Latest Offenders

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A foster carer found guilty of indecently assaulting two girls more than 20 years ago has avoided a prison sentence.

Alastair Legge, 52, was convicted following a trial at Aberdeen Sheriff Court of two counts of sexually assaulting the girls at an address in Macduff and within a car during journeys across the region.

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A man who sexually assaulted a teenager has been jailed.

Jamie Gorton, formerly of Burnley, assaulted the girl twice on one day in February.

The 34-year-old, appearing via video link at Burnley Crown Court on Thursday (December 12) kept his head in his hands and his sweatshirt over his face for the duration of the hearing.

When Judge Sara Dodd returned from a brief retirement to consider her sentencing remarks, she asked Gorton if he was more comfortable with his hands over his face, to which he replied "yes".

Before Judge Dodd had finished giving her remarks, though after she had told Gorton of his sentence, the defendant got up and left the conference room at the prison, leaving the judge to finish the final sentences of her remarks without the defendant present.

Lancashire Police put out an appeal to find Gorton earlier this year saying he spoke "with a Burnley accent" and that he had links to Darwen, Blackpool, and Fleetwood.

The offences took place in Blackpool. 

A victim impact statement read to the court by prosecuting barrister Aubrey Samson said the victim had self-harmed since the incident and has suffered from anxiety and flashbacks.

She said: "I can't believe this has happened to me."

John Woodward, defending said his client was now receiving the "best medication" for his mental health.

He said: "He feels he's getting better and feels confident that given time he'll be able to understand his difficulties and be able to act accordingly in the future."

Gorton, now of Osborne Road, Blackpool, and previously of an address in Burnley, has 21 previous convictions for 33 offences, including engaging in sexual activity with a child and failing to comply with notification requirements and a sexual harm prevention order.

He was found guilty of assault by penetration and sexual activity with a child following a trial.

Judge Dodd, sentencing, said the victim in this case was "particularly vulnerable".

She said: "There has been significant psychological harm. I do not find the harm caused to have been severe, though this is not to underplay in any way the damage you have done to this young girl.

"You are rightly described as being unable to comply with court orders. I have no confidence you would comply with licence conditions upon your release."

Judge Dodd considered Gorton to be a dangerous offender and sentenced him to an eight-year prison term with a further five years on extended licence, making a total sentence of 13 years.

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A 42-year sentence has been imposed on a man who raped and sexually assaulted a number of women and girls in the Dover and Canterbury areas.

Ian Hamilton was charged with numerous sexual offences after Kent Police's Cold Case Investigation Team reviewed a 1988 investigation into an attack on a girl in the village of Hersden.

That in turn linked him to a 1992 report concerning abuse he inflicted on a child in Dover in the mid-1980s.

Cold case investigation

Detectives began tracing and interviewing people who had come into contact with Hamilton around that time, leading to a number of women revealing they had also been the victims of violence and sexual abuse at his hands.

In total, officers identified a further nine women who had been victims of sexual offences between 1977 and 2000, and a man who had been seriously assaulted by him in 1991.

As a result, more than 50 previously unreported offences were investigated and Hamilton was arrested at his home in Snodland in March 2024.

Following his arrest, a computer in his possession was found to contain more than 1,500 indecent images.

The 63 year old stood trial at Inner London Crown Court and was convicted by a jury of all 59 charges including rape, indecent assault and causing grievous bodily harm, having admitted possession of indecent images at the start of the trial.

Jailed

On Friday 13 December 2024, he received a sentence of 42 years and one month. His Honour Judge Silas Reid described Hamilton as 'cunning and sadistic' and a 'monster of the night'.

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A man has been jailed for six years and three months, after being convicted of sex offences.

Dillon Robb, aged 29, of HMP Hewell was convicted of four counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15 and two counts of engaging in sexual communications with a child.

He was sentenced at Shrewsbury Crown Court today (Friday 13 December). Robb was also given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and has been placed on the sex offenders register for life.

