Latest Offenders

Description

A paedophile who was found with a hoard of sickening abuse images had shared some to other perverts online and videoed two children on his phone.

Jack Mellis, 22, was found in possession of 46 hours worth of category A indecent videos when police examined his mobile phone. Officers had seized his phone after they became aware he had been sharing child abuse images online. But worryingly, during analysis of his iPhone, an expert discovered two videos of young children which he had surreptitiously filmed himself.

Mellis, of Ushaw Moor, County Durham, appeared at Durham Crown Court on Wednesday to be sentenced for making indecent images, distribution of indecent images, and voyeurism. He had pleaded guilty to the charges at a previous hearing.

Deborah Smithies, prosecuting, said on December 28, last year, police received information that Mellis had uploaded two category B indecent images - which depicted a 10-year-old girl - to Reddit. She said: "Police went to the defendant's home address on June 9 this year and spoke to the defendant, who said he may have inadvertently downloaded indecent images. His iPhone was seized and examined by an expert."

The court heard that following examination of his iPhone, a total of 113 category A images and nine videos were found, along with 128 category B images and three videos, and 457 category C images and nine videos. But as well as those indecent images, a concerning video was also discovered of a child that Mellis had secretly filmed himself by hiding his phone.

Ms Smithies said that analysis of his iPhone continued and on July 1, another video was discovered of a child that Mellis had secretly filmed - the court heard the video lasted 15 seconds. When Mellis was interviewed by police, he made "full admissions" and told officers he had "hundreds of images" and admitted he "obtained sexual gratification from viewing them". He said he would view images on a website and save some into a folder and "accepted sharing images with others".

Lewis Kerr, defending, said there was a "strong, realistic prospect of rehabilitation" and said since his arrest he had begun engaging with a foundation and had been in employment. He said that Mellis and members of his family had also spent over 100 days living in a Washington Travelodge since the offences. Mr Kerr added: "He is able to reflect on his offending and has shown victim awareness. He sincerely recognises the harm he has caused."

Sentencing Mellis, Judge Jo Kidd said he was found in possession of "46 hours worth of category A videos" and jailed him for 18 months and made him subject of a 10-year sexual harm prevention order. He will also be on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Description

A PERVERT has walked free from court, despite engaging in sex chats online with someone he believed was a young girl.

Terry Yates sent disgusting messages to the ‘girl’ – but this was in fact a member of a paedophile hunter group set up to catch child sex offenders.

The 39-year-old was subsequently charged with attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and appeared before Liverpool Crown Court on Monday.

But he was spared an immediate jail sentence to allow him to get the ‘help and treatment he needs’ outside of a custody setting.

Olivia Beesley, prosecuting, explained how Yates sent a Facebook friend request to the profile of a ’14-year-old girl’ operated by paedophile hunters on May 5 this year.

He then began to send messages to the ‘teenager’ on June 3, asking her to ‘look at my little willy’.

The defendant was made clear that the girl was only 14, but he continued to message the account, referring to her as ‘gorgeous’ and ‘his beautiful princess’.

As well as sending naked videos and photos of himself, married Yates asked the girl to send him a video of herself ‘giggling’ and photos of her in her school uniform.

He was confronted by paedophile hunter group members on July 2 at his home on Whitworth Close in Birchwood.

Cheshire Police officers were called to the scene and Yates was arrested.

The court also heard that the defendant lost his Amazon warehousing job as a result of his arrest, although he has since found further employment.

Ms Beesley added that Yates has one previous conviction for handling stolen goods back in 2004.

In defence of his client, Jeremy Rawson spoke of how the defendant has demonstrated a ‘clear acceptance of wrong, remorse and insight into the consequences of his offending’.

“He understands quite clearly, had this been a real individual, then he could not live with himself for what he has done,” he said.

 “The man in the dock, prior to this foolhardy, reckless and stupid activity, had a wife, a house, a job, a family and friends.

“He has managed to keep his house and obtain employment, but all those other ostentations passed him by, and he is effectively alone.”

Before sentencing, recorder Mark Ainsworth described the facts of the case as ‘frankly appalling’.

"This is what every parent fears. This is the sort of behaviour that causes outrage and disgust within society, and understandably so,” he said.

“It is clear that she made it known to you that she was 14 years of age, and yet you persevered.

