Latest Offenders

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Pervert Christopher Powell was caught with thousands of child abuse images and extreme pornography.

The 31-year-old, who is a carer for his mum and dad, was arrested after the photos and videos were found on a laptop when the police raided his home.

The defendant initially denied any wrongdoing but went on to plead guilty to possessing indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornography shortly before he was due to stand trial.

Now Powell, of King Street, Fenton, has been handed a suspended prison sentence at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court.

Prosecutor Nicholas Tatlow said: Police searched this defendants home address and took a laptop and two hard drives which were found to contain indecent images of children.

The police found both still and moving indecent images of children in categories A, B and C.

There is at least one image of a child suffering a considerable amount of pain and distress.

There are moving images, a high volume of images and large number of different victims.

In total, police found 383 images at category A, the most serious; 249 at category B; and 2,745 Category C. A total of 96 extreme porn pictures were also recovered.

Jason Holt, mitigating, said: It has taken time to accept what he has done but there is a degree to which he has changed his attitude which is shown in his guilty pleas.

He had a difficult upbringing from the age of six and the irony is he now cares for his mother who had had a stroke and for his father who has also had a stroke. He cares for them both but in particular his mother.

He accepts the issues that he has and has shown remorse and concern.

Powell was sentenced to a two-year community order with 20 rehabilitation activity requirement days and 40 hours of unpaid work.

He was also made the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

Recorder John Butterfield told him: There was a high number of unique and accessible images, they were both still and moving.

There were images of children and of bestiality.

These were real children in the process of being sexually abused and possibly these children would not have suffered if it wasnt for people like you perusing an interest in them.

The court ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the laptop and two hard drives.

Description

A paedophile claimed he tried to meet a '14-year-old boy' for sex when he was grieving for his Chelsea football star stepdad.

Lee Stride, whose stepfather was Blues defender David Stride, has been spared jail after he arranged to meet who he thought was a teenage boy he had been chatting to on Grindr.

When he arrived to meet the youngster he was confronted by paedophile hunters from the group TRAP.

Southampton Crown Court heard supermarket worker Stride had struck up a conversation on Grindr.

Prosecutor James Kellam said that after the 'boy' said he was 14, Stride continued to talk to him and sent intimate pictures of himself.

Mr Kellam said: "You will be familiar with cases where self-appointed guardians of society - as they see it - set up profiles on dating websites.

"The defendant fell into conversation with a man with an individual profile on Grindr and who told him he was 14.

"Despite having heard that, the defendant continued to talk to him and to send him pictures, which he himself admits [are his genitalia]."

Mr Kellam added it was "quite clear" the exchange concluded with the pair arranging to meet to have sex.

The court heard when Stride arrived at the arranged meeting point, he was challenged by two men who told him police were on their way.

A video of the confrontation was also posted online, which was viewed more than 800,000 times.

Stride, of no fixed abode, admitted one count of attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Defending, Mark Florida-James told the court this was an 'unusual' and 'sad' case.

Mr Florida-James said Stride was grieving for his stepfather, who had recently died of a heart attack.

David Stride played 35 times for Chelsea before going on to play for a number of teams in the North American Soccer League.

He added: "[Stride] has gone from a respectable member of the community to someone who will hang his head in shame for a long time to come."

Sentencing him to 12-months behind bars, suspended for two years, Judge Gary Burrell QC told Stride that his wife standing by him was one of the factors that had spared him an immediate jail term.

The judge said: "You have the support of your family.

"In particular, your wife who states, 'I still love my husband and want to support him through the difficult time he is going through, including working on our marriage'.

"In this case there were no real victims. Nevertheless you did not know that and you thought you were in contact with a 14-year-old boy.

"You sent photos which was a particularly stupid thing to do.

"You are very lucky to have that support from your wife. She has stood by you in these most difficult of circumstances."

Stride was placed on the sex offenders' register and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for five years.

Description

A BISHOPS Itchington man has been jailed for raping three women.

Nicholas James Holland, age 34, pleaded guilty to three counts of non-recent rape offences at Birmingham Crown Court on February 6.

He was sentenced to 19 years imprisonment and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.

The first victim came to police in 2016 and reported that Holland had raped her. She named the two other victims who were contacted by police.

