Latest Offenders

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A man has been sentenced to prison for sexual offences involving children following an investigation by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).

Iain Miller of the Green, Whitchurch, was sentenced to a total of three years in prison at Winchester Crown Court on Wednesday 14 February.

The 58-year-old pleaded guilty at a hearing at the same court in January to the following offences:

• Attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child
• Two counts of attempting to cause/incite a child in sexual activity
• Attempting to meet a child following grooming

The court heard that between 15 and 23 November 2023, Miller engaged in chats online with what he believed to be a 13-year-old girl. The chats were sexually explicit in nature.

He then arranged to meet the girl in Andover, at which point he was met by police officers and arrested. Miller was charged with the offences on 24 November.

Detective Inspector Kay Hutchings, of SEROCU, said: This investigation shows exactly what happens when people try to groom children online, and it should serve as a warning.

If you engage in this sort of behaviour, there is a very strong chance that the person you are talking to is in fact a police officer, which will mean you are quickly arrested.

This will have a devastating impact on your family, career, friendships and reputation. You will face court hearings and are likely to serve time in prison.

I hope that Iain Millers case shows that this sort of offending will not be tolerated, and that our officers will take action to stop those who look to exploit children online.

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A paedophile who was jailed for grooming an "extremely vulnerable" child before having sex with her reoffended "almost immediately" after he was released from prison. Jason Thomas, 42, was jailed in 2021 after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a child and engaging in sexual communication with a child.

He was given a five-year prison sentence, of which he served half, and when he was released in 2023 he had to abide by a sexual harm prevention order which banned him from downloading certain apps, using certain websites and trying to conceal his identity online, among other things.

But Thomas, of Pendeen, breached the order 12 times and found himself back before Judge Simon Carr at Truro Crown Court for sentence having pleaded guilty before magistrates.

Prosecuting, Katie Churcher said: "The background to that order being that it was imposed for a period of ten years following his conviction in 2021 with two counts of sexual interaction with a child. Following his release from custody, after he served what had been half of what was a five-year sentence, he was visited in Bridgewater by DC Allen and given another copy of the prevention order and handed over his phone.

"At that time they saw that the application Snapchat was on there. He was told the main feature of Snapchat is auto-deletion so was told he couldn't have that on the phone and it was deleted and he was reminded he needed permission to set up social media accounts.

"He was visited again unannounced on Jan 15 and handed over his phone again. He volunteered he had been using Whatsapp and said he'd been using Snapchat but had deleted it.

"My Google Activity was looked at to check internet history, there were searches for pornography and pornographic videos, it looked as though he had been deleting his internet history, and he had been using social media accounts that had been deleted including Tinder, Snapchat, WhatsApp, Telegram, various other live streaming apps, and private browsing applications.

"There was also an uninstalled VPN which conceals online IP addresses. It had been installed and deinstalled. Lastly they found his email account had been accessed, used and deleted. He was arrested for those breaches and interviewed on Jan 15. In essence, he made admission and when he was spoken to he said he had been doing things he shouldn't do."

Robin Smith, for Thomas' defence, said: "This man is very realistic about his position and his fate, perhaps the best mitigating factor is that he was extremely frank and candid with the police from the moment of arrest. Having spoken to him face to face he remains realistic and he appreciates he has some big problems to deal with.

"He is now in a state where he can accept the help given to him."

Sentencing, Judge Carr acknowledged Thomas' early plea and gave him full credit and added that the defendant's remorse seemed genuine. He said: "The circumstances of your offending is extremely troubling. Inevitably a sexual harm prevention order was made for a substantial period of time.

"After serving your sentence you were released on licence. It was clear you started offending almost immediately after you were released. What was found on the phone... is that you had set up a number of accounts and done everything possible to hide your identity. You put on devices to clear your history. You accessed sites that you would immediately delete like Snapchat.

"This is a serious breach of a sexual harm prevention order and you must have known so at the time. You have expressed remorse but you still present a high risk to children and I suspect you will do for a very long time."

Judge Carr sentenced Thomas to two 2.5-year sentences, which will run concurrently, giving him a total sentence of 2.5 years imprisonment. He will be eligible for parole after serving half the term.

Previously, we reported how Thomas groomed a vulnerable child before having sex with her. He later told the girl that hed be going to prison but the feeling of the encounter was the best feeling hed ever had.

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A 55-year-old man from Ipswich has been jailed for the illegal filming or photographing of children and adults.

Ian Butcher, of Woodbridge Road East, appeared at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday, Monday 12 February, where he was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment.

