Latest Offenders

Description

A SEX offender once found guilty of offences relating to an international paedophile ring linked to Hampshire has been hauled back before the courts.

Jasmine Melissa Hope, previously known as Melissa Noon, pleaded guilty to breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order by deleting the internet history on her mobile phone.

Appearing at Southampton Crown Court, the 38-year-old, of Howard Road, Southampton, was sentenced to a 12 month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

The order was imposed on Hope by Portsmouth Crown Court in 2011 after she was found guilty for her part in an international paedophile ring based in Hampshire.

As previously reported in the Echo, the group committed "horrific" crimes against two young children in the UK and one in Australia.

Hope was found guilty of 11 charges including causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Following a six week trial, ringleader Robert Hathaway, 37, then of Tyseley Road, Portsmouth, was given an indeterminate sentence of 12 years.

That was later quashed and replaced with a life sentence with a minimum term of 10 years.

Hope, who was Hathaway's partner, received four years.

This was later doubled to eight years on appeal through the unduly lenient sentence scheme.

Three other defendants became involved by meeting the couple over the internet to carry out the abuse and were jailed for a total of 15 years.

As previously Hampshire police launched their investigation into the ring after being tipped off by the authorities in Australia, who had uncovered a "mirror image'' ring in Brisbane and Sydney which also abused at least one young child.

Hathaway had been in contact with this ring and shared images with them and one of the charges faced by Noon was for encouraging the Australian child to engage in sexual activity.

A total of 2,000 pages of chat logs were uncovered by police, as well as 14,000 indecent images of children and 300 videos of children being abused.

Description

Garry Byrne lay in bed in the room he lodged in at a married couple's home swapping images with more than 400 people across the 32 groups - copying his favourites from his Samsung phone to two laptops.

Portsmouth Crown Court heard the 55-year-old loner confessed having a sickening sexual interest in children aged between six and 15 but had videos of a toddler boy of 18 months being abused.

When he was arrested at home Byrne, co-founder of GDC Waste Limited in Portsmouth, immediately admitted officers would find indecent images on his two laptops, phone and USB stick.

In all, he had 4,211 child abuse images - including 755 videos and 614 still images rated as category A, the most serious classification.

Prosecutor Sally Mertens said: 'On the phone there were 27,329 images which were ungraded but they have been flash reviewed (by police). The majority appear to have been of children and would fit into categories A, B and C.'

Ms Mertens revealed Byrne, who has since moved from his home in Langley Road, Fratton, has two convictions for attempting to incite gross indecency with a six-year-old boy in 2004.

Byrne sent 56 images on WhatsApp groups but the court heard they were received by multiple people meaning they were distributed more than 15,000 times.

Judge William Ashworth said: 'Each of these images represent a moment, a memory, for those children when they would have been in an environment with abusive adults - likely to be either away from the care of their parents or abused at the hands of their parents, and subjected to horrifying ordeals which will no doubt scar them forever.

'It's the trade in those images that perpetuates the need or perceived need for people to continue to abuse those children in this terrible manner behind closed doors.'

He added Byrne shared the abuse images to 'thousands and thousands' of people via WhatsApp groups. The charges showed he distributed 104,000 images.

Ms Mertens said: 'He admitted to having a sexual interest in young boys. He said that, despite his previous conviction of attempting to incite gross indecency with a child, he had never approached a child.'

Byrne claimed his watching abuse images was 'his release and that prevents him from offending against children,' Ms Mertens said.

Byrne, a chronic alcoholic who had drunk the equivalent of two bottles of vodka a day until recently, admitted three charges each of distributing and making indecent images of children between May 2017 and February 2018.

Daniel Reilly, mitigating, said Byrne was thrown out of his home at the age of 13 after telling his Irish Catholic father he was gay - leaving him staying with friends – and entered into prostitution once at 14 in London.

Byrne had halved his alcohol intake, sought counselling, seen a psychiatrist and was set to be welcomed to a counselling programme if he had not been jailed.

The defendant had searched 'why am I a paedophile?' on his phone, the court heard.

Byrne was jailed for three years and put on the sex offenders' register for life. A sexual harm prevention order was imposed for life.

