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A paedophile thought that he was having "naughty chat" online with a 12-year-old girl and had a series of "graphic and explicit" conversations about sex with her but really it was a decoy girl and he was trapped.

Perverted sex offender Luke Alder later tried to talk his way out of trouble by pretending that he was actually only trying to catch other sexual predators through his sexualised messages. He was caught with stashes of sickening child pornography that involved children as young as two, Hull Crown Court heard.

Alder, 30, of Eastgate, Goole, admitted attempting to cause a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and attempting to communicate sexually with her between August 14 and 21, 2020.

He also admitted three offences of making indecent images of children and another of possessing prohibited images of children on September 15 last year.

Stephen Robinson, prosecuting, said that police were alerted by the regional organised crime unit that Alder had been having sexual conversations with a decoy internet profile of a 12-year-old girl on a children's chat account. He asked the fake girl if she had ever had a boyfriend and told her that he would be her boyfriend.

He asked her intimate questions and asked her for a photograph. The decoy sent a picture of her in pyjamas but Alder told her to take them off and asked for a picture of her topless.

On another day, Alder quickly asked the girl if she wanted "naughty chat" and whether she might become pregnant if they had sex. He made sexual suggestions and asked her to send a picture.

Alder was arrested on September 15 last year and police found 19 indecent images of children and two videos in the most serious Category A on his computer equipment, 18 images in Category B and eight in Category C as well as 38 prohibited images of children.

"Some of the images showed children in pain or distress," said Mr Robinson. Some of the children were aged as young as two years old, with others aged up to 15.

During police interview, Alder claimed that he was trying to catch other sexual predators by having sexual conversations online. Charlotte Baines, mitigating, said that no actual contact with a child took place because of the sexual communication.

"This was a decoy but he was engaging with the decoy as though he was speaking to a 12-year-old girl," said Miss Baines.

Alder had no previous convictions and had suffered problems over the years. Judge Sophie McKone said that Alder was not communicating with a real child but he began a conversation with someone that he "very much hoped to be 12" and the conversations were "graphic and explicit" including talk about sex.

"It's very clear that what you intended was some form of sexual communication with this child," said Judge McKone. He clearly had a "sexual interest in children" despite what he had claimed to the probation service. The indecent images showed real children.

"They really are being abused, some child somewhere is being abused," said Judge McKone. "You have contributed to the abuse of that child because, wherever there is a market out there that you feed into, children will continue to be abused. You intended penetrative sexual activity."

Alder was jailed for three years and he was given a sexual harm prevention order for life. He will have to register as a sex offender for life.

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A CHEF who tried for three years to evade justice for sexually assaulting a woman has been jailed. Mustafa Akgol forced his way into a womans home and sexually assaulted her, York Crown Court heard. A jury heard they were strangers to each other. After police had identified him as the attacker and he was charged, Akgol went on the run and had to be arrested on a bench warrant. The woman had to give evidence against him twice as he denied committing any sexual offence. But the second jury to try his case convicted him of sexual assault and today he is serving a three-year prison sentence. He will be on the sex offenders register and disbarred from working with vulnerable people and children, both for the rest of his life. Judge Simon Hickey told him: A young, vulnerable woman in her own room was assaulted by you, forcing your way in. Akgol, 45, of Redbarn Drive, Osbaldwick, denied sexual assault. He followed court proceedings with the help of a Turkish interpreter. The woman told the juries she was at home on the evening of January 14, 2019. She heard a noise on the stairs and went to her door. A stranger was standing there. Before she could do anything he put his foot in the door and forced his way into the flat. She retreated backwards to her bed where he sexually assaulted her. Throughout he only said Ssssh, the court heard. Later the same evening he returned, making it clear that he wanted her to perform a sex act on him. She told him to leave and he did. I was shaking like a leaf, she said. Forensic scientists found Akgols DNA on the womans bra, as well as unknown DNA, York Crown Court heard, and the woman picked him out of a police ID procedure following his arrest. Akgol stood trial for the first time in November, but legal problems meant the case had to be abandoned before the jury was asked to consider its verdicts. After the first set of jurors was discharged, Akgol went on the run but was later arrested. He stood trial again in February. In the witness box he denied going to the womans bedsit, and said he had spent the evening at another flat in the same building. He falsely claimed the faces the police chose to go alongside his in the ID procedure were of a different ethnic group to his. But police showed the jury the 12 photos that had been used. He also claimed he hadnt understood the questions in the police interview. But, the jury heard, a Turkish interpreter had sat next to him translating the questions for him.

