Latest Offenders

Description

On 19 November 2020, Alexander Freeman was found guilty of charge 2(Assault to Injury); Charge 4 (Rape); Charge 6(Assault); Charge 8 (Contravention of the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act 1937, Section 12 (1) as amended; Charge 9 (Assault to Injury) and Charge 10 (Contravention of Section 1 of the Sexual Offences (Scotland) Act 2009.

On 17 December 2020 at Glasgow High Court he was sentenced:

in respect of charge 2, to be imprisoned for a period of 3 years; in respect of charge 6, to be imprisoned for a period of 2 years; in respect of charge 8, to be imprisoned for a period of 3 years; in respect of charge 9, to be imprisoned for a period of 3 years; in respect of charges 4 and 10, to be imprisoned in terms of Section 210A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 for a period of 8 years, comprising a custodial period of 6 years and an extended period of 2 years; all said periods to run concurrently and to be backdated to 19 November 2020.

Description

A serving "predatory" police officer has been jailed after being found guilty of child sex offences.

Sgt Michael Grigg, 34, of Hertfordshire Police, was sentenced to six and a half years at Harrow Crown Court.

A jury found him guilty on two counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child.

Police said he committed the offences while working as a cadet leader and his actions "amounted to a gross abuse of his position".

He has been placed on the sex offenders register for life and is subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Grigg, formerly of Hatfield, was arrested as part of an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) managed investigation conducted by Hertfordshire Constabulary's Safeguarding Command, police said.

Det Supt Michael Trotman said: "Grigg's predatory actions amounted to a gross abuse of his position of trust in the most calculated and appalling way.

"We pay tribute to the courage of the victim, who bravely came forward and had to go through the ordeal of giving evidence at court.

"Grigg's lack of remorse throughout the course of the investigation and subsequent trial has been startling."

He said the force had reviewed its process in line with IOPC recommendations around the management of police cadet records and are fully compliant with the updated national guidelines.

Grigg has been suspended from his role and will face a misconduct hearing.

Description

A Deptford security guard who raped a woman who mistook his car for a mini-cab while on duty has been jailed.

Sola Austin Warikwah, 39, of Albyn Road, appeared at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday, December 17, where he was jailed for seven years for rape, having been found guilty in September.

He was also issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), and was placed on the sex offenders register for life.

The victim had been drinking in a nightclub in Bethnal Green before she arrived around the Embankment area in central London, encountering Warikwah in the early hours of Easter Monday, April 22, 2019.

Warikwah, a security patrol manager for contractor Securitas, was tasked with visiting sites and patrolling areas of central London between 7pm on April 21 and 7am on April 22, including the car park in Belgravia where the victim was raped.

During her ordeal, the victim, who was in her 20s, managed to send messages to a friend.

She wrote: Ive been raped. I feel sick. This taxi wont take me home. Im scared.

She later managed to escape the car, taking photographs of her assailant as he walked away.

Warikwah was arrested at his home address in Deptford two days later.

Detective Sergeant John Paton, of Westminster Sapphire Team in the Safeguarding Unit, said: Sola Austin Warikwah is a predatory sex offender who targeted a vulnerable, unsuspecting woman travelling alone.

Due to the courage and quick thinking of the victim, assistance from the public and the veracity of the investigation, a dangerous offender has been placed where he is no longer a threat to women.

I sincerely hope that the sentence handed down today encourages other victims of sexual offences to come forward.

Description

A former police officer who downloaded child rape videos while he was in the force has been jailed for a year.

Derek Kennedy was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years after being caught with thousands of sickening child porn images.

Detectives discovered nearly 5,000 child porn images and over 18 hours of graphic video footage when they carried out a raid on their ex-colleague's home.

Kennedy, who was serving with Police Scotland when he started downloading illicit material in 2016, initially claimed he had downloaded images by accident.

But analysis of the haul on his devices showed he had filed them in specific folders and installed special equipment to try and hide the material.

He told officers "something in the back of my mind made me keep them" when they found a number of the depraved pictures on his mobile phone.

At first he denied having a sexual interest in the material, but was later found to have stored and backed up a large haul of images and videos over three years.

