Latest Offenders

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An amateur photographer has been jailed for paying a 14-year-old girl to pose naked for him and then posting one of the images online.

Retired Met police officer Andrew Vernon’s actions left the girl with serious psychological issues including thoughts of suicide and it took her three years before she was able to confide in a school counsellor.

Police found a hoard of other images of teenaged girls on his laptop after his arrest which he had downloaded from the internet.

Officers also recovered images from an ammunition safe at his former home in East Devon of an adult woman in a shower which he had filmed secretly.

The two victims wrote powerful impact statements. The girl said she is being treated for severe depression and has psychological scars which she will take to the grave.

She said: “It has broken me in so many ways, I have a sense of feeling shattered.” The adult victim said she felt betrayed.

Former Metropolitan Police officer Vernon, aged 59, now of Maple Road, Exeter, admitted taking and distributing indecent images of the 14-year-old, two counts of making (by downloading), indecent images of children and one of voyeurism.

He was jailed for 18 months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court and ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register. The judge adjourned an application for a sexual harm prevention order.

He told him: “You admitted these offences after trying to minimise your sexual interest in teenaged girls. You got a 14-year-old girl into posing for you and manoeuvred her into doing that. The problems that you caused have been set out in her personal statement.

“That offence is very significantly aggravated by the distribution of an image online. The constellation of offences makes the case too serious for this sentence to be suspended.”

Mr Greg Richardson, prosecuting, said the teenaged girl made disclosures at school last year about having posed for the naked pictures three years earlier when she was 14.

She revealed that Vernon paid her £75 for a 30 minute photo shoot in which he got her to pose topless and then fully naked, and pose with her arms above her head and her hands running through her hair.

He showed her a blank SD card shortly afterwards and told her he had deleted everything but he downloaded them onto his laptop and sent one to an amateur photographic website.

Police recovered a total of 441 images from his laptop and USB and SD cards hidden in an ammunition safe. There was only one showing an adult having sex with a child.

Mr Matthew Graham, defending, said Vernon wants to apologise for the hurt he has caused. He has signed up for an online course run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to address his behaviour and is receiving counselling.

He said Vernon is very keen to attend courses run by the probation service which could only be offered if he was still at liberty. He has no previous convictions and has been volunteering at a charity in Exeter.

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A rapist carried a drunk girl into a house and sexually assaulted her.

Annuar Ameir attacked the 17-year-old back in 2018, they had only met earlier that day and had been out with separate groups of friends. Ameir, from Toxteth tried to deny he had raped the woman as she slept on a sofa but a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found him guilty.

At the 30 year olds sentencing hearing today, the court heard the two groups of friends including Ameir and the victim merged at one point during the day. They all then went to a house in another part of Liverpool to continue partying.

By this stage, the victim was drunk and had already thrown up outside the house. Seeing her vulnerable state, Ameir, who was also drunk, carried her back into the living room as she slept, took off her clothes and raped her. She woke up as the attack took place but was unable to get him off her.

Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, read out statements from the victim in which she said the attack continued to have lasting effects on her. She said she had struggled with depression and had at times turned to alcohol abuse to deal with the trauma of what happened.

She added Ameirs denials meant she was forced to relive much of what happened throughout the trial. Referring to her statement, Mr Baxter said: It is all back in court again. I could not sleep and I am having flashbacks again.

Louise McCloskey, defending, said Ameirs actions were awful but appealed to Judge Gary Woodhall not to rule him a dangerous offender, something which would have opened the door to an extended sentence. Referring to the fact that Ameir had no relevant previous convictions and to the opportunistic nature of the attack, Ms McCloskey said Ameir clearly required rehabilitation to address the attitudes that led to his offending.

She added that the expected lengthy jail term would provide a chance for this to happen, as well as providing punishment. Ms McCloskey said: He conducted himself abysmally on that night but prior to that, your honour, there is nothing indicating he was a risk in the past and would be a risk in the future.

Judge Gary Woodhall told Ameir he had exploited his victims vulnerabilities for his own satisfaction and traumatised her further by forcing her to go through a trial. He said: I am troubled by the circumstances of this offending, which involved predatory behaviour targeting a particularly vulnerable girl.

Judge Woodhall added that Ameir clearly had misogynistic and flawed views around sex. He said: You present as someone with a sense of male entitlement, with a misogynistic view of female characters.

While he said Ameirs actions meant he could be judged to meet the definition of a dangerous offender, he ruled that an extended sentence could not be justified. Ameir, of Arnold Crescent, was jailed for nine years and nine months.

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Roy Woodward, 56, was handed a prison sentence of up to 25 years for 14 counts of abuse. His wife Gaynor Woodward was also jailed

A high-risk committed paedophile who subjected a young girl to campaign of rape could spend a quarter of a century behind bars for his heinous crimes.

