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Following an investigation by Thames Valley Police, a man has been jailed for two years and ten months after he was convicted of child sex offences in Burford.

Stephen Painter, aged 67, of Frethern Close, Burford, pleaded guilty to a count each of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a girl under 16 following grooming and attempting to breach a sexual harm prevention order, following a hearing at Oxford Magistrates’ Court on 19 March.

Appearing at Oxford Crown Court on the same day, Painter was jailed.

Between 3 and 25 February this year, Painter communicated in a sexual manner with a person he believed was a 14-year-old girl and was making arrangements to meet with her.

He was, in fact, talking to an adult member of the public, who gathered evidence, confronted him at his home address, and contacted police.

Painter was arrested on 25 February and charged the following day.

Detective Sergeant Mark Personius of Cherwell & West Oxfordshire CID, said: “Painter was already a registered sex offender, having previously been convicted of a similar offence.

“I am happy that this matter has been resolved so quickly and that Painter has been sent to prison.

“He poses a significant risk to children, and I hope that the community feels safer now that Painter is behind bars where he belongs.”

Record details

A former Lincolnshire scout leader was today (Friday) jailed for 14 years after he was found guilty of sex offences against a boy more than three decades ago.

John Pycock, 83, had denied sexually abusing the boy in the late 1980s and early 1990s while he was a scout leader in Billinghay and then Fiskerton.

But a jury at Lincoln Crown Court convicted him of indecency with a child, two counts of indecent assault and two other serious sexual offences.

Sentence was adjourned on Tuesday for an impact statement to be taken from the victim who is now an adult and can not be named to protect his anonymity.

Pycock was today jailed for 14 years by Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight who heard evidence from the victim during the seven day trial. His licence period was also extended by a year.

It will be the third prison term served by Pycock. He was previously jailed for six years in November 2020 after admitting three charges involving sex offences against a young girl.

Pycock, formerly of Winn Street, Lincoln, was also previously jailed for 51 months in June 2014 when he admitted five sex offences against young boys.

At the time, the court heard that he invited the boys to his house and abused them while his wife was working night shifts as a nurse.

However, he had been released from that sentence by the time the 2020 offences came to light.

Pycock, who hung his head but showed little reaction when the jury returned their guilty verdicts on Tuesday, will also have to register as a Sex Offender for the rest of his life.

Defence barrister Jon Dee argued Pycock's previous jail term in 2014 should be taken into consideration in deciding the length of his current sentence as it occurred on boys in the same period as his most recent conviction.

Mr Dee accepted the same circumstances did not apply to Pycock's 2020 conviction.

The court heard Pycock was in poor health and now faced the prospect of never leaving prison.

Record details

A Plymouth man has been jailed for internet-based child sex offences and the sexual assault of a young girl.

Stephen Humphries, 58, from Pendeen Close in Plymouth, was sentenced to an eight year custodial term with a further two years to be served on extended licence at Plymouth Crown Court on Thursday 21 March.

He had pleading guilty to attempting to arrange/facilitate the commission of a child sex offence, making indecent photographs of children, distributing indecent photographs of children, taking indecent photographs, sexual assault of a child and possession of extreme pornography. He was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

The court heard how Humphries had been engaging with someone online since 4 October 2023, who he believed would enable him to commit an online child sexual offence. However, what Humphries didnt know was that individual was actually an investigating officer.

Humphries home was raided at 12.10pm on Saturday 14 October and inside the defendant was found with evidence open on his phone suggesting he was preparing to commit the act.

A large number of devices were seized from inside the property and later found to contain thousands of indecent images and videos of children spanning all three categories. There was also evidence that Humphries had shared some of the indecent images with others.

Humphries was also sentenced for sexual assaulting a girl aged under 16 in Plymouth.

Following the sentencing, officer in the case DC Sophie House said: This was a complex police investigation which incorporated work from both the Devon and Cornwall Police Paedophile Online Investigation Team and the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU).

We welcome todays sentence and hope this conviction serves as a stark warning to those with an unlawfully blurred view of consent and the wider implications of the sexual abuse of children. This was a collaborative effort involving officers from the NEROCU, Devon and Cornwall Paedophile Online Investigation Team, the Force Support Group, and the Data Forensic Unit.