Kennedy, 34, from Dundee, admitted downloading child porn at his home in Butters Road, Dundee, between 10 August 2016 and 16 July last year.

Fiscal depute Eilidh Robertson told Dundee Sheriff Court: "He has no previous convictions.

"He is 34 and is currently unemployed.

"On 29 August 2019 the police carried out a search at the accused's home and seized a mobile telephone.

"Indecent images of children were recovered during preliminary analysis.

"He was arrested and taken to police HQ in Dundee.

"He admitted he had downloaded indecent images of children, but had not done it intentionally and couldn't understand why he kept them.

"He said 'something in the back of my mind made me keep them.'

"He admitted masturbating to the images but said he had no sexual interest in children."

She said two laptops and the phone were seized and Kennedy was found to have moved the porn haul into various folders on the devices.

"There was evidence he had copied some from one laptop to another and had also copied some on the phone into a specific folder.

"Peer-to-peer file sharing software had been used to search and download indecent images of children.

He had privacy tools on one laptop and was using the Tor browser to enable anonymity."

Ms Robertson told the court that Kennedy was caught with 4,707 indecent images and 1,118 child porn videos featuring children from infant age up to 15.

"The images featured both males and females, but mainly females.

"The videos had 18 hours, six minutes and 40 seconds total run time."

She said the bulk of the material was defined as Category A - the most serious, and featuring scenes of child rape, bestiality and sadism.

Solicitor Theo Finlay, defending, said: "He has been in employment fairly regularly throughout his adult life and was a serving police officer.

"He had to resign for medical reasons.

"He has had a history of mental health difficulties."

Description

A serial rapist attacked a 17-year-old girl just months after convincing a Parole Board he wasn't a threat so he could be released from a life sentence for a similar attack 14 years ago, a court has heard.

William Trotter, 39, hit his victim around the head with a blunt object, strangled her until she lost consciousness and brutally raped her in undergrowth along a street in Bromley, London.

He denied rape and kidnap with intent to commit a sexual offence but was convicted by a jury at Croydon Crown Court and sentenced to to life, serving a minimum of 12 years before he can apply for parole.

Trotter attacked his teenage victim on March 19, moments after they both got off the N199 bus to Bromley, south London.

He was previously jailed in 2006 but was released last year after convincing a parole board he was no longer a risk of sexual offending.

Nine months after he walked free, Trotter pulled on the pink face covering and spoke to the girl on the bus. He got off with her at the same stop and pretended to head in the opposite direction but turned round and ran after her.

The girl was walking past Southborough Library bus stop and turned right down Southborough Lane towards Turpington Lane. Trotter hit her over the head with a blunt object and grabbed her around the throat.

She screamed but he dragged her into the undergrowth and raped her. Residents heard her screams and called the police who arrived four minutes later as the woman was staggering out.

James Thacker, prosecuting, said: 'The extent of the violence used here was sustained and significant, and could probably be regarded as extreme.

'She was vulnerable and this was known by this defendant when he decided to follow her, abduct and rape her.'

Officers spotted Trotter and chased him through nearby woods - but lost sight of him as he scrambled over a wall into an allotment.

The offence was almost identical to the one he carried out in 14 years ago. Trotter had been drinking cans of strong lager all day before launching his latest attack.

He told her: 'I just want to look at you, I don't know what I'm doing.' Trotter added: 'Why do you have to be so nice, I can't do it' before he kissed her.

She tried to reason with him asking if he had a wife or sister and he lied, saying he had two daughters. He pulled her by the hair onto the ground, hit her head against the wall and started to strangle her.

When she told him she could not breathe he said: 'I don't care, I'll kill you, you're nothing to me.' Trotter dragged her along the ground and told her to kneel down while he was groping her backside and thighs.

During the ordeal that followed Trotter told her to put her head on his shoulder so they looked like a normal couple. He twice raped his screaming victim while apologising to her, before she managed to run home and call the police.

Trotter was arrested six days later after DNA from his semen found in the victim's knickers matched that on his police file. Trotter admitted four charges of rape but claimed he could not remember the attack.

He was given an indeterminate sentence which meant that he could be kept in jail for life. Trotter was first released on 13 June 2014, but committed further offences including aggravated vehicle taking on 18 October of that year.

