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A man has been jailed after his victim spoke out about being sexually assaulted as a child.

Christopher James Medes was handed a five-year sentence after being convicted of engaging in sexual activity with a minor.

The 33-year-old, whose address was given as Old Road West, Gravesend, had denied the charges.

But he was convicted following a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in July and sentenced last month.

The jury found him guilty of engaging in sexual (non penetrative) activity with a minor and three counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Medes was made subject to a serious harm prevention order to remain in place indefinitely and also placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

The victim told the court how numerous visits to the police station to report the crime and countless phone calls had left her "feeling dirty" as she waited years for her abuser to be brought to justice.

In her victim impact statement, the woman described how she had suffered depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress disorder following the ordeal.

"I have had to explain my abuse to many strangers," she said. "Imagine being a child, a little girl and having to explain sexualised abuse to police officers, psychologists, counsellors and family members.

"It was embarrassing, degrading and left me feeling dirty every time.

"Waiting for years and being forced to go through a court case because my abuser refused to admit what he had done is a trauma that I will never recover from."

But following the verdict and her abuser's conviction she said she could now "stand proud".

"I was believed," she said. "Twelve strangers, members of the jury took a short time to unanimously believe me, believe the truth and I will forever be thankful for that.

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A "manipulative" paedophile has been jailed for eight years after having sex with a teenage girl and then trying to abduct her.

Richard Gilbert, of Quenney's Close, Gloucester, was found guilty of six counts of sexual activity with a child from September 2021 to Spring 2022.

The 30-year-old had previously admitted abducting the girl.

Sentencing judge Neil Millard said Gilbert was a "dangerous predator" and and "abusive child sex offender".

Prosecutor James Haskell told the court the teenager's mother became suspicious of her daughter's friendship with Gilbert when she came home with gifts from him in August 2021.

The mother reported her fears to police and Gilbert was arrested.

At the time, he denied any sexual contact with the girl and was released under investigation with strict conditions not to contact her or her family.

"However Gilbert ignored those conditions, he continued his relationship with the girl," Mr Haskell said.

He said the mother contacted the police again.

"The girl was then interviewed by police and she admitted having sex with Gilbert on three separate occasions."

He said Gilbert was arrested for a second time and was again released with strict conditions not to contact the girl or her family.

The court was told Gilbert went on to abduct the girl after making plans to "run away together" and kept her in a room at lodgings in Cheltenham.

When police found her, she told them she was his girlfriend.

Giving evidence the girl said the relationship started when he kissed her at a social event.

"Gilbert would get jealous if he saw me with male friends from school," she said.

"On one occasion I was in the park with my friends when Gilbert texted me to say he could see me. This scared me as I couldn't see him.

"If I didn't tell him things he'd threaten me. He would log into my social media accounts and block my friends.

"This made me feel uncomfortable."

Jason Coulter, defending, said the plan to run away with the girl was "utter lunacy", and that Gilbert had "genuine, but wholly inappropriate, feelings of affection" towards her.

Sentencing judge, Recorder Neil Millard, told Gilbert he was a "dangerous predator" and would not be considered for parole until he had served at least two thirds of his sentence.

He was also given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and told to sign the sex offender's register indefinitely, and banned from ever working with children.

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A teacher from Oldham has been jailed for a decade after being found guilty of a series of non-recent sexual assaults on students.

Christopher Pickup (76), Underwood Way, Shaw was today (2 September), sentenced to 10 years after being found guilty at trial of 37 counts of sexual assault against 19 victims.

The offences occurred whilst he was a teacher at two primary schools in Oldham between the years 1971 and 1983.

Detective Constables Craig Rice and Natalie Sykes, of Oldhams Non-Recent Sexual Offences Team, said: Experiencing sexual abuse at any stage in life can have a devastating and long lasting impact on an individuals life, but to experience it as a child by someone who you respect and trust is unfathomable. This investigation demonstrates our ongoing and determined commitment to ensuring that perpetrators are brought to justice.

We would like commend and thank the victims for the courage, strength and dignity they have all demonstrated in coming forward to the police and supporting an investigation into Christopher Pickup. We hope that the unanimous guilty verdicts by an independent jury and todays sentencing offers closure to them knowing that he is finally facing the consequences of his actions.

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A FORMER Tesco Haddington worker has been the target of an undercover police sting after he was caught sending indecent images of himself to people he believed were young schoolgirls.