"The impact on you will be significant. It means, effectively, that your marriage has come to an end.”

But he added: “I can ensure you receive the help and treatment you would clearly benefit from to ensure that this is not repeated in future. Whether you serve that sentence is a matter entirely for you.

“If for the next two years you remain out of trouble, then you can put this matter behind you and move on with your life.”

He sentenced Yates to eight months in prison suspended for two years.

The defendant must also complete 100 hours of unpaid work and 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

In addition, he was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and sex offender registration requirements, both lasting 10 years.

Description

Lewis Grant, targeted victims from Edinburgh to Stirling, over a nine-year period. His offending started in 2011 when he had unlawful sex with a 15-year-old in Dumfries.

A man was jailed last week after being found guilty of raping three women in university halls or student flats linked to two Scottish universities – including in Stirling.

Lewis Grant, targeted victims from southern Scotland to Stirling, over a nine-year period. His offending started in 2011 when he had unlawful sex with a 15-year-old in Dumfries, report the Record.

Grant, now 28, went on to commit his first rape, of a student, in her halls at Queen Margaret University, Musselburgh, before raping two more women while he was a student at the University of Stirling.

One of the rapes involved BDSM [bondage, domination, sadism and masochism] and two of the rape victims were throttled by Grant to the danger of their lives.

One of them, a student in Stirling, described being lifted off the floor by Grant, a martial arts enthusiast, who had his hands round her neck as her legs dangled and she choked.

Another of his victims was beaten with a riding crop, waterboarded with Prosecco, burned with a blow torch, and choked until she thought she was going to die.

She contacted police with photos of her injuries. Police investigated to see if Grant had any former partners who might also have been raped or abused and Grant was arrested a month later.

Giving evidence from behind a curtain at the High Court in Stirling the victim said she had she agreed to take part in “rougher sex” with Grant and went to his room in Stirling University accommodation in Bridge of Allan.

Grant began to hit her on the head with an open hand, then his fist, before pushing her off the bed onto the floor, pinning her hands above her head, covering her entire face with a cloth, and pouring sparkling wine very slowly and steadily over her mouth and face – while raping her at the same time.

She said: “I was suffocating. The cloth was heavy on my face. I was in such a panic I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to say stop. He continued to pour the Prosecco until the bottle was finished.”

She said Grant then took the cloth off and thrust his fist under her jaw. She then scrambled to the bathroom where she found a tooth had chipped.

She claimed on another occasion, in Grant’s Stirling University bedroom, he had lit a kitchen blowtorch, telling her, “This might be fun to use when you’re not behaving yourself.”

Grant put out the flame, but burned the bare skin of her back with the hot metal of the blowtorch, leaving a 20 pence-sized scar.

She said she decided to break up with Grant after he opened the door of her bathroom – where she had locked herself in – with a large kitchen knife.

At the end of a five week trial, a jury of 14 deliberated for two days before finding Grant, of Henderson Street, Bridge of Allan, guilty of raping the three women, and assaulting two of them to the danger of their lives.

He was acquitted of raping two other women – the jury returning verdicts of not guilty and not proven.

Grant was also found guilty of having sex with the underage child in Dumfries.

Grant, who funded his studies at Stirling by working in a Bridge of Allan restaurant, had denied the offences, claiming all the sex and BDSM was consensual. He said the assault of one of the women whose life he endangered did not take place in the way she described, and had been self defence.

He insisted he could not have performed some of the acts, because a massive hernia had deviated his penis. All of his victims were, or had been, in relationships with him.

Judge Lord Summers deferred sentence until October 26 at the High Court in Edinburgh. He remanded Grant in custody.

He said continuing his liberty would not be appropriate because he had been convicted “of a number of serious sexual offences and assaults”.

Grant was also placed on the sex offenders’ register. Defence counsel Bert Kerrigan KC reserved mitigation.

Description

A 66-year-old man has been jailed after admitting to committing sexual offences against two children. Everet Winston Higgins, of Gloucester Road in Bath, has been jailed for 15 years.

Higgins pleaded guilty to five counts, including indecent assault, causing a child to engage in sexual activity and encouraging the taking of indecent photographs of a child. Higgins groomed and sexually abused the first victim after meeting her in the late 1990s when she was in her mid-teens.