He was jailed for 20 months and served half before his release from jail in June 2019.

Trotter insisted he was a changed man in a series of interviews and was given his freedom subject to 'close monitoring.' He fled to Glasgow after the latest attack and moved in with a relative, lying about the reason for his sudden appearance.

When police launched an appeal they said he had a tattoo of a 'devil gremlin' with the name 'Daniel' on his right arm. A Metropolitan Police Service spokesman said a possible line of inquiry was that he was wearing the mask to hide his identity rather than to repel the coronavirus.

After a nationwide manhunt, Trotter was finally tracked down when he moved back to London. Trotter, dressed in a grey tracksuit and beanie, had denied rape and kidnap with intent to commit a sexual offence but was convicted by a jury.

Reading a statement from the witness box, his latest victim said: 'I was brutally attacked and raped. I have been plugged into a nightmare I have not been able to wake from. He strangled me until I was unconscious and that only ended when the police managed to arrive.

'It's a feeling I can only describe as terror and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. My 18th birthday was destroyed. My happy childhood memories were taken away from me.

'Before the attack, I was a very confident and sociable person. That was all taken away from me when William Trotter took away my confidence, happiness, and innocence.'

Her father, breaking down in tears, said: 'As a father, I remain the most angry and confused that I have ever been in my life. I do not forgive and I will not forget Trotter.'

Passing sentence, Judge Elizabeth Lowe told the rapist: 'You identified her as a target within seconds of seeing her.

'You were chasing after her at speed. When you got within distance of her you struck her with immense power, dragged her into the bushes where you violently raped her.

'You grabbed her around the throat. Throughout the ordeal, she was drifting in and out of consciousness and you told her to shut up or you would f-king kill her.

'It was only the arrival of the police that caused you to stop what you were doing.

'The acts of physical violence that you committed were horrific, her face was covered in blood, her hair was matted from the material of the ground.

'She emerged from the bushes half-naked with her clothes trailing behind. She was begging for help and begging for her mum.

'You've demonstrated absolutely no remorse for your actions.

'You evaded the police. You thought you had gotten away with this for a week or so. When you were finally apprehended on 9 April you pretended to be someone else and then tried to escape from the police and were detained.'

Judge Lowe said Trotter had committed the violent sex attack after convincing the parole board he was no longer a risk.

The judge continued: 'You were subject to close monitoring when you committed this offence. It's without hesitation that I consider that there are significant risks to members of the public. You are an extremely violent serial sexual predator.

'A life sentence is clearly well justified in this case. I observe no mitigating features which merit downward adjustment.'

Trotter, from Bromley, was sentenced to life and will serve a minimum of 12 years before he can apply for parole.

He must keep police informed of personal particulars including any address he may live at if ever released from prison.

Description

Stephen Boyt was jailed at Southampton Court for twenty years.

The 70-year-old had faced nine counts including indecent assault and a single count of rape.

A jury found him guilty of the historical abuse which took place across Netley View, Calshot and Fawley between 1984 and 1996.

Boyt’s victim was seen sobbing and clutching a tissue during footage of a police interview played to members of the jury in November.

During the interview, it was said how Boyt would demand oral sex from his teenage victim.

Struggling to hold back tears, she said he told her no one would believe her claims he had abused her.

She finally reported the abuse to police in August 2018 after suffering a breakdown, the court heard.

Boyt of Beech Crescent, Hythe has a criminal history stretching back to 1967 with convictions for burglary, blackmail, robbery and ABH.

However, with no previous convictions for sexual offences he strenuously denied the charges against him claiming to be an innocent man.

After serving his sentence he will be released on licence.

Description

A green-haired sex offender who spoke to girls as young as 10 years old about wrestling and films, breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, was spared jail after a court heard he is gay and 'has no interest in females'.

Jake Paradise, from Bagshot, Surrey, had used Facebook and WhatsApp messenger to speak to the girls, who were both known to him, without their parents being aware of his serious previous convictions from 2015.

The 28-year-old had been banned from speaking to any child when he was slapped with a court order in 2016 because of his past offending, which a court heard was in relation to boy victims.

