Latest Offenders

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A paedophile who avoided jail for committing a series of sexual assaults on children has now been resentenced to 18 months behind bars.

Michael Porter, 38, of Okehampton Close, North Finchley, was resentenced by the Court of Appeal on Wednesday after the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland, judged the original sentence to be "unduly lenient".

Porter carried out his attacks between 1986 and 2000, groping boys as they slept in bed and taking advantage of children as he baby-sat them. Some were unaware they had been abused, including an 18-month-old baby and a three-year-old boy.

In August, Porter was given a three-year community rehabilitation order at Bristol Crown Court after admitting 25 charges of gross indecency and indecent assault.

Judge Thomas Crowther QC decided that "complex" issues in his childhood made his actions "understandable".

He was handed a Sexual Offences Prevention Order, banning him from unsupervised contact with children under 18 and living or sleeping at an address where there are children.

The verdict sparked a public outcry and led Baroness Scotland to refer the case to the Court of Appeal under the Unduly Lenient Sentence Scheme.

Referring to the original sentence after jailing Porter on Wednesday, Lord Justice Gage said: "The judge took a course which he recognised as lenient and he described the case as exceptional.

"We can understand the judge's reasons for doing so. We recognise that the offender has made considerable efforts to ensure he doesn't commit any offences of this type again.

"But we have to recognise that these were serious offences committed on a number of young children and adolescents over a long time. These offences required an element of punishment as well as an element of mercy. They must be marked with a custodial sentence."

Porter handed himself in to police in Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, last October, after one victim went to leaders of the Portishead Jehovah's Witness church, where he was a member.

Porter's sentencing follows the early release of another convicted paedophile in the borough.

Andrew Josephs, who used to live in Edgware Way, Edgware, was released early from his sentence, police confirmed last week.

As part of his parole, he has been banned from entering the borough of Harrow, but it is believed the restriction does not extend to the borough of Barnet.

A spokesman for Barnet police said: "The probation service in partnership with the Public Protection Unit at Barnet Police are monitoring Mr Jospehs.

"He is on probation having been released from prison."

Josephs, who used to teach Jewish studies at a Harrow school, was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison last March. He was found guilty at Wood Green Crown Court of four counts of indecent assault on one boy, and two of committing sexual activity with a second child.

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Released in 2013

A HOLIDAY camp chef who tied up and raped two 15-year-old girls he met while working near Burnham has finally been jailed after going on the run.

Clayton Ball, 25, was tried in his absence in September and later arrested on the Isle of Wight following a national manhunt.

But on Monday (November 5) Ball was in the dock at Taunton Crown Court to hear a judge confirm his 12-year prison sentence.

During his trial a jury heard he was working in a holiday camp fish and chip shop when he met the teenage holidaymakers.

One girl, thinking she was his girlfriend, was raped in his caravan with her hands tied with a belt and while blindfolded with a bandana.

He also had sex with another girl, whom he had talked of marrying. They twice had intercourse with her consent in June 2005 but four months later he tied her with his belt, and raped her after trying to put her in a pair of pink-furred handcuffs.

Nicolas Gerasimidis, prosecuting, said both went to his caravan for kisses and cuddles but Ball went far beyond that and raped them using a combination of violence and bondage.

Ball was convicted on two counts of rape and was found not guilty on a third similar charge on the direction of the judge. He was also found guilty on two charges of sexual activity with a child and had admitted possession of five indecent images of children at an earlier court hearing.

Defending Ball, Alan Large submitted that the sentence could be reduced. He referred to a psychiatrist's report and his client was of previous good character.

"He was a rather sad lonely man working hard, but with not much of a social life," he said.

He was sentenced to six years jail on each rape, to run consecutively, with concurrent sentences of 18 months for the other offences In reviewing the sentences on Monday, His Honour David Smith QC, sitting as a deputy circuit judge, said it was a distressing and sad case which called for severe penalties.

He said: "The conclusion I come to is that the sentence on the last occasion is appropriate".

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Reported to be working in the jewish community of Cyprus.

A 33-year-old family man who downloaded child porn from the internet was today (Mon) jailed for nine months.

Heath Colwyn was arrested after police investigating a West Midlands man discovered that he had sent images to Colwyn.

