Latest Offenders

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Now of Waterloo, Hampshire.

A TEENAGER who raped a seven-year-old girl in Weymouth has been jailed for nine years.

Joshua James Andrew Foster, 19, was convicted of rape of a child under the age of 13 following a trial at Dorchester Crown Court.

The charge related to an accusation that he forced the young girl to perform a sex act on him.

Foster, of Hereford Road, Weymouth, was also found guilty of causing or inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity following an allegation that he exposed himself to the same young victim and dared her to perform a sex act on him.

Both offences took place in January of this year.

The teenage defendant broke down in tears in the dock as the guilty verdicts were delivered.

Earlier in the trial, witnesses had watched a recorded police interview in which the young victim, who is now eight, told police about what happened to her.

She said the first incident with Foster was a secret and described it as gross before going on to use dolls to show the interviewing officer how he had forced her to perform the sex act.

The girl said: I didnt want to do it but he just forced me.

The young victim then told how on another occasion she and Foster were playing a dare game when he exposed himself to her and dared her to perform a sex act, something she refused to do.

She said in interview: He wanted me really badly to do it but I didnt want to.

Foster gave evidence and completely denied any sexual activity ever taking place but it took the jury of seven men and five women just over four-and-a-half hours to reach guilty verdicts on both counts.

As he returned to court to be sentenced Lee Christmas, representing Foster, asked Judge Roger Jarvis to consider his clients youth and previous good character when deciding on his punishment.

The judge told the defendant: The jury has convicted you of one of the most serious offences in the criminal calendar.

He added: The crowns case is that it was borne out of your own sexual frustration.

This was little girl who had no real concept of what was going on and you took appalling advantage of that child to vent those sexual frustrations.

Judge Jarvis said the emotional effects of Fosters offending could remain with his young victim forever.

He said: It will be a burden to her for the rest of her life.

Your inability to control your sexual requirements means that you must now spend a very long time in custody.

Judge Jarvis sentenced Foster to nine years in prison for the rape charge and six years for inciting or causing a child to engage in sexual activity, with the two sentences to be served concurrently.

Foster will also be placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Victim's father welcomes ruling

THE FATHER of Fosters young victim has welcomed the nine-year sentence handed down by the judge and said it was no less than he deserved.

He said: I am glad with the result that he got nine years, he deserved it. Shes a brave girl and if she hadnt come forward he could have done that to someone else.

Hes definitely got everything he deserved.

The girls father also praised the role of the police in bringing Foster to justice.

He said: They have done a good job and the way they have worked with my daughter has been really good.

Following the verdict officer in the case Detective Constable Georgina Guyett issued a statement praising the young victims strength and courage in coming forward.

She said: Dorset Polices Child Abuse Investigation Team would like to take this opportunity to express their thanks to the victim in this case.

It took a great deal of strength and courage to come forward and speak up against Mr Foster and their actions in doing so have protected others from being potential victims. We would like to reassure all victims of abuse that they can come forward at any time and in confidence to talk about their own specific situation.

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A VIOLENT rapist from Poole has been locked up for nine years for battering, raping and falsely imprisoning two women.

Poole man Jermaine Kraftner, 27, of Poole Road, Branksome, and cousin Corrie Pinney, 35, took it in turns to rape the women in two separate attacks at Pinney’s London flat.

Sentencing the pair at Croydon Crown Court, Recorder of Croydon judge Warwick McKinnon, said: “I can’t predict if ever it will be safe for you to be let out of prison.

“You both launched a series of horrendous attacks... the attacks were designed to degrade and instil terror for your own power and sexual gratification.”

He said the attacks were utterly depraved and the two rapists had shown no remorse at all.

Their first victim, a 17-year-old, was lured back to the flat after a date with Pinney in July 2009.

When she refused sex, they pinned her down and raped her.

During the second attack in April last year, the cousins subjected a 22-year-old woman to a “degrading and humiliating” five-hour ordeal, torturing her and making threats of sadistic violence.

