Latest Offenders

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John Smith groomed the girl from the age of 13 with gradually increasing abuse before forcing her to have full sex in December last year.

She was too frightened to tell anyone in authority what he was doing but confided in a schoolfriend on Snapchat shortly after the humiliating final assault.

The girl told her friend she was scared of going to the police but they agreed that the friend would contact them. It enabled forensic experts to find conclusive evidence of the rape.

Smith, aged 49, of High Street, Basingstoke, and previously from Exeter, pleased guilty to two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and three counts of sexual assault.

He was jailed for nine years and eight months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court.

He was put on the sex offenders register for life and made subject of a sexual harm prevention order for 25 years.

The judge told him:"She was scared to say anything to anyone in authority and worried about telling anyone what you were doing.

"I have read her victim personal statement. It is clear the impact on her of your abuse has been serious and she is struggling. She is facing the prospect of months of therapeutic work.

"No sentence that I can pass can ever repair the harm that you have done. She was vulnerable because of her age and you have caused significant psychological damage. You seem to have little understanding of the effect on her.

"I would like to commend the girl for her courage and commend her friend who had the good sense to report the matter to the police immediately, enabling them to secure the scientific evidence which gave you no option but to plead guilty."

Jason Beal, prosecuting, said the abuse began when the girl was 13 with touching over clothes and grew more serious over the next two years.

It ended with an assault in December 2018 when he raped the girl vaginally and anally. Her ordeal only finished when he said 'I better stop or I will make you pregnant'.

The police were called by a friend after a Snapchat conversation with the victim, who then made a full statement detailing the earlier abuse.

Mr Brian Fitzherbert, defending, said Smith had admitted his guilt at an early stage and spared the victim the ordeal of giving evidence.

He has been a hard working man all his life and has no previous convictions. A probation report showed that he has expressed remorse and regret for what he did.

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A former policeman has escaped a prison sentence after he admitted possessing more than 8,000 indecent images of children.

PC Stephen McGoldrick, 50, quit Gloucestershire Police after he was charged with five counts of making indecent images of children.

He appeared at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday to be sentenced after previously admitting the offences.

McGoldrick, of Gadlys Street, Aberdare , was sentenced to an 18-month community order with 40 days of rehabilitation and ordered to carry out 150 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Peter Blair QC, the Recorder of Bristol, also placed McGoldrick on the sex offenders register for five years and made him the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.

Passing sentence the judge said: “These were abhorrent images which I believe you now acknowledge and understand have real victims.

“You have fallen from grace in a massive way due to your former employment as a police officer. You have shown considerable remorse.

“You must understand that I impose this sentence because I have concluded there is a good prospect of rehabilitation which can be best achieved through a community order rather than a custodial sentence.

“You fall into a category where the public will be better served by this type of sentence.”

The court heard indecent images were recovered from a mobile phone belonging to McGoldrick when police were investigating a separate matter in April this year.

Further inquiries were carried out and search warrants were executed at addresses in Stroud, Gloucestershire, and in Aberdare, Rhondda Cynon Taf , in June.

Several electronic devices were recovered and when they were examined, experts found a total of 8,519 indecent images – five at category A, eight at category B, and the remainder at category C.

McGoldrick, who had joined Gloucestershire Police in 2008, resigned before he was charged in July and pleaded guilty at the magistrates’ court last month.

James Haskell, defending, said: “The convictions have already had significant consequences for him. He knows he has forever lost his good character and is ashamed to have put his family through what he has.”

Mr Haskell explained McGoldrick had gone through significant personal difficulties in recent years, supporting his partner financially through a protracted custody battle, leading to him accruing debts of £36,000.

The court heard McGoldrick also struggled to deal with his partner developing cancer, the death of his elder brother, and his mother’s ill health.

“All of this left him at almost breaking point and led him to accessing illegal pornography,” Mr Haskell said.

“He knows it was wrong but was clearly in a very bad way and, in his own words, he was on a path to self-destruction.”

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A convicted sex offender who planted a spy camera in the ladies' toilet of the new James Bond set has been jailed for 16 months.

Peter Hartley, 50, used a miniature camera triggered by motion and vibration, and propped it behind a toilet at Pinewood Studios to try to record women on June 21.