A police investigation also found hed communicated with a second victim on social media, requesting indecent images. When he was arrested, officers found handwritten notes between Higgins and the victim, where hed made further requests for sexual acts. The victim told officers the defendant had sexually assaulted her when she was between eight and 12 years old.

In a victim impact statement, the first victim said: "As a young person, I was in a vulnerable position and Higgins exploited that. I mourn my teenage years as they were taken from me. Despite everything he has done to me and the subsequent police and CPS involvement as a result.

"I do not wish bad on him, but I believe that, whether he understands what he is doing is wrong or not, he will never stop. For the protection of other young people, I hope he receives a custodial sentence long enough to mean it is not possible for him to do this to anyone else ever again."

The second victim said in a statement: "It has been three years since the police intervened and Higgins actions are still impacting my life. I anticipate they will continue to impact me throughout my life, but it is difficult to foresee how."

Higgins was sentenced at Bristol Crown Court earlier this month, and as well as the custodial sentence he was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order. Judge Ambrose described Higgins' offences as "having a profound effect on the lives of his victims".

Investigating officer Carl Spicer added: "Both victims have shown tremendous courage and strength in coming forward and speaking about the abuse inflicted on them. Higgins has shown no remorse for the pain and anguish hes caused, which demonstrates what a manipulative sexual offenders he is."

Description

A convicted sex offender was caught in the police station car park talking into the mobile phone he should not have had.

Kevin Dale had gone to Abingdon police station on September 7 to get specialist ‘risk management’ software installed onto a different smartphone – in compliance with a court-imposed sexual harm prevention order.

But when the police officer came out of the station around an hour later with 49-year-old Dale’s ‘safe’ phone, she found him using another phone that he had not informed Thames Valley Police about, Oxford Crown Court heard.

Dale, who was out of prison on licence at the time, was discovered to have downloaded a number of apps onto the new phone – including Chatiw, which he has previously been jailed for using in breach of the court order.

Prosecutor Cathy Olliver said that, when he was found on the phone, he was talking to a number saved as ‘Mommy1010’.

“Mr Dale admitted instantly he got the phone. He said he was not trying to get sexual access to children. This time, he was talking to women online and, indeed, there were explicit sexual pictures of women he was talking to on the phone,” the prosecutor said.

He claimed to have been given the phone by his painter and decorator employer to take pictures of his finished jobs. But Dale failed to mention to his boss that his court order required his internet-enabled devices to be registered with the police.

Dale, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court earlier this month to breach of the sexual harm prevention order.

He was convicted in 2019 and 2020 for sexual communication with children, sending explicit message via chatroom apps. In 2020, when he was also dealt with for breaching his sexual harm prevention order, he received three years’ imprisonment.

Mitigating, Alice Dodd said that prior to his incarceration on remand, her client had lived at home with his elderly parents. Both relied heavily upon him.

She told the judge: “He knows he has let them down and is worried about how they will cope.”

Dale had struggled with the social isolation that came with his status as a convicted sex offender, the court heard. “He’s found it difficult to make friends because of that. He feels the stigma very heavily.”

Sentencing Dale to two years’ imprisonment, Judge Ian Pringle KC noted that he had been ‘very nervous’ when he was caught with the new phone in the police station car park.

“Rightly so,” he added, “because you’d been using on that phone the same online chat applications that you’d been using both in 2017 [convicted in 2019] and in 2020.

“Clearly, the message hadn’t got home to you at all.”

Description

A sex offender was caught on camera peering through windows in the early hours of the morning. His actions were described as "unsettling" by a judge.

Brandon Hughes, of no fixed abode, appeared before Mold Crown Court having breached a sexual harm prevention order that came into force after he was caught performing sexual acts upon himself whilst looking through the window of a home in Rhyl, said prosecutor Sarah Badwary.

She told the court how the ban is supposed to prevent Hughes from loitering outside residential properties without good reason or entering the boundaries of homes without express permission. Despite this, the 23-year-old went out into Denbigh on May 2 this year and ignored those conditions, the court heard.

It was said that, in the early hours of the morning, he was spotted wearing all-black clothing - including a scarf covering his face and a rucksack - by a police officer in the Denbigh area. He was later caught on CCTV approaching properties on Post Office Lane and lingering outside windows.

The judge, Rhys Rowlands, said that "luckily" for Hughes nobody caught him in person. He said that, nonetheless, it remained "incredibly discomforting" for people to find out at a later stage that someone had been lurking outside their home.