They threatened to cut off her hair, douse her in boiling water or stab her with a Samurai sword.

After an evening of drinking and smoking cannabis at the flat in Sutton, Kraftner, known to friends as “Striker” and “J”, flew into a jealous rage at around midnight, the court heard.

The woman was made to stand on one leg in the corner of the room, as the men began to humiliate and attack her, the jury was told in June.

In June, they were convicted on 14 counts of false imprisonment, sexual assault and one ABH charge each, following a trial.

Pinney was convicted on four rape charges and one of attempted rape and was also jailed for nine years.

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A CHILD abuser who committed a series of offences against two girls more than three decades ago has been jailed for five years.

Leeds man Robert Glendinning was jailed at Bradford Crown Court yesterday after a judge heard details of his repeated abuse of the children in the late 1970s.

Glendinning, of Dorset Terrace, Leeds, admitted charges of indecent assault and indecency with a child.

He also pleaded guilty to attempting to rape one of the girls.

The victims, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, are understood to live in the Huddersfield area.

The 52-year-old confessed to his offending during discussions with his lawyers and the court heard that in 1993 he was also jailed for six-month for an unrelated offence of indecent assault against another girl.

Judge Jonathan Durham Hall, QC, said the victim impact statements provided by the two complainants emphasised the dreadful, traumatic and ever-present shadow the offences had cast over their lives.

The judge said it was to their credit that they had found the courage to go to the police.

Glendinning was arrested early this year and his barrister Neil Clark said despite not having all the evidence against him the defendant had been insistent on pleading guilty.

Mr Clark asked the judge to take account of the fact that Glendinning had not committed any further offences for 18 years and he described his client as essentially a loner who lived in rented accommodation.

Judge Durham Hall made Glendinning the subject of an indefinite sexual offences prevention order which includes a ban on having any contact with the complainants.

Glendinning will also have to register as a sex offender with the police for the rest of his life following his release from prison.

Det Con Emma Summerscales, from West Yorkshire Polices Child and Public Protection Unit, said: We welcome the sentence given to Glenddining by the court, and his conviction again demonstrates that even if an offence has taken place many years previously we will always work to bring offences to justice.

We also hope that Glendinnings conviction will bring some comfort to his victims.

Description

Recently jailed again for breaking parole.

A TEENAGE rapist who abused a younger boy has been brought to justice as an adult, years after his crimes.

But Carl Gilchrist escaped harsher punishment at Teesside Crown Court because of his youth at the time.

He was a teenager when he raped and abused a boy several years younger.

Now 24, he was sentenced for his sex offending yesterday.

Gilchrist, of Walton Court, Stockton, denied all charges, putting the victim through a trial last month.

A jury unanimously found him guilty of five charges - two of rape, three of indecency with a child - his first convictions.

The court heard how he repeatedly raped and forced the boy to carry out sexual acts over a lengthy period of time.

The judge, Recorder Ben Nolan QC, told Gilchrist if he had been an adult when he committed the crimes, his prison term would reach double figures.

As it is, I have to sentence you as though you were still a boy, he said. For that reason, I very considerably discount the sentence that would be imposed upon an older offender.

He added: The victim was a very young boy when these acts were done to him. These acts had very profound effects on him.

There was some evidence of intimidation on your part in the way in which you committed these crimes.

Prosecutor Paul Cleasby said Gilchrist had no previous convictions though he had a caution for assault by way of kissing.

Gilchrist had references from relatives and family friends.

Adrian Dent, defending, said at the time Gilchrist was a confused, immature person, struggling with his own sexuality.

He said: His youth at that time probably took a significant part in his offending. What he did was a significant part of his growing up process which must have been very difficult for him. He added: Theres never been any suggestion of further offending.

He said there were no overt threats or intimidation, just reported black looks.

Gilchrist was still coming to terms with the jurys decisions, against which he will not appeal, and the daunting prospect of a prison sentence.

