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A pervert who tried to rape one child and sexually assaulted another has been jailed.

Craig Robertson left the schoolgirls traumatised in separate attacks. His offending came to light when one of the children told a friend, who reported it to an adult.

Now the 31-year-old, of Woodhorn Drive, Stakeford, Northumberland, has been locked up for eight years, with an extended licence period of a further year at Newcastle Crown Court, after admitting the offences.

In a victim impact statement, one of the victims said: "It hurt me and made me feel fragile and I spent a big part of my life thinking I was in the wrong." Addressing Robertson directly in the statement, she added: "You used and abused me. You made me grow up too quickly. Justice finally being served makes me feel I can build a happier life."

The other girl said: "It's affected me in many different ways. It's made me scared around men because of it."

Jailing Robertson and ordering him to sign the sex offenders register for life, Recorder Tony Hawks told him: "The sexual abuse of young children is one of the most pernicious offences that can be committed because it causes untold harm, catastrophic harm to to those two little girls. It can affect a whole lifetime of a person who's subjected to it, which is why it's regarded as extremely serious."

Brian Mark, defending, said Robertson has Asperger's Syndrome and mental health problems and added: "He is remorseful and he is very clear about the harm he done, he has caused those children, these victims. He doesn't hold anything against the children."

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A Musselburgh man has had his name added to the sex offenders' register after he was caught with child abuse images. Graham Brown, 61, was found to have downloaded 14 vile videos of children engaged in sexual activity with adults and other children. Brown was said to have possessed the material over a 10-month period before he was caught. Fiscal depute Callum Thomson told Edinburgh Sheriff Court police officers received intelligence that indecent images of children were being downloaded at Browns home on the towns Old Course Gate. Officers executed a search warrant for the address at about 6.40pm on August 30 last year. The court was told during Fridays hearing that Brown was at home alone and during the search a laptop was discovered on his couch that contained the videos. A full analysis by cyber crime officers showed Brown had downloaded 11 category A movies - the worst end of the scale - and three rated as category B. All the images were in an accessible state and the analysis showed Brown had last viewed the videos on January 6 last year. Sheriff Chris Dickson placed Brown on the sex offenders' register and deferred sentence to next month for background reports to be prepared. Brown pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images of children between October 22, 2020 and August 30 last year.

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A man, naked from the waist down, asked Travelodge staff to place a bet on for him. Reginald Roach, 63, who was placed at one one of the chain's Gwynedd hotels by a council, went into a public area of the hotel on Saturday, a court heard today.

Defence solicitor Tudur Owen said Roach, 63 of no fixed address, had behaved bizarrely. He told a district judge at Llandudno court that his client suffered a serious brain injury when he was younger.

Mr Owen said there didnt appear to be a sexual motive to what happened. He said Roach had been a nuisance and had apologised to staff.

Roach admitted exposing himself and was given 16 weeks suspended jail term. Roach must pay 150 compensation to the worker disgusted by his behaviour. He has to register as a sex offender.

Judge Gwyn Jones said it was bizarre conduct at an hotel which catered for families and other visitors. Prosecutor James Neary said alcohol seemed to be Roachs problem.

Hed moved his hips - drawing attention to his naked area - and an hotel worker felt deeply uncomfortable, Mr Neary added.

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A man faces 16 months behind bars after he was caught masturbating in front of a woman on the London Underground, following a British Transport Police (BTP) investigation.

Terence Emberson, 55, and of Church Road, Hertford, appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court on 18 July, where he pleaded guilty to one count of indecent exposure and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which he was given for another exposure offence in 2020.

On Monday 15 August Emberson was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment at Inner London Crown Court. He was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

At around 7pm on Wednesday 1 June, Emberson boarded a Victoria Line train at Tottenham Hale station and the victim noticed him staring in the direction of two other women on the carriage.

He then turned towards her and exposed his genitals, staring at her while he masturbated in front of her.

Officers quickly matched the victims account and description of the offender to Emberson, evidencing a breach of his SHPO which prohibited him from lowering or unzipping his trousers in any public place. He was later arrested at his home.

BTP Detective Constable Emma Martin, said: Im pleased to see Emberson behind bars for his sickening actions which left the victim horrified.

