Latest Offenders

Description

A paedophile who thought he was having sick chats with teenage girls claimed they were actually adults engaging in 'roleplay'.

Adam Ali, 35, believed he was chatting with 13-year-old girls called 'Becky' and 'Noemi'.

But he was actually having sexualised conversations with undercover police officers, who used his messages to prosecute him.

Ali, who admitted being a man in his 30s, did not stop when the 'girls' told him how old they were.

"If anything you were encouraged," a judge said.

After being arrested, Ali claimed he believed the 'girls' were actually adults taking part in 'roleplay', Manchester Crown Court heard.

But he pleaded guilty to trying to have sexual communications with two 'children', and avoided jail after a judge heard he had become isolated.

Ali began to send messages to the first 'girl' after telling her he was 'horny', in February 2019.

He sent her a video and a picture of his penis, and asked for images of her.

He continued to send sexualised messages, before the undercover officer stopped replying and contact ended a few weeks later.

Ali was snared by a second undercover officer, who also posed online as a 13-year-old girl.

His messages to this 'girl' were sexual 'from the outset', prosecutor Justin Hayhoe said.

Ali sent her a picture of his penis and told her she was 'sexy'.

The messages lasted for a few days in April 2019, and he was arrested in August that year.

He accepted he was responsible for the messages, but said he often used chat rooms where adults over the age of 18 engage in roleplay.

Defending, Sebastian Gardiner said unemployed Ali suffers from physical and mental health issues, and had become socially isolated and sought refuge online.

Sentencing, Judge Patrick Field QC told Ali: "I have particular regard to the personal mitigation advanced on your behalf, in particular the element of personal isolation that you have experienced, that might well have led you into this rather dark corner of social media.

"You had said that you are ashamed of that which you did, and so you should be.

Ali, of Doric Close, Beswick, pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, and one count of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.

He received an 18 month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and was ordered to complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.

He must sign the sex offender's register for 10 years.

Description

A paedophile who kept his past a filthy secret from his new partner found himself "tempted" when left alone with her grandchildren.

Phillip Johnson was jailed in 2007 for ten counts of indecent assault on a girl aged under 14 and was subject to strict restrictions as part of his sex offender registration and a sexual harm prevention order.

But after starting a relationship with a woman he met on a computer course, he failed to tell her about his background, despite coming into contact with her three grandchildren, aged seven, 12 and 14.

Go here for the latest crime news and breaking North East police updates

On one occasion, he ended up home alone with the older children and admitted his attraction to young girls left him tempted, although he didn't offend against them.

Now Johnson, 52, of Leuchars Close, Low Fell, Gateshead, has been locked up at Newcastle Crown Court for failing to comply with his notification requirements and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

Thomas Parsons-Munn, prosecuting, said Johnson was jailed for two years at Preston Crown Court in 2007 for the sex attacks.

He was required to register any address at which he was resident for more than seven days and not to have contact with a child under 16 unless supervised by a person approved by social services.

Last year he met a woman doing a course at a job centre and in September he began staying over at her home, where her grandchildren would regularly visit.

Mr Parsons-Munn told Newcastle Crown Court: "The defendant regularly came into contact with the children.

"At no point did he make (the gran or the mum of the children) aware of his previous offending or the requirements imposed on him."

In November last year he ended up home alone with the 12 and 14-year-old for around 90 minutes.

As well as the convictions for indecent assault, Johnson has nine previous convictions for breaching the sexual harm prevention order and failing to comply with sex offender registration requirements.

Judge Julie Clemitson jailed him for two years and eight months and told him: "This was a persistent breach.

"You were in the company of children on multiple occasions and this risked very serious harm or distress.

"You found yourself on your own and you were tempted, as you candidly admitted, given your attraction to girls of that age.

"You remain a high risk of committing further sexual offences."

Andrew Findlay, defending, said: "The principle mitigation is the guilty plea he entered.

"Those who were undoubtedly harmed and distressed about finding out about his convictions will have been relieved there was no need for them to attend court.

"It's obvious he prioritised his own needs and put his relationship ahead of informing those who should have known about his convictions.

"He wanted a firmer foundation in the relationship before he revealed his convictions. It's dogged his efforts to form relationships in the past.

"It was a need for a relationship rather than a desire to have unsupervised contact with the children that drove him."

Mr Findlay said on the day he ended up having unsupervised contact it was because his partner was running late.

Description

A man who was in charge of childrens homes both as a Housemaster and Superintendent in the 60s and 70s has been jailed for sex offences. Peter Frank Hickman, 85 of Lawdley Road, Coleford, was dealt a six year prison sentence at Bristol Crown Court on Friday, February 11.

