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A THIRTY five year old mechanic from Sandwick has been ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work after admitting possession indecent photos and videos of children. Erik Stove, of Setter, had previously pleaded guilty to possessing and taking or permitting to be taken indecent photographs of children between 23 August 2014 and 8 March last year. Lerwick Sheriff Court had previously heard that Stove had three still images and 11 videos on his mobile phone, several of which fell into the most serious category A. Defence agent Gregor Kelly said a social work report had been full and helpful, showing that, while his wife had temporarily absented herself from the marital home, she had now returned and was supportive. He said Stove who told police when he was arrested I know theres stuff on my phone thats borderline and I wish to f**k I didnt have it was genuinely remorseful and ashamed of his actions. Kelly said his client was in many ways relieved to have been caught as it had forced him to address a pornography problem that left him locked in a prison of addiction. He had been sent two videos involving moving images of children in 2014 and, during the Covid-19 lockdown, had gone on a dark pathway where idle hands precipitated a spectacular further fall from grace. In the past year he has done much to rid himself of this addiction and is thought of highly by his peers, Kelly added. Sheriff Cruickshank noted that the offending was unusual in that it took place over a lengthy period but only a small number of images were involved. He handed Stove a community payback order under supervision for 18 months, during which time he will also be subject to notification requirements under sexual offences legislation.

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A 73-year-old man who photographed a teenage girls bottom and followed her around Tesco has been given a 12-month supervision order.

Brian Laing appeared for sentencing at Lerwick Sheriff Court today (Wednesday) having pleaded guilty to behaving in a threatening and abusive manner at an earlier hearing.

Laing had photographed the 16-year-old girl in Tesco, Lerwick, on 21st November. He then followed the girl and her 72-year-old grandmother around the store while persistently staring at them.

Sheriff Ian Cruickshank found there had been a significant sexual aspect to Laings offence. He therefore subjected Laing, of Staneyhill, Lerwick, to sex offender notification requirements for the length of the supervision order.

Defence agent Tommy Allan said a report prepared for the sentencing showed Laing had made a full and frank admission.

Mr Allan said a supervision order would benefit his client.

Theres going to be some difficult work that he has to deal with, he added.

There are a number of deep-seated issues that he would need to explore.

At the earlier hearing, procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie told the court the incident could be clearly seen on the stores CCTV footage.

Mr Allan previously said his client had suffered six heart attacks and the incident happened before he visited an Aberdeen hospital. He said Laing was on a lot of medication and had no memory of following the girl or taking the image.

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Osian Winters - now known as Mark Williams - has a long history of sexual offending which includes pleasuring himself while looking at mannequins in a shop window. A sex offender with a mannequin fetish openly masturbated on a train in front of passengers including a young schoolgirl. The child was so disgusted by what was happening she took a photo on her phone of the man and then alerted the guard. Mark Williams - who has changed his name from Osian Winters since his last conviction - later claimed he had in fact been performing the sex act on a sex toy which he had found in a pub. The defendant was found in possession of such an item but the court heard "the colour and shape" of it did not match what was shown in the snap taken by the girl. Williams a long history of sexual offences involving children, and of committing sex acts in public - including masturbating while looking at mannequins in shop windows - and he has repeatedly breached court orders designed to try to curb his deviant behaviour. The 28-year-old claims he is addicted to masturbating. Swansea Crown Court heard the defendant's most recent offending happened on a train between Carmarthen and Whitland in December last year. Jim Davis, prosecuting, said the defendant was seen "masturbating in clear view of everybody in the carriage", including a young girl who was sat nearby. He said the youngster was able to take a photograph of the incident and when the train arrived in Whitland and Williams got off, she reported the matter to the train manager. Police were contacted, and though Williams was wearing a Covid face mask and a baseball cap he was recognised on CCTV footage by a police officer who knows him. The court heard the girl who who reported the incident later told police she had been "disgusted" by what she had witnessed. The prosecutor said the defendant was arrested on December 21 and in his subsequent interview denied the offence, telling officers "he had been masturbating a dildo he found in a public house". Mr Davis said Williams was found to own such an item but it was "different in colour and shape" from what was captured in the photograph taken on the train. Mark Williams, of Lammas Steet, Carmarthen, had previously pleaded guilty to outraging public decency when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has 13 previous convictions for 26 offences, some 15 of which are of a sexual nature. In 2016 he was made the subject of sexual harm prevention order after being convicted of six counts of causing or inciting a girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity and two counts of possessing indecent images. These offences related to extensive and sexually explicit online Skype chats he had with a 15-year-old girl. In September 2018 he was given a community order after being caught on CCTV pleasuring himself while looking at mannequins in the window of Topshop in Carmarthen town centre. On that occasion the judge told the defendant he should aim to establish an appropriate adult relationship with a partner rather than "walking around the centre of town in the dead of night being excited by mannequins".