Roy Woodward, 56, of no fixed abode but previously of Runcorn and Widnes, faced justice at Chester Crown Court on Monday alongside his wife Gaynor Woodward, 58, of Worcester Court, Runcorn, who was convicted of one count of cruelty. At trial, Roy Woodward was found guilty of 14 counts of abuse, namely four of rape, eight of indecently assaulting a child, and two of indecency with a child.

Some counts represented multiple offences over a period of time, and the abuse began when the victim was of very young. At trial in January, prosecutor Matthew Dunford told jurors Woodward - who had a previous conviction of child rape - abused the girl at the centre of the trial throughout her childhood and after she turned 16.

He instigated abuse on one occasion by telling the girl he wanted to play snaky and in other instances by giving her lemonade that was really cider. The court heard the first rape left his victim in excruciating pain.

At sentencing on Monday, Judge Patrick Thompson said Woodward plied his victim with sweets to secure her silence as well as alcohol to assist his grooming.

He said the abuse began when the girl was very young and became a campaign of rape as she grew older. In an impact statement read to the court, the abuse survivor spoke of how since her early 20s she has had horrific nightmares resulting from her ordeal and said she believes it also triggered a mental health condition.

She finds it hard to trust other adults, and feels she will never be able to live a normal life.

Reading her statement, Mr Dunford said: I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I was denied a normal life and the chance to form my own life.

I will never be able to live a normal life. I feel hollow and empty.

Since my early 20s I have had horrific nightmares about the abuse suffered that I still get to this day. I can feel him repeatedly in these nightmares.

It has affected my relationships and with my current partner. I am lucky I have the support of my partner.

In general life, I find it hard to trust any adults because I was abused by an adult.

Mr Dunford said Woodward had seven previous convictions for 10 offences including criminal damage, battery and the previous child rape conviction from 2018.

Gaynor Woodward had older dissimilar convictions including two counts under Section 4 of the Public Order Act from 1999. Andrew McInnes, representing Woodward, said the defendant maintains his denial and could not be granted credit for remorse.

Mr McInnes added the features supporting mitigation were low and he conceded there are a number of aggravating features which are inescapable including that the case involved serious offences over a period of time. He said although Woodward had been assessed as a high risk of harm to female children, he was 56 years old and will be older when he leaves prison.

He called for Judge Thompson to consider the issue of totality.

Maria Masselis, appearing for Gaynor Woodward, said the court had been presented with character references describing her as hard-working woman and loyal friend. She conceded Gaynor Woodwards pre-sentence report was unflattering but said the probation officer had a difficult task and had not been in the trial, which lasted two-and-a-half weeks.

Ms Masselis said the jurors verdicts indicated they thought Gaynor Woodwards offending occurred later and was of a shorter duration than put by the prosecution. She compared the cruelty count to one of handling stolen goods in that Gaynors failing was one of recklessness and she closed her mind to the abuse.

Ms Masselis also challenged whether there was any clinical evidence to support the victims attribution of mental health problems to the abuse. Judge Thompson sentenced Gaynor Woodward to four years in prison.

He said Roy Woodward should be considered a dangerous offender and very high risk to children and sentenced him to 21 years in prison plus four years on extended licence, meaning he could serve 25 years in prison if he offends again including after initial release.

It could be the year 2047 when he experiences life outside custody again. The judge ordered Woodward to be placed on the sex offenders register for life alongside an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

During his summing-up, he said Woodward had chosen to abuse the girl to satisfy his twisted sexual desires. The judge said the offences spanned about 12 years and from the victims age of 13 onwards can be described as a campaign of rape.

Considering the question of dangerousness in light of this current case and Woodwards previous rape conviction, Judge Thompson said: Im required to consider the issue of dangerousness, and if theres a risk of further offences and causing serious harm.

Im satisfied you do present a risk. I have no doubt you are a committed paedophile.

You have an unhealthy sexual interest in children and present a danger to children.

Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Wendy Newton, Senior Crown Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service, said :This victim was subjected to sexual abuse by Roy Woodward from when she was a little girl.

The feelings and emotions of this young child meant nothing to him. His power and abuse continued as she grew up.

She has spoken of how what he did had affected every part of her life. She now has to find a way forward in her life, having suffered such trauma. The victim was unable to disclose what had happened to her until fairly recently.

This often happens. It is not unusual for children to deny the abuse they have suffered or be silent as to what has happened.

It often takes years for victims of sexual abuse to vocalise what has been done to them. The Crown Prosecution Service works hard to support the victims of sexual abuse and help them through the criminal justice system. Time is no barrier to a prosecution.

We will listen to victims, no matter how long ago the offending took place.

The judge ordered a statutory surcharge in respect of each defendant. Woodward will serve two thirds of his sentence before being considered for parole.