Hartley, who was a maintenance man at the Studio, was caught after a freelancer noticed the light reflecting from the lens similar to 'light reflecting off the face of a watch' and dismantled the grill.

He was jailed today at Aylesbury Crown Court, Buckinghamshire, and will be on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Prosecutor Daniel Wright told the court the device was marketed as a 'spy camera' and the offender used a piece of tape to cover its LED light to stop it being detected.

Hartley has a history of similar offences starting in 2008 and told his public protection officer at the Met Police he had reoffended, this morning.

He has convictions for placing cameras in a Coventry council building in 2009 and a leisure centre's changing rooms in 2016.

The Uxbridge man has a total of three convictions for eight offences, although at his first conviction he asked for 113 offences to be taken into consideration.

He revealed his reasoning for the incident to the police: 'I suppose sexual gratification is the main reason - as Ive learned from my past whenever something bad or stressful happens I act out.'

And he added how his partner had been in hospital undergoing tests for cancer when he committed the offence at the Studios which had started filming for the 57-year-old British spy franchise in April this year.

He later pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism at Milton Keynes Magistrates Court.

In a victim impact statement, the young woman who found the camera said she had needed mental health treatment and had suffered from acute anxiety.

She said: 'I am not eating or sleeping properly and I dont feel safe anywhere - I check the whole house for cameras. I dont doubt that I will check every bathroom I go into for the rest of my life.'

The victim added how she believes the defendant shows no remorse and 'must have seen the damage to the victims last time'.

Hartley had completed a sex offenders rehabilitation programme only eight months before reoffending and he claims this 'opened a Pandora's box' in his mind, the court heard.

Jailing him, judge Francis Sheridan said the victims life 'has been devastated by a dirty-minded individual who preys on women using the lavatory where he can compromise them'.

He said he hoped the victims trauma did not continue: 'If it does, it means the perpetrator or voyeurism has won and that cannot be allowed to happen in a decent society.'

The incident was an 'utter betrayal' of Hartley's employers and was carefully planned.

Irfan Arif, defence for Hartley, said the defendant was remorseful and he believed his offending was linked to being sexually abused as a child. The 'urge' to 'record women like this' cannot be explained and the defendant 'needs further help and guidance'.

He added Hartleys elderly father had recently died and he was made his mother's sole carer.

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A man has admitted 49 charges including sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl and possessing nearly 250,000 indecent images of children.

Konstantinos Hrisos, 63, admitted the raft of charges when he appeared at Newcastle Crown Court.

National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arrested Hrisos, of Fenham, Newcastle upon Tyne, in September last year after discovering he had been downloading indecent images of children (IIOC).

Officers searched his home and recovered electronic devices which contained 246,829 abuse images – including 1,040 Category A (the most severe) images and videos, and a further 23,527 prohibited images.

Among Hrisos's sick collection of images were 'upskirt' pictures he had taken in a park of two girls aged approximately five and 12.

During the investigation, NCA officers learnt Hrisos had also been abusing a seven-year-old girl for at least 12 months.

He had taken more than 2,000 images and videos of the victim as he abused her and admitted sexually assaulting her on nearly 30 occasions.

He was remanded into custody and will be sentenced on 6 September.

Graham Ellis, NCA operations manager, said: "Konstantinos Hrisos is a danger to children.

"He's gone from downloading images online, to photographing children in a park to eventually abusing a child. Hrisos's offending has escalated in a way that the NCA is seeing in many other cases.

"The NCA knows that the scale and severity of this offending against children is worsening.

"We and UK police arrest around 450 child sex offenders a month and safeguard about 680 children a month.

"UK referrals from the tech industry of child sexual abuse material have jumped in recent years - from 43,072 in 2016 to 82,109 in 2017 and 113,948 in 2018.

"Behind every image is a child whose life has been utterly devastated by their abuse and men like Hrisos are perpetuating that suffering."

Child Protection Charity The Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs the Stop It Now! helpline which offers confidential advice to anyone concerned about their own or someone else's behaviour towards children.

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A retired police inspector has been convicted of making indecent images of children following a National Crime Agency investigation.