Stephen Bennett, 63, contacted two online accounts which had been set up in the name of the children by police officers who were operating in a bid to catch online paedophiles.

Bennett began the contact by sending sexual messages to the children before his behaviour soon escalated and he sent images of his erect penis to the accounts.

But instead of him contacting children as Bennett believed, he was in fact in communication with two undercover police officers.

Following the contact, police officers raided Bennetts former home at Aberlady Road in Haddington in September last year.

It is believed that Bennett was working at the Tesco supermarket within the town at the time of his offending.

He appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court earlier this year to admit two charges of attempting to indecently communicate with two children aged 12 years old between December 2020 and September last year.

Bennett was back in the dock for sentencing last Wednesday and avoided a custodial sentence; he was instead handed a community payback order as a direct alternative.

Sheriff John Cook placed Bennett on the sex offenders' register for three years, as well as imposing a supervision requirement for the same length of time.

Bennett was also ordered to carry out 220 hours of unpaid work in the community and issued with a conduct requirement, meaning he will have his mobile phone use and internet history monitored on a regular basis.

The court was told that Bennett had split up from his partner following his arrest and had since moved to an address in Leeswood in Wales.

Sheriff Cook said that the court order would be transferred to the authorities in Wales.

Bennett pleaded guilty to two offences of attempting to communicate with 12-year-old girls, who were in fact undercover police officers, by sending them written sexual communication and repeatedly sending images of his erect penis between December 19, 2020, and September 6 last year.

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Attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child.

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A teacher who took dozens of secret photographs of pupils and kept almost 53,000 indecent images and videos of children has been jailed.

Jeffrey Wilson used a camera pen to take images of pupils and staff at Thomas Clarkson Academy in Wisbech, before taking more photographs of students at Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge.

Police officers carried out a warrant at Wilsons home in Bluebell Way, March after an IP address was linked to viewing indecent images of children online.

Several electronic devices including mobile phones, laptops, USB sticks and tablets were seized.

Of these devices, 45 upskirting images were taken over a six-month period from April to September 2019, when Wilson worked at the two schools.

Wilson had also used a hidden camera in a clock to secretly film a woman undressing at his home.

A further search of Wilsons property was also conducted, where officers found the pen used to secretly take photographs at the schools.

Analysis of the electronic devices seized from Wilsons home also revealed nearly 53,000 indecent images or videos of children.

Of these, 90 were category A the most severe.

Wilson, 31, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, three of voyeurism and two of recording an image under clothing to observe another without consent.

On August 30 at Peterborough Crown Court, Wilson was jailed for a year and was made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

DC Keith Evans said Wilson abused his position of trust at the schools, both with staff and colleagues.

This was a truly disturbing case, said DC Evans.

Wilson was in a position of trust, which he abused by violating both colleagues and students for his own gratification.

His behaviour towards the woman he secretly filmed at his home was also disgusting. Im pleased his offending has been discovered and he has now faced justice.

DC Evans added: These images were taken without the knowledge of the victims and it is impossible to identify them.

Wilsons actions will inevitably cause a great deal of distress to pupils, their parents and staff at the schools.

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A trusted school IT worker downloaded and shared vile photos and videos of children as young as two being sexually abused.

Matthew Bateman's online activities only came to light after he arranged to meet what he thought was a 14-year-old girl for a drive in his car and a burger. In fact the defendant was communicating with members of a so-called paedophile hunter group who confronted him at the agreed rendezvous point in a local park.

Swansea Crown Court heard that Bateman downloaded the child sex abuse images over a period of almost a decade, and a judge said it was troubling that the defendant had been in possession of such material while a valued member of staff at the school and mixing on a daily basis with pupils.

Megan Jones, prosecuting, told the court that in February last year Bateman contacted what he believed to be a 14-year-old girl on the Kik app. The defendant began exchanging messages with the contact, and during the conversation he talked about meeting the girl, taking her for a "spin" in his car, and visiting a McDonald's burger restaurant together. In fact the profile he was communicating with was an account being run by a so-called paedophile hunter group.

The Carmarthenshire man arranged to meet the supposed schoolgirl in Drefach Park on February 23, and when he turned up he was confronted by the people running the decoy account. Thee police were called and 40-year-old was arrested, later giving a "no comment" interview.

