Latest Offenders

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A sadistic online blackmailer has been jailed for 32 years after targeting nearly 2,000 people globally to commit some of the most sickening sexual offending the National Crime Agency has ever investigated.

Abdul Hasib Elahi, 26, masqueraded as a stockbroker or rich businessman on sugar daddy websites and promised payments of thousands of pounds for naked or partially clothed images.

He singled out victims who were in debt or too young to legitimately be on the sites and tricked them into sending him photographs.

He also targeted some victims on social media.

Elahi, of Sparkhill, Birmingham, sent fake screenshots of money leaving his account in similar transactions to convince victims.

As soon as possible, Elahi moved victims onto WhatsApp - which is protected by end-to-end encryption - and away from the websites he met them on.

When he received enough revealing images he threatened to expose the pictures to the victims’ families and friends unless they sent more increasingly horrendous photographs and videos.

Elahi’s horrific offences included forcing victims to abuse themselves in sickening ways including self-mutilation, blackmailing women to send him footage of them abusing young children and making girls abuse siblings.

Some of the victims were so terrified they felt they had no choice but to comply.

The National Crime Agency investigation showed there were at least 196 victims in the UK and that he had contacted at least 600 people online in the UK.

Elahi had also tried to contact 1,367 women in the United States and there were also victims in 20 other countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand.

The Agency worked with international partners to safeguard those Elahi had contacted.

Elahi systematically categorised all the abuse within cloud storage sites.

He then sold the content as ‘box sets’ through the cloud and via the encrypted app Telegram making more than £25,000.

That resulted in further misery for the victims, with their family and friends becoming aware, and often with more offenders trying to blackmail them again.

Unemployed Elahi admitted 158 charges - all committed between 1 January 2017 and 7 August 2020 - in separate hearings at Birmingham Crown Court this year.

The charges include multiple counts of blackmail, disclosing private sexual films and photographs to cause distress, making and distributing indecent images of children, encouraging the sexual assault of children, sexually assaulting a boy, causing or inciting children to engage in sexual activity, fraud and possessing more than 65,000 indecent images of children (IIOC) – including babies being raped.

There were 72 victims on the indictment.

Their ages ranged from eight months to adults.

Where they could be identified, all have been safeguarded.

National Crime Agency officers arrested Elahi on 19 December 2018 following an allegation he was blackmailing a 15-year-old girl in America. His mobile phone and computers were seized and forensically examined.

The complex investigation involved work across multiple foreign jurisdictions. He was charged by the Crown Prosecution Service and remanded in August 2020.

As Elahi he was sentenced today at Birmingham Crown Court, a series of victim impact statements were read.

One victim – a schoolgirl at the time of the offences – said she tried to take a paracetamol overdose after learning Elahi had uploaded her images to Twitter.

It was 12 months after she had sent him images that she received messages on her phone one morning showing her images online.

She said: “I still think about these incidents often which makes me sad.

“I would say for two years this person has ruined my life, I was heartbroken. I remember my 16th birthday, I spent the night crying, I was severely depressed.

“I had to basically pick up the pieces of my life and glue them back together.

“I am trying to move on but I find it very hard, I feel that this will be with me for the rest of my life.”

Another teenage victim said: “Knowing that this cancerous polyp of a human being has been caught gives me great relief. To know his vile reign of terror is over gives me relief.

“I am however shaken to my soul and completely horrified that I was part of this. I have a feeling of dread when I think about it that I can’t even describe and it will never leave me.”

Another victim said she considered taking her own life and is now on medication for anxiety and depression and is constantly worried that videos of her will emerge online again.

“I wish that this had never happened to me,” she said.

“I hope I can put this behind me and get on with the rest of my life."

Tony Cook, NCA Head of CSA operations, said: “Abdul Elahi is a depraved sadist who got sexual gratification through power and control over his victims whom he often goaded to the point of wanting to kill themselves.

“He has wrecked lives and families.

“NCA investigators were horrified by what Elahi had done and stunned by the industrial scale of his worldwide offending.

