Latest Offenders

Description

A sex offender described as a “danger to young children” has been jailed for over 18 years for sexually attacking a young girl.

David Gray, 50, from Batley was was sentenced to 18 years and eight months at Leeds Crown Court on Thursday (August 29) after admitting two serious sexual assaults against a young girl.

They were reported to police in January of this year, prompting an investigation by dedicated Kirklees child safeguarding detectives. Gray was swiftly arrested following the report and then charged.

He pleaded guilty to the offence at a hearing at Leeds Crown Court in June and was remanded in custody for sentencing. Investigating officer Detective Constable Natalie Green, of the Kirklees District Child Safeguarding Unit, said: “Gray clearly poses a significant danger to young children, and we welcome the strong sentence handed down by the court.

“The appalling offences he committed against a young victim has affected her deeply, and starkly illustrates the dreadful impact these crimes have on victims. I would personally like to thank the victim and her family for their courage and strength during the investigation and for coming forward and speaking of the crimes committed by Gray.

“We continue to urge victims of sexual assault to come forward, no matter when the offending took place. All reports will be thoroughly investigated by our specially trained officers who will also provide you with support throughout.”

Description

A 39-year-old man from Northwich has been jailed for 25 months after pleading guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child.

Daniel Brinksman of no fixed address was sentenced at Chester Crown Court on 29 August after pleading guilty to the offences during his trial.

He was also given a restraining order not to contact the victim and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Brinksman had met his 15-year-old victim on Grindr in 2015 after the boy joined the site in a vulnerable state as he was struggling with his sexuality.

They struck up a conversation and Brinksman pressured him into meeting that same day at a park in Northwich.

Brinksman sexually assaulted the victim leaving him traumatised.

Description

A child sex offender from Staffordshire has been convicted on 25 counts following a trial in court.

Nicholas McCabe, 57, of Ipstones, Staffordshire, was found guilty by a jury following a nine-day trial at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court today (Thursday 29 August).

He was convicted on:

• Eight counts of the rape of a girl under 16
• Four counts of the rape of a woman
• Eight counts of the indecent assault of a girl under 16
• Three counts of sexual assault on a female 13 and over
• Two counts of sexual assault on a female

The court heard how McCabe inflicted a campaign of abuse on the survivors between the 1990s and 2000s in Staffordshire.

When one of them bravely came forward and told us what happened in July 2020, we started work to compile all of the evidence possible to take McCabe to court. More survivors then came forward to support the investigation.

McCabe was questioned in custody and denied the offences.

Investigative Officer Janine Shropshire and Detective Constable Diane Sproston from our rape and serious sexual offences unit (RASSO) worked tirelessly to support the survivors and managed to secure 25 charges against McCabe in 2022.

Our evidence was substantial, leading to a jury finding McCabe guilty on all 25 counts in court.

He will be sentenced at Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court on 11 October 2024.

Detective Constable Diane Sproston and Investigative Officer Janine Shropshire said: We would like to recognise the courage the survivors in this case have shown in coming forward and helping us gather the evidence needed to convict McCabe of the heinous crimes he committed.

Without their bravery and resilience, this result would not have been possible.

While this result does not repair the immeasurable trauma that has been caused to the survivors, we hope it gives them a sense of closure that McCabes lies did not work and he will now face justice for what he did.

Description

A man who sent sexually explicit messages to children online has been jailed.

Stephen Blackwell began messaging one girl on Tiktok when she was just 10. He initially told her he was a 17-year-old boy who lived in London before admitting he had lied about his age. He repeatedly sent her photos and videos and asked her to send him images in return.

The matter came to light after the girl’s mum found the messages on her phone and contacted police.

Blackwell was arrested in connection with the incident and released on bail while investigations continued.

While on bail, he also began messaging accounts he believed belonged to 14-year-old girls. However, these accounts were all actually decoy accounts run by an online child activist group.

Blackwell sent numerous videos showing him performing sex acts on himself, and also asked the girls to carry out acts on themselves.

The 46-year-old, of Matlock, was arrested and subsequently charged with engaging in sexual communication with a child, causing a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, causing a child under 13 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity and attempting to cause a child aged 13 to 15 to watch/look at an image of sexual activity.

He denied the offences but was found guilty after a trial at Derby Crown Court.