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A disturbed pervert searched unrelentingly for images of children who had been kidnapped, tied up and sexually abused, a court heard. Henry Hunter, 34, admitted possessing indecent photos of children at Lerwick Sheriff Court today (Wednesday). Procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie told the court more than 1,200 of the most serious category A images had been found on Hunters mobile phone and computer. Mr MacKenzie said it was clear Hunter, of Hoofields, Lerwick, had a particular predisposition for children who had been tied up. The court heard he used search terms such as kidnapped little girl. Images found on his devices featured children aged between two and 16, many of them bound and gagged with materials such as ropes, chains or dog collars. The children were forced to have sex with adults or each other, the court was told. Mr MacKenzie said Hunters search history revealed a disturbed mind. He was searching the internet with unrelenting regularity for material to satisfy his particular proclivities. He said the images he searched for involved sadistic, sexual material of young children who had been kidnapped, bound and gagged. Hunters chat room comments also showed extensive participation in what Mr MacKenzie described as seriously deviant conversations. When asked in one chatroom what would make the perfect picture Hunter responded it would be a girl who had been hog-tied. Mr MacKenzie told the court Hunter had been arrested after police, acting on intelligence he had child sex abuse material, obtained a warrant to search his Lerwick flat on 27th July last year. Officers seized three of his devices a mobile phone, computer tower and external hard drive. Initial searches uncovered a significant number of images. Hunter was arrested and interviewed by police and made a full admission. He told officers how he had downloaded images from a number of websites, mostly registered in foreign countries. Mr MacKenzie said Hunter admitted to police his behaviour had been going on for a number of years and had spiralled out of control. Hunter admitted masturbating when viewing the material. A full forensic search of his devices uncovered even more images, some of which were particularly concerning, and dated back as far as June 2005. He visited one website, notorious among those investigating child pornography crimes, more than 5,000 times on his mobile phone alone. Most visits were carried out between April and July last year but it appeared he had been accessing it since 2015. Searches continued right up until when the police search warrant was executed. As well as illegal images, police also found more than 4,000 borderline images and more than 5,000 animated drawings described as photo realistic which depicted children engaging in various forms of sexual activity. Defence agent Tommy Allan said Hunter had co-operated with police from the start and was very much aware of the seriousness of these offences. Mr Allan said there were issues that will need to be explored with his doctor in regard to his mental health. Sheriff Ian Cruickshank adjourned the case until 16th March for the preparation of criminal justice social worker reports and a restriction of liberty assessment. Hunter has been subjected to sex offender notification requirements for a length of time to be determined at sentencing. Sheriff Cruickshank granted an application to forfeit his devices. Bail has been continued.

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A sex offender sailor has been banned from going into parks or play parks after being caught hoarding child abuse images.

Gordon Gray, who has been in the Merchant Navy for 19 years, stockpiled thousands of files during Scotland's first coronavirus lockdown.

A court heard he downloaded and hoarded horrific videos of toddlers being raped and babies and young boys being sexually abused.

The 37-year-old kept nearly 5,000 files on an Asus laptop which was sitting on his bed when police officers arrived to investigate.

The stash of 4,779 images was built up between February 15 and October 22, 2020, Kilmarnock Sheriff Court heard.

Between March 23 and May 29, Scotland was the subject of lockdown restrictions, to stop the spread of the deadly Covid-19 virus.

Gray, of Ardrossan, North Ayrshire, returned to the dock yesterday to be sentenced, having earlier pleaded guilty to two charges.

