Latest Offenders

Description

A convicted paedophile from Welshpool with a history of "absolutely disgusting and revolting behaviour" against young girls has been jailed for 12 months after staying two nights in the same hotel room as a toddler without telling police.

Daniel Robert Henry Thomas, aged 34, of Leighton View, a registered sex offender, did not tell police or the probation service that he was going away with the child and their mother last year.

Thomas was sentenced at Mold Crown Court on Thursday (February 2) after pleading guilty to failing to comply with the sex offender register requirements which breached his six-month suspended sentence.

His Honour Judge Rhys Rowlands described the Welshpool grave digger as "arrogant" and a "risk taker" who deliberately didn't tell police that he was going to stay at a place for at least 12 hours where a child would be present.

Sion ap Mihangel, prosecuting barrister, said: "It was a deliberate failure. He knew the requirements and he did nothing about it.

"The defendant was interviewed and, significantly, knew it was part of his requirements to contact police and he knew how to.

"He accepted that no attempts were made. It is clear from the officer’s statement he was reminded on several occasions of the requirements of the order."

When defence barrister Laura Knightly told the court that Thomas had completed all the requirements of his sentence and had engaged well with the probation service, Judge Rowlands responded: "He sent a picture of an erect penis to a child. It seems remarkably lenient that Welshpool Magistrates’ Court gave a suspended sentence. It wouldn’t have happened here.”

Ms Knightly continued: "He says he forgot the terms of the requirements but was reminded by probation which is why he knew about them by the time he was spoken to by the police."

The court was told that Thomas' family members were in court to support him, which the judge said was "all the more worrying, really".

Thomas has been a registered sex offender since 2012 and served a 28-month prison sentence after he was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a child.

In 2019 he was fined by Welshpool Magistrates' Court for failing to comply with a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO). A year later he was back in Welshpool court for breaching the order and was sentenced to six months in prison, but it was suspended for two years.

Two months after appearing in court he was convicted again for sexual communications with a child.

During sentencing, Judge Rowlands told Thomas: "The picture is depressing that you are simply not complying with court requirements.

"The custody threshold has undoubtedly been passed here. I’m of the view there aren’t realistic prospects of rehabilitation in your case.”

Thomas was sentenced to four months in prison for breaching his suspended sentence, and eight months for failing to comply with the sex offenders register.

Description

A PAEDOPHILE identified using the dark web was caught with thousands of pictures and videos of child sex abuse.

National Crime Agency officers identified the monikers of various users of the dark web site ‘The Camp Fire’. Using the users’ IP addresses, they were able to find out their identities. One of the users was Jordan Waddon.

Police officers searched Waddon’s home – in Pen Y Bryn in Penyrheol, Caerphilly – on the morning of October 15, 2020.

“Mr Waddon made admissions from the word go,” prosecutor Nigel Fryer said.

Thousands of child sexual abuse images were discovered across three laptops which were recovered.

Of the material found, 236 pictures and 89 videos of the most serious level of abuse – Category A – were discovered, along with more than 1,000 pictures and videos in Category B and 3,589 pictures and 17 videos in Category C.

“He understood what the dark web was. He understood what ‘The Camp Fire’ was for,” said Mr Fryer.

“He said he had been using the dark web as long ago as 2014.”

Claire Wilks, defending, said Waddon was “led astray” by other dark web users exploiting him at a young age.

“The defendant himself was initially a child victim who was exploited himself,” she said. “He was groomed.

“It’s rather a sad state of affairs.”

She added that Waddon, now 24, had not reoffended since his arrest in 2020.

Judge Neil Bidder described Waddon as living “an isolated existence”.

He sentenced Waddon to a 24-month community order, 40 days rehabilitation activity requirement, 120 hours of unpaid work, and must complete Maps for Change work.

He was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender – both for five years.

“If you break this order, it’s prison. It’s that simple,” the judge warned Waddon.

Description

A 'narcissistic predator' found guilty of multiple rapes, serious physical and sexual assault over a twenty-year campaign of terror has been caged for 12 years.

James Cunningham, 56, was found guilty of multiple rapes of three different women as well as serious physical and sexual assaults of others on February 3. He carried out the offences on women and children in Fife between 1985 and 2008.

His crimes were reported to police in 2019 and an investigation was launched. At the High Court in Livingston today (March 2), he was jailed for 12 years with an extension period of four years and placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

During a trial last month, the jury found Cunningham guilty unanimously on all but one charge, and guilty by a majority of the remaining charge.