The other two women were reluctant to speak to police but after being reassured they also disclosed offences committed by Holland.

Det Sgt Gareth Unett, said: Holland preyed on young women and the impact on their lives has been devastating. They bravely came forward to report the crimes to police despite the time that had passed. They should be commended for their actions which have helped protect the wider public.

This case highlights that no matter what length of time has passed, the public should feel reassured that Warwickshire Police will thoroughly investigate non-recent offences, supporting victims throughout.

While two of the victims were initially reluctant to talk to police, specially trained officers worked closely with them to provide reassurances and the bravery of all the women ensured Holland faced justice.

Description

A teenager claimed he had been bullied in school to look at indecent images of children.

But an investigation showed he continued to search for such images after he left school. It was said in court to have become an addiction.

Morgan Andrew Abbott, 18, of Lower Dee View Road in Greenfield, Holywell, was given a chance of a suspended sentence.

At Mold Crown Court, Judge Niclas Parry gave him a 16 month youth custody sentence but suspended it for two years.

He was ordered to carry out 100 hours unpaid work and he was placed on 60 days rehabilitation.

Abbott was ordered to register with the police as a sex offender for 10 years and a 10 year sexual harm prevention order was also made.

He admitted he made by downloading 115 indecent images and movies of children at the most serious category A; 99 images at category B, and 288 images and movies of children at category C.

Abbott admitted that in November last year he distributed indecent images/movies of children in all three categories using Skype.

He admitted possessing 244 prohibited images of children and possessing six extreme images, which portrayed, in an explicit and realistic way, a person performing an oral sex act on a dog.

Judge Parry told him it took a police investigation and his arrest for him to realise the seriousness of what he had been involved with.

He had searched for material which depicted the abuse of very young children.

It has taken this prosecution for you to understand that children who are abused suffer trauma which is immeasurable, he said.

His case was seriously aggravated by the fact some of the images had been shared, he said.

Judge Parry warned the distribution offences could attract sentences of up to five years.

But he was only 18, he committed the offences when he was immature, inquisitive and nave, and experimenting sexually.

He had no previous convictions and he had pleaded guilty.

If he received an immediate sentence then he would be released relatively early without any of the issues and problems he had being addressed, the judge told him. He had therefore decided to suspend the sentence.

Robin Boag, defending, said his client was a young man of good character with no convictions who had pleaded guilty at an early stage.

The distribution was limited to two individuals in November of last year.

He had initially been bullied into doing it but he accepted it had carried on from there.

There had been some encouragement and then he accepts it became an addiction, he said.

Description

A young man who dreamed of becoming a police officer has been jailed for child sex offences - including a sickening attempt to "blackmail" a 12-year-old schoolgirl into sending him indecent images of herself.

Cameron Longstaff, 20, went online to target the two schoolgirls, telling one he would circulate an intimate image of her that he had acquired if she did not send him more explicit pictures.

The youngsters said the experience left her feeling vulnerable, scared, and angry.

The other girl was so afraid she stayed indoors with the curtains closed, and asked her parents to always lock the doors.

As he imposed a year-long jail term on the defendant, of Hurley Road, Little Corby, Judge James Adkin told him that despite positive character references, the "overwhelming" evidence of his guilt from the trial revealed a darker side Longstaff's character, including his interest in child pornography.

"There is a predatory aspect to this," said the judge. "You felt it necessary to humiliate a young girl because she would not comply with your demands."

Longstaff denied two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity; three of downloading indecent child images; one of possessing such images; and two counts of distributing it.

A jury convicted him of all the offences.

The court heard how Longstaff had amassed a large collection of sickening child pornography images, both still images and videos.

Of these, 33 were classed as the most serious kind. The trial was told how Longstaff - 16 when he committed most of the offences - used a social media site under a false name, targeting the two 12-year-olds, urging them to share indecent images of themselves.

When one refused he threatened to distribute an intimate image of her that he had acquired, later sending it to a Russian website used by child porn perverts.

Victim impact statements revealed how the girls were affected. The first girl was left suffering from sleep problems, and her school-work suffered.

