Latest Offenders

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A MAN who arranged to meet a ‘mother and her two daughters’ with the intent of having sexual activity with a child has been jailed after a undercover police sting.

David Merrick Taylor began talking to a woman online who he believed was a single mother who had two daughters, aged eight and 11.

Taylor sent pictures of himself and discussed what he wanted to do to the girls before arranging a meeting at Bournemouth Pier.

The meeting in January came just days after first exchanging messages with the undercover officer who had assumed the role of the fictional mother.

The 48-year-old was then identified by officers and arrested.

He had a rucksack with him which contained lubricant, condoms and sweets.

The defendant, of Havilland Road East, Bournemouth, admitted a charge of attempting to arrange or facilitate sexual activity with a child at Poole Magistrates’ Court on January 23.

He was jailed for four years after appearing at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Prosecuting, Richard Sedgwick said Taylor committed this offence while subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which had first been issued following an extremely similar crime in 2017.

On that occasion he was caught by a paedophile hunter group, who passed information on to police.

Mr Sedgwick said on January 19 of this year the defendant started messaging the undercover police officer on messaging service Chatiw and the content of what he said became explicit and of a sexualised nature.

The meeting was arranged in the days that followed and officers arrested the defendant at the pier.

During interview, Taylor, who has autism and Asperger’s, initially made no comment but went on to say the situation had been a “fantasy he never intended to go through with”.

Mitigating, Roderick Blain told the judge it was a question of “how long” his client was jailed for rather than the type of sentence issued in this case.

He said first contact with the undercover officer to arrest covered just three days.

The barrister described the way Taylor behaved as “very unsophisticated”.

Judge Brian Forster QC said the case was “particularly serious” given the defendant had been sentenced to a significant period of imprisonment for a very similar offence in 2017 and he was already subject to a SHPO.

“You travelled to this area (the pier) for the purpose of carrying out sexual activities with a child aged eight or 11,” said the judge.

“You travelled to the area equipped with lubricant gel, fruit flavoured condoms children’s sweets and binoculars.”

He added: “Courts have a clear duty to deter sexual predators from committing crimes against children.”

Taylor was placed on the sex offender’s register indefinitely, with terms of a new SHPO made at a later hearing.

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A serial sex offender jailed for raping and murdering a student could have his sentence increased after his case was referred to the Attorney General.

Pawel Relowicz is serving 27 years in prison after attacking Libby Squire and dumping her body in a Hull river.

The father-of-two had committed a string of sex offences against women before killing the 21-year-old.

His case will be examined under the Unduly Lenient Sentence (ULS) scheme, the Attorney General's office said.

Law Officers have 28 days from sentencing to decide whether to refer cases to the Court of Appeal, where the sentence may be increased.

Relowicz, 26, who worked as a butcher, was jailed on 12 February following a 14-day trial at Sheffield Crown Court.

Jurors heard he had "cruised the streets" in the student area of Hull before spotting "vulnerable" Ms Squire, 21, in a drunken state on Beverley Road in the early hours of 1 February 2019.

He drove her to nearby Oak Road playing fields where he raped her and then dumped her body in the River Hull.

The body of Ms Squire, of High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, was recovered from the Humber Estuary nearly seven weeks later.

Pathologists were unable to establish how she died, or whether she was still alive when she went into the water. 

Relowicz's attack on the University of Hull student came after earlier offences which included performing sex acts in public and stealing underwear from women's homes.

He was convicted for these offences, including voyeurism, in August 2019.

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A NEWPORT man who used his position working in a library to access a child's contact details and incite her to engage in sexual activity has been jailed.

The predator pretended to be a 16-year-old boy on Snapchat to start online conversations with the girl.

Glyn Viney, of Barton Road, appeared before the Isle of Wight Crown Court yesterday (Thursday).

At a previous hearing on March 1, he admitted three counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

He also admitted engaging in sexual communication with a child and making indecent images of a child.

The offences took place between December 1, 2018, and August 24, 2019.

Prosecutor, Daniel Sawyer, told the court Viney's primary victim was a 15-year-old girl he first noticed at the library where he worked.

Viney found her contact details through library records and contacted her via email, posing as a 16-year-old boy called Gary Barlow.