The offender groomed young vulnerable females by placing himself in a position of power over them before committing numerous sexual and physical offences "of the most serious kind".

Judge Susan Craig said: "You had conducted years of abusive, manipulative and controlling behaviour of your victims whose lives continue to be blighted by your appalling treatment of them.

"When they tried to escape from you, you used that power to force them back and continued to abuse them. When, in time, they were able to escape from your influence you would immediately replace them with another young victim who you would again subject to years of sexual and physical abuse.

"Your controlling and abusive behaviour wasn’t confined to your sexual relationships but extended to those over whom you had power. You made their lives a misery by controlling what they could and couldn’t do and imposing random rules of behaviour.

"If they did not behave according to your rules you would use physical and humiliating punishments. Their childhoods were blighted by your appalling treatment. That they have been able to make successful lives as adults is a testament to their resilience in spite of, not because of, what you did."

Judge Craig described a criminal social work report into Cunningham as "grim reading". It stated that his sexual and violent abuse was committed against intimate partners as well as children.

Cunningham continued to plead his innocent throughout his trial and significantly blamed his victims. Judge Craig said the 56-year-old posed a high risk of committing further sexual and violent offences against females of all ages and due to the gravity of his crimes a custodial sentences was the only appropriate outcome.

Detective Constable Ross French from Fife Division said: “Cunningham is a narcissistic predator who has refused to admit his guilt and has shown no remorse for his despicable crimes.

“I want to commend the victims for the strength they have shown throughout this investigation and trial. My thoughts remain with them and I hope that this sentencing brings them some comfort and helps them move forward.

“We have detectives dedicated to investigating such offences, and no matter how much time has passed, please report it. You can be assured that you will be fully supported by officers and our partner agencies."

Description

A man has been jailed for child sex offences following a joint investigation by police in Hampshire and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU).

In August 2022, 57-year-old Robert Pell struck up a conversation with a person online who he believed to be a 14-year-old boy, and agreed to meet up with them at Fareham train station.

When Pell arrived at the location, he was instead met by police officers who arrested him.

He was subsequently charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a boy under 16 years of age following grooming.

Following Pell’s arrest, police seized his phone for examination.

The phone contained 80 indecent images of children, including images Pell had taken of himself abusing a child.

Officers from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary identified and immediately safeguarded the child, before charging Pell with two counts of taking an indecent photograph of a child, and one count of sexual activity with a child under the age of 13.

Appearing at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on 13 January 2023, Pell, of the Titchfield area of Fareham, admitted all of the offences. He also admitted a further count of making indecent images of children at a hearing on 20 February.

He appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court today (Thursday 2 March) where he was sentenced to 4 years in prison. He was also made subject to a lifelong Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), and must sign on the sex offenders register for life.

PC David Sloan, from Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary’s Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “Pell’s crimes are nothing short of horrendous. He willingly arranged to meet with someone who he believed to be a child following a period of grooming, and the evidence that police uncovered throughout the subsequent investigation proved that he had already been actively involved in the sexual abuse of a child.

“This man poses a clear risk to children. I hope that the efforts of police and Pell’s subsequent jail sentence provides some reassurance to the community that we will do everything in our power, and use every tactic available, to identify perpetrators of child abuse, safeguard those affected, and bring offenders to justice.”

Detective Constable Colin Haynes, of SEROCU, said: “SEROCU officers worked closely in collaboration with Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary to ensure a thorough investigation was carried out and that Pell was brought before a court to face the consequences of his abhorrent crimes.

“Child sexual abuse has devastating and lasting consequences for victims, so we will continue this vital work with police forces across the South East to ensure offenders who pose such a danger are identified and apprehended to face justice.”

Description

A predatory sex pest grabbed a woman's bottom and gyrated against her, before exposing himself to another at a post office.

Shaun O'Connor, known as "Chop-Off," targeted the women customers at the Darlington post office on the morning of September 7, last year.

He grabbed the first woman's buttocks, put both arms around her, gyrated against her and made a sexual remark to her. When he was asked to leave he approached another woman customer who he exposed himself to and then grabbed her top, the court heard.

After his arrest, the 40-year-old performed a sex act in front of a police officer from his cell in Darlington police station.

On Wednesday, O'Connor told a judge at Teesside Crown Court that he was representing himself and began dancing and shouting throughout proceedings.

Prosecutor Tabitha Buck told the court that a month earlier, on August 18, O'Connor went into a Darlington hotel, despite being barred. When a member of staff asked him to leave he grabbed her by the throat and tried to kiss her, before slapping the bottom of another woman as he walked out.

