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A paedophile piano teacher was found with tens of thousands of pictures and videos of child sexual abuse, including horrific videos that he had captured of his own students. Ben Thomas, 30, taught piano lessons to children as young as eight and captured "upskirting" videos of the youngsters during lessons.

His horrifying crimes were discovered when the mum of his eight-year-old student found "innapropriate" messages between her child and Thomas, who had asked the child to send him videos of her "blowing him a kiss". He had also asked the eight-year-old to dance naked for him.

Thomas, of Westbourne Grove, Hessle, has been jailed for two years, after pleading guilty to taking indecent photographs and videos of children, and of possessing indecent photographs and videos of children. Analysis of his phone and other devices found a shocking 26,461 images and 445 videos in Categories A, B and C.

A total of 1,625 of these were of the most serious category, which includes the penetrative sexual activity of children. Victims in the images that were found on Thomas' devices were as young as three years old, Grimsby Crown Court heard on Friday (August 5).

A total of 16 of Thomas' students were victims of his crimes, with 64 videos taken of the children between June and July last year. The paedophile would teach the students at a North Lincolnshire school, as well as in his own home and their homes, GrimsbyLive reports.

During his lessons, Thomas would ask the girls to lean over the piano in order to examine the instrument's "inner works", at which point he would secretly film them on his mobile phone. The court heard that none of the children were aware of what was happening.

Prosecuting, Nigel Clive QC told the court that Thomas was finally caught when the mother of one of the victims discovered inappropriate WhatsApp messages between him and her daughter, who was just eight years old at the time. The court heard that the girl's piano lessons were supposed to last for half-an-hour, but over time they became "longer and longer".

Thomas would contact the girl via WhatsApp and send pictures and videos of his cats, he also asked her to send him a video of her "blowing him a kiss". He had also filmed the girl playing with his cats at his home and, in the video, he asked her to perform several gymnastics moves such as the crab and splits.

When the mother found the messages, she contacted Thomas and told him that his messages were innapropriate and that he should stop contacting her daughter, which he did. The mother then contacted Humberside Police.

Thomas was arrested and officers seized his mobile phone and laptop, which was found to have tens of thousands of images and videos "systematically stored". He was initially interviewed by police on August 11 last year, during which he provided the codes to unlock his devices.

He was then bailed pending the analysis of his devices. When he was re-interviewed by police on December 21, he answered "no comment" to officers' questions. But the disgusting content on Thomas' devices helped to secure a conviction.

The impact of Thomas' horrific actions was heard in court, when parents of the girl's that he taught read their victim statements. One parent said: "For someone that age she is not trusting of people. She was such a confident girl but now she won't wear a skirt or a dress, even during the summer."

Another said that their daughter is "less trusting of teachers and men". They added: "She is more suspicious of everyone and feels misled by this defendant. She is shocked that someone would take advantage."

Mitigating, Alexander Leach QC said: "It was a descent into a world of internet porn that led to indecent images of children and culminated in the production of the indecent images of children. The most serious aggravating factors are the abuse of trust, the fact that the children were known to the defendant and the number of children. There was a profound abuse of trust and a damage to the confidence of these children."

Mr Leach told the court that Thomas had "unfettered access" to internet porn and unregulated file sharing platforms from the age of 11. He said: "This was a course of conduct that was put in place from a very young age. He has taken exceptional steps to rehabilitation, he has engaged with therapy."

Sentencing, Recorder Kelly addressed Thomas: "The fallout does not simply remain with you recording images of them. Some of the parents have expressed how guilty they feel by allowing them to be in your presence. But it is not their fault, it is your fault alone. You fooled them into thinking you were trustworthy.

"You lost your employment, your fiancée called off your engagement, but these risks must have occurred to you as being a consequence of how you were acting. You have lost your good name and also the possibility of forming an adult relationship. The impact of the offending will live with you for your adult life, but you only have yourself to blame.

"The children don't seem real to you. The abuse these children suffered to enable these images to be made are real. For every image you downloaded, a child had to be sexually abused. You and people like you fuel the need for children to be sexually abused."