He was also made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years, which places restrictions on his use of any computer or device capable of accessing the internet and the storing of digital images. He must notify police of any purchase of such devices and allow officers access to inspect any devices or storage immediately on request.

Butcher had pleaded guilty at a previous court hearing on Friday 6 October to the following four offences:

• one count of taking an indecent photograph of a child (namely taking six videos)
• one count of making an indecent photograph of a child (namely the possession of 16 indecent images)
• two counts of voyeurism (in both cases recording the private act of an adult)

The offences relate to eight separate victims, aged between 12-years-old and 32-years-old. Six are children and two are adults.

The incidents - which occurred over a period of 19 months - involved cases of children being filmed while getting undressed in a changing room; the possession of indecent images of children; and adults being filmed whilst showering.

The first incident was reported to Suffolk Police at the beginning of December 2022 by a teenage girl, who said she had been filmed by Butcher over the top of a cubicle in the changing rooms at a swimming pool a number of years earlier.

Detectives immediately began an investigation and Butcher was first arrested just over one month after this first disclosure, on 13 January 2023. Following his arrest, Butchers phone was seized and officers from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team were then able to analyse its contents.

A folder was found in the image gallery of his phone, which contained 11 videos, all of which were voyeuristic in nature and all but two appeared to have been filmed in changing cubicles at swimming pools. The remaining two appeared to have been filmed in a domestic setting.

There were also 20 screenshots, where the videos had been played and then a photo captured when nudity was visible. 16 of these were of children and four of an adult.

Eight victims were subsequently identified, but six remain unidentified. Of these at least three appeared to be children, with the others of an indeterminate age.

The court heard that Butcher had been a Scout leader at the time the offences had been committed, and he had been involved with the Scout Association for almost 40 years, reaching the level of Assistant District Commissioner. Some of the victims in these cases were children who were participating in scouting activities.

Detective Constable Santiago Nield, from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: Ian Butcher was a person in a position of trust and in the majority of the cases we identified, his offences involved a clear abuse of that trust.

The crimes we discovered took place over a period of almost two years, so his offending was persistent for a significant length of time. Although not all of the victims were children, the majority were and so he clearly had a sexual interest in juveniles.

I want to thank all the victims who have worked with us for their bravery, especially as the fact that they had been victims of this type of offence wouldve come as a complete surprise to them and a very disturbing one at that. They all had their privacy violated, but in the case of the children also their trust and part of their childhoods too.

I would also like to commend the bravery of the first girl who made contact with us, who was clearly crucial to his offending being uncovered. She hadnt felt able to come forward at the time the incident occurred, as she had been so shocked and didnt want to believe it had happened, but as she got older she became more confident in herself and her recollections.

I would also like to thank the Scout Association, who cooperated with our investigation from the outset and assisted us with whatever we required from them.

Hopefully this case demonstrates that we listen to and hear victims of these types of offences and will investigate allegations, taking swift action wherever possible.

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A convicted rapist who lied that he was forced into having sex with his victim has been jailed. Dalvir Singh, aged 48 and from Sandwell, was investigated by West Midlands Police’s Public Protection Unit after a young woman visited her GP surgery and told staff about the sexual abuse she had been subjected to.

Singh was arrested and admitted he had sex with the woman ‘on more than one occasion’ but made false claims it was ‘under duress’. The brave woman gave evidence in a video-recorded interview and police said that was key in securing the conviction.

Singh, from West Bromwich, was found guilty of rape and sexual abuse at an earlier hearing. He was jailed for 15 years at Wolverhampton Crown Court on Tuesday, February 6.

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A man who sent pictures of his dog to someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl in a bid to groom her has been jailed.

Scott Burke, 37, of Leverington in Cambridgeshire, contacted the "teenager" on social media in November 2021. She was in fact a police officer.

Cambridgeshire Police said he quickly sexualised the conversations and sent a photograph of his penis, along with one of him with his dog.

Burke pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to arrange, facilitate or commission sexual activity with a child and was jailed for two years and six months.

Burke, of Leverington Common in the village near Wisbech, repeatedly discussed sex and a desire to meet up with the girl during a fortnight of online conversations, Cambridgeshire Police said.

He claimed he had booked them a hotel room and suggested taking the girl to a sex toy and lingerie retailer.

On arrest, he told officers he had been hacked.

Burke also pleaded guilty to one count of being an adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13-15 into sexual activity.

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A sex offender prohibited from having unsupervised contact with children has now twice since become involved in relationships with young mothers who were unaware of his past convictions.

Phillip Yarrow was made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) after being convicted of sexual communication with a child and attempted sexual activity with a child, online grooming of a girl aged 13 to 15, in February 2019.