The second girl - in court with her mother for the hearing - said: "I was hiding in the house with all the curtains drawn because the [the defendant] said he would come to my house."

Her mother said: "My daughter was only 12 years old and she was very scared by what happened. ..We had been an open house until then, but after the incident, my daughter insisted on locking all the doors all the time.

"She still feels uncomfortable now being at home alone."

Kim Whittlestone, for Longstaff, said her mitigation was limited because the defendant continued to protest his innocence. Character references showed he was a hard-working young man, supported by his family.

"He worked at the family cafe but had aspirations to join the police force," said the barrister.

"He was undertaking a college course which would have enabled him to enter the police force once that was passed."

Miss Whittlestone said most of Longstaff's offending happened when he was 16 and that there was a suggestion he had not acted alone.

At the time, she said, he was struggling to fit in with his peer group. Longstaff wept as he was led away to start his sentence.

His name will be on the Sex Offender's Register for a decade, and he will be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Description

A PAEDOPHILE who repeatedly raped a girl when she was a young child has had his prison sentence extended by two years.

Christopher Hendy, 52, formerly of Devereux Road, Amesbury, abused this victim in the 1980s, forcing her to perform sexual acts on him.

He told her not to tell anyone about what had happened.

Hendy also abused another young girl by touching her sexually on a single occasion.

The two victims came forward after reading press coverage of Hendys previous convictions in 2015, when he was jailed for 22 years for 21 offences, including 12 counts of raping children.

He initially denied abusing the two girls, but changed his plea on the eve of his trial, admitting rape, gross indecency with a child and indecent assault.

Winchester Crown Court heard on Friday that Hendy was a teenager when the abuse took place.

Andy Houston, prosecuting, said Hendy would look at dirty magazines before abusing his victim.

The victim remembers being told by the defendant she was a special girl and this was their little secret that no one should ever know anything about, Mr Houston said.

In a statement, one of Hendys victims said to him: I am not scared of you and what you did.

Mr Houston said that both victims had undergone counselling and suffered from stress, depression and anxiety as a results of their ordeals.

The court heard that Hendy, who showed no emotion during the sentencing hearing, would be starting a course in prison to help with victim empathy.

In mitigation, Ms Sourtsz said: These proceedings have brought him stress and considerable anxiety.

She said a long sentence would utterly crush Hendy, adding: It is very difficult for him to look beyond today and deal with what lies ahead of him.

In his dream he wants to come out of prison and re-establish his life to the best of his ability but he appreciates that is some way in the distance.

Sentencing, Judge Susan Evans said: No child should feel ashamed at being abused.

She added that if the offences had been dealt with in 2015, Hendy would have been jailed for eight-and-a-half years, but she was restrained by her sentencing powers.

Description

A Margate man who raped a woman on a Ramsgate beach has been jailed for eight years following an investigation by the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate.

Oliver Cooper, 20 and of St Michaels Avenue, committed the offence in August 2016 and was found guilty following a trial in December 2017.

He was sentenced at Canterbury Crown Court today (February 2) and, further to his custodial sentence, will appear on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

The court had previously heard that Cooper was known to his victim and they had agreed to meet.

During this meeting however, in the early hours of 7 August, he grabbed hold of her throat and raped her on the beach.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Tania Pickering of the Kent and Essex Serious Crime Directorate said: Cooper is a predatory sex offender who has failed to acknowledge the impact his behaviour has had on his victim.

After first putting her through a harrowing and demeaning ordeal, he then made her face the anguish of going through a criminal trial.

Her courage and bravery has been exemplary and, while the sentence cannot undo the damage Cooper has done, I hope the victim can take comfort from the fact justice has been served.

Description

A VILE paedophile who threatened a teenager into sending sexual videos of her and her brother has been jailed for 12 years.

Daniel Norton, 26, told the Hampshire girl that his father was a police officer and if she did not send pictures and videos of herself he would "take her away from her family".

Southampton Crown Court heard that he also made threats to distribute pictures and videos of the victim on the internet if she did not send more.

Eventually when the victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, said she did not want to send them, the images were put on the internet and went viral.

It forced Hampshire Constabulary to issue a warning to parents, urging them to tell their children not to pass on the disturbing video.