David Mortimer, 58, was convicted on 5 September 2019 following a four day trial at Kingston Crown Court. He had been arrested by NCA officers at his home in Barnet, London, on 4 July 2018.

Officers seized his laptop which contained a 30-minute long Category A (the most serious) sexual abuse video of a south east Asian girl.

Analysis of the laptop showed file-sharing software had been used to download titles indicative of child abuse during February 20 and February 21 2018.

Movie file names recovered from the deleted areas of the computer were also indicative of child abuse.

His laptop and mobile telephone showed conversations between Mortimer and unidentified others about him seeking girls as young as 14.

Despite attempting to conceal his online offending, Mortimer argued he was trying to gather evidence of child abuse for the police.

Mortimer, who worked for the Metropolitan Police for 30 years, has no previous convictions.

He is due to be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on 3 October.

Brent Lyon, NCA operations manager, said:

"Mortimer and men like him are perpetuating the horrific abuse of children the world over. His sick sexual interest in children fuels other offenders to carry out more and more contact abuse.

"Behind every image is a child whose life has been utterly devastated by their abuse and men like Mortimer are directly responsible for it.

"As an ex-police officer his betrayal is all the worse."

The NCA and UK police are arresting around 450 online child sex offenders a month and safeguarding about 680 children.

Child Protection Charity The Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs the Stop It Now! helpline which offers confidential advice to anyone concerned about their own or someone else's behaviour towards children.

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A LORRY driver who videoed himself performing a sex act while in his vehicle and sent it to what he thought was a 13-year-old girl is due back in court tomorrow.

Michael Thomas Taylor is due to be sentenced for one count of fraud and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

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A sex offender who went on the run from the police claimed he was on a road trip, a court heard.

Luke Eames, aged 28, spent five months dodging officers trying to monitor his behaviour.

He went to Wales with his partner where he was arrested for attacking police.

Former computer shop owner Eames, with a record of distributing perverted images of children, has seen his road trip end in prison.

Judge Paul Darlow jailed him for 16 months for a range of offences at Plymouth Crown Court.

He told Eames: When you left your accommodation in March, you were in no doubt of your obligations to inform the police of your whereabouts, whatever your intentions were regarding this road trip.

Eames, being of no fixed address, was meant to contact the police once a week so officers could keep an eye on him.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with the notification requirements as a registered sex offender.

Eames also admitted two breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order imposed in 2015 by having mobile phones which were not registered with the police.

That order was imposed when Eames, then living in Dartmouth, was jailed for possession and distribution of indecent images of children and perverting the course of justice.

He ran Conker Computers in Ivybridge at the time.

Eames had first been convicted of distributing indecent images of children back in 2010. He failed to comply with sex offender treatment designed to tackle his perverted behaviour.

Nigel Wraith, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said he had been registered with the police as living at Holmes Avenue in Efford from November 2017.

He added that police had a 999 call from his registered mobile phone on March 8 this year.

Officers attended Holmes Avenue to find that he had moved out two days before.

Mr Wraith said police caught up with him on March 30, when he said he was of no fixed address.

The barrister said that he was meant to tell the police his whereabouts every seven days but they heard nothing from him for five months.

Mr Wraith said Eames turned up in Pembrokeshire in August, when he was convicted of assaulting two police officers and criminal damage.

The court heard a neighbour had called the police because he was playing loud music at his accommodation.

Michael Green, for Eames, said it was an unusual case but he had spoken to the defendants fiancee and she had confirmed they had been on a road trip.

He disputed that Eames had been evicted from his home in Efford.

Mr Green added that his clients mother had confirmed he had been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

The barrister said: He is a young man who has had some difficulties in communicating with his offender manager.

Mr Green said Eames had no fixed address but had planned to settle back in Plymouth with his fiancee. He added that the defendant had spent the last four weeks in custody.

Judge Darlow ripped up the community order imposed by Welsh magistrates for the offences in Pembrokeshire. He resentenced Eames for 16 months for all offences in total.

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A man who raped two women in their sleep has been jailed.

Jordan Nicholson, 23, preyed on his victims on separate occasions in the summer of 2016.

The first victim, 21, was asleep at her home when she woke up to find Nicholson raping her.