Jurors acquitted Roy Woodward of one count of rape and Gaynor Woodward of one count of cruelty. A bad character application approved before the trial meant jurors were able to hear Woodward had served a previous nine-year sentence for raping a separate 13-year-old girl.

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A MAN has been jailed for repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy over a four year period during the early 1990s.

Philip Boardman, of Winstanley Close in Hood Manor, committed the offences - which began when he was aged 14 - while living in the St Helens area.

The 45-year-old denied four counts of indecent assault, one of which was for multiple offending, but was found guilty following a trial and was appearing at Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing.

The court heard how Boardman repeatedly molested the boy and forced him to touch him indecently.

The court heard that two of the counts would now be classed as rape. They related to two specific instances of the oral rape of the child.

Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement from the boy now aged in his late 30s in which he described suffering from insomnia, anxiety and depression.

My depression causes me to have no interest in activities and I lack any motivation to do anything on most days," he wrote.

"My depression makes me feel hopeless and empty and angry a lot of the time. I also have terrible self image and have no self importance.

What happened in my youth destroyed my mental health and my mental health has been a constant obstacle to everything else in my life.

"I have no happy time to get back to. I have no future to focus on. I have never been unafraid or felt safe. Ive never been happy. I have never had a good opinion of the world or the people in it. I trust no one and never relax or let my guard down. That's what it did to me."

The court heard that Boardman, a father of two, had no previous convictions.

Passing sentence, Judge David Swinnerton, said: "You have a good work history as a healthcare assistant in hospitals, an ambulance technician and more recently for a medical company transporting confidential items including specimens.

"Your wife describes you as a caring, fun loving and devoted dad and a very caring husband. Your parents-in-law speak highly of you.

"But that happy and productive adult life hid a dark secret."

Judge Swinnerton explained that at the time of Boardman's offences, in 1994, the maximum sentence as a 17-year-old, he could have received would have been 12 months detention.

The judge said that the culpability of the repeated abuse and the severe psychological harm inflicted would not be adequately reflected by a sentence limited to 12 months.

"I agree that the passage of time does not imbue a defendant with any greater culpability or moral responsibility than he had at the time of the offence, but our understanding of harm and culpability in sexual offences has changed since 1994.

"In my judgement, this is one of those cases where it is appropriate to go beyond the maximum that could have been imposed when you were 17 and in the interests of justice to do so."

He added: "You have not accepted that you have done anything wrong and have shown no remorse."

Judge Swinnerton said if Boardman was an adult committing the offences now, then he would have jailed him for around 16 years.

He sentenced a tearful Boardman to four years in prison and added that he would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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A SEX offender who is banned from being drunk in Warrington Bus Interchange has been jailed after breaching the court order.

Kim Rampley was handed sexual offence prevention order in May 2006 at Manchester Crown Court for sexually assaulting a woman.

This was then replaced by an indefinite sexual harm prevention order in June 2015.

But the 69-year-old has shown little regard for these orders, having now breached them more than a dozen times.

Rampley, of no fixed address but formerly of Grange Avenue in Latchford, appeared before Warrington Magistrates Court on Monday, March 21, and admitted breaching a SHPO in relation to an incident three days previously.

On this occasion, he was caught intoxicated in the bus station which he is barred from doing under the order on the day before his birthday.

He was jailed for 20 weeks by magistrates.

One prior breach saw Rampley jailed for two years in October 2007 after harassing five females including two 13-year-old girls in their school uniforms in Warrington within an hour of being released from prison.

While serving this sentence, he sent a letter to prison magazine Inside Time complaining about the poor trainspotting opportunities at HMP Walton, also offering a guide on his favourite prisons for this hobby.

More recently, he was jailed for 30 weeks in September last year for another breach in Warrington Bus Interchange having drunkenly staggered around the station and soiled himself after being refused entry to a service.

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A TEENAGER from a Hampshire villlage has been jailed for grooming and sexually abusing two girls.

Calvin Da Fonte, of Sandy Hill Close in Waltham Chase, was jailed for five years after he admitted five counts of sexual activity with a child and three counts of making indecent images of children.

The 19-year-old admitted the charges, which took place when he was 18, at a hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court on December 7 and he was sentenced by His Honour Judge Timothy Mousley QC on April 1.

The abuse took place in the Whiteley, Warsash and Waltham Chase areas between July 2020 and May 2021 when the girls were under the age of 16.

Detective Constable Samantha Brown, from Hampshire Constabularys specialist Operation Amberstone team, said: Da Fonte groomed, manipulated and abused these young girls for his own gratification.

He knew their age, and knew that his deplorable actions were wrong, which is why he initially tried to deny to police that he had committed these offences.

These girls should have never experienced what they did, and I want to commend their courage for reporting this to police.

It is because of their bravery that Da Fonte is now behind bars, where he cannot harm another child.