The judge jailed Gilchrist for five and a half years, gave him an indefinite sexual offences prevention and banned him from working with children. He will be on the sex offenders register for life.

Detective Constable Fran Donovan, from Cleveland Police, said after the case: I am very pleased with the sentence.

Both the victim and his family have shown great courage and strength during the trial which must have been extremely traumatic for them and I would like to commend them for this.

I hope todays sentencing will go at least some way to helping the victim feel justice has been done.

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A nursery worker who raped a toddler and groomed 22 other girls over the internet has been jailed for life.

Paul Wilson, 21, admitted 47 charges including rape and grooming and must serve at least 15 years of a life term.

Wilson, of Nechells, Birmingham, abused the toddler at Little Stars Nursery in the city, and filmed the rape on his mobile phone.

Prosecutors said concerns raised by other nursery staff did not stop the abuse.

Wilson began working at the nursery in October 2009.

Six members of staff raised concerns about his behaviour before his arrest, on 5 January this year, but he had continued to work there despite receiving a written warning.

The judge said it was "a matter of some incredulity" that he had not been disciplined further for "deliberate blatant" flouting of nursery rules.

The Birmingham Safeguarding Trust board has started a serious case review into the matter and will not comment further at this stage.

Sentencing, the judge described his offences as "chilling, vile and depraved".

'Girls threatened'

Mrs Justice Macur said he had caused unknown harm to the toddler and more than 20 young girls who were abused online.

"You are highly deviant, highly manipulative. You are intelligent and the more dangerous for being so," she said.

The court heard Wilson, of Newbold Croft, was arrested after being reported by one of the girls he groomed.

He contacted 22 girls on the internet then made them perform sex acts via a webcam.

The victims were aged between 12 and 15, the court was told at an earlier hearing.

He would record images and use them to blackmail his victims into carrying out sexual acts for him.

After sentencing, Wendy Bounds of the Crown Prosecution Service, said Wilson had "preyed" on young girls he met in internet chat rooms.

"He hid his real identity and led the girls to think he was a friend and asked them to turn their webcams on and by this means he was able to see them in intimate situations," she said.

Pictures sent on

If his approach failed, he would use other aliases on social networking sites to gain their trust, or threaten them in order to get them to perform sexual acts which he would watch, she said.

"Unfortunately, the teenage girls did not realise that they were in effect allowing a stranger into their bedroom with a camera."

Pictures of one of the girls were then sent on to another male, she said.

"He then took this one step further by targeting and raping a vulnerable child at a nursery where he was working.

"Unfortunately, concerns raised by other staff about his behaviours and the appropriateness of his relationship with the child did not prevent this happening."

It was left to one girl to come forward and report the abuse to police, she said.

Ofsted issued a statement earlier in the case proceedings saying it had referred allegations to the local authority, Birmingham City Council.

An Ofsted spokesman said: "When Ofsted received allegations from a member of staff about possible safeguarding concerns at Little Stars Nursery, we immediately referred the allegations to the local authority, the lead agency locally with responsibility for safeguarding, and with them conducted a joint visit to the nursery.

"Following the visit, we required the nursery to ensure, amongst other things, that safeguarding policies were in place and procedures were properly followed.

"We are sorry that investigation did not bring to light what was happening sooner and for any additional distress this may have caused those affected by Mr Wilson's actions."

Wilson pleaded guilty in June to two charges of rape, 16 of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, 25 of making indecent images and three of distributing images of children.

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A TEACHER jailed for having internet sex chats with a schoolgirl once taught pupils a lesson on lap dancing and porn, it was claimed last night.

Craig Lindsay, 37, from Uttoxeter, was locked up for 15 months by a judge at Stafford Crown Court for having explicit conversations with the teenage girl via a webcam.

Now an ex-pupil has claimed the married teacher once put on a racy lesson for older students while working at Thomas Alleynes School.

On a Facebook page dedicated to the dad-of-two, the former student wrote: One of the funniest times ever was when Lindsay was showing us a powerpoint presentation on lap dancing and porn.