When police went to Colwyn's home on March 22, 2005 they seized two laptop computers and 21 floppy discs. When these were analysed officers found a total of 488 indecent images of children aged between about nine to 15 years.

Geoffrey Greenwood, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court that 277 of the images were in the lowest category of such images but there were 89 in the serious category involving sex with adults.

On one of the laptops they found emails showing that he had distributed images to other similar minded people in the UK.

Colwyn, of Cornwall Way, Ainsdale, pleaded guilty to 26 offences of making indecent images of children and five of distributing them.

His barrister, Andrew Loveridge, said that Colwyn, who has no similar previous convictions, denied his behaviour had been sexually motived.

But jailing him Judge David Aubrey, QC, said he found that "difficult to accept."

He pointed out that viewing such images perpetuates child abuse. Mr Loveridge said that Colwyn committed the offences because he felt isolated. His wife, with whom he has a three-year-old son, is standing by him.

He pointed out that the offences committed by Colwyn, who works as an electrical engineer, happened two and a half years ago.

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A man who had sex with two underage girls he met in an internet chat room has been jailed for eight years. Steven Brodie, 29, slept with a 13-year-old girl in her bedroom in Caithness after first leading her to believe he was the same age as her.

He later had sex with 15-year-old girl in the Highlands.

Passing sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh, judge Lord McPhail said Brodie had shown little thought for the consequences on his victims.

The case had earlier been referred to the High Court from Wick Sheriff Court after Sheriff Andrew Berry said he could only impose a five-year prison sentence.

This is a clear case of the callous, cynical and deliberate grooming and exploitation of a child by an adult male for sexual purposes
- Lord McPhail

Brodie, from Edinburgh, admitted he had sex with the 13-year-old girl and that he was aware of her age. He also admitted having intercourse with the other youngster, but said he thought she was 16.

The court was told that Brodie swapped about 200 text messages and calls with the 13-year-old girl he met in a chatroom before driving to her Highland home and having sex with her after the victim's mother left for work.

Police later discovered that he had also formed a relationship with a 15-year-old girl in a chatroom and taken her to a bed-and-breakfast for sex.

Lord McPhail said: "This is a clear case of the callous, cynical and deliberate grooming and exploitation of a child by an adult male for sexual purposes."

"You were 28 at the time and developed a relationship with a child of 13 on the internet, well aware she was only that age."

'Affected her schooling'

The judge said a background report made it clear Brodie had been more worried about the consequences of the case for himself than for his victims.

He added: "Your behaviour towards the youngest child affected her schooling and her relationship with her mother. You have been concerned mainly with the consequences for yourself."

Brodie met the younger victim in November last year after she accessed the internet on her phone and was connected with a chatroom.

She at first thought he was about the same age as her, but as they exchanged messages she became aware of his true age.

After meeting her for sex, Brodie kept in contact with his victim before she revealed to a friend what had happened.

The friend then spoke to her own mother, who contacted the police and the mother of the victim.

Defence solicitor advocate Neil Wilson said Brodie was "at a loss to explain his behaviour towards the end of last year".

He said Brodie maintained he was not actively searching for a girl under the age of consent when he went into the chatroom, but was looking for a sexual relationship.

Brodie earlier pled guilty to three charges of unlawful sexual intercourse with the underage girls.

He also admitted two offences under protection of children and prevention of sexual offences legislation.

The mother of the younger victim has previously warned other parents about the potential dangers of young girls to access chatrooms on their mobile phones.

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A PAEDOPHILE who systematically raped and sexually abused a schoolgirl over a long period has been jailed for 15 years.

Peter Chitticks, 51, of Hornby Close, Westcliff, subjected the young girl to a sickening catalogue of rape and sexual assault between 1997 and 2003, starting when the victim was only nine.

The abuse only came to light when the young victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, plucked up courage to report it to police last year. At Basildon Crown Court, Deputy Circuit Judge Gareth Davies told Chitticks he had treated the victim as his "sex toy" and said he would have to serve at least half his sentence before he could be considered for parole.

 Speaking after the sentencing, investigating officer Det Con Rob Smallcombe said: "This was a protracted inquiry and one which was very traumatic for the victim.