Our officers work hard to identify perpetrators of this type of behaviour, and we want to encourage anyone who has been affected by sexual abuse to please talk to someone about it. Whether this be someone you trust, the police, or a support service. Help is out there.

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A MAN has been jailed after being convicted of sexually assaulting two teenage girls.

John Andow, 78, knew exactly what he was doing when his physical contact with his two child victims turned sexual, Chelmsford Crown Court heard.

The sex offender had denied seven counts of sexual activity with a child, but was convicted of two counts following a trial last month.

Andow, of Normandie Way, Bures, was acquitted of five counts - and he was cleared of a further count of causing a child to watch a sexual act.

At a sentencing hearing, statements were read which detailed the trauma felt by Andows two victims.

One victim said the offence had affected her ability to communicate and her relationships with people.

Its affected everything, she said.

The girl said she suffered from insomnia, adding that since the assault she cant bear to be touched.

The second victim said: In my head it was chaos.

I felt completely on my own, noone understood how I felt or what Id been through.

Judge Timothy Walker said each of the offences involved touching two girls under their clothing.

He said: You would start massaging and progressively move up.

The massages lasted between ten and 20 minutes.

Turning to one victim, he said: You told her not to do anything that she didnt want to and if she was uncomfortable then she should use a stop word chocolate.

You knew exactly what you were doing.

He added: In evidence you accepted that you had massaged both girls and you went as far as accepting the area of their sternums although you denied massaging their breasts.

Unsurprisingly, you were not believed.

Roderick Johnson QC, mitigating, described the offences as short-lived temptation. He added: The temptation arose which led Mr Andow to momentarily lose his moral compass which had otherwise been his guide all his life.

Mr Johnson said the victim impact statements should be tempered, with the jury having rejected most of the allegations made.

But Judge Walker said Andow had carried out two sexual assaults on vulnerable girls.

He sentenced to 30 months in prison and made him subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order prohibiting unsupervised contact with children.

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David Blackburn raped one girl and molested another then threatened them to stay quiet

This is the paedophile who laughed in the face of his victims when they begged him to stop abusing them.

David Blackburn targeted two girls from when they were aged just nine and seven-years-old - threatening them not to speak out about the abuse. He was a teenage boy when he started molesting the victims. But he continued as an adult, even after he got married and had children of his own.

One of the girls was raped by Blackburn, of Quarry Green, Northwood, Kirkby, more than three decades ago. She burst into tears and clenched her fists when he was jailed for 19 years on Monday, as supporters celebrated and hugged her in the public gallery.

Merseyside Police said it did not take a mugshot of Blackburn because he attended a voluntary interview, meaning the ECHO did not have a photo of him. But we can now show you the face of the man who "grotesquely abused" situations to use the girls as his "sexual playthings".

Blackburn was found guilty after a harrowing trial at Liverpool Crown Court. He denied any wrongdoing, but was convicted of five counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child in relation to his first victim, when she was aged between nine and 13.

The now adult victim said Blackburn touched her sexually, performed a sex act on her, exposed himself and asked her to touch him, and showed her sexual pictures in a book. Martine Snowdon, prosecuting, said: "She would ask him to stop when he touched her but he would just laugh."

Blackburn was convicted of 15 counts of indecent assault, two counts of indecency with a child, and one count of rape, in respect of his second victim. The prosecutor said Blackburn abused that girl from when she was aged seven by touching her sexually, including performing sex acts on her.

Blackburn made her perform a sex act on him when she was 12, and once lay on top of her, only to be disturbed and flee, before he raped her when she was 14. Ms Snowdon said the girl reported that rape in 1990, but later retracted her complaint when put under pressure.

In a victim statement, the second woman said she takes antidepressant medication and medication for anxiety. The prosecutor said she outlined how "the abuse is on her mind all the time" and led to suicidal thoughts. The woman has continuing nightmares and only now, after the trial ended, has been able to take up the offer of counselling.

The judge, Recorder Ian Harris, said he had read a pre-sentence report provided by the Probation Service. He said: "It's as one would expect given the denials in the trial. He doesn't express any remorse and maintains his innocence, and the author of the report assesses him as being a high risk of further sexual contact offences."

Lee Bonner, defending, said Blackburn suffered from depression "in part caused by his divorce", was on antidepressants and had been referred to a "memory clinic". He said his client had no previous convictions and at his age, prison may "have a far greater impact upon him than may otherwise have been the case".

Mr Bonner said Blackburn previously made a serious attempt on his life, which left him in a coma, and his memory issues were linked to cognitive impairment. He said he was "perhaps not a sophisticated man", who didn't complete his education, had difficulties reading and writing, and was "unable to sustain long term employment".

Mr Bonner said the last offences were 30 years ago. He added: "The defendant that the court will sentence today is, it would appear, a very different defendant to that young man of so many years ago."

