Latest Offenders

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A MAN who worked as a school bus driver has been jailed for trying to groom a child to engage in sexual activity online.

Daron Milton sent messages to what he thought was a 12-year-old girl in an attempt to incite her to perform sex acts on herself.

The 53-year-old Bournemouth man was actually communicating with an undercover officer from West Midlands Police.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard the defendant engaged in message exchanges with the girl between July 18 and August 13, 2020, over platforms Kik and WhatsApp.

He was eventually arrested by Dorset Police officers in September 2020 after he had completed the end of day school run in his role as a bus driver.

Prosecuting, Sadie Ruzzo said it was the defendant who first contacted the account set up by the undercover officer on the Kik messaging application.

She told the court this involved him sending a message which said: Hi beautiful, how are you?

Ms Ruzzo said Miltons messaging in the weeks that followed exhibited grooming.

The court heard he called the 12-year-old sweetheart and beautiful.

The communication involved the defendant giving graphic instructions on how the girl could perform a sex act upon herself.

Other messaging involved Milton repeatedly asking the girl to send photographs of herself, while later in the exchanges he tried to call her. Conversations should the offender say that the child needed to make sure she was alone.

In August 2020 there was reference to wanting to see the child, to meet up, the court heard.

He said he was a lorry driver based in London but he asked to see and meet up with the child on more than one occasion, Ms Rizzo said.

As a result of the evidence gathered, West Midlands Police alerted Dorset Police to the IP address linked to the defendants online account, which was his home address.

He was arrested on September 14 in Bournemouth.

At the time in September Mr Milton was driving school children to and from local high schools, Ms Rizzo said.

Enquiries were made at the bus station and he was arrested later that day after completing the school run.

Two mobile phones were seized and police found six indecent child images on the devices.

Milton, who was unrepresented in court, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to a charge of attempting to cause or incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and two counts of making an incident photograph of a child.

The court heard the defendant had been open, honest and frank with the probation service ahead of the sentencing hearing.

Milton, of Knowlton Road, Bournemouth, suffered from very significant health issues, which Judge Stephen Climie took into account when determining the appropriate sentence.

The defendant told the judge he accepted what he had done was totally wrong, adding that he would never go and meet anyone like that.

The judge indicated that he gave Milton full credit for his guilty plea and said he acknowledged the offender was supported by family members.

Judge Climie said he had made a limited reduction to the prison term, as set out by the sentencing guidelines, due to there not being an actual child involved in the communication offence.

Milton was jailed for three years and eight months. He was placed on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life and made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Detective Inspector Mark Fursman, of the paedophile online investigation team (POLIT) and integrated missing persons and child sexual exploitation team (IMPACT), said The POLIT is committed to working with partners such as the National Crime Agency, other police forces and a wide range of other agencies and organisations to minimise the risk to children by proactively identifying people who use the internet to further their sexual abuse in children.

We urge anyone to contact Dorset Police or Crimestoppers if they suspect someone is using the internet to groom or gain indecent images of children.

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A COURT heard moving statements from two young men who were sexually abused as teenagers by a former Workington teacher.

Paul Stuart Adams, 74, who was once responsible for pastoral pupil care at the school where he worked, was widely known throughout west Cumbria for his knowledge of theatre, music and the arts.

But he abused the trust people had for him by sexually exploiting two teenage boys who turned to him for advice and guidance.

Adams, of Banklands, Workington, denied more than a dozen charges relating to two teenage boys. The jury convicted of nine counts, including indecent assaults and paying for the sexual services of a child.

During this trial, the jury heard that Adams regarded as a 'pillar' of his local community was so trusted that parents were happy for their children to go to him for advice on theatre and acting.

The prosecution had outlined how one victim visited Adams at his home, where the pensioner ran his own recording studio. Adams gave the teenager whiskey before asking him to strip naked.

He told the boy that this would be a good way to prepare for being on stage.

After the abuse began, the boy turned to using drugs and alcohol to blank out what had happened to him; and Adams then took further advantage of the teenager, offering him cash in return for sexual favours.