The best sociology lesson ever the first one of my Year 12 year. He is a certified legend!

Staffordshire County Council was unaware of the new claims, but said there had been no other complaints about Lindsay. The pervert teacher was charged with inciting a child to sexual activity and sexual activity in the presence of a child.

The court heard he first took an interest in his victim when she was aged 14, showering her with compliments, although the abuse did not start until she was 16 or 17.

During the hearing, the teacher admitted that he had flattered and complimented the girl before going on to exchange a mass of sexual messages over the internet.

It led ultimately to him performing a sex act in front of a webcam with his victim watching, the court heard.

Defence lawyer Andy Easteal said: He said he was going to be thinking rude thoughts about her and what he would like to do to her.

On quite a few occasions he performed a sexual act in front of the computer.

This conduct all took place online, it never involved any physical proximity.

They both knew and understood it to be a fanciful series of exchanges and messages. None of the things that were discussed were embarked upon.

The chat went on for months but was only discovered on the girls laptop computer a couple of years later. Jailing Lindsay, Judge Michael Challinor said: This kind of sexual abuse damages the integrity of our school system.

Parents must be able to trust teachers to deal with their children appropriately.

You were a teacher and its clear you began to groom her for your own purposes when she was 14. You knew she was vulnerable and by a number of devices, flattery and subterfuge, you drew her in to this sexual activity.

There was no penetrative sexual activity.

She has suffered some psychological harm by reason of the discovery, the humiliation of the investigation by family and the police.

Her introduction to a sexual relationship was not normal it was with you, a 37 year-old married man.

A spokesman for Staffordshire County Council said: Mr Lindsay was suspended from his post in November 2009 following an allegation which has been investigated and concluded.

He has since resigned from his post, and his case is being referred to the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

Prior to this, there had been no previous complaints about his teaching practice.

Description

2022-03-14 Released and is living in a bail hostel in Plymouth.

Gang member used Facebook as part of a campaign to sexually abuse more than 100 schoolgirls in the Torbay area

A member of a gang believed to have sexually abused more than 100 schoolgirls in a seaside resort has been sentenced to 10 years in custody.

Jake Ormerod, 20, used Facebook as part of his "campaign to groom naive and immature girls" and then "mercilessly corrupted" them to satisfy his "insatiable need for sex". He admitted 13 charges of sexual activity with eight girls.

He plied victims with drink and drugs in the Devon resort of Torquay, before having unprotected sex. Some of them were virgins, and in one session he had sex with three children within 90 minutes, Exeter crown court heard.

Sending Ormerod to a young offenders' institution, Judge Philip Wassall said that some of his victims had been "so stupefied they did not find out until later that you had had sexual intercourse with them".

After the sentencing, Devon and Cornwall police said they believed Ormerod was part of a wider group of young men in the Torbay and Teignbridge area who had abused girls as young as 11 who went missing from home.

Police and other agencies have acted to safeguard 139 girls who are believed have come into contact with members of the group.

Sources believe that there have been at least 40 victims of the gang, though others may have been assaulted but are too traumatised or frightened to give evidence or remain loyal to the abusers. Police refuse to say how many other suspects they are hunting, only saying it is "fewer than 10".

Detective Inspector Simon Snell, who is leading the inquiry, codenamed Operation Mansfield, said Ormerod was guilty of "classic grooming behaviour" to make the victims feel wanted and loved.

As well as grooming them on the internet, the men would meet the girls at school gates or on the streets of Torquay, police say.

The case is another example of the worrying number of girls who are victims of street grooming. A report from the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre published last month revealed that many such victims were runaways.

In court, Andrew MacFarlane, prosecuting, said that a large number of girls aged 12-15 who had gone missing were regularly found at Ormerod's home.

MacFarlane said: "The defendant took advantage of their vulnerability. He mercilessly corrupted them in order to satisfy his apparently insatiable need for sex.

