year-old Pope was associated with images of child sexual abuse. On March 8, 2023 police attended his home, Pope was arrested and a number of electronic devices were seized including an Apple iPhone, a second iPhone, a hard drive and an Apple Mac Pro with a damaged screen.

The court was told investigators found 276 images of Category A - with 210 being moving images. They also found 214 Category B images, of which 127 were moving and 296 Category C with 25 moving images. Police found images were downloaded over a period of many years up until March 5, 2023.

During police interview Pope claimed he had "stumbled" onto the photos "by accident" and then had immediately deleted them, but over the last two years he had begun to click on links he knew he could find indecent images of children. Pope insisted to police he had "no sexual interest in children" and the images had been downloaded "out of boredom and loneliness" and that he had "felt desensitised to it". He also accepted he had downloaded more vile material just a week before his arrest.

At his second police interview on November 30, 2023 following further investigation he accepted the accounts were his and while he did not think he had stored any of the images he accepted they were on his account.

The court heard the 27-year-old had no previous convictions or cautions to his name and was effectively of good character.

In mitigation, his advocate Ed Bailey said the knock on the door by the police had been an "wake up call" and that his clients "obsession for searching for indecent images of children had got way out of control, especially during the isolation of the pandemic". He said that Pope felt "relieved that he had been finally been caught and his secret was out in the open" and that he had been "able to deal with his sense of shame upon his family finding out".

Mr Bailey said that Pope had "immediately lost his job which was a decent one as a secondary school teacher". Mr Bailey said his client took voluntary steps, paying for six month's one-to-one therapy an engaged with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation and the Stop It Now organisation in an attempt to address his underlying predilection in viewing "this type of material".

Mr Bailey said while his client has denied a sexual interest in children, he said the judge would recognise this as a "familiar feature with offenders of this nature" and he would be working on this.

He said Pope had now secured new employment as a "self-employed journalist and copywriter".

Judge Peter Johnson told Pope the reason some of the types of imagery he was found in possession of was read out - such as children being sexually penetrated - was for the 26-year-old to appreciate "exactly what it is you have been doing".

He told Pope: "You have been a party to the sexual abuse of children by creating the demand which leads to these children being abused. It causes them long term harm, not only physical for screamingly obvious reasons but also psychological. It affects their mental health massively. It affects their ability to form relationships. In short, the damage is enduring and is generally permanent".

Judge Johnson KC told Pope any doubts he had about this damage would be "dispelled" over the next two years as he participated in an accredited programme.

Taking into account the aggravating and mitigating factors and the sentencing guidelines, Judge Johnson noted how Pope had lost his job as a schoolteacher which he had spent some time training for, adding that there was "no doubt the public would say 'quite right too'."

He handed Pope a eight month jail sentence, suspended for two years, saying there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation. He ordered him to be under a supervision requirement for two years and attend an accredited sex offender programme lasting 42 days which would require him to look "deep inside your soul" and take steps to ensure he never became involved in this offence again.

He also ordered Pope to complete up to 15 Rehabilitation Acrtivity Requirement days and carry out 100 hours unpaid work. Judge Johnson also approved an application for a Sexual Harm Prevention Order lasting 10 years and said Pope would be informed by the Disclosure and Barring Service that he would be barred from working in future with children and vulnerable adults.

Description

Two men have been sentenced as part of a long-running investigation into the sexual abuse and trafficking of girls in West Yorkshire.

Ebrahim Pandor was jailed for six years for trafficking a girl when she was aged 13.

Another man, Amjad Hussain, was jailed for 10 years in his absence for raping the same girl when she was 18. West Yorkshire Police said efforts to locate Hussain were continuing.

The sentences meant 28 men in total had been jailed as part of Operation Tourway, police said.

The operation has been investigating the sexual abuse and trafficking of eight females in north Kirklees between 1999 and 2012.

Pandor, 44, of Highdale Road and Hussain, 45, of Lee Street, Ravensthorpe were sentenced at Leeds Crown Court earlier.

Police said as part of the operation, jail terms totalling almost 400 years had been given out to the 28 men.

The force said during trials, jurors had "heard repeated stories about how vulnerable victims were targeted and groomed by their abusers who treated them almost as commodities".

Speaking about Hussain, Det Ch Insp Oliver Coates said: “Clearly it is a matter of regret that Hussain was sentenced in his absence today and inquiries do continue to locate this convicted sex offender.

“Officers have been working with partner agencies to locate him and are keeping an open mind as to his whereabouts."