He paid the boy between 100 and 200 in exchange for being touched sexually or he got the teenager to strip naked, the court heard. Described by one of the victims as a 'master manipulator,' Adams was particularly interested in spanking, The victim told Carlisle Crown Court.

As Adams watched from his prison video booth, the now adult victim courageously stood in court and read aloud his account of how the sexual abuse had ruined his life, robbing him of precious years of childhood.

He said that he had turned to drink and drugs cocaine and Ecstasy to blank out the pain of what Adams had done to him. At its height, his addiction involved him using those drugs every day.

The man told the court: In 2021, I received a diagnosis of PTSD as a result of this crime. I was suffering with nightmares and flashbacks particularly if I saw someone who matched the height and build of Paul.

I would wake up numerous times in the night in cold sweats. I would get flashbacks of the recording studio and what Paul did to me.

"I ended up taking time off work as a result of this as I couldnt cope.

The trauma reached a crisis point which saw the man have to walk out of work half way through his shift, he said.

He was off work for two months.

Since then, he had been given professional help that has included medications and therapy. Although I am much better, he said, what happened never leaves me. It is always a niggle in the back of my mind.

There is always something that triggers a memory or a thought bringing it to the forefront. Its still something that enters my mind daily.

The man spoke also of having self-harmed and how his trauma had left him struggling to hold down relationships. His drugs use had been a coping mechanism, he said.

Recalling how the abuse changed his life, the man said: My friends and I were always out together; we would be at the skate park, camping, doing the things that teenagers do.

When this started happening with Paul, these things stopped and by the time I came out of the emotional stress of what was happening I was in my early 20s and feel like I had the better years of my childhood taken from me.

The court also heard from the second victim, who came forward after reading in the News & Star about how Adams had been charged with child sex offences. He spoke of the profound effect.

This included feelings of self-hatred and sadness.

Now a young man, he suffered panic attacks and depression and returning to west Cumbria triggered painful memories of the abuse.

Richard Dawson, for Adams, said the defendants parents had died in their mid 70s and he feared that the jail term he faced would effectively be a life sentence. His time on remand has been particularly difficult for him, said the barrister.

He added that the risk posed by Adams was 'negligible.'

Judge Richard Archer said the defendant abused young men who turned to him for support and, from the evidence of the trial, he was satisfied that he had also abused a third boy and acted inappropriately towards another.

Noting that Adams was assessed as representing a significant risk of harm, the judge said the defendant continued to deny wrongdoing. Until he accepted his guilt, that risk would remain high, said the judge.

He told the defendant: You were a pillar of the Workington community.

Involved with local theatres for many years, Adams had been considered a worldly man, with experience of life beyond west Cumbria and knowledge of the stage and the arts.

It was that reputation and experience that led to both your victims visiting you at your home," said the judge. Adams paid for sexual services from one boy at least six times and one of the victims was just 15 when Adams first abused him.

Adams was jailed for seven years.

He will remain on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely and will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order. This prevents him from having access to any child unless the parent or guardian is aware of his offending history and unless he has the express permission of Social Services.

Nor can he live in any household where there is also a child resident. Adams will be released on licence when he reaches the half-way point in his sentence.

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Parents were horrified to discover a convicted sex offender had been having sinister contact with their children.

Daniel Sloan sought to ingratiate himself with youngsters, who thought he was being kind by buying doughnuts, showing off his double joints and telling them he did gymnastics. But in reality he was a paedophile with a disturbing sexual interest in children.

In April 2018 Sloan was jailed for three years for attempted grooming and inciting sexual activity of a child and he was given a sexual harm prevention order which banned him from having or seeking contact with a child unless their parent knew of his conviction, allowed such contact and it was supervised.

Having been released, Sloan had already breached the order when he went on to have prohibited contact with children in Hebburn. A mum of a ten-year-old girl noticed him watching the children playing on a grass verge and she also saw him speaking to one of the children.