Description

A man has been jailed for three years and six months after pleading guilty to 14 sexual offence charges.

Thomas Inglis, 23, from Portland Road in Hucknall was sentenced on Wednesday, December 4 at Nottingham Crown Court.

He has been ordered to sign the sex offenders' register for life and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

He was arrested on October 10 by officers from the public protection department.

Officers from the neighbourhood search unit seized a number of items including a written note, an iPhone and a laptop.

The charges were:

• Attempting to arrange / facilitate the commission of a child sex offence (1 count)
• Distributing an indecent photograph of a child (3 counts)
• Attempting to cause / incite a boy to engage in sexual activity (1 count)
• Attempting to cause / incite a girl to engage in sexual activity (1 count)
• Attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity (3 counts)
• Making indecent images (3 counts)
• Possession of prohibited images (1 count)
• Possession of extreme images (1 count)

Description

A convicted paedophile who dressed up as Santa and offered to pose for pictures with children in exchange for money has been sent back to jail.

Stephen Brown, 40, stood near the popular Fenwick's festive window display in Newcastle city centre, where he offered to have his picture taken with youngsters while dressed in a red Father Christmas suit and fake white beard.

Police believe two people posed for a picture with Brown, who had a sign saying "get ya picture taken and leave Santa Claus a donation", without realising he was a convicted sex offender.

Security staff at the department store raised the alarm with police after becoming concerned by the stranger hanging around outside.

It was then that police discovered he had been handed a lifetime sexual offences protection order in 2012 after he was jailed for five years for possession of indecent images and inciting a child to engage in a sex act.

Brown was immediately arrested by police on a packed Northumberland Street on Saturday.

He was later charged with breaching the order for the second time since being released from prison in January 2017.

Brown will now be spending Christmas behind bars after being jailed for six weeks at Bedlington Magistrates' Court on Monday.

Brown, of Fawdon, Newcastle, was jailed for five years in July 2012 after admitting a string of child sex offences.

A court was told how a teenage girl contacted police after an anonymous social media account befriended her and sent a string of sexual messages.

The user, later identified as Brown, encouraged her to perform sex acts and even threatened the schoolgirl when she refused to carry out his demands.

Brown was arrested at his home, where police discovered a number of indecent images of children during a search.

He was arrested and convicted of 14 offences including possession of indecent images, making an indecent image and inciting a child to perform a sex act.

Chief Inspector Steve Wykes, of Northumbria Police, praised the teamwork of Fenwick's security staff and officers on patrol in the city at the weekend.

He said: "Stephen Brown would not have looked out of place on Northumberland Street this weekend dressed as Santa Claus.

"There has been a fantastic atmosphere in the city in the lead up to Christmas and thousands of people were in the area doing their shopping.

"Many people would have walked by Brown and thought that it was perfectly normal for him to be offering people the chance to pose for a picture.

"But security staff at Fenwick knew something wasn't quite right and have contacted our officers who have checked his details and taken decisive action.

"Brown's SOPO stated that he was not allowed any contact with children unless he had the consent of a parent or guardian who was aware of his convictions."

