Latest Offenders

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A HAMPSHIRE teacher who admitted downloading indecent images of children and sexually touching a 16-year-old girl has been spared a jail term.

Michael Page was given a three month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and an 18-month supervision order for touching the girl.

Page, 41, was also given an 18-month supervision order for making and possessing the images.

He was banned from working with children and prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with any girl under 16 except his daughters.

Religious studies teacher Page, of Avon Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton, was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

Sentencing him at Southampton Crown Court Judge Derwin Hope said Page had abused his position of trust.

He added: “The incident involving the girl was not the most serious of offences, but she was a particularly vulnerable individual and the impact on her life has been particularly severe as a result. She was 16 and you were 40, which further aggravated the situation.”

James Newton-Price, prosecuting, said the victim had become afraid of leaving her house, lost contact with her friends and grew depressed.

Defending, Simon Gruchy,said Page had lost his job and was £30,000 in debt.

“Financially, things have, not surprisingly, taken a turn for the worse as a result of all this,” said Mr Gruchy.

Page, who had no previous convictions, was ordered to pay £1,000 costs and was told that his computer would be confiscated.

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A PAEDOPHILE has been jailed for repeatedly abusing a child and posing as another boys father to abduct him from school.

Dean Freeman, 21, of Hamstel Road, Southend, viewed vile images of young boys being sexually abused before calling a Rayleigh school claiming to be the father of a ten-year-old pupil.

He told staff he was sending a taxi to collect the child as he needed to attend a dental appointment. Freeman, who later admitted his motivation was sexual, then contacted a Rayleigh taxi firm to pick the boy up.

But his plan was foiled by the quick-thinking actions of driver Steven Hilder.

He became suspicious after the boy said he did not recognise the house where he had been taken. Moments later Mr Hilder picked Freeman up from his home in Hamstel Road, Southend, but threw him out his car after he was told by his office the victim didnt have permission to leave school.

It was only when he was arrested for abduction on January 3 another child came forward and reported he had been sexually abused by Freeman for six years between 2000 and 2006.

At Basildon Crown Court, Judge Michael Brooke QC branded Freeman a danger to the public, and praised Mr Hilder for spotting the danger.

He added: It is clear to me the defendant does have sado-sexual fantasies and he showed he had the motivation to realise such fantasies.

Freeman pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to abduction, possessing indecent images of children, gross indecency on a child under 16 and sexual touching of a child without consent and was jailed for five years and eight months.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

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A man police said was the "librarian" of a global internet child abuse ring has been jailed indefinitely.

Philip Anthony Thompson, of Stockton-on-Tees, will serve at least three years and nine months, but a Teesside judge warned it could be much longer.

Thompson, 27, admitted 27 charges, including causing children aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The website he was involved with used "borderline-legal" images to bring together "like-minded" people.

Police have so far pinpointed 360 suspects.

Handing down sentence at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Michael Taylor said Thompson posed a "very significant risk" to the public and therefore he would be imposing an indeterminate prison sentence for public protection.

He told him: "You have shown that you are a very dangerous individual indeed. I consider that you pose a very significant risk to the public and you are a dangerous offender."

"He [Thompson] was... the librarian/warehouseman for a myriad of images that were distributed to like-minded individuals both in this country and elsewhere" Det Chief Supt Mark Braithwaite, Cleveland Police.

Thompson, who lives with his mother in Gooseport Road, has also been placed on the sex offenders' register for life and banned from the internet and any contact with children.About 241,000 child abuse images - which were still and moving images of varying degrees of extremity - were discovered in his possession.

Police said more than 130 suspects had been uncovered in the UK and more than 50 arrests have been made.

As a result, 15 children in the UK have been removed from situations where they were being abused or were accessible to an offender.

Police revealed the network was first infiltrated by Metropolitan Police officers, working undercover, in May 2007

It became the largest investigation of its kind in the UK, also involving Cleveland Police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

Users of the forum would post borderline-legal images of children and pass comments on them.