Despite knowing the requirements of the order, Paradise had spoken to a 12-year-old girl for at least 25 days from June 15 2017 and then further to a 10-year-old girl from April 1 2018.

Sophie Murray, prosecuting, said: 'It was put forward by the prosecution that the case was category-A due to the persistent nature of the communications.

'I understand that on the last occasion they [the communications] were gone through in some detail, nothing sexual in nature seems to have been communicated, they are in relation to wrestling, films, things of that sort.

'The parents of both girls were not aware of his previous convictions at the time he was communicating with them. He has said he is homosexual and has no interest in females and his previous convictions relate to boys rather than girls.'

Paradise, who had sported green hair on the last occasion he appeared in Reading Crown Court, had admitted two counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and appeared for sentence.

The author of a pre-sentence report had recommended that he be spared jail, a lawyer defending him said, as long as he completes a programme which helps sex offenders stop committing new crimes.

Judge Paul Dugdale, sitting at Reading Crown Court, said: 'I get a sense of these things when I read the texts and I may be wrong, but I do not get the impression that there was anything in this context that was of a sexual nature or was intended to be so.

'As Mr Paradise has pointed out, it is not the sort of contact he would have.'

Paradise, who wore fingerless fishnet gloves and a blue hoodie, the hair on his scalp died blond but at the end of his long, pony-tailed hair the colour changed into a streak of light blue.

The judge told him: 'I think now you know how serious these orders are and the real risk here is that if there had been any suggestion that this contact was anything other than perhaps a foolish error of judgement and that there was anything sexual in it at all, if there was any suggestion of anything else, you would have been going straight inside. You really need to understand that.'

Judge Dugdale sentenced Paradise, of Bagshot Green, Bagshot, Surrey, to a 30-month community order with one rehabilitation activity requirement, which meant the defendant would have to complete 30 days of the Horizon programme.

Description

A depraved man with an obsession for child abuse images took pictures of teenagers urinating in public and then shared them online.

David Parsons, 38, was found in possession of hundreds of indecent images of young children and distributed thousands of images to other paedophiles, including films involving children between six and 12 months old.

The defendant was also found with images he had taken in Cardiff and Bristol of teenage boys urinating in public toilets, including the Cardiff City Stadium.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday also heard that Parsons' partner James Carlyon was also found with indecent images of children, the youngest being six months old.

Prosecutor Byron Broadstock said: "On April 9, officers from the police online investigation team executed a search warrant at Forest View, Fairwater, the home address of David Parsons and persons at the address including Parsons and Carlyon.

"The reason for their attendance was explained and Parsons said 'you're going to find images'."

Two mobile phones, belonging to each defendant, was seized and a laptop from Carlyon's home in Quakers Yard, Merthyr Tydfil, was also seized.

On Parsons' phone, officers found; 87 images and four movies of category A, 83 images and six movies of category B, and 703 images and one movie of category C.

The court heard there were links to storage services and active links containing images and video files, in the defendant's notes app on his phone.

Mr Broadstock added: "There were conversations between the defendant and others with similar interests in which they discussed which images they possessed and what images they sought.

"The defendant offered to forward images to others."

The amount distributed by Parsons included; two images and 1,816 movies of category A, eight images and 1,731 movies of category B and 40 images and 396 movies of category C.

During one of the conversations, Parsons was quoted as saying "I have often thought about getting a run away street kid for sex".

Officers also found eight images taken of teenagers urinating in public toilets without their knowledge. One of these was taken in Bristol on December 6, 2019, and at the Cardiff City Stadium on January 31, this year.

On Carlyon's mobile phone, police discovered; 51 images and 176 movies of category A, 43 images and 38 movies of category B, 82 images and nine movies of category C, 40 images and one movie of extreme pornography and one image and one movie of prohibited images.

There was also images of clothed teenage boys taken by Carlyon without their knowledge, at a Merthyr Tydfil retail park where the defendant worked. These images were not subject to charges.

Parsons, of Forest View, Fairwater, pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images, distribution of indecent images and voyeurism.

The defendant had a previous conviction from 2011 for possessing indecent images of children.

Carlyon, whose address was also given as Forest View, Fairwater, pleaded guilty to possession of indecent images, extreme pornographic images and prohibited images of children.