Description

Jack Quinn was a member of online groups which used a secure, encrypted app to "trade" images of children being sexually abused. A chef was running an online group for fellow paedophiles where they shared and commented on pictures of child abuse, a court has heard. Some of the photos and videos Jack Quinn downloaded from the internet showed babies being sexually abused. The defendant was a member of several groups where people exchanged vile photos and videos, and was an administrator in charge of one of them. Swansea Crown Court heard that shortly before 9am on the morning of November 20 last year police executed a search warrant at the defendant's house in Pembrokeshire - present at the property was Quinn, his partner, and his young child. James Hartson, prosecuting, said officers seized an Acer laptop computer and a Samsung mobile phone, and a quick check of the devices showed the presence of indecent images. The defendant was arrested and taken to Aberystwyth police station where he admitted accessing adult pornography but said any indecent images could have been downloaded accidentally. The court heard that when Quinn's phone and laptop were forensically examined hundreds of pictures and videos showing the sexual abuse of babies and children were found of Categories A - the most extreme kind - B and C. Another 59,000 images were not categorised by officers. Mr Hartson said the police also found large numbers of online conversations in an encrypted messenger app - an app which detectives asked not be named in open court due to an on-going investigation - which allowed users to exchange messages and photos "in total anonymity". Quinn had two accounts on the app, and in one of them had adopted the identity of a 17-year-old girl. The court heard the 29-year-old defendant was an administrator and an "active member" of one online groups, and had initiated many of the exchanges or "trades" of images of child sexual abuse with fellow members. Jack William Quinn, now of Priory Street, Cardigan, Ceredigion, had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of indecent images - Categories A, B and C - and three counts of distribution of indecent images - again of Categories A, B and C - when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions. Ian Ibrahim, for Quinn, said following his arrest the defendant had referred himself to an alcohol charity, and had cut his consumption from 15 pints of beer a day to six or eight. He said his client was deeply ashamed of his behaviour and its impact on his family, had lost his career as a chef, and was now "a broken man". With discounts for his guilty pleas recorder Christopher Clee QC sentenced Quinn to a total of 32 months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order designed to control his use of the internet.

Description

A GARDENER claimed his trouser zip was broken or he had been stung by an insect before exposing himself to women he was carrying out work for in Dorset.

Darren Salmon, of Salisbury Green, Southampton, was admitted eight counts of indecent exposure and was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Monday, November 11.

The 41-year-old, formerly of Bridport, was sentenced to a three-year community order, with a requirement to attend a 35-day accredited programme and a 30-day rehabilitation activity requirement. Salmon was also placed on the sex offenders register for five years.

The defendant was working as a gardener in the Bridport area when he exposed himself to a number of people he was carrying out work for at various addresses.

The offences occurred between Wednesday, August 1, and Thursday, September 6, 2018, and his victims were women aged between 19 and 92.

After claiming his trouser zip was broken or an insect had stung him, Salmon asked for assistance and at this point the victims realised he was exposing himself.

The incidents were reported to police and Salmon was arrested on Sunday 9 September 2018.

PCKerry Cordier, of Dorset Police's Volume Crime Team, said: "These incidents were distressing for the victims involved and I would like to thank all of them who came forward and assisted our investigation.

Description

After being tracked across Hampshire by number plate recognition and arrested, Paintin denied engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Paintin instructed lawyers to defend him on the basis he was 'holding a bird that had got free in his car' after braking hard on the motorway - but could not even bring himself to repeat his ludicrous lies in front of a jury.

Jurors just took 26 minutes to convict him having heard he had a conviction in 2008 for following a school bus performing a sex act in his car, and another in 2011 for offering a 16-year-old girl 'a tenner' if she would perform a lewd act.

Jailing him for two and a half years on Wednesday, judge Roger Hetherington said: 'This isn't just exhibitionism it's more like an assault in a way.'

He added: 'It was quite a disgraceful thing to have done.'

Jurors were shocked as it was revealed the defendant goes by eight aliases and has 47 convictions for 29 offences.

Bravely giving evidence at the trial, the young boy rejected Paintin's claim he was holding a bird - pointing out he knew what a bird looked like.

In a police video the victim, who suffers from nightmares since the incident, said: 'He wiggled it at me side to side. Then I looked up and he was trying to do it again when I was looking at him and then he left.'

Answering police questions, the boy said he told his mum: 'That man who just left is a bad man because he showed me (himself).'

The boy told officers he had waved - in a style he picked from the TV children's character Justin, who plays Mr Tumble - before Paintin embarked on his vile act.

Praising her son for going through the court process bravely, his mother said: 'I'm immensely proud of him. I feel angry that he had to go through this and I feel angry that a guilty plea was not made.'

The boy's dad added: 'Abuse is endemic and children need emotional support and they need for a system to work for them - to believe them, to listen to them - and we are grateful in this case that has happened.'

Both praised DC Mark Reynolds for investigating and urged child abuse victims to come forward.

In court, prosecutor Martyn Booth said Paintin had a 'troubling and concerning attraction towards children'.

Addressing the judge before the jury trial started, prosecutor Martyn Booth said: 'The crown's case is that he was exposing and playing with (himself).