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A repeat child sex offender from Northampton has been sentenced to more than two years in prison after sharing an indecent image of a child for the second time.

Thomas Scott Brews, aged 41, of Euston Road, Northampton, was sentenced at Northampton Crown Court on Tuesday (April 5) after being caught sharing a movie depicting Category A child sex abuse, the most severe material under UK law.

The court heard that Brews shared the indecent image in a public parenting group on a communications app. Police later tracked Brews to his Northampton home using his computers IP address.

Miss Eunice Opare-Addo, prosecuting, read: The police had launched an investigation into sexual interest in young children.

They discovered a group, which Brews had joined. It was a public group.

"On August 5 2021, Brews posted an indecent movie of a child being sexually abused by an adult male. He also sent another user a private message, however there was no response to this message.

"The profile he used indicated that he had been on [the application] for 68 days prior to the offence.

"IP address data from Brews computer led police to the defendants Northampton address. Then Brews was not interviewed by police until January 18, where he stated that he had used [the application] but had not done so for about six months.

"He said that he could not specifically remember uploading the Category A image because he drank a lot and did stupid things which he could not remember whilst drunk.

This was not the first time that Brews was prosecuted for indecent images of children, as in November 2014 he was convicted in Scotland of making an indecent image of a child and was subject to a community order there, also known as a Community Payback Order.

Mr Liam Muir, defending, argued that Brews had never been given access to programmes like Stop It Now" to address his behaviour, and that he had shown a sincere desire to take part and improve himself.

The defence also argued that, as Brews was drunk at the time, he needed help with his substance use as well as his mental health to see whether his crimes were linked to the drink or a genuine mental challenge.

However, Her Honour Judge Lucking QC was not convinced, saying that Brews had already lost his good character due to his 2014 offence and that he should have already known that what he was doing was wrong.

Her Honour said: At that time you did not have, as it were, work carried out with you in relation to sexual offenders.

"In that moment you lost your good character. You had a community order imposed and you knew at that point that it was clearly something that was unacceptable.

"There is no doubt that you have a clear sexual interest in children. This wouldnt have occurred on two occasions if you didnt.

"Is there a realistic chance of rehabilitation? Im not satisfied that there is.

Brews was sentenced to two years and two months in prison and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order was applied for ten years.

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A child rapist was recorded on his works van dash cam asking his victim if he could take a picture, a court heard. Ian Bailey, 56, molested his victim a pre-teen girl while taking her out in his works van. He groomed her, promising her money or meals at McDonald's in exchange for sex. His vile behaviour was discovered when his boss looked at footage from the vans dash cam. Bailey could be heard asking a girl, speaking in what sounded like a childs voice, if he could take a picture of her private parts. Jailing him for 19 years on Monday and ordering he serve an extended six years on licence, Judge Nigel Daly said: In my judgement what you did was to take away this girls childhood and youve also destroyed her adult life as well. All to satisfy your deviant sexual interest. Even now, reading the pre-sentence report, you are incapable of acknowledging what you have done and the effect that this may have had upon her. In a victim personal statement read to Oxford Crown Court by prosecutor Alexandra Bull, the girl said: I feel empty inside as if there is nothing there literally nothing there, literally nothing. Half of the time she wanted a new body, she said. If I could leave it I would, she added. The girl said she had struggled to sleep or eat and had suffered meltdowns as a result of what happened to her. Her mother said in a victim personal statement of her own, that her daughters ordeal was a mothers worst nightmare'. She added: Everyone is a victim in this except him. Bailey, of HMP Bullingdon but formerly of Banbury, was found guilty in February of four counts of rape of a child under-13, including two charges that alleged his victim was assaulted on at least 10 occasions. He pleaded guilty to inciting a child under-13 to engage in sexual activity and making an indecent image of a child. Judge Daly told the lawyers at Mondays sentencing hearing: I was shocked by what I heard of what she was saying when all this was going on in the van and the way in which she said it - and also in the matter of fact way she described things as if they were normal. Sentencing Bailey, the judge said he clearly thought this is normal behaviour as well. He concluded that the defendant presented a risk of serious harm to the public and particularly to pre-pubescent girls. Mitigating, Sumita Mahtab-Shaikh said her client had been doing courses while in prison and had applied for a job in the prisons gardens. His parents were in their 70s and 80s.