Police said "indicative images" rather than explicit child sex abuse images were posted online in an attempt to keep the site "below the radar" and prevent it being shut down.

According to CEOP, which co-ordinates covert investigations into internet child sexual abuse, users would make contact this way then meet other like-minded individuals and exchange images in "different online environments".

Its chief executive Jim Gamble said: "This website - whilst appearing to operate on the margins of legality - was clearly a front for the sinister, sexual abuse of children and an image trading ground for paedophiles."

Det Chief Supt Mark Braithwaite, from Cleveland Police, said Thompson had been "a critical piece of this network".

"He was the librarian/warehouseman for a myriad of images that were distributed to like-minded individuals both in this country and elsewhere."

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A SERIAL paedophile who repeatedly groped a young boy has been locked up indefinitely after being branded a danger to the public.

Former football referee Michael Jalland, 54, has now been convicted three times of offences against boys he met in pool and snooker halls.

He will serve a minimum two years before a parole board will decide when he is safe to return to the community.

The former Bournemouth resident had admitted five specimen counts of indecent assault at a Southampton social club.

Members noticed how he was keen to play pool with the victim, getting close to the boy as he helped him play shots before touching him.

Jalland, living in Chamberlayne Road, Eastleigh, was convicted at Southampton Crown Court.

Paul Dugdale, prosecuting, said a woman who came into the premises saw Jalland and knew he had previous convictions.

That led to the boy's mother asking the victim if anything had happened and he admitted it had.

Jalland in interview accepted it had happened between 20 and 30 times.

Judge Derwin Hope said the probation report assessed Jalland as being a high risk of causing harm to children and sexual reconviction.

Jalland was first convicted at Bournemouth Crown Court in 1998 of indecently assaulting boys aged seven, eight and 11.

He offered one victim 50p to pacify him.

He was was jailed for 15 months, and thrown out of his job refereeing local games for Hampshire Football Association.

During the trial, police told the judge he was seen near playing fields and swimming pools.

He was also jailed for another two years for committing more offences while serving part of his sentence living in the community, in Southampton Street, Southamp-ton, in 2000.

He met an 11-year-old boy playing pool and indecently assaulted him after luring him into a public lavatory.

Jalland was arrested after the boy's mother recognised him from a Daily Echo court report.

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 An Addiscombe man who sexually assaulted a 61-year-old with learning difficulties has been sentenced to a 36-month supervision order.

Colin Ford, a painter and decorator from Fernhurst Road, was sentenced to the order at Croydon Magistrates’ Court on Friday after pleading guilty to the three counts of sexual assault at an earlier hearing.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register.

The court heard how Ford had duped the victim into getting into his work van after offering her a lift to Croydon in 2005.

Magistrates were told Ford had driven the victim to a remote car park in Shirley Hills and masturbated over her. Ford was caught after his DNA was taken in an unrelated matter and linked to the assault through the police’s national DNA database.

He was arrested in April 2008 and admitted the offences during interview.

Detective Constable Rob Buckell of Croydon’s Sapphire Unit said: “Ford targeted a vulnerable woman, a pensioner who was suffering from significant learning difficulties at the time of the offence.

"He committed grossly unpleasant sexual acts on her, knowing she wasn’t capable of understanding fully what was going on.

"DNA evidence taken at the time of his arrest for an unrelated matter was crucial to solving this case, and without it Ford might never have been traced and brought to justice."

Yvonne Traynor, chief executive of Croydon Rape and Sexual Abuse Support Centre condemned the sentence saying it was too light.

“It is not even a rap on the knuckles. This sends a message out to sex offenders that they can do what ever they like and walk away with a supervision order as long as they admit their crime.”

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A FATHER of two who was branded as a serious danger to teenagers has been jailed for more than seven years.

Peter Williams, 38, targeted boys over the Internet, befriending them to gain their trust and meeting them for sex.