The offences took place in Telford between August and September 2023.

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A MAN who met an underage girl for sex after grooming her online has been locked up for six-and-a-half years.

Bradford Crown Court heard how Damien Hughes set up a fake Instagram account under the name “Simon” and sent a friend request to the teenager.

Over the next three months they exchanged messages, which became sexualised, and he sent a video of himself masturbating.

He also asked the teenager to send nude photographs of herself and encouraged her to agree to meet in a hotel for sex despite knowing she was under the age of consent.

During the school holidays they met up three times and on two occasions Hughes, now 41, had sex with the girl in his car.

The court heard that the girl tried to call a halt to the situation, but Hughes would tell her that he would miss her and was “really upset”.

The relationship was discovered when a relative of the girl spotted a message from Hughes on her phone and responded pretending to be her.

He then investigated her Instagram account and found sexually explicit photographs and videos as well as messages arranging to meet up.

The police were informed, and, on being arrested, Hughes gave “no comment” answers in an interview.

When his phone was examined it showed where he had travelled to meet the girl and CCTV footage was located that placed the pair at the scene.

A forensic examination of his car found evidence of sexual activity.

Hughes was picked out by the teenager in an identity parade but denied the offences and went to trial where he was found guilty by a jury.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Laura McBride the teenager said her experiences with Hughes had left her feeling “very worried, anxious, and intimidated” as he had taken advantage of her vulnerabilities.

She revealed she had undergone therapy and suffered from trust issues that had impacted other relationships.

She said: “Each day I must live with the memories and flashbacks of what he did to me.”

Sentencing Hughes, of Westbourne Grove, Halifax, at Bradford Crown Court Mr Recorder Andrew Haslam KC said he had denied his crimes “despite overwhelming evidence”.

He jailed Hughes for a total of six-and-a-half years, imposed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order, and said he must sign the sex offender’s register for life.

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A judge has jailed a ‘dangerous’ woman for violent physical and sexual abuse.

Angel Hill, 20, was handed an extended sentence for her crimes. Minshull Street Crown Court heard that Hill, who is transitioning from male to female, had demonstrated ‘violent, manipulative and controlling behaviour’.

She pleaded guilty to assault by penetration, sexual assault, strangulation and threatening with a bladed article in relation to the victim. “I conclude you have no insight regarding your behaviour at all,” Judge Jason MacAdam told the defendant.

“I see no evidence whatsoever that would lead me to conclude you are motivated to change your behaviour. Your approach being ‘it’s all about me’. The consequences of your actions don’t seem to register in your thought process, or if they do you ignore them. I find you to be dangerous, in the legal sense.”

Hill, of High Peak, Derbyshire, was sentenced to an extended sentence of 11 years, including seven years in prison and four years on extended licence.

Prosecuting, Stuart Neale said that the victim had struggled to breathe when Hill committed the strangulation offence. He said that Hill had said ‘I’m going to kill you’ earlier on the same occasion.

In a statement read to the court, the victim told how the incidents had affected their mental health. Defending, Julian Goode said that the defendant is still a young person and has not yet reached full maturity.

He said that she has experienced serious mental health issues, and argued that she was genuinely remorseful. Judge MacAdam said that he would reduce the sentence to take account of the defendant’s youth and mental health. He also reduced the sentence by 20 per cent because she pleaded guilty.

“The victim in this case was spared the ordeal of having to give evidence,” the judge said. He ordered Hill to sign the sex offender’s register. Hill was told she would have to serve at least two-thirds of the seven year custodial sentence before being considered for release.

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A teenager has told a court she attempted to take her own life after being repeatedly sexually assaulted by an older colleague at a McDonald’s in Perth.

The young woman was one of three female employees tormented by Joshua McKeown in 2022.

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A paedophile who walked into a Sawtry home and sexually assaulted a young girl has been jailed.