Mr Sawyer said conversations between the pair quickly turned sexual, and Viney asked her for sexual images, and for her to carry out sexual acts on herself.

The victim reported matters to her foster carer, who contacted police.

Viney was arrested on August 30, 2019, and his phone was taken ­— a device which contained a Snapchat account and screen recorder app, Mobizen.

Mr Sawyer said messages consisted of demands for videos, and it was clear there was a difference of power between Viney and his victim.

The court heard how there was also reference to sexual gratification in the context of the victim being in pain.

Mr Sawyer said the victim had disclosed her vulnerabilities to Viney.

He said, for the counts of attempting to incite a child, they pertained to similar conversations with other individuals on his phone.

Mr Sawyer said the other victims could not be traced, and the Crown could not prove they were the young girls they purported to be.

He said that from their profiles, one appeared to be in Year 7 and another, 13 years old.

In police interview, Viney accepted he had at least two Snapchat accounts and pretended to be 16 years old.

He said he was having a mental breakdown at the time, which presiding judge, recorder Anna Midgley, said was indicative of his shame.

David Richards, defending, said Viney was someone who had a productive and decent life which he had thrown away.

Mr Richards said Viney had no intention of doing anything like it ever again, and did not understand where it came from or why.

He said he was overwhelmed by issues in his life ­— the pressures of work, the fact that his mother was unwell, and his inability to get satisfaction from relationships with people his own age.

Mr Richards said Viney did not maintain the pretence throughout, and eventually owned up to being a married man.

He said he knew he was going to prison, and did not see himself as a victim.

Viney, who has no previous convictions, was jailed for three years and four months.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders' Register indefinitely, and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years.

He was ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £181.

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A MAN filmed an underage girl having sex during one of his "idiot moments".

Kyle McGhee filmed a 15-year-old girl having sex, a court heard.

He went on to show the video to four people and was said to be proud of what he had done.

Prosecution barrister, Michael Forster told how the girl later asked for him to delete the footage.

During a police interview, McGhee of Bull Lane in Minstead admitted filming the video.

Mr Forster said that he even claimed: "She was loving it and it was just a laugh. It was one of my idiot moments."

Aged 17 at the time of the incident, the hospitality worker was initially arrested on suspicion of rape but not charged.

Instead McGhee, now 20, was charged with taking an indecent photograph of a child - to which he pleaded guilty.

Defending, John Dyer cited his client's background mentioning he born with foetal drug syndrome - impacting his cognitive abilities - and was adopted.

He emphasised McGhee's immaturity at the time and how long the offence - which happened in Romsey on July 1, 2018 - took to reach the courts.

His previous convictions include three counts of assault by beating and one count of using threatening and abusive language.

He also has drug and driving convictions.

At Southampton Crown Court, Judge Nicholas Rowland jailed him for 15-months, suspended for 18-months.

He will have to complete 40 days of rehabilitation activities and 150 hours of unpaid work.

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A convicted paedophile has been sent back to jail after exposing himself to a woman.

Stuart Minns, 37, was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order following a string of child sexual abuse convictions in 2009 and 2019.

They included possessing hundreds of indecent images of children.

At about 9am on December 2, 2020, Minns exposed himself to a woman who was sitting in a parked car in Wisbech while her partner dropped their child at a nearby infant school.

It was reported that Minns continued to stare at the victim while she took a photograph of him.

Police were alerted and Minns was arrested that afternoon in Leverington after officers identified him from the picture.

In interview, Minns claimed he could not remember exposing himself but he later pleaded guilty to exposure.

Minns, of Staithe Road, Wisbech, was sentenced to one year in prison, extended for a year on licence, at Peterborough Crown Court on February 19.

Det Con Greg Homer-Ward said: "Minns is a prolific sex offender with eight previous convictions against his name.

"During this incident he randomly targeted a lone woman and made her feel incredibly uncomfortable for his own satisfaction.

"His behaviour was disturbing and I am pleased he has been brought to justice.

"I hope the sentence reflects how seriously this type of criminality is taken in Cambridgeshire."

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Charles Phillip Johnson, 72, of Hall Place Drive, Weybridge, pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault on a child and two counts of indecency with a child.

He was sentenced to two years and five months behind bars when he appeared at Guildford Crown Court on Tuesday (February 23).