Prosecutor Adam Feest told Southampton Crown Court that there was no suggestion Williams had forced the boys to commit sex acts but they were unsure of their sexuality and were persuaded to do more than they would have otherwise have done.

Williams abused two victims in his bedroom, the court heard. He had also travelled to London to see a 15-year-old boy he had groomed through an Internet chatroom but the youngster refused to answer his texts and the meeting never took place.

In impact statements, one boy said he felt "dirty" while the other said he felt "uncomfortable".

The London teenager said he became "wary" of Williams because of his suggestions.

Southampton Crown Court heard the human resources officer had been jailed for 18 months in December 2005 for offences against a 13-year-old, and it was through that investigation these offences came to light.

When officers went to Williams' home, they seized a computer and discovered he had downloaded more than 450 indecent images of boys.

Williams, of Harcourt Road, Southampton, admitted eight offences of sexual assault, sexual activity with a child, travelling with the intention of meeting a child following sexual grooming, and possessing indecent pictures.

Jailing him for seven years and four months, Judge Jeremy Burford QC referred to the pre-sentence report that assessed him as highly skilled in grooming victims. The probation officer concluded he had minimised the seriousness of his offending, and considered he posed a significant risk of causing serious harm to children, particularly teenage boys.

In mitigation, David Reid said the offences pre-dated the prison sentence and he had not been in trouble for more than three years.

"They were committed at a time his life had turned upside down. His marriage had fallen apart, he had been denied access to his children, and as a means of escape threw himself into the gay world. He accepts he did nothing to check his behaviour."

Following his release from prison, he had made good progress on sex offender treatment programmes. "He has worked hard to rebuild his life.

He has paid off considerable debts and has terminated what was a good job because of the hearing."

In addition to the jail sentence, Williams was placed on the sex offenders register and under the terms of a sex offender prevention order, cannot speak to or communicate with children under 16 except his two children with their mother's consent. He was also banned from using the Internet to contact children under 16 indefinitely.

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Pervert took indecent images of schoolgirl.

A sex offender banned from having any unsupervised contact with anyone under-18 after he admitted taking indecent pictures of a schoolgirl is now ‘dating’ a 17-year-old student.

Tristan Griffiths, 26, formerly of the Isle of Wight but who now lives in Dudley convinced an underage schoolgirl to pose for topless ‘glamour’ shots during a seedy photo session on the Isle of Wight.

Magistrates placed him on the sex offenders register after he pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children

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A FATHER-of-seven convicted of horrific sex offences against a young girl was branded a danger to the public as he began an indefinite sentence behind bars.

Patrick Keogh, 39, was told he would spend a minimum of eight years in jail before he would be considered for parole.

Judge John Boggis QC condemned Keogh, pictured, as "a dangerous predator"who represented a serious risk to young girls.

Jurors heard he had threatened to kill his victim if she told anyone about what he had done.

"These offences are absolutely despicable and the psychological damage to her will be profound and long lasting. Children must be protected from you."

Keogh, of Croydon Close, Lordshill, Southampton, had been convicted at the city crown court on six counts of rape, indecency with a child, sexual assault and inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

He denied the offences and the judge said he still contested the convictions, which represented a breach of trust.

In addition to the jail sentence, he was also placed on the sex offenders' register, banned from working with children and told he must not be in the same house with a child under 16 without the prior approval of police.

Keogh had also been committed for sentence for burglary and taking a tipper truck without consent after he got into a compound on a Millbrook trading estate, grabbed the keys as well as a bottle of wine from the site office and drove the vehicle away.

He told police he had intended to drive to London to get drugs but went to his girlfriend's home where he scored.

He was jailed for 18 months for those offences and had a four month suspended sentence activated.

All the sentences run concurrently.

In mitigation, Robert Grey said Keogh had no previous convictions for sex offences and he had been an addict since 1991.