Defending, Sarah Yates, told the court how her client suffers with learning difficulties as well as alcohol and drug misuse which "causes him to act in a rather odd manner". She told the court how Hughes intends to move away from the area with hopes of getting onto a university course so that he may "build a better life for himself".

Judge Rowlands told Hughes - who has breached his court order on four different occasions - that the contents of his backpack, which were not disclosed in open court, added to the "unsettling" display of behaviour. He added that: "The people of Denbigh are owed a break from your totally depraved behaviour."

He jailed the 23-year-old for two years overall for the breaches. Hughes was also ordered to pay out £156 towards a victim surcharge.

Description

A paedophile football coach has been jailed for ten years after he abused eight boys, as young as 11, between 1966 and 2000.

Gerald Highgate, 83, who was a serial sex offender who carried out his abuse for more than three decades, appeared at Guilford Crown Court in Surrey today.

Victims said he had destroyed their childhoods and used their love of football against them.

Judge Micahel Hunter told the sex predator: ‘You groomed boys, possibly as young as 11, over a very long period from 1966 to 2000, a period of 34 years.

‘Had you admitted these offences and spared your victims from the trauma of coming to court and giving evidence in this trial, you would have substantially reduced your sentence.’

Highgate, who coached at the Surrey club’s Chipstead FC and Bletchingley Rifle Club, where he carried out 30 offences against eight boys.

He was convicted after a six-week trial.

Catherine Donnelly for the Crown told the jury: ‘Highgate appears to have been adept at grooming both adults and children and appears to have conducted himself in this way over a significant period of time.

‘On occasion he would use money and treats as a way of placating the children or rewarding them for allowing him to abuse them.’

Police believe there could be many more victims of Highgate who are yet to come forward.

One of Highgate’s victims read out his impact statement to the court, stating he had felt anger, shame and disgust ever since the abuse began.

He told the court: ‘Ultimately, I hate you for abusing me. I loved football and you took that from me.

‘I have lived with what you did for all these years. I only hope I can get the justice I deserve, and I can move on.’

Other victims said they had struggled with relationships throughout their lives after suffering at the hands of Highgate.

Another man said: ‘The stigma of being abused has affected me in so many ways and I have only really come to terms with it in later life.’

Guildford Crown Court heard how parents looked up to him as a respected figure in the community.

Judge Hunter described Highgate’s offending as a serious breach of trust.

He said: ‘The boys were in your care, you were looking after those boys as members of the junior team of which you were the leader, mentor and coach.

‘Many of those boys looked up to you. Certainly, many of the parents admired, respected and looked up to you.

‘In some cases, they were seriously mistaken.’

Highgate pushed his hearing aid through the toughened glass panels of the dock at Guildford Crown Court before being told he was sentenced to a total of ten years in prison for 30 offences against eight boys.

Description

A fugitive Fife sex offender who went on the run before a court could punish him has finally faced justice in the Highlands.

Robert Clark, from Inverkeithing, had previously admitted two charges of indecent assault and one of intentionally causing another to look at a sexual image.

Description

A Derbyshire pensioner and registered sex offender who paid to live stream the sexual abuse of children has been jailed.

David Stevenson, 70, from Chaddesden, was arrested by National Crime Agency officers in May 2020 after an investigation revealed he paid individuals in the Philippines and Ghana to carry out child sexual abuse.

These included a 32-year-old Filipino woman who was arrested in February 2020 for the production and possession of indecent images of two children, aged six months and 10 years.

She advertised live streamed abuse online and was linked to a video showing a prepubescent girl performing sex acts.

NCA investigators seized three devices after arresting Stevenson, and established that he’d made more than 200 payments totalling £5,500 between February 2018 and May 2020.

When interviewed, he claimed he had only been engaging with adult women - predominantly in the Philippines but also in Africa – and denied any interaction with children.

He was released under investigation while the devices were forensically examined.

Officers found 71 indecent images of children (IIOC) in categories A-C (A being the most severe), with evidence Stevenson had searched for terms such as ‘nude Filipino schoolgirls’ and ‘young petite sweeties’. He had also visited sites called ‘teen sex galleries’, ‘young teen strip’ and ‘African teen’.

Stevenson also made sexually explicit comments about young girls during a chat with another user on a messaging service.