He had admitted downloading indecent images of children and being in possession of the illegal files - in breach of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982.

After hearing that Gray may lose his job as a result of the conviction and the fact he was being placed on the Sex Offenders' Register, Sheriff Murdo Mactaggart spared him jail.

He placed him on a three-year-long Community Payback Order which will see him supervised by social workers.

He also has to attend the Moving Forward: Making Changes programme, which seeks to help sex offenders change their ways.

He also placed Gray on the Sex Offenders' Register for three years and made him the subject of a conduct requirement, limiting his freedoms in the community.

The conduct requirement means he is not allowed any unsupervised conduct with anyone under the age of 16, unless it has been signed off by his supervising social worker.

He is also not to enter parks of play parks where he believes children may be, unless his social worker lets him, and his use of electronic devices will also be monitored.

And he has to notify those supervising him of his log-in details for his email and social media accounts and websites he uses, so they can keep tabs on what he is doing.

When he admitted his guilt, prosecutor Craig Wainwright said officers from Police Scotland obtained a search warrant for Gray's home "as a result of intelligence received".

He explained: "The accused was alone within the property.

"A search of the locus was carried out.

"A number of devices were recovered, but, in particular, an Asus laptop was on top of the bed in the bedroom.

"It was examined by officers of the Cyber Crime team. They recovered still and moving images."

Mr Wainwright said there a total of 3,161 indecent pictures, and 1,618 films had been downloaded, but all had been deleted.

Of the 4,779 files, 986 were assessed as being Category A images - showing the most extreme forms of child sex abuse.

He added: "They showed the sexual exploitation of male and female children aged between one and 14."

He said the films included a video of an 18-month-old boy being raped, a baby being sexually abused, and an eight-year-old boy exposing himself to the camera in a professional studio.

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A Northampton detective tracked down a suspected child sex offender to Germany after he fled from the town in a bid to escape the law.

Szymon Leszek Sieczkiewicz, aged 38, has been jailed for six years for assault and incitement involving an 11-year-old in January 2019.

The Polish HGV driver skipped the country and headed across the Channel ahead of a court appearance but was hunted down by police using a European Arrest Warrant and dragged back to Northampton.

Sieczkiewicz, whose address was not given in court, was was finally found guilty of all charges in October 2021 and last month sentenced to six years and handed an indefinite Sexual Harm prevention Order at Northampton Crown Court.

DS Selena Leppard, who led the investigation, said: I am really pleased that my relentless pursuit of Szymon Sieczkiewicz has resulted in this six-year sentence.

Sieczkiewicz thought he could escape justice by leaving the country, but this case goes to show that Northamptonshire Police will not only go beyond our county borders to pursue offenders but also cross national borders too.

The child in this case has been very brave from the beginning of our investigation and I would like to thank them and their family for their support throughout.

I hope this result, after such a drawn-out case, will allow them some closure and the ability to move forward with their life.

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A churchgoer who ‘blighted the childhood’ of a fellow worshipper by raping her when she was just 12 has been jailed for 20 years.

Ian Symonds started grooming the girl more than a year before the rape attack in a pub car park and went on to persuade her to have a three-year under-age relationship with him.

He brainwashed her into believing that God approved of them having sex and told her that the Virgin Mary was only 12 when she and Joseph first slept together.

He used his position as a drummer in a church band to meet and groom her and they had sex around 100 times, mainly in his works van in beauty spots including the Stover Country Park.

The girl, who was 18 years younger than him, only started having doubts about him when she watched EastEnders episodes which included a child abuse story line. Her parents became suspicious when she was 15 and restricted their meetings but Symonds set up a joint Facebook page under false names which they used to exchange messages and explicit photos. He also recorded a string of car karaoke videos in which he sang along to love songs in his van before pointing at the camera and saying ‘and I mean you’.

When she ended the relationship, he falsely claimed to have cancer to arouse her sympathies. In fact, he was a healthy bodybuilder who spent hours at a gym.

She wrote a victim personal statement which said she has distanced herself from the church and still suffers flashbacks and psychological trauma.

She said she cannot bear to be given flowers or chocolates because it still reminds her of the gifts which he showered on her when he was grooming her.