Norton, of Cheadle, Stockport, was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, with three years on extended licence.

Norton admitted three counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity between October 1 and December 1, 2017.

He also pleaded guilty to making dozens of indecent moving images of children - across all three categories of severity - and possessing extreme pornographic images - which depicted children involved in sexual activity with animals.

Description

More than 500,000 images showing children of a variety of ages were recovered from David Allison's computer equipment A man who hoarded more than half a million indecent images of children, including some photos taken at a school and showing girls' underwear, has been jailed for three years. David Allison, of Moat Court, Shaw Close, Ottershaw, was sentenced at Guildford Crown Court last Friday (January 26), after previously pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent photos of a child, one count of taking images of a child and two counts of voyeurism by installing equipment or constructing or adapting a structure. The 48-year-old was arrested on November 29 last year in an intelligence-led search warrant at his home. Police recovered more than 500,000 indecent images showing children of a variety of ages from Allison's computer equipment. They included 5,038 category A images - the worst level - 8,693 category B images and 84,300 category C images. The court heard there were so many photos that police have not yet had time to look through them all since Allison's arrest. He took photos on his camera, but also with a camera pen and on his iPad. On one occasion Allison left the camera on his iPad poking out of the top of a bag while recording, the court was told. Lee Harris, prosecuting, said: "He would put it in a camera bag with the camera poking out the top and leave it in a place where it could film in the school. "It was premeditated and the stills were opportunist. There was one picture in particular of a person getting changed in a school classroom," Mr Harris added. Allison appeared for sentencing via video link from HMP High Down and sat with his head bowed throughout most of the hearing. Mr Harris continued: "He accepted he was responsible for downloading the images and also admitted he recently accessed a live streaming website but felt he was crossing a line. "He kept the images and movies on a single hard drive and one day said he would draw a line in it and put the disc through the shredder." Summing up, Judge Robert Fraser said: "It is very clear no-one knew what you were doing. This was by a very clear description very concerning." 'Ashamed and disgusted' Sarah Read, defending, said Allison, an ex-teacher, fully understood he needed to be punished. "He is deeply ashamed and disgusted in himself and is aware fully of the far-reaching impact on those that are affected," she told the court. "There will have been plenty of people who would have been impacted positively by him and he knows fully well those people will be shocked to see where he is now." Allison was also handed a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and was placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Description

A former steward at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth has been jailed after he was caught in sting by paedophile hunters.

Michael Watton, 56, thought he was meeting a 14-year-old girl for sex at Paignton train station, but was instead confronted by a group of men with a video camera.

They asked him about messages he had exchanged with several children – who were in fact fake profiles – and he admitted arranging to take the girl for a Chinese meal and booking them into a bed and breakfast for sex.

The defendant, who lives in Dartmouth, admitted three offences relating to his online activities and was jailed for 16 months by the judge at Exeter Crown Court.

The defence barrister, Ms Mary McCarthy, argued that in the real world no teenage girl would have found the bearded and balding Watton attractive enough to have sex with. She said the punishment should be a community order.

She also questioned the role of online vigilante groups who ‘encourage’ lonely men like Watton to commit offences. The defence barrister, Ms Mary McCarthy, argued that in the real world no teenage girl would have found Watton attractive enough to have sex with. She said the punishment should be a community order.

She also questioned the role of online vigilante groups who ‘encourage’ lonely men like Watton to commit offences.

But Judge Erik Salomonsen said the number of fake children he contacted meant he should be sent straight to jail.

The offences took place in October last year.

Prosecutor Julia Cox said the three charges related to chats the defendant had with ‘Katy’ ‘Jess’ and ‘Ellie-May’.

Katy had been set up as a decoy by the group Dark Justice.

Watton soon struck up a conversation on the dating site Qeep asking if she was single and how old she was, said the prosecutor.

He told the 14-year-old that he would love to have sex with her and get her pregnant. He then talked about meeting her in Newcastle but did not attend.

Jess, 10, was also a decoy. Watton again asked how old the girl was and whether she’d ever had sex.

Ellie-May, 14, was a decoy set up by Internet Interceptors.

Ms Cox told the court that Watton quickly moved the conversation on to sex, asking if she was a virgin and arranging to meet at Paignton Railway Station on October 21.