He appeared at the same court for sentencing on 16 August when he was jailed for 11 years and three months with the judge handing him an extended sentence to recognise the danger he posed.

He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was placed on the sex offenders register.

Description

A CREEP from Great Sankey who sexually assaulted a woman in her sleep claimed it was an accident has been jailed.

Lewis Williams, of Reaper Close, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court after pleading guilty to sexual assault and sending threatening messages.

Prosecuting, Dave Watson told the court that the victim, who cannot be named or identified by law, woke up to Williams sexually assaulting her.

The 25-year-old defendant was confronted by the complainant and ‘jumped up in shock’.

Williams accepted what had happened, the court heard, but after the offence, he began to send texts and voice notes to her.

One voice message saw him refer to the victim as a ‘little b***h’.

Despite previously admitting to the assault, the court heard that Williams went on to deny the offence by saying that he had been asleep and that she must have ‘pushed against him’.

The victim contacted Cheshire Police, and Williams was arrested.

In his police interview, the court heard that Williams continued to deny the offence and claim it had happened in his sleep.

An impact statement was read out to the court in which the victim told the court that the assault has had an impact on her mental health.

“He was making me out to be a liar and said it was an accident, when it was not,” she said.

Williams, who appeared in court late as he was in a Wetherspoon pub, was sentenced by judge Andrew Murray to 27 months immediate imprisonment.

A restraining order has been put in place for five years, and Williams was ordered to sign the sex offender register for ten years.

Description

A vile predator from Leeds trawled the internet looking for like-minded parents who would let him abuse their children.

Connor Churchill latched onto what he thought were two guardians on the messenger services Kik and Snapchat, asking to either abuse their children or watch them abusing the youngsters.

There was even an agreement to meet one at a service station on the M62 where he could abuse their eight-year-old niece, although Churchill made excuses not to attend.

But the profiles were both being run by undercover police officers, posing as paedophiles, Leeds Crown Court heard. Churchill, 24, admitted two counts of arranging a child sex offence, and three counts of making indecent images of child abuse was found on his Samsung phone.

Prosecutor Ayman Khokhar said he first made contact online in July 2022 when he said he was looking for like-minded people with a kink. He said he preferred girls aged between six and 14 but was open to most.

After the officer offered up his fictitious eight-year-old niece, there was a meeting arranged at Hartshead Moor Services.

He was also communicating with with another officer on Kik after he told Churchill that he had a seven-year-old daughter. Churchill, now of Clog Mill Gardens, Selby, but who had been living in Micklefield, discussed having sex with the girl, but again he made excuses about meeting.

He was arrested on October 11, 2022 and told officers: I would never have gone through with it. I need help. His mobile phone contained five category A images - the most serious - one category B and six category C.

He continued to claim he had no sexual interest in children. Mitigating, Celine Kart told the court: He desisted from attending those meet-ups. He made several excuses. He backed out of them.

He is incredibly remorseful. Its clear he is ashamed. To be blunt, he hates what he did and hates himself. He is not afraid to address his offending behaviour. Its a complex journey he is embarking on.

Judge Andrew Stubbs KC took into account his remorse, his lack of previous convictions, and that he backed out of the meetings. But he jailed him for five years, gave him a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and put him on the sex offender register for life.

Description

A MAN has been jailed after having sex with a young girl, having lied to her about his age.

Luke Gillard, of Cornist Lane in Flint, appeared for sentence at Mold Crown Court on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old, who appeared via video from HMP Berwyn, had previously admitted two offences of penetrative sexual activity with a child and one of sexual activity with a child.

Anna Price, prosecuting, told the court Gillard's offending involved him having sex with, and sexually touching, a young girl - having known her age and lied about his own to make himself appear younger than he was.

When interviewed by the police, the defendant relied on a prepared statement in which he denied any sexual contact with the girl and stating he had autism and ADHD.

But he went on to admit the offences at his plea and trial preparation hearing.

In a statement read to the court, the victim said the offences had a big impact on her emotions and quality of life.

"Sometimes I'd blame myself for what happened," she said.

"It would keep me up at night."

Ryan Rothwell, defending, asked the court to give his client appropriate reductions in the sentence bearing in mind his relative youth.

He added: "Clearly, not only does he have psychiatric issues which are labelled, he lacks a significant amount of maturity.

"There are well-founded suspicions of autism and a diagnosis of ADHD."