Sexual Harm Prevention Orders are given to protect the public, and Embersons blatant disregard of this proves his predatory mindset.

No one should be subjected to this behaviour as they travel, and we are absolutely committed to stamping it out.

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A "sadistic" burglar who raped a mother and her 14-year-old daughter was told his crimes were "horrific" and "the stuff of nightmares" as he was jailed for at least 10 years. Joshua Carney, 28, had been released from prison only five days earlier when he carried out his attacks at 6.45am on 1 March. High on the drug spice, he tried the handle and the letterbox on the victims' front door, Cardiff Crown Court was told. The sound alerted the mother, who had been getting ready for work as her daughter slept upstairs. She stepped out into the street and saw Carney, barefoot, hiding around the side of her Cardiff house. As she backed towards her front door, Carney asked her to call him a taxi before forcing his way into her home and locking himself inside. He then punched her repeatedly in the face before raping her in her living room. "The defendant told the victim: 'Stop f****** screaming or I am going to stab you'," Ieuan Bennett, for the prosecution, said. "She at that point didn't know if the defendant was armed or not and became very concerned she and her daughter were going to end up seriously injured, if not killed, by the defendant." The teenager called the police when she heard her mother being attacked, telling the call handler she believed her mum had been stabbed. Carney then tried to break into the girl's room, before her mother told her to open it, fearing they both might be murdered if they did not comply with his wishes. Taking the younger victim's phone, Carney realised she must have called the police. He then raped both victims in the mother's room and violently sexually assaulted the girl. When Carney tried to leave the property by the front he was confronted by police cars. Fearing a hostage situation, the mother offered to show him out of the back door and unlock the back gate, where he was immediately arrested. Carney was taken to hospital and told police he had no memory of what had happened. While in custody, he told officers: "Those f****** little sluts probably called me into their house." He later added: "When will the swabs be coming back because my memory is starting to come back? I'm innocent so obviously it's going to be proved." Carney later pleaded guilty to six counts of rape, one count of attempted rape and two counts of assault by penetration. He further admitted two counts of causing actual bodily harm and committing an offence with intent to commit a sexual offence - that is, the theft of the daughter's phone. In statements read to the court, the victims said they had suffered nightmares and insomnia and had left their neighbourhood. Both said they felt guilty about being unable to prevent each other being attacked. Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke jailed Carney for life with a minimum of 10 years. She told him the attack was "deliberately sadistic and no doubt done to satisfy your perverted sexual desires and your abusive sexual remarks are indicative of your attitude - one of the rapes was punishment for phoning the police". The judge acknowledged that Carney was under the influence of drugs, but said his actions - such as locking the front door and taking the daughter's phone - indicated "you were very much in control of what you were doing and your actions were thought through". "Your offending on that day was horrific, it was the stuff of nightmares," she said.

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He had 67 videos featuring child sex abuse, 53 of which were in the most serious category A blind man has admitted having hundreds of child sex abuse images on his phone. Guy Kibblewhite used a voice activation device to help him decipher the vile photos and videos. Hamilton Sheriff Court heard on Friday that he was caught when a delivery driver spotted a picture of a naked boy on his phone. Kibblewhite, of Louisbraille Crescent, East Kilbride, was placed on the sex offenders' register and warned that he could jailed. The 58-year-old admitted possession of indecent images at his home over a 10-year period up to June 28 last year. The court was told that married Kibblewhite has been registered blind since May 2015. Sheriff John Speir said it seemed "incongruous" that he should be facing such a charge given his condition. Defence lawyer Andy Thomson responded: "He tells me he can see some form of movement, no more than that. "Sometimes there is a voice activation device on the phone that provides a narrative of what the moving images show." Neil Thomson, prosecuting, said that on June 28 last year a driver delivering parcels passed Kibblewhite's home. He saw through the living room window that the accused was scrolling on his phone. Mr Thomson stated: "The worker could clearly make out an image of a boy aged six to seven years on the accused's phone screen. "The child appeared to be completely naked. The man was concerned by what he'd seen and contacted the police." Kibblewhite's phone was seized and found to contain 689 indecent photos of children, 184 of which were in the most depraved category. There were also 67 videos featuring child sex abuse, 53 of which were in the most serious category. The fiscal said babies thought to be newborn or only a few months old featured in some of the sexually explicit images. He added: "Analysis of the phone showed it had a device that allowed the user to access illicit websites that would not be accessible to someone using a standard Internet browser. "It provided access to sites often described as being part of the dark web." His lawyer described Kibblewhite, who had to be helped into the dock, as "a genuine first offender". Kibblewhite wept as Sheriff Speir told him: "In view of the nature, duration involved and quantity of the images, be under no illusion that a custodial sentence would ordinarily be appropriate. "You should be prepared for a possible prison sentence, but I have not yet come to a conclusive view in these unusual circumstances." Sentence was deferred until next month for background reports and a risk assessment. The Sheriff asked the defence to provide medical evidence, saying he wanted to be "quite satisfied" that Kibblewhite's condition is genuine. Kibblewhite had his bail continued.

