Latest Offenders

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A childrens activity centre instructor has been jailed for nine months after pleading guilty to sexually abusing two young boys

Instructor Adam Craig Sills (35) pleaded guilty to sexual assaulting two schoolboys at the Govilon Activity Centre located at the edge of the Brecon Beacons National Park

Prosecution told Northampton Crown court that the offences dated back to 2012. Sills finally admitted the offences in July of this year.

During the trial, the court heard that the 10-year-old boys were on a week long school trip to Wales when the abuse took place. Although Sills had pleaded guilty to abusing two boys, it was suspected he had molested others.

Sills was placed on a sexual offences prevention order and ordered to sign the sex offenders register

He was also given an order to prevent him from working with children in the future.

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A family wept as the bus driver who sexually abused their teenage daughter was jailed at Bradford Crown Court today (Monday).

Dale Codling, 26, of Kirk Lane, Hipperholme, who had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of grooming and engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a 13 year old girl on October 21, 2013 was jailed for 12 months.

The offences took place while Codling was working as a First Bus driver on a school route in Calderdale.

Judge Rose, sentencing Codling - a father of one - said: The grooming of a child is not something that happens as an error of judgement or a one-off mistake - you were 25 and she was 13.

No man of your age has the right to act in such way with a child.

Codling groomed her by lavishing her with compliments on Facebook and by phone, which the prosecution said made her feel good about herself.

The court heard that when Codling took the girl for a drive on October 21, 2013, he kissed her. After she kissed him back, he then touched her inappropriately and the girl asked him to stop.

Codling drove the girl home but continued to remain in contact with her.

The girls mother later found out a month later and reported him to the police.

Gerald Hendron, defending, said Codling felt ashamed of himself and asked the judge to consider his immediate admission following his arrest and subsequent guilty plea.

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A 21-YEAR-OLD pervert has been jailed after watching a woman try on a bikini under her changing room door and groping a woman in the same day.

Sean Taylor, of Layton Close, Birchwood, was out on licence from Appleton Thorn Youth Offenders Institution on July 1, 2012 when he committed both incidents and pleaded guilty to voyeurism and sexual assault.

Warrington Crown Court heard a 22-year-old woman was shopping in Peacocks when she saw the man’s head peering underneath the door and reported it to staff.

Later Taylor grabbed a 35-year-old woman from behind and shouted offensive remarks until she screamed.

Ian Criddle, prosecuting, said: “The changing room victim said she was almost in tears and felt shocked and upset.”

Michael Scholes, defending, said Taylor was ashamed and mortified and had covered his ears during parts of the hearing.

Judge David Hale sentenced him to 10 months imprisonment.

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A BIRCHWOOD man with a history of sex offending has been jailed after grabbing a woman and groping her.

Sean Steven Taylor, aged 23, of Layton Close, attacked the 51-year-old woman during the afternoon of July 19, in Birchwood.

Cheshire Police says Taylor grabbed her from behind, forcing his hands up her top and assaulting her.

Taylor then threw the victim to the floor and ran off.

Police officers identified the pervert from CCTV footage at the scene.

He was arrested and charged with sexual assault of a female aged over 18.

Taylor pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court on Friday, and was jailed for 28 months.

He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

DC Richard Kirby said "Sexual offences are horrific crimes which cause great distress to the victims and their families.

The use of CCTV in this case was essential to swiftly identifying the offender and bringing him to justice."

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A SOUTHAMPTON sex offender serving a suspended sentence from a court in America has been jailed in the UK after being caught with images of an underage girl.

Adam James Robinson was arrested by police in this country after officers received a tip-off about an "inappropriate online relationship" with a 14-year-old girl in America.

The 28-year-old was later released under investigation.

But when police revisited Robinson 10 months later, they found indecent images of the same girl – which he had accessed after his initial arrest.

Yesterday, at Southampton Crown Court, Robinson was jailed for two years.

The court heard Robinson, who was once convicted of having sex with an underage girl in America, was initially arrested in September 2016 after police received information he was talking to another 14-year-old girl in the US.

Prosecutor Nick Saunders said a number of items were seized from Robinson and he was informed that the girl was 14.