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A RETIRED Hampshire teacher who downloaded hundreds of sordid images of young girls has been spared an immediate prison sentence.

Kenneth Dunn, 58, claimed he had become obsessed in a desperate search for indecent pictures of himself taken 50 years before at his boarding school, which he feared might have been posted on the Internet.

He alleged that he wanted to find them so he could confront his abuser.

However Judge Derwin Hope slammed his defence, saying it defied belief.

Dunn, of Bassett Wood Drive, Bassett, Southampton, had pleaded guilty to 21 specimen charges of possessing indecent images. He was arrested after police raided his home with a search warrant, and when told of their suspicions that he had been downloading the gruesome images, he turned white and officers feared he was going to faint.

Prosecutor Roderick Blain told the city crown court that, when two computers were analysed, more than 1,400 images of girls from the ages of 12 down to babies were discovered.

The father of three, who taught electronics and physics at Taunton's College in Southampton before he retired this year, had trawled through notorious hard core sites to access the material.

Judge Derwin Hope, who read two psychiatric reports, accepted Dunn had been suffering from a depressive illness that had affected his character.

Dunn received a 12-month suspended sentence and has to attend an Internet sex group programme.

He has been banned from residing in a house with any child, working with children, and using a computer or online message boards without the approval of his supervising officer. He must also register as a sex offender for ten years.

In mitigation, James Leonard said that as a result of the case his character was in tatters and he had been publicly humiliated.

"The effect on him and his devoted wife has been catastrophic. He had been held in such high esteeem and the effect has been as bad as it could conceivably have got.

"At the time he was suffering from a major depressive illness and was simply not himself."

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A CHURCH caretaker who abused children as young as seven has been jailed - more than 25 years after his crimes.

Over a 16-year-period, Michael Adamson molested four girls in the congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - including two in the church's boiler room.

He abused a third in her home when he came around to tune her piano while she was off school ill.

When he stopped, he "gave her a look as if to say Don't say anything or you are dead'," said prosecutor Dr Tina Dempster.

York Crown Court also heard how elders at the church knew of Adamson's crimes as long ago as 1998 and allowed him to continue worshipping there.

Adamson, of Thornwood Covert, off Foxwood Lane, York, who also played the church organ, was jailed for six years after pleading guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault committed between 1966 and 1982. Judge Stephen Ashurst told Adamson: "You have enjoyed your liberty and you have held on to your position of apparent respectability in the wider community and in your religious community," Adamson now faces excommunication from the church.

Child abuser is put behind bars

A PAEDOPHILE jailed for sexually attacking youngsters at his church now faces excommunication, York Crown Court heard.

Elders of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints knew about organist and caretaker Michael John Adamson's crimes a decade ago and allowed him to continue worshipping there after a three-week suspension, said Tina Dempster, prosecuting.

He had abused four girls aged seven to 15 during a 16 year period, including molesting two of them in the boiler-room of the church's Acomb chapel. All four belonged to families in its congregation.

He abused a third when he visited her home to tune the piano and she was off school with illness. When he stopped he "gave her a look as if to say Don't say anything or you are dead'," said Dr Dempster.

But though all four kept silent for years, they finally spoke out and Adamson admitted his crimes 26 years after they stopped.

His barrister, Geraldine Kelly, said he will now appear before a church court where "there is every likelihood he will be excommunicated".

"He looks to his family and the church for support and understanding; he looks to his victims for forgiveness," she said.

Calling him a hypocrite, the Recorder of York, Judge Stephen Ashurst, jailed Adamson, 63, of Thornwood Covert, off Foxwood Lane, for six years.

"You have enjoyed your liberty and you have held onto your position of apparent respectability in the wider community and in your religious community," he said. He added that Adamson had betrayed the trust of the girls' parents, who were church members, and had a lasting effect on all four girls, now women.

Adamson pleaded guilty to 11 charges of indecent assault committed between 1966 and 1982.