The woman pushed him away and screamed at him to stop what he was doing.

She reported Nicholson to Cheshire police a month later, providing officers with a number of social media messages in which she had discussed the incident with him.

The victim also provided messages relating to a similar attack on another woman in August 2016.

When arrested and questioned by police, Nicholson denied raping the women and claimed the sex had been consensual.

Even when Nicholson was presented with the social media messages, he carried on lying about about his crimes.

Yet he changed his plea to guilty at a court hearing on July 12, 2019.

Nicholson, of Boughey Lane, Leigh, was sentenced to six years in prison at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday, August 27.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of rape at an earlier hearing.

Detective Constable Jayne Boote said: Sexual assault is a horrific offence, which affects people in the most profound way.

Whilst the victims will never be able to forget what Nicholson subjected them to, I hope his guilty plea and the custodial sentence he has been handed by the courts provides them with some closure and enables them to begin to move forward with their lives.

I also hope that this case and the sentence that Nicholson has received encourages other victims of sexual offences to come forward and report the offences to us.

Cheshire Constabulary takes any allegation of sexual offences extremely seriously.

Any allegation will be thoroughly investigated, with the wishes and needs of the victim as our main priority.

Victims should never feel ashamed to talk about what has happened to them.

They will receive the help and support they need from our specialist officers, as well as from other support agencies we work alongside, and all victims of sexual offences have the right to anonymity.

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Vijay Barretto, 49, was snared by a group of paedophile hunters when he tried to meet the person behind an adult account after messaging people he believed were children.

Basingstoke Magistrates' Court heard how Barretto thought he was messaging two 13-year-olds and one 12-year-old when he asked: "I want to be naked with you?" and "Will you have my children?".

Barretto, who lived in Elizabeth Road in Basingstoke when the offences were committed, has now moved. He gave his most recent address to the court as Queensbury Road but did not specify the town.

According to the prosecution, Barretto had sent messages between November 30 and December 26, 2017 using "the type of language the Crown says is wholly inappropriate".

"All three profiles made clear very early on that they were a child," prosecutor David Fossler said.

He appeared before Basingstoke Magistrates' Court on Monday.

In mitigation, Ms Bonavia said that there had been no indication of any offences before or since, and there was no indication that he was attempting to meet any children or decoys, likening it to a "sexual fantasy".

He was confronted by paedophile hunters when attempting to meet the adult account.

She continued: "He appears to have become very isolated and was turning to gambling and using alcohol – he was in a bad place."

Barretto had been working and sending money back to his family in India, with Ms Bonavia saying that if he loses his employment, "his whole point of being has gone".

"He is doing the very best he can to recover the situation, certainly I do not think he has any inclination that he would be damaging people.

"He has demonstrated to the court that he is not someone who is an ongoing danger," she continued.

Barretto was spared jail and was given an 18-month community order, including 35 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours of unpaid work.

Mrs Ashton, Chair of Magistrates, said: "We make the order because we believe the cases are so serious."

As well as the community order, Barretto was ordered to pay £85 in costs and an £85 victim surcharge.

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Released and is now living in a bail hostel in Camborne. A man who sexually molested an eight-year-old girl while her younger brother lay asleep next to them has been jailed for five years. Paul Curnow, 47, of Penzance appeared at Truro Crown Court for trial on Wednesday, July 31, 2019 facing two charges sexually touching and sexual activity with a child who was under the age of 13. After deliberating for just 37 minutes, a jury of 12 found him guilty of both offences. Opening the trial, prosecutor Nigel Wraith told the jury how the incident happened on a single night in September 2018 in the Penzance area. The court was told that when the boy had fallen asleep, Curnow gave the girl a hug. He kissed [the girl] on the forehead before going across and down to her lips. He then pulled her pants down and touched her vagina, and then licked his fingers and did it again. He took his shorts off and had nothing on underneath. He took her hand and placed it on his penis. Nothing was said between Curnow and the young victim. He then told her not to do it again, which she found confusing as nothing had been instigated by her. He then repeated the actions The events stayed with her and she started telling people in November 2018 The girl told someone she trusted about the incident, who in turn told the girls mother. The girl was interviewed by police in early December 2018, and two weeks later the defendant was interviewed. Curnow had denied the abuse, but the jury saw through his lies and found him guilty on both charges Judge Simon Carr jailed Curnow for five years. He must also sign the sex offenders register for life, and has been made subject to a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.

