Latest Offenders

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Pervert Jason McCouaig has been jailed after he sent obscene messages to a paedophile.

The 40-year-old also sent pictures of two girls to sex offender Michael Bickerton after communicating with him online for a week last summer.

The pair engaged in 'highly sexualised conversations' and met in a North Staffordshire pub where the defendant gave him girls knickers and they indulged in their sexual fantasies.

Now McCouaig has been jailed for 10 months at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Prosecutor Paul Spratt told the court: The defendant told Bickerton he was sexually attracted to two schoolgirls. They spoke of what sexual activity they were planning to get up to.

He sent a pair of knickers to Bickerton who sent an image to the defendant of him wearing them. The defendant took pairs of knickers to a local pub where the pair engaged in conversation. They also committed a sexual act on each other, with the knickers as an aid.

The defendant asked Bickerton not to send any more images after the sex offender sent a picture of a naked child sat on his lap.

Mr Spratt added: By August 21 last year the defendant decided the conversation should cease because he knew Bickerton was planning to commit a sexual offence in Cambridgeshire. He told Bickerton to delete the conversation with him and he deleted it on his own phone.

But 49-year-old Bickerton did not delete the conversation and the defendant was arrested at work on October 11.

The court heard Bickerton, of Minshall Street, Fenton, was jailed for eight years in May after being convicted of arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

McCouaig, who has since left North Staffordshire and now lives in Oxfordshire, pleaded guilty to publishing an obscene article between August 14 and 22 last year.

Andrew Turnock, mitigating, said the defendant has lost his good character and is embarrassed and ashamed.

He said: His most private and dark fantasies have been exposed for all to see. He has unwisely engaged in conversation with a far more sophisticated and dangerous offender. He got in deep very quickly.

He told Bickerton to desist from sending illegal, illicit images to him. He told him to delete the whole history. The images he sent of the schoolgirls were not illegal and were not indecent. This behaviour does not fall within the remit of any of Sexual Offences Act. He accepts by his plea that this conversation was obscene.

Mr Turnock added that McCouaig has attended counselling sessions and shown high levels of shame and remorse.

Judge Paul Glenn said the offending was so serious it had to be marked with an immediate jail sentence.

He said: You engaged in highly sexualised conversation and took knickers for use in sexual activity.

You knew full well the sort of individual you were in contact with. You met Bickerton and provided him with the underwear so you could indulge in your fantasies. The messages between you were disgusting.

You are an intelligent man, with good qualifications and a good job and your own home. Frankly, your actions beggar belief.

McCouaig was ordered to pay 1,250 costs.

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A paedophile who used fake internet profiles to befriend and later blackmail underage girls has been jailed for eight years.

Shane Wakefield first came to the attention of the authorities after one of his victims, a child in Scotland, reported him to Snapchat after he threatened to publish indecent images of her unless she agreed to cooperate with his demands.

After Police Scotland were contacted by the online messaging app, officers were able to trace the offending account to 25-year-old Wakefield in Morriston, Swansea.

He was arrested in September 2015, with police later finding he was using social media platforms Kik, Snapchat and MeowChat to contact girls across the UK and abroad.

He often befriending his victims on apps before asking them for pictures, often in return for gifts like iTunes vouchers.

He then used the initial pictures as leverage to demand graphic images and videos.

Wakefield, of Cwm Arian, Swansea, was subsequently charged with a string of offences relating to eight victims.

On August 10, at Swansea Crown Court, he was found guilty of four counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, eight counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one count of possessing extreme pornography, three counts of possessing indecent images of a child and one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child.

On Monday, Wakefield was sentenced to eight years imprisonment and will be placed on the Sex Offenders' Register indefinitely.

Sentencing, Judge Paul Thomas said: The wickedness of what you did over a significant period of time to a huge number of young girls cant be underestimated.

You went online seeking out girls of your preferred age of 13-16. You started off by bribing them with vouchers to send you sexual photos including their faces, then you blackmailed them to send you sexually explicit images, and if they didnt comply with your demands you would put them on Facebook and on the internet so their friends would see.

By these utter callous means you forced them to send pictures of their genitalia and performing sexual acts on themselves. Several of them begged you and said they had self-harmed in the past and this made them want to do it again. Anyone with any sort of heart would realise the torment these girls were facing, but your response was brutal.