'The defence case is that he was holding a bird that had got free in his car and that must've been what the boy had seen.'

Sam Barker, defending, had urged the judge to sentence him another day as Paintin had '200 birds and he has not set in place any care for those'.

He added: 'In the circumstances he would either wish to free them or sell them so that they don't suffer unnecessary suffering'.

Judge Hetherington gave the defendant bail to sort out the birds at around 1pm ordering him to be back by 2pm for sentencing. Paintin fled court with his key in hand - but returned in time to be jailed.

Paintin must sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years and a sexual harm prevention order bans him from being with children.

Description

A SERIAL paedophile has been jailed again for sexually abusing young girls aged as young as six.

Allan McCurry, from Birchwood, was handed seven years behind bars at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, November 22.

The 71-year-old armed forces veteran was previously given a court martial for similar offences four years ago, and was already serving a 14-year stretch in prison.

He sexually abused two girls for more than a decade back in the 1970s and 1980s, targeting them from the age of four onwards.

The abuse continued until they were aged 14 and 16.

Years later, these victims came forward and McCurry, previously of Deanwater Close, was prosecuted by the Army as some of the offences occurred while he was serving abroad meaning he could not legally be tried before a British court.

He was convicted of 12 sexual offences in 2015, including two counts of rape, the attempted rape of a child, indecently assaulting a child and gross indecency with a child.

But the pensioner was put on trial again for sexually assaulting the daughter of one of his previous victims and two other young girls.

Some of his sick crimes were committed in Warrington, while others took place in Aldershot where the former soldier had served.

His victims were aged between six and 15 at the time of the offences, while he tried to rape one of the girls when they were aged just 13.

McCurry was found guilty by a jury of eight counts of indecent assault and one of attempted rape.

The pensioner, who maintains his innocence, was ordered to serve an additional seven years in jail by judge Stuart Driver and told to sign the sex offenders register for life.

Judge Driver also imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order on the rapist.

Description

A HALF-NAKED paedophile who exposed himself to an eight-year-old girl as he drove around Hereford was described as a "vile menace" by a judge.

Douglas Nivison, already a convicted sex offender, drove through a residential area of Hereford in his Jaguar and offered to show the girl a magic trick before exposing himself, causing her to fear she was about to be abducted.

The 62-year-old of Birchmore Road, Gloucester, was spared jail when he was sentenced for exposure at Worcester Crown Court today (Friday, November 22) and ordered to complete a sex offender's course instead.

The married defendant approached the little girl in a close in Hereford on August 13 this year at around 10.55am, winding down his car window to ask her for directions.

Christopher Quinn, prosecuting, said: "She could clearly see into the vehicle and and saw the defendant was wearing a black-and-white striped T-shirt that stopped at the waist. He wore nothing from the waist down."

The girl described how she could see his genitals.

"He said to her, 'Come closer, come closer'. She declined, fearing what he may do.

"He asked her if she would like to see a magic trick," said Mr Quinn.

The girl described him waving his private parts about in front of her.

Mr Quinn told the court: "She thought she was going to be dragged into the vehicle and ran away at that point."

He said Nivison had a historic pattern of offending going back to the 1980s.

Recorder David Mason QC said: "I accept from what I read, disgusting as this behaviour is, it was never going to go further than what actually did happen.

"He's a vile menace but he's not worse than that."

Recorder Mason said Nivison had had "the good sense to plead guilty" and added: "Thankfully, you are someone who recognises the issue that you have".

He sentenced him to a two-year community order to include 60 rehabilitation activity requirement days and an accredited sex offender's treatment programme.

A sexual harm prevention order was imposed. This prohibits Nivison having unsupervised contact with children under 16 other than contact that is inadvertent or unavoidable in the course of daily life, and he must have the prior consent of the parent or guardian, with the express permission of social services.

He is also prohibited from taking up any paid, voluntary or recreational work which brings him in contact with children under 16 other than with the permission of the chief constable for the area.

He was also ordered to pay £200 towards the £340 costs requested by the prosecution.

Description

A Coventry man has been jailed for more than 12 years after the rape of a 76-year-old as she walked her dog.

