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A 63-year-old registered sex offender has been sent back to prison after he was found in possession of indecent images of children.

Chris Wells, previously of Northampton, was convicted in 2007, 2014 and 2021 for similar offences. On one occasion,  a warrant executed by Northamptonshire Police at his home address resulted in officers finding in excess of 175,000 images on devices seized from his property. He was convicted as a result and sent to prison.

His most recent offending happened this August and October when he was visited by officers from the Force’s MOSOVO (Management of Sexual and Violent Offenders) Team and devices seized from him were found to contain 1,957 indecent images of children, 44 of which were Category A images - the most serious.

Wells was arrested and charged with five counts of possessing indecent images of children and one count of breaching his sexual harm prevention order, all of which he pleaded guilty to at Northampton Crown Court in October.

Last week (December 13), he returned to the same court where he was sentenced to two years and six months in prison.

Wells’ Offender Manager, Ruth Moreton said: “Chris Wells is a prolific sex offender who has acted with impunity time and time again with regards to downloading indecent images of children.

“It is our regular unannounced visits that have uncovered his offending so I am pleased that he has been sent back to prison.

“I hope that anyone reading this who downloads similar images takes a lesson from this conviction. We will uncover your offending and you will be sent to prison.

“These images wouldn’t exist if people like Chris Wells didn’t download them and the suffering that takes place in order to create them cannot be measured.”

MOSOVO Detective Sergeant Tom Curlett-New added: “The officers in my team see the day-to-day devastation this type of crime causes and that is why we are so determined to work as hard as possible to put the people who look at these images behind bars.”

Record details

A predatory offender has been jailed for life with a minimum of 10 years after pleading guilty to sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl.

Steven Cozens, 42, of Swindon, initially pleaded not guilty to sexual assault of a child under 13, causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, possession or making indecent images of children and possession or making of prohibited images.

During the trial, Cozens changed his plea to guilty.

In a hearing at Swindon Crown Court on December 8, Cozens was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 10 years.

He is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) indefinitely.

The court heard how in July 2021, the victim’s grandmother – who knew of the defendant – arrived home one day to find Cozens working in her garden unsolicited.

Cozens then took advantage of the grandmother and ingratiated himself with her, visiting the house regularly.

He was occasionally left alone with the victim which is when the abuse took place.

After the victim, now aged 10, bravely disclosed details about the abuse, her grandmother submitted a Sarah’s Law (Child Sex Offender Disclosure Scheme) request to Wiltshire Police, which allows the police to share information about sex offenders.

She was then contacted by officers from the Force and Cozens was arrested the following day.

Investigating officer Robert Sweeney said: “These are horrific crimes committed by Cozens when he was trusted by the victim’s grandmother.

“Despite the overwhelming evidence discovered on his phone, Cozens initially pleaded not guilty which forced the young victim to be put through the trauma of a trial.

“Thankfully he has then changed his plea, but not before the young victim was required to give evidence herself.

“I would like to commend her for the bravery she has shown right from the beginning of this traumatic ordeal.

“I am pleased Cozens has been given a life sentence which reflects the awful nature of his crimes.

Record details

A paedophile thought he was talking to a 13-year-old girl when he started sexual conversations with her over the internet.

Alan Burton, 69, was in fact talking to a decoy from an online child protection unit, but he did not know this when he messaged the Facebook profile for the decoy, a girl called Ellie May, starting the chat by saying ‘Hiya baby.’

The girl instantly informed Burton she was a 13-year-old from Belfast but the chat soon became sexualised, and Burton reiterated ‘it was a pity she was only 13’.

Mercedah Jabbari, prosecuting, said Burton sent two images and a sexual video and the conversation continued over the course of a month.

Burton warned the girl “against bad men who groomed children online” but continually pointed out to her that he was not a paedophile.

As a result of the conversations, the decoy alerted their supervisor and a sting operation was set up to catch Burton at Burnley bus station.

When caught, he said he was teaching children to be comfortable with themselves and only sent the videos to be educational.

Burton’s house was searched by police and they found more than 15 devices in his house – two of which contained 128 extreme images and 135 prohibited images of children across them.

There was also evidence of browsing activity for websites related to pornography involving children and extreme images involving animals.

In interview, Burton said he did not watch child pornography but did watch other pornography on his phone.