On July 26, 2021, he pleaded guilty to three offences at Croydon Crown Court, including indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14 on at least 30 occasions, between December 1965 and November 1972. He will be placed on the sex offenders register for life.

In 2018, officers from the Metropolitan Police's Operation Winterkey received a third party allegation of non-recent sexual assault. Operation Winterkey investigate allegations of non-recent child sexual abuse involving people of public prominence and institutions.

In May 2018, the officers spoke with the victim who confirmed his willingness to engage with the investigation. The offences were committed against the victim while he was resident in a childrens home located in Park Road, Beckenham and later located in College Road, Dulwich during the 1960s and 1970s.

Detective Constable Simon Rubery, the investigating officer, said: "Hickman took advantage of a child in his care while in a position of trust and committed atrocious crimes against him on many occasions. Tragically the victim died last year and he will never know that his abuser has been brought to justice. I would like to commend his bravery for helping to make this possible.

I can only hope that this sentence will give others the courage to come forward and report any abuse they have suffered, current or non-recent. Given the predatory nature of Hickmans offending, there is a possibility that he abused other children. We urge any further victims to contact police right away a specially trained team of detectives are ready to listen and support you.

Description

A boxing coach who sexually assaulted a stranger was a wannabe actor who had appeared on Hollyoaks and touted himself as playing a good villain.

Daniel Jones was jailed for 16 years yesterday after luring a woman into his house on the premise of helping his injured dog before sexually assaulting her.

He then trapped a female police officer in his living room as she tried to rescue his victim in July last year.

It has now emerged that, as well as running his gym and boxing business, the 47 year old had in fact been pursuing acting in the years running up to the pandemic.

He had a number of roles as an extra on TV shows like Hollyoaks and ITV drama Paranoid.

In his IMDB profile, Jones build is described as lending itself to henchmen, security guards and villains.

The profile reads: Having spent several years working in security management, and then owning his own security company, and boxing gym. Daniel was inspired by the many famous actors he would meet and a few years later and after some soul-searching his artistic nature guided him into acting towards the end of 2008.

Due to his physique, 5'10 and 185 Pounds, Daniel tends to be offered the roles of henchmen, security guards and villains which includes appearances in Channel 4's prime time show Hollyoaks in 2016, and Channel 4's gathering time in 2010. and the ITV Drama Paranoid in 2016.

It appears that Jones' roles were mainly as extras and he had pursued acting less in the years immediately preceding the pandemic.

Instead, he had focused on his gym and coaching business, Bespoke Bodies.

The court heard the coronavirus lockdown had a devastating impact on his business when gyms were forced to close, putting significant strain on his mental health

Trevor Parry-Jones, defending, said: He was unable to continue training when the lockdown happened.

That had a catastrophic effect on the gym and started to impact massively on the defendant.

While the court heard Jones had previously suffered with some mental health issues and drug use, this escalated as the pandemic wore on.

At this point, he then began to try to set up a business selling cannabis oil to supplement his income but also began to take DMT, a psychedelic drug.

Evidence provided in court indicated this was a catastrophic decision, with psychiatrists saying the drug was not an appropriate way of dealing with his mental health issues.

Sourcing the drug off the dark web, people around Jones began to notice his mental state deteriorate.

While he reported feeling happier and healthier, his family members became increasingly concerned by his erratic behaviour.

In a bizarre incident just before the attack, the court heard that while at a swimming pool, Jones told family members he could swim underwater indefinitely without breathing.

Despite this, there was little to suggest Jones, who had no similar previous convictions, would launch what a judge ruled was a planned attack on a stranger in the middle of the day.

While his neighbours thought he was not in a good mental state, they apparently described him as "daft as a brush" rather than a violent threat.

Yet standing outside on the street and behaving so erratically that members of the public called the police, Jones drew the attention of a woman after saying his dog had been hit by a car.

In a conversation which his victim later told police was very persuasive, Jones convinced her to come to his home to help him call a vet as he was distressed.

However, once through the door he immediately attacked her, tearing off her clothes and submitting her to a terrifying sexual assault.

When police, who were responding to earlier calls about Jones behaviour, arrived at his home, he dragged one officer into his living room, blocked the door and threatened to kill her.

He also ripped off her body worn camera before she managed to escape and the 47 year old was arrested.

The judge in his case, Recorder Ian Unsworth, QC, said Jones posed a significant risk to women and that without the proper support he could offend again.