One evening in June, the mother returned home to find her daughter playing in her friend's front garden and Sloan was speaking to them over a garden fence. The woman took her child inside and asked what he had been saying. She replied that he had been "really kind", showing them his double joints and how he could go cock-eyed.

Christopher Rose, prosecuting, told Newcastle Crown Court : "She said he had held a ruler above his head and her friend was trying to jump up for it. Her friend had taken off her shoe and soiled her feet and the defendant suggested she have a shower.

"The mum asked her daughter his name and when told she Googled him. She was shocked and alarmed at what she found out and informed other parents and the police."

The mum said in a victim impact statement: "I felt sick to the stomach at the thought of anything else happening to the children. I wish I had found out earlier, this has caused me distress, worry and anxiety."

A dad of a younger girl also saw Sloan talking to her. Mr Rose said: "On one occasion, he looked out of the upstairs window and noticed his daughter was not in the garden, where she should have been. He was concerned and went downstairs and saw his daughter step out of the defendant's front door. This happened on more than one occasion.

"The defendant denied any child had entered his house but the witness is adamant he saw his daughter exit the door of the defendant's flat."

The court heard Sloan had also bought the girl doughnuts and she was holding some as she came out of his door standing next to the pervert.

In June the man was in his home with his windows open when he heard Sloan talking to his daughter outside, telling her he did gymnastics and asking if she did. He also said to her: "I've got you more doughnuts, the ones you like, not jam".

The concerned dad was then shown a news report about Sloan's previous offending. Police were called and Sloan complained he no longer felt safe as people had found out about his past. He then resisted arrest.

The dad said: "She keeps waking up through the night having nightmares asking if he is coming back to get her and keeps crying in her sleep and is frightened of being in a room by herself and frightened to play outside.

"School have expressed concerns she has been drawing pictures of violent scenes showing Daniel Sloan with a knife and blood. She now knows what a paedophile is. He has ruined her innocence."

Sloan, 35, of no fixed address, whose previous convictions include two indecent assaults from 2005, the attempted grooming and inciting sexual activity offences from 2018 and two breaches of the sexual harm prevention order from 2020, pleaded guilty to breaching the sexual harm prevention order and resisting arrest.

Jailing him for 32 months, Recorder Tom Moran said he poses a very high risk and added: "The only sensible conclusion is you are unable to control your sexual attraction to children. This was not innocent, inadvertent or fleeting, it was clearly a lot more sinister than that . You were trying to ingratiate yourself with them."

Jamie Adams, defending, said: "He is not a man without intelligence and he is aware of the wrongfulness of this behaviour. He felt he had been doing well in the accommodation he was in.

"He feels he has got a label around his neck saying sex offender which makes it very difficult for him to think he can engage in a normal way in society with people around him."

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Kristofer Mitchell, from Hull, 'didn't care' that one of his victims was asleep - she woke up in total shock to find him raping her and latest discovered she was pregnant from the attack

A vicious double rapist sobbed as he was convicted for forcing himself on sleeping women - and impregnated one of them.

Kristofer Mitchell imposed frightening scenes of sexual violence on his innocent victims, who were meant to feel safe in the comfort of their own homes.

Mitchell's victims were too scared to try and stop him during the terrifying ordeals, with one of the women finding out she'd become pregnant after being raped by him, Hull Crown Court heard.

Mitchell, 34, of Hessle Road, Hull, denied five offences of rape but was found guilty on four counts after a trial.

Two of the rapes involved one woman and he was convicted on a majority verdict on one of the charges, but cleared of the other.

The sex offender denied a further three rapes against a second woman and two charges of assault by penetration, and was convicted of all these offences.

Simon Reevell, prosecuting, said: "He committed these offences because he had absolutely no concern for their wishes or their feelings. Instead, he chose to prioritise his sexual desires."

During the second incident, the victim was asleep when Mitchell raped her.

Mr Reevell said Mitchell "didn't care that she was asleep" and "just began to have sex with her and without any consideration for her".