I would also like to thank the victim in this case for her bravery and courage in coming forward. Its not an easy thing to disclose something very personal to you, particularly when it relates to sexual offences. I hope this investigation highlights that the police take sexual allegations seriously, you will be believed, and we will support you as much as we can.

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A drug addict who used to spend 200 a day on cocaine looked at sexual images of children.

Ryan Parker, 39, of Whalley Road, Blackburn, said that his offence of looking at indecent images of children was "one million per cent" down to his alcohol and drug addiction.

Burnley Crown Court heard that on March 29 last year, Lancashire Police attended Parker's home address as they had evidence he had been looking at child pornography.

Prosecutor Stephen Parker told the court that the defendant had allowed the police into the address, and admitted to looking at the images under the influence of drugs.

When the police searched the house, they found empty snap bags believed to have contained drugs.

Parker handed over his laptop, mobile phone, and passwords to the devices including to the iCloud database.

The court heard that when the police investigated the devices, they found 506 images of children aged between five to 12 years old were viewed by Parker over a period of three years.

In mitigation, Shirlie Duckworth told the court that Parker had gone on to attend rehabilitation services for drug addiction and child pornography before he had been charged with the offence, a rare occurrence for the courts.

She said: "He is a man of previous good character in his late 30s with a lack of convictions.

"He has accepted and shown remorse for his offences, and there are many people who appear before this court who do not accept their crimes until they are forced to by the justice system."

Parker pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent photographs of children.

Judge Daniel Prowse sentenced Parker to 10 months in prison, suspended for 18 months, ordered him to take 25 days rehabilitation and 150 hours unpaid work.

He said: "You had 296 of some of the most serious images for this offence.

"You admitted at the scene and provided the police with the devices and passwords you used to look at these images.

"You also engaged with members in groups such as Twitter, Gmail and Kick who then shared these images to you.

"I have read your psychiatric report and I believe you are genuinely remorseful and have taken steps to see why you accessed these images.

"I accept you were on drugs at the time of the offending, and believe your rehabilitation with the Probation Service will work better out of immediate custody.

"But if you do commit any offence again, you will immediately go to jail and you will only have yourself to blame."

Parker was also placed on the sex offender's register for 10 years and handed a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.

Record details

A rapist who sent a text message to his victim after the crime to say he was sorry has been jailed for ten years.

Jordan Doughty, 33, texted, sorry about that mate, shortly after raping the woman at his then home in Woolpack Lane, Whittlesey, during the early hours of 26 January, 2020.

Doughty had taken the victim there after they left a bar in Peterborough at about 1.30am.

Shortly after arriving, the victim fell asleep on a sofa, but awoke to find Doughty lying next to her, forcefully groping her.

She immediately pushed his hand away and told him to stop, however, Doughty ignored her and continued to sexually assault her.

The victim, who was frozen with fear, was then raped by Doughty and when the ordeal stopped, he got off from the sofa and said, come on, sort yourself out.

The distraught victim collected her belongings and ran to her car, which had been parked nearby.

While sat inside, she called a friend to say what had happened, but as she was so upset, she couldnt talk for long.

The victim drove home and at about 5am, she received the apology text from Doughty.

She contacted a friend who immediately came to her aid and the police were called.

The victim told officers it was not the first time Doughty had raped her, with another offence three years previous. Officers arrested him at his home a few hours later.

Following a trial last year, Doughty, of Farm Road, Boston, was found guilty of two counts of rape and assault by penetration.

On Thursday (21 March), at Cambridge Crown Court, Doughty was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Record details

A great-grandad drove for two hours to Leeds to meet what he thought was a 13-year-old girl, but was confronted by a paedophile hunter group.

Pervert pensioner Malcolm Allwood spent months grooming the "girl" online, telling her he wanted to take her to his caravan and back to his home.

The 77-year-old then drove from his home in Burton-on-Trent in Staffordshire to meet the youngster at McDonald's in Hunslet, where he was intercepted by members of the Yorkshire Predator Hunters, who had set up the decoy profile of the girl. They then livestreamed the confrontation.

He appeared at Leeds Crown Court this week where he admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming, and attempting to engage a child in sexual communication. Prosecuting the case, Emily Hassell said that Allwood contacted the fake profile online in December 2022, with the supposed girl telling him she was just 13.