Glenroy Barnes, 27, was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court yesterday (November 20) to 12 years and nine months with an extended five year sentence for the rape and sexual assault of his female victim.

Barnes had pleaded guilty to the two offences before the trial, although he entered not guilty pleas at the first hearing.

The victim encountered Barnes who was also walking his husky-type dog in a village in the Rugby area of Warwickshire.

He tried to engage her in conversation on February 7 before dragging his elderly victim into a ditch and carrying out the vicious assault.

Prosecutor Siobhan Collins told Warwick Crown Court Barnes had a string of convictions for robbery, violence and exposure.

She said the victim spotted Barnes lying in a field and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

Ms Collins told the court: "The defendant grabbed her round her body. She screamed and told him to stop, but he dragged her to the grass verge and pushed her down into a ditch, causing immediate pain to her hip, and he went into the ditch after her."

Barnes then threatened to kill the terrified pensioner before raping and sexually assaulting her.

Following the attack, Barnes made the woman promise not to tell the police before walking back with her towards her village.

It was when she slumped onto the bonnet of the car and the occupants checked on her, Barnes squared up to them, before finally walking away.

They helped his sobbing victim into their home and called for the police and an ambulance.

Barnes was later linked to his victim from DNA and blood under his fingernails.

Miss Collins added in a victim impact statement the victim spoke of the emotional impact of the attack and her desire to scrub herself clean.

But she also said she was determined that the ordeal would not defeat her.

Judge's sentencing comments

Peter Cooper, defending, said: "He has little recollection. He accepts, based on the forensic evidence, it must have been he who committed these dreadful offences.

"He had a lot of alcohol and had not been taking his ADHD medication. He has written a letter expressing remorse.

"He wants to say sorry for the appalling ordeal this lady went though."

Jailing Barnes, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said: "I have read her victim impact statement. Rarely are such statements so moving. This has had an enormous impact on that person.

"Glenroy Barnes has numerous offences on his record. There is a litany of violence against fellow humans and in 2015 he was sentenced for wounding.

"It is then that a very disturbing aspect of this man's psyche has come out."

Of the rape, the judge said: "He grabbed her and threw her into a ditch, and immediately the sexual offences began.

"He got her out of the ditch and moved her along. I have absolutely no doubt he was moving her to another location, and that the offences would not stop.

"This is one of the gravest offences of rape one can imagine. There was degradation and humiliation, and there was violence and threats beyond what was required for the offence.

"I find Mr Barnes does present a clear and present danger, and I can see no end to it."

Barnes, deemed a danger to the public was ordered to serve and extended sentence meaning his must serve at least two thirds of his sentence behind bars before he can be considered for release.

After release, he must remain on licence for the remainder of the custodial period and for a further five years.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offender's register for life.

Crown Prosecution Service Statement

Kanwal Juss of the CPS, said: "These offences have traumatised the 76-year-old victim and while the evidence against Barnes was overwhelming, he chose to plead not guilty until a few days before the trial causing further distress to the victim and her family.

"The CPS will support and seek justice for victims of such offending and commends the bravery of this victim in coming forward to report these horrific offences.

"We hope the sentence imposed on Barnes today brings some comfort to her.

"We worked with Warwickshire Police who conducted an excellent investigation and the evidence against Barnes included the victim's account, positive identification of the suspect by three witnesses and DNA from the nail scrapings."