Durham Crown Court was told that the terms of the SHPO included forbidding him having unsupervised contact with any child under 16 where the parent or guardian has no knowledge of his convictions.

He was also made subject of notification requirements as a sex offender in which he must inform his risk manager if he lives at any address for more than 12 hours.

Jon Harley, prosecuting, said a complaint was received by a woman, with a daughter aged under four, who was using a dating app in December last year.

She began messaging the defendant, who was described as “32 and from Coxhoe”, for two weeks, before meeting him close to her address on January 2, after which he went back to her home, although her daughter was not present as she was staying with her grandmother.

Mr Harley said Yarrow did not stay over, but the following day, at 4pm, Yarrow went back to the woman’s home at 4pm, when he daughter was present.

He stayed for two hours but had little contact with the girl and was never alone with her.

Mr Harley said that the next day he went over at 7pm, but this time did stay over at the address, having watched tv.

The following morning he left after the woman booked him a taxi, and that would be the last time she saw him.

Mr Harley said throughout the defendant’s contact with the woman there was no mention of his previous convictions.

When it came to light he was interviewed by police and accepted responsibility for the offence.

The court heard Yarrow, 32, of Grange Crescent, Coxhoe, pleaded, or indicated he was guilty, when he appeared before magistrates last month.

Mr Harley said the defendant now has three convictions for ten offences, all sexual of some description.

The court heard that following his original conviction, in February 2019, he was dealt with back at court for making indecent photos of children and failing to comply with notification requirements as a sex offender, in June 2021.

Mr Harley said the latter offence was for staying at an address for more than seven days where the female householder, with two young daughters, was not informed of Yarrow’s past conviction.

There was also said to be a further breach of the SHPO in July 2022 by the defendant.

Martin Scarborough, for Yarrow, said he had found work, through an agency, at a glass factory prior to being taken into custody which prevented him from being able to seek to make the employment full-time.

Mr Scarborough said, relating to the latest offence, his client had little contact with the child, and none while unsupervised.

Judge Jo Kidd said not for the first time Yarrow has chosen to engage in a relationship with a mother of a young daughter having failed to inform them of his offending history.

She told him: “The sentences you have received have increased with each further breach and, so, the sentence I will pass now will be an increase on them.

“You have a clear history of disobedience of court orders.”

She said it appears that up to now, he has not stepped back from his, “risk-taking behaviour.”

Imposing a 20-month term of imprisonment, she warned the defendant if he commits further offences during his licence period, upon his release at the mid-point, it is likely that he will be readmitted to prison to serve the remainder of the sentence.

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A man who filmed himself raping a sleeping girl has been jailed.

William Studley, 19, from Huxley near Chester, was sentenced to five years six months.

Studley, of Huxley Lane, was 17 when he attacked the girl at his home, where she and a friend had gone after a party.

He was cleared of one count of rape and found guilty of another at Chester Crown Court on 6 December.

Cheshire Police said the victim and a friend had arranged to stay at Studley's home after a party in April 2022.

The victim fell asleep alone in an upstairs bedroom after starting to feel unwell. She woke up to find Studley raping her, the jury was told.

The victim told him to stop and he ran out of the room, but returned and sexually assaulted her.

She reported him to the police the next day.

Officers found video footage on Studley's phone which showed him sexually assaulting the victim as she slept.

Studley admitted sexual assault after he was shown the footage, and also admitted making indecent images of children.

But he denied rape.

DS Courtney Day said: "Studley initially denied all offences put to him, claiming that the victim had consented, but was left with no option but to plead guilty when footage of the assault was recovered from his phone.

"Despite the evidence, he continued to deny the full extent of what he subjected the victim to that night.

"What Studley put the victim through is truly horrifying, but thanks to courage the victim has shown, he is now facing the consequences of his actions."

Studley was also handed a 15-year restraining order and put on the sex offenders register for life at his sentencing hearing on Friday.

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An Exeter man has been sent to jail after he was caught by paedophile hunters sending sexual messages to decoy children online. Jamie Short used Facebook and WhatsApp to pester what he thought were 13 and 14-year-old girls.

The 51-year-old sent them disgusting pictures of himself and tried to get photos of the children in return. He suggested they have sex, masqueraded as a teenaged boy and even offered to pay £300 to one child to watch him pleasure himself.

He was traced and arrested by police. Short, of Chestnut Avenue, Exeter, has been given an 18-month prison sentence at Exeter Crown Court. The defendant, who has a history of violent crime, is already serving four and a half years for robbery.