An investigation was launched after the victim came forward in August 2018 to report physical and sexual abuse against him by Johnson which took place in the 1970s when he was a pupil at Barrow Hills School in Witley, Godalming.

Johnson was a teacher at the school at the time and was subsequently arrested and interviewed before being charged in 2019.

Johnson was sentenced to a year in prison in July 2017 after pleading guilty to two counts of indecently assaulting a boy under the age of 14. He was also given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

The offences also took place at Barrow Hills School in the late 70s and early 80s.

The school was owned by the Josephites, a religious order, but was sold by them in 1990. Since then it has been run by trustees as an independent charity.

Detective Constable Becky Thomson, of Surrey Police, said on Tuesday: "I hope that Johnson's guilty plea and the sentence he has received today will in some way help the victim to come to terms with what's happened and move on with his life.

"He had the courage to report Johnson's predatory behaviour and I'd like to commend his bravery in coming forward.

"I would also encourage any victim to come forward to Surrey Police and report any similar incidents. Surrey Police treats all allegations of sexual abuse, whether recent or non-recent, extremely seriously.

"Our priority is victim care and people need to feel confident that if they come forward and report an offence, we can help.

"We have a dedicated investigation team for such crime and the dedicated unit works to obtain best evidence. We also work closely with our partner agencies to provide support and care to victims."

The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) has also urged anyone who has experienced abuse to seek support.

A spokesperson said: "Johnson's predatory and abusive actions, in flagrant contradiction to his duty of care as a teacher, will have had a profound impact and weighed heavily on his victim for many decades. It is so important he receives all the support he needs to move on with his life.

"This case shows that time is no barrier to justice, and we would urge anyone who has experienced abuse, no matter when it happened, to speak out and seek support."

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The black-cab driver John Worboys has lost his appeal against the two additional life sentences he received in 2019 when more victims of the serial rapist came forward.

The 63-year-old was jailed indefinitely in 2009 for public protection with a minimum term of eight years after being found guilty of 19 offences involving attacks on 12 women, the earliest in 2000.

A 2018 decision to release Worboys was reversed by the Parole Board after a widespread public outcry and prompted other victims to report attacks. He was subsequently sentenced to two additional life sentences for attacks on four more women, with a minimum six-year term.

At a hearing in London on Wednesday before the lord chief justice, Lord Burnett, and two other judges, Joanne Cecil, representing Worboys, argued the six-year minimum term was excessive.

She also argued that the judge who sentenced him in 2019 was wrong to impose a life sentence because he was already serving a sentence of imprisonment for public protection, meaning he cannot be released until the Parole Board concludes he no longer poses a danger.

Burnett, however, said there had been no error in Mrs Justice McGowans approach to sentencing Worboys in 2019 and that the minimum term was not excessive.

Giving the courts decision, he said the sentencing judge had been confronted with a total of four offences over a protracted period, in the context of much wider offending dealt with by the crown court in 2009, and in circumstances bristling with aggravating factors..

Worboys, from Enfield in north London, who has changed his name to John Derek Radford, appeared in court over a video link from prison, wearing a blue jumper and glasses.

Police believe Warboys committed 105 sexual offences against women, using his cab to pick up victims before drugging them with alcohol laced with sedatives. In 2019, the court heard he had confessed to a psychologist that he plied 90 women with alcohol, drugging a quarter of them, after being inspired by pornography. He admitted fantasising about his crimes since 1986, motivated by a hostility towards women.

One of the victims of the offences for which Worboys was sentenced in 2019 was picked up by the cab driver in 2000 or early 2001 after an evening out at a wine bar in Soho. Worboys claimed he was celebrating a win on the horses before pulling into a side road off the A40 and giving her red wine. The court heard that was her last memory before waking naked in bed the next day at her home address with her clothes laid out in a trail.

Another victim, a university student in north London, was picked up with a friend by Worboys after a night out clubbing in central London in 2003. Reaching their home, the woman agreed to have a drink with Worboys but her friend left. After giving her something fizzy, Worboys drove to Paddington Basin where she recalled he appeared in her face, possibly after kissing her. She later remembered being back outside her house, lying on the floor of the cab.