Recorder Harris said Blackburn initially satisfied his "predatory lust" with the first girl, then abused the second child. The judge said: "This paedophile offending continued after you were married and had your own children.

"Both victims said how you threatened them and that the abuse had hurt them. The second girl said she would beg you to stop what you were doing."

Referring to the second girl, Recorder Harris said: "She would say she didn't want to engage in sexual activity with you, but you would tell her not to tell anyone or you would hurt her." The judge said that girl was "forced" to retract the complaint she made about the rape in 1990.

Recorder Harris told Blackburn: "Both of your victims have suffered and continue to suffer to this day. You simply ruined the innocence of these two children."

The judge said he was sure Blackburn had known that what he was doing was "wrong". Recorder Harris said Blackburn was an "offender of particular concern" and jailed him for 19 years in total, with an extended year on licence.

The effect of a combination of different types of sentences in this case means Blackburn must serve around 11 and a half years in jail before he can apply for parole. Blackburn must also sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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An "obsessed" paedophile who forced his victims to eat raw meat from pigs' heads has been released from prison. Colin Cooper was jailed for 18 years in July 2011 but is free after serving just over ten years. Today the father of one of his victims said: "When I had the phone call from the Probation Board I wanted to scream. My daughter is safe, but there are other children out there who are not. In my opinion he should never be released."

Cooper, who is now 72, - formerly known, as Alan Makinson - would force his victims to eat raw meat from pigs' heads when they tried to avoid his clutches. Manchester Crown Court heard his homes in Hattersley and Wythenshawe were a "magnet for children' - who is was 'utterly obsessed' with molesting in bizarre ways.

Youngsters with learning difficulties were lured into playing in his garden and plied with treats before being forced perform sex acts on with each other and him. He tried to buy their silence with trinkets and small amounts of cash. When they attempted to escape he would lock them in rooms, block their way with his pet Alsatians, and make them eat the meat he fed them as punishment.

Cooper, of Sylvester Close, Hattersley, was jailed for 18 years at Manchester Crown Court in 2011 after being found guilty of abusing eight youngsters between 1984 and 2002, at addresses in Wythenshawe and Tameside, at an earlier trial. He had been jailed for just three years in 1986 after admitting a string of child sex crimes, including rape. He changed his name, moved address, and continued to prey on vulnerable youngsters.

The father of the victim, who was one of the eight youngsters he abused between 1984 and 2002, said: "In a way she has suffered far more than him over the last ten years. She has had four years of therapy, and has had mental health issues which has led to dropping out of school, self harming, trying to take her own life and becoming homeless for a while. She had to give evidence at the trial by video."

"I did ask the Probation Board for Cooper's new name and address but they would not give it me. There words were 'he has rights and we have to protect him'. I am not the kind of person who would be a vigilante, I just want to protect my daughter. Her first words when she knew he was out were 'he will do it again'.

"My daughter is surviving, but it is a slow process. She is scared to go out at the moment, now that he has been released. He is a serial offender and should not be out."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson confirmed today that Cooper had been released under licence.

At court in 2011, Alaric Bassano, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing how his victims 'were plagued by flashbacks, had battled feelings of depression and guilt, struggled to trust others, and had their chances spoilt by disrupted education. One told police, 'my life has been miserable., while another said, he has wrecked my life.

Cooper was arrested in March 2009 after a man, in his thirties, told police how he had abused 25 years earlier, and the police investigation unearthed the other victims, who had been suffering in silence. After his sentencing Detective Constable Grace Hulse, of the South Manchester Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: "It is only down to the bravery of his victims that we are able to put this man where he belongs behind bars. I believe today's sentence demonstrates that we take allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and will investigate thoroughly, no matter how long ago the offences occurred."

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A County Durham paedophile plied children with cannabis and infected a 10-year-old with a sexually transmitted disease following an assault.

Dale Edwards forced children to consume cannabis on a regular basis before going on to infect one with an STI. The 29-year-old made threats to the children so that they would not tell anyone about what he was doing, but he was finally caught when a parent became aware.

Edwards, of Wheatley Hill, County Durham, denied sexually assaulting the child but eventually pleaded guilty to the charge two days into his trial at Durham Crown Court. He appeared back at the court on Friday, via link from HMP Durham, to be sentenced for sexual assault of a child under the age of 13 and three counts of child cruelty.

Paul Cleasby, prosecuting, said the offences were committed during the first covid lockdown in 2020. He told the court that the offences involving the cannabis came to light when a child "disclosed" to a parent that Edwards had made them "eat and drink" the drug in a park, and warned them not to tell anyone.

The police then became involved and the children were spoken to by officers, where they explained what had happened. But days later, one of the children, a 10-year-old, told their parent that Edwards had also sexually assaulted them. Specialist police officers then interviewed the child. Mr Cleasby told the court that tests on the child also revealed they had been infected with chlamydia and Edwards was arrested.