“He was met by individuals from paedophile hunter groups,” she said. “They spoke to him and recorded what was going on.”

Watton accepted he was there to meet a 14-year-old. He said he planned to take her to the cinema, buy her a Chinese then use a B&B for sex.

The court was told the defendant had no relevant previous convictions.

Ms McCarthy, mitigating, said: “He was on an adult dating site and out of loneliness wanting to meet adult women. The concern expressed by other judges is the concern of decoys appearing on this adult site as actively encouraging people who wouldn’t otherwise talk to young people down the lane of these offences.”

She said Watton was a bearded 50-year-old man and his profile picture made this clear.

“Without being rude to Mr Watton in the real world no young child would engage with him,” she said. “He didn’t pose as a young attractive person.”

She said he found ‘to his astonishment there were apparently young girls out there wanting to engage with him’.

“In the real world matters wouldn’t have progressed as they did. He is a lonely man living with his mother.”

Judge Salomonsen said he appreciated the point made by Ms McCarthy but the number of girls Watton tried to speak to made the offences more serious.

“You embarked on these exchanges with not one but 10 in all. Given that fact it seems to me this sentence must be served in prison.”

The defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child and one of attempting to meet a child for sex following online grooming.

He asked for seven further offences to be taken into consideration.

Watton, of Church Road, Dartmouth, was also made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Description

A charity worker who arranged to meet girls under the age of 14 for sex in hotels has escaped jail so he can 'get help'.

Toni Stevens asked at least 39 underage girls for 'naughty pictures' and threesomes before he was caught by a vigilante paedophile hunting group who had set up the decoy accounts.

The group called police and Stevens was arrested at the scene on November 27, 2017.

During the sting Stevens said: 'I'm ashamed of myself' and hung his head while listening to chat logs from his conversations over WhatsApp.

The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to charges of engaging in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch or look at an image of sexual activity at Plymouth Magistrates' Court last November. 

He was handed a 12 months suspended for two years and ordered to attend 20 days of rehabilitation at Exeter Crown Court today. 

His defence counsel Mr Michael Brown had asked the court to show mercy on Stevens who 'acknowledged he had a problems with his behaviour'.  

Stevens was also issued with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years, which will prevent him from working with children and was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for a decade.

Judge Graham Cottle told him: 'If you are in breach of the order by committing further offences then you will be brought back to court and serve this sentence.'  

In chat logs the community volunteer discussed having a threesome with his ex-girlfriend and sent nude pictures of himself.

As part of the sting, members of the Plymouth Against group set up decoy profiles and spoke to Mr Stevens over messaging apps. 

In the messages exchanged between Mr Stevens and the decoy, the conversation quickly turns from general chit-chat to sexually explicit content despite the paedophile knowing the account he was talking to was supposedly 14-years-old. 

Paedophile hunter Chris, 42, who was involved in the sting, said: 'Toni had been speaking to at least 39 underage girls online and had arranged to meet a lot of girls countrywise. 

'He told [several decoys] he would book a hotel room to facilitate the threesome.

'In this sting, he originally told the decoy to meet him at Taunton Travelodge. He'd arranged to meet our other decoys in Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester.

'Strangely, he had no intention of actually meeting up with any of them. We knew he wasn't going to turn up to the meetings, so we called the charity that he volunteered at called Hele's Angels.' 

At the time of Toni's arrest, the charity Hele's Angels, which supports the local community, claim Toni never had contact with children while working there.

Today, Dani Skillin, a volunteer at the charity, said: 'Hele's Angels are looking forward to the future and moving on without Toni Stevens.' 

Description

David Hack thought he was going to meet a girl called Felicity who he had chatted up online but instead he was confronted by members of a Plymouth based vigilante group.
 
The girl did not exist and he had been trapped by a female paedophile hunter from Wales who had passed on details of the rendezvous to the Plymouth group.
Hack, 34, met the fictitious girl on the Badoo and Hot or Not websites where she used the profile Felicity30 but told him she was 15.