He said Jones heaped humiliation on his victim during a brutal, ruthless and sustained assault before targeting a lone female police officer.

Jones was sentenced to 16 years in prison, with a further eight years on licence.

Description

A former Islington Council caretaker has been jailed for 20 years for raping a woman at knifepoint, after breaking into her home.

Corbett, 26, of Rotherfield Street, East Canonbury, pleaded guilty in November to four counts of rape and stealing a mobile phone.

At a sentencing hearing today, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard the victim had "never felt so frightened in all her life" when Corbett broke into her house on October 8 last year.

Prosecutor Grace Yu-Ong described how she "woke up suddenly to see him kneeling down on the floor and looking over her in bed".

The victim's young daughter was present in the property at the time of the attack.

Following the attack, Corbett stole a mobile phone and a set of keys to the house, and as he was leaving he was said to have threatened the victim on the staircase with the knife, telling her: "If you say anything I'll come back. I'll hurt you. I'll kill you."

In a police interview, Corbett claimed he was not at the scene, however a forensic examination confirmed his fingerprints at the address.

In a statement, the victim described how her own life and her family's lives have been turned upside down since the attack.

She said talking about what happened makes her whole body shake.

"I have never felt fear like it and I will never forget it," she said, adding: "It's affected my relationships. I don't want to go out. I find it hard to trust people. I find myself questioning people's motives."

Addressing Corbett, Judge Martyn Zeidman QC, said: "I am hoping that you can see for yourself that you have behaved in an extraordinarily cruel manner, and you did so knowing that children were present.

"That's quite something.

"The victim has told us she never felt so frightened in her life, and the reality is whatever sentence I impose upon you, you have imposed a worse sentence on the family of the victim."

Cheers could be heard from the public gallery as Corbett sentenced him to 20 years imprisonment.

Judge Zeidman continued: This is not a single act of rape. It is four rapes, each one with its own pain and discomfort.

"One can never put the clock back.

"For me the overwhelming aggravating feature is this was done at a time when the defendant knew there were children on the premises.

"Their lives have been greatly affected by what the defendant has done."

The judge explained that he had read several character witnesses from Corbett's family and acquaintances, which testified to his previous good character – but had decided the case was so "unbelievably bad" that it deserved such a long sentence.

"They say it's out of character and he's a good natured caring person," he said.

"One witness says 'I don't believe he's a threat to society'. Another says: 'I don't believe he's capable of it'.

"But the fact is that he is and we know he is."

Corbett was also given a lifelong restraining order and a 25 year sexual harm prevention order, which will apply when he is released from prison.

Detective Constable Max Orange, the investigating officer, said: "Corbett is a dangerous offender who carried out an awful attack on a defenceless woman. I am pleased our investigation has resulted in him being taken off the streets and that he will no longer pose a risk to other women.

"I would like to praise the bravery of the victim in this case who continues to deal with the impact of what happened to her and I hope today's significant sentence does allow her some closure."

Description

Matthew Jack, formerly Huckle, had been jailed twice previously for similar offending and is back behind bars for doing it four more times

An online predator caught time and again trying to have sex chats with children complained to a judge when told he wasn't allowed to serve his full prison sentence behind bars.

Matthew Jack, formerly known as Huckle, has repeatedly been caught by paedophile hunters posing as young girls online.

Jack, jailed twice before for attempted sexual communication with a child, was back in court after being caught four more times by various groups.

But when told he will be released at the half way point of his ten month sentence, he complained that he didn't want to be released early because he didn't want to work with probation.

When told that is the law, the 26-year-old sat with his head in his hands.

Newcastle Crown Court heard all of the new offences happened on an app called Whisper while he was using the name troutyellow.

In September 2019 he contacted the profile of a girl purporting to be 13, which was in fact a decoy set up by Geordie Chasers.

He asked for a picture and responded that it would be better without the leggings and that he "loved legs and wanted to see it all".

When asked for a picture of himself he replied "I would rather meet".

The second profile, also purporting to be 13 and on the same app, was contacted by Jack, who said he wanted to "meet and do what girlfriends and boyfriends do - kiss, cuddle, strip, touch each other".

He repeatedly asked for naked pictures and photos of her in a bikini, despite being told she didn't think her mother would allow it.

The third profile was being run by vigilantes Guardians of the North, posing as a 14-year-old called Hannah Young.

Jack said he wanted to meet and wanted her to wear a dress and that he wanted her to be his girlfriend and to have sex with her.

He asked for naked photos and said he would have sex with her the following day.

Another profile, a 14-year-old called Amy, was being run by Dark Justice, and they recognised him from catching him previously.