Christopher Woods, 39, was captured on CCTV trying door handles in the early hours of 23 April last year.

Woods, who was carrying a pint glass, managed to get into the back garden of the victim’s home before entering the property.

The victim had awoken and decided to go downstairs where Wood spoke to her and then assaulted her.

Video doorbell footage captured him entering the garden and leaving roughly 40 minutes later.

The following day the girl told her mother and she contacted police.

When officers attended, they found the pint glass in the garden. Forensic tests revealed Woods’ fingerprints, and he was arrested.

Woods, of Garner Court, Huntingdon, denied assaulting a girl under 13 by touching and breaching an existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He was found guilty of both counts following a trial at Peterborough Crown Court last month.

Yesterday (11 December) at the same court he was jailed for four years and six months.

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A ‘predatory’ priest who repeatedly molested a sleeping train passenger has been jailed for 16 months at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Father Daniel Doherty, 61, from Falkirk, was the parish priest at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Falkirk.

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A sex offender who avoided police checks by sleeping rough has been jailed for a year.

Scott Notman, also a convicted football hooligan, lied to cops by saying he had been in hospital when they were looking for him. The 49-year-old was sentenced at Airdrie Sheriff Court when he admitted failing to disclose a change of address within three days.

Notman was put on the sex offenders' register for five years in July 2023 after being caught in a paedophile sting. A court heard he used an online dating site to contact a female he believed to be aged 14.

'Emma' turned out to be an adult member of a vigilante group posing as a teenager. Notman arranged to meet her but didn't turn up.

Airdrie Sheriff Court heard police officers from the sex offenders' monitoring unit went to Notman's home in Airdrie for a routine check four times in October this year. There was no sign of him and housing officers who turned up with an eviction notice also got no reply.

Annette Ward, prosecuting, said: "Police officers traced him in a social work office in Bellshill on November 5. He claimed he had been in Monklands Hospital between October 18 and November 4.

"Enquiries at the hospital established he'd attended at the emergency unit on November 3 but was discharged after examination."

Defence lawyer Tony Linden said Notman's sex offender status had put him "at a low ebb", adding: "As remarkable as it seems, he chose to leave his house, preferring to sleep rough.

"Of course, the first thing he was required to do was tell the police, given the clear concerns that arose from them not knowing where he was."

Sheriff Joseph Hughes told Notman: "Your record shows breaches of non-harassment and community payback orders. This is another example of non-compliance and it's really serious.

"It can't be allowed to continue as you are on the sex offenders' register until 2028."

In 2021 Notman was jailed for 15 months for breaking a Hearts football fan's jaw in an unprovoked attack after a game against Motherwell.

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A 58-year-old man has appeared at Swansea Crown Court today (Wednesday December 11) charged with child sex offences including attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, an adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and breaching a sexual harm prevention order

David Parton from Penarth was arrested in October after arranging to meet a child under 13 following conversations held on-line.  He has been sent to prison for six years.

He will then have to serve a further four years on license as he has been classed as a dangerous offender bringing the total sentence to 10 years. He also has a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be classed as a sex offender for life. 

The investigation, which was carried out by Tarian, the Regional Organised Crime Unit for southern Wales, identified Parton as targeting children in southern Wales and enticing a child to commit sexual acts. 

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A man has been jailed after sexually assaulting a girl and taking and sharing indecent images of her. Ryan Woolsey, 25 years, of Withensfield, Liscard was put behind bars for 13 years and eight months.

Woolsey was convicted of two counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, two counts of making indecent photographs of a child, possessing an indecent photograph of a child, distributing an indecent photograph of a child and taking an indecent photograph of a child.

During the course of the investigation into Woolsey’s offending, officers seized Woolsey’s devices and found he had taken and shared indecent images of the victim as well as assaulting her.