"He never used a condom. He never took no for an answer. He lowered what resistance they had mostly by the ready provision of drink and cannabis in significant quantities."

The house Ormerod shared with his mother in Torquay was described as filthy by some victims. But MacFarlane said: "The lure of drink and drugs appears to have overwhelmed their disgust."

MacFarlane said: "For many, it is no exaggeration to say that their lives have been damaged permanently and what remained of their childhood years have been destroyed."

One victim, who was 14 at the time she was abused, tried to kill herself. She said Ormerod had pinned her down and had sex with her when she was a virgin. Later she described herself as horrible and called Ormerod "blatant scum who never washed and was a creep".

A 13-year-old girl said that Ormerod had a "bad boy image which girls found attractive". Another 13-year-old said that he had sex with her as she drifted in and out of consciousness "after getting wrecked".

Yet another girl aged 13 said that he plied her with drink and drugs and for him having sex was "like necrophilia". She added that she felt she "will never be the person I was".

Defending, Paul Dentith, denied that Ormerod was a predatory paedophile. He said: "He is not the Pied Piper of Torquay."

Dentith said there was a hate campaign against Ormerod and he would never be able to return to Torquay.

But outside court one victim's mother said: "He has cherry-picked these girls because they are vulnerable, and he has gone on to sexually exploit them.

"He has pretended to befriend them, shown them kindness and that he is a really decent, gentle guy he isn't. I'm glad he is locked up. He started the exploitation of young girls years ago."

Police said the hunt for other men suspected of abusing girls in Torquay was continuing.

Officers also conceded that questions needed to be asked about the way police and other agencies worked together to prevent vulnerable runaways being abused and to identify those who were targeting them.

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A SERIAL sex predator struck at a Crewe charity shop just two weeks after being released from prison.

Daniel OGrady, 47, of London Road, Sandbach, was convicted at Chester Crown Court on Thursday of sexually assaulting a young mum in the DebRA charity shop on September 11 last year.

He denied a charge of touching without consent but was found guilty after a two-day trial. He was cleared of a second count of sexual assault against an unidentified young girl in the same shop.

The jury heard how he approached his victim from behind in a thrusting movement an almost identical assault to his seven previous convictions of indecently assaulting a child between the ages of five and 13.

The woman in her 20s, who cannot be named, was browsing in the Victoria Centre charity shop at about 3.15pm with her one-year-old daughter when OGrady struck.

In tears on the witness stand, she said: I felt somebody bang into me from behind. He thrust himself against me twice.

When I looked around he was really startled and rushed off to the other side of the store.

The jury also heard from shop manager Susan Hindle, who described how OGrady caught her eye as soon as he walked in because he looked suspicious.

She said: He walked past the counter and I smiled but he didnt smile back and seemed to have a funny expression on his face.

She called the shopping centre security after the young woman told her what had happened.

OGrady, who was also convicted in 2004 of exposing himself in a petrol station shop, was arrested by police in a furniture shop 15 minutes later.

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A PAEDOPHILE who abused and intimidated young girls over several years will spend at least eight years in prison.

Mark Bradley, 44, formerly of Antrobus Road, Amesbury, was sentenced today at Winchester Crown Court after being found guilty of four counts of rape, two of rape of a child aged 13 to 15 and three charges of cruelty to a child.

He was also found guilty of causing actual bodily harm, four counts of indecent assault and one of sexual assault.

Bradley denied the abuse, which began when the victims were just seven years old, but was found guilty by a jury sitting at Winchester Crown Court following a four-week trial which started on May 16. Judge John Dixon said the case was “as chilling as it is shocking” and that Bradley's actions had caused “unquestionable and incalculable damage” to his victims.

 
Today Bradley was sentenced to 16 years in prison and told he will serve a minimum of eight years with another two years on licence.

“The catalogue of offences of which the jury convicted you almost beggars belief. You abandoned any humanity you had. You behaved like an animal - a callous and brutal one at that,” said Judge Dixon.