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An amateur photographer has been jailed for paying a 14-year-old girl to pose naked for him and then posting one of the images online.

Retired Met police officer Andrew Vernon’s actions left the girl with serious psychological issues including thoughts of suicide and it took her three years before she was able to confide in a school counsellor.

Police found a hoard of other images of teenaged girls on his laptop after his arrest which he had downloaded from the internet.

Officers also recovered images from an ammunition safe at his former home in East Devon of an adult woman in a shower which he had filmed secretly.

The two victims wrote powerful impact statements. The girl said she is being treated for severe depression and has psychological scars which she will take to the grave.

She said: “It has broken me in so many ways, I have a sense of feeling shattered.” The adult victim said she felt betrayed.

Former Metropolitan Police officer Vernon, aged 59, now of Maple Road, Exeter, admitted taking and distributing indecent images of the 14-year-old, two counts of making (by downloading), indecent images of children and one of voyeurism.

He was jailed for 18 months by Judge David Evans at Exeter Crown Court and ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register. The judge adjourned an application for a sexual harm prevention order.

He told him: “You admitted these offences after trying to minimise your sexual interest in teenaged girls. You got a 14-year-old girl into posing for you and manoeuvred her into doing that. The problems that you caused have been set out in her personal statement.

“That offence is very significantly aggravated by the distribution of an image online. The constellation of offences makes the case too serious for this sentence to be suspended.”

Mr Greg Richardson, prosecuting, said the teenaged girl made disclosures at school last year about having posed for the naked pictures three years earlier when she was 14.

She revealed that Vernon paid her £75 for a 30 minute photo shoot in which he got her to pose topless and then fully naked, and pose with her arms above her head and her hands running through her hair.

He showed her a blank SD card shortly afterwards and told her he had deleted everything but he downloaded them onto his laptop and sent one to an amateur photographic website.

Police recovered a total of 441 images from his laptop and USB and SD cards hidden in an ammunition safe. There was only one showing an adult having sex with a child.

Mr Matthew Graham, defending, said Vernon wants to apologise for the hurt he has caused. He has signed up for an online course run by the Lucy Faithfull Foundation to address his behaviour and is receiving counselling.

He said Vernon is very keen to attend courses run by the probation service which could only be offered if he was still at liberty. He has no previous convictions and has been volunteering at a charity in Exeter.

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A rapist carried a drunk girl into a house and sexually assaulted her.

Annuar Ameir attacked the 17-year-old back in 2018, they had only met earlier that day and had been out with separate groups of friends. Ameir, from Toxteth tried to deny he had raped the woman as she slept on a sofa but a jury at Liverpool Crown Court found him guilty.

At the 30 year olds sentencing hearing today, the court heard the two groups of friends including Ameir and the victim merged at one point during the day. They all then went to a house in another part of Liverpool to continue partying.

By this stage, the victim was drunk and had already thrown up outside the house. Seeing her vulnerable state, Ameir, who was also drunk, carried her back into the living room as she slept, took off her clothes and raped her. She woke up as the attack took place but was unable to get him off her.