Description

A SEX offender from King's Somborne caught with repulsive images of extremely young children has been jailed. Timothy Waterman had more than 1,000 indecent images, mostly young boys, some said to be in the age range of just two to four years old. Appearing at Southampton Crown Court, the 36-year-old, once given a suspended sentence for inappropriately touching a young boy he was babysitting, was jailed for more than a year. The court heard Waterman was caught with the images after police visited his address in King's Somborne in September last year. Prosecutor Roderick Blain said police made the visit after receiving information that an address linked to Waterman had been used to download indecent images. During the visit police seized a USB stick, a tablet and a laptop from Waterman. Across the three devices they found a total of 1,300 indecent images, including 462 category A images the most serious kind. Mr Blain said around half of the category A images were moving images, which he described as an aggravating feature of Watermans offending. He added that the pictures were mostly of young boys, some of which were categorised as being in the two to four age range. Mr Blain said that Waterman had also breached a previous sexual harm prevention order by not disclosing the tablet to police during an earlier visit in May. He said that the order was made in 2015 when Waterman was convicted of sexually assaulting a young boy whom he was babysitting. In mitigation, Chris Gaiger said Waterman was seeking help for his addiction through the Lucy Faithful Foundation which aims to prevent the sexual abuse of children. Mr Gaiger added that Waterman was petrified of the prospect of going to prison. In sentencing, judge Peter Henry said Waterman was not the victim. He said: I read in the your pre-sentence report that you have your own problems, but I am afraid you are not the victim here, it is the children. If one has the misfortune of reading the schedule of reading what these unfortunate children have had done to them it is quite repulsive. I would be failing in my duty if I gave a community order for offences of this gravity. Judge Henry sentenced Waterman, of Humbers View, King's Somborne, to 16 months in prison. He also ordered Watermans sexual harm prevention order and notification requirements to be extended to 10 years from the point of his sentencing.

Description

A SOUTHAMPTON couple have been given jail sentences totalling 30 years after being found guilty of sexually abusing young boys.

Richard Townsend (pictured right) even filmed his partner Mark Metcalfe performing a sex act on one of their victims, believed to be in his mid-teens.

The pair also repeatedly abused two boys, under the age of 16, between 1998 and 2005.

A court heard one of their victims took his own life earlier this year – with the stress of the investigation being put forward as a possible factor in his suicide.

Both Townsend and Metcalfe denied any sexual activity with children.

But Townsend, 57, who works as an accountant, was found guilty of 14 counts relating to child sex offences following a trial at Southampton Crown Court.

In the same trial, Metcalfe, 56, was found guilty of three charges, including two counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault.

Yesterday, Townsend was jailed for 18 years, with an extended five-year sentence.

Following the pair's sentencing, the family of the victim who died earlier this year said they were "relieved" that Townsend and Metcalfe had been jailed and that "justice had been done".

The family said: "This is the best thing that could have happened because nothing is going to bring him back.

"After he told us about what had happened he was positive, he wanted to move forward.

"He wanted to go into schools and tell children that if it has happened to you then you need to tell someone because they will believe you."

Earlier this week, Townsend and Metcalfe, both of Copsewood Road, Southampton, were found guilty following a three week trial at Southampton Crown Court.

Townsend was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault of a child, five multiple incident counts of indecent assault of a child, one count of indecency with a child, one multiple incident count of assault by penetration of a child, one count of rape of a child and two counts of sexual assault of a child.

Metcalfe was found guilty of two counts of indecent assault on a child and one count of sexual assault.

The investigations were carried out by the National Crime Agency (NCA).

NCA operations manager Graham Ellis said: "This is a deeply harrowing case.

"It takes immense courage to come forward, and the victims in this case have been incredibly brave in doing so.

"The NCA and our law enforcement partners are relentless in our pursuit of child sex offenders whose actions wreck so many lives.

"We have no greater priority than protecting children from sexual abuse."

Description

The managing director of an 8 million technology firm who exchanged explicit messages with teenage girls on Snapchat has avoided going to jail.

Austin Kitchen, 36, posed as a 25-year-old man with flash pictures of his luxury Tesla and BMW cars.

He targeted three victims, including one girl, 15, who was bombarded with compliments from him on a daily basis and showered with gifts.

He told her: "You look really hot", adding: "I want to sleep with you, bend you over and throw you on the bed."

Kitchen, a married dad of two, also told another girl, 14, that she had "nice boobs".

The boss of family run Velden Engineering in Bolton, Greater Manchester, was arrested after the dad of one of the victims saw the explicit messages while checking his daughter's phone.

One message by Kitchen read: OMG, what Id give to have my head between your gorgeous legs right now.''

Others said: Is it wrong that I find the idea of you in a school uniform a turn on? If you wanted you could entertain me tonight with some pics and show me you're worth spoiling.''

Police searched the businessman's mobile phone and discovered a pornographic video of another unidentified girl, aged between 15 and 17, pleasuring herself.

The incidents happened between April and November 2017 after IT expert Kitchen took over as the managing director from his father.