Thomas was also handed a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will prohibit him from using any device which accesses the internet. He also cannot delete any messages on any electronic device, live with any female under the age of 16 or have any contact with any female under the age of 16. He is also required to sign on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.

Officer in the case Detective Constable Becky McInnis from Humberside Police's Protecting Vulnerable People Unit said: "The actions of Ben Thomas cannot be described as anything other than deceitful. He abused his position of trust preying on some of the most vulnerable members of our society who looked up to and trusted him.

"I am pleased he is now being punished for his unforgiveable actions. I’d like to commend the bravery and the courage of his victims and their families throughout the entirety of the investigation and court proceedings.

"I hope the outcome will provide them with some comfort in knowing that, by having the courage and strength to come forward, they have undoubtedly prevented others falling victim to the actions of this man."

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This is the face of a predator who has been locked up for 17 years for child sex offences.

Kieron Jackson, from Salford, was put behind bars on at Bolton Crown Court on Tuesday (August 2), police said. The 33-year-old was first reported to officers by a 'concerned party' who alleged that he had had sexual contact with a child.

An investigation was launched and a judge has now jailed Jackson for 17 years for sexual offences against children. Police said the child now has the 'justice they deserve'.

Officers posted about Jackson, of Holm Court, on the Greater Manchester Police Salford Facebook page. In full, the post said: "#LOCKEDUP | A Salford man has been jailed for 17 years for sexual offences against children. Kieron Jackson, 33, of Holm Court, Salford was jailed at Bolton Crown Court on 2 August 2022, for sexual offences against children.

"Jackson was reported to GMP on 8 June 2020 by a concerned party who alleged hed had sexual contact with a child."

Investigating SIO, DC Paula Birchby, said: "I am extremely pleased for the child and her family, who now have the justice they deserve. The hard work of everyone involved in the case meant that Jackson was convicted and that a lengthy sentence has been issued.

"The police and courts have shown that this terrible abuse will not be tolerated."

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A judge has praised the courage of the victims of a serial stalker and rapist in giving evidence against an offender branded a danger to society.

Lord Richardson made the remarks as he handed former squaddie Ian Ewart Ramsay, 49, a 13 year sentence for an appalling campaign of abuse against nine terrified women. The High Court in Edinburgh had heard how Ramsay obsessively pursued women during a six-year crime spree and used blackmail to get a woman to continue to have sex with him.

Ramsay, who served in the first Gulf War, physically assaulted the women, stalked them and raped four of his victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons. Ramsay, of Kelso, in the Scottish Borders, had denied a string of charges during his trial.

He originally faced a total of 47 charges, but the jury was only asked to return verdicts on 21 charges. He was acquitted of one rape, three assaults and a stalking allegation following a trial last May.

Sentence had been deferred for the court to obtain reports on Ramsays background. The case called again on Friday and the court heard how Ramsay still expresses no remorse for his offences. Passing sentence, Lord Richardson told Ramsay that hed be supervised and be under licence for three years following his release from custody.

He said: The offences to which you have been convicted of show that you engaged in a course of behaviour that can only be described as a campaign of abuse against these women. You refused to take no for an answer.

"It is clear to me from both from the evidence that I have heard and from the Victim Impact Statements which I have read that you made the lives of these women traumatic and utterly intolerable. They are to be commended for coming forward to give evidence against you.

During proceedings, the court heard from one woman who was raped by Ramsay in hotels. She said: "He is so manipulative. He is evil. He is a horrible, horrible person and is a danger to society."

The 51-year-old manager met Ramsay, whom she knew as Ewart, through an online dating site and he told her he was a farmer and was previously in the Army. She said: "We would meet in various restaurants and hotels in Glasgow and occasionally the Borders."

But the woman said he became possessive and controlling. She told the court: "It was non-stop harassment. A number of times I tried to break off with him but he would not have it. It was horrendous. It was the worst experience of my life."