"She not only had to hear evidence in court, but had to recall the events from her childhood herself as part of the prosecution case.

"She shares our delight that Peter Chitticks will be behind bars for a very long time."

Chitticks, a warehouse worker, was found guilty last week of seven counts of indecency with a child, four of rape and two of indecent assault.

He had denied all the allegations.

Chitticks, who had no previous convictions, will also remain on the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.

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Chris Langham arrived at Maidstone Crown Court, in the words of Judge Philip Statman, "a gifted actor and writer" - a Bafta award-winning performer at the peak of his career.

He left it in the back of a prison van, his name on the register of sex offenders and awaiting sentencing on 15 counts of making indecent images of a child - in other words, downloading child pornography.

Throughout his trial he had denied the charges. To plead guilty would have meant, he said, admitting he was a paedophile "which I am not".

But he admitted looking at child pornography online and gave two explanations for what he did.

The first was that he was researching a character, a sex offender, for the TV series Help.

The second, he said as his voice shook, was that he himself had been sexually abused as a child, and he had been drawn to the internet images of abuse "because it's an issue in my life".

Juror wept

It was dismissed as "pseudo-psychobabble" by prosecutor Richard Barraclough QC and the judge said neither explanation provided a legal defence.

When the jury were shown parts of the clips he had downloaded, one member wept.

In court Langham cut a repentant but often articulate figure, describing a life troubled not only by incidents of abuse as a child, but problems with drink and drugs before he gave both up in the 1980s.

He described how therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous had saved his life. He broke down once, when he described the impact his arrest had on his family.

"I just wanted to die and I tried to kill myself," he said.

The jury cleared him of six counts of indecent assault and two counts of serious sexual assault on a girl who was just 14 when the alleged crimes were to have begun.

Family support

Now a woman aged 25, she had gone to police after she heard media reports of Langham's arrest on suspicion of possessing child pornography in 2005.

Hidden from the defendant by a screen in court, she told the jury she had met the actor when he appeared in a theatre production of Les Miserables.

He took her to some of London's top restaurants and bought her expensive gifts. But her allegations that he had sex with her in his dressing room, in hotels and at his home did not convince the jury.

At times throughout the trial his three adult sons, each bearing a startling resemblance to the actor, sat at the back of the public gallery.

Moments before the verdict, Langham smiled and nodded to them.

After the verdict Detective Inspector Derek Cuff spoke outside the court on behalf, he said, of those whose voices had not been heard inside - the children sexually abused in the production of "harrowing" pornography which Langham had, by viewing, helped perpetuate.

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A convicted child rapist who went on the run from a mental unit following a shopping trip has been banned from any further outings - for now.

At Basildon Crown Court, Judge Philip Clegg revealed it was the fourth time Patrick Cash, 35, had gone missing from Clare House, in Burnt Mills Road, Bowers Gifford. Cash, who was convicted in 1995 of twice raping a schoolboy, disappeared for 11 days last month after being allowed to go to Basildon.

Instead he got the train to London and went drinking with friends.

Police at first failed to tell the public the sex offender was on the run and waited five days before launching a public appeal.

Cash eventually handed himself in to police.

Judge Clegg said action was needed to protect Cash and the public. He said: "I am not in the business of punishing the mentally-ill, but I am in the business of ensuring the public are protected."

Cash was released into the care of staff at Clare House.

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Police have smashed a global child abuse network which was co-ordinated through a UK-based internet site.Global agencies, led by UK investigators, examined more than 700 suspects, including 200 in the UK.

The ring was run by Timothy Cox, 28, of Buxhall, Suffolk, who admitted nine offences and has been handed a sentence which could mean he dies in jail.

A judge at Ipswich Crown Court told Cox: "You are obsessed with images of children being sexually abused."

Chatroom infiltration

Cox ran a website called "Kids the Light of Our Lives" which let users exchange abuse images, the court heard.

Timothy Cox saw a "gap in the market", the court heard

Judge Peter Thompson told Cox: "These are shocking images which involve very young children - in the worst cases being subjected to sadistic, painful abuse which you, for some distorted reason, appear to take enjoyment from."