Detective Inspector Rob Pritchard said: “I know that people hearing the details of Woolsey’s crimes will feel complete revulsion at the way he exploited a young child. His crimes are quite simply despicable. Woolsey had no regard for the impact his behaviour would have on the victim, and thought only of his own sordid gratification.“Sex offending has a huge and devastating impact on victims and their families, and that harm can last a lifetime. I want to pay tribute to the victim in this case and her family, whose courage in coming forward and co-operating with the investigation has been humbling.“I would also like to take this opportunity to thank the team who investigated Woolsey, whose actions have helped put him behind bars and spare this child and others from further harm and exploitation. I hope Woolsey spends the long time he has in prison considering the terrible impact of his actions.”Det Insp Pritchard added: “Merseyside Police is completely committed to protecting children from sexual abuse and stopping those who seek to do them harm – including those who share images of that abuse. Our Unity team is dedicated to preventing sexual offences and protecting people from the trauma and hurt sexual abuse can inflict.

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A paedophile who sexually abused a teenage girl and had more than 15,000 indecent images of children and animals on his laptop has been jailed for more than a decade.

Police raided the home of registered sex offender Russell Duncan Frederick Weatherley in 2022, after receiving information he possessed indecent images of children.

Officers recovered a laptop with more than 15,000 indecent images and arrested the 62-year-old, of Bearpark, County Durham.

Detectives also found a folder on the device named after the victim, who Weatherley had preyed on decades earlier.

Weatherley had forced the girl to carry out sexual acts, often photographing or filming them.

The 62-year-old was charged with more than 30 offences and in court, pleaded not guilty to six counts of engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl and five counts of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

He went to trial and was found guilty of all the offences as well as changing his plea to guilty for a further 18 counts of making indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography with an animal.

He was sentenced to ten years and six months in prison at Teesside Crown Court on Friday (December 6).

Following the sentencing, DC Liam Padget, who led the investigation, said: “Weatherley is a monster in every sense of the word and that is how the victim described him so we hope this sentence allows her to finally start to heal from this ordeal.

“I would like to commend the victim and her family for their bravery and perseverance during the investigation.

“She has had to carry the burden of abuse for many years, and this sentence reflects society’s abhorrence of crimes such as this.

“Durham Constabulary will always investigate offences of this nature and place victims at the centre of everything we do. If you have been a victim of abuse, please reach out. We will believe you.”

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A sexual predator followed a vulnerable woman as she got a taxi home from a night out before assaulting her for over an hour in a dark alleyway.

The young woman had been out with friends in Fallowfield when her friends ordered her an Uber home using her phone. But a car began to follow them.

CCTV showed Abbas Ahmed, 32, following closely behind the taxi before the woman stopped the journey home short. She then got out of the cab and began walking home, appearing to ‘walk into a parked car’ and seemed ‘clearly drunk’, prosecutor Geoff Whelan said.

“The defendant parked further up and noticed her walking down the road and quickly caught up with her,” he said.

“He grabbed hold of her hand and put his arm around her. She was unsteady on her feet.”

At one point the woman was seen to point towards her address, before Ahmed led her towards an alleyway. He then kissed her hand to encourage her, Manchester Crown Court heard.

Whilst walking over to the alleyway she was seen to push him away before he grabbed her hand. In the alleyway he sexually assaulted her.

The woman would later tell police that she had no memory of the taxi journey and only vague memories of being bent over and feeling something pulling her shorts and underwear down before pushing against her.

“The Crown’s case is that she was simply too intoxicated to consent,” Mr Whelan said.

The woman thought the assault took place over the course of five and ten minutes. However, CCTV revealed the ordeal lasted an hour before Ahmed left the woman alone in the alleyway.

She could be seen on the footage briefly illuminated by a passing car’s headlights as she was propped up against a wall with her dress pulled up to her waist.

As Ahmed left the scene, the young woman managed to find her way home where she met up with her friend. She had her underwear in her hand, it was said.