In a further interview, he admitted regularly forwarding money via international transfer to women in the Philippines and that he had been in an online relationship with a woman there for the past 17 months.

He admitted paying the 32-year-old Filipino woman, who he described as a sex worker, but denied viewing any child sexual abuse material.

He also admitted using the search terms but claimed that the sites were largely fantasy, and implied that many of them contained images of adults purporting to be children.

In January 2018 Stevenson was convicted of engaging in sexual communication with a child, for which he was also given a seven-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and a six-year Sex Offender Notification Requirement.

There is evidence that he deleted files from one of the devices examined by NCA investigators following his arrest in 2020, which was a breach of the SHPO.

Stevenson was charged with six counts of making IIOC, one count of possessing IIOC and one count of breaching his SHPO. He pleaded guilty to all the charges at Derby Magistrates’ Court on 28 April this year, and was sentenced to 20 months imprisonment and given a seven-year SHPO at Derby Crown Court today (26 September).

NCA Operations Manager Graham Ellis said: “Stevenson was under the illusion that he could sit at home and view abuse of children thousands of miles away, for his own pleasure, without fear of being caught.

“Those engaged in live-streaming child sexual abuse are exploiting vulnerable victims, and present a grave risk to children wherever they are.

“The Philippines remains a hub for this type of offending. The NCA works closely with law enforcement partners there to identify and pursue those responsible for facilitating abuse, and to protect victims.”

The NCA collaborates with the Philippine Internet Crimes Against Children Centre to help combat this type of offending.

Description

‘Honest’ pervert David Jones candidly admitted to using his internet-enabled television to look at 12-year-old girls online.

The 34-year-old had switched to watching the internet pornography on his ‘Smart TV’ after police confiscated his PlayStation4 last October, Oxford Crown Court heard.

That games console was seized when police made an unannounced visit to his Oxford home – a month after his release from prison on licence – to find him pleasuring himself while watching X-rated material through his PlayStation.

On a repeat visit more than nine months later, on July 10, Jones told officers from Thames Valley Police’s public protection department that he did not have internet devices in his property as he ‘didn’t trust himself’ not to look at indecent images of children.

When detectives asked him about his ‘Smart TV’ he became ‘visibly nervous’, prosecutor Michael Stradling said.

The television had an internet browser installed and, when the officers checked the browser history, found that all entries before the early hours of that morning had been deleted.

The results that remained were all for ‘pornography’ websites and included entries for ‘young models’.

Confronted with the web history, Jones admitted that he had been using the TV to access both adult pornography and illegal indecent images of children since the cops took his PS4 in October 2021. The youngest girl in the illegal images he had looked at ‘appeared to him to be 12-13 years of age’.

Jones, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court last month to breaching his sexual harm prevention order. 

 He had three previous convictions, all for either looking at indecent images of breaching the court order. He had been recalled to prison to serve out the remainder of a jail term originally imposed in 2020.

Mitigating, Emma Hornby said: “At the age of 34, Mr Jones is ashamed of what he’s done and remorseful for his actions, as demonstrated by his admissions and early guilty pleas.”

At the time of the most recent offence he had been isolated and turned to looking at the disgusting images. “He doesn’t want prison to be a revolving door for him. He wants to seek support,” his barrister added.

Judge Nigel Daly blew out his cheeks then shook his head in obvious bewilderment before telling Jones: “You were in front of me in November 2020 when I sentenced you. You have now breached this sexual harm prevention order - again.”

He jailed the defendant for 16 months. 

Description

A PAEDOPHILE ‘kissed and cuddled’ a 14-year-old girl in Cheshire before booking a hotel room for them both.

Callum Abbott was 21 years old when he committed the vile offence in Warrington town centre.

Abbott, now 23, appeared before Warrington Magistrates’ Court on Thursday after pleading guilty to being an offender aged 18 or over engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 14.

Prosecuting, Amanda York told the court how the offence happened in March 2020.

Ms York revealed that since the incident the victim has suffered from panic attacks.

Defending, Mr Derbyshire, said that his client suffers from ‘complex mental health issues’ and has a history of substance abuse.

He said that a custodial sentence would be ‘detrimental’ to Abbott's mental health and well-being.

Mr Derbyshire said that Abbott, of Newtown, Wales, is aware of the mistakes he made and has already taken steps to ‘address his offending behaviour’.