Officers then arrested Robinson again in July 2017 and seized a computer, a USB stick and a hard-drive.

Mr Saunders said that while police were inspecting the devices, they found indecent images of the same underage girl Robinson had earlier been talking to.

He said that among the 65 images were 21 Category A images – the most serious kind.

Mr Saunders said that by being in possession of the images, Robinson had breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order set up in 2014.

He added that Robinson had attempted to conceal the images by using a hard-drive which required a separate USB stick in order to work.

In mitigation, Damian Hayes said his client had not committed any offences, including sexual offences, since his arrest in 2017.

He said Robinson had initially stopped talking to the girl after his arrest.

But he said Robinson had later resumed their "inappropriate relationship" after she had sent him messages and handwritten notes in which she had expressed her upset at their break in communication and had threatened to kill herself.

Mr Hayes said Robinson also suffered from autism, depression and anxiety.

Sentencing Robinson, who pleaded guilty to one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and three counts of possessing indecent images of a child, judge Gary Burrell QC said: "You are not an unintelligent young man, in fact quite the reverse.

"This was a blatant breach and you must have known what you were doing.

"It is aggravated by your previous convictions and by the fact you tried to cover up what you were doing."

Robinson, of Shirley Road, Southampton was jailed for a total of two years.

As previously reported in the Daily Echo, Robinson's Sexual Harm Prevention Order was put in place in 2014 after he was convicted of an act of voyeurism.

On that occasion, Robinson rigged up a camera so he could record and view pictures of a semi-naked 13-year-old girl with whom he was infatuated.

He was sentenced to four months in prison.

Robinson is still currently under a suspended sentence, imposed in America, after admitting having sex with an underage girl in 2013.

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A paedophile who subjected a young girl to a decade-long campaign of sexual abuse was jailed.

Toxteth man Stephen Furmedge, 52, preyed on his victim, who was between the ages of three and 12, through the late 1970s and 1980s.

But she was not the first child who had her life destroyed by the sick pervert.

He had already been jailed in 1989 for raping a young girl and a young boy, and sexually abusing another girl when he was living in Kirkby and had also been convicted of having sex with a 14-year-old girl in the early 1970s.

Robert Wyn Jones, prosecuting, said that some of the girls earliest memories were of being abused by Furmedge including him kissing her on the lips when she was just three.

The abuse happened weekly over the years and at one point he even tried to rape her when another girl was sharing a double bed with her.

She said the last time he tried to make a pass at her she was 12 and better able to stop him.

The victim said she knew what was happening to the other children, crimes for which Furmedge served nine years after they reported it, but didnt tell police at the time.

Furmedge denied all the accusations but was found guilty by a jury of nine counts of sexual assault, nine of indecency with a child and five of attempted rape.

Judge Andrew Hatton, sentencing, said if Furmedge was being sentenced under todays laws he would have jailed him for life but because he had to be sentenced under the law of the day the maximum he could sentence him to was seven years in jail and he did so.

He added that if the judge sentencing Furmedge in the 1980s knew the full extent of his crimes then he probably would have sentenced him to life as well.

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A DRUG-FUELLED sadist has been jailed for 17 years for raping, beating and degrading a Bradford woman after repeatedly violating a previous girlfriend.

Ashley Barber, 26, attacked his victim in her Bradford home on July 22 last year after laughing at her and threatening to suffocate her with a pillow, Bradford Crown Court heard.

He forced her into a submissive "handcuff position", slapped her, spat on her and rubbed his sweat into her before raping her.

The court heard during Barber's two week trial that he turned to internet pornography and cannabis when he tired of his first girlfriend, who lives in Midlands.

Barber because obsessed with increasingly violent sexual experimentation. He bought sex toys and began to dominate the woman, who initially went along with his demands because she loved him.

Barber was found guilty by the jury of raping the woman three times as part of a course of conduct from January 2010 until December 2011.

On one occasion, she cried as he beat her with a paddle until her bottom bled.

Judge John Potter told Barber: "You used her as a sexual object on which you could violently carry out your sexual desires. It was violence for your sole gratification."

Barber was arrested for the repeated rapes after his victim found out that the Bradford woman had reported him to the police for raping her.