The Parole Board decision to release Worboys was overturned by the high court in March 2018 after two of his victims challenged the decision. In November of the same year, the Parole Board overturned its own decision, deciding he should remain in prison after noting his risk and sense of sexual entitlement. The Parole Boards then chair, Nick Hardwick, lost his job over the affair.

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This is the face of a twisted paedophile who sent child rape videos and animal porn to people across Europe.

Dad-of-three Fartam Bassiri was caught with a vile stash of child and animal abuse images at his family's home.

The married man tried to claim he didn't have a sexual interest in children and shared the sickening files out of "disgust".

One of the three videos of child rape sent by the 46-year-old involved two boys engaged in a sexual act with a donkey.

Meanwhile another video, sent by Bassiri to a doctor in Germany, involved two 12-year-old girls performing sex acts.

Cheshire Police refused to release Bassiri's mugshot and the pervert had his face covered when photographed outside court.

But the ECHO can today picture the sex offender, who was jailed after a judge told him that he didn't believe his excuses.

Liverpool Crown Court heard police found 30 indecent images of children on Bassiri's laptop when they raided his home in Warrington in December 2018.

Mike Stephenson, prosecuting, explained police found 11 Category A images, of which eight were videos, 27 Category B images, of which two were videos, and one Category C image.

Category A is the most serious category showing child rape.

There were also two still images of extreme pornography involving animals and six videos.

Mr Stephenson said: "Some of the images were automatically loaded onto another piece of equipment, there was some element of duplication."

He explained one of the three videos of child rape involved an adult woman and a boy aged between five and seven, in the presence of a child aged between two and three. This was sent to an address in Georgia in October, 2018.

Bassiri sent the video involving the two girls to a doctor in Germany and then in December sent the same recipient the file showing the two boys and the donkey.

Mr Stephenson said: "The Crown's position is he does have a sexual interest in children."

Bassiri, of Keyes Close, Birchwood, who has no previous convictions, admitted three counts of downloading, three counts of distributing and one count of possessing indecent images of children.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing extreme pornographic images.

Jonathan Turner, defending, said Bassiri asserted the images were received "without request" on a group chat from other Iranian nationals.

He said: "He has worked consistently since arriving in the UK, most recently as a driver for a pharmaceutical company."

Mr Turner said Bassiri had been married for 15 years and had three sons, who he provides for financially, as his wife doesn't work.

He said: "He was an asylum seeker, that was his first attempt to remain, he was in danger due to political association. His younger brother has been incarcerated there."

Referring to a pre-sentence report, Mr Turner urged the judge to impose a community penalty and said: "He expresses remorse and shame for offending in that report. There is a low likelihood of reoffending and low risk of sexual offending."

Detailing the vile images, Judge David Swinnerton told Bassiri: "You not only downloaded that but you shared it.

"I don't think you have been entirely frank with your reasons for looking at this. You said you shared them to show disgust and comment at how terrible this is.

"You didn't just post it once. You distributed it on three separate occasions - that is in addition to the 30 images you had downloaded."

Commenting on how Bassiri claimed he shared the files out of disgust, the judge said: "That was not what you were doing here. You know.

"You have expressed some remorse and shame. You know this material, looking at it and in particular sharing it, is deeply wrong and that is why the starting point for sharing is three years."

Judge Swinnerton added: "You are someone with a wife and three children for whom you provide, although at the moment you are not living with them because of this offence.

"I note what is said about the further risk you pose being low but I also note you have not yet been ready to face up to why you were looking at and distributing these images."

Judge Swinnerton added: "Those that distribute Class A images of children can expect to go to prison."

He jailed Bassiri for 20 months and ordered him to sign on the Sex Offenders Register and comply with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

After realising that he had been jailed, Bassiri spoke with the assistance of an interpreter and tried to bargain with Judge Swinnerton.

He said: "I really really don't know this is a crime and I wouldn't know that by sending this to somebody else to show someone disgusting matter is going to cause me this problem."

The judge replied: "You have not yet been ready to face up to why you were looking at and distributing these images."

Cheshire Police declined to release a photograph of Bassiri.

A force spokesman said: "The officers involved in cases consider a range of criteria when it comes to mugshot requests.

"On this occasion it has been decided, after taking everything into account, not to issue a mugshot."