He also conceded to searching for those terms but said he did it as he was ‘lonely and fed up’.

Burton, of Bridgewater Court, Blackburn, has 19 convictions for 33 previous offences, including a prison sentence in 2005 for sexual activity with a female child and a suspended sentence in 2009 for breaching notification requirements.

Mitigating for Burton, Graham Rishton said: “Burton asks me to say how sorry he is for his actions and for appearing here today, and asks me to really stress his circumstances at the time.

“He had feelings of loneliness and isolation. Those may be factors which led to him to conduct himself in such fashion.”

Sentencing, Judge Daniel Prowse said: “On June 25, 2022, using the internet you contacted who you believed to be a 13-year-old girl.

“She made it clear she was 13. That did not deter your contact with her.

“You told her it was a shame she wasn’t from Thailand or China, where the age of consent is younger.

“You were inciting a child to undertake sexual activity. You did so because you are sexually attracted to children and for your own sexual gratification.

“You present a very clear risk of sexual harm to children.”

Judge Prowse sentenced Burton to three years and nine months in prison.

He was also given a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years and will be subject to sex offender notification requirements for life.

Record details

A respected charity worker snared by police officers posing as young children has been spared jail. Gordon Lane, a retired banker and founder of North Harrow Stroke Group, attempted to engage in sexual communication with two girls who he knew to be under the age of 16 - including one who was 12 - between January 5 and February 7, 2023, the Old Bailey heard on Friday, December 12.

The 66-year-old paedophile, who lives in a three-bed detached house on The Lawns in Pinner, asked one decoy, going by the name of 'Maisie', if they had 'touched penis', told them they would 'get them wet', spoke about 'the tightness of the vagina', and said he masturbated, court documents show.

The court also heard how Lane offered to buy things for the child, however, a separate charge of attempting to incite sexual activity was dropped by the prosecution. Lane was charged and gave no indication at Willesden Magistrates' Court in September last year, but later pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court on November 14, eight days after he was shown his sordid messages.

"These were attempted offences. These were not children. These were police officers posing as children on the internet. Thankfully no real children were contacted," prosecutor Dipan Varsani told the court.

Defence counsel Joanna Hardy-Susskind said her client's messages were 'deeply unattractive', but argued Lane had already tried to address his offending by taking up rehabilitative courses. "The defendant during police interview was weeping and saying 'What have I done?'" Ms Hardy-Susskind told the court, as she asked Judge John Lodge to suspend any sentence.

"He is somebody who has had a successful career but is community-minded. He runs a stroke club for people and cares for people who have suffered stroke. He gave up his successful career to care for members of his family... He is capable of living offence-free," Ms Hardy-Susskind added.

Judge Lodge said the 'sustained' and 'quite deliberate offending' was 'so serious' only a custodial sentence would do, but agreed to suspend it because of Lane's 'strong personal mitigation'. Lane was handed six months concurrent for each offence, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to do 30 hours rehabilitation activity requirement and pay £400 in costs.

He is signed onto the sex offender's register for seven years and subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Record details

A man who poured boiling water over a fellow inmate before beating and raping him has been sentenced.

Robert Reynolds, 29, had denied grievous bodily harm with intent, two counts of rape and a sexual assault.

A jury at Salisbury Crown Court found him guilty of all offences following a five-day trial.

The court heard that Reynolds attacked the victim, a man who was in his 20s at the time, in July 2021, when they were prisoners at HMP Winchester, in Romsey Road.

Reynolds threw boiling water from a kettle at the victim, causing burns to his back and face.

He then punched and kicked the victim before raping and sexually assaulting him, the jury was told.

The victim was initially treated at the prison before being taken for treatment at a specialist burns unit in hospital. He later disclosed the sexual offences.

On Wednesday 13 December, Reynolds, currently of HMP Bullingdon, was jailed for 12 years following a hearing at Winchester Crown Court.

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Sergeant Harry Wilson said: This was a horrific attack on a vulnerable man in a prison.

While the victim has since left prison, he continues to deal with the physical and mental impact of what happened to him.

This was a difficult and long investigation and I hope this shows that we will work closely with the prison to investigate any criminal offences that occur there.

Record details

A 58-year-old man has been sent back to prison after three more women who were sexually assaulted by him came forward.