He told her that he "loved her photo" and asked if she was single. Over the months he bombarded her with messages and would tell her that that she was "gorgeous". He sent photos of himself with his top off and asked her for photos.

He would repeatedly ask her what she was wearing in bed and quizzed her about sex education she had in school. He said he would massage her and take her away in his caravan or take her abroad. Then in April 2023 he suggested they meet for food, and that she should stay at his address. On April 21 last year he travelled the 85 miles from his home on Calais Road, Burton-on-Trent, to meet her at the McDonald's. Having been detained by the hunter group, he was then arrested but gave a no-comment interview to officers.

Mitigating, Stuart Field said that Allwood has no previous convictions and pleaded guilty at an early opportunity. He said: "He is not able to explain how this all arose. Thankfully, it was not a 13-year-old girl."

Judge Tahir Khan KC gave him a 12-month jail sentence, suspended for 18 months. He also gave him 40 rehabilitation days, put him on the sex offender register for 10 years and handed him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to limit his internet use.

Record details

A FORMER school bus driver in Witney has been jailed after raping a 14-year-old girl and encouraging a 13-year-old girl to send him naked photographs.

Peter Gibbs, 60, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court of three counts of historic child sex abuse which happened in the early 2000s – two counts of indecent assault and one count of rape – after being found guilty at trial.

Over two decades later, Gibbs, pleaded guilty to one count each of sexual communication with a child and making indecent images of a child after six naked photographs were found of the teen on his device in 2022.

Sentencing Gibbs, of Briary Lane, Carterton, to eight years and seven months imprisonment, Judge Michael Gledhill said: “You ought to be thoroughly disgusted with yourself.”

During the sentencing, it was heard that the historic counts were first reported to police in August 2001 after the victim made a report, telling her GP she had been raped.

It was heard the assaults had happened in his car as well as on a bus where he worked as a driver.

However, the Crown Prosecution Service dismissed the case.

Gibbs was not charged at the time but was arrested again in February 2021 when a school reported that Gibbs, who was the authority’s bus driver at the time, had been messaging a 15-year-old student.

In May 2022, Gibbs pleaded guilty to the counts relating to that incident and the victim in the latest trial, who is now an adult, was contacted again by police and the case was reopened.

A victim impact statement written by the woman and teen were read out in court.

The first wrote: “Peter Gibbs ruined my life. After it happened, I couldn’t go back to school. I was extremely embarrassed. I felt my parents were disappointed in me.

“What he did to me affects me on a day-to-day basis.”

The teen wrote: “He was a person employed to keep children safe yet he made as a child feel unsafe.

“I feel like I can’t enjoy myself like my friends do because of what he has done to me.”

Defending Gibbs, his barrister explained that the defendant has not been ‘eating, drinking or taking medication’ in custody and has been placed on ‘a particular watch’.

He said: “He is very, very sorry for what he’s done and he’s remorseful for his actions.

"The man has fully, completely and totally come to his senses and has expressed his great sorrow and shame to his partner.”

Record details

A convicted sex offender has been jailed again after he was found using his phone to send explicit messages to a child.

Former East Malling resident, David Knight, used social media apps to befriend the young boy and made repeated attempts to meet the victim on his own. 

Knight, 46, was previously sentenced in 2005 to more than six years’ imprisonment, for offences relating to the sexual abuse of children.

He was convicted under his former name of David Thomas and added to the sex offenders register, for life.

Name change

Upon his release from prison, he changed his name to David Knight and became the subject of new allegations made to Kent Police in August 2022.

An investigation established Knight had been communicating with a child by using internet platforms including TikTok.

Posting under the profile name of FireKnight2017, he sent several inappropriate and explicit messages, and expressed a desire to be with the child on their own.

Knight was arrested on 16 August. A police analysis of his phone found searches on the internet including ‘nude junior archives’ and ‘kids’ nudists chase game’.

Sentenced

He was charged with attempting to meet a child following grooming and with failing to comply with a notification requirement (relating to the sex offenders register).

Knight pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court, where a further offence of engaging in sexual communication with a child was ordered to lie on file.

On Tuesday 19 March 2024, Knight, of no fixed address, was jailed for four years and one month. He will have to serve two thirds of the sentence before he can apply for parole.