Abbott was handed a two-year community order in which he must complete up to 35 rehabilitation activity requirement days and a Horizons Programme - an intervention delivered to men who have a sexual conviction.

He is also subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order, a five-year restraining order and must abide by sex offender registration requirements.

Description

A Wirral man who was Principal of an international school in Iraq has been jailed after grooming and attempting to sexually exploit children around the world using social media.

Nicholas Clayton, 38,of Charles Road, Hoylake, was working in the Kurdistan region of Iraq when he used Facebook Messenger to contact children as young as 10 in multiple countries, grooming them and asking them for photos.

After receiving intelligence that a 13-year-old boy from Cambodia had been contacted on Facebook messenger by a man who asked for photos of his naked upper torso, National Crime Agency investigators identified Clayton as the perpetrator.

He had subsequently arranged to pay for the boy to travel to Malaysia so they could meet.

Clayton was arrested by NCA officers when he returned to the UK. To mitigate the potential risk of further offending, NCA officers successfully obtained a court Sexual Risk Order, which prohibited Clayton from worldwide travel while the investigation continued.

Investigators then obtained further messages from social media platforms, which showed Clayton had been in communication with hundreds of boys aged from 10 to the late teens around the world over a period of just three months.

Chats were found with victims in the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Iraq, Morocco, Turkey amongst others.

Clayton appeared at Liverpool Magistrates Court on 23 August where he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual communication with a child under 16 years and one charge of inciting the sexual exploitation of a child.

He was sentenced at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday (20 September) to 20 months imprisonment and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 15 years.

Recorder Ian Harris described Claytons behaviour as persistent, repulsive and insidious.

Hazel Stewart, from the NCA, said: Nicholas Clayton abused his position of trust as a head teacher by attempting to sexually contact and exploit children, using technology to access hundreds of potential victims across the globe.

Clayton was very cautious and careful in his communications, making them appear to be innocent, but as NCA investigators we could see the patterns of predatory grooming he was using on vulnerable children.

Description

Some of the disgusting material, which Andrew Tonner had downloaded, showed youngsters in 'extreme distress'

A twisted pervert had a vile collection of child sex abuse images and videos showing kids as young as two.

Andrew Tonner had downloaded the disturbing material online and some of it showed youngsters in "extreme distress", a court heard. The 46-year-old had only been accessing the photos and movies for three days when police intelligence showed it was being uploaded to his social media account and his Heaton home was searched.

In total, 15 sickening pictures and 19 videos were found on his electronic devices, despite him deleting some of the files. Ten photos and 18 movies were category A, the most serious kind that involve sexual penetration.

Tonner, who has since moved from Heaton to Landfall Drive, in Hebburn, appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court this week to plead guilty to three counts of making an indecent image of a child. The offences were said to have taken place between November 11 and November 14 last year.

Prosecutor, April Hall, said the case should be sent to the crown court for sentence. She added: "Police had cause to attend the defendant's address on November 16 2021 following intelligence detailing the uploading of indecent images of children and it had been uploaded to a social media account linked to the defendant.

"The case is further aggravated by the age range of the children, approximately two to 14. There's also extreme distress caused to a child in one of the videos."

Mattew Purves, defending, agreed that the case should be sent to Newcastle Crown Court for sentence. Tonner was released on unconditional bail to next appear there on October 20, however, in the meantime, he must sign the Sex Offenders' Register. 

Description

A FORMER CUMBRIAN MoD police officer who was secretly collecting and viewing child abuse images has been given a community order.

Andrew Stevenson, 24, who has now been sacked from his Ministry of Defence job in Barrow, was arrested after police raided his home in Ulverston in August last year, CarlisleCrown Court heard.

On his iPhone, police found a child abuse image of Category C - the least serious kind.

But a forensic examination of the defendant's three devices - the phone, an iPad and a desktop computer - led police to an online file storage account where Stevenson had amassed dozens more sickening images, including videos and images of Category A, the most serious kind.

The defendant earlier entered guilty pleas to the following three allegations:

* That on or before June 3, 2021, at Ulverston, he downloaded 94 Category A indecent photographs of children. Category A is the most serious category for this type of offence.

* That over the same period of time, also at Ulverston, he downloaded 37 Category B indecent images of children.

* And that over the same period, and also at Ulverston, he downloaded 34 Category C indecent photographs of children.