Whilst she got ready for bed, she mentioned to her friends about a ‘man in an alleyway’, but as they were unsure of what happened they thought to let her rest. A couple of days later she informed the police that she had been sexually assaulted.

In footage of the incident played to the court, the taxi is seen driving up the road to make sure the woman was OK. As he had seen she was ‘not in distress’ he drove away.

During the hour-long assault, the woman was seen to momentarily stumble out of the alleyway looking disorientated and dazed.

Ahmed’s DNA was later found on her genitals, the court heard.

In a statement, the woman said she struggles with fear, anxiety and sadness. She said she had struggled with friendships and whilst she had no physical injuries, she suffered a ‘mental toll’.

She added that she now doesn’t drink and feels unsafe around men. “I’m doing my best to move forward, but the effect still lingers," she added.

The court heard that Ahmed had a previous conviction for sexual assault, in which he had followed his victim in a car.

Mitigating, Gemma Maxwell said: “Parts of the journey, she was kissing him and holding his hand.

“The offences began upon losing his job. He was at a low ebb and was lonely and had time on his hands.”

Sentencing him as a ‘dangerous offender’ under sentencing provisions, Judge Patrick Field KC said: “The evidence shows that you are a sexual predator. You preyed upon a lone female unknown to you.

“She was alone and vulnerable. She was very drunk, so drunk that she was unable to consent to what you did and unable to remember what happened.

“You were fully aware of her condition. She tried to resist but was overpowered by force or persuasion.”

He described the offence as ‘thoroughly organised, planned and premeditated.

Ahmed, of Meade Grove, Longsight, was handed 50 months imprisonment with an extended licence period of 48 months.

He was also made subject of the Sex Offenders Register and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further order.

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A man raped a woman in her own home after travelling to Wales to meet her. Sean Murphy then assaulted his victim a number of times including by banging her head against the wall.

Swansea Crown Court heard an impact statement from the victim of the sexual violence in which she said the experience had left her feeling "broken" inside. The 52-year-old defendant has been jailed for seven and a half years and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life. Police have praised the bravery of the victim and said without her coming forward "a very dangerous man would still be on the streets".

The court heard the rape happened in May last year in Swansea. Murphy sexually assaulted and raped the woman in the bedroom of the property then subjected her to a number of physical assaults in different rooms. The offending was subsequently reported to police and Murphy admitted the physical assaults but denied the sexual offending. He was convicted at trial in October this year.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by prosecutor Alycia Carpanini, the complainant said she was trying to be strong for the sake of her daughter but inside she was "broken". She said the pain and damage of what Murphy did would live with her for the rest of her life. For the latest court reports sign up to our crime newsletter here.

Sean Murphy, of Stanbrook Road, Burford, Shropshire, had previously been convicted at trial of sexual assault and rape when he returned to the dock for sentencing. He had also previously pleaded guilty to three counts of battery. Megan Fletcher-Smith, for Murphy, said the defendant maintains his innocence and was "devastated" by the verdicts of the jury. She said seven personal references submitted to the court – including two from former partners of Murphy – speak of him "in the most glowing of terms" and said those who wrote the references are finding it very difficult to reconcile the man they know with the offences he has been convicted of. The barrister said her client's family had attended court during the trial but Murphy had not wanted them present for his sentencing such was his shame.

Judge Catherine Richards said it was clear that on the night in question Murphy had been "determined to have sexual intercourse" with his victim despite her protestations. She said following the sexual assault and rape the defendant had then subjected the woman to a series of assaults and that Murphy was fortunate that the decision had been taken to charge him with assaults by beating and not assaults occasioning actual bodily harm.

Murphy was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. He will serve two-thirds of that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. Murphy will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

Speaking after the sentencing South Wales Police detective inspector Sharon Gill-Lewis said: "Sean Murphy’s offending was despicable and he has rightly been sentenced to a lengthy jail term. I would like to pay tribute to the bravery of the victim in coming forward without whom a very dangerous man would still be on the streets."