Upon his release from prison, Knight will be the subject of an additional licence period of three years, as well as a sexual harm prevention order and restraining order, both for 10 years. 

Record details

A sex offender described as a "serious risk to women" was found to have been going to Bury to "engage in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl".

Callum Cox, 23, has a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) with a number of conditions and prohibitions.

He told police on a home compliance visit that he did not have a mobile phone, access to the internet or social media.  

But just 10 days later, Lancashire Police, working with Greater Manchester Police, discovered Cox had been travelling to Bury and engaging in a sexual relationship with a 17-year-old girl.

Cox, of The Grove, Oswaldwistle, was arrested, and a mobile phone was seized.

Specialist officers carried out searches of Cox’s mobile phones, where they found that he had "intentionally deceived the police in an effort to pursue multiple relationships with women online", including with a 17-year-old girl.

It was found he had travelled out of Lancashire in attempt to avoid detection.

Cox was charged with seven breaches of his SHPO and sex offender notification requirements. He plead guilty to four of the charges.

On Monday, March 18, Cox was sentenced at Burnley Crown Court to two years and seven months for breaching his SHPO.

An application to amend the existing SHPO will be heard at Blackburn Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, April 10.

Record details

A convicted sex offender who deliberately went to ground instead of telling the police where he was living has been jailed after being told that he had finally "come to the end of the road" for being given chances.

Drug user David Schofield had previously been spared prison for committing "precisely the same offence" but he did not learn his lesson and he brazenly ignored his "duty" to register with the police every seven days, Hull Crown Court heard.

Schofield, 47, from Hull but recently remanded in custody, admitted breaching his notification requirements as a convicted sex offender and breaching a 24-week suspended prison sentence imposed for earlier failures to notify his details.

Chloe Pinches, prosecuting, said that Schofield was convicted on January 17, 2020 of sexual assault and he was ordered that day to register as a sex offender for seven years.

He was back in court on July 20 last year for failing to comply with notification requirements and, after he was released from custody, he told police that he would be living in Hardy Street, Hull.

On November 16, Schofield was seen by a police community support officer in Hull city centre and he said that he was of no fixed address. He was told to go to the police station and notify his details and he was reminded that he needed to do so every seven days.

"The defendant failed to do so," said Miss Pinches. Schofield was arrested on December 30 for that and other offences.

He pleaded guilty at Hull Magistrates' Court on January 4 to offences of assault and criminal damage, committed on December 12, and he was jailed for 12 weeks.

During police interview, Schofield said that he could not provide details of where he was living because of problems that he had suffered. When he was asked if he understood his conditions and whether he had made any attempt to tell police of any change in his living status, he replied "No comment."

He said that he would probably be in and out of prison for the remainder of his notification period because he would never be able to tell police of his address.

"There was a long period of non-compliance," said Miss Pinches. "The last recorded notification by the defendant was July 20. He had multiple opportunities to attend the police station to notify them of his change in circumstances but he chose not to, despite accessing agencies that support rough sleepers and advising them that he was homeless.

"This resulted in his whereabouts being unknown to the police for a long period of time." Schofield had been assessed as posing a medium risk of committing further offences of a sexual nature.

It was his fifth appearance in court for failing to comply with his notification requirements, said Miss Pinches.

Marc Luxford, mitigating, said that Schofield had suffered from drug-related problems, made worse by not having a home and living on the streets. "He accepts that the duty was on him and he ought to be registering every seven days," said Mr Luxford.

"He accepts that it was his duty and that he ought to have attended at the police station." Schofield had been in Lincoln Prison most recently after earlier being in Hull Prison, where services had been easier to access.

Recorder David Brooke KC said that Schofield showed a "deliberate failure to comply" with his sex offender registration responsibilities.

"It's a repeat offence," said Recorder Brooke. "You were in breach of a suspended sentence for precisely the same offence. The probation service has obviously tried very hard to help you and has come to the conclusion that it can't really offer anything else in the community.

"It's a deliberate failure to comply with the requirements rather than a determined attempt to avoid detection. You have been doing this not just on one occasion but two.

"I am afraid that you have come to the end of the road in terms of other alternatives."

Schofield was jailed for a total of 54 weeks.