Description

A teaching assistant from Plymouth has been jailed after he admitted sexual activity - and filming it - with an underage girl. During the hearing, held at Bristol Crown Court, it was revealed how Callum Leech, of Kingsland Garden Close in Plymouth, met the girl via the social media site Snapchat when he was 21 years old and she was 14, but he claimed he was a teenager too.

The Crown Prosecution Service told prosecutor how the now 24-year-old Leech pleaded guilty in March this year to four offences - three of sexual activity with a child and one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

In addition, Leech admitted three offences of making indecent images of a child - the girl he had targeted - and three further offences of making indecent images of a separate child aged between 12 and 13 years old. The court heard that the images included still images and videos ranging from Category A - the most serious - through to Category C.

The prosecutor told Judge James Patrick the victim in the case was considered to have vulnerabilities and that her father became aware of the "relationship" in December 2020 where Leech claimed he was 16.

In January 2021, a multi-agency strategy meeting was held as his own employer - a primary school - became concerned about a potential "inappropriate sexual relationship" with the girl. At that point he denied the relationship was sexual.

Police and social workers met with the girl but she also denied any sexual element to their relationship.

Leech was arrested in February 2021 and during interview he denied it was a sexual relationship and that he met her through Snapchat when she was 14. His laptop and mobile phone was seized but he refused to offer passwords to access them.

He was made subject of a child abduction warning notice on release and on February 4, 2021 the investigating officer spoke with the girl at her school and she revealed that Leech had bought her a new mobile phone and there was a "significant" amount of contact recorded on it between them.

Police later discovered that over the next six months there were thousands of pages of messages between Leech and the girl, including her efforts to end their relationship but with him talking her out of it, making claims that he would harm himself.

In June 2021 he was arrested again and offered no comment to all questions about the messages as well as the images and videos of Leech and his victim engaging in sexual activity on a phone seized by police.

Investigators also learned he had engaged with other young girls on Snapchat using "overfamiliar language" and a what the prosecution said was a "real sexual interest in underaged girls". A search of his bedroom in June 2021 revealed photos of children in school uniform aged between nine years and 10 years old.

The court heard this was the same age group as the children he was in contact with as a Teaching Assistant. The prosecutor said police also found notes, which were effectively "love letters" between Leech and his victim, where there was frequent use of the word "Daddy".

In parallel, one of the victim's teachers confiscated the phone and saw lots of notifications from Leech around the time he was arrested and re-interviewed. She shared her concerns with fellow staff members.

The prosecutor noted how the girl herself had a number of real vulnerabilities and had been allocated a base worker to support her as there were concerns she was at risk of sexual exploitation. While the girl was not initially keen to engage at that time, when she turned 18 in early 2024 she came forward and revealed the extent of the abuse she had suffered.

She admitted that they had met frequently after she was 14 and that he would buy her chocolates and flowers and message her repeatedly. She told police she now realised she was "bombarded" by him and admitted that they would meet after school. She revealed he did not tell her the reason for his arrest and confirmed that they would have sexual activity "pretty much every time they met".

The court heard that a number of the images and videos seized from Leech were of him engaging in sex with his victim or of them engaging in sexual activity online.

The prosecutor noted that Leech had no previous convictions.

In mitigation, Leech's legal advocate explained that his client was a young man with his own vulnerabilities and that during the long wait for the case to come to court had self harmed.

Judge Patrick noted a pre-sentence report and a psychiatrist's report and guidelines on sentencing young persons. He noted Leech's "highly disadvantaged early development" and how he had developed an "attachment disorder" as a result.

He acknowledged the timeline of the incidents and how Leech had breached the trust of the girl despite being fully aware of the importance of protecting her, thanks to his role as a teaching assistant. He noted that Leech did not only film the sexual activity, but retained the footage. He also noted how Leech had lied to the authorities about the true nature of his relationship with the girl and that he did not stop continuing to contact her even when she told him her mental health was suffering and even went on to contact other girls who were under the age of 16.

He accepted Leech's advocate's point that this was not a "pseudo-rape" case, but that there was grooming and filming and Leech had tried to conceal evidence.

Judge Patrick said he believe Leech was "more susceptible to offending" due to his background and the attachment issues he had "suffered" made him "less able to control" himself and forge appropriate relationships, but the background to all this was "you knew that what you were doing was wrong", having "groomed her", as well as lied to her and his parents about his age.

Having noted the mitigating and aggravating factors, as well as the reports, the delay in the court case and sentencing guidelines, Judge Patrick passed a sentence of 44 months.

He said Leech would serve half before being released on licence and he would be placed on the Sex Offenders' register for life. In addition he would be barred from working with children and vulnerable young adults for life, and would be subject of a restraining order and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further notice.