“You do not accept your guilt and you show not a shred of remorse,” he added.

In an outburst as he was sentenced, Bradley shouted: “I have done nothing to be ashamed of.”

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register indefinitely and a sexual offences prevention order has been put in place.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “Mark Bradley is a manipulative and depraved man who intimidated and sexually abused these girls over a period of many years.

“The victims were extremely brave to come forward and report the abuse. Reliving the abuse they suffered must have been very traumatic for them and we hope that the verdict goes some way to help them.

“We encourage anyone who is or has been a victim of sexual abuse to contact us.”

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A PEEPING tom who admitted planting a secret camera at his work to film female colleagues on the toilet is to be supervised by the court for the next 12 months.

Fish factory worker Robert Leask will also have to carry out 66 hours of community service and will be placed on the sex offenders register for one year.

The 50 year old, from Huxter, on the isle of Whalsay, must also pay a 240 fine after he failed to present himself at Lerwick police station twice in July to have his name placed on the register.

Last month Leask pled guilty to hiding a USB camera in the communal toilet at Blueshell Mussels packing factory at Sparl, near Brae, on 22 February this year.

A female worker found the camera wedged between pipes next to the sink in the domestic-style lavatory. She handed the device in to her manager, who saw Leask adjusting its position when she viewed its contents on her computer.

The police were called and Leask denied all knowledge of the device until he was told that he had been caught on camera himself.

Sheriff Graeme Napier had deferred sentence until Wednesday and placed Leask on the sex offenders register, but he got himself into more trouble when he failed to present himself at Lerwick police station.

On Wednesday he pled guilty to both offences, but his motives were no clearer after Leask failed to give social workers or his solicitor Tommy Allan any explanation for his behaviour.

Sheriff Napier described him as a hard working person whose actions had been a gross intrusion of privacy.

He added: Its difficult, as a male, to appreciate what the impact would be on the female victims who were intended to be victims of this offending.

However the sheriff said it would be inappropriate to send him to jail as it was his first offence and social workers suggested he could be helped to reduce the risk of reoffending.

Leask was placed on a 12 month supervision order with 66 hours voluntary work to be carried out over the next three months, and must pay a 240 fine for failing to register as a sex offender last month.

The sheriff said he did not want to place him under a curfew as this might encourage him to indulge in pornography.

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POLICE overheard a prostitute pleading with a drunken punter not to harm her after she had dialled 999.

The woman was working on the street when she was approached by Derry Gilfoy who agreed to pay 40 for her services, and they went to the nearby car park of a motor cycle dealership.

But Southampton Crown Court heard that Gilfoy, who had been drinking heavily, became violent, shouting and swearing at her before slapping her across the face. He then told the woman that as a working girl she would do as she was told, forcing her to the ground and hitting her.

Prosecutor Kate Freemantle said the heroin addict however managed to dial 999 on her mobile phone she had hidden down her top and they could hear her, crying, screaming and pleading with him to get off her.

Afterwards Gilfoy went home where he collapsed on the sofa before going to bed.

He was trapped by DNA left on her scarf.

Gilfoy, 36, of Rowan Close, Southampton, admitted rape, assault by penetration and possessing cannabis which was found at his home after his arrest.

Jailing him for five years, Judge Patrick Hooton told him: You treated this woman, prostitute or not, appallingly badly. You humiliated her.

In mitigation, Richard Onslow was remorseful and had saved the woman from the ordeal of having to give evidence. He must live with what he has done for a very long for what was cheap sexual gratification. He has ruined his life and that of his family.

Gilfoy was also placed on the sex offenders register for life.

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FORMER Shetland resident Chris Readings was jailed for 13 years at the High Court in Edinburgh after being found guilty of sexually abusing a young boy and girl in the islands.

The 44 year old, who left Shetland for Oxfordshire last year, was found guilty of six charges of abuse in various parts of the isles between May 2008 and January last year.