Record details

A serial flasher who exposed himself to women and girls while riding around on a bicycle was later found to have dozens of sickening indecent images of children on his phone.

Ammar Chaudhry was only stopped in his "troubling course of sexually deviant behaviour" when an off-duty policeman, who was in his car with his wife and children, spotted in his rear-view mirror what was happening and went to investigate, Hull Crown Court heard.

Chaudhry, 26, of Elmtree Avenue, North Ferriby, admitted three offences of making indecent images of children and another of possessing indecent images of children.

Michael Masson, prosecuting, said that Chaudhry was arrested on March 4, 2021 for exposure and he was interviewed by the police. "He indicated that there would be indecent images of children on his phone, engaged in lewd acts," said Mr Masson.

Chaudhry claimed that he had downloaded all the images out of "curiosity" and that he had no sexual interest in children. He claimed that no children were harmed in the images.

His phone was searched and 311 files relating to indecent images of children were found, 31 of them on a child abuse database. There were 41 images, including duplicates, in the most serious Category A and 42 videos in that category. Prohibited images, showing indecent cartoons or similar images, were found on his laptop and computer.

During police interview, Chaudhry gave mainly "no comment" replies to questions but when he was asked whether he shared the images with other people, he replied: "No." There was no evidence of any distribution by him of images.

Chaudhry had convictions for four previous offences of exposure, one of those committed near a school, and he had been given a 30-week suspended prison sentence, 20 days' rehabilitation and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order at Hull Crown Court in July 2021. He had been ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

The court heard at that time that, on four occasions, Chaudhry rode his bicycle towards vulnerable women and young girls while exposing himself. On one occasion, he stood in the middle of a street just yards from schoolchildren, dropped his tracksuit bottoms and committed a sex act.

He also pursued a 16-year-old schoolgirl in North Ferriby and smiled at her as he exposed himself. She was left "disgusted and uncomfortable" but he continued to follow her.

There was another incident in Anlaby where he stared at a woman while riding his bicycle, with one hand down his trousers. She could see his bare groin area and she felt disgusted.

Chaudhry's offences, described by a judge as a "troubling course of sexually deviant behaviour", came to a halt when an off-duty police officer in Hull Road, Hessle, spotted in his rear-view mirror what Chaudhry was doing. Young children were nearby.

When he was arrested, Chaudhry asked if he could just be cautioned, the court heard that day.

Charlotte Baines, mitigating, said that the offending was serious but Chaudhry had made admissions about the images when first arrested.

"He never sought to diminish or minimise responsibility in respect of those actions," said Miss Baines. It took 10 months for a forensic report on the images to be prepared and there had been further delays before the other charges involving the indecent images came to court.

Chaudhry was given an eight-week suspended prison sentence. The previous sexual harm prevention order will continue. He will have to continue to register as a sex offender for seven years.

Record details

A South London man who subjected a woman to a campaign of physical and emotional abuse has been convicted. Nam Nguyen took control of the woman's life over a 10-day period in September 2023 and held her captive inside a flat in Tulse Hill.

She managed to escape after jumping from a window. She ran to a nearby care home where she was found with extensive injuries to her face and body.

She had been raped and repeatedly attacked. Officers were called and the Met launched an investigation.

Nguyen was identified as the suspect and arrested nearby a short time later. The victim spoke at length to officers about the horrific abuse she had faced, including vicious attacks, one of which resulted in a fracture to her spine.

Detective Chief Superintendent Seb Adjei-Addoh, local policing commander in Lambeth and Southwark, said: "It's hard to imagine the pain and suffering this woman went through and I am pleased the man responsible for these awful crimes has been brought to justice. This is some of the worst offending our detectives have ever seen and I do not underestimate the impact having to speak at length about this has had on the victim.

"We will continue to support her in any way we can. This has been an incredibly complex investigation and I hope this outcome demonstrates how the Met is committed to tackling violence against women and girls.

"We will continue to ensure dangerous and predatory men face the consequences of their actions." Nguyen will be sentenced at Inner London Crown Court on Friday, May 24.

Nguyen, 26, of no fixed address, was found guilty of the following offences at Inner London Crown Court on Monday, March 18.

• False imprisonment
• Wounding with intent
• Threats to kill
• Grievous bodily harm with intent
• Rape
• Actual bodily harm
• Administering a noxious thing
• Sexual assault

Record details

A former Ellesmere Port care worker has been convicted of rape and child sex offences.