To put them through that shows the depravity of your nature. There has not been a hint of remorse, just denial. Maybe its for the benefit of your parents so you can make out its a horrible misunderstanding.

The simple fact is you are a committed paedophile. The harm you have caused is incalculable.

Speaking after the hearing, Detective Constable Richard Jones, of South Wales Police, said: "Shane Wakefield is a cold and controlling individual who has shown no remorse for his actions.

He deliberately set out to target young girls for his own sexual gratification and the level of depravity shown by him has left a lasting impact on everyone involved in this case.

This has been among the most harrowing cases I have dealt with in almost 20 years, and I cannot commend enough the young girls who worked with us to ensure he was brought to justice.

The impact Wakefields actions have had on the young victims is immeasurable. Many of them were driven to self-harm, both during and after his reign of abuse and they, and their families, have shown immense courage throughout the lengthy investigations and the court proceedings.

I hope todays sentencing brings them some closure and comfort as they attempt to move forward with their lives.

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A man who claimed he had sex with a woman while he was asleep has been jailed for five years for rape.

Karl Gammon had met the victim and her friend at a bar in Loughborough in March 2016 before attacking her.

The 24-year-old, of Albert Street in Loughborough, told a trial he suffered from "sexsomnia", a form of non-insane automatism that meant he had sex with her without his knowledge or memory.

He was found guilty on 8 August after a trial at Leicester Crown Court.

Gammon, who was sentenced on Friday, has also been placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Leicestershire Police said DNA evidence proved he had had sex with the woman.

Det Sgt Tom Brenton, who led Leicestershire Police's investigation into the case, said the victim was still "living with the trauma" of the attack more than two years later.

"Gammon's victim has shown tremendous courage throughout the judicial process," he said.

"Not only did Gammon prey on his victim when she was vulnerable, he claimed not to have knowledge of the rape when questioned by officers and as such she was forced to relive her ordeal in court."

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A vile troll who bullied underage girls into sending him naked pictures has been spared jail because he was just 16 when he began his cruel online campaign.

Daniel Crowley, 18, of Wellesbourne, Warwickshire, threatened and manipulated five girls - aged between 12-15 - from across the UK in a year-long campaign of online abuse.

He posed as boys called 'Tom Phillips' and 'Dan' and then forced the victims into sending him naked pictures which he then used to threaten them.

Crowley was finally caught after several schools and colleges across the UK warned pupils about a social media troll targeting young girls.

He admitted four charges of controlling children and causing a child to engage in sexual activity and three offences of making indecent images of children.

Crowley initially pleaded guilty to four charges of controlling children, subjecting them to sexual exploitation. 

 But Judge Sylvia de Bertodano asked the Crown Prosecution Service to reconsider whether the sexual exploitation charges were the appropriate offences, so they were replaced by four further charges of causing children to engage in sexual activity. 

She then allowed him to vacate his pleas to the original offences, and he pleaded guilty to the new charges – after which she gave him a three-year community order and ordered him to sign the sex offenders' register for five years at Warwick Crown Court on Monday.

Judge de Bertodano said: 'You did what young people are very able to do very easily these days, and that is create a lot of social media accounts.

'But what you used it for was to create accounts in different names and to contact girls, and over the year or so this continued, your contact with them became very serious offences.

Judge de Bertodano said: 'You did what young people are very able to do very easily these days, and that is create a lot of social media accounts.

'But what you used it for was to create accounts in different names and to contact girls, and over the year or so this continued, your contact with them became very serious offences.

'These are really serious offences. These children were between 12 and 15, and they were desperately frightened by what you did.

'You cruelly abused them over a year-long period.

'This is the nightmare that parents of teenagers face, that their children can be exposed to this type of behaviour online - and that when we believe they are safe in their bedrooms, they are being subjected to sexual manipulation like this.

'If you were an adult, you would be looking at a sentence approaching double figures. But I have to treat you as a child.

'I have to consider what the benefit of sending you to prison today would be, and I don't think anyone would be protected in the long term if I were to do that.'

The court heard Crowley contacted the girls using fake social media accounts.

Prosecutor Daniel Wright said: 'He asked them to send images of themselves committing sexual acts, and kept them and used them to coerce the girls to send further images.