Gerald Baxter, prosecuting, read out statements from the victim in which she said the attack continued to have lasting effects on her. She said she had struggled with depression and had at times turned to alcohol abuse to deal with the trauma of what happened.

She added Ameirs denials meant she was forced to relive much of what happened throughout the trial. Referring to her statement, Mr Baxter said: It is all back in court again. I could not sleep and I am having flashbacks again.

Louise McCloskey, defending, said Ameirs actions were awful but appealed to Judge Gary Woodhall not to rule him a dangerous offender, something which would have opened the door to an extended sentence. Referring to the fact that Ameir had no relevant previous convictions and to the opportunistic nature of the attack, Ms McCloskey said Ameir clearly required rehabilitation to address the attitudes that led to his offending.

She added that the expected lengthy jail term would provide a chance for this to happen, as well as providing punishment. Ms McCloskey said: He conducted himself abysmally on that night but prior to that, your honour, there is nothing indicating he was a risk in the past and would be a risk in the future.

Judge Gary Woodhall told Ameir he had exploited his victims vulnerabilities for his own satisfaction and traumatised her further by forcing her to go through a trial. He said: I am troubled by the circumstances of this offending, which involved predatory behaviour targeting a particularly vulnerable girl.

Judge Woodhall added that Ameir clearly had misogynistic and flawed views around sex. He said: You present as someone with a sense of male entitlement, with a misogynistic view of female characters.

While he said Ameirs actions meant he could be judged to meet the definition of a dangerous offender, he ruled that an extended sentence could not be justified. Ameir, of Arnold Crescent, was jailed for nine years and nine months.