She said that Ramsay stole her phone and took images from it to blackmail her with. She added: "It was terrible. I couldn't get rid of him. At one stage I was even contemplating suicide it was that bad. I would need to go along with him and meet up with him in various hotels and I just did not want to be there."

Prosecutor Kath Harper asked her if she had wanted to have sex with him on these occasions and she replied: "No. I thought it was the only way I could manage the situation because he had these images."

She said Ramsay had taken intimate images and videos of sex from her phone and threatened to send them to her boss, family and friends. She added: "I was absolutely traumatised. It was horrendous."

She said Ramsay was "unhinged" and added: "He just would not take 'no' for an answer." The woman said that during a confrontation at a spa hotel in Renfrewshire he head butted her in the face, leaving her bleeding.

She said she made her way to the reception and added: "I was terrified. He was roaming the grounds looking for me." Staff at the reception contacted police.

Ramsay was found guilty of raping the woman on various occasions between January 1 and December 31 in 2014. He was also convicted of stalking her by repeatedly calling and sending her messages, making threats to disclose intimate images of her and accessing her phone and downloading the images without her permission. He was also convicted of assaulting her by headbutting her.

Ramsay went on to rape a second woman at an address in Jedburgh while she was asleep or intoxicated on occasion between January 2016 and December the following year and bombarded her with calls and messages and threatened to distribute intimate images of her. Another woman was raped by him at a house near Kelso while she was asleep or intoxicated between November 2016 and January 2017 on two occasion.

The fourth rape victim was subjected to sex attacks by him in Jedburgh in 2019. She was also physically assaulted by him. She said she was subjected to blackmail by him. Ramsay admitted he had images of the woman which he claimed they had taken together but denied using them to threaten her.

He continued to commit stalking offences against women into 2020 and even perpetrated the abuse when he was freed under court bail orders. Ramsay, who was previously jailed for theft and assault, was remanded in custody for the preparation of a background report.

On Friday, defence advocate Ronnie Renucci QC asked Lord Richardson to be as lenient as possible with his client. He said: He has been a valuable member of society in the past. He served in the army and he has served in the first Gulf War.

Since being discharged from the army, he has been almost continuous employment. Hes not an unintelligent man. He accepts that if he does not address his offending, he spend the rest of his life in and out of prison.

However, Lord Richardson told Ramsay, who has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register, that jail was the only sentence available to him.

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Parents have expressed outrage at the sentence handed to a teenager who possessed images showing the rape and torture of young children.

Dillan Waters, 18, of Horbury, Wakefield, who lives just 100 metres from a nursery, admitted six counts of possessing indecent images of children and one of distributing the images when he appeared at Leeds Magistrates' Court last month.

But he avoided a prison sentence despite downloading and sharing images of child sexual abuse including some in Category A, which are the most serious. The images covered all levels of indecency including the most severe showing the rape and torture of young children.

He was handed a community order of 150 hours of unpaid work. A five-year sexual harm prevention order was imposed to limit his internet activity and he was ordered to register as a sex offender for five years.

Jodie Heaton said: "We don't want him living here and he shouldn't be living here, everyone on this cul-de-sac has small children. I have five aged 13, 10, nine, seven and 10 months and my neighbours have kids younger than 10, and there are at least 15 kids just on this street not to mention the kids at the nursery.

"I've only just started letting my children play on the front on their bikes if I'm out doing the garden but I won't even let them do that now. The street is usually full of kids playing but since this has come out it's been deathly silent, no kids have been out playing.

"It's disgusting really that he's been allowed to live here with his grandmother. It's so wrong and at only 18 with all the vile images he must have had I think he's only going to get worse as he gets older."

And Jade Leather who lives opposite him said: "As a parent of two young children, (one is autistic and due to this - doesn't like being clothed and is often spotted naked around the house) this absolutely terrifies me. The fear of not knowing if someone who lives on the same street, opposite your house is spying on your children is horrific.

"This offender has been found guilty of possessing and distributing horrific things in relation to young children. I don't understand how any legal body can find community service and a measly fine a fit punishment for that?