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An East London man sent pictures of his penis to social media profiles he believed were girls aged 12-14, offering them money for "plenty of sex and love." John Joseph Mongan, 54, of Ruby Close in Hackney, used a fake Facebook profile under a different name to try to groom who he believed were six different underage girls between May 2020 and August 2020.

Mongan added each of the dummy profiles as friends and messaged them privately, believing they were children, the Met Police have revealed. Within the first few messages Mongan’s communications became increasingly sexual, despite the profiles making their young ages clear from the start and reminding him throughout.

Police described how Mongan's messages were "very demanding" and "graphic." He sent numerous photographs of what he claimed was his penis. Mongan also made frequent attempts to engage in sexualised phone and video calls with the profiles he thought were young girls.

The 54-year-old appeared to offer money in return for "sex and love" to the profiles. He sent photographs of large piles of cash, and asked how they would like to spend it. In one message he sent, he asked: "all I want in return is plenty of sex and love from you could you give me all of that."

Police eventually managed to lure Mongan to Homerton train station in Hackney on August 8, 2020, under the false pretence that he was meeting a 14-year-old girl he had met on Facebook for sex. Mongan cottoned on when he arrived at the station, left, and was arrested by police when he was spotted later that evening in the same area.

Mongan was charged in January 2022 and was remanded in custody. He was sentenced to nine years in prison on Wednesday, September 28 at Snaresbrook Crown Court, after he was previously found guilty by a jury in August 2022. He has also been added to the sex offenders register for life.

He was convicted of six counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, two counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to meet a child following sexual grooming.

Police described how, throughout the investigation, it was clear that Mongan was aware his actions were illegal and wrong and he made several attempts to cover his tracks and evade being caught. He deleted evidence of his conversations and officers spent hours investigating his devices and building up evidence to attribute the fake Facebook profile to Mongan.

PC Lindsey England, who is a member of the Central East Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Team, led the investigation. She said: “As part of the investigation I reviewed hundreds of pages of communication. Almost every single page contains extremely sexualised chat from Mongan, with him sometimes giving detailed instructions and descriptions of sexual acts.

“The profiles gave him no encouragement, and instead attempted to remind him of how disinterested and inexperienced they were in sex. Mongan’s methods of manipulation and grotesque use of language are some of the worst I have seen. Mongan used threats of foster homes and promises of love, care and money in an attempt to feed his own sexual fantasies and interests.

“His desire to groom and abuse who he believed to be six different children came above anything else, and he did so without any care of the impact this may have had. His only interests were making every attempt possible to deny and hide his criminal activities. He would have very likely continued this offending if he wasn’t arrested.”

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Two men who conspired to groom and sexually abuse a child in Kirklees have been jailed for offences described as depraved by detectives.

Jeremy Mason (39) from Manchester and Owen Daley (22) from Oxford were branded a danger to children following their sentencing at Leeds Crown Court today (August 19).

Kirklees District child protection officers welcome the sentencing of the two men who pleaded guilty to offending including an attempt by Mason to meet and sexually abuse the male victim while sharing the footage with Daley.

Mason was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to 14 offences including causing/inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication with a child.

Daley was sentenced to six years after pleading guilty to 12 offences including causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and sexual communication with a child. 