Following a seven-day trial which began on March 11 at Chester Crown Court, 45-year-old Kevin Cooper-Shaw, of Kingsmead Road North, Oxton, was found guilty by a jury on 21 of the 23 charges. These were:

• Seven counts of sexual activity with a child
• One count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity
• One count of rape
• One count of attempted sexual activity with a child
• Seven counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust
• One count of sexual activity in the presence of a child by a person in a position of trust
• Two counts of making an indecent photograph / pseudo- photograph of a child
• One count of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity by a person in a position of trust

The court heard that Cooper-Shaw worked at a care home in Ellesmere Port between April 2018 and October 2021, where he was tasked with safeguarding and caring for vulnerable children and young people.

But during this time, Cooper-Shaw groomed a teenage girl at the care home, committing multiple offences against her.

The matter came to police attention in November 2021 and an investigation was launched by the Western Protecting Vulnerable People Unit.

Cooper-Shaw was arrested soon after the report to police. When detectives reviewed his devices, they found him to be in possession of a number of indecent images of children.

Cooper-Shaw will be sentenced on May 31.

Following Cooper-Shaw’s conviction, investigating officer DC Katie Ashcroft said: “The level of offending in this case and the acts he subjected his victim to were truly horrific.

"Cooper-Shaw was meant to be in a position of trust, safeguarding and caring for young people. Despite knowing this, and how vulnerable the victim was, Cooper-Shaw violated and betrayed that trust, abusing and deeply traumatising the young victim at a time when she should have been made to feel safe.

“I’d like to thank the victim for their immense courage and strength they’ve shown throughout this investigation – first to come forward to report the crimes, and then also to give evidence and help convict this man for his predatory and warped behaviour.

“I hope this encourages others who have been subjected to such abuse to come forward. They will get the support and advice they need to help them come to terms with their ordeal, and if they so wish, put their abuser before the courts.”

Record details

A paedophile carried out a series of sexual assaults on vulnerable young girls over several decades. Dennis Yarr subjected his victims to sickening attacks leaving them suicidal, depressed and unable to feel safe around men.

The offences committed by Yarr spanned several decades and included luring a young girl into his car, sexually touching another child and forcing another to sit on his lap and perform a sex act.

A hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday, March 20 heard Yarr, who is Scottish and was working as a bus and taxi driver in the Vale of Glamorgan, accused his victims of lying before being found guilty of indecent assault and indeceny with a child at trial in February this year. Judge Timothy Petts said Yarr had shown "no remorse" for his actions and described him as "manipulative and predatory".

The court heard Yarr, 63, of Dunstan Avenue in Westage-on-Sea, Kent, carried out a series of disgusting attacks on a young girl in the 1990s. This included touching inside her underwear and on one occasion penetrating her. He then told his victim not to tell anyone in order to prevent her from reporting the ordeal.

A statement on behalf of the victim said Yarr's attacks had meant she "grew up feeling let down and disappointed" and had "affected her choices in life", adding that she still struggled with mental health issues and had been left traumatised by it taking 10 years for the offences to be brought to light. The victim said what happened had "ruined my childhood years", adding: "Every time I hear a Scottish accent, smell whiskey and see a man with a moustache it makes me think of my abuser." She said she had self-harmed as a result of Yarr's actions and had been admitted to hospital and had been "petrified" at the idea of giving evidence at his trial.

Yarr was also found to have indecently assaulted another girl in the 1990s by encouraging her to get into his car before asking her to sit on his lap while he drove, at which point he proceeded to touch her crotch area. A statement read on behalf of the victim said what happened had left her with trust issues as an adult, only being comfortable leaving her child with close family members, wary of men and feeling unsafe taking taxis unless she sat in the back seat. She said years later that she felt "anxious, overwhelmed and distressed" when the case came to court and suffered from PTSD, and that Yarr's conviction had "given [her] closure" to move on with her life.

The court also heard Yarr had carried out another offence on a girl when he was a teenager in the 1970s by getting her to sit on his lap and perform a sex act. He later pleaded guilty to indecent assault and was given a conditional discharge. A statement read on behalf of his victim said what had happened had been "difficult to deal with" and resulted in her trying to take her own life. She said it had affected her trust in men and made her struggle in relationships even into her adult life.