Keith Coomber, previously of Kettering, was sent to prison in February 2021 after he pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a person suffering from a mental disorder impeding choice.

The offences related to incidents in 2019 where Coomber sexually assaulted a vulnerable woman and he was jailed for three years as a result.

Northamptonshire Police’s Corporate Communications Team issued a press release to highlight Coomber’s conviction and sentencing, and this article ended up being read by three other women who had been sexually assaulted by him in the past.

Bravely, they contacted police with their experiences and a second investigation was launched leading to Coomber being charged with further offences.

Due to the dates these offences took place, he was charged with 19 counts of indecent assault, a number of which related to digital penetration.

At an earlier hearing at Northampton Crown Court in September, Coomber pleaded guilty to 12 of these counts, returning to the same court today (December 15) where he sentenced to six years and nine months in prison.

During the hearing, the court learned how two of the girls had been sexually abused by Coomber on multiple occasions, with one of them being a vulnerable teenager in foster care at the time.

At sentencing today, their powerful victim impact statements were read out to the court and detailed how Coomber’s abuse has affected them.

“He was subtle - inappropriately and cleverly subtle,” one of them wrote. “Just enough to not be right but not quite enough to settle the doubt in myself. It was little and often, for years. I used to wash and wash and wash and yet still feel dirty.” 

“I felt worthless, unloved, unwanted, isolated, lonely, angry, scared, helpless and hopeless,” wrote the other. “No amount of punishment will change the damage you have done. Your sentence will never come close to the sentence I have endured.”

The third woman was in her 20s when she visited Coomber’s house as part of her job and he took the opportunity to sexually assault her - pushing her against a wall and kissing her before she managed to escape.

Lead Investigator - Detective Sergeant Robert Johnson, said: “The courage displayed by these women has been extraordinary. They have called upon strength they should never have had to find, and I hope that they recognise just how incredible they have been in reporting this abuse to us and supporting an investigation which has resulted in their abuser being sent to prison.

“As one of them eloquently said - no sentence will make up for the abuse Keith Coomber has inflicted, however I hope the conclusion of this case has allowed them to have truly felt listened to and provided them with some semblance of closure as a result.

“Keith Coomber is a dangerous sexual predator. His methods of abuse were subtle, calculating and manipulative, and I am so pleased that he has been put back in prison.

“Tackling violence against women and girls is a matter of priority for Northamptonshire Police and we will continue working hard to put people like Coomber behind bars.”

At the end of their victim impact statements, one of the women wrote: “You broke me at 18. Your actions very nearly killed me. I will not allow you to break me again. I am a victim, I will always have been a victim, but I am more so a fighter.”

And the other ended – “Please know that I survived and I made it. Please know that I will never fail. Yes I was a victim, but above all I am a survivor.”

Record details

Sex offender Niall Griffiths breached a court order - by using an app which does not track internet searches. The 31-year-old used the DuckDuckGo app which allows devices to not retain internet history.

And he also breached a community order by missing unpaid work appointments. Now Griffiths has been ordered to carry out a further 30 hours unpaid work and been hit with a £479 court bill at North Staffordshire Justice Centre.

Griffiths was handed the Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in 2016 after admitting two offences of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. But he breached the order on December 1, 2021 by using DuckDuckGo.

Prosecutor Suzanne Swindail said: "The police attended the defendant's address to conduct a routine visit. They checked his mobile phone. It was suspected an app, Bumble, had been deleted. A further download showed Kik had been deleted and Bumble had been deleted, placing him in breach of the SHPO. It also showed he had accessed DuckDuckGo which allows the phone not to retain internet history, placing him in breach."

Griffiths, of Anchor Road, Longton, pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the requirements of a community order and breaching the SHPO.

Mark Harrison, mitigating, said the SHPO breach was two years old. He said the probation service was anxious to continue to work with Griffiths.

He added: "He is anxious to cooperate with the probation service."

Magistrates fined Griffiths £200 and also ordered him to pay £185 prosecution costs, £60 costs to the probation service, and a £34 surcharge.

Record details

A 65-year-old man laughed as he carried out a solo sex act on a bus, while keeping his eyes trained on a lone female passenger, a court has heard.