"How is he allowed to return home, to a street full of young children, with a nursery less than 30 seconds from his doorstep? Why is he allowed more rights, than our innocent children are?

"Every child has the right to play safely on their street or in their own garden and home. This street is in uproar over it. No kids are out playing.

"Parents are hurrying their children inside when bringing them home. It's not normal. All while he gets to parade around, living life as normal. It's not right and something needs to be done about it, however, if we try do something and force him out we will be the ones that end up in trouble with the authorities. It's so backwards - it needs to change!"

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A rapist who carried out "vile and persistent" sexual abuse of a child over a period of years has been caged for 24 years.

Majid Rafizadeh perpetrated a "campaign of rapes" against a child over a period of around six years during a "sinister process" of grooming. The 46-year-old continues to deny the offences, despite being found guilty by a jury of three counts of rape and one count of sexual assault following a trial in May.

On Thursday, Rafizadeh, of Fenham, Newcastle, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court via link from HMP Durham to be sentenced for the four counts. He required a Farsi-Persian interpreter throughout proceedings.

Judge Tim Gittins said Rafizadeh carried out "vile and persistent sexual abuse" of the child and also carried out "random and repeated violence" against the victim. He said Rafizadeh also "began a sinister process of grooming" while undertaking a "campaign of rapes" at a time when he was addicted to opium. The court was told that Rafizadeh's crimes finally came to light when the victim grew older and reported the abuse to police.

Susan Hirst, defending, said Rafizadeh continues to deny the offences and said he had no previous convictions prior to his trial. She said Rafizadeh was born and raised in Iran and was a "productive member of society there" after setting up a small business selling car parts. She said: "He then became involved in political demonstrations against the government and had to flee the country. He arrived in the UK in 2000 and has always had a strong work ethic."

Ms Hirst added: "Once in the UK he found employment working on construction sites before training as a gas engineer. In recent years he was running his own company." The court was told that Rafizadeh had also suffered from depression and was "very vulnerable in his own right".

Judge Gittins jailed Rafizadeh for 24 years and made him subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. He will also be on the sex offender's register for life. A restraining order was also imposed.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Nicola Wade, said the victim had shown exceptional courage speaking out against Rafizadeh and hopes it will help encourage other victims of abuse to speak out. She said: "This man is a predatory paedophile who has taken advantage of the victim and left them emotionally broken. They have suffered at the hands of this vile man but has been so brave throughout this investigation. I hope this sentence can bring some form of closure but also give others the confidence to come forward and report abuse of any form to police."

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A SEX offender was filmed on his doorstep by civilian paedophile hunters as he labelled his relentless online pursuit of a 13-year-old girl as just a bit of fun.

Denis Turner, 29, thought he was engaged in a six-week-long sex chat with a young girl.

In fact he was talking to a member of the Child Online Safety Team, who had set up a decoy social media profile to snare paedophiles.

Chelmsford Crown Court heard Turner asked the decoy if she would be a bad girl and repeatedly warned her not to tell her parents about their conversation.

Gary Rutter, prosecuting, said: He would regularly ask her if her parents knew she was talking to him and would suggest on numerous occasions that she delete the inbox so she didnt get told off.

Questions about her school, her brothers and her sisters were interspersed with requests for her to play with herself.

He said: I bet you have a little bum, adding: If I were there, would you let me slap your bum?.

Turner also sent pictures of his penis to the decoy.

The paedophile hunters visited Turner at his Colchester home following the conversation, which unfolded from June to July 2019.

The confrontation was filmed and posted on Facebook, with Turner saying it was just a bit of fun.

Turner, now of Ibstock Close, Dagenham, was arrested and later admitted one count of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

The case faced significant delay, in part due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and he appeared for sentence on Thursday.

Peter Clark, mitigating, said Turner had endured difficulties in life, but added they did not excuse his offending.

He said his client cares for his 72-year-old father who is awaiting open heart surgery.

Mr Clark said Turner had remained out of trouble in the three years since the offence, adding: This is a case where there is a prospect of rehabilitation.