He claimed he had been trying to give her sex education after he was trapped by the sting operation and interviewed by police.
During his web chats with Felicity he suggested she should touch herself sexually and he sent her an image which he said was of his penis.
He did not suggest they have full sex when they met and discussed waiting for her 16th birthday, Exeter Crown Court was told.
He made the online contact at a time when he was lonely and isolated because he lived in a small village in the South Hams where he was the full-time carer for his seriously ill grandmother.

David Hack, 34, from Churchstow, admitted attempting to meet a child following grooming and attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity.
He was jailed for 16 months, suspended for two years and ordered to attend a sex offenders programme and do 10 days of rehabilitation activities by Judge Erik Salomonsen.
Hack was ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and made subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which restricts his contact with children and allows the police to monitor his online activity.
The judge told him:"There came a time when you went to Morrisons in Kingsbridge intending to make contact and meet. The purpose for that in your mind was unclear and there is no specific indication of sexual activity when you arranged to meet.

"In fact Felicity did not exist and had been created by a member of a paedophile hunting group. You were set up and succumbed to what you saw online."
He said he was suspending the sentence so Hack could continue to care for his grandmother and could undergo a treatment programme that was only available in the community.
Caroline Bolt, prosecuting, said a paedophile hunter from Wales named Jackie Kempson had created the online profile of Felicity which had attracted the interest of Hack.
Chat logs showed their conversation became sexualised after initial contact on November 7 and led to him suggesting a meeting at Morrison’s in Kingsbridge on November 18.

He was intercepted by members of Plymouth Against Paedophiles, who had been alerted by Ms Kempson, and who detained him until police arrived.
James Taghdissian, defending, said Hack is the main carer for his frail 84-year-old grandmother, who could not cope on her own without him. His role meant he was lonely and socially isolated.
He said Hack initially thought Felicity was 30 because of her profile name but accepts he carried on the web chats after she said she was 15.
He said Hack had suggested waiting until she was 16 before they had sex and had told her he did not want to do anything too sexual when they met.

Mr Taghdissian said:"He was not searching for a young child but came across somebody who initially purported to be much older. He was also told she was shortly turning 16 and there was a discussion about what they may do on her birthday."

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Former DJ James Russell 'is disgusted with himself' after distributing vile footage of 'extremely young' children A former DJ has been jailed for sharing videos of babies being raped with fellow paedophiles. James Russell turned to drink, drugs and sharing child sex abuse images after his fiance left him, Bristol Crown Court heard. And when he sent on movies of babies being raped he claimed he was the rapist. But when police caught up with the 36-year-old, he told them the suggestion had just been fantasy. Russell, of Leinster Avenue in Knowle West, pleaded guilty to three charges of making an indecent image of a child and two charges of distributing an indecent image of a child. Judge Euan Ambrose jailed him for two years. He told Russell: The most striking feature was the extremely young age of the children involved in the worst of this material, which was also material you chose to distribute. Russell was handed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order, designed to stop his reoffending. He was told to register as a sex offender and his computer equipment was destroyed. Caighli Taylor, prosecuting, said police established that child abuse material was downloaded to a digital address linked to Russell. When police knocked on his door he told them: Its on there. Im going to be honest, its me, its on there. Russell was found to have 171 pictures at the most serious Category A level of concern depicting sexual abuse of children, including 18 movies. Miss Taylor said ages of youngsters being abused ranged from 18 months to nine. She said Russell had distributed two Category A movies to two recipients. They each showed a baby being raped. She told the court: It is clear Mr Russell was engaging with one person, suggesting he was the abuser in the video. In interview he said that was just fantasy. There is no suggestion he had been involved in that. Katie Jenkins, defending, said after her clients fiance left him he drank heavily, took cocaine and viewed child abuse material. Miss Jenkins said Russell, who used to spend time as a DJ, spiralled into depression and was too embarrassed to get help. She said: He was frightened about what would happen if he disclosed to his GP what was taking place. He is disgusted with himself. For a long time he was, in many ways, in denial.

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A former firefighter from Bangor has been handed a seven and a half year prison sentence for sexually assaulting three teenage girls after plying them with drink and drugs at his party house in the town.

Shamed William Rowan Ferguson pleaded guilty to charges of rape and sexual activity with girls under 16.