Jack asked to meet Amy in Elswick Park and said he would strip her.

The court heard he has eight previous convictions, including for sexual activity with a child in 2017.

He was jailed in November 2019 for two counts of attempting to engage a child in sexual activity and breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Then in August 2020 he was locked up again after being caught again within weeks of his release from prison.

Now he has admitted four counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and breaching his sexual harm prevention order.

Recorder Nicholas Lumley QC sentenced him to ten months in prison and imposed a new ten year sexual harm prevention order and sex offender registration.

The judge said Jack, formerly of Gateshead but of no fixed address, is a "troubled individual" with limited mental capacity but added: "You have chosen to ignore the rules and the order to stop you doing this.

"The pre-sentence report makes for worrying reading. You pose a risk, not least because you don't have insight.

"The public can only be protected in the short term by a prison sentence and that is what I must do."

Jack asked "can I do the full amount, I don't want to be released at half way" but was told it is the law that he is likely to be eligible for release after serving five months.

He replied: "The full point of me saying in the pre-sentence report I don't want to be under a community order is I don't want to deal with probation."

Alec Burns, defending, said the latest offences pre-date the last offences for which he was sentenced due to delays in bringing the case to court.

Description

A former teacher has been jailed for sexually abusing a young boy nearly 30 years ago.

Chris Pearson, who was a teenager at the time of the offences, denied the crimes but was convicted this week.

The Chatham resident was handed a seven-year sentence for abusing the nine-year-old in the 1990s.

Croydon Crown Court also heard how Pearson was previously head of music at Cobham Free School in Surrey.

But he'd lost his job there after being arrested on a suspicion of email grooming girls although after being questioned no further action was taken on that matter.

He then got a job as a train guard with South Western Railway.

The married father-of-two was unanimously convicted of three counts of rape and one count of indecency with a child.

"He accepts he went too far in assisting two students..."

The jury found him not guilty of another count of indecency with a child.

Pearson, of Beaconsfield Road, graduated from Birmingham Conservatoire with a degree in music in 2002 and taught the subject at Longfield Academy near Gravesend, and was curriculum leader for performing arts at Bacons College, Rotherhithe.

He contested the charges, relating to offences between June 1995 and July 1997.

Judge Deborah Charles told Pearson: You raped him repeatedly. In evidence in court he said he thought he had been raped on a dozen occasions.

At the time you raped him he didnt realise what you were doing to him was wrong.

You had groomed him under the guise of playing games, having to guess what music track was being played.

He felt tormented mentally and the forfeit was a wrestling game, where you would put a hold on him, sitting on him and pulling his head back until he as screaming in agony and begging for mercy.

There is no evidence or remorse, which the court could take into account. He had no axe to grind against you, there had been no falling out.

In his victim impact statement, the complainant said coming forward was to rid himself of the demons which had plagued his life for 25 years.

He said he suffered flashbacks and triggers to childhood memories he would rather forget and spoke of years of suffering due to Pearson.

Prosecutor Richard Job told the jury Pearson was 15 to 16 years-old.

The complainant was not a relative, but would spend time with Pearson, initially for fun wrestling.

The defendant would invite him up to his room to play with him, wrestling as WWF was very popular at the time. The defendant would try out his latest wrestling moves on the younger, weaker child, added Mr Job.

The victim told the jury he was smaller than Pearson and would be forced to submit during the wrestling sessions and would scream in agony.

Pearson also enjoyed demanding the younger boy beg for mercy the court heard.

The defendant took advantage of his youth and naivety, not appreciating the enormity of what was happening.

In his teens the complainant recognised he had been abused and felt shame and disgust.

The jury were told the complainant first revealed what happened in 2017 and the police were then informed.

Officers later interviewed Pearson. He made a complete denial, said the prosecutor.

Pearson, told the jury he had never been in trouble and was a man of good character. The judge questioned why there were no references from teacher colleagues, considering his professional academic background.

Surrey Police investigated an allegation of grooming of schoolgirls via email. They were misguided and overly friendly and not sexual, said Lucy Organ, defending.

Mr Pearson was arrested and questioned and there was no further action.

There were emails to females, aged 15 to 16, that were not sexual in nature.

"At the time you raped him he didnt realise what you were doing to him was wrong. You had groomed him under the guise of playing games"

They were inappropriate in their quantity and times, sent late at night and showing some favourability, like helping one pupil to become head girl.

He accepts he went too far in assisting two students. He is not a teacher any longer, he lost his job in 2017.

It is 25 years since the offending, added Ms Organ.