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A WEDDING photographer has been jailed for four years for raping a young boy in the early 2000s.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was raped and sexually assaulted on two separate occasion when he was either aged between ten and 11 by Christopher Todd.

This morning, the 31-year-old heard the devastating impact his actions had on the life of his victim.

In a powerful personal statement, the man said his relationship with his parents and friends had been significantly impacted as a result of the sexual abuse he suffered at his hands.

He said: I would like to talk about the years of emotional abuse this man has caused me, the years of shame and guilt that I have struggled to endure.

The countless times I have asked myself why didnt you stop that happening and why did you let that happen the nightmares I have suffered replaying the events in my mind over and over, fantasising about doing something different about the attacks.

Todd, of Grangeside, Darlington, continues to deny any responsibility for his actions, the court heard from his counsel Christine Egerton.

During the week-long trial at Teesside Crown Court, the jury heard how the young boy was attacked while he was playing on a PlayStation in the Darlington home of the defendant, who was a teenager at the time.

The court heard how a shock meeting between the pair in Darlington's B&M in April 2019 brought back horrendous memories for the victim and he attacked Todd in the car park.

Judge James Brown said: I find that he still lives with the impact of your behaviour all those years ago and I find the impact to be profound.

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A man who raped a woman and had sexual activity with a child has been jailed.

Alan Barney abused the girl, aged 13, in a home near Bristol.

Bristol Crown Court heard it was a month after he forced himself on a woman at her home.

Barney, 29, of Roseberry Avenue in Yeovil, pleaded guilty to rape and sexual activity with a child.

The recorder Mr Malcolm Gibney jailed him for eight years and nine months.

He told Barney: "These two episodes were appalling and devastating both for (the woman) and, obviously, to the younger (girl)."

Barney was handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, designed to stop him reoffending, and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Richard Posner, prosecuting, said the child froze when Barney was sexually intimate with her.

The distressed child told her mum: "I wanted to say no but no words came."

Barney told police "snitches would get stitches", the court heard.

He made a prepared statement denying wrongdoing before answering no comment to other questions.

Mr Posner said it transpired that, a month before the sexual activity with a child, Barney raped a woman in her home.

She made an impact statement in which she said the rape changed her life and, as well as physical pain, had left her suffering nightmares and flashbacks and receiving counselling.

Once again, Barney initially denied wrongdoing.

Mark Worsley, defending, said his client had a difficult childhood, with speech difficulties from an early age and borderline learning difficulties.

He described his client as immature and sometimes childlike, who liked watching wrestling and trying out moves on others.

Mr Worsley said: "His conduct is not excused by anything."

Detective Constable Russell Head, the police officer in charge of the case, said: "This is a welcomed sentence by the victims, bringing to a conclusion what has been a traumatic experience to them and allowing them to start to move on.

“This sentence reflects the risk that the offender possessed to vulnerable victims.”

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A 63-YEAR-OLD man who admitted possessing extreme pornographic images of children has escaped an immediate jail term.

Robert Billson, of Draycott Road, Bournemouth pleaded guilty to a catalogue of offences when he appeared before Liverpool Crown Court.

Billson, who was living in the Liverpool area at the time of the offences, admitted two charges of possessing extreme pornographic images of children and one of possessing prohibited images of children.

He also pleaded guilty to three offences of making an indecent photograph/pseudo photograph of a child and one of possession of an indecent photograph/pseudo photograph of a child.

Billson, described as a businessman, received an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He was also made the subject of a 60day rehabilitation requirement and two-month curfew between 7pm and 6am at his home address in Bournemouth.

A forfeiture destruction order was made for devices and he was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £140.

Description

A paedophile 'lied' to a judge about wanting to change, while having sexualised chats with a child online.

Aaron Sutton, 22, was originally spared jail after being found with indecent images of children.

But after being given a chance and having his progress reviewed by a judge, Sutton was in contact with a child on the internet.

Their online messages included 'highly sexualised conversation'.

Now Sutton, from Northenden, has been jailed for three-and-a-half years after Judge Anthony Cross QC said he had been 'fooling' the probation service and had lied to him.

"I was assured by the probation service and by you that you were responding to the terms of the order," the judge said.

"That was just a lie. You were given the opportunity to change, you didn't.