Ferguson aged 47 now with an address at Crumlin Road based in North Belfast further admitted inciting a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and also sexual assault.

Following his guilty pleas, a prosecution lawyer asked for a number of other offences to be left on the books and not to be processed without the leave of the crown court or the court of appeal.

Downpatrick crown court sitting in Belfast, heard that one of the girls recounted how there was regular parties at Fergusons home in Bangor where they were given drink and drugs.

The offences were committed between January 1st 2015 and April 2016.

The court was told that Ferguson threatened the girls with paramilitary action if they spoke out.

Last Friday, February 9th, Ferguson stood in the dock of Belfast recorder court dressed in a grey two pIEce suit and shirt and clutching a walking stick.

Belfast recorder judge David McFarland told Ferguson that had he contested the charges and be found guilty he would of jailed him for total of 10 years for what he described as significant offences. T

he judge said that although Ferguson had made some admissions in the police station he denied the charges in court. Judge McFarland said he was aware that there had been some discussions between his defence and the prosecution even though a trial date had been fixed but he said that the public would not have been aware that these discussions were going on in the background.

The judge added the victims in this case and their families would of heard you had entered not guilty pleas and that there was going to be a trail despite any assurances given to them by the prosecution.

The Belfast recorder said this would have caused significant difficulties for members of the public particularly the victims particularly when they are evidence is going to be challenged and cross examined about the truthfulness of their accounts that can be a traumatic experience for a witness preparing to give evidence.

The judge said that finally admitting his guilt Ferguson was telling your family and the wider public that you did do this to the victims and they were telling the truth. You cant deny that. It is a public admission by you that what you did was wrong, by your guilty pleas the victims were spared the traumatic experience of having to give evidence and also spared the public purse the cost of an expensive trial.

Judge mcfarland said that as a result of Fergusons late guilty plea he was reducing the ten year sentence to one of seven and a half years saying half of the sentence would be spent in custody with the remainder spent on supervised licence upon his release.

The sentence imposed was four years for rape which was consecutive to a three and a half year sentence for the offences of sexual activity by an adult with a child aged 13-16, an adult committing a sex act with a child and causing/inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He received a further 6 month concurrent sentence for sexual assault.

Ferguson was placed on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life and he also made the subject of conditions under a sexual offenders prevention order on his release from jail.

He is banned from approaching children under the age of 16 without reasonable excuse, he is not aloud in a motor vehicle with a person under the age of 16 without the approval of his designated risk manager, he is also not aloud to enter into a relationship of an intimate nature without notifying his risk manager, at the end of his sentencing remarks

Judge McFarland told prison guards take him down.

There was emotional scenes in the public gallery where the victims sat with the families, with some hurling abuse at Ferguson as he was taken to the cells below.

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Connor Benjamin Allen-Howe targeted boys aged between 12 and 15.

A "devious and manipulative" paedophile from Colchester who used the internet to corrupt and abuse up to 20 children has been told his eight-year jail term was not a day too long.

Connor Benjamin Allen-Howe, 22, of Shakespeare Road, Colchester, was aged between 16 and 18 when he posed as a teenage girl online to persuade a host of boys, aged between 12 and 15, to perform sex acts on camera.

He also sometimes posed as a multi-millionaire offering "gifts" to witness sex acts performed by his under-age victims.

Sick Allen-Howe went even further, persuading some of his victims to become part of his "army of deviants" by sexually abusing their own younger siblings, and even pets, whilst he watched remotely.

They included causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography and making indecent photographs of children.

At London's Appeal Court today, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb heard Allen-Howe plead for a shorter sentence, claiming he was treated too harshly.

The judge, sitting with Lady Justice Hallett and Judge Martin Picton, said Allen-Howe had "catfished" his victims - posing as someone he was not online.

Lawyers for Allen-Howe argued that he had been given a sentence appropriate for an adult and his own tender years ought to have resulted in a shorter term.

But the appeal judge said that "catfishing has the potential to result in serious psychological harm to victims."

"Such behaviour has to be severely punished," she added.

"Twenty victims were abused by, or at the behest of, Allen-Howe," she went on, branding him "devious and manipulative."

"We cannot conclude that, with the breadth and length of the offending in this case, the sentence was wrong in principle.