Prosecutor Herc Ashworth said the first offence happened in November 2019 when Short contacted a decoy account of a 13-year-old operated by a paedophile hunter. He quickly turned the conversation sexual and offered to meet her when she came to Devon on holiday.

He then claimed to be a 14-year-old boy and sent the child naked images of himself. He also tried to call her via WhatsApp.

Then in March of last year he was at it again contacting another account - despite being on bail at the time. He claimed to be 17 years old and sent more perverted images of himself.

Mr William Parkhill, defending, said Short was living an isolated and lonely life at the time. He also has a degenerative muscle condition which means he can no longer use his hands properly.

The defendant pleaded guilty to three offences of attempted sexual communication with a child and two of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.

His 18-month sentence will run consecutive to the robbery term he is already serving making a total of six years.

Short was given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and told to sign the sex offender register.

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A Dunfermline man sent an indecent image to someone he thought was a young girl.

However, the recipient of Ernest Nicholson’s photograph was, in fact, an undercover police officer.

Nicholson, 58, of Berry Law Place, appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.

He admitted that between January 9 and 16 last year, he sent an image of a naked penis via social media to someone he thought was a child but was, in fact, an undercover police officer, and thus attempted to cause a child to view a sexual image.

He also sent sexual written communications to someone he thought was a child and thereby attempted to communicate indecently with a child.

Sentencing was deferred until March 14 for reports. He was put on the sex offenders register.

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A 31-year-old registered sex offender has been sent back to prison after breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Freddie Millar, who the court was told also identifies as Xenia Jade Millar, previously of Northampton, was issued with the SHPO in 2017 after being convicted of raping a woman.

As a registered sex offender, Millar was required to abide by very strict conditions after leaving prison in September last year or face going back to jail.

These conditions included notifying police of any new relationship, any new social media accounts created, or the purchase of any devices capable of accessing the internet.

However, on December 8, 2023, when police officers from Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO Team spontaneously visited Millar, they found a laptop and a woman inside the address who claimed to be in a relationship with Millar. Neither the laptop nor the relationship had been disclosed to police.

Then on January 22, Millar was once again visited by the MOSOVO Team who discovered a mobile phone with multiple social media accounts that hadn’t been disclosed. They also found conversations which suggested Millar had once again formed friendships/relationships that police weren’t aware of.

As a result, Millar was subsequently charged with one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and one count of Breaching Notification Requirements.

After pleading guilty to both offences at an earlier hearing at Northampton Crown Court in December 2023, Millar returned to the same court last week (February 5) and was sentenced to one year and four months in prison.

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A man and woman exchanged hundreds of "vile" messages about young girls, a court heard.

Indecent images of children aged between four and 13 were found on convicted sex offender Colin Dawson’s laptop and phones after they were seized by police.

In court, Annette Punter, 65, from Wolverhampton pleaded guilty to being in possession of extreme pornography and was given a 20-month prison term, suspended for two years.

Dawson, 61, also of Wolverhampton, admitted making indecent images of children and was jailed for two years and four months.

Investigators had identified Dawson's home as being linked to online chats referring to child abuse.

Following her arrest Punter told detectives she was manipulated by Dawson, who police said she was in a relationship with at the time.

Both pleaded guilty to conspiring to take indecent images of children between 9 and 19 November 2018.

Dawson, of Merridale, also admitted making 44 indecent images on various dates between 4 November 2018 and 7 July 2020.

Punter, of East Park, admitted a further charge of taking and distributing indecent images of children between 2 and 5 November 2018.

Dawson will remain on the sex offenders’ register for life and Punter will be on it for 10 years.

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POLICE have praised the courage of an underage sexual assault victim following the sentencing of a “dangerous” Hythe man.

Brandon Foss (20) of Butts Ash Gardens, was recently jailed for 20 months after admitting seven counts of sexual activity with a child, which he committed between May and June last year.

Southampton Crown Court heard the victim was under 16 years of age.

PC Robert Thomas, who led the investigation, said: “It took a lot of courage and bravery for the victim to come forward and make these disclosures to us.

“I have nothing but the greatest admiration for this young lady, who fully supported our investigation and remained confident in our ability to get a conviction in court.

“I am so pleased for her that justice has now been served in this case, and that she has now seen Foss put behind bars, where he belongs.”

He added: “He abused her for his own sexual gratification, and must now serve time in prison, where he will have to reflect upon his crimes.

“While I know this result won’t rid the victim of the memories of what he did to her, I truly hope it allows her to move forward with her life, safe in the knowledge that he can no longer harm anyone else.”

Foss also pleaded guilty to one count of possessing class B drug, cannabis.