John Moffat committed the depraved act on a public Stagecoach service between Greenloaning and Muthil in Perthshire.

Record details

A 50-year-old sex offender has been jailed 30 years after he abused two girls.

Glen Johnson, of Waltham Close in Peterborough, abused the girls in the 1990s. He also ill-treated four children during the same timeframe, court heard.

He was arrested in 2020 and, in police interview, admitted the abuse but claimed he didn't know why he had done it.

Det Sgt Rebecca Welberry, described the abuse as "traumatic" for the victims.

Johnson admitted four counts of child cruelty and three counts of indecent assault on a child and was jailed for four years and two months at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday.

He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life, given restraining orders against his victims indefinitely and also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for life.

Record details

A PAEDOPHILE teacher who was jailed after molesting children at a Wirral school has been banned from returning to the classroom for good.

Charles Ellis was jailed for three years in December 2019 after being found guilty of 10 sexual assaults on girls aged eight to nine over a period of 17 years. This led to four more victims coming forward two of whom Ellis abused while working at a Liverpool primary school.

A Teacher Regulation Hearing (TRA) has now banned Ellis a former Chester Zoo keeper from the classroom permanently.

A report from a hearing held by the TRA in September, said Ellis chose not to attend and said in writing: My position is that following my three convictions, I do not plan to return to teaching and so do not understand what else there is to discuss? Continuing in his absence, the panel were told how Ellis began his stint in the Wirral in 2002.

In June 2017, the school became aware of a serious allegation in respect of his conduct, which was being investigated by the police. He was dismissed for gross misconduct a year later.

He was subsequently jailed in 2019 for three years, prompting new victims to come forward. Having pleaded not guilty to his first offences, forcing the victims and their families through the ordeal of a trial, Ellis admitted to six counts of indecent assault and five counts of sexual assault.

Judge Thomas Teague, QC, said Ellis, targeted one victim in Liverpool under the guise of helping her with her work. He rubbed the childs legs and bottom and sometimes touched her bottom under clothing.

Ellis behaved in a similar way to a second girl in Liverpool, but didnt touch her under clothing. He touched one girl at the Wirral school on her legs, lower back and bottom, again after she sought help.

He must sign on the Sex Offenders Register and obey a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.

The TRA panel found that the seriousness of the offending behaviour that led to the conviction was clearly relevant to Ellis ongoing suitability to teach given the nature of the conviction and the fact that the victims were pupils. The panel considered that a finding that these convictions were relevant offences was necessary to reaffirm clear standards of conduct and maintain public confidence in the teaching profession.

In deciding to ban Ellis from the classroom for life, officials said they had considered the very serious nature of his offences, including the sexual assault of children that he taught, and the absence of any evidence that he had demonstrated any insight into his behaviour and its impact on his victims.

This means Ellis is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or childrens home in England.

Record details

Yuval Keren, 56, of Lyndhurst Gardens in Pinner, was previously a rabbi at Southgate Progressive Synagogue. 

In July 2022 police were alerted that a user was uploading suspicious images to online storage provider Dropbox. 

Keren was arrested at his home and several devices were seized. 

Officers found a total of 1,694 indecent images of children – including 189 category A images, which show the most extreme abuse. The images dated back to 2010 and indicated that Keren had been viewing vile images repeatedly for 13 years.

On October 11 this year Keren pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent photographs of children, one count of possessing extreme pornographic images and one count of possessing prohibited images of children. 

On Wednesday (December 13) Keren appeared at Amersham Crown Court where he was given a 20-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. 

He will be required to complete 40 hours of rehabilitation activity and 180 hours of unpaid work. 

He will be on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years and was given a five-year sexual harm prevention order. 

Keren was suspended from his post as rabbi immediately after his arrest and no longer holds a position. 

Record details

A BRADFORD man who raped a young girl has been handed a nine-year prison sentence.

Ashley Nibbs, 34, appeared via a video link from HMP Leeds for his sentence hearing at Bradford Crown Court on Wednesday after he had pleaded guilty to two rape allegations and two charges of sexual assault.

The victim of Nibbs’ crimes must not be identified for legal reasons, but the court heard that his abuse of her had left her suffering nightmares.

Immediately after committing the offences Nibbs, of Wickham Green, Holme Wood, denied that anything had happened and accused the girl of lying.