Symonds, aged 40, of Douglass Road, Plymouth was found guilty of two rapes, five counts of sexual activity with a child and one of making indecent images of the girl by a jury at Exeter Crown Court last week.

He was jailed for 20 years by Judge Timothy Rose, who put him on the sex offenders’ register for life and banned any future contact with under age girls through a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

He told him: “These were a series of profoundly serious sexual offences over three years. It is perfectly clear you developed a sexual interest and obsession with her.

“She was confused, as you would expect given her age and immaturity and the reality is that you brainwashed her into engaging in frequent and continued sexual activity.

“You bombarded her with gifts and comprehensively manipulated her in a way which blighted her childhood and has had a devastating effect on her emotional well-being.

“It was persistent and hugely damaging child abuse.”

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A man has been jailed for 38 years after he was found guilty of abusing two young girls. Jamie Dawson, 41, of Garden Crescent, South Normanton, Derbyshire was convicted of 13 counts of raping a girl under the age of 13. He was also found guilty of two counts of assaulting a girl under the age of 13 by touching. The 41-year-old had denied the offences but was found guilty at a trial at Nottingham Crown Court. Derbyshire Police said the girls were abused in the late 2000s and early 2010s. The force said both victims had attempted to take their own lives as a result. Det Con Brett Turner praised the victims for their bravery. "Without their support and resilience Jamie Dawson would not have been brought to justice," he said. "His actions, and then continued denials, show him to be nothing short of evil. "The sentence imposed on him is one of the highest I have seen as an officer and is testament to the truly horrific crimes he committed. "While it goes no way to repairing the damage that he wrought on these two women - I hope that this is the beginning of a new, brighter, chapter for them both, free of Dawson's shadow."

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A Catholic priest has been convicted of sexually assaulting a young parishioner while she visited him with her family on Christmas Day.

Martins Enegbuma carried out the attack on the victim, who is in her 20s, in a house he was living in next door to his Edinburgh church.

The 44-year-old subjected her to unwanted kisses, rubbed her foot, and ran his hands over her body.

The victim, along with her mother and another relative, had visited Enegbuma as they didnt want him to be alone for Christmas and brought him food.

Enegbuma was living in the house beside Our Lady, Mother of the Church in the citys Currie area.

He left the woman distressed after what was branded a catalogue of sexual touching during the familys 45 minute stay.

Enegbuma, who is originally from Nigeria, is understood to have been the priest at the church for several months before the incident.

He went on trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court on Monday, where he denied the charge, and was found guilty by a sheriff on Tuesday.

Fiscal depute Ross Price told the court how the family had gone to wish Enegbuma a Merry Christmas on December 25 2020.

Mr Price said Enegbuma instigated a campaign of sexual touching.

The prosecutor described how the woman was pinned in by Enegbuma during one encounter on a staircase.

He described how Enegbuma had carried out a gross abuse of position and a gross abuse of trust.

Mr Price said the victim was set upon in a predatory fashion by Enegbuma who was responsible for a catalogue of sexual touching.

It added up, he said, to become one horrible incident.

Mr Price said the victim had given evidence about her repulsion over the priests actions and his lingering wet kisses.

The court was told the victim told her mother about what had occurred later on Christmas Day having been initially frightened of her reaction.

The trial heard how the victims mother gave evidence about Enegbumas unpriestly conduct.

Enegbuma had known the woman for several months as a member of the congregation, the court was told.

Finding Enegbuma guilty, Sheriff Adrian Fraser said he considered the victim and her mother to have been credible and reliable witnesses.

The sheriff said hed found the touching did take place, that it was intentional and sexual, and there was no consent.

He told Enegbuma that the victim and her family had shown kindness to you at Christmas when he carried out the assault, adding: This is clearly a serious matter.

Enegbuma was found guilty of sexually assaulting the woman by repeatedly lungeing over her, rubbing her foot, compressing her toe, embracing her, kissing her on the hand, kissing her on the forehead, and running his hands over her body.

Sheriff Fraser deferred sentence on Enegbuma, who is now living in the citys Niddrie area, until March for reports.

He ordered Enegbuma be placed on the sex offenders register and continued his bail.