He said there were concerns about his client's ability to cope in a custodial setting, adding: "It seems the pre-sentence report alludes to potential issues in that respect.

"He's already received abuse in the prison.

"There has been a delay in bringing this matter to court and he had no convictions prior to these offences.

"He has written a letter in which he tried to express an acknowledgement of how [the victim] must feel and elaborates how sorry he is."

Judge Niclas Parry told the defendant: "You understand you're to be sentenced for extremely serious matters.

"It's a significant disparity in age - and you lied about your age, which underlines the fact you knew exactly what you were doing."

Judge Parry told the court that based on expert psychiatric reports, he did not feel the defendant's psychiatric issues had influenced his understanding of the illegality of his behaviour, and would have had a limited bearing on his decision-making.

As such, the Judge handed down an overall sentence of 27 months to be served immediately, in a young offenders' institute.

A restraining order and sexual harm prevention order were imposed for 10 years.

And Gillard was made subject to the notification requirements as a sex offender for the same period of time.

Judge Parry turned to the public gallery at the end, where the victim and her family were present, and stated: "Thank you for the dignity you have shown."

Description

A 23-year-old man has been sent to prison for 18 months for breaching the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) after accessing the internet without permission and installing social media apps.

Between December 2022, and January 2023, Louis Davies engaged in an online conversation with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl. This included exchanging explicit messages and sharing images of a sexual nature.

However, the “teenage girl” was in fact a decoy from an online activist group, and Davies was charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child aged 13-15 to watch/look at an image of a sexual activity and attempt to cause/incite a girl 13-15 to engage in a sexual activity.

Davies, of The Crescent, Flore, was issued with his 10-year SHPO at Northampton Crown Court last year, along with a 16-month prison sentence, which was suspended for 24-months.

The SHPO was issued with certain conditions which he must abide by which included not using any computer or device capable of accessing the internet unless it has capacity to retain and display the browser history as well as notify police within three days of any online usernames.

During a routine visit on April 30 this year, officers from Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO team, which closely manage sexual and violent offenders, arrested Davies after he admitted breaching the conditions of his SHPO.

In his police interview, Davies admitted to installing, deleting, and then reinstalling various social media apps on his phone – including Snapchat, Tinder, and Instagram – on three or four occasions over a two-month period.

Davies was subsequently charged with seven counts of failing to comply with Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirements and one offence of breaching his SHPO.

On May 10, Davies appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court where his case was committed to Northampton Crown Court and on June 21, he pleaded guilty to all charges.

He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, which included 12-months for breaching his suspended sentence – and eight months for the new offences.

Lead investigator, PC Mark Edkins from the Force’s MOSOVO Team, said: “Louis Davies rightly, has very strict notification requirements he is expected to abide by, however, his actions clearly demonstrated a total disregard for the sanctions imposed by the court.

“We take an absolute zero-tolerance approach to situations like this, if a breach is identified, there are no second chances and I hope this case demonstrates how extremely serious we take the management of sex offenders.”

Description

A GREENOCK pervert who sent sexually explicit messages and pictures to so-called paedophile hunters who were posing as young girls online has been spared jail.

A sheriff told George Ahara that he had ‘only just’ decided to impose an alternative to custody for the ‘very concerning’ offences, to which the 52-year-old pleaded guilty earlier this year.

Ahara, who now lives in Newbury, Berkshire, pleaded guilty to three indictment charges and confessed to the crimes after he was snared by online child protection groups.

He admitted sending sexual communications and attempting to communicate indecently with adult decoys whom he believed to be children under the age of 13.

The offences were committed on two occasions in June 2022 at Ahara's then home on Westmorland Road.

Ahara also pleaded guilty to a similar charge concerning what he understood to be a child who had not yet reached the age of 16.

Greenock Sheriff Court heard previously that Ahara had been in contact with a user he knew as ‘Rosie’ online over a week in June 2022.

The profile was actually being run by an adult who was a member of an online child protection group.

Despite having been told in the course of the chat that 'Rosie' was 12 years old, Ahara continued to send sexually explicit messages.

The woman behind the account then went to Ahara’s former address in Larkfield with other members of the group and live-streamed the confrontation on social media.

When challenged, Ahara said: “I was thinking she was an adult.”

A prosecutor told the court: “He acknowledged that he should have stopped talking when he realised the girls were so young.