Both were given lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Orders and will have to sign on the sex offenders register for life.

Their offending came to police attention in late December after officers were contacted by a friend of the victim on the night he was supposed to meet Mason at an Air BNB in Huddersfield.

The victim failed to attend however and was located in the town centre by the friend who made the report.

Officers from the Kirklees Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) began to investigate and traced back online and phone communications from the two men to the victim

Mason was identified, traced, located and arrested within 24 hours while Daley was located within a month following telecommunication enquires.

As investigations progressed officers uncovered that the victim has first been contacted by a currently unidentified man who had passed the victim’s details on to Owen and Daley

They then recovered months of contact between the victim and the two men in which they sent him sexual imagery and had made preparations for Mason to meet and sexually assault him.

DS Ben Howley of the Kirklees POLIT team, who led the investigation said: “We welcome the sentences given to Mason and Daley for offences and further planned offending which can frankly be described as depraved.
“It is pure good fortune that Mason did not come into contact with the young victim on the night he arranged a meeting.
“The victim continues to receive specialist safeguarding care and I wish to pay tribute to him and his family for supporting the prosecution.  
“Their courage has helped us and CPS colleagues put these men, who pose an absolute danger to children, behind bars.”

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A Greater Manchester Police officer has avoided jail, despite downloading thousands of sick child abuse images over a 10-year period. The disturbing photographs and videos were uncovered by Thomas Woods’ pregnant wife after she looked through his phone, suspecting that he was having an affair.

His wife - who was not named in court but is also a serving police officer - asked a friend for advice after discovering the images, prosecution barrister Mark Pritchard told Minshull Street Crown Court. She later told the same woman, referred to in court as Ms Spencer, that the images were being used as part of an investigation, to 'lure' predators in, following a conversation with Woods.

Ms Spencer suspected that she was being lied to and reported Woods, 34, to the police. GMP's Sexual Offences Unit denied that any such investigation was taking place and Woods was subsequently arrested.

At the time of the offence, Woods was an active police constable in GMP's Salford district. He has been suspended from the force since his arrest and misconduct proceedings will commence "in due course", GMP confirmed.

The court heard that across Woods’ two phones and his laptop, there were 2,567 indecent images - 678 of which were in the most serious category. The images featured children aged between three and 16-years-old and had been downloaded between 2010 and 2021 - with some pre-dating Woods joining GMP.

Mr Pritchard said that one of the most serious videos showed a four-year-old girl being raped and told the court that "discernible pain and suffering by children" was an aggravating feature in the case. There was also a 'prohibited' CGI image of children and an 'extreme pornographic' video, featuring a woman and a dog, found on his devices.

Woods, of Brookdale, New Longton, Preston, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images, possessing a prohibited image of a child, and possessing extreme pornography. The judge, Recorder Anthony O'Donohoe told defence barrister Richard Brigden that he had decided to follow the recommendations in the pre-sentence report As a result, Mr Brigden offered no additional mitigation in Woods' defence.

Woods, who sobbed in the dock throughout the hearing, was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for two years. Recorder O'Donohoe said: "For part of the time, you were a serving police officer. You should have known better and the public have the right to expect higher standards of behaviour from police officers."

Under the terms of his suspended sentence, Woods will have to complete 180 hours of unpaid work and attend 30 rehabiliation activity requirement days. He is subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years and will have to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years. Recorder O'Donohoe added: "You will inevitably lose your employment as a police officer and, in fact, you will leave the police service in disgrace."

Following the hearing, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Jones, of GMP’s Professional Standards Branch said: "Possessing indecent images is disgusting behaviour from a police officer, who members of the public trust to fight crime and keep people safe. Greater Manchester Police's officers and staff are expected to demonstrate the highest standards of behaviour and those who fall below these standards are investigated and, when relevant, prosecuted. Following the conclusion of criminal proceedings, misconduct proceedings will commence in due course.”

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A married security guard who discussed raping babies with other paedophiles he was sharing extreme child and animal porn videos with has been jailed for two years.

Vile Carl Harvey, 39, was sent to prison after a sheriff told him he played a part in abuse which left children physically and psychologically damaged.