"Anybody who thinks they can carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a rude awakening" Jim Gamble CEOP.

More than 75,000 indecent and explicit images were found on Cox's computer and there was evidence that he had supplied more than 11,000 images to other site users.

Cox pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing indecent images of children at an earlier hearing and was handed an indeterminate sentence.

Cox posed "significant risks", the judge said, and had to be imprisoned for "for public protection".

Under the terms of his sentence, he must satisfy the authorities that he is fit for release and does not pose any threat to the community before he can ever be set free.

Ian Robertson, of the UK-based Child Exploitation and Online Protection centre (CEOP), told BBC News 24 that the ages of the children whose images were exchanged on the site ranged from babies to teenagers.

After he was arrested in September 2006, undercover officers spent 10 days infiltrating the chatroom, assuming his identity to collect evidence about other users.

When Cox was arrested, undercover officers placed a message online saying he had gone for his tea and would be back in half an hour to avoid raising suspicions.

As many as 70 online paedophiles were waiting to download images of abuse.

Investigators from the Australian Federal Police, the US Department of Homeland Security and Toronto Police took part in the online surveillance operation.

In total, 31 children were saved as a result of the investigation, CEOP said.

Cox lived with his parents, sister and 26-year-old girlfriend in a large farmhouse and worked at the family's micro-brewery. The website was operated from his bedroom.

CEOP said Cox hosted the website using the pseudonym "Son of God" - a reference to "G.O.D", the online identity of the owner of another paedophile site shut down by police last year.

The court heard Cox spotted a "gap in the market" after the other site was closed.

Simon Spence, prosecuting, told the court: "For what must have been hours at a time he was online either viewing these images of children, arranging the chat room or communicating with other paedophiles."

'Horrific Activities'

Jim Gamble of CEOP said his capture "sends a powerful warning to those using the internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children".

He added: "From the apparent 'safety' of his home, Cox spent hours each day planning, promoting and encouraging the abuse and exploitation of children.

"In doing so he provided a service to hundreds of like-minded individuals, enabling those with a sexual interest in children to share indecent images and discuss further plans for abuse.

"Anybody who thinks they can carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a rude awakening."

Cox had been identified after intelligence connecting the site to the UK was passed to CEOP by Canadian investigators.

Detective Constable Stefan Jochan said: "He doesn't fit any kind of traditional image of paedophile. He had a veneer of respectability."

The investigation uncovered another member of the same ring, Gordon Mackintosh from Hertfordshire, who attempted to keep the website going after Cox was arrested.

Mackintosh, 33, used the names "silentblackheart" and "lust4skoolgurls". More than 5,000 images were found on his computer as well as 392 indecent movie files.

He pleaded guilty to 27 charges of making, possessing and distributing the material and is due to be sentenced on June 29.

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A rapist freed early from prison murdered his disabled fiance after she taunted him about his criminal past.

Over a week later, with her body locked in an upstairs bedroom, David Tiley raped and killed her carer.

Tiley, 47, carried out a sickening sexual assault on his fiance Susan Hale before stabbing her in the head and chest.

Despite him being under police supervision, the murder went undetected as he continued to live as normal.

He then raped and stabbed carer Sarah Merritt, a married mother of two, when she arrived for a routine visit.

Tiley served a six-year sentence for rape in 1995 and was subsequently jailed three times for failing to tell police of his whereabouts as a sex offender.

He killed Mrs Hale and Mrs Merritt two months after being released early from his latest ten-month sentence.

Hampshire Police yesterday announced that an independent review of their procedures us under way after Tiley admitted both murders and was jailed for life.

Mr Justice Irwin told him he would never be released, adding: "The brutality and evil of what you did defies adequate description."

Tiley met Mrs Hale, who suffered from cerebellar ataxia - a rare degenerative brain disorder which caused her difficulties in walking - at an amusement arcade in Southampton last year.

He moved in with the 49-year- old mother-of-five, but was jailed last August for failing to tell police of his change of address. After his early release in January, the couple became engaged.

But on the evening of March 7, Tiley bludgeoned her in the head with a hammer after she taunted him about "something in his past", Winchester Crown Court was told.