She later told police: "I woke up and he was raping me. I didn't know what to do. I just pretended it wasn't happening. I was forced to have sex. I remember waking up and tried to push him off but I couldn't.

"It was all about him. He didn't care. He was on top of me. He had sex with me and I couldn't move. I just remember waking up and seeing him. He was looking at me. I was trying to say 'get off me, get off me'. I didn't want it to happen. He called me all the names under the sun. It was awful, absolutely awful. It was quite a shock."

The woman later discovered she was pregnant after the rape.

"I woke up and he was having sex with me. I didn't consent to it. I was just scared to say anything. I woke up. I didn't say anything. I just remember feeling a bit sick. He woke me up, having sex with me. I was scared of him," said another of his victims.

The court heard Mitchell denied having sex with the women without their consent or while they were asleep.

But, he was convicted, and starting crying in the dock after the verdicts - before being remanded into custody before sentence.

Judge Sophie McKone told him: "You have been convicted by this jury of a number of serious offences. You know it's inevitable that you will receive a very lengthy custodial sentence."

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A former doctor has been jailed for 15-and-a-half years for subjecting a young girl to appalling sexual abuse spanning over a decade.

Lalitkumar Nirmal, 79, traumatised a young girl, who was then under 14, to a campaign of sexual abuse in different parts of the country between 1975 and 1986.

The abuse took place in various locations including Croydon, Sydenham in east London and Cwmbran in Wales.

During the time of offending, Nirmal was a GP in a practice in the south Welsh town.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was known to Nirmal but was not a patient.

In relation to her, Nirmal admitted eight counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 years and four counts of gross indecency with a girl under the age of 14 years.

He was also convicted of a single count of indecent assault against another young girl he knew.

Anjie Bowen, Senior Crown Prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Services Rape and Serious Sexual Offences unit, said: Lalitbhai Nirmal carried out a sustained campaign of sexual abuse, whilst hiding behind a veneer of respectability as a doctor and trusted local GP.

His vulnerable victims have been left devastated by the harmful impact of his offending on their lives.

His actions were predatory and despicable.

One of Nirmals victims endured appalling abuse at his hands for a decade, throughout a large portion of her childhood.

Reports were first made to police in October 2019.

In August 2020, the sex offender was interviewed under caution and he was charged in May the following year.

Nirmal was registered as a GP with the General Medical Council between 1972 and 1995.

DS Mark Morris, from South East BCU CID, said: I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks and gratitude to the victims in this case, who have been extremely courageous in coming forward to police and recounting the trauma of the years of abuse they suffered because of Nirmal.

One cant even begin to imagine the impact, both physical and mental, such sustained abuse will have had and I hope todays sentence will give some sense of closure and peace.

We know that Nirmal was a GP in the 1980s in the Torfaen area of Wales. Whilst the victims were not patients of his, we must consider the possibility that he abused this position of trust to hurt others.

As such, I would appeal for anyone with information they believe could be relevant to contact the police on 101.

Any information passed will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence and handled by a specialist team with significant experience in dealing with offences of this nature.

Nirmal, of Malham Close, Friern Barnet, north London, denied but was convicted of indecent assault and admitted eight counts of indecent assault on a girl under the age of 14 years and four counts of gross indecency with a girl under the age of 14 years.

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A vile man said he "would like to be there" after watching a video of a little girl being being sexually abused.

Christopher Smith, 31, sent messages to paedophile, Vicki Bevan, online and responded to a clip of her abusing a young boy with "thats hot" and to one of her abusing a girl with "I would like to be there". Bevan was part of a paedophile ring based in St Helens and carried out some of her appalling sexual fantasies alongside Paul Rafferty and Tony Hutton by raping and abusing a young girl.

Bevan also spent time discussing with another man their desire to kidnap, rape, torture, kill and then eat children after sexually abusing them. The vile woman made contact with Smith, who lived 230 miles away, on internet chat rooms before sending at least two clips to him.