Like his first victim, she had at first gone along with his demands for sex with bondage because she loved him.

Barber, of Stockbrook Street, Derby, was convicted of one charge of raping the Bradford woman.

The case was adjourned until today for the preparation of a probation report with an assessment of dangerousness.

The court heard Barber had a previous conviction for battery on his first victim.

He was held in custody throughout the trial and stood impassively in a grey sweatshirt, hands clasped in front of him, as sentence was passed.

Judge Potter said: "Mr Barber, you have shown not a shred of remorse."

He must sign on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life and the judge made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order banning him from having any contact with his victims.

After the case, Detective Sergeant Suzanne Hall, of the Bradford District Safeguarding Unit, said: "Barber carried out repeated sex attacks and physical assaults against his victims, which must have been harrowing ordeals for them.

"We would like to thank them for their courage in coming forward and reporting his crimes, and we hope the lengthy sentence which has been passed down today will help to give them some comfort.

"We also hope it will encourage other victims to come forward and speak to our specially trained officers, who will investigate all reports of sexual abuse thoroughly and sensitively, with the intention of bringing the offenders to justice."

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A SOUTHAMPTON man posed as a young teenage girl to talk to fellow paedophiles on Internet chat room sites, the city crown court heard.

Nathan Long was arrested after police had received a tip-off from computer giants Microsoft who provided details of an email account being used to download pornographic pictures of children.

They traced the information to a house in Southampton where Long immediately confessed he had been responsible. His computer and iPhone were then seized for analysis.

Long told investigators he had been using the site for up to two years after someone had sent him an image. He said he knew it was wrong but he continued.

He then went on to describe how he had posed as a 13-year-old girl to talk to older men, and had traded images.

Prosecutor Rachel Robert-son told the city crown court: He had also discussed at various times the kidnap, rape and murder of children and encouraged others to act in that way. He also claimed he had been abusing children but insisted it was all fantasy.

Long, 24, of Westwood Road, admitted 35 charges incorporating the possession and distribution of more than 850 still and moving images Recorder Nicholas Haggan QC jailed Long for two years. After his release he must attend a probation service run Internet sex offenders programme.

Long also received a sexual offenders prevention order to run indefinitely, was banned from working with children and placed on the sex offenders register.

In mitigation, Mark Florida-James described Long as a depressed and lonely man. He is terrified of going to prison, said Mr Florida-James. Long was of previous good character.

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Maxwell Hallahan, a retired Church of England Vicar has today been sentenced at Portsmouth Crown Court to 21 months for a series of offences against a boy while he was the vicar at Saint Faiths Church in Cowes (Isle of Wight). He will be subject to a 10 years notification on the Sex Offender Register and subject to a Safeguarding order.

Following sentencing, Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in Wessex Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit (Rasso), Richard Powell said: Maxwell Hallahan abused his position of authority as vicar in his parish. He abused the boy, who is now an adult but was only 13 years of age when the abuse started, for a period of approximately three years between 1974 and 1977.

Hallahan had already been convicted of similar offences in 2011. There is no doubt that he is a sexual predator who did not hesitate to take advantage of his position as a pillar of the society at the time to abuse young boys. The victim in this case has shown great courage in coming forward after living with the memory of the abuse for all these years.

This, we hope, will encourage anyone who has been the victim of such crime to report it to the police. CPS Wessex Rape and Serious Sexual Offences Unit works very closely with the police and relentlessly to bring these types of cases to court. We trust that this prosecution will bring some closure to the victim of this horrible crime.

If your or a loved one have been subject to abuse please do not hesitate to contact our specialist child abuse solicitorS. We will treat any communications with the strictest of confidence.

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A HAMPSHIRE university lecturer tried to kill himself after being caught in an international sting operation set up to tackle child abuse.

David Clarke, 46, was duped into believing he was chatting to another paedophile in reality he was talking to a special agent stringing him along about exchanging sickening images of children.

The case was so disturbing that one officer investigating it had to take a break from her work at one stage because she found the work so distressing.

Clarke, a senior lecturer in psychology at Southampton Solent University, was later arrested at his home which he shared with his partner and their three young children.