'He used various identities, sometimes encouraging them to contact other people who were also, in fact, him.

'That enabled him to exercise control over them in a bullying manner, and he also used threats of self-harm if they refused to do as he requested.'

The first girl police spoke to said Crowley contacted her in 2016 and demanded she send him pictures of her in her underwear.

When she did he ordered her to send him more and threatened to kill himself if she refused.

Crowley also sent images of a naked woman to her friends, claiming it was her, he warned her she was 'not safe,' so she sent him a naked picture.

Another of his victims was so scared of him she sent him 50 pictures of herself to him after he repeatedly used threats if she refused.

Crowley even used other fake accounts to taunt her about the naked pictures to make the victim believe the snaps were being widely circulated.

Another girl sent him images of her bare breasts, and he threatened that if she did not send more, he would show them to other people.

Mr Wright said when Crowley was arrested his phone was seized, and on it were a number of downloaded indecent images including ones showing penetrative sex acts with toddlers.

In a victim impact statement, one of the girl's mothers told Crowley: 'You have stolen the daughter I had, slowly and systematically.

'She has shut down from all she enjoyed, and she has also been self-harming because of the torment you put her through.'

Delroy Henry, defending, said: 'What he did was cruel, really cruel.

'It is a sad testament of the technological age we now live in that it was done with such ease.'

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A popular Cardiff bar has defended its decision to allow a convicted sex offender to perform as a drag act during Pride weekend in Cardiff.

Darren Sewell, who performs under the stage name Crystal Couture, was included in a bill of acts at Wow Bar's Pride Without Prejudice free event on Sunday.

One person who was in the audience at the Churchill Way bar said he complained to staff and that several people walked out in disgust at the act, which he said included jokes about prolific child abuser Jimmy Saville.

In 1999, Sewell was convicted of four counts of rape of a boy under 16 and was sentenced to three years in a young offenders' institution.

On his release, he was banned from having contact with children. He was convicted in 2011 of breaching that order by working as a gymnastics and dance tutor with children in Cardiff.

Crystal Couture's official website describes the act as "for audiences large and small and of all ages" and "available for wedding, christening, birthdays, and celebrations if (sic) all types".

The event at Wow Bar referred to Pride on its flyer but had no affiliation with the official Pride Cymru Big Weekend.

The man, who preferred not to be named, said: "I never realised it was him initially. So when he came on stage someone else in the audience said do you know who that is?"

He said he found articles reporting criminal proceedings against Sewell on his phone, and made complaints to staff at the venue.

"Myself and the other people who I spoke to about it feel it's just giving such a bad message."

He added: "No laws (have been) broken but it's the morals towards the community. They are allowing sex offenders to promote us during Pride."

In 2011, Cardiff Crown Court heard Sewell, who was performing as a drag queen at Cardiff nightclub Minsky's at the time, had spent three years teaching gymnastics to children as young as nine.

None of the gymnastics clubs knew of his previous conviction.

Sewell was a teenager when he was convicted of rape and was 27 when he breached the order banning him from having contact with children.

For breaching the order, he was sentenced to a three-year sex offender's treatment programme, a 24-month supervision order, 300 hours unpaid work and a six-month curfew on electronic tag.

In a statement, representatives of Wow Bar confirmed that Darren Sewell performed at the club on Sunday, August 26, under the stage name Crystal Couture.

The statement read: "Mr Sewell, an established drag artist and singer, has preformed at many venues within Cardiff and around the country and is in demand due to his high polished performance.

"The managers of all these venues have, like us, been made well aware that Mr Sewell was placed on the sex offenders list for a crime he committed in 1999.

"We know this as Mr Sewell has a legal obligation to inform any employer of this fact. Like most, and we would hope all venues do; we researched, we also talked to other venues that employed Mr Sewell.

"Aware Mr Sewell is on the sex offenders list we have always been cautious when booking Mr Sewell: He will always arrive late and preform (sic) late to ensure no risk of children present, we inform the police that he will be preforming at the venue and his act is carefully monitored by management.

"With these measures in place and open communication to the police, we feel there to be no warranted risk to our customers; which will always be our top priority.

"Mr Sewell is a popular entertainer booked by hundreds of venues a year, all in full knowledge of his past crime and Sewell himself shamed on public media ever since but rightly or wrongly that is his on-going sentence.