Miss Jones said Bateman subsequently rang Ysgol Gyfun y Strade in Llanelli where he worked in the IT department and told the headteacher he had "done something stupid" and been speaking to an underage girl. The defendant no longer works at the school.

The court heard that a search warrant was executed at Bateman's home address, and electronic devices were seized and examined. Police found a total of 299 indecent images of Category A showing the most extreme kinds of sexual abuse along with 255 of Category B and 417 of Category C. Some of the photos and videos showed toddlers as young as two being sexually abused, and they had been downloaded over a period of almost a decade. The court heard there was also evidence the defendant had shared a small number of images of all three categories with others.

The prosecutor said the defendant had not been charged with any offences in relation to the communication with the decoy account being operated by paedophile hunters.

Mathew Bateman, of Crwbin, Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, had previously pleaded guilty to making - that is possessing - indecent images of Category A, B and C, and to distributing indecent images of Category A, B and C when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.

Matt Murphy, for Bateman, said his client's conviction had already had a significant impact on his life, leading not only the loss of his job but also to the ending of his relationship with his partner. He said the court orders which would inevitably accompany the defendant's sentence would make it extremely difficult for him to find work in the IT sector where unfettered access to computers was an integral part of the job. The advocate added that while the dates of the offending spanned almost a decade, it had not been a period of continuous offending over that length of time but rather there had been a "relapse into previous behaviour" during the Covid lockdown.

Judge Geraint Walters told Bateman that the children in the photographs and videos he downloaded were not actors but were real youngsters being sexually abused. He said he was troubled by the fact that Bateman had such material while being a valued member of staff at a school and mixing daily with youngsters.

The judge noted that Bateman maintained he did not derive any sexual gratification from the images - something the judge said courts routinely heard in such cases and always treated with scepticism - but he said what "gives the lie" to that version of events was that the defendant had arranged to meet a 14-year-old girl.

With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Bateman was sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison comprising eight months for the possession charges and 14 months for the distribution charges to run concurrently. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. He will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years, and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time which is designed to control his access to the internet.

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A 'predatory' paedophile living next door to a primary school who directed a man in the US to sexually abuse a toddler while he watched online has been jailed for 20 years.

Luke Smith, 53, lived just yards away from the school in West Sussex as he begged the man to commit the horrific acts to a 20-month-old toddler on camera for him.

He then moved to a new home sandwiched between two inner-city schools in Portsmouth which are a stone's throw from each other.

But the convicted paedophile has been jailed for 20 years after a string of offences including posing as a 20-year-old woman on an online messaging service to convince the unnamed man in the US to sexually abuse his partner's son.

Officers from Sussex Police worked alongside the FBI in the US to catch the predator who was committing crimes online while using fake names and a different gender.

After raiding his home, they found child porn and chat logs with dozens of requests Smith made for the victim to be abused.

Smith had been living on a street right next to Barnham Primary School in West Sussex.

But a few months later, he moved to a road in Portsmouth right next to Mayfield School and round the corner from Cliffdale Primary Academy.

Smith admitted 13 child sex offences at Portsmouth Crown Court - nine of which were encouraging the penetrative sexual assault of a child under 13 and four of making indecent images of children.

The offences occurred between July 2018 and December 2019.

Detective Sergeant David Rose, from Sussex Police, said: 'Luke Smith is a predatory paedophile who thought he could hide by committing his crimes online while pretending to be a different gender and using a fake name.

'Although Smith's actions cannot be undone, we hope that his admission of guilt and long custodial sentence will bring some form of closure to the victim and his family.

'His actions are amongst the most reprehensible the team have encountered, and I thank them for their strength and professionalism throughout the investigation.

'We would also like to place on record our thanks to the FBI for their help and transparency during the investigation.'

Smith is now on the sex offenders register for life.

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A boasting Snapchat predator has been jailed after he offered to send pictures of his big package to a 15-year-old schoolgirl.

David Collings, of Topsham, claimed to be a 21-year-old Londoner called Gypsy Davy but was actually a lonely 26-year-old who has a history of online abuse.

He was banned from using Snapchat by a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) but installed the app on his phone despite a specific warning from the police, Exeter Crown Court was told.

He used two different accounts on the app, calling himself Davyboy and GypsyDave and made contact with the girl from Essex earlier this year.

The police were alerted after her horrified mother found a stream of messages on her phone in which he offered to send her pictures of his boy and sent a voice note which asked Ive got a big package, can you handle it?.