The court heard Edwards had 16 previous convictions for 35 offences, including theft, criminal damage, robbery, and attempted burglary. He had no previous convictions for sexual offending.

Chris Baker, defending, said: "Since 2011, other than two relatively minor matters, he has avoided acting in a criminal way. This will be his first substantial custodial sentence. He does have some issues with mental health and he believes he has bi-polar issues. He is, to some extent, vulnerable and self-harms. His arms are heavily marked as a result of this." Mr Baker added: "He wishes to ensure that nothing like this happens again and apologises to the complainants."

Sentencing Edwards, Recorder Thomas Moran, said: "You engaged in extraordinary behaviour by making children consume cannabis, either by smoking, eating it, or blowing it in their face. It happened over a period of a few weeks." Speaking of the child Edwards sexually assaulted, the recorder added: "The child was medically examined and it was found they had the sexually transmitted disease chlamydia, which added to the distress."

Edwards was jailed for 10 years and six months, with an extended licence period of 12 months. He will be on the sex offender's register for life and was made subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. An indefinite restraining order was also imposed.

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A PAEDOPHILE illegally using his fathers Facebook profile to contact women was caught when one of them saw a report about him in the Argus.

Convicted child rapist Louis Beagen was barred from going on social media under a false name under the terms of a sexual harm prevention order.

The 28-year-old from Newport was getting in touch with women via Facebook Messenger by using the profile of his dad Gareth Beagen.

Beagan told one woman, a stranger, he had gone to Hartridge High School before sending her a photograph of himself lying bare-chested on a bed.

She recognised his picture from a court report shed read of about him in the Argus and contacted the police.

Beagen was jailed for more than six years in 2014 for sexual offences, including rape, committed against underage teenage girls.

Four years later he was locked up again after being snared by paedophile hunters when using his father's mobile phone and iPad to contact what he thought were three girls, one aged just aged 13.

Beagans latest offence took place last Christmas and he appeared before Cardiff Crown Court for sentence.

The defendant, of Ennerdale Court, Old Barn Estate, pleaded guilty to breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

These orders are made by courts for the purpose of protecting the public from further offending by defendants convicted of sexual crimes.

Judge Richard Williams told Beagen: You used a Facebook profile in the name of Gareth Beagen.

Gareth Beagen is your father.

Your basis of plea is that you did not create this account but made use of it and the prosecution does not seek to disprove that assertion.

However, under the terms of your order you had to notify the police about it and you did not.

You used that profile to contact women through Facebook Messenger.

These were all adult women.

One whom you contacted became suspicious and discovered that you had also tried to contact a friend of hers using a pseudonym and she also recognised from a newspaper report in the South Wales Argus that you were a convicted sex offender.

This amounts to a series breach of the order and it caused some alarm.

Julia Cox, mitigating, said: The defendant was not communicating with any individual under the age of 18.

It wasnt an account he had created for deceptive purposes but there is no excuse for the offending.

She added: Mr Beagen has now been predominantly in custody since the age of 19 and hes now 28.

There is a risk, in my submission, of him becoming institutionalised.

Beagen was jailed for 20 months and ordered to pay a victim surcharge after his release from prison.

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Sex offender Kevin Eardley, who also goes by the name Kevin Jones, told police he had 'forgotten' about the requirement to notify the authorities if he was going to stay in a house where a child lived

A paedophile repeatedly failed to notify police that he was staying overnight in the homes of families with children, a court has heard. As a registered sex offender Kevin Eardley who has been going by the name Kevin Jones since his release from prison was required to tell the authorities if he was going to be spending more than 12 hours at an address where youngsters lived.

But on three separate occasions he went to stay with people who he knew had children without telling the police about his activities meaning the authorities were not able to inform the families involved. When police tracked the 55-year-old down to the tent where he was living the defendant said he had "forgotten" about the requirement to notify them.

The defendant refused to leave his cell for his sentencing hearing at Swansea Crown Court but sending him to prison a judge described his actions as a "disturbing example of deliberate and repeated non-compliance" with the sex offender notification regime and he said he though Eardley had been "playing cat and mouse with the authorities".

The court heard that Eardley was jailed at Caernarfon Crown Court in 2012 after being convicted of 13 sexual offences involving young girls. He was also put on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life. As part of the registration requirements he not only has to tell police where he is living but also of any stays at address where children live.

Megan Jones, prosecuting, said the first breach happened in December 2020 when Eardley, who was living in Holyhead under the name Kevin Jones at the time, went to stay with a friend he had made through their shared interest in fishing. The fishing pal, who knew nothing about the defendant's past, had three young children. It was only later that the friend found out about the defendant's conviction after visiting his house one day and seeing a letter addressed to a Kevin Eardley. When he searched the internet he discovered the truth. After his true identity was revealed Eardley left Anglesey and settled in Aberystwyth.