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A 'manipulative and determined' paedophile who sexually abused girls in the 1990s has been brought to justice after his victims came forward years later to tell police what he had done.

Anthony Bamford, of Sheridan Street, off Leicester's Saffron Lane, appeared at Leicester Crown Court today and pleaded guilty to seven counts of rape, relating to two victims, and one charge of indecently assaulting a third victim.

The 63-year-old, known as Tony, was jailed for 23 years.

He will also will on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life.

The detective who led the investigation believes there may be other victims who have not made contact with the police.

The first allegation against Bamford was made to Leicestershire Police in 2017, and inquiries identified three victims, the force said.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Jamie Carr, of the force's child abuse investigation unit, said: Each of the women were just children when they were abused by Bamford, who was manipulative in his approach and determined not to be caught.

However, despite it being some years since he committed his horrific crimes, his victims have shown great courage in providing detailed information to police in order to bring him to justice.

I am glad that Bamford has pleaded guilty today so no further distress is caused by having to relive their experiences in court.

But I also believe there may be other victims of Bamford who have not contacted police about the abuse they suffered.

"I would encourage anyone who believes they were a victim to come forward, where they will be supported by specially-trained officers.

Bamford will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order, which can be used to impove legally enforceable restrictions on his movements and behaviour, particularly if and when he is released from prison.

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A Judge has accused Instagram of providing a platform for paedophiles by hosting a kinky sex chat site for men who fantasise about dominating young girls.

The judge at Exeter Crown Court criticised the social media company as he jailed a 39-year-old man who used Instagram's Daddy Dom Little Girl community to groom a vulnerable 15-year-old schoolgirl.

Dominic Nielen-Groen sent a stream of messages to the girl before driving 167 miles from his home in Wolverhampton to meet her at a play park in Seaton, East Devon.

He hugged her but she became alarmed when he tried to get her to suck a baby's dummy. She went home but he carried on sending messages trying to set up a second meeting on the beach or at a nearby nature reserve.

Computer engineer Nielen-Groen used the name Papa Bear on the Instagram community, where the girl attracted more than 3,000 followers in the space of a few weeks after registering with the name F****** Little Brat.

She engaged in sexualised chat with scores of older men, sometimes exchanging messages with 500 at a time, and sold images of her naked breasts or bottom to older men who paid her through Paypal.

She developed severe behavioural problems and her mother made a victim impact statement said she now has screaming rages and has attempted to take her own life three times.

The girl remained in Instagram's Daddy Dom Little Girl (DDLG) community for months before the tech giant removed her account. Police traced Nielen-Groen after the girl contacted police early this year. Police who searched his home found another dummy and a collar with the words Little Girl in his bedroom along with a 50 Shades style contract setting out rules and punishments.

The punishments included spanking, self spanking, slaps, cold baths, being tied up, as well as time out and no television or internet.

Some rules and penalties were overtly sexual, including bans on masturbation and taking part in various sex acts at the behest of the 'Daddy'.

Birmingham City University graduate Nielen-Groen, of Annan Road, Wolverhampton, denied meeting a child after grooming with the intention of committing a sexual offence but was convicted.

He was jailed for 18 months by Recorder Mr Jonathan Barnes, who also put him on the sex offenders register and made a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which restrict future contact with children and enables the police to monitor his use of the internet.

The judge criticised Instagram's failure to hand over chat logs of the conversations between Nielen-Groen and the girl.

He said:"Sometimes these social media companies put misplaced loyalty to their customers before the administration of justice."

He said it was clear that the DDLG community was widely used by paedophiles like Nielen-Groen

He said:"You asserted the community had nothing to do with child sex. It may be there are adult members of the community who do not have paedophile tendencies.

"I am quite sure that many of the members, including you, join it because they have a sexual interest in children. You flattered the girl and wanted her to be your 'little'.

"You eventually traveled to meet her in Devon and you intended to commit a sexual offence. You knew full well she was a schoolgirl who was under 16."