Collings is a registered sex offender who has previously performed webcam sex acts while being watched online by an 11-year-old girl. The SHPO was intended to prevent him doing the same thing again and allowed the police to monitor his internet and social media activity.

His police offender manager caught him with Snapchat on his phone four times in six months during unannounced visits. He was given a specific warning on the first occasion and prosecuted over the other three.

Collings, of Exeter Road, admitted sexual communications with a child, two breaches of the SHPO, and breach of a suspended sentence imposed for the first breach in March.

He was jailed for a total of a year and 10 months by Judge Timothy Rose, who put him on the sex offenders register for 10 years and imposed a tighter SHPO which will last for the same length of time.

He told him: You carried on doing as you pleased. I have to look at the history of what you have done and you have breached the order for the third time.

That raises a profound concern about the level of risk that you pose and will continue to pose in terms of committing sexual offences directed towards young people.

"I have made a new SHPO but your history does not indicate much optimism that you will comply with it.

Judith Constable, prosecuting, said Essex Police contacted the Devon and Cornwall force in February this year over messages that had been sent to a 15-year-old girl from a Snapchat account in Devon.

Inquiries led them to identify Collings, who had used two different names and claimed to be aged 21 and living in London.

He repeatedly asked for pictures from the girl and offered to send explicit pictures of himself, despite her telling him not to.

Miss Constable said: She felt uncomfortable and each time she was asked, she said no. He sent a voice note which said Ive got a big package, can you handle me? to which she did not reply.

Shortly afterwards, the childs mother found the messages and took the phone away.

"She said she had been concerned about a change in her daughters behaviour over the six weeks in which the messages were sent.

Layla Jhaveri, defending, said Collings suffers from severe autism but has been able to hold down a job as a building labourer and has been working well with probation to change his behaviour.

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A sports massage therapist from Wymondham who admitted sexually assaulting two women has been jailed.

Leon Tomasso, age 35, of Papillion Road, Wymondham, appeared at Kings Lynn Crown Court today (Tuesday 30 August 2022) and was jailed for four years.

Tomasso admitted two counts of assault by penetration on two women in November 2019 at an earlier court hearing.

The court heard how Tomasso assaulted the first victim on 19 November 2019 during one of her regular sports massages at a clinic in Acle.

The victim told officers how Tomasso had said he had misread the signs when she challenged him immediately following the assault. Then, when she questioned him over which signs had made him think that was ok, he told her: Im sorry, it was my male urges that took over. It wont happen again.

The following day Tomasso assaulted a second woman during a sports massage at a gym in Norwich. The second victim told officers how Tomasso had said the assault was part of the wind-down and how he thought she would enjoy it, when she challenged him. He later told her he knew hed crossed the line and that hed "let his emotions get away from him.

Both victims reported the assaults to Norfolk Police and Tomasso was arrested at his home on 21 November 2019 and taken to Wymondham Police Investigation Centre for questioning. He was released on police bail and subsequently charged.

In their Victim Personal Statements (VPS), both women described how they are still suffering the effects of the assaults nearly three years later.

The first victim said: I cant even begin to articulate the look on my husbands face when I broke down sobbing and attempted to tell him what had happened.

I have always looked for the good in people, focused on their positivesbut Tomasso has changed me. I now find myself filled with mistrust, wary of mens intentions and fearful of being nice in case its misconstruedand hope that eventually I will come to terms with what has happened, but the impact on me and my life cannot be underestimated.

In her VPS, the second victim said I felt completely violated and distraught. I thought I was supposed to be in a place of safety and respect, but this was not the case.

The last two and half years has caused a lot of stress and heartache, not only for myself but also my family and my fianc. Even though they do not mention it, I still see the sleepless nights and anxiety on their faces. I have become jaded and suspicious of people and that trust in people can be so easily broken.

Detective Constable Hollie Blaker, who led the investigation, said: The victims will never forget what happened, but I hope todays sentence brings some closure to their ordeal. I thank them for their courage in coming forward and for their resilience, strength, and support over the past two-and-a-half years in getting this case to court. They have never wavered, even in spite of the amount of time that has passed since the assaults, and have been supremely brave throughout. I know this has been distressing for them and their loved ones.

Tomasso exploited and abused their trust when they turned to him for help and were at their most vulnerable. Today it is because of the bravery and determination of these women that we have been able to put Tomasso behind bars."