"A customer on Sunday made his feelings known showing us an article from Argus (sic). He left but for us, if not most, it is such a conversation to hold in a noisy nightclub at that time of night, the debate never being the crime but what an individual feels the punishment should be.

"Mr Sewell's crime from 1999 is well known to the Cardiff scene but the demand to see his show is still supported heavily.

"All venues in Cardiff or outside have had to sit down and make a choice, what we have all decided maybe judged wrong but our venue, no venue, would ever put anyone at risk."

Wales Online contacted Darren Sewell for a comment on this story but none has been provided.

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A 19 year old who raped a child has been handed a 16 year jail sentence.

Shaie John Forth, 19, formerly of Gorseway in Clipstone, was sentenced at Nottingham Crown Court on today (August 17) following a five-day trial.

The jury returned majority guilty verdicts for four counts of child rape. Forth was also acquitted of the rape of a 40-year-old woman during the same trial. He was arrested following a report to police in May 2017.

Investigations uncovered a child had been subjected to the horrific abuse on a number of occasions when Forth was as young as 15.

Although he pleaded not guilty to the charges, prior to sentencing, his defence spoke on his behalf where he acknowledged his wrong doing against the child and showed remorse saying that he was sorry for what happened and the affect it had on the victim.

As well as the prison sentence, he was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Detective Sergeant Dan Bebbington of Nottinghamshire Police said: "This has been an extremely distressing case for everyone involved.

"No child should ever have to undergo these kind of horrors and that's why our Child Abuse Unit exists. We are here to help such brave young people find the courage to speak out about what is happening to them.

"This child should be commended for her exceptional strength at such a young age. She has shown incredible resilience in providing us with the evidence needed to fully investigate the crimes.

"The sentence today marks the end of this investigation, and the start of the rest of this remarkable young girls life.

"We encourage anyone with concerns regarding the mistreatment of children, in all its forms, to contact Nottinghamshire Police on 101 so we can continue our efforts in eradicating this most despicable of crimes."

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A RUGBY pensioner’s has been jailed for the sexual abuse of a young boy in the 1990s.

Ronald Brown’s victim eventually went to the police after the incidents had preyed on his mind in the intervening years.

And at Warwick Crown Court the 69-year-old, of Grendon Road, was jailed for three-and-a-half years and ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

He had been found guilty following a trial of two charges of indecent assault and one of gross indecency with the boy, after which the case was adjourned for a pre-sentence report to be prepared on him.

During the trial the victim said he had to go to Brown’s then Rugby home in Freemantle Road to borrow a pair of secateurs for his mother, who was doing some gardening.

In the house he was given a drink of juice, and sat on the sofa in the living room while Brown went to get the secateurs from the garden shed.

When he came back in, Brown put them by the front door and sat next to the boy, who was under 14 at the time, and touched him sexually over his shorts.

Brown’s victim said: “He questioned me about whether I was going to tell my mum and my dad. I told him I wouldn’t say a thing to anybody. I was scared.”

The jury had heard there had been an earlier incident, also at Brown’s home, when Brown had touched him intimately and had taken the boy’s hand to get the boy to touch him.

Brown denied either incident had taken place.

At the resumed hearing Brown’s barrister Marcus Harry said Brown had been “a hard-working man” and had health problems, having suffered from angina for a number of years, as well as type two diabetes and osteoarthritis in his neck.

But Mr Harry said what was of more concern to Brown was his wife’s health problems, including an eye problem for which he takes her to appointments to have injections every six weeks, and arthritis in her knees.

Jailing Brown, Judge Peter Cooke told him: “What you did was wicked.

“You are a man of 69, previously outwardly of good, even impeccable character, but you were a man with a dark secret, which remained secret largely because you procured your victim’s silence.

“I accept you are in poor health, and that your wife is in poor health, and you will therefore find the inevitable custodial sentence more difficult than most.”

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A Bradford man who sexually abused two boys has been jailed for six years.

Graham Learoyd, 67, of Little Horton Lane, Canterbury, abused the two boys in the 1980s and 1990s, and pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child.

Bradford Crown Court heard yesterday how Learoyd would carefully plan his abuse.

Richard Woolfall, prosecuting, explained to the court how, in the first offence, Learoyd masturbated one of the boys for his own sexual gratification and was careful not to get caught.