“The effects on the victims in this case will continue throughout the rest of their lives.

“I commend them for their bravery and I urge anyone who is being abused online to report it. There is help available.

“There are very many offenders like Elahi who mask their real identities with convincing personas to exploit both children and adults.

“It’s vital that parents speak with their children about who they communicate with online and what they share.

“These offences can happen to anyone.

“We thank our international partners especially the FBI for the support given to us on this case.”

The NCA investigation sparked a series of other inquiries into Elahi’s associates.

Several other men have been convicted.

Sophie Mortimer of the Revenge Porn Helpline said: “This is a long-awaited day for Elahi’s very many victims.

“The Revenge Porn Helpline has been working for two and half years and has removed 135,000 individual images on behalf of those affected, equalling a 90% takedown rate.

“We hope that every person affected by this feels some small sense of closure today, we know that their priority is the removal of this content. We will continue to work in the weeks and months ahead to report this content and we would encourage anyone with any concerns about their own images to get in touch with us and we will do everything we can to offer advice and support.”

A second defendant Kirsty Nicholls, 36, of Northolt, Middlesex, also admitted offences.

She knew Elahi from a sugar daddy website and together they admitted two sexual assaults against a child and both admitted making indecent images of the child.

She was sentenced to six years and nine months.

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Police have praised the bravery of a King’s Lynn teenager who was groomed and raped by a man who has been jailed for 25 years.

Investigators branded Florian Petrica Calin, 39, a “determined and calculated” abuser after he was sentenced for three charges of rape against the 14-year-old girl in 2019.

The Romanian man, who lived in Sir Lewis Street in King’s Lynn, was found guilty following a trial in October.

Calin, who had denied all charges, was found not guilty of a further three charges of rape, plus one of making threats to kill.

Appearing at Norwich Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced, Calin, who spoke through a Romanian interpreter, was jailed for 25 years for rape.

Judge Maureen Bacon also sentenced him to 10 years to be served concurrently for two further charges of rape.

Calin was placed on the sex offender register for life and told he faces deportation back to Romania upon release from prison.

Norfolk police said his victim had shown courage throughout the lengthy investigation into the abuse she had suffered.

Investigating officer, DC Carl Richie, said: “Calin systematically groomed and abused this victim in a determined and calculated manner.

“He completely destroyed the trust of those around him after he continued to abuse a child for his own perverted needs.

“I would like to commend the victim, who has shown great strength and courage throughout this investigation and I hope this sentence provides them with some closure.”

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Boots shop assistant, Bethany Funnell repeatedly pleaded for Chinwem Nwachuku to leave her alone.

However, on multiple occasions, he turned up at her store in Above Bar Street making comments about her appearance and making her feel uncomfortable.

Prosecution barrister, Richard Martin, told how the defendant was asked several times to leave Boots despite being banned.

Southampton Crown Court heard how Nwachuku looked Miss Funnell up and down and told her “you know you’re my type”.

Mr Martin told how the incident left the victim scared to walk through Southampton on her own.

In her victim personal statement dated from October this year, Miss Funnell said: “When this man started stalking me, I said that I was ‘concerned for my welfare as I do not know where his boundaries lie,’ I can tell you today that I am no longer concerned for my welfare, I am terrified.”

She added: “I should be able to go about my day-to-day life without having to call my mum in hysterics because I’m scared... without my dad telling me that I need to leave my place of employment, as I am no longer safe there... without my partner having to continuously listen to my worries.”

During a separate occasion, involving another victim, the defendant went into a store in Westquay - where he was also banned - and approached an assistant.

After asking for her name and number, Nwachuku touched the woman’s hair telling her “you’re nice” and “you have a nice shape to you”.

Appearing before Southampton Crown Court, he was charged with sexual assault, and stalking without fear/alarm/distress.

He was found guilty of stalking but admitted to the charge of sexual assault.

The 40-year-old had been living with his brother in Southampton at the time of the offences during the summer of last year.

However, he now lives with his mother in Vale Road, Finsbury Park, London.