An examination of his laptop and a memory stick revealed about 1,800 images involving children as a young as three being subjected to a horrifying catalogue of bondage, rape and sadism.

Prosecutor Tom Wright told the city crown court Clarke, who had been using chatrooms under the aliases of Davyboy, Emma Watson 27, and Kirstyandlouise, refused to give his password to the police who were unable to gain access to his accounts to determine the full amount of his trafficking.

Clarke, of Median Road, Shirley, admitted 20 charges of making, possessing and distributing still and moving images between the summer of 2009 and last November and was jailed for 30 months.

He had pleaded guilty to the charges at his preliminary hearing but sentence had been adjourned after he had tried to commit suicide.

Judge Peter Henry said: The images concern a high number of different victims and there was a deliberate and systematic searching of the Internet for images for your sexual gratification.

You deny you find children sexually attractive but in my view, sexual gratification is at the forefront of your offending.

The judge said he accepted Clarke had suffered mental health problems, depression and alcoholism but he could not have misunderstood the harm he was causing children.

Stephen Tricker, defending said Clarke had strayed into viewing the material after searching the Internet for interest in other areas and then going into adult sites.

He has expressed remorse and knows the shame he has brought upon himself and his family. He is motivated to tackle the treatment programme.

Mr Tricker added: His self-destruction is complete.

In addition to the jail term, Clarke was placed on the sex offenders register and banned from working with children.

Under the terms of a sexual offences prevention order, he has restricted use of the Internet and cannot not be left alone with children except with the knowledge of the police or the childs parents.

After the case a spokesman for Southampton Solent University said: The individual concerned has not been present or teaching at the university for many months now.

The university was first notified of this issue last week and has already put in place steps to address this as a matter of urgency.

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A man who raped a young girl during years of abuse has been jailed for three years and four months.

Connor Greer, 22, pleaded guilty to rape and two charges of lewd and libidinous conduct between 2003 and 2011 at houses in Glasgow.

The High Court in Glasgow heard how he began abusing the girl when she was aged seven and raped her when she was 14 or 15.

Police were called after she told a friend who then alerted a teacher.

Jailing him, judge Lord Turnbull told Greer: "It is obvious that your conduct caused enormous stress on the young victim in her teenage years.

"It is also obvious that the conduct is of such a serious nature and harmful form that a custodial sentence is the only disposal."

Repeat attacks

The court heard the attacks repeatedly occurred at houses in Glasgow's southside area.

The abuse would often happen at night when Greer would "change".

The victim did not disclose what was happening - but in 2012 she told a friend which eventually led to police getting involved.

Euan Dow, defending, said Greer, from the city's Pollok area, was "unable to provide any explanation" for what went on.

At a previous hearing he was also placed on the sex offenders' register.

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Rolf Harris faces spending the rest of his life behind bars after he was jailed for five years and nine months for a string of sex crimes involving four girls.

The 84-year-old entertainer, a family favourite for decades, was finally unmasked as a prolific paedophile with his conviction for 12 indecent assaults on Monday.

Today, at London's Southwark Crown Court, Mr Justice Sweeney told the shamed performer he had shown no remorse, and his reputation was now in ruins.

Harris was unanimously found guilty of molesting four girls - one woman who was just seven or eight and was groped when she asked for his autograph, and another two who fell prey as young teenagers.

The veteran presenter, who charmed television audiences for decades, was also convicted of a catalogue of abuse against his daughter's then-best friend, whom prosecutors said Harris groomed from the age of 13 and used like ''his little toy''.

The accusations dated back to between 1968 and 1986, and the girls were targeted between the ages of seven or eight and 19.

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A depraved Jehovah's Witness church elder who raped a fellow worshipper and abused vulnerable schoolgirls was today jailed for 14 years.

"Predator" Mark Sewell, 53, showed "not a shred of remorse" for his crimes, said the judge who sent him down.

The disgraced businessman was convicted of eight historic sex charges against four women following a three-week trial at Methyr Tydfil Crown Court.

Former Butlins holiday camp driver Sewell was today locked up for a total of 14 years at the same court.

Addressing the heavy-set defendant directly, Judge Richard Twomlow told him: "You caused upset and distress to varying extents in the lives of our people.