In addition to the jail term, the judge restricted his activities for the rest of his life under a sexual offences prevention order, banned him from ever working with children again and put him on the sex offenders' register for life.

Speaking of the suspension in 1998, Miss Kelly said: "Coming before the church and being dealt with by the church elders at that stage of his life was a real punishment. It was shame and disgrace."

The church was a major part of his life, and he had had to prove himself with other church members after the suspension, a process that took three to four years. After police became involved earlier this year, he was again regularly interviewed by church members.

He had not committed any crimes in the last 26 years and had spared his victims the ordeal of giving evidence by pleading guilty.

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This 49-year-old Kent man has been jailed for rape and the sexual abuse of young girls dating back to the 1980s.

Abraham Lee, of South Street, Canterbury, was said to have sexually indulged himself with little girls who had been left traumatised by his behaviour.

He appeared for sentence at Canterbury Crown Court having been convicted of eight offences of indecent assault, one offence of indecency with a child and rape.

Judge Adele Williams said Lee had been convicted on clear and compelling evidence and jailed him for 14 years.

She had been told by Lee’s barrister, Christopher Sutton-Mattocks, that Lee still maintained his denials despite being convicted after trial in May, and Judge Williams said it was to be hoped that during his sentence, Lee would recognise his offending and seek help available to him in prison and on his release.

"There is no doubt you like to sexually indulge yourself with little girls, the evidence could not be clearer."

Mr Sutton-Mattocks said Lee did not attempt to put forward any mitigation because he always maintained his denials. Because of Lee’s stance, no remorse could be expressed on his behalf, said Mr Sutton-Mattocks.

He said Lee had led a pretty blameless life and his lack of education and ability to read and write had not prevented him working. He had a supportive family.

Lee will be subject of a sexual offences prevention order barring him from living in a household with a child under 16 or having such a child at his premises without a parent or guardian present, and on the sex offenders’ register for life. He was also banned from working with children.

At the end of the sentencing Judge Williams commended the investigating officers for their thorough and painstaking inquiry.

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A PREDATORY paedophile groomed and sexually assaulted four young boys while he was a Southampton publican, a court heard.

Paul Bedard plied the boys with alcohol, showered them with money, clothes and cigarettes to win their trust and then took advantage of them for his own sexual gratification.

The 63-year-old, formerly in charge of the Honest Lawyer, was convicted of eight counts of indecent assault, two counts of buggery, one of attempted buggery and one of false imprisonment.

Today he is beginning a 15-year jail term.

The sexual assaults took place over eight years from 1990 to 1998 while Bedard was landlord of The Hobbit and the Clowns and Jesters pubs in Southampton. His victims were aged between 11 and 18 years. Most of the offences took place while they were in their early teens.

During a trial at Southampton Crown Court a jury heard how unmarried Bedard befriended the boys through drinkers and other people at his pubs and would give them work and odd jobs, such as cleaning and glass collecting.

He then abused them on those premises after hours and at his homes.

Bedard, of Lodge Road, Portswood, appeared over a video link from Winchester Prison, and showed no emotion during a sentencing hearing.

Nick Rowland, mitigating, said Bedard was suffering from deteriorating health and was in a wheelchair after suffering a stroke. While conceding Bedard had shown no admission of guilt he asked the judge to take into account "for none other than humanitarian reasons" the state of a "man nearing the end of his life".

Passing sentence, Judge Derwin Hope told Bedard he had inflicted "moral corruption"

on each of the boys.

He said the psychological impact of the abuse on the victims was likely to be "profound"

and by forcing them to go through trial he had brought back painful memories with "deep feelings."

You continued to deny these offences in their entirety.

You've shown no empathy and no understanding as to how the offences have impacted on these victims."

DETECTIVES have praised the courage of sex abuse victims for coming forward and helping to put Paul Bedard behind bars.

And they vowed to fight for justice for other victims they believe may have suffered at the hands of the former Southampton publican.