"You were lying to yourself, lying to the probation service, lying to your father and lying to me.

"Because during the course of the suspended sentence order, you struck up a relationship with a 12-year-old child in foster care.

"She was vulnerable, and you committed offences against her.

"She had a terrible personal history, and you have made her condition worse, much worse."

Manchester Crown Court heard that in October 2019, Sutton received a six month suspended sentence for making indecent images of children.

A sexual harm prevention order was passed banning any unsupervised contact with female children, and prohibiting him from having devices capable of accessing the internet unless he registered them with police.

Sutton attended hearings before a judge at court, where his progress with the order was reviewed.

But it was discovered that Sutton had been in contact with the girl online during that time.

"Each time he appeared in front of me, I asked him if he was complying with the conditions," the judge said.

"He assured me, at the same time he was committing these offences."

The 'vulnerable' girl had described Sutton as a friend from a previous school but he was 11 years older than her, prosecutor Rachel Faux said.

She regarded Sutton as her 'boyfriend' and sent photos of herself to him without him asking, the court heard.

The police were alerted, and Sutton was found to be in breach of the sexual harm prevention order by contacting the girl and having a laptop he hadn't registered.

Sutton was arrested and released on bail, but attempted to contact the girl on Snapchat. The pair never met in person.

Defending, Bob Elias said the girl had 'embraced' the conversation with Sutton.

"She has to be protected from herself, because she is a child," he said.

"He thought he had entered into an enthusiastic relationship with a young girl."

Sutton, of Greenpark Road, Northenden, pleaded guilty to two counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, and three counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

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A HAMPSHIRE shopkeeper sexually assaulted a teenage girl’s within hours of groping another woman.

Michael Tut invited a 16-year-old girl to look at his “new decor” in the flat above an Eastleigh shop.

Taking the invitation at “face value” she obliged, a court heard. However, as she was leaving, the 56-year-old, of Turtle Close, in Fareham, began to hug her and tried to kiss her.

He went on grope her and touch her inappropriately which left her “shocked and frightened”.

She is said to have immediately messaged her mother who later called the police.

Prosecution barrister, Mary Aspinall-Miles told Southampton Crown Court how earlier in the day he had persuaded another woman to go for “lunch”.

And, that when they had finished eating, Tut asked his victim to take a selfie with him.

Ms Aspinall-Miles said that the shopkeeper sat behind the woman and kissed her cheek before groping her multiple times.

Tut used his position to become friendly with young teenage girls and would allow them to buy tobacco and offer them free alcohol, the court heard.

He was charged with five counts of sexual assault following the events of June 3, 2019 - to which he pleaded guilty.

Defending, Gemma White, argued for the judge to follow the recommendations of a probation report which suggested there was a low risk of Tut reoffending.

Judge Gary Burrell QC gave him a 36-month community order to include 30 days of rehabilitation activities. He must do 100 hours of unpaid work and will be the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

Warning Tut of any potential breach Judge Burrell said: “For goodness sake behave like your age.

“You do not want to spend a year in Winchester prison Mr Tut because you might not survive.”

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A "cold and dangerous" man who followed a woman off a bus and attacked her has been jailed after police used facial recognition to identify and catch him.

Craig Walters, 39, followed the young woman off a bus in Cardiff then attacked her, before being interrupted by a member of the public.

South Wales Police said they gathered CCTV from the area, including from the bus, and used facial recognition software to identify the suspect as Walters, who also goes by Craig Watts and Craig Whites and was known to police.

He was arrested within 48 hours of the attack and pleaded guilty to false imprisonment with intent to commit a sexual offence.

He has now been jailed for life at Cardiff Crown Court and ordered to serve a minimum of six years in prison. He will also have to register as a sex offender for life.

Detective Constable Dave Simmons, from Cardiff CID, said: “At around 10.50pm on Sunday, November 10, 2019 a young woman was followed off a bus on Pontprennau. As she walked alongside a grass verge in Pentwyn Road, she was grabbed from behind by a complete stranger

“She bravely tried to fight him off and screamed for help until thankfully a member of the public intervened and the suspect ran off. It must have been absolutely terrifying.

“We gathered extensive CCTV from the area, including footage from the Cardiff Bus she has been travelling on, and this gave us an image of the suspect who had been on the same bus.