Nick Hawkins, prosecuting, said Tiley then bound Mrs Hale's ankles and wrists with dressing gown cords before committing a serious sexual assault.

He then stabbed her four times, twice in the head and twice in the chest, before watching her die. Pathologists said she would have died "rapidly, but not immediately".

After covering her body with a duvet, Tiley turned on a fan to keep the bedroom cool and sprayed deodorant under the door to mask the smell of decomposition.

He then carried on his life as normal, visiting the amusement arcade and local shops. He also used Mrs Hale's mobile phone to send text messages to her friends.

Eight days later, 39-year-old Mrs Merritt made a routine visit to bathe Mrs Hale. Tiley brandished a knife, bound her wrists with material and told her Mrs Hale was dead.

He then took her bank card, demanded her PIN and left her gagged and bound while he went out to withdraw 150 from her account.

On his return, he removed the gag and "had a conversation" with the terrified woman while he smoked two cigarettes.

When she began to cry, he became angry, tore off her clothes and raped her before stabbing her twice in the neck with the same six-inch kitchen knife he had used to kill Mrs Hale.

Tiley was arrested two days later in Swanage, Dorset, where he was sleeping rough.

Mrs Merritt's 41-year-old husband Peter told the court he drove to Mrs Hale's flat when his wife failed to return home. Police were later called and made the grim discovery of the two bodies.

Shaking with emotion, Mr Merritt described how his family had been devastated by his wife's murder.

Tattooed Tiley sat impassively as Mr Merritt said: "Sarah didn't do anything to deserve such an end to her life. I now know what it means to be truly heartbroken.

"I cannot get the thought out of my mind of how scared and so very afraid she must have been that day and that I could do nothing to help her in her hour of need."

Mrs Hale's son David Chopra said his mother had been robbed of a natural, peaceful ending to her life.

Hampshire Police said Tiley had been considered a low or medium risk, but "short of 24-hour surveillance" there could be no guarantees that such a man could be prevented from reoffending.

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A paedophile who lured three young girls into his bedroom and sexually abused them has been jailed for eight-and-a-half years.

Michael Griffin, 42, (pictured right) was sentenced at Reading Crown Court on Friday after being found guilty of six counts of sexual assault on a child under 13 and two counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Outside the court a relative of one of the girls, who cannot be named, spoke of her relief.

She told the Evening Post: “No sentence will ever be long enough, but I feel relieved justice has finally been done for these children.

“He (Griffin) has been locked up and won’t be able to harm other children and put them through the suffering our family has been through.

Speaking about how the girls had been coping, she added: “They get very sad and tearful. I am worried about the long term effects but hopefully we can all get our lives back together.

“What he did to these children was horrendous. The devil comes in many disguises. I thought he was a nice person but got it all so badly wrong.”

The court had heard Griffin befriended the girls in Spencers Wood in the autumn of 2004 when they were aged between three and nine.

During the year he abused them as they watched television and played on a computer in his bedroom.

In one sinister game he would wrap them up in his duvet and reach up and touch them sexually.

The computer was later seized by police and found to contain more than 200 indecent images and video clips of children including penetrative sex between an adult and child.

Griffin told the court he had worked voluntarily as an administrator for an adult chatroom and became intrigued by child pornography following the Gary Glitter case.

Passing sentence, Judge Stanley Spence described Griffin as “a dangerous paedophile” who carried out a “despicable act” and was a serious risk to the public.

He said: “You forced all these girls to come into court and give evidence and subject them to being called liars reducing them to tears.”

Referring to the child pornography found on Griffin’s computer, he added: “I completely reject your ridiculous suggestion of research – you did it because you have an unhealthy interest in young girls.”

Griffin, of Pear Tree Lane, Newbury, was ordered never to be alone with a child under 16, including relatives, without parental presence.

He was also told never to contact the abused girls, and was barred from residing in or visiting Spencers Wood until his victims reached 16 years of age.

Griffin was further banned from any communication with a child including through the internet and working with children. He was placed on the sexual offenders’ register indefinitely.

After his sentence DC Jayne Payne, child protection officer at Thames Valley Police, said: “This sentence really reflects justice for these three delightful little girls. They came forward and gave evidence in court, which in itself is traumatic, but told the truth and the jury made the correct verdict.”