Charlie Barrass-Evans, prosecuting, said Smith was caught by an undercover police operation, where officers posed as chatroom users on Kik. Smith was using the hashtag andysmith01 and offered to "trade" child images before being traced through his phone.

Smith sent three child abuse images and said he had "personal stuff" before moving the conversation to Snapchat. He refused to give police the PIN number of one of his phones when he was arrested.

A forensic download identified the videos from Bevan, along with 36 child abuse images or videos. Smith of Clare Drive, Tiverton, Devon, admitted two counts of distribution and four of making, by downloading, indecent images of children and was jailed for two years and four months by Judge Peter Johnson at Exeter Crown Court.

Bevan, 37, of Newtown, St Helens, was jailed for life with a minimum term of ten years at Liverpool Crown Court in May this year. Accomplices Paul Rafferty, 62, and Tony Hutton, 42, were jailed for ten and four years respectively.

Judge Johnson said: "You exchanged messages with Vicki Bevan, who is now serving a life sentence, and it seems there were real time exchanges going on which at the very least were encouraging her to abuse children in which she was telling you what she had been doing.

"This sentence could not have been suspended because of the proximity between you and the maker of the images."

Evie Dean, defending, said Smith started using chatrooms at a low point in his life after the breakdown of a relationship and when he was drinking, taking cocaine, and in a self-destructive spiral.

She said: His remorse is genuine. He says his behaviour was disgusting and unforgiveable. He has been open and honest about assessing the material for his sexual gratification, which stands him in good stead when it comes to rehabilitation."

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A paedophile who sexually abused a boy when he was just seven-years-old and raped him at a water park, has been jailed 21 years.

Oliver Roughley subjected his victim to a "campaign of rape" over the course of three years, leading to the youngster attempting to take his own life.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that the now 24-year-old carried out the abuse over a three-year period when he was in his late teens.

Roughley, from St Helens, groomed the boy by buying him presents including toy cars and teddy bears.

He also used violence to ensure his silence, including by twisting his arm behind his back.

He kept a pair of the child's underwear in his bedroom and messaged him telling him that he loved him.

Roughley first assaulted the boy when he was aged seven.

He then told him "not to tell anyone or he would go to jail and never see him again".

His abuse escalated to raping the youngster in the cubicles of a swimming baths in South Liverpool and Splash World in Southport.

Police later discovered 32 pictures of the boy naked in the defendant's bedroom - some of which also showed the sex offender - on his phone. Additional indecent images of other children were found on his computer. But Roughley still denies having committed the vile offences.

A statement read out on behalf of the boy's mother highlighted the "massive impact" Roughley's crime have had. She said her son had "become a sad and angry boy" who had tried to take his own life "on more than one occasion".

The youngster also cannot be hugged by family members as he "doesn't want to be touched". The statement added: "It has ruined him mentally and turned his life upside down.

"I don't know if he will ever recover. My son has been given a life sentence."

David Watson, defending, told the court: "What can be advanced on his behalf is very limited. The defendant has no previous convictions to factor in, nor any behaviour outside of these offences."

Roughley was found unanimously guilty by a jury of four counts of rape, six of sexual assault, one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three of producing indecent images, three of making indecent images and one of possession of indecent images after a trial in June.

At points during his sentencing, Roughly shook his head, closed his eyes and cried.

Sentencing, Judge David Swinnerton said: "You have not only damaged him badly, but his whole family. You have shown no remorse and continue to deny any wrongdoing whatsoever.

"You deny any sexual interest in children. That is plainly a lie.

"For a period of three years you manipulated him with gifts or threats and sexually abused him throughout. This was predatory, planned persistent sexual abuse of a young child.

"You acted as a predatory paedophile when the opportunity was presented to you. There is a clear and significant risk of you committing further offences which would inevitably cause serious harm, as has happened here.

"I regard this as a campaign of rape. There was significant planning and extensive grooming behaviour."