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Matthew Sherwood was concealed by supporters outside Worcester Magistrates Court on Thursday, ducking down behind three of them, wearing a baseball cap and a Covid mask, as he made his way to the police station to sign the sex offender register.

However, we can now show you the face of the convicted sex offender who tried to contact girls online.

We reported last week how Sherwood, 37, of Mandalay Drive, Norton, Worcester had admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity as well as having indecent images of children.

At the hearing, Sherwood had pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child between January 31, 2020 and February 8, 2020. He further admitted attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity between January 31, 2020 and February 8, 2020.

'Attempts' mean the defendant was communicating with a 'decoy', such as a so-called paedophile hunter group or a police officer using fake profiles, rather than an actual child. Sherwood further admitted making indecent photos of a child between April 12, 2020 and June 6, 2020.

He had three category C images, the least serious category within the guidelines.

Because of the serious nature of the case, magistrates declined jurisdiction for the case.

Sherwood, represented at the hearing by city solicitor Mark Sheward, was granted unconditional bail to attend a further hearing at Worcester Crown Court on February 25 this year.

Charles Townsend, chairman of the bench, said: "Despite the fact you have pleaded guilty to all matters - that has has been noted and will be your credit - it will be at crown court that you will receive that credit. The issues are too serious for us to deal with here in the magistrates court."

The bench also requested that a pre-sentence report be prepared by the probation service. A sexual harm prevention order will also have to be agreed and ultimately imposed by a judge sitting at the crown court.

Sherwood was told he needed to sign on as sex offender within three days of the hearing.

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A paedophile former West Yorkshire Police officer has been given a ten-year prison sentence for arranging to meet an eight-year-old girl for sex.

A judge told Michael Conlon he poses a serious danger to children as he was handed the extended jail term.

Conlon was arrested in November last year after he travelled to Liverpool from his home in Leeds to meet an undercover police officer posing a fellow paedophile.

Leeds Crown Court heard how the officer had met Conlon in an internet chatroom pretending to be a father of two children.

Former West Yorkshire Police officer Michael Conlon was given an extended ten-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence.

Ben Campbell, prosecuting, said the officer told Conlon he had an eight-year-old daughter and a three-year-old son.

Conlon sent the officer a message saying that he was looking for "dads who share" along with sickening messages expressing his sexual interest in children.

The 46-year-old defendant then exchanged further messages on an encrypted app.

Conlon told the officer he had previously had sex with a 12-year-old girl but was no longer able to get access to children.

Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009 when he was jailed for for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child.

The prosecutor said Conlon arranged to meet the officer so they could arrange for him to have sex with the 'girl'.

Conlon bought a toy unicorn and sent the officer a video of it.
  
Michael Conlon pictured outside Leeds Crown Court in 2009.

The defendant travelled to Liverpool on November 20 last year and they met in a Costa coffee shop.
The officer recorded his conversion with Conlon during the 25-minute meeting.

Conlon was arrested the next day at his home.

The arresting officers knocked on the door for five minutes and suspected that he was clearing incriminating evidence from his electronic devices.

Chat logs on the devices were later found to have been scrambled.

A toy unicorn matching the one in the video he had sent was recovered from the living room.

Conlon, of Newton Grove, Chapeltown, made no comment when interviewed by officers.

He pleaded guilty to arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence.

Conlon lost his career in the police when he was jailed in 2009 for attempting to engage in sexual activity with a child, attempting to meet a girl under 16 after sexual grooming and making and possessing indecent photographs of children.

A probation service report assessed him as posing a serious risk to children.

Andrew Coleman, mitigating, said Conlon pleaded guilty to his latest offence at an early stage.
Mr Coleman said his client also has mental health problems which required medication.

Conlon was told he must serve a six-year custodial term, of which two-thirds must be spent in cudosty.
He will then spend a further four-year period on licence.
 
Sentencing, Judge Tom Bayliss QC said: "The prison sentence which was imposed on the last occasion did not deter you, nor did the sexual harm prevention order.
"You were prepared to abuse an eight-year-old child for you own sexual needs.

"You were prepared to take risks. You were prepared to act upon your own sexual impulses to sexually abuse a very young child".