The firm has featured twice in the BBC TV series Troubleshooter, with Sir John Harvey Jones.

In a statement the 15-year old victim's mother said: ''She was a bright child who wanted to do well in life and had dreams and aspirations for the future - but this has had a distressing impact on her.

''She has struggled in school in the final months and could not do well with the stress of the exams due to the thought of having to stand up in court in front of strangers.

"She tried to go to college but with her anxieties, she had to seek professional help after she said she didnt want to live anymore and she said she was self harming.

"We as a family feel this situation will have a lasting affect on her.''

Kitchen, of Horwich near Bolton, admitted to inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual communication with a child and possessing indecent images of children.

He was given a 10 month jail sentence, suspended for two years at Bolton Crown Court.

This is after he told the court he is "addressing his issues".

The dad has been forced to live away from his partner of 20 years and their two daughters since his arrest.

Prosecutor Joe Boyd said: The first victim was aged 15, and she came into contact with someone on Snapchat with the name of Austin Delusham, now identified as the defendant.

''He contacted her everyday and said she was pretty and found her attractive.

"They spoke about her time at school and her problems at home and he would comment on all her photographs asking her to send him one in her school uniform, which she did.

"He responded saying you look really hot and told her he was 25.

''She confided she was 15, but that did not deter him and he continued to communicate with her.

"The conversation soon became sexual as the defendant told her he wanted to sleep with her, bend her over and throw her on the bed.

These comments scared her yet he meanwhile continued to ask her for images, contacting her throughout the night to the point she turned her wifi off in an attempt to stop the contact.

She then spoke to him about the fact her e-cigarette was broken and he immediately purchased one for her.

"He then said that it was her birthday coming up and promised to buy her lots of presents.

''She then asked for clothing and requested a North Face coat.

"She put it in the basket to highlight which one she wanted and he purchased it for her and sent it to her home address. Approx three weeks later he purchased some leggings for her explaining that he was helping to cheer her up.

''When she asked what he wanted in return he said that he wanted to sleep with her.

"She said she was unsure because of her age but he urged her to meet him and the two met on several occasions- although they were never alone.

''On the first occasion he met her at some local shops in Leigh.

"He attended at her request and brought her cigarettes.

"He then placed 20 in her coat pocket and when he drove away he messaged her saying did you like that money?.

"At the time she was with her friend. On another occasion he met her at Boothstown and gave her and her friend a lift to the park.

The two had now been communicating over a number of weeks and towards the end of this period, unbeknown to her, her father started to check her Snapchat account and he saw a number of messages between Kitchen and her that caused him a great deal of concern.

''He saw messages that said are you not ready yet? Looking sexy as f..k in your uniform? Xxx its wrong how much Id want to completely destroy you wearing that... things Id do would be so bad.

Please try and be patient BBE, Ive spent over 200 on you so far so you cant say Ive not been generous especially as its not even your birthday for a few months.

''You will get everything you want you just need to be patient and wait till we do more.

When he saw the messages he contacted the police.

Officers later spoke to colleagues in Hampshire who said Kitchen had also been chatting to two other girls from the south of the country.

One said he offered to buy her pizza from Domino's and asked for her address so the food could be sent there.

He also sent pictures of his cars, plus other pictures of his face and in return asked for "cheeky pictures" if she wanted him to get her a jumper she liked.

She also received a message from Kitchen saying he was driving ''down her way'' and asked if she wanted to meet him at a hotel.

The girl did not meet him.

The third victim said Kitchen showed her pictures of his Apple Mac computer and of jewellery from Pandora.

He asked if she liked the earrings and asked for her address. He also asked if she had a boyfriend and if she liked the website called Pretty Little Thing.

A few days later a pair of Pandora earrings arrived for her, and he asked her for a picture of her with the earrings.

The victim said the defendant knew she was 14 as he had seen her Instagram account.

He also asked her what body part she liked, saying she had "nice boobs".

The victim said she told him she was 14 and that she "didn't have any boobs".

On another occasion the defendant had offered to buy her a pizza but she refused.