She said he had established himself as a family man and has been able to lead a useful life, despite his offending as a youth.

She continued: He was a child when the offences were committed, which is very hard to imagine when you have a man of 42 in front of you.

Pearson was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life; was barred from working with children and other vulnerable groups and told he must serve two-thirds of the sentence before he is eligible for parole.

Description

Prosecutors are seeking jail terms totalling 220 years for Ben David, 32, who is accused of targeting more than 30 children in a complex "web of deceit"

A paedophile teacher who changed his name to cheat background checks has been accused of targeting more than 30 children.

Ben David also allegedly changed the numbers on one of his two passports to worm his way into the lives of more than 30 seven and eight-year-old girls he is accused of abusing at one school alone.

Prosecutors are seeking jail terms totalling 220 years for the 32-year-old pervert over the complex web of deceit said to have led to photos of youngsters ending up on dark web child sex sites.

Convicted in the UK as Ben Lewis, he was given a suspended jail term in 2016, after admitting downloading indecent images of children.

He then changed his name by deed poll online a 15-minute process and moved to Zaragoza and then Madrid, Spain.

It is claimed he continued to reoffend after tricking the parents of three children into hiring him as their au pair.

Prosecutors also allege he filmed an act which targeted one of the unsuspecting youngsters in his care.

They say he acted with contempt for child dignity and the most elemental norms of respect for infancy.

The Hertfordshire-born deviant is also accused of taking indecent pictures of 31 schoolgirls.

He has been charged with making child abuse images, privacy offences, forgery and a crime of degrading treatment between 2016 and 2019.

His trial date has not yet been confirmed.

Description

A dance teacher serving 16 years in prison for sex offences has been jailed again for four years for raping a teenager in a hotel room when he was aged 26.

Brett Bullock, now 29, a former teaching assistant, raped the 18-year-old victim twice and then a third time as she slept in his hotel room in August 2019.

Plymouth Crown Court heard that hours later he had to report to police in Newquay, Cornwall, where he had been arrested on suspicion of rape and other sex offences.

The 29-year-old was convicted of sex offences against five girls in Newquay and in November 2020 was jailed for 16 years.

He was yesterday convicted of three rape offences against the 18-year-old victim in a hotel room.

Bullock was sentenced to four years in jail on top of the 16 years he is already serving and will now not be released until February 2034.

The court heard Bullock was arrested within hours of the Plymouth offence and was still in custody when he was due to answer his bail in Newquay in Cornwall.

When Bullock was first jailed in 2020 Judge Simon Carr said he was a 'talented and charismatic dance teacher who had considerable success taking young women through dance competitions nationally and internationally.

But Judge Carr said Bullock 'abused his position in the most appalling way.'

His 18-year-old victim yesterday told the court that the rapes had left her withdrawn and suffering from panic attacks and PTSD.

She said since the attacks she had been forced to quit her job and leave her shared house.

In a statement read to the court the woman said: 'This is something I will have to live with for the rest of my life.

'While the case has been ongoing I have not been able to start to recover.'

Judge Anna Richardson said he had raped the victim in a hotel in Plymouth twice.

The victim fell asleep but awoke to find Bullock having sex with her again at the Plymouth hotel.

The court heard that she had been drinking and dancing with Bullock that night but clarified that she did not want to sleep with him, according to Plymouth Live.

The woman managed to escape when Bullock fell asleep and she was able to tell a friend and hotel staff about the attacks.

Bullock was arrested in his bed and held in custody when he should have been answering police bail in Newquay on earlier sex offence charges.

Judge Richardson said the rapes had a profound impact on the victim and severely affected her enjoyment of life.

She said she considered Bullock to be a dangerous offender who is a risk to the public.

The Judge told the court that Bullock had carried out a pattern of serious sexual offending over a six year period from 2013 to 2019.

The court heard that Bullock met the victim at his dance school in Mount Wise, Newquay.

Bullock had engaged in sexual activity with her when she was aged just 15.

He was jailed for four years consecutive to his earlier 16 year prison term and Judge Richardson imposed a four year extended jail term because of the danger he poses to women.

Description

A perverted sports masseur who sexually assaulted female clients after asking them to strip naked has been jailed.

Steven Goss groped the women during treatments at his sports massage business, which he ran for six years in County Durham.

The 54-year-old had already been jailed for 21 months for the same type of offending, but was hauled in front of a judge once again after more victims came forward.

Goss, of Mount Pleasant, Dipton, appeared at Durham Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced for seven counts of sexual assault.

The offences were committed between 2014 and 2017.