Weeks earlier, on July 27, O'Connor punched a man, outside the Greyhound Pub on Parkgate. The man fell into a stationary car on the road, and O'Connor then dragged him back onto the pavement.

The man who Ms Buck said had done nothing to provoke O'Connor, was unconscious and had a laceration to the back of his head. In court O'Connor shouted: "I saved him, I saved him, Your Honour."

O'Connor, of Pateley Moor Crescent in Darlington, pleaded guilty to a string of offences, including two sexual assaults, two counts of exposure, and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

He told the court that he had been sexually attacked as a teenager before apologising for his behaviour.

Judge Howard Crowson jailed O'Connor for two-years. He was placed on the sex offenders' register for 10 years. "Thank you" O'Connor replied, "I appreciate that I have been safe in prison."

Description

A man has been jailed for a “humiliating and degrading” sex attack on a young woman at a property in Harrogate.

Andrew Reekie, 33, left the woman “haunted” and an emotional wreck following the “absolutely disgusting” assault, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Shaun Dodds said the victim tried to kick Reekie off her during the assault and told him to “get off”. She was crying afterwards and told a friend what had happened.

Reekie told her she “wouldn’t dare ring the police” but she plucked up the courage to do so.

Reekie, of Bramham Drive, Jennyfields, was brought in for questioning two months after the attack but refused to answer police questions.

He was charged with sexual assault but denied the offence, only to plead guilty on the day of trial in January. He appeared for sentence yesterday.

The court heard he had previous convictions for serious violence, public disorder, acquisitive crime, possessing an offensive weapon, robbery, criminal damage and breaching court orders.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that “life as I knew it came to an abrupt and sudden halt” following the sex attack. She added:

“I was paralysed (with fear) and completely helpless.”

She said she was “powerless” to stop Reekie and she had felt an inexplicable but “overwhelming shame” since the incident, adding:

“I felt completely alone and unable to trust anyone.

“The sound of his voice will (continue) to play in my head. It was like a knife in my guts.”

Nightmares and shame

She said that after the attack she “couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep or socialise”.

She had nightmares of other women being sexually assaulted and she was “more and more anxious that it was going to happen to somebody else”.

She said that even reporting the attack only “intensified the shame” and she developed serious mental-health problems.

It had affected her work and she had felt “traumatised” about the prospect of giving evidence in court.

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A man has been charged with raping a teenage girl after paying for her sexual services.

27-year-old Jack Ball appeared at Swindon Magistrates’ Court this morning (Wednesday).

He pleaded not guilty to the rape of a girl aged 13 and paying for the sexual services of a girl aged 13 – both alleged offences are said to have happened on the same date in 2021.

The defendant, of Kirkstall Close, Toothill, Swindon, was supported by two women who attended with him and watched the proceedings in the public gallery.

Natalie Cheesman, prosecuting, did not outline further details about the offences due to the fact a charge of rape can only be dealt with in a crown court.

The case was adjourned to Swindon Crown Court on 31 March for a plea and trial preparation hearing.

Description

Unpaid work for Perth paedophile who posted photos of local schoolgirls and shared sick rape fantasies on Grindr.

In one vile message, Innes said he got aroused every time he drove or walked past a school

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A sleazy coked-up pervert who repeatedly sent pictures of his penis to a 13-year-old girl refused to speak to the Sunday World after being approached about his sick crime.

Gavin Anthony Gillen was jailed at Newry Crown Court for 10 months yesterday, for sexual communication with a child – just 24 hours before his older brother James Gillen is due to be sentenced in the same court for shooting a man with a crossbow.

Gillen also sent a series of sexually explicit images to the child just over two years ago and then claimed he couldn’t have done such a thing because he’s gay.

Last Wednesday the court heard even though he knew full well he was almost 30 years older than the schoolgirl, 43-year-old Gillen still engaged the child in a series of flirtatious, sexually explicit messages, telling the teenager “she was a total honey”.

Gillen, from Milfort Avenue in Dunmurry, was due to be sentenced after he confessed to one count of sexual communication with a child “for the purposes of obtaining sexual gratification” but Judge Peter Irvine KC adjourned the case and said he wanted to reconsider all of the papers before deciding what to do with the creep.

The Sunday World went to Gillen’s door to ask him about his sickening crime but he refused to open the front door.

Sources have told theSunday World that Gillen rarely answers the door as he owes so many people money, often related to his consumption of drugs.