South Wales Police began investigating Yarr after one of his victims came forward. He was arrested in Margate, Kent, in December 2020 and two more victims later came forward. Yarr was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child following a week-long trial at Cardiff Crown Court last month.

David Pernell, defending, said his client had no submissions in relation to the offences and that there had been "no change" to the position he took during trial. He said Yarr was in poor health for a man in his 60s and suffered from COPD and diabetes, adding that he had "come to court to accept his fate carrying a cocktail of prescription medication" from his GP. He summarised a letter by Yarr's partner of 18 years who said he had been "very supportive of her mental health issues" and that she would "keenly miss that support" if he went to prison.

Judge Timothy Petts said Yarr had caused "severe psychological harm" to his victims and that there was "very little" to mitigate what he had done. He said it was noted that the defendant "showed no remorse" and was "manipulative and predatory" in how he carried out the attacks and tried to prevent his victims from reporting what had happened.

Yarr was sentenced to seven years in prison and an additional year on licence. He will become eligible for parole after two thirds of his prison term has passed and will be registered as a sex offender for life. He was also banned from working with children or vulnerable adults and a sexual harm prevention order was made.

After the sentencing, Investigate Assistant Steve Gunney from South Wales Police said: “Dennis Yarr’s actions have had a devastating effect on the three women.

“But thanks to their bravery and a thorough investigation, he has been brought to justice. He has shown no remorse and during cross examination, claimed that the three women were lying and had plotted together to make false allegations."

"South Wales Police takes all reports of sexual violence extremely seriously and it is never too late to report a crime. Help and support is available for all victims of sexual violence, and we would encourage any victims; no matter how long ago the offence happened, to please come forward.”

Record details

A former teacher sent pictures of his penis to what he believed was a 12-year-old girl, a court has heard. In fact Rhodri Jones was engaging in sexual conversations online with an undercover police officer.

Swansea Crown Court heard Jones' teaching career came to an end following concerns raised by parents about his "inappropriate behaviour" with girls which included flirting with a 16-year-old student and offering her private tuition. Sending the defendant to prison a judge told him he clearly had an "entrenched sexual interest in young women and children".

Sian Cutter, prosecuting, said on June 14, 2022, the defendant initiated contact with a profile on the social media platform Chatiw which purported to belong to a 12-year-old girl - in reality the profile was a decoy account being operated by an undercover police officer. The prosecutor said Jones and the decoy exchanged messages on the site before he gave the decoy his Snapchat details and the conversation moved to that app. The court heard that during the conversation Jones boasted to the "girl" about the size of his penis, and also sent her a number of pictures of his penis.

The following month officers went to the defendant's house and arrested him. Officers seized a number of electronic devices and also took a picture of the blankets on his bed, bedding which matched that seen in the background of the pictures he had sent the decoy. He subsequently answered "no comment" to all questions asked in interview.

Rhodri Jones, 44, of Phoebe Road, Copper Quarter, Swansea, had previously pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communications with a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has a previous conviction from 2016 for sending indecent images to an 18-year-old girl. The court heard a series of concerns had been raised about Jones' conduct and "inappropriate behaviour" during his teaching career between 2003 and 2011 which included him harassing a pupil, offering to give a girl a lift in his car, and flirting with a 16-year-old girl and offering her private tuition.

Alycia Carpanini, for Jones, said the defendant was a binge drinker, and the offending happened when he was drunk. She said her client was a carer for his mother who was in ill-health, and that he works online for a university book publisher in an administration role. Jones had completed the Horizon sex offenders programme following his previous conviction, the court heard. The barrister also pointed to the delay in the case with the offending taking place in June 2022 and the matter not coming before the courts until January 2024.

Judge Daniel Williams told the defendant it was clear he had an "entrenched sexual interest in young women and girls", and said a pre-sentence report had concluded he posed a high risk of serious harm. He said he did not think there was a realistic prospect of rehabilitation in Jones' case, and said the offending was far too serious for any sentence other than one of immediate custody. With a one-third discount for his guilty plea, Jones was sentenced to 12 months in prison - he will serve up to half that sentence in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant will be on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time.