Judge Nicholas Rowland imposed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, which places restrictions on Foss to prevent further offending.

He was also ordered to pay £167 in court charges.

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Stuart Witham’s “vast” collection of vile images included sordid videos featuring children as young as five, York Crown Court heard.

Witham, 31, shared images with others in a Whatsapp group.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said that Witham was also having debauched video chats on a dark website where he would perform lewd acts in front of women and young girls and encourage them to do the same.

The father-of-two was also active on a private-messenger app on which he “offered to sell quantities of indecent images in exchange for Bitcoin and gift cards”.

He was finally nailed when an undercover police officer joined the Whatsapp group posing as a member and began chatting with Witham who sent him indecent images of youngsters and “bragged” about his vile collection of illicit images.

Police turned up at his home and brought him in for questioning when he owned up immediately to his depraved behaviour.

He was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of distributing indecent images and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13 years of age.

Witham, of Back Mayfield Terrace, Harrogate, admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence last Thursday.

Ms Morrison told the court: “The defendant was a member of a Whatsapp group in which he and other adults (had sexual discussions about) and shared indecent images of children.”

In June 2021, Witham had a Whatsapp chat with a man he presumed to be another member of the group but who was in fact an undercover officer.

“The defendant shared indecent images with the officer and showed him his collection of material,” added Ms Morrison.

After being trapped by the undercover cop, officers swooped on Witham’s home and seized his internet devices.

Forensic analysis revealed a huge cache of indecent material, namely 32,708 vile photos and videos of children, some of them extremely young.

They included 3,800 images of children rated Category A in their level of seriousness and featuring the sexual abuse of minors.

Ms Morrison said police also found chats in which he offered to sell indecent images of children in exchange for digital currency and gift vouchers.

She said forensic officers also found over 40 videos or “screen-recorded conversations” on the dark website.

“Those recordings show that whenever (Witham) was matched with another male, he quickly skipped onto the next user,” she added.

“As soon as he was paired with an adult woman or child, he would begin (performing a lewd act) on screen.”

Witham would move the camera so that the other user would see him doing the act.

On other occasions, he would message the user urging them to “show themselves” and to perform lewd acts.

In one video chat, Witham performed a sexual act in front of a nine-year-old girl and asked the child to “show (their) body on camera”.

Analysis of his internet search history revealed he had sought out “hidden-camera instructions”.

During police questioning, Witham admitted that he had sought out indecent images of children since he was 12 years of age.

He was charged only with the online offences committed in 2021.

Defence barrister Lucy Brown said that Witham, a working man who was married at the time, had undergone cognitive behavioural therapy and sought help from an offenders’ rehabilitation charity to try to curb his nefarious online behaviour.

She asked judge Simon Hickey to consider suspending the inevitable prison sentence, citing Witham’s “very traumatic” childhood and his deep remorse.

But Mr Hickey said it had to be an immediate jail sentence due to the “vast” number of images found on Witham’s devices.

He said although Witham had led an “industrious life” and had taken steps to reform himself, only an immediate prison sentence could be justified for such behaviour.

Witham was jailed for two years and ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

He was also given a 10-year sexual-harm-prevention order to curb his internet activities and contact with children.

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A 'despicable' sex beast who abused two females in West Lothian has been jailed for six years.

Kyle Sievewright, 20, was found guilty of eight offences, including rape, committed between 2019 and 2022 at the High Court in Livingston on January 17.

Today, Sievewritght received his sentence of six years in prison and a further three years extended sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Detective Constable David Bryce said: “Kyle Sievewright subjected the females to violent, sexual attacks over a period of time. He’s been found guilty of these despicable crimes and now faces the consequences.

“I hope today’s sentencing brings some form of justice to these females as they continue to move forward.

“Police Scotland is committed to bringing all perpetrators of sexual crimes to justice, regardless of when it happened. I would urge anyone who wishes to report a sexual crime to contact us. We will always investigate thoroughly and you will receive support from police and partner agencies.”

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Jason Cook (11/06/1974 ) of Coniston Road, Streford was found guilty of multiple counts of rape, attempt rape and one count of making indecent images and sentenced at Manchester Crown Court today (9/2/24) to life serving a minimum of 18 years in prison and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Between 2008 to 2017, Cook repeatedly sexually abused a girl who was just 12-years-old when the abuse started and following the sentencing this afternoon, the judge commented that it had been some of the worst the court had seen.

The sexual abuse came to the attention of detectives when the victim reported it to police in February 2018 and through a thorough police investigation, Cook was arrested on 1 March 2018 before he was questioned by detectives saying that it was just malicious allegations showing no remorse for his actions.