And we have learned from sources who know Gillen he has a habit of sending unwanted sexual explicit messages to women.

Prosecuting counsel Nicole Auret outlined how the offence was committed in the early hours of December 17, 2020 when Gillen began sending the girl messages.

The barrister described how Gillen began by commenting on skimpy clothes and asking her “if she had seen porn” but he then goes on to ask her “if she has seen a penis and if she has looked for pictures of penises on the web”.

“At one point he sent her two pictures of an erect penis and asked her if she thought that d**k is nice,” said Ms Auret, adding Gillen also asked “if she liked girls rather than boys”.

Ms Auret told the court Gillen sent her the d**k pics “several times” but warned her to delete them.

The police were alerted and were able to take screenshots of the messages “but that was the extent of the co-operation” of the teenager and her family, the court heard.

Arrested and interviewed, Gillen accepted he knew the girl was just 13 when sending her sexualised messages and the explicit images.

Claiming he had been in a bar drinking and taking cocaine, Gillen further claimed “he was trying to advise her to stay away from boys and said that he was a homosexual man”.

He said the images he sent were not his own penis but did accept his behaviour “was inappropriate”.

Defence counsel Conor Lunny said Gillen was “quite emotional about the devastation that his actions have done to his own life and relations with his close family”.

“I’m under strict instructions to offer sincere and full apologies, for what it’s worth, to the injured party and her family,” said the barrister.

Jailing Gillen, Judge Peter Irvine KC said legal guidelines made it clear that offences involving the sexual exploitation of children are serious and must be met with appropriate sentences.

In addition to a 10-month jail sentence, Judge Irvine ordered Gillen to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and also imposed a sexual offences prevention order, which places prohibitions on where Gillen can live, who he can date, where he can work and what devices he is allowed.

Description

A MAN who repeatedly raped and sexually abused a vulnerable teenage girl has been jailed for 17 years.

Stephen Scholes, 55, attacked the victim at an address in Leeds during a prolonged ordeal after he plied her with alcohol on a night out. 

He denied the allegations when he was arrested and interviewed.

An investigation by detectives from the Leeds District Safeguarding Unit secured forensic evidence linking him to the offences.

Work by the force’s Digital Forensic Unit also uncovered evidence on his phone confirming that he had filmed the victim during the abuse.

He was charged with four counts of rape of a woman aged 16 or over and four counts of assault by penetration.

He pleaded not guilty but was convicted following a trial at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders' Register.

Description

A man has been jailed after he raped a woman while on a first date.

Lee Frost will spend nearly a decade locked up after he forced himself on a woman who had agreed to go on a date with him.

Frost, 38, of Lobley Hill, Gateshead, left the woman with extensive bruising and so traumatised after the ordeal she moved house and now sleeps with a lock on her bedroom door.

Frost was arrested on suspicion of rape in Spring 2021, but denied his guilt, claiming the pair had consensual sex.

He was charged with two counts of rape but continued to deny any wrongdoing when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court in January this year to stand trial.

A jury, however, saw through his lies, and he was found guilty of both counts.

On Monday (February 27), he was jailed for nine years, with an extended licence period of five years.

He was also made to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

A statement was also read out on behalf of the victim which condemned her attacker, saying he had devastated her life and left her feeling afraid in any place she tried to call home.

Northumbria Police praised the victim for finding the strength to speak to officers and for continuing to assist with the investigation, trial, and all court proceedings.

A spokesperson said: "As a force, we want to praise the victim for finding the strength to speak to officers and for continuing to assist with the investigation, trial and all court proceedings.

"Her bravery has seen her attacker jailed and we also hope it serves as a stark warning to those with an unlawfully blurred view on consent that no always means no, and no can be conveyed by more than just speech.

"If a person tells you no, attempts to push you away, freezes or very clearly becomes distressed, it is clear that they have not given you consent to touch them.

Description

A registered sex offender will now spend 40 months behind bars after being caught breaching his sexual harm prevention order and possessing indecent images of children.

Graham Phillips, 63, of Bridge Close in Staines-upon-Thames, was caught in the act by officers in our High Harm Perpetrator Unit who were monitoring him, after he was seen speaking to three children on the banks of the River Thames near Staines Town Centre on 26 August 2022.

After being arrested, officers were able to determine that he had been regularly trying to communicate with three 12-year-old boys whilst they were on summer holidays.