The court heard Goss ran a sports massage business and would carry out sexual assaults on lone female clients, sometimes when his wife was also working at the premises.

He would "lock the door" when massaging the women and would ask some to be "fully naked" or "semi-naked" during the treatment.

The court heard Goss sexually assaulted one woman during a two-hour long massage, despite her only expecting an hour-long treatment.

Goss made "inappropriate sexual comments" to another woman before sexually assaulting her as he was "wrapping towels" around her.

Another victim made a number of trips to see Goss for massages, and said she was sexually assaulted during "75% of her visits to him".

The court heard that victims were left "embarrassed", with one woman "regretting not reporting it sooner".

Another had become "withdrawn".

One victim read out a statement in court where she said she had "supressed what had happened" and was left feeling "worthless".

She said she thought she would "never be believed" and that her recovery will be a "long journey".

Tony Davis, defending, said Goss had a "distinguished career in the Armed Forces", but has now "lost his reputation and livelihood".

He said he will "forever carry the stigma" of being a sex offender and can no longer work in the sports therapy industry.

Mr Davis added that over the six years of working as a masseur, Goss had massaged around 5,000 people, a "great many" of which "spoke of no inappropriate behaviour".

Sentencing Goss, Judge James Adkin, the Recorder of Durham, said he had committed "serious sexual offending".

Goss was jailed for four years and will be on the sex offenders' register for life.

A lifelong sexual harm prevention order was also made as well as a lifelong restraining order.

Description

Geoffrey Rooney was jailed in 2015 for 14 years - but within months of being released he went on to make and distribute vile and sickening indecent images of children 'from a few days to eight years old'

A former Royal Navy sailor who was jailed for raping a baby has now been jailed for further child sex offences - just months after being released from prison on licence.

Geoffrey Rooney, of Moore Avenue, Bradford, was jailed in 2015 at Plymouth Crown Court for 14 years for abusing children.

The then 39-year-old, who was from Devonport, pleaded guilty to a string of offences including the rape of a child aged under 13 and sexually assaulting girl aged under 13.

The former Chief Petty Officer made hundreds of sex images of children which he shared with other paedophiles.

After being released in January last year, Rooney made and distributed hundreds of indecent photographs of children.

In December 2021 he pleaded guilty to two counts of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and breaching the terms of a sexual harm prevention order.

Appearing at Bradford Crown Court today, 11 February, Rooney was given an extended prison sentence, consisting of eight years in jail and a further six years on licence.

He must serve at least two thirds of the eight years before being considered for release. He has also been made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and place on the Sex Offenders Registry.

A report by ITV News noted how Judge David Hatton QC said the images Rooney shared were "grotesque and defy comprehension".

He said Rooney posed a "significant risk" to the public.

The court was told that Rooney was caught after exchanging messages with two undercover officers on online platforms, using the nickname 'Yorks BL'.

He tried to arrange a meeting with one of the officers in order to abuse what he thought was a fellow paedophile's young son.

On a number of occasions he asked the officers to provide indecent images to prove they were not police investigators and sent the officers videos of children being abused.

The victims in the videos were thought to range in age from a few days old to eight years old.

Rooney, who had changed his name to Daniel Walker after his previous conviction in Plymouth, was arrested at his workplace in November.

Police found more than 600 indecent images on phones and laptops.

The court had previously heard how Rooney's offending took place between July and November 2021 when he was arrested in a joint police operation involving West Yorkshire Police and the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit.

When Rooney appeared at Plymouth Crown Court in 2015 he made no response as Judge Paul Darlow told the former Chief Petty Officer he had caused the "destruction of a happy home life" in relation to the family of two of his victims.

Judge Darlow had said that Rooneys actions "demonstrate all the casual callous depravity of a predatory paedophile".

At the time prosecutors said the former weapons engineer was arrested following the arrest of another man in January 2014 whose wife found indecent pictures on his mobile phone.

The images were traced to Rooney who had asked the man to bring his own children to him for sexual abuse.

It is understood Rooney had a decorated career which included a posting at Whitehall between 2009 and 2010 where his work included re-setting the nuclear codes each night.

Rooney was interviewed and his mobile phone seized. He immediately admitted to his sexual interest in children and downloading indecent images of young children.

The court heard Rooney had pleaded guilty to raping a girl aged under 13, sexually assaulting another girl aged under 13, taking indecent photos of children, making indecent photos of children, distributing indecent photos of children with other suspected paedophile, sexually assaulting a boy aged under 16 and possessing indecent images of children.