Defending, David Kemeny said a sentence would be best severed by his client learning how to talk to women and how to talk to other people in a respectful way.

Judge Nicholas Rowland jailed him for ten months, however, suspended the sentence for two years.

Nwachuku must complete 150 hours of unpaid work, 31, sessions on the Horizon programme and ten rehabilitation activity days.

He has also been made the subject of a restraining order not to contact his victims.

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A dangerous sex offender has been jailed for grooming a teenager he met online.

Christopher Johns, a 40-year-old farmer from Barnstaple, told the child he was 20, Exeter Crown Court heard.

He lavished her with gifts, including lingerie, sent her explicit photos and persuaded her to meet him.

During eight visits he groped, kissed and engaged in sexual activity with the 15-year-old girl. He was so convinced of his control over the child that he boasted to a friend online about seeing her.

Johns has a history of targeting young girls and was known to authorities as a dangerous offender.

Back in 2011 he was convicted of similar offences against a 14-year-old girl. He was jailed then for four years and has since received help and support from probation and a sex offender course.

Mr Herc Ashworth, defending, said Johns was a lonely, 'simple' man who led a secluded existence with only his elderly mother and dogs for company. His loneliness had increased during lockdown. The offending was limited to a five week period. He knew he had done wrong and was sorry.

The defendant, of Lyndhurst Avenue, admitted nine offences, including sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, communicating with a child to commit a sexual offence, and breaching the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He was jailed for five years and three months with a further extended licence period of five years.

Judge Peter Johnson said: "In 2011 you were convicted of offences of a very similar type. You were convicted of sexual activity with a female child involving penetration and for that, after a successful appeal at the Court of Appeal, were given an extended sentence of seven years - four custodial and three extended.

"You were also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and were subject to that when you committed these offences."

He said within two days of meeting the girl online he was bombarding her with sexually explicit messages, despite knowing she was just 15.

He sent her sexual images and she did the same.

"You also bombarded her with a substantial number of presents, including a mobile phone and lingerie and make-up," said the judge.

"This was all part of the grooming. 

"It was all towards one aim - so you could engage in sexual activity with her."

He said he had considered the question of whether Johns posed a danger to the public.

A risk assessment tool had assessed Johns as posing just a nine per cent risk of offending again in the next two years.

Judge Johnson said he could not agree with the low assessment and neither did probation. The court in 2011 had also found him dangerous. Judge Johnson said Johns had known the child was 15 but still met her in breach of his SHPO.

"I do find you to be dangerous still."

Johns must serve five years and three months in prison before being released. He will then be subject to the extended five year licence period in the community.

The defendant was made subject to a SHPO order banning his contact with girls under 16 and limiting his use of internet devices.

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Ryan Marshall abused a teen from the Southampton area.

His actions left her with diagnoses for anxiety, PTSD and depression.

Prosecution barrister, Rose Burns, told how on one occasion the defendant met his victim at Eastleigh Train Station.

The two then went to a field where they had sex.

However, Marshall threatened to send out intimate pictures of her.

He even pressured her into having sex with someone else.

When he was finally arrested, police seized a number of devices found to have a stash of indecent images of his victim.

Ms Burns read out the girl’s victim personal statement which stated how the abuse had started when she was “only 12-years-old”.

Furthermore, she said how Marshall made her do things she never wanted to do.

he expressed how she “was terrified and scared and could not tell anyone anything”.

The girl said: “I feel like you have destroyed the person I was.”

Appearing before Southampton Crown Court, Marshall, 24, was charged with four counts of sexual activity with a child and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

He also stood to be sentenced for grooming, attempting to incite sexual activity with a child, possession of indecent images of children and malicious communications.

He pleaded guilty to the offences which happened between 2018 and June 2019.

Defending, Alejandra Tascon, said that her client had lived an “isolated and secluded life” and didn’t have any friends.

She told how Marshall spent the majority of his teenage years looking after his mother.

iss Tascon added: “He should have known better, and he should have stopped because she was a child.”

However, Marshall “felt they were in a relationship. He cared for her, and he loved her”.