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A convicted paedophile who was allowed to work with children on a Thomas The Tank Engine theme day on a Hampshire railway and then attacked a six-year-old girl was today found guilty of sexual assault.

Volunteer George Sully, 73, known as Ray Sully, put his hand up the skirt of the youngster and touched her bottom on James the red engine at the heritage steam Watercress Line in August last year.

The girl from Surrey was with her mother, father and younger sister when some of the family went up on the engine supervised by Sully playing the part of a 1950s engine driver.

He then assaulted the girl but was seen by another woman and the girl's mother.

The retired businessman from Four Marks, had denied the charge and said he could not remember touching the girl.

It emerged during the four-day trial at Winchester Crown Court that Sully had not had a Criminal Records Bureau check made on him despite having convictions for almost identical attacks stretching back 38 years.

He had touched the bottom of an 11-year-old girl in Woolworths in Guildford, Surrey, in 1968. He pleaded guilty to indecent assault and was fined £10.

In 1974 he followed two seven-year-old girls in Woking, Surrey, and put his hand up their skirts and squeezed their bottoms. He again pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault and was given 12 months' probation.

During his own evidence he said he was in close contact with hundreds of children a day during the eight day long Thomas attraction on the railway which occurred twice a year.

He had volunteered on the popular railway in 2002 and started on the Thomas days in 2003 but he did not fill out any forms and he never told the charity about his past, the court heard.

The decision not to check his past was criticised by the police and the girl's parents.

A jury returned a majority verdict after nine hours of deliberations.

The Recorder of Winchester Michael Brodrick said that Sully could be imprisoned under public protection legislation - meaning a indeterminate sentence if he continued to pose a risk to children.

He also ordered him to sign the sex offenders register and was disqualified from working with children.

Granting Sully bail and adjourning the case for sentence on June 18, the judge said: ''You are in a very serious position indeed.''

Description

A SOUTHAMPTON police sergeant has been jailed for 15 years after being convicted of raping a schoolgirl.

Gary Clark, 48, was found guilty of a total of 17 offences - including ten counts of indecent assault on a female under 16, six counts of indecency with a child and one count of rape.

Clark, who was suspended from duty last August while investigations were carried out, was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court this morning.

Detective Inspector Victoria Dennis, of Hampshire Constabulary, said: "I welcome these convictions which follow a lengthy investigation by Hampshire Constabulary.

"Our thoughts are with the victim and her family at this time.

"I hope today's result will bring some level of closure to the victim and her family and that she can now start to rebuild her life."

He will now be subject to an internal police misconduct investigation.

Det Insp Dennis added: "Hampshire Constabulary takes any allegations of this kind extremely seriously and will investigate them thoroughly.

"It is extremely rare for a Hampshire constabulary officer to be charged and convicted of such serious sexual offences.

"At Kingston Crown Court today, Mr Clark was sentenced with a total of 12 years imprisonment and three years extended sentence for rape, the other 16 counts will run concurrently.

"The constabulary would like to reassure residents that Hampshire and the Isle of Wight remains a safe place to live, work and grow old."

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A Shetland teenager has been found guilty of a catalogue of sexual abuse against children as young as seven.

The guilty verdict against 17-year-old Jamie Leask followed a week-long trial at the High Court in Aberdeen.

Leask, who cried as the verdict was read out, was remanded in custody and placed on the sex offenders' register.

The teenager, who committed the offences in Lerwick over an 18-month period, will be sentenced in Edinburgh next month.

His victims were forced to give evidence against him, some via video link, after he denied the charges.

The court heard how he had sex with two different nine-year-old boys on separate occasions and forced them to perform sex acts on him.

He also forced two young boys, aged seven and nine, to have sex and perform lewd acts on each other.

The abuse took place at Seafield Park in Lerwick between 5 July and 23 August last year - while he was bailed for earlier alleged sex attacks on young girls.

However, the charges of rape against the two girls, aged 13 and 14, near a bomb shelter at "The Knab", a coastal walk area in Lerwick, were dropped.

Leask was instead found guilty of having underage sex with the schoolgirls.

The jury heard how the teenager had sex with the 13-year-old girl on Valentine's Day then taunted her that she was carrying his baby.