Phillips's mobile devices were also searched, and separate indecent images of children were discovered. He was remanded in prison and pleaded guilty to breaching his sexual harm prevention order and possessing indecent images of children. At his sentencing on Friday 17 February at Guildford Crown Court, the judge sentenced him to 40 months behind bars.

Detective Inspector Ellen McLachlan who leads the High Harm Perpetrator Unit at Staines said; "The quick and successful apprehension of Mr Phillips before his offending could escalate, is a great example of the dedication and proactive policing work done by the High Harm Perpetrator Unit. We take breaches of prevention orders extremely seriously and will act quickly and decisively to keep the residents of Surrey as safe as possible."

Description

A 45 year old former nursery worker who denied having any memory of being placed on the sex offenders register 20 years ago has been convicted of molesting a four year old Gloucester girl while baby-sitting her.

Gloucester Crown Court heard last week that the child's mother was shocked when her daughter told her how Jamie White had abused her - and then horrified to learn that he had been cautioned by police in the past for similar offending.

The Gloucester woman had trusted White, whom she knew, and was unaware he had been on the Sex Offender Register for five years for indecent assault of a nine year old girl in 2003.

White had also been accused of a similar offence in 1995 when he was working for a childrens nursery, the court was told.

White, now of Atlas Close, Speedwell, Bristol, denied sexual assault of the four year old girl when he was baby-sitting her and a sibling on Feb 20th 2020 in Gloucester.

But he was convicted last Thursday (Feb 23) and bailed to await sentence in April.

The jury of eleven - nine men and two women - saw the four year old girl describe in a video-recorded interview how White had licked her on the genitals while baby-sitting.

The jury heard that White and his partner had babysat the children several times.

Prosecutor Christopher Smyth said: “White arrived at the woman’s house by himself at 1.30pm on Feb 20th 2020 and she told him that she would be back at around 7pm. This was the first time he had babysat the children on his own.

“When the mother arrived home everything seemed normal and the children were playing happily together. White left the house at 8.25pm that evening and the mother took the children upstairs to bed.

“The mother asked her daughter if she had a good day and she replied 'Yes…and no.' Her mother queried this and the young girl said that Jamie had hit her in the face with a cloth.

“She quizzed her daughter, asking if this was while they were playing? She replied 'maybe'. The little girl then said ‘Jamie licked my vulva,’ a word she had been taught about the anatomy of her body.

“The mother was horrified by this and asked if she was telling the truth and she added that people could get into trouble for saying things like that. The girl said it was true.

"The mother then texted White saying that he’d left his scarf behind and added that her daughter had been telling her 'some pretty serious stuff.'

“He replied ‘What stuff?'in a bid to get more information. The mother did not respond.

The following morning White contacted the woman and said ‘I know I have done nothing.’ He added ‘If I am being accused of something, I have the right to know.’

The woman told White that he and his partner would not be babysitting the children again as their trust was gone

I’m not accusing you of anything, yet, but I want the full story,” she said.

When White was giving evidence, the judge, Recorder Anthony Hawks, asked him “If you hadn’t said anything inappropriate or done anything untoward, what do you think you were being accused of?”

White replied: “I don’t know, that’s why I kept asking. I didn’t think it was anything sexual.”

The jury heard that White told the mother he had been checked by the Disclosure and Barring Service and that he was clear.

The jury were told that because White had previously been placed on the sex offenders register for five years in 2003 that would have been flagged up but the mother would not have known this.

The mother contacted social services about her daughter's allegations and while she was on hold to them on the phone the four-year-old told her ‘Jamie told me not to tell anyone, but I'm telling you because I am a good girl’.

“Having reported the incident to the safeguarding team, the police become involved and the young girl was interviewed by trained offers the following day," said Mr Smyth.

While White was being cross examined by Mr Smyth during his evidence he denied that he had ever appeared at the court before.

He was repeatedly asked by the prosecutor if he did not remember accepting a police caution in January 2003 after admitting a charge of indecently assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

The case had not gone to trial because the girl's father had been reluctant to put her through the ordeal of giving evidence, the prosecutor said.

Mr Smyth also pointed out to Smyth that on the same day he had accepted the caution he had been jailed for 18 months for attempting to obtain pecuniary advantage by deception by trying to get a job at a local children’s nursery.

“This would have been a significant day in your life,” Mr Smyth said.

The jury also heard about the suspicions that social services had while White was working for another nursery in Gloucester in 1995 and had allegedly molested a four-year-old girl.

However, the police and the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to take the case to court because the girl was so young and it would be an ordeal for her to give evidence in court.