During a four day trial Nielen-Groen claimed the girl had never told him her age and he believed her to be an adult who was engaging in age-play and role-play fantasies.

He said he travelled to Devon to meet her but had no intention of taking part in any sexual activity with her. He said he was shocked when she told him her age for the first time in the park in Seaton.

The girl said she joined the DDLG community because she was lonely and wanted to find new friends online. 

At first she found it amazing but soon realised there was a sinister side to some of the other users. Her Instagram account remained online for months before it was removed.

She said:"It grew very quickly and I became part of a community. I knew it was kind of wrong and edgy but I wanted to do it. I wanted to be part of it and for people to talk to me.

"I would take pictures of my body and send them for money. They were pictures of a chest and bum. I had about 500 contacts at a time messaging me."

She said parts of the DDLG site were marked as 18+ but she her account was not and she told him she was 15.

She said:"Some were 18+ but many were under age. I grew to have over 3,000 followers. I did block some men. I did sell some pictures. I did not advertise that but I posted my Paypal on my story once. it was not a recurring theme.

"The majority of men who talked to me did want sexual conversations. I talked to over 20 a day on direct message. There were hundreds in all. I told some I was over age but said I was 15 to the majority.

"Every time I put on my phone I had 20 plus messages. I was having lots of different conversations with lots of different men."

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A sexual predator who subjected three young girls to years of abject suffering has been jailed for 30 years after a jury found him guilty of multiple counts of rape and sexual assault.

Graham Howard, 47, claimed the girls were lying but the overwhelming evidence stacked against him led to a jury returning unanimous guilty verdicts on all 18 charges he had denied.
 
They included multiple rapes and indecent assaults on the victims – one of whom was just six years old when the abuse began, York Crown Court heard.

Over a period of about 10 years, the girls were subjected to horrific sexual assaults at properties in Scarborough, York and Selby.

The evidence presented to the court was so horrific that one juror was reduced to tears.

Howard - formerly of Scarborough but now living in Knottingley, West Yorkshire - denied all charges including 11 counts of rape, as well as gross indecency with a child, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and indecent assault.

The victims - none of whom can be named for legal reasons - were systematically abused between the late 1990s and about 2009.

Prosecutor Mike Greenhalgh said that Howard, who at the time worked at the Rowntree factory in York, offered the victims treats such as chocolate, sweets and magazines if they kept quiet about his sickening crimes.

One victim said: “You couldn’t tell anybody because he always told you not to. He said he would just deny (the abuse).”

She said Howard forced her to carry out sex acts on him, adding: “I just froze. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

She didn’t tell anyone initially because she was “in denial, just scared, having (had) it drilled into my head that I couldn’t tell anyone”.

The girl, who began self-harming by her early teens, added: “He’d buy you things: sweets, magazines; give you money. Most of the time it was after… sex. You’d get treats for that.”

One of the victims said Howard “really creeped me out” and would often whistle at her. During one attack she was screaming with fear.

Each of the girls was raped multiple times and made to perform degrading sexual acts on Howard.

One of them said she had turned to drink and drugs in her early teens because she was struggling to cope following years of abuse.

“I had no confidence and became very timid,” she added. “When (Howard) was hurting me and sexually abusing me, I used to be so hurt and confused. I was too scared to tell anyone what was happening to me. It wasn’t until I got older that I realised that what he was doing to me was wrong.”

One by one, the girls came forward to police in about 2017 but even though Howard was finally brought to justice, they said their lives had been ruined.

One of the victims said she had suffered from depression and anxiety and still had nightmares about her childhood, as well as flashbacks to the abuse.

The girl said Howard had “destroyed my life” and even though she had managed to turn it around with the help of counselling, it was “going to take a long time to recover from what he did to me”.

Another victim said: “I was a small child, young and defenceless. At a young age I started to self-harm because I felt it was the only way to release the pain. I had anxiety and depression to the point where I couldn’t sleep at night. As an adult I still get nightmares about what happened.”

At the adjourned sentence hearing on Friday, judge Sean Morris labelled Howard a “vile” sexual “deviant” who had used the girls as his “sexual play-things”.