In mitigation, Kitchen's lawyer Steven Swift said: He is someone who finds it very very difficult to talk to or discuss the substance of the allegations.

"He is taking steps and trying to address his thinking and there has been no further offending of the last two and a half years.

"As a result of the offences he is not living at home and he is living with his parents.''

Sentencing, Judge Richard Gioserano, said: You were engaged in grooming behaviour, in particular the use and promise of gifts to encourage those girls to interact with you.

"There was a significant disparity in age and you lied about your true age.

''You have been with your partner now for nearly 20 years.

"You have been a hard working family man.

"You have two daughters of your own. You worked hard and made your way through and up the family business and you are now the managing director of it.

"That fact does not save you but until now you have not shown signs of being capable of such a thing, according to your character references.

''You must now live with that, you must live with the harm, not only caused to the girls, but also the harm to your partner and your own children.

"There is little you, or I, can do to repair the emotional harm to those girls.

"I have reservations about your genuine remorse.

"In my judgement, you seem to be put in fear of addressing the whole of your distorted sexual thinking.

Kitchen was also ordered to complete 200 hours unpaid work, abide by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

He was also ordered to pay prosecution costs of 1,800.

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A convicted rapist sexually assaulted a five-year-old girl on a train in front of her mother while travelling home from prison.

Darren Rothwell, 42, committed the attack just hours after being released from HMP Forest Bank, in Salford, where he had been serving a sentence for harassment and assault.

He boarded a train at Manchester Victoria on the morning of 18 April and intimidated two women travelling with their young children as he swore aggressively at them while drinking from a bottle of brandy and bragging about being released from prison, British Transport Police (BTP) said.

He added that he was on his way to see an ex-partner who had a restraining order against him, and that he would be back in prison within two days.

After making a series of uncomfortable comments to the two women, Rothwell asked the five-year-old girl, one of their daughters, to take her top off and give it to him.

One of the women challenged him on his behaviour, but he went on to try and kiss them both.

Rothwell was overheard telling the women to Google his alias Darren Noonan, which would have revealed online news coverage of his 2009 conviction for rape, sexual activity with a child and child abduction, British Transport Police (BTP) said.

As the train approached Wigan, Rothwell asked the five-year-old daughter of one of the women for a hug.

He then went to pick the child up before he sexually assaulted her in view of her horrified mother, said BTP.

The alarm was raised and Rothwell was quickly identified by officers.

Rothwell, of Scholes, Wigan, was jailed at Bolton Crown Court for 26 months on Friday after he pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to sexual assault.

DC Ian Grice, of BTP, said: Rothwell clearly had absolutely no desire to rehabilitate himself after prison but to sexually assault a five-year-old child before hed even made it home is beyond reprehensible.

He is clearly an exceptionally dangerous individual and I am relieved, as Im sure his victims family will be, to see him back behind bars.

I cant imagine how traumatic this must have been for them and I hope they are now able to begin to put this terrible incident behind them.

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A pilot arrested after landing a flight at Manchester Airport has been jailed for raping a child.

Tevin McLeod was detained by police when he flew into Manchester on Saturday, September 7.

The following day the 28-year-old was charged with the rape and sexual assault of a child under 13.

A mugshot, issued by West Midlands Police, appears to show him still in his pilot's uniform.

Police say McLeod initially denied the offences, but Birmingham Crown Court heard he had sent a number of messages to the girl acknowledging the abuse in a desperate bid to stop her reporting the sickening crimes.

In the messages, he spoke about his reputation being tarnished if people found out about the attacks, which happened between 2015 and 2016.

He also told the girl he would lose his career as a pilot and go to jail because she was underage.

McLeod, of no fixed address, later admitted to the rape and sexual assault and was jailed on Friday, November 8.

He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison and will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order on his release.

Det Con Stewart Garratt, from West Midlands Police's Birmingham Child Abuse Public Protection Team, praised the victim's bravery in coming forward.

He said: "For a child to speak out and report sexual abuse is a huge deal for them and I commend the bravery of this young girl for confiding in someone.

"It's for these sorts of crimes involving children that we have a dedicated specialist department with officers specially trained to help young people through the judicial process.

"I've no doubt that the voice of this child has stopped other children being targeted."