Judge Nicholas Rowland jailed him for a total of three years and nine months.

Marshall, of Caymer Road, Scarborough, was handed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender for life.

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A sex attacker who raped a vulnerable teenager before committing a further rape on another victim has been jailed for seven years.

Andrew Brannan assaulted his first victim after the 16-year-old had been drinking in 2003.

He pretended to her mum that he would sober her up but raped her at a house in Buckhaven, Fife.

The 41-year-old struck again four years later when he attacked another woman, aged 21, at a house in Methil, Fife, when she was asleep.

A judge told him at the High Court in Edinburgh: “On her evidence you acknowledged the next morning that you had done wrong.”

Lord Braid said the offence was aggravated by Brannan telling the victim that there was no point going to the police because she would not be believed.

Brannan had earlier denied raping the teenager between May and July in 2003 and assaulting and raping the second woman between April 23 and May 31 in 2007 but was found guilty of both offences.

The court heard that he continued to deny the charges a jury convicted him of committing.

Defence solicitor advocate Iain Paterson said: “He is entitled to maintain his innocence as he has done.”

He said the dad-of-three was assessed as posing low risk of similar offending.

The court heard that Brannan, who was earlier remanded in custody, has not previously served a jail sentence 

Lord Braid told Brannan that following the sentencing he would be placed on the sex offenders’ register for an indefinite period.

Detective Constable Kenny Watt said: “The young women who agreed to testify against him have shown enormous courage from the time of being approached by the police to having to give evidence in court and their actions means Brannan will now face the consequences of his actions.

“We hope this outcome will help them and their families to move forward.

“I hope the bravery shown by the victim will encourage others who have suffered to come forward. 

“We will thoroughly investigate all reports of sexual offences to bring perpetrators of these crimes to justice.”

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A man has been jailed for his role in arranging the sexual exploitation of a teenager.

Trevor Webb, 38, met the victim online and she was then taken to hotels and other addresses in King's Lynn where she had sexual encounters with other men.

Norwich Crown Court heard the teenager, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, received money in exchange for acts carried out by the victim.

Nicola May, prosecuting, said "some of those encounters had been very concerning" in that they had gone "beyond what had been agreed".

Webb, of Dobby Drive, King's Lynn, appeared at court on Tuesday (December 7) to be sentenced after previously admitting two counts of arranging to facilitate the sexual exploitation of a child between February and April 2018.

He had also previously admitted making an indecent image of a child between January and June 2018.

Stephen Spence, mitigating, said his client should be given credit for his pleas.

He claimed his client was essentially a man of good character who had suffered a "significant and substantial" delay in the case.

He said: "He's had these proceedings hanging over him for some three years now" adding that he was now signed off work as a result of being unwell due to it.

Mr Spence added: "This is a man who has suffered, not insignificantly, by not knowing what his fate was."

Sentencing Webb to a total of 22 months in prison, Judge Maureen Bacon said he had taken advantage of the victim who had been troubled and vulnerable.

Judge Bacon said she accepted he had entered guilty pleas and that there had been delays in the case due to necessary research into the case and the pandemic, but insisted a custodial sentence was necessary.

Webb was also made the subject of a restraining order, meaning he cannot contact the victim directly, or indirectly until further order.

He must also sign on the sex offenders' register for the next 10 years.

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Teenage sex offender Tristan Shaughnessy was caught living in the same house as three children.

The 19-year-old had stayed over at a neighbour's address for four days without telling the police.

And he also set up a Facebook account in the name Jay Shaughnessy.

It meant he breached the notification requirements of the sex offenders' register after being handed a conditional caution last September.

Now Shaughnessy has been sentenced to a 12-month community order with 60 hours unpaid work at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Prosecutor Ben Lawrence said the defendant was given a conditional caution on September 27 last year with conditions not to stay for more than 12 hours at an address with children without notifying the police and to inform them of any social media names.

Mr Lawrence said the neighbour felt betrayed when she found out what had happened.