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Roy Woodward, 56, was handed a prison sentence of up to 25 years for 14 counts of abuse. His wife Gaynor Woodward was also jailed A high-risk committed paedophile who subjected a young girl to campaign of rape could spend a quarter of a century behind bars for his heinous crimes. Roy Woodward, 56, of no fixed abode but previously of Runcorn and Widnes, faced justice at Chester Crown Court on Monday alongside his wife Gaynor Woodward, 58, of Worcester Court, Runcorn, who was convicted of one count of cruelty. At trial, Roy Woodward was found guilty of 14 counts of abuse, namely four of rape, eight of indecently assaulting a child, and two of indecency with a child. Some counts represented multiple offences over a period of time, and the abuse began when the victim was of very young. At trial in January, prosecutor Matthew Dunford told jurors Woodward - who had a previous conviction of child rape - abused the girl at the centre of the trial throughout her childhood and after she turned 16. He instigated abuse on one occasion by telling the girl he wanted to play snaky and in other instances by giving her lemonade that was really cider. The court heard the first rape left his victim in excruciating pain. At sentencing on Monday, Judge Patrick Thompson said Woodward plied his victim with sweets to secure her silence as well as alcohol to assist his grooming. He said the abuse began when the girl was very young and became a campaign of rape as she grew older. In an impact statement read to the court, the abuse survivor spoke of how since her early 20s she has had horrific nightmares resulting from her ordeal and said she believes it also triggered a mental health condition. She finds it hard to trust other adults, and feels she will never be able to live a normal life. Reading her statement, Mr Dunford said: I have to live with this for the rest of my life. I was denied a normal life and the chance to form my own life. I will never be able to live a normal life. I feel hollow and empty. Since my early 20s I have had horrific nightmares about the abuse suffered that I still get to this day. I can feel him repeatedly in these nightmares. It has affected my relationships and with my current partner. I am lucky I have the support of my partner. In general life, I find it hard to trust any adults because I was abused by an adult. Mr Dunford said Woodward had seven previous convictions for 10 offences including criminal damage, battery and the previous child rape conviction from 2018. Gaynor Woodward had older dissimilar convictions including two counts under Section 4 of the Public Order Act from 1999. Andrew McInnes, representing Woodward, said the defendant maintains his denial and could not be granted credit for remorse. Mr McInnes added the features supporting mitigation were low and he conceded there are a number of aggravating features which are inescapable including that the case involved serious offences over a period of time. He said although Woodward had been assessed as a high risk of harm to female children, he was 56 years old and will be older when he leaves prison. He called for Judge Thompson to consider the issue of totality. Maria Masselis, appearing for Gaynor Woodward, said the court had been presented with character references describing her as hard-working woman and loyal friend. She conceded Gaynor Woodwards pre-sentence report was unflattering but said the probation officer had a difficult task and had not been in the trial, which lasted two-and-a-half weeks. Ms Masselis said the jurors verdicts indicated they thought Gaynor Woodwards offending occurred later and was of a shorter duration than put by the prosecution. She compared the cruelty count to one of handling stolen goods in that Gaynors failing was one of recklessness and she closed her mind to the abuse. Ms Masselis also challenged whether there was any clinical evidence to support the victims attribution of mental health problems to the abuse. Judge Thompson sentenced Gaynor Woodward to four years in prison. He said Roy Woodward should be considered a dangerous offender and very high risk to children and sentenced him to 21 years in prison plus four years on extended licence, meaning he could serve 25 years in prison if he offends again including after initial release. It could be the year 2047 when he experiences life outside custody again. The judge ordered Woodward to be placed on the sex offenders register for life alongside an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. During his summing-up, he said Woodward had chosen to abuse the girl to satisfy his twisted sexual desires. The judge said the offences spanned about 12 years and from the victims age of 13 onwards can be described as a campaign of rape. Considering the question of dangerousness in light of this current case and Woodwards previous rape conviction, Judge Thompson said: Im required to consider the issue of dangerousness, and if theres a risk of further offences and causing serious harm. Im satisfied you do present a risk. I have no doubt you are a committed paedophile. You have an unhealthy sexual interest in children and present a danger to children. Speaking after the sentencing hearing, Wendy Newton, Senior Crown Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service, said :This victim was subjected to sexual abuse by Roy Woodward from when she was a little girl. The feelings and emotions of this young child meant nothing to him. His power and abuse continued as she grew up. She has spoken of how what he did had affected every part of her life. She now has to find a way forward in her life, having suffered such trauma. The victim was unable to disclose what had happened to her until fairly recently. This often happens. It is not unusual for children to deny the abuse they have suffered or be silent as to what has happened. It often takes years for victims of sexual abuse to vocalise what has been done to them. The Crown Prosecution Service works hard to support the victims of sexual abuse and help them through the criminal justice system. Time is no barrier to a prosecution. We will listen to victims, no matter how long ago the offending took place. The judge ordered a statutory surcharge in respect of each defendant. Woodward will serve two thirds of his sentence before being considered for parole. Jurors acquitted Roy Woodward of one count of rape and Gaynor Woodward of one count of cruelty. A bad character application approved before the trial meant jurors were able to hear Woodward had served a previous nine-year sentence for raping a separate 13-year-old girl.