"Two in particular suffered years of distress and a feeling of being ignored and disbelieved.

"You have showed not a shred of remorse."

Greying Sewell, of Porthkerry Road, Barry, frowned and occasionally closed his eyes as he followed proceedings via video link from Parc Prison in Bridgend.

At times Sewell, wearing a black short-sleeved polo short, was seen to breathe heavily.

He was last week found guilty by a jury of six sexual assaults against two young girls in the 120-strong Barry congregation more than 20 years ago.

Sewell was also convicted of raping a fellow churchgoer in an attack which left her knickers "shredded" and saw her fall pregnant.

Jurors also found him guilty of indecently assaulting another woman by rubbing his groin against her bottom as she made a cup of tea.

The burly defendant had denied nine counts spanning a period of more than eight years.

He was acquitted by jurors of one count of indecent assault, while Judge Twomlow directed the four men and eight women to return not guilty verdicts on a further three counts of indecent assault during the course of the trial.

The judge said Sewell had "groomed" his first victim and coerced her into keeping his campaign of assaults secret.

"She had the courage, though, recently to bring these matters forward again and at last has seen you brought to account for what you have done to her, which has had a tremendous effect on her and her family over the years," said Judge Twomlow.

Sewell abused his position of trust in the Jehovah's Witnesses to exploit and abuse her and another young girl, said the judge.

Sewell's suggestion that the woman he raped had "controlled" him was rejected "completely" by the judge, who told him: "You wanted a relationship with her and tried to persuade her to run off with you."

He later attacked her in what the judge called a "brief and violent rape", which he denied for years.

"The consequences of you denial have been very significant to the victim," said the judge, who added she had "had to live for years in the knowledge of what you did to her".

Describing the moment when the father of his third victim caught Sewell giving his schoolgirl daughter a topless massage, the judge said the defendant acted in a "typically aggressive, self-justifying and blustering" fashion by "telling him to get out even though you were in the wrong".

Indecently assaulting his final victim by rubbing himself against her was "part of a relentless attempt" to get her to accept his "lascivious suggestions" and have sex with him, the judge said.

Sewell was jailed for a total of 14 years.

For three counts of indecent assault against his first victim he was given three concurrent four-and-a-half-year jail terms, to run concurrently with one another.

For the offence of rape he was jailed for six and half years, to run consecutively.

For three indecent assaults against his third victims he will serve two-year jail terms which are concurrent to one another but consecutive to his other sentences.

For the final count of indecent assault he was jailed for a year, to run consecutively, meaning his total sentence was 14 years.

Sewell showed no reaction as the sentence was handed down.

He must also sign the sex offenders register for life and will be banned from ever working with children.

The judge also ordered him to pay a 120 victim surcharge.

When the trial opened the court heard how respected Jehovahs Witness Sewell used his position of power as an elder in the Barry congregation to exploit and abuse women and children.

Prosecutor Sarah Waters said he had used his influence "to perpetrate such sexual abuse over a number of years for his own sexual gratification".

At the start of the trial she told the court: "He is a sexual predator that took opportunities available to him to satisfy his sexual desires.

"For example he would use his high position in the Jehovah's Witness congregation to act in a sexually inappropriate manner with women, being 'touchy-feely' and insisting that he kiss them on the lips."

During the trial witnesses described how he would kiss women and children on the lips using his tongue, while one victim recounted how he bribed her into kissing him by giving her alcohol.

Another victim told how Sewell would give her topless massages when she was just a teenage schoolgirl.

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A used car salesman who abducted and repeatedly raped a teacher was jailed for 10 years and six months.

Barry Dalton was found guilty of the "brutal and sustained attack" carried out in Perth in November.

The jury at the High Court in Perth also found the 40-year-old guilty of a series of violent attacks on other women.

He was jailed for eight years for the abduction and rape and 30 months for the other offences.

Dalton was found guilty of abducting the teacher and detaining her at an address in Perth's Dunkeld Road on 17 and 18 November last year.

He kicked and punched the woman, brandished a pair of scissors and a plank of wood at her, bit and scalped her, compressed her throat and repeatedly raped her.