The offences included sodomy, attempted rape, making the 12 year old girl and 13 year old boy give him oral sex and perform sex acts on each other.

In court on Friday defence QC Bill Taylor said that Readings still denied the allegations and produced several character references.

These included a scrap book of photos and newspaper cuttings about his work helping female victims of sexual and other attacks, a reference from a former line manager in the ambulance service describing him as a diligent worker and a letter from a senior police Northampton officer praising him for risking his life by stopping at an accident on the M1 and tackling a blazing vehicle before emergency services arrived on the scene.

Readings had been involved in the attempt to set up an independent ambulance service in Shetland in recent years.

Judge Lord Brodie told Readings: Sexual abuse is cruel, it is selfish, it is damaging and in my view it falls to the courts to impose what is, frankly, a punitive sentence.

The judge also made an order extending his licence conditions for three years and added Readings name to the sex offenders register.

Northern Constabularys Det Ch Insp Kenny Anderson said: This was a serious child abuse case which has involved a number of agencies working together and resulted in inquiries being conducted throughout the United Kingdom.

I also wish to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the young victims who, despite suffering what can only be described as prolonged and sustained abuse, have shown immense courage.

Although Readings was presented with compelling evidence of his guilt, he continued to deny his crimes and chose to put his victims through the further ordeal of having to relive their abuse to give evidence in court.

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A 64-YEAR-OLD husband who downloaded scores of child pornography pictures has walked free from court still maintaining his innocence.

Douglas Gaunt kept his freedom but still refuses to accept responsibility for his crimes in the face of unanimous jury verdicts on 16 charges.

He was found guilty at Teesside Crown Court last month of making 59 indecent images of children by downloading them from the web.

In courts often dealing with cases involving hundreds or thousands of child abuse images, these were deemed to be a small number of pictures.

Judge John Walford said: The fact of the case is that were talking about two specific dates over 21 months ago and a small number of images, for the most part images of the lowest level of seriousness.

He gave Gaunt a community order - as prescribed by sentencing guidelines and suggested by a probation report - with two years supervision.

It will address the sort of factors that caused you to behave uncharacteristically, Im satisfied, on those two occasions, he added yesterday.

Defence counsel Paul Cleasby said Gaunt continued to protest innocence but fulfilled his obligations for the sex offenders register, on which he will remain for five years.

Mr Cleasby said: He is not somebody who ignores the authority of the court.

He has reached 64 without any relevant previous convictions and has blemished his good character by his behaviour in June 2009. It is a very short window of offending.

He added Gaunt found great solace in the support of his wife, he had not offended since and supervising him would benefit the public.

Gaunt, who said he had no intention of having a computer in his home again, was also given a sexual offences prevention order.

The prosecution had told jurors Gaunt, of Meadowview Road, Middlesbrough, was a man with a predilection for searching and looking for sexual images of children.

The photos were found under Gaunts password-protected profile on the family computer after police searched his home on June 12, 2009.

The trial heard how the investigation revealed searches for child pornography and links to 5,000 websites suggestive of child pornography, on Gaunts computer.

Gaunts name, age, the area he lived and hobbies and interests like sex sex sex and young girls were registered on social networking sites.

The police raid sprung from a probe into alleged communication between Gaunt and a convicted sex offender.

In their online chats gauntdouglas, a user name linked to Gaunts email address and home, talked of young prostitutes on Teesside.

Gaunt denied accessing, receiving, saving or searching for pictures of young girls or visiting chat rooms or social networking sites on the internet.

He denied any knowledge of the pictures on his machine and said he didnt know who put them there, but insisted that it was not him.

He commented of some of the images: Ive seen worse on the beach in Spain.

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A pervert has been jailed for six years for sexually abusing two girls.

John Rigby assaulted one girl and gave her "hush money" to stop her telling her mother.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the abuse by 53-year-old Rigby, of Grasmere Grove, Rochester, dated back several years but the victim did not report it until more recently.

Simon Taylor, prosecuting, told the jury Rigby also molested another girl.