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A MAN has been jailed for repeatedly sexually abusing a young boy over a four year period during the early 1990s. Philip Boardman, of Winstanley Close in Hood Manor, committed the offences - which began when he was aged 14 - while living in the St Helens area. The 45-year-old denied four counts of indecent assault, one of which was for multiple offending, but was found guilty following a trial and was appearing at Liverpool Crown Court for sentencing. The court heard how Boardman repeatedly molested the boy and forced him to touch him indecently. The court heard that two of the counts would now be classed as rape. They related to two specific instances of the oral rape of the child. Geoffrey Lowe, prosecuting, read a victim impact statement from the boy now aged in his late 30s in which he described suffering from insomnia, anxiety and depression. My depression causes me to have no interest in activities and I lack any motivation to do anything on most days," he wrote. "My depression makes me feel hopeless and empty and angry a lot of the time. I also have terrible self image and have no self importance. What happened in my youth destroyed my mental health and my mental health has been a constant obstacle to everything else in my life. "I have no happy time to get back to. I have no future to focus on. I have never been unafraid or felt safe. Ive never been happy. I have never had a good opinion of the world or the people in it. I trust no one and never relax or let my guard down. That's what it did to me." The court heard that Boardman, a father of two, had no previous convictions. Passing sentence, Judge David Swinnerton, said: "You have a good work history as a healthcare assistant in hospitals, an ambulance technician and more recently for a medical company transporting confidential items including specimens. "Your wife describes you as a caring, fun loving and devoted dad and a very caring husband. Your parents-in-law speak highly of you. "But that happy and productive adult life hid a dark secret." Judge Swinnerton explained that at the time of Boardman's offences, in 1994, the maximum sentence as a 17-year-old, he could have received would have been 12 months detention. The judge said that the culpability of the repeated abuse and the severe psychological harm inflicted would not be adequately reflected by a sentence limited to 12 months. "I agree that the passage of time does not imbue a defendant with any greater culpability or moral responsibility than he had at the time of the offence, but our understanding of harm and culpability in sexual offences has changed since 1994. "In my judgement, this is one of those cases where it is appropriate to go beyond the maximum that could have been imposed when you were 17 and in the interests of justice to do so." He added: "You have not accepted that you have done anything wrong and have shown no remorse." Judge Swinnerton said if Boardman was an adult committing the offences now, then he would have jailed him for around 16 years. He sentenced a tearful Boardman to four years in prison and added that he would have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

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A SEX offender who is banned from being drunk in Warrington Bus Interchange has been jailed after breaching the court order. Kim Rampley was handed sexual offence prevention order in May 2006 at Manchester Crown Court for sexually assaulting a woman. This was then replaced by an indefinite sexual harm prevention order in June 2015. But the 69-year-old has shown little regard for these orders, having now breached them more than a dozen times. Rampley, of no fixed address but formerly of Grange Avenue in Latchford, appeared before Warrington Magistrates Court on Monday, March 21, and admitted breaching a SHPO in relation to an incident three days previously. On this occasion, he was caught intoxicated in the bus station which he is barred from doing under the order on the day before his birthday. He was jailed for 20 weeks by magistrates. One prior breach saw Rampley jailed for two years in October 2007 after harassing five females including two 13-year-old girls in their school uniforms in Warrington within an hour of being released from prison. While serving this sentence, he sent a letter to prison magazine Inside Time complaining about the poor trainspotting opportunities at HMP Walton, also offering a guide on his favourite prisons for this hobby. More recently, he was jailed for 30 weeks in September last year for another breach in Warrington Bus Interchange having drunkenly staggered around the station and soiled himself after being refused entry to a service.

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A TEENAGER from a Hampshire villlage has been jailed for grooming and sexually abusing two girls. Calvin Da Fonte, of Sandy Hill Close in Waltham Chase, was jailed for five years after he admitted five counts of sexual activity with a child and three counts of making indecent images of children. The 19-year-old admitted the charges, which took place when he was 18, at a hearing at Portsmouth Crown Court on December 7 and he was sentenced by His Honour Judge Timothy Mousley QC on April 1. The abuse took place in the Whiteley, Warsash and Waltham Chase areas between July 2020 and May 2021 when the girls were under the age of 16. Detective Constable Samantha Brown, from Hampshire Constabularys specialist Operation Amberstone team, said: Da Fonte groomed, manipulated and abused these young girls for his own gratification. He knew their age, and knew that his deplorable actions were wrong, which is why he initially tried to deny to police that he had committed these offences. These girls should have never experienced what they did, and I want to commend their courage for reporting this to police. It is because of their bravery that Da Fonte is now behind bars, where he cannot harm another child. Our officers work hard to identify perpetrators of this type of behaviour, and we want to encourage anyone who has been affected by sexual abuse to please talk to someone about it. Whether this be someone you trust, the police, or a support service. Help is out there.