Baby taunts

He later ordered the other girl, aged 14 - his friend's girlfriend - to strip before having sex with her in September that year, while his friend watched.

The court heard how Leask, a former supermarket check-out operator, committed the first two attacks while he was still at school.

Leask, who has been held in custody since November, had sentence deferred to Edinburgh High Court for background reports until 23 May.

Lord Turnbull told the jury: "The nature of this case, involving evidence from children, has made it a demanding and unpleasant one."

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A LABOURER was jailed for a month and put on the sex offenders register for seven years after he slapped the bottom of an off-duty policewoman.

Anthony O'Neill, 22, was stunned when he was given the sentence. His relatives are furious and say the punishment is over-the-top for, what they say, was a silly joke. They say he has lost his job and been branded "a pervert".

O'Neill, pictured, ended up in trouble while he was drinking in a city centre street at 11am one day in November.

He told a court he thought it would be funny to smack the woman's behind when she bent down near him. Instead, the woman officer produced a police warrant card and arrested him.

O'Neill, of Goredale Avenue, Gorton, admitted sexual assault at Manchester Magistrates' Court. District Judge Paul Richardson told him: "What you did was insulting and demeaning - it was anything but funny."

Jailed

As well as being put on the register, he was jailed for a month but immediately released because he had already spent five weeks in custody.

After he was arrested, O'Neill admitted: "I have done it before. Some women like it, others don't." Outside court, O'Neill claimed he only admitted the sex assault charge because he wanted to be released after being held for 16 hours. He is considering an appeal.

He said: "I should have been sent away because it's taught me a lesson not to smack a woman's bum. But to be put on the sex offenders register is just daft."

'Drink'

O'Neill's mother, Karen, said: "I think it is terrible. People will see that and wonder what on earth has he done, and think it must be very serious. Rapists and serious sex abusers get put on for that long.

"He wouldn't harm anyone. Everyone can get a bit out of hand when they've had a drink."

The sex offenders register was set up in 1997 and holds details of about 29,000 people convicted, cautioned or released from prison for a sexual offence against children or adults.

Convicted sex offenders must register with the police within three days of their conviction or release from prison and failure to do so can result in prison. They must also inform police if they change their name or address.

Description

A FLASHER with a history of violent sex offences was jailed indefinitely at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday.

Sentencing Gareth Newman, 26, to a minimum of 18 months imprisonment, Judge James Meston QC described him as "a significant risk" to women.

Bournemouth Crown Court heard that Newman, of Recreation Road, Poole, exposed himself to various females over two days last June. The youngest was 11.

He was found guilty of three charges of indecent exposure and one of carrying out a sex act in the presence of a child after a trial in December.

Newman had earlier pleaded guilty to failing to comply with the terms of the Sex Offenders Register by failing to notify police of his address.

The court heard Newman was convicted of three indecent assaults back in 1998 in which violence was used.

Judge Meston also ordered Newman to go on the Sex Offenders Register for life and disqualified him from working with children.

DC Andrew Kennard said Newman typically targeted young girls on their own.

He told the Echo: "I'd like to thank the victims for coming forward and providing the evidence that secured this conviction and the support given to them by their families.

"Gareth Newman committed offences at various times of the day in the Rossmore area of Poole and singled out young girls in their teens, usually on their own.

"No-one - whatever their age - deserves to be a victim of crime that involves someone making inappropriate remarks, intentionally exposing themselves or touching another person in an improper way.

"This case sends out a clear message that all crimes of a sexual nature are taken seriously by Dorset Police."

Speaking afterwards, the mother of a 13-year-old victim said: "This incident has had a major impact on my daughter and my family.

"My daughter was 13 when it happened and was a normal outgoing girl who enjoyed going out to meet her friends.

"Since the incident she has become much more aware of what is going on around her and really doesn't like to walk alone, even in daylight.

"Every time she goes out she is reminded of what happened - especially as it happened so close to where we live.

"In the weeks before the court case she suffered from panic attacks and it has really affected her everyday life.

"I hope that the sentence given to the offender reflects what he has done to these young girls. I am delighted with what the police have done - we couldn't have asked for anything more."