“Using Retrospective Facial Recognition on this CCTV image we identified the suspect as Craig Walters – someone who was known to police.

“I am in no doubt that we would have got to him eventually, but the use of retrospective facial recognition technology meant we got to him quicker and within 48 hours he was in custody.”

Simmons said the victim had shown huge bravery throughout the case and also thanked the witness who intervened on the night of the attack.

He added: “Walters however is cold and dangerous individual who as shown no remorse and I believe he only pleaded guilty because of the strength of the evidence.

“I hope the successful outcome of this investigation will give other victims the confidence to come forward.

“As detectives we use all available technology to bring offenders to justice, and help and support is available to all victims.”

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A CHILD rapist who once threatened to blow up former Prime Minister Theresa May was jailed for making more hoax bomb threats against prison staff, including the governor.

It was four years ago this month that we reported on the case of paedophile Marcia Walker, a transgender prisoner previously known as Mark Walker, who made three hoax bomb threats while in custody at HMP Long Lartin, a high security prison in South Littleton, near Evesham.

The 43-year-old had previously been jailed for six months for claiming there was a bomb at former Prime Minister Theresa May's home in November 2012 when she was Home Secretary, telling her in a letter that she was 'a dead woman'.

Walker appeared before his honour Judge Robert Juckes QC to be sentenced for three further hoaxes at Worcester Crown Court in February 2017.

She had already admitted making a hoax call to Crimestoppers on December 4, 2015 and two written bomb threats to senior prison officer Bernard Thompson and Tom Wheatley, the prison governor, both on January 28, 2016.

There was some uncertainty at the time about when Walker was due to be released from her existing sentence although a date in 2020 was suggested.

Judge Juckes said he must extend Walkers sentence to deter Walker from making further disruptive threats.

Judge Juckes said: You have spent much of this century in custody for the most serious kind of offences against children.

"Whilst in custody, in order to draw attention to yourself and for other reasons outlined by the probation service and a psychologist, you have taken to making threats that bombs will be planted and will explode.

He said Walker's grudge arose because she wanted transgender surgery, the possibility of which was still being investigated.

The judge said: There is apparently no other way of controlling your behaviour other than by making it clear to you that each time choose and it is your choice to behave in this way, you face a longer sentence.

"The only person that can end this cycle is you."

Charles Hamer, prosecuting, said Mr Thompson, a senior prison officer with 24 years experience, had been handed a piece of paper by another officer from Walker which said a bomb was due to explode at his home that night.

Mr Hamer said: He was concerned for the risk to his wife.

An hour later a second piece of paper from Walker was brought to the attention of the wing officer which made reference to a threat to the governor, Tom Wheatley.

The letter said an incendiary device had been sent to the governors home and Walker said she looked forward to watching what happened on television.

Mr Wheatley said the public were unlikely to be directly aware of the operational impact of such threats but that the prison contained convicted terrorists and Walkers threats must be considered against that background.

Walker has five convictions for 38 previous convictions and was sentenced to 13 years at Canterbury Crown Court on January 17, 2003.

The prison sentence was imposed for two rapes against girls under the age of 16, one aged just four as well as 10 counts of making indecent photographs of children, seven of taking indecent photographs of children and two of distributing indecent photographs of children.

Walker also made bomb threats while serving at HMP Parkhurst on the Isle of Wight, calling Crimestoppers to claim there was a nail bomb in the prison car park and a bomb at the governor's home address for which he was sentenced to four years on July 6, 2015.

She also previously left answering phone messages saying there was a bomb at a probation hostel in Windsor for which she was jailed for six years at Oxford Crown Court on June 17, 2013.

Simon Worlock, defending, said: "This is a disturbed individual who has been classically institutionalised."

He also stressed that nothing had actually been sent to anyone's address and that 'all he did was make foolish claims'.

Mr Worlock said Walker had been assessed as having Asperger's syndrome with rigid thinking, a lack of insight and a fixation on blaming the prison service.

He said the offences were 'a nuisance' but 'not top end' in terms of sentencing and noted that at the time of the arrest police did not believe he had the means to arrange for the threats to be carried out.

Mr Worlock added: "He doesn't know where the governor lives."

The judge sentence her to an extra five years in prison once she has served her existing sentence.