The court heard that the second breach happened November 2021 when Eardley again went to the home of somebody with a child without notifying the police on this occasion travelling all the way to Northamptonshire and turning up uninvited at the door of a woman he had met on Instagram. He stayed for two nights with the woman and her four-year-old daughter before being asked to leave.

The third breach happened just weeks later when the 55-year-old went to stay with a woman he had met through an online fishing community. The court heard the person he stayed with had a hobby of printing pictures items such as cups and he asked her to put a photo of what he claimed was his child on a mug and a clock in fact it was a photograph of the daughter of the woman he had recently stayed with in Northamptonshire.

The police were alerted to his behaviour and went looking for him. They found him living in a tent in Aberystwyth. When questioned he said he had forgotten "forgotten" about the requirement to notify the police if he was going to stay in a house where a person under 18 lived. Read about how a Welsh paedophile who went on the run to the Costa del Sol was tracked down to a Spanish prison and been given an extended sentence as a dangerous sex offender after being extradited back to the UK.

Kevin Eardley, also known as Kevin Jones, of Bow Street near Aberystwyth, had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of failing to comply with notification requirements when the case came to be sentenced. The defendant declined to appear in the dock and instead chose to stay in his cell in the court building.

Dean Pulling, for Eardley, said the defendant had been released from custody in 2016 and had properly registered his address with the police and that the offences before the court represented his first non-compliance. He said the non-compliance had not been in the defendant not telling the people he was staying with about his conviction but in his not telling the police about his visits though the barrister said it was accepted that had Eardley told the police they may have notified the people he was staying with. Mr Pulling said his client maintained that the photo he asked to be printed on the mug had been given to him by the Northamptonshire girl's mother a claim the woman denies and the mug had been intended as a gift which he was going to give back to the mum.

Judge Geraint Walters described Eardley's behaviour as a "disturbing example of deliberate and repeated non-compliance" with the requirements of sexual notification regime and he said he though the defendant had been "playing cat and mouse with the authorities". With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Eardley was sentenced to two years in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

The judge said the lack of the imposition of a sexual harm prevention order or its predecessor a sexual offences prevention order had been a "sentencing oversight" by the north Wales court in 2012 and, though he did not have the power to impose such an order, he asked the prosecutor to raise with the police the possibility of them seeking an order through the civil courts which would have a similar scope and effect.

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A child rapist handed himself in to police just days after being released from prison as he does not feel safe on the streets of Derby. Derby Crown Court heard how Christopher Sweeney repeatedly does this so he can be sent back to prison where he has spent most of the past two decades.

The 41-year-old dad-of-five's sentencing hearing was told how he "feels forgotten about by society" but a judge told him he needs to seek help that is available from the authorities himself. When he told police to arrest him in the city earlier this year it was his 16th breach of the terms of being on the sex offender register.

Jailing him for 18 months, Recorder Justin Wigoder said: "A long time ago now, back in 2003, you were convicted of a serious offence, were sent to prison and was placed on the sex offender register for life. It was thought you posed a risk and so it was important the authorities should know where you lived.

"Effectively since then, and particularly in recent times, you have quite deliberately flouted that requirement and every time you do it, you get sent back to prison and the sentences, unsurprisingly, tend to get longer and longer. You got released from that last sentence and you quite deliberately did not tell anyone an address and equally quite deliberately, went to the police station and told them to arrest you.

"There are people that will help you but you have to want to seek help, otherwise you will keep going back to prison for longer and longer because you deliberately flout a court order. It is up to you, you can try to seek help, move away from the area, somewhere you are not concerned about showing your face. Otherwise your future is going to look very bleak."

In 2003, Sweeney was jailed for raping a boy under the age of 16. As part of being on the sex offender register he must tell the police where he is living within three days of being released from any prison term.

Caroline Sellars, prosecuting this week, said the defendant was let out of jail on January 24 of this year. She said five days later he turned up at St Mary's Wharf police station, in Chester Green, throwing stones at the windows and kicking shutters, asking to be arrested. Miss Sellars said officers went outside and did precisely that.

Sweeney, formerly of Burton Road, Derby and currently of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to his 16th breach of the notification requirements of the order. Samuel Lowne, mitigating, said his client has five sons who he has "little contact with" and that the defendant turned to alcohol in his teenage years after witnessing his grandfather die from a heart attack.

He said: "He tells me he does not feel safe outside prison and that ultimately he feels forgotten about by society. He gets released, finds himself homeless and feels like he des not get any help.

"He says his face is plastered across the newspapers and he does not feel safe, particularly in Derby. He wants to move away from the area and get on with the rest of his life."

Recorder Wigoder said: "There is assistance for him to find accommodation on release. The facilities are there, he just does not take advantage of them."