Shaughnessy, of Tiverton Road, Berryhill, pleaded guilty to three offences of failing to comply with notification requirements.

Barry White, mitigating, said the defendant, who has 10 siblings, did not commit any offences while at the neighbour's address. He added Shaughnessy is remorseful and understands he needs to comply with the order.

Judge Paul Glenn said: "You are 19. It is a high time you grew up. You pleaded guilty promptly and the breaches are far from being the most serious of their type. You stayed with your next door neighbour on a couple of occasions. There is no suggestion you behaved inappropriately.

"If you keep following the terms of the notification requirements you will not have any issues at all. You have to make sure the police are made aware of any change of address or the setting up of any social media accounts.

"I do not think that these matters merit a custodial sentence."

Shaughnessy was ordered to pay 150 costs.

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A navy sailor was yesterday convicted of raping a female colleague after a prosecco-fuelled 'naked mess' party.

Able Seaman William Stewart attacked the woman after she stripped down to her bra, showered her half-naked male shipmates in fizz and 'crashed' on his bed.

The pair were part of a group of sailors who had been out celebrating her birthday before returning to a Holiday Inn, Bulford Military Court heard.

Several sailors took their tops off and were sprayed with prosecco after someone shouted 'naked mess' before the woman went with Stewart to another room to get changed.

The victim said she later woke up to find the 26-year-old engineering technician 'fondling' her breasts. She said he then sexually assaulted a male sailor on the other side of the bed before raping her.

Stewart was found guilty of rape, assault and causing a person to engage in sexual activity. He will be sentenced later this month.

The incident took place during a night out in the North-East while the sailors' ship was undergoing maintenance.

Prosecuting, Wing Commander Michael Saunders said: 'AB Stewart had recently joined the ship. They all had a significant amount to drink. [The female victim] was given a bottle of prosecco, as it was her birthday.

'[Videos from the conference room] show [her] pouring the prosecco over herself and onto some males with their tops off on the floor. One of them was AB Stewart.'

Giving her evidence, the female sailor, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court: 'It was my birthday the day after. We were celebrating that and a couple of people were promoted, so we were celebrating that, too.

'We were all having drinks and everybody was having a good time. [Later on] we were all in the conference room, and we ordered pizza.

Naked mess' was shouted - it was just tops off... we all had a bit of the prosecco and I got a bit wet [from] the alcohol.

'I remember people laying on the floor when I had the prosecco... I was stood up with the bottle.'

The 'scared and confused' woman later awoke to Stewart, an engineering technician she hardly knew, 'fondling' her breasts and touching her.

She said Stewart then moved to the other side of the bed and sexually assaulted a male sailor who was also asleep before returning to her.

Stewart told the court martial all sexual activity with the sailors was consensual and instigated by them.

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An army cadet instructor who raped a "blind drunk" woman then boasted about what he had done has been jailed.

Robert Wilkinson forced himself on the victim when she was so intoxicated she had thrown up.

A court heard she became aware of having had clothing removed and being abused by the 22-year-old.

Wilkinson, of Newcastle, denied rape and sexual assault but was found guilty by a jury at Newcastle Crown Court and has now been jailed for seven years.

Sentencing him, Judge Penny Moreland said: "(She) was extremely drunk, she was vomiting.

"She was blind drunk. That's the state of the girl you sexually assaulted and raped.

"She was particularly vulnerable.

"You then boasted of what you had done to her in a text to your friend on the way home."

When originally questioned by police, Wilkinson denied any sexual activity took place then when presented with scientific proof that it had, he changed his story and claimed it had been consensual, an account jurors rejected.

As well as the prison sentence, Wilkinson will be on the sex offenders register for life and will be barred from working with vulnerable adults or children.

Annelise Haugstad, defending, said he was of previous good character.

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A man who sexually assaulted a teenage girl was caught after she managed to call a family member who heard much of the attack.

Connor Helps attacked the girl at a flat in Warrington town centre after taking her there in September 2019.

Helps was the second man to attack the girl, despite her being just 17. Another man is currently serving a prison sentence for his crimes.

Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, said Helps had already known the girl but contact between them had stopped when he went to prison for separate offences.

After his release he got back in touch with her and invited her back to a flat in Warrington in mid-September.

Mr Gibson said that despite the girl's continued protests he tried to force his hands down her leggings and assaulted her.

He said: "What the defendant did not know was that at some point during this incident she had managed to call [a family member] and kept him on the phone.

"He had heard much of the incident."

A victim impact statement read out to the court from the girl said the attack continued to have significant effects on her.

Richard Orme, defending, said that despite a difficult upbringing Helps had showed little sign of criminality in his youth before "going off the rails" in his early 20s and committing a number of violent offences.

Mr Orme said: "On any view he has had a troubled childhood. His mother left the family when he was seven years old.

"He then went into foster care with a number of families.

"Such a background will have inevitably had a detrimental impact."

He continued: "I do not use that as an excuse. His behaviour in this case is inexcusable.

"I use it to lay out, perhaps, why at the age of 23 this defendant went off the rails."

Judge Stuart Driver, QC, said Helps' crime was particularly serious because of the trauma his victim had already been through, despite him accepting that Helps likely did not know about this.

Judge Driver said: "Your victim was vulnerable.

"She had already been the victim of a sexual offence, although you may not have known that and I sentence you on the basis that you did not know.

"She was only 17 years of age and her most recent statement shows that this crime had a significant impact on her."

Helps, of no fixed abode, was jailed for 38 months after pleading guilty to assault by penetration.

He will also have to sign on to the sex offenders register for life.

He was also sentenced to one month in prison after failing to turn up to a previous court hearing. That sentence will be served concurrently

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A sex offender has been locked up after attacking a woman on Teesside.

Richard Marsden carried out two sexual assaults on the female in the Middlesbrough area.

The 27-year-old, of Locksley Close, North Shields, North Tyneside, committed the crimes in July last year.

He made a first appearance at Teesside Magistrates' Court in Middlesbrough in August this year.

Due to the severity of the charges, the magistrates' transferred his case to Teesside Crown Court.

He was given unconditional bail until the crown court hearing on September 24.

When he returned to court, Marsden pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by penetration.

He was sentenced by Judge Tim Stead at the court in Middlesbrough on December 6.

Marsden was jailed for three years and ordered to sign the sex offender register for an indefinite period.

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A drug dealing rapist dragged a woman into bushes and raped her in a park before abducting another women in a similar attack months later.

Janath Gul Jardarkhail attacked two women almost six months apart in sexual assaults in Chavasse Park and Wood Street.

Today, a judge told the 21-year-old he believed he used his position as a low level drug dealer to search for vulnerable women to attack at night.

Liverpool Crown Court heard that Jardarkhail stalked the streets of the city centre.

He attacked his first victim in Chavasse Park in July 2019, ambushing her and carrying her into bushes before raping her.

The second attack, in January of last year, saw him attack a woman on Wood Street on her way back from a night out.

Jardarkhail was caught after DNA swabs from his victims matched his own when he was arrested on suspicion of supplying cannabis.

In a statement provided to the court, the woman he attacked on Wood Street said she still struggled to comprehend what had happened to her almost two years ago.

Ben Jones, prosecuting, said her statement provided to the court outlined how her mental health had been affected by the trauma of the attack, with the woman saying she had at some points self-harmed because of it.

However, she said her own family had given her the strength to carry on despite the horrific sexual assault.

Her statement said: "He took away every bit of dignity that I have so I refuse to let him take me away from my kids."

Martine Snowdon, defending, said there was little she could say in his defence about the attacks themselves but did point to Jardarkhail's difficult upbringing as some mitigation.

While not going into the details of his childhood, she said he had been deprived of much of the guidance and support needed as a child and said a serious head injury sustained when he was younger had left him with problems with his cognitive function.

Ms Snowdon said: "He is an immature young man. He has had very little education, not just academically, but guidance in moral and social spheres.

"There was a lack of the guidance and support we should all wish a child to have."