Roughley was handed an extended licence period of five years and a sexual harm prevention order and notification requirement to run indefinitely. He will serve at least two thirds of his sentence before being eligible for release.

Judge Swinnerton also imposed a lifelong restraining order banning him from contacting the boy or his parents and ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the seized electronic devices.

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A former Harrogate headteacher has been found guilty of making indecent images of children.

Matthew Shillito, 42, pleaded not guilty to making 20 Category B images and 3,829 Category C images between December 3, 2012 and December 31, 2015.

Shillito was appointed headteacher of Western Primary School in 2019.

He was previously headteacher across the Goldsborough Sicklinghall Federation of schools.

None of the offences related to his employment.

Shillito appeared before York Magistrates Court this morning, where District Judge Adrian Lower found him guilty on both charges.

He said the evidence showed Shillito had a corrosive, addictive interest in child pornography.

During the case, making was defined as knowingly accessing a site that contained an indecent image.

The court was told that there was no evidence that Mr Shillito downloaded the material onto his laptop.

The prosecution opened proceedings at Harrogate Magistrates Court last month and said the indecent images were found on the cache in Shillitos computer, which could have only have got there had he accessed sites with those images.

Philip Morris, prosecuting, said there were indicative terms found on Shillitos laptop which showed intent to access the images.

Police arrested Shillito and seized two computers at his address on January 4, 2020.

Officers recovered a Dell laptop and a MacBook Pro, which contained a back up from an iPad mini which was not found.

Giving evidence to the court last month, Zoe Warboys, a digital forensic investigation officer at North Yorkshire Police, said that while the defendant may not have been aware of the cache, he could have only got them by accessing the material.

A Russian website named in court was frequently accessed on the Dell laptop, which Ms Warboys told the court was a site which contained indecent images of children.

The site is public and allows users to upload albums of images which others can view.

The court heard how the site was frequently visited on February 26, 2011.

Mr Morris told the court that Shillito visited some of the pages which were indicative of possibly including indecent images 30 times.

Shillito repeatedly denied both charges throughout the case.

This morning, District Judge Lower adjourned sentencing Shillito until September 7. He bailed Shillito but warned him all sentencing options would be considered including jail.

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A MAN has been jailed for attempting to sexually assault a woman in her 70s.

Kaspars Grikis has been a registered sex offender for five years since sexually assaulting four women in a supermarket in Crawley in 2020.

The 38-year-old admitted the attempted sexual touching of the elderly woman near his home on July 22 this year.

Crawley Magistrates Court heard that he had approached the woman, who he didnt know, and tried to engage her in conversation. He then touched and attempted to kiss her.

She resisted and police were informed.

Grikis, of Clappers Gate, Crawley, was given a 12-month prison sentence and will be on the sex offenders' register for another five years.

He was also given a restraining order to last until further notice, prohibiting him from any contact with the woman.

Police Constable Mat Wyatt said: "Grikis has already been a registered sex offender for five years following his conviction in June 2020 for sexual assaults on four women at a supermarket in Crawley.

The new five-year requirement imposed on August 2 will make him subject to our supervision for a total of ten years from 2020.

"When the incident was reported in July we took prompt action to protect the victim by ensuring this persistent offender was brought back before the court, who have now given him the maximum custodial sentence for this offending, taking him off the streets, and imposing further restrictions on his conduct."

Description

A sex offender arrested for spying on mums changing babies' nappies in a supermarket has been jailed. Pervert Paul Thomas was made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) after grooming and meeting a child.

But, as reported by StokeonTrentLive, the 41-year-old was then arrested in October 2020 after watching parents in the baby changing area clean up their children for his own sexual gratification.

And during police interview, he disclosed that he had been in a relationship with a woman who had three children, including two under the age of 16. As a result, he breached the order by staying overnight at her address without informing the authorities.

Prosecutor Harinderpal Dhami told Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court how Thomas disclosed he had been in a relationship with the mum who had no idea of his offending history. On October 4 he handed his phone to police and he disclosed to his probation officer he had deleted messages received from the Plenty of Fish dating site.