The YEP reported in 2009 how Conlon was jailed for two and a half years for trying to groom a teenage girl over the internet.

He was a serving policeman when he was exposed as a paedophile by a colleague masquerading as a 14-year-old girl in an internet chat room.
Conlon, then aged 33, believed he was grooming a schoolgirl for sex.

But the Killingbeck-based constable was actually sending sick messages and sexual webcam footage of himself to a female officer from the Metropolitan Police.
Conlon contacted her ‘Shelley 14’ profile on chat website FaceParty numerous times over a six-month period.

He called himself ‘Wingnut79’ and ‘Man in uniform69.’

Conlon asked if she was a virgin and said he wanted her phone number and naked pictures after she told him she was aged 14.

He also arranged to meet a genuine 15-year-old girl he wanted to have sex with.
Conlon, an officer for five years before his arrest, turned up for the meeting in Knaresborough but she did not.
 
When police raided his then home in Primrose Hill Drive, Swillington, in August 2008 they found 370 depraved pictures and videos.
The images of girls as young as five being abused had been downloaded to his computer over a three-year period.

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A judge told a Speedwell man found guilty of sexually abusing two young girls that the "guilt is all yours".

Scott Hunt, 33, of Whitefield Avenue, abused the youngsters on multiple occasions, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Though he still denies wrongdoing a jury convicted him of three charges of causing or inciting a child aged under-13 to engage in sexual activity on one girl, and two charges of sexual assault of a child aged under-13 on another.

The Recorder Mr Neil Millard jailed him for eight years.

Both complainants read impact statements to the court outlining the guilt and shame they endured as a result of the abuse.

The judge told Hunt: "They should feel no guilt.

"They did nothing wrong.

"The guilt is all yours.

"There is absolutely no guilt on them.

"Their strength is in coming here and telling this court what you did to them.

"They are not little girls anymore, they are strong young women.

"The guilt is yours."

Hunt was handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning him from contact or working with youngsters aged under 16.

He was told to register his whereabouts to police for life.

One complainant told how the abuse left her "confused and frightened".

She stated: "I was just a little girl.

"I didn't understand a lot of things that happened."

The complainant said Hunt manipulated her and told her not to tell anybody about the abuse.

She described how she had blanked a lot of happy childhood memories and became nervous around men.

The other complainant said she suffered feelings of "guilt, shame and disgust" about the abuse, which left her very angry and with trust issues.

Catherine Spedding, defending, said her client was left disfigured after suffering horrific burns aged 11 months.

She said he was picked on in his early life, became isolated and lonely, and a Probation Service report concluded there was a link between his accident and his offending behaviour.

The court heard Hunt had been primary carer for his mother, who suffers from vascular dementia.

Miss Spedding said: "He still does not accept the offences.

"He does appear to accept the effect it would have on the victims."

Investigating officer DC Michael Coleman said: These were awful offences committed against two defenceless young girls in the Bristol area several years ago.

"They were first reported to the police in 2017 resulting in a thorough investigation being carried out. T

"The defendant was charged in January 2021 and convicted of five offences following a recent trial at Bristol Crown Court.

Both victims have shown tremendous bravery, fortitude and resilience throughout the criminal investigation and resulting court proceedings.

I hope the custodial sentence given to Hunt will be able to help the victims find some form of closure.

"I also hope it will encourage other victims of sexual abuse to come forward and report offences committed against them, in the knowledge they will be believed and listened to.