“Police attended and were informed of the circumstances.”

Ahara was later arrested and charged, making no reply to the allegation, and a search warrant was granted for his home.

A black mobile phone was seized from the property, with the device's number corresponding with that which was shared with 'Rosie' in the online chat.

Then, on June 6 and 7, 2022, Ahara contacted an online dating profile belonging to ‘Darcy’, which was being run by an adult member of another online child protection group.

The messages sent were ‘immediately explicit’, with 'Darcy' then stating that she was 12 years old.

Ahara continued sending sexual messages and encouraged 'Darcy' to send a selfie, to which she replied with a photoshopped image of a female aged around 12.

The court heard that Ahara later sent a sexually explicit image ‘without warning or prompting’.

On June 18, 2022, the woman running the 'Darcy' account was on Facebook when she saw that another group had attended Ahara’s home.

She subsequently contacted police and provided screenshots of her conversation with him.

Ahara also admitted being in contact with a third profile belonging to someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl.

The account had been created by a member of a child protection group who went by the name of 'Freya'.

During the conversation, 'Freya' stated her age, to which Ahara replied: “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. I thought you were a woman.”

The court heard that he continued to be sexually explicit, despite her age having been disclosed to him.

After his arrest, Ahara provided a ‘no comment’ police interview in the presence of his solicitor.

Sheriff James Varney, who previously described Ahara’s behaviour as ‘appalling’ and ‘shameful’, told the first offender last week: “The nature of the communications was very concerning to listen to.

“The bottom line was that you ought never to have communicated with people you thought to be underage.”

Ahara will be supervised by criminal justice social workers for three years, and must complete 200 hours of unpaid work within 12 months as a direct alternative to custody.

He was put on the sex offenders register for three years.

Description

A man who subjected a young teenage girl to a campaign of sexual, physical and mental abuse before going on to rape a woman has been given a 19-year prison sentence.

Ben Tate, aged 21, of St Wilfrids Avenue, Harehills, was convicted of two counts of rape, involving multiple occasions between 2017 and 2020, and a further count of coercive and controlling behaviour, all in relation to one victim.

He was also convicted of a count of rape in relation to the second victim over an in incident in 2021.

The first victim initially told a social worker about the abuse in 2020. Police were notified but she did not feel able to support a prosecution at the time.

When the second victim contacted police in 2022 to report being raped by Tate, the first victim also agreed to support a prosecution.

Both victims were spoken to by specialist officers from Leeds District Safeguarding Unit and provided detailed video recorded interviews detailing Tates offending against them.

Each disclosed how he had attacked them while they slept and had sex with them without their consent.

The first victim also described how Tate would pin her down, assault her and strangle her while ignoring her pleas for him to stop.

He repeatedly manipulated her, making threats to kill himself and took advantage of her financially.

Officers gathered extensive statements from the victims friends and family, as well as obtaining digital evidence of the messages Tate had sent to the victims.

They were supported throughout the investigation by safeguarding officers and independent sexual violence advocates.

He was convicted following a trial at Leeds Crown Court, where the victims were able to give their evidence under special measures, which allowed their cross examinations to be pre-recorded.

Tate was given a 19-year sentence and will be on the sex offenders register for life. Both victims were also granted life-long restraining orders against him.

Description

A man has been jailed for nine years for attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence, causing the sexual exploitation of children, and making and distributing indecent photographs of children.

Luke Cowling, 27, of Tavistock Road, Launceston, appeared at Truro Crown Court on Friday 23 August for sentence having previously pleaded guilty to distribution of indecent photographs of a child, making indecent photographs of children, attempting to arrange/facilitate the sexual abuse of children and causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of children.

Cowling was made subject of a 20 year sexual harm prevention order and must sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

Cowling’s offending came to light after Devon and Cornwall Police received intelligence from the National Crime Agency (NCA) in August 2021, stating that a KiK account linked to Cowling had uploaded a Category A indecent video of a child to the internet.

In addition to NCA referral, Devon and Cornwall Police was contacted by the Metropolitan Regional Organised Crime Unit after Cowling engaged online with an adult profile expressing a sexual interest in children. During this conversation Cowling discussed meeting the profile to rape the person’s seven-year-old daughter. The profile was being operated by an undercover officer.

As a result of the information provided to Devon and Cornwall Police, a search warrant was executed at Cowling’s home and a variety of devices seized.