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A convicted child sex offender who finds it "impossible to tell the truth" posed as a paramedic to accompany a sick woman to hospital, leaving her "terrified" when his real identity emerged. John Lightfoot, 52, broke a court order when he pretended to be a medic called Paul, a court heard.

He took her to seek medical help and escorted her home in a taxi. The criminal even lied to a priest and repeated claims he was Paul when he was spotted with the woman.

The incident on November 12 last year left the woman, who was a victim of domestic violence, feeling 'terrified', StokeonTrentLive report ed. Lightfoot was jailed for two-and-a-half years after magistrates convicted him of failing to comply with notification requirements of the sex offenders' register.

Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard Lightfoot - who was convicted of a child sexual assault in 2013 - was previously handed a two-year suspended sentence for breaching the terms of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) after going by the name of Jay Maddox without informing the police.

Despite registering that name with officials, Lightfoot was caught out again when he used the alias 'Paul' at the pub in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. Mark Brookes, prosecuting, said: "A domestic violence victim was in the pub and he introduced himself as a paramedic called Paul.

"She became unwell and was taken to hospital. The defendant went with her and returned from the hospital to her address in a taxi.

"She resides in a property run by a charity. He was seen telling a priest if she came back to his house he would look after her. He was trying to manipulate her.

"On December 3, 2021, officers attended the defendants home and recovered documents concerning a matter of domestic violence. He told officers he did not know who she was.

"In February he was arrested at his address." In a statement read to the court, the victim said: "He made me feel uncomfortable in the taxi. I felt anxious and terrified of him and I dont want any contact with him."

Stuart Muldoon, mitigating, said: "He knows he is going to go to custody and his concern is his mother who is 92-years-old. She has suffered a stroke and is in the Royal Stoke.

"He has been her carer and will be on his release. His concern is that she may no longer be around." Sentencing, Judge David Fletcher told Lightfoot: "You are a man who simply finds lying a very easy thing to do. You find it impossible to tell the truth.

"This offence is extremely worrying and the victim was clearly vulnerable. You lied to her. You repeated that to a priest when you went back to where she was living. This is a deliberate failure to comply with requirements."

Lightfoot, of Fielding Street, Stoke, was also handed a restraining order and will remain on a sexual harm prevention order.

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A man who admitted raping an 18-year-old woman after being on the run for eight years has been jailed. Remus Covaciu, 28, attacked the teenager outside a club in Aberdeen in January 2013. A European Arrest Warrant was granted in July 2020 and the Romanian national was extradited from France to Scotland in April last year. Covaciu was jailed for three years and nine months at the High Court in Edinburgh on Friday. He admitted rape, failing to show for an earlier hearing, and breaching bail. Seen on CCTV Prosecutor John McElroy had previously told the High Court in Glasgow that the victim went to a friend's birthday party and then to Institute nightclub in Aberdeen's Bridge Street. After leaving the club, she was seen on CCTV sitting on the pavement as Covaciu approached. Covaciu, who lived in the Torry area of the city at the time, was seen talking to the teenager before raping her. A CCTV operator alerted police to the victim in the street. Mr McElroy said: "When officers arrived, she was intoxicated, in a dishevelled state and had no recollection [of being attacked]. "Covaciu was traced to a nearby shop by police." He was held in custody that night and appeared in court days later. 'Prolonged her suffering' Covaciu failed to turn up to his trial at the High Court in Edinburgh in November 2013 and failed to sign in at a police station twice while on bail. A warrant was issued for his arrest. He was later traced to France, where he had settled with his partner and two children. Defence solicitor advocate Iain McSporran QC said: "He hopes upon his release he will be able to continue his family life. He accepts he must be punished." Judge Lady Drummond told Covaciu: "You are a first offender and were 19 when this offence occurred. You raped a young woman while she was so intoxicated as to be incapable of refusing or giving consent. "This young woman was a stranger to you before you committed this offence. You took advantage of her vulnerability for your own sexual gratification." She added: "I have read the victim impact statement from the complainer. It is apparent from that that your crime has had a profound impact on her. The delay caused by your departure has prolonged her suffering." Covaciu was placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.