Mr Dhami said: "His phone was analysed and there were 6,529 web entries that had been deleted. There was no suggestion that material being sought was indecent images of children.

"He also deleted WhatsApp messages. There were 507 internet search items deleted. It seemed to be indicative that the defendant searched for his own name and details."

Thomas, of no fixed address, admitted breaching a SHPO and two charges of failing to comply with notification requirements of the sex offenders' register. Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said: "He is sorry for what he has done. The remorse is genuine.

"He did not wish there to be any interference by the authorities in that relationship. That is why he did not disclose it to the authorities."

Judge Sally Hancox jailed Thomas for two years. She said: "You formed a friendship with a woman who had three daughters, two were under 16 at the time. You stayed overnight with that woman at her home, she being in complete ignorance of your previous offending record.

"You failed to comply with the notification requirements in that you failed to tell those who monitor you that your address had changed. There was no wrongdoing on your part towards her or her family.

"You breached the SHPO by deleting your internet usage and search history on your mobile phone. You remain a risk. Thankfully, nothing found to be deleted was a concern. It was still a deliberate breach of your SHPO."

Speaking after the case, Police Constable Sarah Gifford said: Thomas thought he could lie and deceive police about his activities and cover his tracks. Im glad he has been handed a custodial sentence and hope it goes to show how we continue to monitor sexual offenders in order to bring them to justice.

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A shamed Asda boss has been convicted of sexually abusing two girls. George Gallagher, 30, groped a 12-year-old girl at the supermarket in Glasgow's Forge shopping centre on April 19, 2021.

He earlier attacked another girl aged between 11 and 13 at various locations in Glasgow including his home in the city's Dennistoun as well as a caravan park in Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, between February 2017 and 2019.

Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that the first girl wandered from her mum to look at jewellery in the women's department when Gallagher struck. Prosecutor Jessica McGowan heard Gallagher - who was applying to join the police - spent minutes claiming to look for a colleague and clothing. Gallagher groped the girl as she walked past him.

The court was also told that, while on a visit to the caravan park, Gallagher wrapped the second girl's legs around his waist before cuddling and groping her.

The girl claimed that she got extremely upset at the thought of being alone with Gallagher. It was stated that Gallagher would wait to get the girl alone where he would lift up her skirt grope and cuddle her.

Gallagher was convicted of two charges of sexual assault and a separate charge of engaging in a sex act with someone underage. Sheriff Iain Fleming told Gallagher that he preferred the victims' evidence to his.

The sheriff added: "I regard that the touching was sexual in intention by you. The [12-year-old] girl said that 'he rubbed his arm against me and it was a really hard touch'. You had ample room to avoid her but you chose to walk close to her.

"You had no business being in that area of the store. You had no reason to be in the women's department when your area is fruit and veg - you should not have been there. I'm satisfied beyond reasonable doubt of you guilt."

Members of the public gallery clapped after the verdict was read and Gallagher was put on the sex offenders register. Sentence was deferred pending background reports until next month.

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A "wicked and cruel" man who tied up and raped a woman after attacking her with an axe has been jailed.

Mark Yeates, 51, hit the woman on the head with the weapon at a property in Accrington, Lancashire, on 28 February.

Yeates, of Nuttall Street, Accrington, posed "a real risk of further offending towards women", Lancashire Police said.

He was sentenced to 12 years in prison at Preston Crown Court after pleading guilty to three counts of rape and one of assault.

A police spokesman said officers were alerted to a serious sexual assault at a property at about 10:25 GMT on 28 February.

'Dangerousness'

He said Yeates was quickly identified as the prime suspect and arrested later the same day, but answered no comment to all questions put to him during interview.

Yeates was given a further eight years on extended licence and ordered to sign the sex offender's register for life.

Speaking after sentencing, Det Con Jo Billington said he was "a wicked and cruel individual, who, as recognised by the judge, poses a real risk of further offending towards women".

She said she was pleased with the sentence he received, which reflected "his dangerousness".