Kim Whittlestone, prosecuting, told the court: "He has a sexual attraction to children as young as seven."

Ellen Wright, defending, said Stevenson had been dismissed from his police officer role following a disciplinary hearing the day before he appeared in court for sentencing.

Stevenson did not want to make excuses, said Miss Wright. "He is thoroughly and utterly ashamed of himself," said the barrister. 

She went on to argue that the best way to prevent a repeat of the defendant's criminal behaviour was not to send him to prison but to send him for an intensive sex offender treatment programme in the community. 

Miss Wright spoke of Stevenson's mental health difficulties, including anxiety and depression. She pointed out also that since the prosecution was reported in the press the defendant had “gone into hiding.”

Miss Wright said: “He lives in a very small town and everybody in that town now knows about it and that has had a very isolating effect.”

Passing sentence, Recorder Anna Vigars KC told the defendant: “On August  17 last year, a warrant was executed at the house where you lived alone and three items were seized. A Category C image was found on your iPhone.

“It was replicated on your iCloud account and a significant number of [other] images were found.”

The judge noted that Stevenson’s collection of abuse images included “short films”, lasting several minute and depicting  ”extreme sexual  behaviour” which involved children, some of pre-pubescent age.

Recorder Vigars said the people should be able to invest trust in police officers and offending such as Stevenson’s broke down that trust.

The judge noted also the defendant’s previous good character, and how he provides care for his grandparents, taking them to medical appointments.

Recorder Vigars said that she could impose a short jail sentence but that option would include only limited opportuntiies for rehabilitation work, she said.

She therefore imposed a three-year community order which will include 200 hours of unpaid work as punishment and a “Moving Forward and Making Changes” programme, which will involve 300 hours of work to address his offending.

Stevenson, now living at West Park Crescent, Kilmaurs, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, will remain on the Sex Offender Register for five years and be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same period.

This will include various restrictions, including preventing him from having unsupervised access to any child.

After the case, Katie Beattie, from the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “As a serving police officer, Andrew Stevenson was expected to uphold the law and protect people.

“By downloading these images he was feeding directly into an industry which sexually exploits children. The CPS and the police will continue to work together to robustly prosecute anyone who commits such abhorrent offences, particularly those in positions of trust in our society.” 

Description

A Wiltshire rapist who treated his "terrified" victim like an "inanimate object" has been jailed for six years.

James Rumney raped the female victim twice after they met on a night out.

Rumney was out with a group with friends in September 2020 when he met the victim.

When they moved on to the home of one of the friends in the group, Rumney and the woman had consensual sex.

But, during the evening, Rumney, of Poulton Hill, Marlborough, demanded more sex which his victim didn’t want.

He forced himself on her and raped her twice before she eventually managed to leave the bedroom to get away from him.

A jury at Swindon Crown Court unanimously found the 29-year-old of guilty of two counts of rape last month.

The victim has been praised by the sentencing judge and police for her bravery in reporting the crime.

Today, two years after the incident, Rumney was sentenced to six years in prison and will be on the sex offenders register for life on release.

Judge James Townsend said during sentencing: "I do not take you had consensual sex earlier, a mitigating factor.

"The impact on your victim has been devastating. I want to pay tribute to her for revealing these matters and to go through the trauma of giving evidence."

Detective Constable Sally Booth from Wiltshire Police said: “This case has highlighted how a relatively typical situation, where a man and woman have consensual sex together after meeting up on a night out, can quickly change to the awful crime of a serious sexual assault.

“Our victim asked the perpetrator to stop on more than one occasion but he refused and continued to force himself on her, at times treating her like an inanimate object.

"She was terrified and very distressed and it took an enormous amount of bravery for her to get away from him and then report it to us.

“Situations like this where something starts out as consensual but quickly turns to non-consensual I believe are not uncommon.

"However, often a victim will feel like they cannot report it because they agreed to sleep with the perpetrator in the first place and so no-one will believe them.

“This is just not true. If you have been or ever are in situation like this, you must report it – a serious crime has been committed.

"You will be believed and treated by specially trained officers. We will investigate the crime and take every action possible to bring the offender to justice.

“I’d like to thank the victim for having the courage to come forward and report this in the first place.

"It’s not an easy thing to do but her bravery in doing this helped us investigate this crime which led to this jail sentence.”