Barrister Richard Ace, representing Parsons, said his client was willing to work to overcome his "entrenched difficulties and problems" and had been working with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

He added: "The defendant previously worked at a managerial level in retail. These relapses took place in a period of his life where he lost his job because of his previous conviction which led to minor levels of depression and caused him to do this offending again."

Barrister James Evans, representing Carlyon, said his client had no previous convictions and there was no evidence of distribution in his case.

Sentencing Parsons, Judge Michael Fitton QC said: "The total picture adds to portraying a man who is not just interested in paedophilic images but an obsession with it and your obsession had led you to taking photographs of other people in public places in the act of urination, and sharing it.

"You are a man who has such a depraved outlook there's no question of any means of dealing with you other than a custodial sentence."

Addressing Carlyon, Judge Fitton added: "There are features of your conduct which show a shared interest and common view. The circumstances in which you have been looking together is relevant to how your own thinking and conduct has been degraded.

"If you continue or reestablish a relationship with the defendant and find yourself in court again for similar offences you will be going to prison. If you move on from that relationship and take the opportunity I am giving you, you have the opportunity to move on with your life."

Parsons was sentenced to three years imprisonment and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

Carlyon was sentenced to eight months imprisonment suspended for two years, and was made subject to a 10 day rehabilitation activity requirement and a 10 year sexual harm prevention order.

Description

At the High Court in Edinburgh today Lord Uist sentenced Dene Stevenson to 6 years imprisonment after the accused was found guilty of the rape of a 14 year old girl.

On sentencing, Lord Uist made the following statement in court:

You were convicted by the jury at Livingston High Court of the rape of a drunken 14 year old girl in muddy woodland in Livingston on 20 October 2017. You supplied her with alcohol, lay on her, pulled her lower clothing down, forced her legs apart and attempted to lick her vagina, repeatedly attempted to penetrate her vagina with your penis, forced her head towards your penis, restrained her and penetrated her vagina with your penis. After the incident she telephoned a friend in a distressed state and said she had been raped by you. She was also observed by others in a distressed and dishevelled state. You later admitted to her father that you had had intercourse with her. It is a matter of concern that you went out that day when you were drunk and befriended a group of much younger girls before walking off into the woods with your victim.

You are now 21 years old and were 18 years old at the time that you committed this crime. You have only one minor previous conviction, which I shall ignore for present purposes. You have history of drug and alcohol abuse and have not worked for over a year. I have considered the criminal justice social work report on you and all that has been said on your behalf in mitigation. Rape is obviously a serious crime which must attract a significant sentence and in this case it is aggravated by the fact that it was a calculated attack in a public place on a defenceless 14 year old girl who had had far too much to drink. The sentence which I impose is 6 years imprisonment, to run from 23 October 2020.

As a result of that sentence you now become subject to the notification requirements of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 for an indefinite period.

Description

A man has been jailed for life with a minimum of 25 years for the murder of 16-year-old Louise Smith from Leigh Park.

Louise, who had been described as ‘smiley and generous’ by those close to her, was reported missing to police on Friday 8 May this year, before her body was discovered in an area of woodland at Havant Thicket 13 days later.

Following an extensive search of the area and an investigation by Hampshire Constabulary, 30-year-old Shane Lee Mays was arrested and later charged with Louise’s murder.

Despite admitting playing a part in Louise’s death and entering a guilty plea to manslaughter, Mays denied murder and the case proceeded to trial at Winchester Crown Court on Monday 16 November.

After deliberating for approximately two hours following the conclusion of the trial yesterday (Tuesday 8 December), the jury unanimously convicted Mays, of Somborne Drive in Leigh Park, of murder.

Sentencing Mays, Mrs Justice Juliet May said: "Every crime of murder not only ends one life, but grievously harms others.

"As [Louise's] mother says, it is every mother's worst nightmare. 

"Shane Mays was in a position of trust. Theirs was like a father-daughter relationship, like he said at trial. That being so, in killing Louise he committed the most gross abuse of trust."

Mrs Justice May commended the work of the Hampshire Constabulary investigation team involved in this case.