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A successful childrens author who appeared before Wexford District Court three years ago for allegedly breaching a sex offenders order has been remanded in custody in the UK.

Patrick Dorian Cowland, also known as Patrick Joseph Cormack, 72, was wanted in the UK for alleged historic sexual assaults on two boys in Cheltenham, Gloucester.

Cowland appeared before Gloucester Crown Court on Thursday ten months after an international warrant was issued for his arrest.

He was remanded to HMP Hewell in Redditch, Worcester

Cowland, whose last known address was Ballagh, Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland, is a published author of childrens books and other literary works and has also worked as an accountant.

The court was told at an earlier hearing that he had working as a photographer when he met and befriended one of his two alleged victims in Oxford in the 1970s.

The eight charges against Cowland allege indecent assault and gross indecency offences against two boys - one between 1973 and 1975 in Cheltenham and the other between 1979 and 1982 and other locations in England and Wales.

At his hearing this week Cowland told the judge, Recorder Neil Millard, that when he was arrested he had no relevant documentation with him and no money.

He stated that his previous lawyer in Gloucestershire was unable to undertake legal aid work and therefore he was now legally unrepresented as he could not pay privately.

Recorder Millard told Cowland: You need to be legally represented because of the charges you face. I understand that your lawyer, who you previous paid for from your own funds, is unable to take on legal aid work.

Ill adjourn the case for seven days for you to find legal representation. I understand that the prosecutor today, Mr David Maunder, has offered to contact a local lawyer on your behalf.

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A transgender father of two awaiting gender reassignment surgery has been jailed in a male prison for three years after being exposed as a paedophile.

Britnee Aitken, 47, will have her treatment delayed after two girls said she molested them ten years ago when she identified as a truck recovery driver called Marcus.

One of the victims, then six, said she targeted them under the guise of offering to play board games.

They said she poked her genitals through a letter box when they knocked at the front door.

At Minshull Street Crown Court, Manchester, Aitken appeared in the dock wearing a low cut woman's blouse and sporting makeup and long red hair.

She was referred to as 'she' and 'her' during the hearing that saw her convicted of three charges of sexual assault and one of exposure.

She was also ordered to sign the Sex Offender Register for life. She denied any wrongdoing. The Ministry of Justice told MailOnline she will go to a men's prison.

The sexual offences occurred after Aitken, from Rochdale, went public about a bizarre legal battle over a 30 fine imposed by police in 2008 for playing her Riverdance CD too loudly inside her car.

Identifying at the time as Marcus she had refused to pay the fine, and in the months after she was pestered by demand letters and received six visits from bailiffs to her home and the debt eventually rose to 270 because of administration costs.

She said the bailiffs demanded entry at 7.30am and shouted threats through the letterbox while she was inside with her then girlfriend and their two sons.

In 2008 a judge quashed the fine on appeal. The court heard the offences against the girls occurred between July and September 2012 when they visited his home.

Mr Ben Berkson prosecuting said: 'The defendant was then known as Marcus Aitken and the girls were five or six years old at the time.'

In a statement one of the victims said: 'I suffer flashbacks due to the abuse and I get angry when I contemplate and think about what this person did to me.

'What happened has affected my ability to form and maintain relationships with friends and family and the abuse has caused me to struggle with anxiety and anger management. I am concerned about these things will impact my life going forward.'

itken who was charged in 2020 had no previous convictions but had accepted a caution in 2012 for having an illicit 'upskirt' video of another little girl aged seven.

In mitigation defence counsel Adam Roxborough said: 'These offences occurred over a short period ten years ago and there is no suggestion of any repeat offending since.

'During that time Miss Aitken has maintained a good work ethic as a recovery truck driver and led a decent life.

'She has fragile mental health and given her sexuality, she has suffered abuse on a regular basis. It is for her a daily issue.

'That, she hopes, would come to an end to an extent when she is able to have gender reassignment surgery and her plans for that were moving ahead for this year. Of course any custodial sentence would put that progress back considerably.

'She has to be punished but the question is whether that punishment should effectively cause such damage to her notwithstanding the damage she has caused to others.

'She still does not recognised her guilt but a sentence of imprisonment could be suspended. It must be a difficult life for her to lead at the moment..'

Sentencing Judge John Edwards told Aitken: 'I bear in mind the difficulties you may encounter in a custodial environment but this offending was sustained, predatory and very distressing for these girls.

'It has had a significant emotional impact on one of them, she being vulnerable and impressionable courtesy of her age.

'You presented as an almost avuncular figure, happy on the surface to indulge those children with games, when your true motives were more sinister.

'You crossed a very clear boundary in order to indulge your attractions. Your caution plainly displays an interest in young children.'

Aitken was also ordered to abide by a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will bar her from 'loitering' near schools or children's play areas.