In the second offence, he straddled the same boy, putting his genitals on the boys chest, until the boy shouted stop and get off.

Mr Woolfall said the third offence was for touching the second boys genitalia outside his clothing in a sexual manner.

Learoyds catalogue of offending only came to light some years later when one of the victims approached police.

Mr Woolfall read out victim impact statements from both victims which explained how they had struggled in life as a result of their experiences.

He said the first victim described his statement as a survivors letter and was withdrawn as a young man and struggled to make friends.

He said: As a child didnt know when someone was using him for their own benefit.

He said in romantic relationships he struggled to trust his partners, which he put down to his experiences as a child.

For a number of years, he said he could not come to terms with the fact he had been a victim of abuse.

The second victim said he developed anxiety and depression as a result of his experiences.

Sentencing, Judge Tom Little said: You regularly offended many years ago.

The impact of your offending was significant.

You admitted one count to police voluntarily but denied the other offences, and then pleaded guilty at trial.

Learoyd was jailed for six years and four months for the first offence, handed a three-year term for the second offence, and five months in jail for the third offence, which will be served concurrently.

He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life.

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A WORLD-renowned conductor who abused a boy who saw him as a “surrogate father” is back behind bars.

Joseph Cullen, 58, was the choirmaster and organist at St Andrews Cathedral in Glasgow and choirmaster at St Aloysius Church in Garnethill between 1976 and 1985.

The father-of-three, who has worked at Westminster Cathedral and with the London Symphony Chorus where he won two Grammy awards, abused a nine year-old boy who joined a choir at St Andrews Cathedral.

He called the child his “special friend” and told him not to tell anyone because it was their secret.

Cullen, from Leeds, Yorkshire, pled guilty at Glasgow Sheriff Court to a charge of using lewd and libidinous conduct towards the schoolboy between January 1981 and December 1984.

Yesterday Sheriff Martin Jones QC jailed Cullen for 10 months.

He said: “The offence to which you have pled guilty involves the sexual abuse of a young boy between nine and 12 at the time, when he was particularly vulnerable.

“You were in a position of trust. You took advantage of that position and you sexually abused him over three years.”

The sheriff added: “The crime which you committed all those years ago remains serious, that’s not diluted by the passage of time.”

In July 2015, Cullen was jailed for 12 months at the High Court in Glasgow for two other charges of using lewd and libidinous conduct at both cathedrals against two other boys.

The court earlier heard the child joined the choir at nine and was a keen singer.

He experienced family problems which was a “memorable time in his life”.

Procurator fiscal depute Niall Macdonald said: “Cullen became more involved in the complainer’s life, taking him out on trips, driving him home from choir practice and spending time with him.

“He describes Cullen at this time as a ‘surrogate father’ despite him only being in his twenties.”

The court heard Cullen first attacked the boy in the organ room at the cathedral when he went for choir practice.

On hearing other people walk upstairs towards them, Cullen left the room briefly, but returned and said “that was close”.

The court heard of “several other occasions” when Cullen abused the boy in the organ room.

On one occasion Cullen drove the boy home and when nobody was in, asked to see his bedroom, where he carried out another sex attack.

He then took the child to another relative’s house but told him not to tell anyone because it was wrong, and their “special secret”.

In June 2015, the victim’s mother saw information online about Cullen’s earlier conviction relating to historical offences against children.

She told her son to report what Cullen had done to him.

Defence counsel Thomas Ross QC said Cullen had had a “very successful career as a freelance musician”.

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'I don't usually have to deal with children, I deal with villains,' says judge

A former soldier and his accomplice who raped an underage girl when they were teenagers have been jailed for four years each, in what the judge said was one of the most difficult cases of his career.

Brandon Bowmaker, 21, and Callum Dowson, 22, attacked the girl on a railway line near Guisborough, Cleveland, in 2012 after threatening to leave her in the woods in the dark.

The girl told police she had already had consensual sex with Bowmaker with Dowson nearby before they both demanded sex with her, which she refused.

Aisha Wadoodi, prosecuting, said the girl was scared when they said they would abandon her, particularly as she was unfamiliar with the area, which by then was pitch black.

She repeatedly asked them to stop as they raped her, with both youths repeatedly swapping over, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Bowmaker, a former infantryman, was 15 at the time while Dowson was 16.