Mr Beal explained how police discovered that Rooney had messaged other men "giving real time commentary" as he sexually abused one of the girls and sent nine pictures to dozens of men of him raping and sexually abusing the youngest child.

The court heard Rooney had also taken pictures of the backside of another very young boy and forwarded them onto other suspected paedophiles.

Description

A diving instructor has been placed on the sex offenders ' register after trying to recruit a 14-year-old babysitter to meet him in a hotel, stand in goo, and rub her "sweaty feet" on his face.

Michael Bramham, 44, was caught after English police targeting on-line child abuse placed an advert on Gumtree purporting to be from a 14-year-old schoolgirl offering babysitting services in Newcastle and Sunderland.

A female officer posing as the girl was then contacted by a man calling himself "Mike" - soon identified as Bramham.

An "extensive" conversation took place between them, initially on Gumtree and continuing on email.

The father-of-one asked her if she was interested in "a modelling job" which would be "clothed and suitable for her age", offering to pay her 100.

Prosecutor Cheryl Clark said: "He said he had kids himself and repeatedly asked her to send him photographs of herself.

"He went into details about what he would want to do with her feet."

Bramham promised a photoshoot, and suggested they could meet on a weekday after school.

Going into details of what he wanted her to do, he said: "You'll be barefoot and bare-legged and getting gunge poured on the soles of your feet, standing in buckets of gunge, and sat on a chair using your feet to pick sweets out of basins of goo."

He said he wanted to photograph her lying face down with her big toes "stuck in lots of goo" and with "stuff being poured or spread on the soles of your feet".

He also wanted some shots of her "standing in stuff".

She asked him if he wanted her to tell her mother, and Bramham emailed back, "Best not to."

He suggested, "We'll do a pic tonight and I'll figure out how to get 10 to you. Just want to see what you look like and if you're feet are OK."

He said he would "get a placed booked" and wanted to do the shoot before the end of February 2020.

He emailed: "Assume you'll be coming straight from school. What do you normally wear? When are you 15? Not important, just curious."

Ms Clark, depute fiscal, said: "The communication continued and 'Mike' told her to delete emails so her mother wouldn't see them."

Bramham then made several requests to photograph her bare feet and told her he had booked an apartment at a hotel in Newcastle and he would be there from 12 onwards.

Ms Clark said: "He made reference to her doing 'extra bits for money'.

"This would involve him smelling her feet and placing his nose between her toes and her rubbing her sweaty feet in her face."

Bramham asked, "Can you curl your toes up really tight, like clench them like a fist? Are you any good at picking things up between your toes? Can you do a thumbs up with your big toe, like curl your toes up but stick your big toes up?"

He said if she was "still interested in discussing some other bits" he could pay her 160 to 200.

He said: "Will pay 160 as well as the gunge shoot if I can smell your bare feet for half an hour, face pressed into your soles and nose between your toes and you rub them in my face for a bit.

"If they're sweaty that's better. If you've had PE at school don't wear socks under your trainers and bunk off straight after without changing your shoes."

He told her he could not give her his number "As the missus might pick up if you call" adding there was "nothing to be nervous about" and she would be "treated with respect".

The communications were traced to Bramham's home in Glenbo Drive, Denny, Stirlingshire, and at 8.00 am on June 10th (2020) the property was visited by officers with a warrant.

Bramham's wife was there with a young child but he was away working, and was arrested at 4.30 pm that day on a sea pier at Achiltibuie, near Ullapool in Ross-Shire.

He remarked to police: "I had a feeling the person I was speaking to wasn't real."

Bramham, a first offender, now of Bonaly, Edinburgh, pleaded guilty at Falkirk Sheriff Court to attempting to communicate indecently with an older child, for the purposes of sexual gratification, on various occasions between January 20th and February 20th 2020.

Defence solicitor Gary McAteer reserved mitigation and Sheriff Simon Collins QC deferred sentence for reports until March 17th, placing Bramham on the sex offenders' register.

According to the website of Achiltibuie-based Atlantic Diving Services, Bramham, a commercial scuba diver, PADI assistant instructor and first aid instructor, "runs diving expeditions around Scotland's Western and Northern Isles and enjoys filming underwater".

Description

A WHITEHAVEN sex offender who has been banned from accessing any social media website secretly used a computer at the towns library to bypass the restriction.

At Carlisle Crown Court, a judge jailed 59-year-old Keith Skillen after hearing about how he persistently and deliberately breached a sexual harm prevention order imposed in 2018 for serious sexual offending.

The defendant, of Broom Bank, Whitehaven, admitted six separate breaches of the order.