She added that the woman who he attacked deserved praise for her "bravery" during the case.

"I hope the courage she has shown... will encourage other victims of sexual offences to come forward," she said.

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A woman raped by a "brutish and violent" thug while pregnant went on to suffer a miscarriage soon after.

The woman was repeatedly raped by Faran Abbas during a nine month long campaign of abuse which left her feeling scared, broken and unable to recognise herself in the mirror. Preston Crown Court today heard that Abbas attempted to use his religious background to justify his behaviour but that was rubbished by a judge who told him: "There is no excuse, nor could there ever be."

The victim had only known Abbas, 28, for a few months but after an initial good impression, he soon began to "treat her life as his own, her body as his own". In a powerful victim impact statement read to the court, the woman revealed the extent of the impact caused by Abbas' evil action. He, meanwhile, has since remarried a "new, young wife".

In a trial at Preston Crown Court, Abbas, of Church Street, Accrington, was found guilty of five counts of rape and two counts of controlling and coercive behaviour. Each of those rape charges accounted for more than one incident and the jury took just one hour to make a decision.

That trial heard that the woman kept a heartbreaking diary in which she wrote: "He took and took from me until I no longer existed." She said Abbas repeatedly raped her during the eight month ordeal and that members of his family turned a blind eye, while her own family saw her go from a "bright, bubbly, confident young lady to a woman they hardly recognised".

Abbas returned to the court to be sentenced today as David Traynor, prosecuting, summarised the victim's impact statement. He said she had been left suffering from nightmares and insomnias, had lost friends and her career and was constantly scared of being attacked and kidnapped.

It continued: "I feel I'm a stranger in my on reflection. I don't recognise myself in the mirror. I do want to believe the broken person staring back is me. I have lost everything [...] because of what he did to me."

Defending, David Ellis accepted the was no credit available after what he described as an exceedingly fair trial. Arguing against a life sentence, he offered the small mitigation that this wasn't a "campaign" in the legal sense that it wasn't multiple victims. Mr Ellis described Abbas as "a creation of his upbringing and his own heritage" and that he had five character references from people who supported him, including one from his "new, young wife".

Sentencing, Judge Simon Medland QC said: "You behaved in a brutish and violent way. You treated her as someone whose opinions were not worth listening to, who could be treated with the utmost contempt and indeed on many occasions with cruelty.

"You sought, in my view, to subvert the peaceful and respectable religion of Islam to use that as an excuse for your conduct. Islam is no excuse for your conduct. There is no excuse, nor could there ever be. The impact on your victim is very significant indeed."

"Over a period of nine months, I am quite sure you behaved in a violent and brutal way to a woman who did not deserve any such treatment. Treating her life as your own and her body as your own."

Ruling out a whole life term, Judge Medland handed Abbas an 18 year sentence. He also ruled that Abbas should be classified as a dangerous offender. That means that he will only be released if a parole board approves it and that he can only apply for parole two thirds of the way through the sentence.

He will also spend an additional two years on licence after the full term and will be subject to notification requirements for the rest of his life.

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A man who was found guilty of sending an indecent image of himself to an underage girl online has been placed on the sex offenders register for three years.

Scott Gerrard faced accusations that he chatted to a 13-year-old decoy called Ruby and sent her a picture of his private parts despite knowing she was a child.

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Police have issued an appeal to find a wanted sex offender. Paul Chapman failed to comply with his probation licence, cops have said.

The 58-year-old also reportedly breached sex offender notification requirements. Chapman is from the Dudley area and a warrant is out for his arrest.

Anyone who sees him or has information on his whereabouts is asked to call 999 immediately.

A spokesperson for Dudley police said on Twitter: "Do you know where Paul Chapman is? The 58-year-old from Dudley is wanted on a warrant for failing to comply with his probation licence & breaching sex offender notification requirements.

"If you have any information please call 999 quoting 20/183619/22."

Cops shared an image of Chapman alongside the statement. It showed him with a grey beard and blue eyes.