Judge Sean Morris, sentencing, said the victim and Bowmaker were too young to have consensual sex before the rape.

Children will be children and they will experiment and explore, he said.

He added: This has probably been one of the most difficult cases I have dealt with.

I dont usually have to deal with children, I deal with villains.

Addressing the defendants in the dock, he said: You are men now, all three of you as the pre-sentence report describes, were children.

Their victim read a statement from the witness box expressing how the ordeal had psychologically affected her and led her to self-destructive episodes.

Although she said life was too short to hate the pair, she said: It is now time you paid for what you have done.

They denied the offences but were convicted by a jury last month.

Nigel Soppitt, defending Bowmaker, of Woodhouse Road, Guisborough, said the former soldier was good at his career, which he has now lost.

He said: He is a thoroughly decent man these days, he had made a huge mistake in his early teens, he knows he has to be punished for that.

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A DJ has been jailed after sexually assaulting a young woman while she slept and videoing the act on his mobile phone.

Michael Brady, from Dallam, also gained access to his victim’s phone and emailed himself explicit pictures and videos of the woman.

Today, Thursday, the 41-year-old was jailed for four years at Liverpool Crown Court.

The court heard that Brady, of Hindle Avenue, may have sexually assaulted the woman up to '10 or 11 times' over the course of a number of months in the lead up to this attack in the early hours of a Friday morning in February 2017.

His victim was present as he was sentenced and tearfully read a statement out to the court.

She said: "What has happened to me has affected me more than I ever thought it would - I used to be a confident person, but now I feel lost and broken.

"I feel like the person I once was will never come back - I cry almost on an almost daily basis and I feel nervous about leaving the house.

"Even if there is a knock at the door I feel anxious - this is not the person I used to be.

"After what happened to me , I don't want to be here anymore - it would be easier if I wasn't.

"I feel lost and I have had to deal with what has happened while he lives as though he's done nothing wrong - I don’t understand why he has done this to me, I feel like he's broken me."

Brady, who deleted the videos he had recorded in a bid to cover up his actions, kept his head bowed as his victim addressed the court.

She added that she has suffered from depression, anxiety and sleeping problems since the incident and had even attempted to take her own life.

He had admitted charges sexual assault, voyeurism and securing unauthorised access to data during an earlier hearing at Warrington Magistrates Court last month.

Barrister James Coutts, representing Brady, told the court that his client was 'ashamed and bitterly regrets' his actions.

Sentencing, his honour judge Thomas Teague said: "You have shown no insight into your offending or lamented the effects on your victim.

"You attempted to dispose of evidence by deleting the videos, and you say you were under the influence of alcohol which makes things even worse.

"In my judgement, you have no genuine remorse.

"I'm told that you regret the effects your actions have had on your victim's life - I regard that as sheer humbug."

Brady, who has two previous convictions, was subjected to a restraining order preventing him from contacting his victim indefinitely.

He was also ordered to serve a lifelong notification requirement and to pay a victim surcharge.

PC Nicola Halliwell said: "The defendant has shown no remorse for his behaviour, with the only saving grace being that he chose to plead guilty so the victim did not have to face a trial.

"She has shown patience and dignity throughout the investigation.

"I am extremely proud of her and she should be extremely proud of herself.

"The courage and strength that she has shown throughout such a traumatic experience is nothing short of inspirational and I would hope that today’s result goes some way in assisting her to gain some form of closure so she may move on with her life."

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A former North Leamington teacher and youth club leader has walked free from court despite sexually assaulting four girls more than 25 years ago.

Because repeated abuser David Wesley has been found to be suffering from dementia, a judge at Birmingham Crown Court had his hands tied over how to deal with him.

With no other options available to him, Judge Patrick Thomas QC had to give Wesley an absolute discharge despite the fact that the offences would normally attract a prison sentence of many years.

However, he will have to register as a sex offender for five years, and was made made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, also for five years.

Wesley, 66, of Offchurch Road, Cubbington, Leamington, had denied a total of 21 charges including indecent assaults on girls under the age of 16 and on girls under the age of 14.

He first appeared at Warwick Crown Court as long ago as December 2016 when it was said he had committed offences against the four girls on dates between 1977 and 1992.