Judge Mary Loram QC said: Your pursuit of sexual conversation with a child was relentless.

Your focus was purely on getting sexual images from her, sending her sexual images of yourself and trying to get her to masturbate.

You paid no heed at all to the clear evidence and repeated protestations of total sexual naivety from the child.

The judge said Turner had been on and on at the decoy for weeks, adding there was inevitably an element of grooming involved.

She added: You tried to get her to conceal evidence, significantly by suggesting it was her who would get into trouble if she didnt do so.

That was manipulative and would have been very frightening to a real 13-year-old girl.

The court heard Turner told the author of a pre-sentence report he had no sexual interest in a 13-year-old girl.

I reject that, thats obviously not true, said Judge Loram.

What you have had is a less than happy upbringing.

However, I do not see the link between that sadly all too common in this court and your sexual incitement of a 13-year-old girl.

She said the real mitigation in his case is the three-year gap between the offending and sentence.

You have not re-offended in that time and I accept, without question, the delay in sentence will have had its impact on you and will have created a lot of stress, she said.

Turner was sentenced to 27 months imprisonment and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for ten years.

He will remain the subject of a five-year sexual harm prevention order.

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A Nuneaton man has appeared before magistrates charged for five offences including indecent exposure and assaulting a police officer. Luke Armes, 34, of Wood Street, Nuneaton, appeared at Coventry Magistrates' Court on Monday, August 1.

He faced two counts of indecent exposure, one count of threatening behaviour towards someone else, one count of theft and one count of assault on a police officer. They related to an incident on July 29.

The court heard Armes climbed over the fence of his neighbour's garden where he pulled down his trousers and boxers before dancing around completely naked. Armes' neighbour was left upset by his actions after he refused to leave for 10 minutes - when he did leave he stole a bag of her clothes, the court heard.

He then went to the Tesco car park in Nuneaton where he punched a man, tried to take the man's child from a car and then attempted to take the keys from the ignition. Armes then exposed himself again but to a car full of children in the car park.

Warwickshire Police were called and when they attended the scene Armes headbutted an officer twice causing him an injury to his lip and forehead. When passing sentence, the judge was made aware of Armes' 105 previous convictions, four of which were assaults on an emergency worker.

Armes originally pleaded not guilty to all offences but later changed his pleas after he was told he would be remanded in custody until a trial date. His lawyer told the court he has a problem with alcohol and these events were a "moment of madness".

After pleading guilty to all five charges, he was sentenced to 34 weeks in prison and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years. Armes was also ordered to pay 100 compensation to his neighbour, the children he exposed himself to and 50 to the police officer he assaulted.

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A serial child sex offender from Inverness has been jailed for deliberately loitering around a Highland swimming pool.

Convicted paedophile Scott Murray (36) claimed to staff at the Macdonald Spey Valley Resort in Aviemore that he needed to charge his phone and electronic cigarette.

However he spent two hours hanging around in the reception area while the items were charging.

During this time he was seen looking through a glass window at the swimming pool area and later found to have propped a window open in the toilets.

Murray, who has previously served an 18 month jail sentence for possessing extremely graphic videos involving children aged one to three years old, is forbidden from entering such places unless granted police permission.

Of the videos 99 of them were of the most graphic and depraved kind, a court heard previously.

He was previously put under a 10 year long Sexual Harm Prevention Order which was granted at Inverness on July 20, 2015.

And in March, 2017 he was released early from a 21 month jail sentence for peeking at boys in a leisure centre.

Murray, described as a prisoner at Barlinnie, has now appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court on indictment where he admitted going into Aviemore hotel's leisure centre in breach of the court order under the sexual offences act.

He also admitted threatening and abusive behaviour at the resort, which is also known as Dalfaber Golf and Country Club.

The court heard he was shouting, swearing, muttering, laughing and uttering threats while in the lobby area on March 14 this year.

At one point he started yelling about aliens and other random phrases.

Fiscal depute Susan Love said: The accused is a registered sex offender.