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Ian Watson, 56, of Churchfields, St Helens was sentenced to five years imprisonment after being found guilty of arranging and facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence. A 56-year-old man has been caught arranging to travel to Cheshire to have sex with a nine-year-old boy. Ian Watson, of Churchfields in St Helens, was caught by police making arrangements online to meet a nine-year-old boy in Cheshire to engage in sexual activity with the child. Watson was making the horrifying arrangements with another adult online, but what he did not know was that his dark web accomplice was actually a police officer from the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU) On March 30, 2020 he was arrested at his home address and appeared in Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, January 28 charged with child sexual offences. A judge sentenced him to five years in prison after he was found guilty of arranging and facilitating the commission of a child sexual offence. Detective Inspector Andy Buckthorpe of NWROCU said: Ian Watson was a significant risk to children and were extremely glad that our investigation has stopped him from being able to act on his abusive intentions. Here at the NWROCU were committed to protecting children from sexual exploitation. Law enforcement operates across the internet and we're committed to ensuring those who use this means of communicating with those believe to be children to arrange sexual abuse are brought before the courts to face justice." I would urge anyone who has been a victim of child abuse, or thinks a child is being abused, to contact police immediately on 101, where a report can be made in confidence. Detective Sergeant Rob Deponeo, from Merseyside Police said: Offenders often think that the internet will offer them complete anonymity to commit offences, but, as todays sentence shows that this is not the case. Merseyside Police has specialist officers working tirelessly in partnership with other agencies such as the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit to identify offenders, no matter where they live or what devices they use. "A huge amount of work is done by law enforcement agencies throughout the world to identify offenders, infiltrate their networks and uncover the evidence we need to put them behind bars and ensure that suitable safeguarding measures are put in place. We work with other UK forces, agencies and CEOP (the Child Exploitation Online Protection centre), as well as agencies in other countries who share our desire and determination to protect children from depraved and dangerous offenders such as Watson. "We will use every tactic and technological advancement available to ensure people cannot and do not get away with the terrible crimes they have committed.

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A DEVIOUS Workington man created a false online profile using photos of a woman he knew so he could have sexual contact with a schoolgirl.

Mark Adams, 39, made an attempt to persuade a '13-year-old girl' he was chatting to on a social media website to commit sexual acts, unaware that the person he was communicating with was actually an under-cover police officer, Carlisle Crown Court heard.

The defendant was jailed after he admitted four counts of sexually communicating with a child and one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Damian Nolan, prosecuting, said Adams, of Rowe Terrace, Workington, fabricated a profile for a gay 21-year-old woman and used this on a dating website.

He was attempting to attract the attention of young girls, said the prosecutor.

The defendant engaged in sexual communication with a user, believing her to be a 13-year-old female, said Mr Nolan, pointing out that the police operative had made clear at an early stage that the person he was talking to was aged 13.

The two also exchanged telephone numbers. The communication between the defendant and the girl went on for four days in 2020 on February 4, 5, 6 and 7.

The defendant repeatedly requested indecent images of [the child] and also sent naked images and encouraged her to engage in sexual activity, said Mr Nolan.

On February 7, he made a more specific request for the girl to undress and engage in a sex act and then made two attempts to make WhatsApp phone calls to the child so he could listen to what she was doing.

Mr Nolan continued: Clearly, the defendant was wanting to drive the conversation from start to finish.

"Those conversations with her refer to [the girl] being in school uniform and on the way home from school.

But on each and every day the defendant requested sexualised activity, either the sending of images or [the child] to perform sex acts on herself.

The court heard that the woman whose photo Adams had used in his fake profile knew nothing about it and was left deeply distressed when police told her what Adams had done.

Throughout three police interviews, Adams denied any wrongdoing.

He suggested somebody may have accessed his online profile to commit the offence.

Anthony Parkinson, defending, said Adams was assessed as posing a low risk" of reconviction and a medium risk of causing serious harm in the future. There is a realistic prospect of rehabilitation," said the barrister.

He said Adams advanced hopeless theories to explain what he did are a result of his shame and embarrassment.

The barrister added: These offences took place almost two years ago and since his arrest hes had to leave his family home and he and his partner are in a strained relationship. He is living in privately rented accommodation and has inevitably suffered that this type of offence brings with it and a loss of employment.

Judge Nicholas Barker that until this offence the defendant lived a crime-free life and was in continuous employment. But he had set up the fake profile in order to engage sexually with other people, said the judge.

You set up a profile which presented yourself as a 21-year-old female who was gay and was interested in meeting young girls.

It was abundantly clear his communication with the 13-year-old was highly sexualised, highly determined, persistent, demanding and controlling, despite him quickly having learned that she 13.

The judge jailed Adams for 27 months, saying only immediate custody was appropriate given the determined nature of the offences and the deceit involved.

The defendants name will be on the Sex Offender Register for a decade and he was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which forbids him from having any unsupervised access to girls aged under 16.