At that time Wesley was a teacher at North Leamington School, and was also involved as a youth club leader at Cubbington Methodist Church.

Wesleys barrister Scott Coughtrie asked for Wesley not to be arraigned at a previous hearing because the papers in the case had only recently been served on the defence.

Judge Stephen Eyre QC commented: He knows whether he has or has not committed these offences.

Mr Coughtrie, who said it was a very complex historical case, indicated: This is going to be a trial.

At a later hearing Wesley pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was to stand trial at the end of October last year.

But two weeks before it had been due to start, the trial had to be adjourned after the court was told that Wesley was in hospital.

He was subsequently found to be suffering from dementia and, on the evidence of two psychiatrists who had examined him, mentally unfit to stand trial in the normal way.

Instead, a trial of fact took place at Birmingham Crown Court, where a jury was asked to decide whether he did the acts alleged, rather than whether he was guilty of them.

In relation to 16 of the 21 allegations, they found that he did the acts - although in law that is not a conviction.

And because of the finding that he was unfit to stand trial, there were only three possible disposals a hospital order detaining him in a psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act, supervision in the community or an absolute discharge.

But a hospital order can only be imposed if the person is suffering from a condition which is treatable.

After an adjournment for the options to be considered, Judge Thomas observed: A hospital order isnt appropriate because his health condition cannot be helped.

And he said that, again because of Wesleys dementia, supervision was not an option, leaving an absolute discharge as the only option.

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A BEARDED paedophile has started a secret new life as a woman after transitioning while serving time in a Scottish jail.

Christopher Noble, 32, transitioned to Christyl Knight while behind bars for keeping a stash of over 4,000 vile pictures and videos of kids as young as six months old.

The con is desperate for a fresh start but child protection expert Claude Knights said: Allowing these individuals to hide a secret past is a dangerous practice.

And an outraged mum whose son was murdered by a paedo has demanded a legal change over perv Christyl Knights new life as a female.

Campaigner Margaret-Ann Cummings, 43, insisted sex offenders should be forced to keep the identities they are jailed for.

Her son Mark, eight, was was killed by convicted sex offender Stuart Leggate, 42, in 2004.

She said: Authorities shouldnt let paedophiles rewrite history. They should have to keep their identities intact while theyre still on the register.

"Where does this end? Will sex offenders soon be getting treatment on the NHS to change the way they look?

She added: Its not unusual for sex offenders to want a new identity but this is the most disturbing case Ive heard of.

"When someone, so soon after getting out of jail, is trying to change not just their name but their sex and appearance too, it sounds like theyre trying to hide rather than reform.

Echoing her calls, child protection expert Claude Knights said: Anyone whos fuelled the vile trade in indecent images of children and therefore contributed to their sexual abuse should not be allowed to change their name.

The Scottish Sun traced Knight to a flat in Aberdeen where she moaned her life had been a misery in tough Grampian nick, Peterhead.

And she insisted her transition is not a ploy to hide her vile past. She said: I cant help being transgender. Ive realised since I was about 13.

"To start the process in jail was...you wouldnt believe the s*** I had to put up with.

I was in a male hall behind my door 24/7 for four months.

Do you honestly think someone would want to change sex just to hide a conviction? Its a long, hard process.

Its understood she appears on the sex offender list as Christyl.

She lives alone and claims she doesnt talk to anyone under strict rules of her early release.

And she revealed the licence which forces her to sign in at a cop shop ends this week.

She was nicked in the citys Torry in July 2015 after a tip-off from the National Online Child Abuse Agency.

Cops found 4,224 indecent photos and 11 explicit videos of kids under 13 on a laptop, mobile and USB in the home.

A computer showed a live web chat discussing the sharing of children.

The then-bearded pervert admitted downloading and distributing 2,000 vile pics and was caged for 21 months in 2016.

Christyl, who was recently made bankrupt over nearly 19,000 of debt, added: Ive lost everything. I regret it. Im moving on with my life.

James Morton, of the Scottish Transgender Alliance, said: Our understanding is that transitioning does not erase your past if youre a sex offender.

"You have to give your new name to police. Trans people usually encounter greater suspicion. I dont think it helps people blend in.

The Scottish Prison Service does not comment on individual prisoners but said cons are dealt with according to their gender when theyre jailed.