Kim Whittlestone, prosecuting, said that Skillen was given the sexual harm prevention order in 2018 for offences of distributing indecent images of children. His previous 19 criminal convictions also included an offence in 2015 of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

The 2018 order included a prohibition on Skillen owning or having access to any device capable of accessing the internet. Nor is he allowed to ever access social media.

But in March last year police were notified that Skillen had been doing that. When interviewed about this in April, he made no comment. Police at that point again explained the terms of his order.

On September 16 last year, when police made an unannounced visit to Skillens home, the officers discovered that he had acquired two Amazon Fire Tablets constituting two further breaches of his order. The defendant again refused to comment in interview, though he was given police bail.

Miss Whittlestone said: It was on November 4 of this same year that the police received information from Whitehaven Library that they were concerned that this defendant had been accessing social media sites.

The resulting investigation confirmed Skillen had been using a library computer to look at Facebook and Instagram.

Sean Harkin, defending, said the breaches of the sexual harm prevention order represented a relatively low risk and all that an Amazon Fire Tablet allowed a person to do was watch TV.

There's no suggestion that he did anything untoward on social media," said Mr Harkin.

His phone was checked in April and again there was some interrogation of that and there was no suggestion of anything untoward there. The lawyer said Skillen had suffered neurological damage form a stroke.

This left him isolated and unable to have meaningful relationships and thus more likely to use the internet to find company.

Judge Nicholas Barker told Skillen that he rejected his claim to have not properly understood the conditions of his sexual harm prevention order. You could not have been under any misapprehension following your arrest on April 15, said the judge.

Skillen accessed social media sites between February 8 and April 14 and from that point on, after he was visited by the police, he must have been well aware that he was banned from such sites. Yet he went on to use a computer at Whitehaven library to continue accessing such sites, doing so on September 8, October 6 and October 29.

Judge Nicholas Barker accepted that Skillen was himself vulnerable and faced challenges after he suffered a stroke in 2006, but it was clear that the two-year jail term he was given in 2018 had not deterred him from continuing to commit offences.

Jailing Skillen for 16 months, the judge said: There is not what I consider to be a realistic prospect of rehabilitation.

Given the defendants previous offending record, and his claim to not understand the terms of his sexual harm prevention which suggested an unwillingness to work closely with his sexual offender supervisor, only an immediate jail term was appropriate, said the judge.

Skillen is already on the Sex Offender Register as a result of his previous offending, the court heard.

Description

A TEACHER who sexually abused pupils at his school has been jailed for 10 years.

Mark Christopher Blackies offending drove one girl to take an overdose and self harm, York Crown Court heard.

He had taken her alone into an area within the school and committed a serious sexual offence on her as well as attempting to rape her and other abuse, a York jury heard.

In her personal statement, she said: When I close my eyes, I see him, hear him and smell him.

I just want to get in the bath and scrub it away. My skin crawls.

She was one of five girls that Blackie - who had ambitions to be head of a department - used for his sexual gratification at the school.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Blackie: Nobody knew that inside that good teacher there lurked a darker side, a physical liking for young adolescent girls and you indulged yourself.

He said Blackie, who comes from Skipton, had used emotional blackmail to try and stop the first girl revealing what he had done to her and had completely abandoned all decorum when he had abused the first girl.

Two of the girls were vulnerable because of their emotional state when he had abused them.

Some of the girls Blackie abused were in court to hear the judge describe all five as intelligent, bright young girls who were brave and had given compelling evidence against him.

They knew right from wrong, the judge told Blackie. Unlike you.

Blackie showed no reaction as he was jailed for 10 years, barred from teaching or working with children again, put on the sex offenders' register for life and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years.

He broke down in the dock last week as the jury convicted him of attempted rape, a serious sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and seven charges of sexual assault at the end of an 11-day trial.

The 32-year-old, from Park Lane, East Lutton, near Malton, had denied all charges.

The Press was unable to report the trial at the time because the jury was unaware of further sexual allegations made against him by another girl many years earlier.

After his conviction, the prosecution asked for those charges to lie on file which means they will be on his criminal record but not as convictions.

Robin Frieze, for Blackie, said there was little he could say in mitigation.

It is obviously completely his own fault he has thrown away the career that he had, he said The judge commended Det Con Beverley Garbutt, of North Yorkshire Police, for her excellent police work in building the case against Blackie.

Description

The families of two young girls who were sexually assaulted by an Aberdeen predator say their daughters have been left traumatised by his sick actions.

Alan Bremner abused both girls when they were aged between 12 and 14 over the course of two years.

Read More