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A MAN has been jailed after being convicted of sexually assaulting two teenage girls. John Andow, 78, knew exactly what he was doing when his physical contact with his two child victims turned sexual, Chelmsford Crown Court heard. The sex offender had denied seven counts of sexual activity with a child, but was convicted of two counts following a trial last month. Andow, of Normandie Way, Bures, was acquitted of five counts - and he was cleared of a further count of causing a child to watch a sexual act. At a sentencing hearing, statements were read which detailed the trauma felt by Andows two victims. One victim said the offence had affected her ability to communicate and her relationships with people. Its affected everything, she said. The girl said she suffered from insomnia, adding that since the assault she cant bear to be touched. The second victim said: In my head it was chaos. I felt completely on my own, noone understood how I felt or what Id been through. Judge Timothy Walker said each of the offences involved touching two girls under their clothing. He said: You would start massaging and progressively move up. The massages lasted between ten and 20 minutes. Turning to one victim, he said: You told her not to do anything that she didnt want to and if she was uncomfortable then she should use a stop word chocolate. You knew exactly what you were doing. He added: In evidence you accepted that you had massaged both girls and you went as far as accepting the area of their sternums although you denied massaging their breasts. Unsurprisingly, you were not believed. Roderick Johnson QC, mitigating, described the offences as short-lived temptation. He added: The temptation arose which led Mr Andow to momentarily lose his moral compass which had otherwise been his guide all his life. Mr Johnson said the victim impact statements should be tempered, with the jury having rejected most of the allegations made. But Judge Walker said Andow had carried out two sexual assaults on vulnerable girls. He sentenced to 30 months in prison and made him subject of a ten-year sexual harm prevention order prohibiting unsupervised contact with children.

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David Blackburn raped one girl and molested another then threatened them to stay quiet This is the paedophile who laughed in the face of his victims when they begged him to stop abusing them. David Blackburn targeted two girls from when they were aged just nine and seven-years-old - threatening them not to speak out about the abuse. He was a teenage boy when he started molesting the victims. But he continued as an adult, even after he got married and had children of his own. One of the girls was raped by Blackburn, of Quarry Green, Northwood, Kirkby, more than three decades ago. She burst into tears and clenched her fists when he was jailed for 19 years on Monday, as supporters celebrated and hugged her in the public gallery. Merseyside Police said it did not take a mugshot of Blackburn because he attended a voluntary interview, meaning the ECHO did not have a photo of him. But we can now show you the face of the man who "grotesquely abused" situations to use the girls as his "sexual playthings". Blackburn was found guilty after a harrowing trial at Liverpool Crown Court. He denied any wrongdoing, but was convicted of five counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child in relation to his first victim, when she was aged between nine and 13. The now adult victim said Blackburn touched her sexually, performed a sex act on her, exposed himself and asked her to touch him, and showed her sexual pictures in a book. Martine Snowdon, prosecuting, said: "She would ask him to stop when he touched her but he would just laugh." Blackburn was convicted of 15 counts of indecent assault, two counts of indecency with a child, and one count of rape, in respect of his second victim. The prosecutor said Blackburn abused that girl from when she was aged seven by touching her sexually, including performing sex acts on her. Blackburn made her perform a sex act on him when she was 12, and once lay on top of her, only to be disturbed and flee, before he raped her when she was 14. Ms Snowdon said the girl reported that rape in 1990, but later retracted her complaint when put under pressure. In a victim statement, the second woman said she takes antidepressant medication and medication for anxiety. The prosecutor said she outlined how "the abuse is on her mind all the time" and led to suicidal thoughts. The woman has continuing nightmares and only now, after the trial ended, has been able to take up the offer of counselling. The judge, Recorder Ian Harris, said he had read a pre-sentence report provided by the Probation Service. He said: "It's as one would expect given the denials in the trial. He doesn't express any remorse and maintains his innocence, and the author of the report assesses him as being a high risk of further sexual contact offences." Lee Bonner, defending, said Blackburn suffered from depression "in part caused by his divorce", was on antidepressants and had been referred to a "memory clinic". He said his client had no previous convictions and at his age, prison may "have a far greater impact upon him than may otherwise have been the case". Mr Bonner said Blackburn previously made a serious attempt on his life, which left him in a coma, and his memory issues were linked to cognitive impairment. He said he was "perhaps not a sophisticated man", who didn't complete his education, had difficulties reading and writing, and was "unable to sustain long term employment". Mr Bonner said the last offences were 30 years ago. He added: "The defendant that the court will sentence today is, it would appear, a very different defendant to that young man of so many years ago." Recorder Harris said Blackburn initially satisfied his "predatory lust" with the first girl, then abused the second child. The judge said: "This paedophile offending continued after you were married and had your own children. "Both victims said how you threatened them and that the abuse had hurt them. The second girl said she would beg you to stop what you were doing." Referring to the second girl, Recorder Harris said: "She would say she didn't want to engage in sexual activity with you, but you would tell her not to tell anyone or you would hurt her." The judge said that girl was "forced" to retract the complaint she made about the rape in 1990. Recorder Harris told Blackburn: "Both of your victims have suffered and continue to suffer to this day. You simply ruined the innocence of these two children." The judge said he was sure Blackburn had known that what he was doing was "wrong". Recorder Harris said Blackburn was an "offender of particular concern" and jailed him for 19 years in total, with an extended year on licence. The effect of a combination of different types of sentences in this case means Blackburn must serve around 11 and a half years in jail before he can apply for parole. Blackburn must also sign on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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An "obsessed" paedophile who forced his victims to eat raw meat from pigs' heads has been released from prison. Colin Cooper was jailed for 18 years in July 2011 but is free after serving just over ten years. Today the father of one of his victims said: "When I had the phone call from the Probation Board I wanted to scream. My daughter is safe, but there are other children out there who are not. In my opinion he should never be released."