He denied six charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, 10 of indecent assault and six of indecency with a child.

He was convicted last month of all charges except one of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, which was left on the court file.

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CHILD abuser Gary Haggas starts an 18-year prison term today - still denying the terrible crimes which wrecked his two daughters’ childhoods.

The 67-year-old former ice cream man shows no remorse for the litany of sexual abuse he inflicted on his two daughters decades ago.

He begins his long sentence as his victims bravely waive their right to anonymity and launch a campaign to encourage other abuse victims to speak out.

Judge Peter Armstrong told Haggas yesterday: “You’ve devastated their lives and robbed them effectively of a happy childhood.

“And you’ve now got to pay the price for that behaviour.”

Teesside Crown Court heard how he subjected the girls to systematic abuse for years in the 1970s and 1980s, sexually assaulting and raping them.

He molested them in the family homes in Hemlington and Middlesbrough, his car, one of the ice cream vans he operated in the town and their mum’s shop on Parliament Road.

Judge Armstrong said it was “a catalogue of the most appalling offences” against Janet Haggas and Jean Cookson.

The most serious crime was raping the two girls in each other’s presence - an offence which earned him an 18-year jail sentence on its own.

The judge read moving statements about the impact on the girls, now women in their forties, who had to relive their ordeals in the witness box.

He said: “These offences involved a gross abuse of a position of trust as a father. You should have been protecting these girls, not abusing them.

“They were carried out over a long period of time. They were particularly young and vulnerable when it all started.

“The offences were repeated over and over again.

“You continue to deny these offences and so you’ve shown absolutely no remorse whatsoever for what you’ve done.

“You offered sweets to the girls, told them they were your good girls, a form of bribery in my view, typical of paedophile-type behaviour.

“Your daughters have had to live with these offences and knowledge of them for very many, many years.”

Haggas’ had a previous conviction and nine-month prison sentence from 1996 for gross indecency with a boy.

The judge said this indicated “a distorted and perverted interest in sexual offending against children”.

He said it had to be a long sentence to punish him for the “dreadful” offences and show others that such behaviour “simply cannot be tolerated”.

Haggas, of Whingroves, Thornaby, denied all 25 charges against him and took the case to a long trial earlier this year.

The jury unanimously convicted Haggas of seven charges of rape, seven of indecent assault and one of indecency with a child, and cleared him of two rape charges.

He was accused of indecently assaulting another complainant but he was acquitted on all eight of these charges.

Jurors heard the shocking details of the sexual attacks, which started when each of the girls was about seven and carried on into their teens. The trial was told that Haggas was “a controlling and manipulative abuser”.

In both cases, the abuse started as Haggas touched the girls as they sat on his knee, then escalated to worse assaults and repeated rapes.

He abused Janet regularly for about 10 years, raping her on the day of the Queen’s Jubilee in 1977 when she was just 11.

He raped Jean while she was off sick from school and once kept her home to rape her while the rest of the family were in Albert Park.

He said to her she should “do as she was told”, ignoring her protests and saying no, and once gave her a £5 note to try to ensure her silence.

The allegations emerged decades later as a detective was told of the abuse and formal complaints were made.

Haggas denied the offences in police interviews and claimed the women were lying after getting their heads together.

Defence QC Jamie Hill asked the judge for mercy yesterday.

He told the court: “Mr Haggas has consistently denied these offences and of course continues so to do.”

He said the crimes stopped 28 years ago and Haggas’ risk of re-offending had diminished.

The judge did not reduce the sentence because of Haggas’ “infirmity”.

Standing with a walking stick in the dock, Haggas was said to have high blood pressure, hip problems, awaited surgery and took disability benefits.

The judge said reports indicated Haggas, who did voluntary vehicle and maintenance work for his church, posed a risk to children in the future.

He was given a sexual offences prevention order banning him from unsupervised contact with under-18s.

He will be banned from working with children and will be on the sex offenders’ register - all indefinitely.