His victim told the jury she was too scared to leave the house when Dalton went downstairs briefly because she was afraid he would kill her.

After she got away and reported the rapes, police started an investigation which led them to a number of female victims and a man who had also been attacked.

'Outrageous behaviour'

Dalton was convicted of breaking into Tamas Bagi's flat in the city and punching him and brandishing a knife at him just days before the rape took place.

He was also found guilty of assaulting several women, including a former girlfriend.

Defence counsel Ronnie Renucci told the court that Dalton "accepts his behaviour was outrageous".

He added: "He has asked me to apologise to the victims through the court for his behaviour."

Sentencing, Lord Glennie told Dalton: "You have been convicted of a series of assaults against defenceless young women, including the final brutal and sustained attack.

"You clearly have anger management issues, but that does not explain your violent conduct or the rapes that followed. Any rape - particularly accompanied by the use of force - necessitates a lengthy sentence.

"The severity of the beating you inflicted before raping your victim three times demands a lengthy custodial sentence. It must be made clear that such conduct is unacceptable."

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A MARRIED teacher was found hiding in a drawer under a pupils bed by her mother, a court heard.

Andrew Welsh, a teacher at Canon Slade School, was discovered under the single divan bed when the mum came home early from a shopping trip.

The highly regarded father-of-one was yesterday given a 14-month suspended jail sentence after Bolton Crown Court heard that he had lost his career and good character following his two-month affair with the girl.

The court heard his doctor wife is standing by him and that he now works as a double glazing salesman.

Geoff Whelan, prosecuting, told how the teacher and the 16-year-old girl would meet at each others homes where they would kiss and cuddle. On two occasions, they had sex.

Welsh sent the girl numerous text messages telling her he loved her and mentioning the sexual contact between them.

Mr Whelan told how Welsh, who was not the girls form tutor, was providing unofficial pastoral care to her and that they would meet in his classroom.

She had sought his advice because she believed she suffered from depression but the relationship changed during one meeting.

Mr Whelan said: He told her he was having a bad day and asked her for a hug.

Within days Welsh suggested they spend a free afternoon together and they went back to his home where they kissed on the sofa in his young sons playroom.

The teacher, who was the assistant head of Year 10, met the girl at his house on three occasions and her home three further times.

Another time they engaged in sexual touching in his car parked in a Sainsburys car park.

But the court heard that one day the girls mother arrived home unexpectedly at 11.30am and was met by her daughter at the bottom of the stairs.

When the mother noticed that the girls hair was messed up, and lipstick she had applied two hours earlier was gone, her daughter explained she had been lying down because she had a headache.

After putting shopping away in the kitchen the mother went upstairs and pushed open the girls bedroom door to see her holding a mans jacket. A pair of mens boots were also on the floor.

The mother said: What are you doing? Whos here?

But as her daughter replied Andy the mother noticed movement coming from the compartment under her daughters single divan bed.

Mr Whelan told the court: The mother ordered the defendant to get out from under the bed and she recognised him immediately.

The mother contacted the school and police and he was arrested.

He told officers that he thought the relationship was not illegal because he believed she was no longer a pupil at the school.

Nicola Gatto, defending, said Welsh had been teaching for seven years and was a well-regarded member of staff.

She said: This was a man who clearly had a very bright future ahead of him.

Quite what possessed him to embark on this course of conduct is really unclear.

She added that it is not suggested the girl led Welsh on.

She said: She makes no bones about the fact that she found Andrew Welsh attractive and, unfortunately, he succumbed to temptation and has paid a high price for that.

It seems that he became utterly carried away with himself and didnt apply any real thought to what was going to happen to those around him.

Judge Elliot Knopf sentenced Welsh, of High Bank, Atherton, to 14 months in prison, suspended for two years and ordered him to do 200 hours unpaid work.

He said the relationship could have gone on longer if Welsh had not been caught.

He added: You should have exercised the judgement you clearly lacked when you decided to embark on this relationship.

Welsh, whose 36th birthday was today, pleaded guilty to six counts of sexual activity with a child by a person in a position of trust at an earlier hearing.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years and ordered to pay 500 prosecution costs.