Cooper, who is now 72, - formerly known, as Alan Makinson - would force his victims to eat raw meat from pigs' heads when they tried to avoid his clutches. Manchester Crown Court heard his homes in Hattersley and Wythenshawe were a "magnet for children' - who is was 'utterly obsessed' with molesting in bizarre ways.

Youngsters with learning difficulties were lured into playing in his garden and plied with treats before being forced perform sex acts on with each other and him. He tried to buy their silence with trinkets and small amounts of cash. When they attempted to escape he would lock them in rooms, block their way with his pet Alsatians, and make them eat the meat he fed them as punishment.

Cooper, of Sylvester Close, Hattersley, was jailed for 18 years at Manchester Crown Court in 2011 after being found guilty of abusing eight youngsters between 1984 and 2002, at addresses in Wythenshawe and Tameside, at an earlier trial. He had been jailed for just three years in 1986 after admitting a string of child sex crimes, including rape. He changed his name, moved address, and continued to prey on vulnerable youngsters.

The father of the victim, who was one of the eight youngsters he abused between 1984 and 2002, said: "In a way she has suffered far more than him over the last ten years. She has had four years of therapy, and has had mental health issues which has led to dropping out of school, self harming, trying to take her own life and becoming homeless for a while. She had to give evidence at the trial by video."

"I did ask the Probation Board for Cooper's new name and address but they would not give it me. There words were 'he has rights and we have to protect him'. I am not the kind of person who would be a vigilante, I just want to protect my daughter. Her first words when she knew he was out were 'he will do it again'.

"My daughter is surviving, but it is a slow process. She is scared to go out at the moment, now that he has been released. He is a serial offender and should not be out."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson confirmed today that Cooper had been released under licence.

At court in 2011, Alaric Bassano, prosecuting, told the sentencing hearing how his victims 'were plagued by flashbacks, had battled feelings of depression and guilt, struggled to trust others, and had their chances spoilt by disrupted education. One told police, 'my life has been miserable., while another said, he has wrecked my life.

Cooper was arrested in March 2009 after a man, in his thirties, told police how he had abused 25 years earlier, and the police investigation unearthed the other victims, who had been suffering in silence. After his sentencing Detective Constable Grace Hulse, of the South Manchester Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: "It is only down to the bravery of his victims that we are able to put this man where he belongs behind bars. I believe today's sentence demonstrates that we take allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and will investigate thoroughly, no matter how long ago the offences occurred."