Detective Constable Viv Wilson said she could only imagine how two of his victims found the strength to come forward to police more than ten years after the offences took place.

"This case proves victims can come forward many years later and get justice for what's happened.

"This was a predatory paedophile, who was calculating in the way he picked his victims."

She added the victims, who had found it difficult to lead normal lives, could now try to move on.

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POLICE have launched a nationwide appeal for help in tracing a suspected paedophile after fears that he may be living with a family grooming their children for sex.

Brian Hughes (pictured) is wanted by police on suspicion of abusing children over a 40-year period - including the alleged rape of a girl who officers believe he groomed for seven years.

The 48-year-old went missing from his family home in Rugby, Warwickshire, in July last year, after his family found out about his alleged activities.

He left a note apologising for what happened, but has not made contact with his family since.

Despite an extensive search, the bricklayer remains missing and police believe he may be living elsewhere in the country, within a family environment and grooming other children.

It is believed Hughes' last job was working as a block paver and he is also a qualified bricklayer.

Detectives also believe he has used internet dating sites to meet women.

Police investigator Peter Herring said: "This man is a danger to the community and needs to be found.

"We are aware of four victims, girls and boys - one of whom was four - but we fear there may be others who haven't come forward.

"It is essential to trace him and I would ask anyone who believes they know where Hughes is to call police immediately."

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A former social worker has been given a three-year community service order after he admitted having sex with a woman client who had a mental disorder.

David Cookson, 43, of Firgrove Road, Southampton, worked as a locum for Surrey County Council when the relationship took place in 2007.

He pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing at Guildford Crown Court to two counts of having sex with the Camberley woman.

The council said it sacked him as soon as it found out about the offences.

The court heard the two offences took place between March and September 2007.

'Strict checks'

Graham Wilkin, the council's director of social care, said Cookson was employed through an agency.

As soon as the council discovered what had taken place, he was suspended and his employment was later terminated.

He said the second incident took place after Cookson was dismissed and it would now be up to the General Social Care Council to decide whether to remove him from the social workers' register.

"This incident should not have happened," said Mr Wilkin.

"However, Cookson's actions were not those of a responsible professional and we expect the highest standards at all times.

"Surrey County Council has strict checks in place that are rigorously followed before we employ anyone as a social worker and these did not fail in Cookson's case."

Cookson was also placed on the sex offenders register for five years and ordered to attend the Thames Valley sex offenders group work programme.

Det Insp Martin Goodwin said: "This was a very serious but rare offence which was handled sensitively by Surrey police officers and the Community Mental Health Team.

"In partnership with the NHS Trust and Surrey County Council we have prevented Cookson from continuing to work as a social worker." 

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A PAEDOPHILE who filmed himself raping and sexually abusing two schoolgirls, then shared the images online has been jailed.

Raymond Minns must serve at least three years, after which he could be considered for release.

Police raided Minns's home in Vange last November, seizing his computer. They discovered more than 18,000 images of children being sexually abused.

When 29-year-old Minns was interviewed, he admitted "grooming" two of the girls in the photos, before repeatedly sexually abusing and raping them.

He also admitted taking pictures of himself as he abused the victims, using his mobile phone and a video camera, so he could share the images with fellow paedophiles on the internet.

Yesterday, at Basildon Crown Court, Judge Michael Brooke QC told Minns: "I hope very much you are given all the rehabilitation you so clearly need and three years from now you can think about applying to the parole board to be released on licence."

He banned Minns from ever working with children, from living or being alone with a child under the age of 16, from attending clubs where children under 16 might be present. He also barred him from using the internet.

The defendant will remain on the sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.

Minns admitted four counts of raping a child under 13, one of attempted rape of a child under 13, eight counts of taking indecent photos of a child, two of distributing indecent photos of a child and sexual assault of a child under 13.

He also admitted one charge of assault of a child under 13 by penetration and possessing indecent photos of a child.