Following the sentencing, Detective Inspector Adam Edwards, Senior Investigating Officer for the case, said: “This was a shocking attack on a vulnerable young girl which tragically resulted in her death.

“Mays has shown no remorse throughout this case, and has lied to police in a bid to deflect any blame for Louise’s murder away from himself.

“I am pleased that the jury were able to see through these lies, and he will now spend a considerable length of time in prison for what he has done.

“Our thoughts remain with all of Louise’s family and friends."

Description

Gareth Weeks persuaded the boy to go to bed with him on only their second meeting and blindfolded him during a bondage sex session.

He repeated the assault a couple of weeks later and secretly filmed himself having sex with the boy on both occasions.

Weeks then shared the film with a fellow paedophile while exchanging fantasies about having sex with boys as young as 12 or travelling to the Philippines in search of more victims.

He also tried to set up a threesome with the boy and his friend and wrote disgusting messages in which he spoke about ripping him apart.

The 14-year-old had gone on Grindr hoping to meet someone his own age with whom he could discuss issues about his sexuality, but instead fell prey to 52-year-old Weeks.

Weeks is a former stage manager who worked at theatres all over Britain and boasted to friends about having known showbiz stars including Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David Walliams.

He was jailed for child sex offences in 1993 and 2012 but was still able to join an amateur theatre in Devon as a volunteer. He was still helping to organise shows until his arrest.

He was caught because police found his messages and images on another man’s phone and traced him back.

Detectives from the child protection team discovered that he was still on prison licence and subject to a Sexual Offences Prevention Order (SOPO) which banned any contact with children.

Weeks, aged 52, of Bassetts Gardens, Exmouth, admitted two counts of sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following grooming, inciting a child to sexual activity, arranging or facilitating a child sex offence, breach of a SOPO, and making, taking and distributing indecent images of children.

He was jailed for 15 years with a six year extended licence and certified as a dangerous offender by Judge Timothy Rose at Exeter Crown Court.

The sentence means he will serve at least 10 years. He was also put on the sex offenders’ register for life.

The judge told him: "These are a string of remarkably serious sexual offences against the same victim, who was 14 and particularly vulnerable.

"You encouraged him to meet you, and on your second meeting you blindfolded him, put him in some kind of bondage gear, and had unprotected sex with him.

"You knew he was exceptionally young and it is quite clear you did not care. The interest you showed towards him was totally false and intended to inveigle him into your trust. It was completely self-serving, duplicitous and misleading.

"You had only one thing on your mind and were not in the slightest concerned about the damage you were doing to him. You were not even remotely close to him in age but you didn’t care about that.

"Your messages show the violence you wanted to do to him were just utterly appalling. These were not fantasies because you had already arranged to meet him and already violated him.

"It is clear you intended to do so again, but for your phone being seized by the police."

James Tucker, prosecuting, said Weeks made contact with the boy within hours of him posting a Grindr profile in 2018 and told him he could help him sort out issues at home and at school.

Weeks arranged a meeting at which he tried to initiate sex but the boy declined. They met again at Weeks' home two weeks later when he blindfolded and tied him up.

The same thing happened a couple of weeks later. The boy later told police he was confused and felt he was being controlled by the older man.

Images found on Weeks’s phone showed he filmed both encounters without the boy knowing and exchanged them with other paedophiles.

Messages also showed Weeks was in touch with a man in June 2019 urging him to contact the boy and suggesting a threesome. His messages showed he knew the boy’s age but they still went on to discuss “ripping” him.

In one message to the boy Weeks said: "I love boys your age, and younger to be honest."

Brian Fitzherbert, defending, said Weeks was unclear at first about the boy’s age because he met him through Grindr, which is an adults’ only site.

He said Weeks did well after finishing his last jail sentence while he was under intense supervision and had completed three sex offender treatment courses.

He felt he did not get enough support after moving to Devon and had told a probation officer that he was still attracted to boys when he passed them in the street.

Description

A maintenance man at a north-east care home sexually assaulted and harassed nurses, telling one woman he had been “dreaming about her” as he bombarded her with sick messages.

One nurse was forced to slap Robert McAlley in the face to get the 56-year-old away from her after becoming a victim of his unwanted advances while she was showering a resident.