White told the police in his interview that he had played with the children and said that when she had run upstairs to the bedroom he had tickled the four-year-old and that he hadn’t licked her at all.

He was asked, ‘Are you attracted to children?’ White replied, ‘No’. ‘

Asked if fantasised over young girls he denied that he did and added ‘I’ve always got on with children. I’m not sexually interested in young girls, I am not interested in children in anyway.’

“What’s your sexual orientation?" he was asked. " A beautiful 25-year-old blonde haired girl,” he replied.

White told the jury he was annoyed when the Gloucester mother told him she did not want him to baby sit for her daughter any more and added: “I didn’t know what I was being accused of. I thought that was the end of it.

“The first thing I knew about the sexual allegations is when the police knocked my door.

“I didn’t say anything to the girl that she should not tell anybody about what happened because nothing happened. I didn’t lick her when she was naked or over or under her clothing, not even inadvertently.”

Pina Silvio, defending White, asked him about receiving a caution in 2003 for a sexual allegation on a nine-year-old girl.

“I was working at a snooker club in Gloucester and got to know a particular family with young children very well. I ending looking after them on several occasions. It was a baby-sitting situation at their home when the allegations happened. I denied the sexual allegations but I accepted the caution. I don’t even remember being in this court before,” he said.

The judge pointed out to White that he couldn’t have been given a caution, unless he had admitted the offence. White said he had done nothing wrong and claimed that he had been acquitted.

White continued to deny to the lawyers that he had been in Gloucester Crown Court before.

Ms Silvio told White: “This is a matter of record. You had to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years."

The jury took just one hour and 20 minutes to reach their guilty verdict. White will be sentenced on April 5 and he was released on unconditional bail.

Following his conviction White was placed on the sex offenders register and the length of his registration will be clarified when he is sentenced.

Description

Following a Thames Valley Police investigation, a man has been sentenced for rape and sexual assault in Slough.

Mohammad Ilyas, aged 24, of Chalvey Park, Slough was sentenced yesterday (27/2) to six years’ imprisonment.

At a previous hearing on 20 December last year, he pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration.

Ilyas will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life.

In March 2021, Ilyas raped and sexually assaulted the victim, a woman in her twenties, in Slough.

Ilyas was arrested on 4 April 2021 and charged on 27 July 2022.

Investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Thomas Harman, based at Slough police station, said: “Ilyas’s actions had a severe impact on the life of the young woman he attacked.

“Thanks to her incredible courage, strength and support, we were able to prove what happened and bring Ilyas to justice.

“I hope this case shows that we take all reports seriously and will work tirelessly to bring offenders before the courts.”

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A man and woman from Nottingham have been jailed for a total of 10 years for sexually abusing a child and sharing the footage online.

Christopher Binch, 36, was arrested by the National Crime Agency on 12th March 2022, after it was identified he had been discussing his sexual interest in children and uploading indecent material to an online child abuse group.

Binch shared a video and a number of images which he had taken himself of a young child being sexually abused.

When arresting him, officers seized Binch’s mobile phone and a quantity of cocaine which he confirmed was for his personal use.

Through further examination of the video, NCA investigators identified that although it was Binch filming, it was a female with a visible tattoo carrying out the abuse.  

The tattoo matched that of Binch’s partner, Lindsay Mobey, aged 34, and she was arrested three days later.

Binch’s phone was analysed and officers recovered 347 indecent images of children (IIOC) in categories A-C, as well as a number of extreme and prohibited images. The material included three sexual abuse videos which Binch had filmed himself.

Binch was remanded in custody and in November last year, he pleaded guilty to ten charges, including the sexual assault of a child under 13, the taking, making, possession and distribution of IIOC, possession of extreme pornography and one count of possession of cocaine.

In the same month, Lyndsay Mobey pleaded guilty to the sexual assault of a child under 13.

Today at Leicester Crown Court, Binch was sentenced to eight years and one month in prison, placed on the sex offenders register for life and handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Mobey was jailed for two years and one month and will be on the sex offenders register for five years.

The child was safeguarded early on in the investigation.

Danny Waywell from the National Crime Agency said: 

“Binch and Mobey worked together to sexually abuse a young child, which he filmed and shared with other paedophiles online.

“Their actions were calculated and abhorrent; exploiting this child to satisfy their own sexual gratifications and gain some horrific form of kudos among the like-minded online.

“Safeguarding children from sexual abuse is a priority for the NCA. We work tirelessly to identify offenders and ensure they are brought to justice so they no longer pose a threat.”