“You are a very dangerous man to young children and women,” he added.

He said that Howard - who had pleaded guilty to three separate charges related to the abuse of the same children before the trial - had put the girls through “mental torture” and had shown no remorse.

Howard, of Croft Avenue, Knottingley, showed no emotion as the judge handed down the 30-year sentence.

He was told he must serve at least two-thirds of the 25-year custodial element of the sentence, with an extended five-year period on prison licence. It means his very earliest release date will be in 16 years’ time, when he will be 63.

He was also placed on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order which bans him having any unsupervised contact with under-age children.

Detective Constable Rosie Rogers, of Scarborough CID, said after the hearing: “This is one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever dealt with. No child should have to go through the terror and pain that they suffered at (Howard’s) hands.”

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AN EVESHAM man has been jailed after a police investigation into historic sexual abuse which dated back to the 1970s.

Kevin Friend, 60 of Weston Road was sentenced to nine years behind bars when he appeared at Guildford Crown Court on Friday (August 23).

The offences were reported to police when three different victims came forward a decade later.

One of the victims said in her impact statement: This stopped me moving forwards and I have lived in limbo until now.

Im just hoping that after this case is finished I can actually finally put this to bed.

Ive just moved on now I am the age that I am and Ive learnt to live with what happened.

Friend was convicted of two counts of indecent assault against two victims, which occurred when they were under 16, a sexual assault on an adult and a multiple count of indecent assault following an earlier hearing on 26 July. He was found not guilty of a further seven counts of indecent assault.

Friend targeted one of his victims, who was aged 14 at the time, between 1977 and 1979 with indecent assaults taking place in Chertsey. He was convicted of an indecent assault charge and a multiple count of indecent assault in relation to offences against the first victim.

The 60-year-old was convicted of indecently assaulting his second victim, who was aged 10 at the time, in Camberley between 1987 and 1990.

He was further convicted of sexually assaulting his third victim, a 22-year-old woman, in Evesham between 2004 and 2005.

Det Con Sharron Goodchild said: I would like to praise the victims for having the courage to speak out and ensure Friend was brought to justice for these heinous crimes.

We would not be where we are today without the resilience and bravery of the victims during our investigation. I hope that Friend being found guilty, as well as the sentence imposed today, will allow them to put this behind them and finally move on with their lives.

I also hope this will encourage others in a similar position to come forward and report it to us we will always carry out a full investigation, no matter how long ago the offences were committed.

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A doctor who groped a student nurse has been allowed to return to work even though he is still on the sex offenders register.

Dr Imran Qureshi, 46, a married father of two, had been barred from working after being convicted of sexual assault.

He had groped the 21-year-olds breast while seeking a romantic friendship with her.

But he was given the green light to practise again after complaining he was finding it hard on benefits.

At his 2016 trial, hospital locum Dr Qureshi blamed his actions on cultural norms in his native Pakistan and offered the nurse a deep-hearted apology.

He was given a years community order and told to complete 20 days of rehab.

His name will remain on the sex offenders register for another two years. In 2017, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service barred Dr Qureshi for a year for the assault at Trafford General Hospital in Davyhulme, Gtr Manchester.

They said the locum Senior House Officer had ignored signs the nurse did not welcome his behaviour, adding: Given the length of time youd been in the UK, you should have recognised [her] reluctance in light of your shared cultural understanding.

Dr Qureshi has now re-registered with a locum agency.

After a hearing in November that has only just come to light, the MPTS said: The offence was a single incident some 3 years ago.

There is no evidence to suggest Dr Qureshi offended prior to his conviction, or since.

They said their position was consistent with remarks by the 2016 trial judge that there was no risk for the future.

In its reasons, the MPTS said: The Tribunal consider that the imposition of conditions will allow Dr Qureshi time to further develop his insight into his criminal offence and conviction.

It considered that conditions would permit Dr Qureshi to return to clinical practice and to further remediate while, at the same time, protect patients, and maintain public confidence in the profession.

In the circumstances as they stand today, the Tribunal did not consider that it would be appropriate or proportionate to impose a further period of suspension on Dr Qureshis registration.

MedEcho did not respond to a request for comment.