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Description

A RINGWOOD man who groomed a 14-year-old boy he took to car events around the country has been jailed for sexual activity with a child.

Jack Lane (23), of Hangersley, was sentenced to a year in prison after being found guilty following a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court. He was also placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

The court heard Lane met with the boy, who was from Poole, several times between March and July 2017.

They shared an interest in cars and together went to meets in Poole, Hampshire London, Wiltshire and Northamptonshire. They also communicated through Facebook and sent texts to each other.

In July 2017 they travelled to an event in Ringwood, where Lane touched the boy inappropriately, the jury was told. Around the same time they attended a car show in Devon, and on the way back Lane again inappropriately touched the teen.

When the boy challenged him, he claimed he had done it accidentally.

The pair went for a swim in the sea in Boscombe that evening, when Lane touched his victim inappropriately over his swimming shorts.

In November 2017 the victim told his mother about the incidents.

Sentencing, the judge said aggravating factors in Lanes offending included the psychological harm caused to the boy and the fact there were multiple incidents.

DC Andy Hale, of Dorset Polices child exploitation team, said: Jack Lane groomed his young victim and gained his trust before making repeated sexual advances, despite the boy making it clear they were against his wishes.

I would like to praise the victim for having the courage to come forward so that Lane could be held accountable for his despicable actions.

I hope this bravery will encourage anyone else who is the victim of this type of offending to come forward in the knowledge that action will be taken and offenders will be prosecuted.

Description

A BASINGSTOKE man has been jailed after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl.

William Landy, aged 49, cried from the dock of Winchester Crown Court as he was caged for four and half years.

Landy, previously of Quilter Road, was found guilty by a jury following a trial at Winchester Crown Court this week of assaulting a child by penetration and sexually touching a child.

The court heard that Landy gained access to his victim by gaining the trust of her family before abusing her on one occasion after he had been drinking.

In a victim impact statement, Landy’s victim said felt “the whole incident changed her whole life,” Judge Jane Miller QC recalled, adding: “she stopped being a happy person and she withdrew into a hole”.

The abuse only came to light after the victim told her family in 2018, having not spoken about it before because she “didn’t think she would be believed” as she was badly behaved at that point in her life.

The court was told that in the weeks following the incident Landy had contacted social services claiming that the victim had exposed herself to him.

During sentencing on Friday Judge Miller said: “You were trying to get your story in first.”

She continued: “She clearly found the run up to the hearing very difficult, having to watch her video interview again.

“You saw in court having her account challenged was upsetting for her.”

In mitigation, Robin Sellers said his client suffers from a number of health problems including difficulties from a previous liver transplant and is “liable to falls”.

He also has type two diabetes, which he has been dealing with for past 10 years, along with advanced peripheral neuropathy, which a result of damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord.

Mr Sellers said: “In 2019 there was an overdose that required hospitalisation. He expressed this morning that he is not minded to take his medication.”

He continued: “The conditions in prison because of the current pandemic in my submission will be extremely difficult for this defendant bearing in mind the medical difficulties he has.”

Judge Miller jailed Landy for four and half years and he must spend a further year on licence.

Description

A sex offender who was snared by online paedophile hunters has found himself in prison for not telling the police where he was living.

Derby Crown Court heard how Connor Burdett was made to sign the sex offender register after being cautioned by the police for attempting to engage in sexual communication with an underage girl.

Under its terms he was supposed to go to the police station within three days of moving and register his address with the force.

But the 28-year-old failed to do that, was later arrested, charged and has been at Nottingham prison since October.

Judge Shaun Smith QC, jailing him for 35 days over a video-link, said: Mr Burdett, you have really got to start taking responsibility.

You are someone that seems to think you dont have to do what you do have have to do.

Well you do and when you leave prison today you will have to go to a police station within three days and tell them where you are living.

Do you understand that?

Burdett replied: Yes.

Judge Smith said: Because if you dont you will have to go back to prison for longer. Where are you going when you leave prison today?

Burdett replied: Im going to the cop shop then I am going to my mums house.

Judge Smith said: What happens if you move away from living at your mums house? What do you have to do?

Burdett replied: I have got to go to the police station and tell them of my whereabouts.