Although he had pleaded guilty to the offences at an earlier court hearing, Judge Jonathan Gibson noted that in a pre-sentence report Nibbs still maintained his denials.

Barrister Brooke Morrison, for Nibbs, said he had no relevant previous convictions and the sentence he was facing today was an extremely daunting prospect.

She said her client suffered from post traumatic stress disorder and his condition had been exacerbated while in prison.

Miss Morrison said Nibbs was receiving abuse on a daily basis because of the offences and he feared for his life.

“Since his arrest for these offences he has lost everything,” said Miss Morrison.

Judge Gibson said he had to sentence Nibbs for serious sexual abuse of the complainant and there had been strong evidence against the defendant.

He said Nibbs only had himself to blame for the catastrophic effect of his offending.

The judge explained that after a trial Nibbs would have been jailed for 12 years, but guilty pleas in such cases were a matter of importance and he was entitled to a 25 per cent reduction in the sentence.

Nibbs will have to serve two-thirds of the nine-year prison sentence, but Judge Gibson also imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order which restricts his contact with females under 18 in future.

Nibbs will also have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life.

Record details

A PERVERTED Carlisle man has been jailed and put on the Sex Offender Register after he chatted online with a "child" about sex.

Ben Howat, 40, pleaded guilty to three offences at the city’s crown court, where a prosecutor said the defendant was caught in an online police sting during which he believed he was chatting to a 12-year-old girl.

It was actually an under-cover police officer.

Howat, of Thirwall Gardens, Carlisle, admitted downloading child abuse images, and attempting to communicate sexually with a “child” and attempting to make the same child watch sexual activity.

The court heard that he committed the sexual communication offence between April 12 of this year and April 27. He tried to make the child watch online sexual activity on April 13.

The images offence related to 10 Category C child abuse images, which the defendant downloaded on dates in December 2021.

Howat was jailed for 19 months.

The judge also put the defendant on the Sex Offender Register for 10 years and made a sexual harm prevention order which will restrict the defendant’s online behaviour for the same period.

Record details

A prisoner at HMP Elmley in Sheppey is facing an additional sentence after he carried out further sex offences within his cell.

Terrance Kamara repeatedly exposed himself to a member of prison staff after they responded to him pressing an emergency alarm bell.

Kamara would request items such as a pen or paper, and when the victim returned he would be exposed and committing an indecent act.

The 27-year-old had initially been jailed in October 2022 for two-and-a-half years, following a string of sex offences earlier that year which included three incidents of indecent exposure.

Guilty pleas

His latest offences in the prison, located close to the village of Eastchurch, happened during July, August and October 2022 and led to him being charged by Kent Police with three counts of exposure.

Kamara was also charged with the sexual assault of another victim inside the prison, as well as an assault on an emergency worker.

Kamara, previously from Tilbury, Essex pleaded guilty to all the charges and on 30 November 2023 was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court to a further 56 weeks’ imprisonment. He was also added to the sex offender register for 10 years. 

Record details

A man has been sentenced to more than nine years for multiple counts of sexual offences against underage girls, including rape and sexual assault.

Harry Dobson, of Village Road, Waverton, Chester, was given a sentence of nine years and six months at Chester Crown Court on Friday 8 December.

The 19-year-old was previously found guilty of nine counts of sexual offences against children, including rape, sexual activity with a child, sexual assault, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Dobson was 18 when he committed the offences, which span from November 2022 – April 2023.

The first victim was 15 years old when she was sexually assaulted by Dobson at the Mercure Hotel, Chester, on 20 November 2022. Dobson had pressured her into a sexual act. This was reported to police on 29 November after the victim disclosed what had happened to her teacher.

The second victim was a 14-year-old girl who was pressured into sexual activity with Dobson, despite him knowing her age, after they started speaking to each other on SnapChat.

This was documented on text messages where Dobson used emotional blackmail to manipulate her into complying with his demands. On two occasions Dobson raped the victim. This was reported to police in May 2023 after occurring earlier in the year.

Dobson was charged and remanded in May 2023.

He was found guilty following a two-week trial which took place in October 2023.

On top of his sentence, Dobson must sign onto the Sex Offender Register for life and is subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. Dobson was also handed a restraining order in relation to both victims in the case.