He would have to ask permission from the police if he wanted to attend a swimming pool.

Around 4pm on the day he became known to staff at the front door of the country club.

He said he needed to charge his phone and his vape.

He was seen making remarks about 'my head' and 'aliens and planets' as well as going to the glass door over the swimming pool area.

Inverness Sheriff Court heard he also used the toilets several times after staff gave him a charging device.

When he finally left staff found a window had been left ajar in the toilets to the leisure centre.

Solicitor William Young said his client was intending to go swimming in the Aviemore area on the day in question.

Mr Young said: During the course of the day he realised he needed to charges his phone and his vape.

Even if Mr Murray had wanted to access the facilities he would needed to have made arrangements or prove he was a guest at the hotel.

Mr Young added: There were no individuals in the swimming pool at the time for what it's worth.

Sheriff Robert Frazer said the record of previous convictions before him meant only one option was open to him a custodial sentence.

The sheriff said: I note that this is your twelfth conviction under this section of the sexual offences act.

You knew exactly what you were doing when you attended the Macdonald Hotel leisure centre.

It seems to me you simply cannot stop this type of offending and therefore you are a danger to the public.

Murray was jailed for 20 months.

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TikTok influencer Mahek Bukhari's accomplice Raees Jamal had already been convicted of rape long before being convicted of murder. On Friday, four people, including Jamal, were found guilty of murder by a jury at Leicester Crown Court after a trial lasting 50 days.

Now it can be reported that Jamal had been convicted last year of raping a 17-year-old girl at his home in Loughborough. The trial for that crime took place before the TikTok trial and to ensure fair verdicts in the murder trial the jury was not told of the rape case and the press were not allowed to report it.

Jamal was sentenced for the rape at Leicester Crown Court in August 2022 and was given 10 years behind bars. During that hearing, the judge urged Jamal's young rape victim not to blame herself. The jury heard how Jamal had invited his victim to his home to watch a film just a few days after she had turned 17. Jamal pinned his victim on his bed and had unprotected sex with her, despite her trying to push him off and repeatedly telling him 'no'.

Judge Robert Brown told Jamal's victim's family members, who were in court for the sentencing: "She is a victim. She must not think she did anything to cause this rape. She did not. Tell her that from me. I hope it helps her come to terms with this."

The rape took place in June 2020 when the girl agreed to go out in Loughborough town centre with Jamal and later went back to his home in Lingdale Road in the town. His parents, who were at the house when she arrived, went off to work a night shift and Jamal took the girl upstairs to watch a film and he was "pestering" her for some time before trapping her under him and attacking her.

Daren Samat, prosecuting, said the girl had been 16 when Jamal started chatting to her on social media. Describing the day of the rape he said: "They went upstairs to watch a film and within minutes the defendant began to pester her. She said she didn't want that. She said no several times and tried to persuade him physically."

In a letter to police about how the crime had affected her, the victim said she had tried to kill herself and she remained "haunted" by what had happened, as well as being left with the scars of her suicide attempt. She said in the letter: "It's been two years since the rape happened and I still, to this day, get haunted. I've never felt so isolated and most nights I cry myself to sleep. I haven't learned how to live with this." Mr Samat said: "There is psychological harm here and grooming, via social media, over the course of about six months."

Ayoub Khan, representing Jamal, tried to argue there had not been any grooming and that the attack had not been sustained but the judge rejected both those statements. Mr Khan added: "He had only just turned 20. He is a young man who had a fairly turbulent upbringing."

The judge told Jamal: "When she met you she did not have sex in mind and did not want intimacy in that early stage of your relationship. I think it is justified to describe it as sustained. She was trapped. She was pinned on the bed and you overpowered her. She was not egging you on - she repeatedly said 'no' and 'stop it' and tried to push you off.

"She has undergone severe psychological harm." His sentence for the rape is likely to be eclipsed by whatever minimum term the judge decides in the murder case. As well as being jailed for the rape, Jamal was given a lifetime restraining order to keep him from contacting his victim and will be on the sex offenders register for life.