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A builder pretended to be a 14-year-old girl called 'Tina' to discuss his perverted child sex abuse fantasies online, a court heard.

John Leigh, 55, used the pseudonym while downloading and sharing sick images from the internet.

He talked about his fantasies online with other perverts on forums and in chat rooms, sometimes dressing in female clothing himself.

Leigh, from Exmouth, downloaded 87 photos and movies of children being abused. Exeter Crown Court was told the abuse involved children as young as four.

The defendant admitted possessing and making indecent photos of children.

He was given a suspended sentence after the court was told he could be rehabilitated.

Prosecutor Ms Anita Noerr said the offences took place over a period of more than four years.

Police executed a warrant at the defendant's home in July 2017 after receiving information he had been distributing indecent images of children online.

After analysing his laptop and a memory stick they found 15 still and moving images in the most serious category.

He told police he had an addiction to pornography which had escalated to the point where he was sending and receiving child abuse images.

The prosecutor said he also sent 'pictures of himself in female items of clothing'.

The defendant is a man of previous good character. The judge read a number of references and letters of support, including from the defendant's family. A probation report said he was a 'realistic prospect of rehabilitation' and he was already working with a charity to change his behaviour. He also cooperated fully with police.

Judge David Evans expressed concern that CPS had not charged Leigh with distribution offences and the possessing and making charges 'may understate' his behaviour.

He told the defendant: "You admitted you were engaged in contact over a lengthy period of time with other like-minded individuals on the internet. You had adopted a pseudonym 'Tina' who you said to others was 14 years old and it seems you sought out contact to obtain sexual gratification and you shared with others pictures you had downloaded from the internet of girls of that age.

"It seems you all engaged in what I understand to be fantasy conversation about sexual contact. It seems your particular predilection amounted to dominating of you by other adults with an interest in pre-pubescent children."

The judge said it was the actions of Leigh, and people like him, which created demand for the filmed abuse of children.

But he said Leigh had 'sought help for his perverted thinking' and was seeing a counsellor.

The defendant, of Victoria Road, was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years. He must do 30 days rehabilitation work with probation and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years. He must also pay £425 costs.

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A woman convicted of having sex with a schoolboy, aged just 13, on a kitchen floor, has avoided a jail term.

But Jordan Lightfoot, 21, was warned by Judge David Hale: “No teenage lads around for parties or anything like that.”

Lightfoot, of Edith Parc Rhyl, had denied three charges of - having sexual activity with the 13-year-old boy, and also sexual activity by touching with a boy of 15 and causing or inciting the elder boy to engage in sexual activity, but was found guilty earlier this month.

Lightfoot, who was 19 at the time of the offences, had sex with the younger boy - who was a virgin - at her home in the summer of 2016, a jury heard.

The offences came to light when the boy’s mother found text messages on his mobile phone.

After considering a pre-sentence report Judge Hale imposed an 18 month jail sentence, suspended for two years, with 50 days of rehabilitation activity.

A five-year sexual harm prevention order was made which bans Lightfoot from contact with boys aged between 11 and 16 unless inadvertent or with consent of parents who know about the conviction.

Lightfoot, who is the mother of a baby whose father is unconnected with the case, was placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and must pay £140 costs.

Jo Maxwell, prosecuting, said text messages between Lightfoot and the 13 -year-old “made it obvious she was in control of the relationship”.

Simon Killeen, defending, said the offences happened in a short period of time “when she was an immature teenager.”

Passing sentence Judge Hale said it happened during a troubled period of her life, living on her own. “You became involved with a group of lads, people who were prepared to befriend you, and you were prepared to befriend them. On these two occasions you engaged in a brief sexual relationship with both of them.”

The 15-year-old had become obsessed with her – “and that’s always the risk”.

“There is a disparity of age, they were vulnerable because they were even less equipped than you to deal with the emotional relationships involved. I accept you were immature.”

The sexual harm order was to avoid the risk of her “forming a relationship with a lad of 14 or 15”, the court heard.

Speaking after sentencing, an NSPCC Cymru spokesperson said: “Child sexual abuse can have devastating effects on victims and it’s important that the two boys in this case get the support they require.

“Letting the Future In is an NSPCC service, based in Prestatyn, which frequently helps young survivors of this crime to move forward with their lives.”