In addition, a psychiatric report supplied to the court said Jardarkhail had been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and depression.

Judge Stuart Driver, QC, said the 21-year-old had preyed on women who were unable to defend themselves.

Judge Driver said: "I am satisfied that you used your occupation of selling cannabis to walk the streets of Liverpool city centre at night, apparently and actually selling cannabis, but keeping your eyes wide open for vulnerable women for you to attack.

"There is an element of planning.

"You were a sexual predator."

He labelled Jardarkhail, of County Road, Walton, a dangerous offender and jailed him for 12 years, with a further five years to be served on licence.

That sentence covered the two rape charges as well as possession of cannabis with intent to supply.

He will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life and must pay a statutory surcharge.

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A man who raped a sleeping woman tried to deny the crime by saying he was also asleep when he sexually assaulted her.

Alan Tyson said he had sexsomnia, a type of sleep disorder and recognised medical condition, which causes people to engage in sexual activity while asleep.

Tyson argued in court earlier this year that this meant he could not have the intent required to commit rape but a jury found him guilty.

His victim did not know Tyson but was a friend of another resident of the house in Wirral where the attack took place in August 2019.

She had been invited there for drinks and, after a few hours of drinking, became unwell and went to sleep on a camp bed in the living room of the house.

She then told him to stop and went upstairs to one of the bedrooms to get away from him and tried to sleep in a bed with her friend.

Tyson then followed her and also tried to get in the bed next to her despite her protests. Hours later she awoke in the morning to find Tyson raping her.

Tyson denied having any sexual contact with the victim in interviews with police and it was only when DNA swabs linked him that he admitted he had sex with her.

John Wyn Williams, prosecuting, said Tyson then said he suffered from sexsomnia and pleaded not guilty to rape on that basis but a jury found him guilty earlier this year.

In a statement to the court yesterday morning, the victim said the attack continued to have a profound impact on her, derailing her career, causing her serious mental health problems and straining her relationships with her close family.

She also criticised Tyson for continuing to plead not guilty.

She said: "If he had just pleaded guilty originally then I wouldn't have had to go through all this for two years."

David Birrell, defending, said Tyson had no previous convictions and, despite a difficult upbringing, had previously been contributing to society and had shown no signs of this type of offending.

However, he acknowledged that the guilty verdict delivered by jurors earlier this year undermined Tyson's claim the assault was caused by sexsomnia.

Birrell said: "It may well be that your honour has doubts about whether he has the condition.

"The jury's verdict could be interpreted that he does not have that condition."

However, Mr Birrell said Tyson had taken numerous steps to address what he believed had been an assault caused by sexsomnia, including switching jobs so he didn't work at night and eliminating his alcohol intake.

Judge David Potter said Tyson's conviction meant the idea that he was asleep when he raped his victim had been roundly rejected.

The judge said: "That a condition called sexsomnia exists is well documented.

"Yet in convicting you a jury rejected the notion that you were asleep when you penetrated her."

He continued: "I conclude you were conscious of what you were doing at the time of the rape."

Tyson, of Ladyfield, Prenton, was jailed for seven years for rape and will have to serve at least two thirds of that before being released on licence.

He will be made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years and an indefinite restraining order to stop him contacting the victim.

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A man from Malvern has been jailed for sexual offences involving children.

Richard Webb, 34, of Moat Crescent, was sentenced to nine years in prison at Worcester Crown Court yesterday (Thursday 2 December).

He will be placed on the sexual offenders register for life and will have a three-year extended licence period.

His offences took place in the Hereford area between 2006 and 2019 and involved incidents where the victims were between the ages of 8 and 14 at the time of the offences.

He also met with a child and committed sexual offences following a period of grooming and possessed extreme pornography.

Detective Constable Leah Lowe said: This investigation was highly emotional and Id like to recognise the courage of the victims who came forward.

This man groomed and abused his victims and this sentence is reflective of the suffering and misery he caused.

West Mercia Police take all complaints of sexual abuse very seriously and I hope this case gives the public confidence to come forward and report any incidents of concern whether recently or in the past.