Examination of the devices revealed that Cowling had been in communication with a convicted paedophile in Merseyside who has since been jailed.

The two exchanged tens of thousands of messages with Cowling directing the other man photograph and video abuse of his adopted children and send it to him.

Cowling and the other paedophile exchanged various child abuse images and videos with Cowling even getting the other man to produce a contract acknowledging that he was a paedophile and that Cowling was his master. Cowling was also found to have distributed child abuse images to other online users.

During interview Cowling admitted having a sexual interest in children.

Officer in the case Sophie House said: “This was a complex police investigation which incorporated work from both the D&C Paedophile Online Investigation Team, The Merseyside Paedophile Online Investigation Team, the National Crime Agency, and the Metropolitan Regional Organised Crime Unit. 

“We welcome today’s sentence and hope this conviction serves as a stark warning to those with an unlawfully blurred view of consent and the wider implications of child sexual abuse material. Cowling and the other individual’s relationship was a true meeting of wicked minds, in addition to Cowling’s entrenched sexual interest in child sexual abuse material. 

Description

A paedophile who hid behind fake personas in twisted online chats to encourage a teenage girl to send him indecent photos and engage in sex acts ended up losing his marriage and friends.

Canterbury Crown Court heard Andrew Rickards initially posed as a 14-year-old girl with the username 'Amybum' to engage with the victim in January 2022.

Under that guise of being 'Amy from Ashford', the pervert then introduced his second false identity - that of a man of varying ages called 'James' - into his depraved communications.

Having told the 13-year-old that 'James' was 36 and would be "driven crazy" by her, 'Amy' handed over his online account details for the social media platform, Discord.

The younger girl then contacted him, resulting in Rickards, who this time said he was 28 and kept details of his address limited to 'in Kent', indulging in what were described as "sustained and persistent" sexualised conversations over the course of several days.

Undeterred by her age, these included him asking for photos of the victim wearing her school uniform and lifting up her top to reveal her bra, as well as inviting her to join him in bed and be "little spoon".

He also described himself as a "sexual dominant turned on by cute, little girls", the court was told.

Prosecutor Kieran Brand explained how at one stage Rickards posed as both 'Amy' and 'James' in the same online chat, asking if the girl was prepared "to do stuff" and have threesomes with them.

There was even talk of taking her shopping at Ann Summers to buy sex toys.

But the court heard the victim was also hiding her true identity - that of an undercover officer - and with the usernames traced to his home, Rickards was arrested in April that year.

Police seized several devices, including a phone and laptop, on which they found indecent images of children, extreme pornography, and other conversations in which he had used the 'Amybum' profile, claiming to be 14 and to have had sex with both men and children.

Rickards, 39, of Arden Drive, Ashford, later admitted two offences of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, two of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, six charges of publishing an obscene article and one of possessing an extreme pornograhic image.

He also admitted three charges of making indecent images of a child in respect of 105 stills and 25 moving clips, and depicting abuse across all three categories of seriousness.

James Burke, defending, told the sentencing hearing on Friday, August 23 that as a result of his offending, Rickards had "lost his marriage and lost his friends".

But his assertion that the defendant's "paedophilic interest" was linked to his poor mental health was rejected by Judge Simon Taylor KC.

"It may be convenient for the defendant to identify that link and may assist him in coming to terms with his offending, but on the evidence available before me there is no link whatsoever," he said.

He also dismissed any suggestion that Rickards could not recall his offending, and said any anxiety he was experiencing was "a consequence of being caught".

Jailing him for a total of two years and 10 months, Judge Taylor said the use of two different personas demonstrated "sophisticated and highly manipulative" offending.

Rickards, who had sat in the dock shaking throughout much of the hearing, mouthed the word 'sorry' to his father, who had attended court in support, as he was led away to start his prison sentence.

On release, he will be subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Description

A convicted sex offender has been jailed again after breaching a court order by approaching children in a Maidstone library.

Russell Hogg ignored a raft of measures, which strictly prohibited his access to anyone under 16, and started conversations with groups of children in school uniform.

Hogg was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) in January 2018, after he was sentenced to prison for making and possessing child sex abuse images.

The order contained several restrictions designed to safeguard children, for when Hogg was granted parole. These included a ban on any unsupervised contact or communication with a child, as well as limitations around his use of the internet.

Approached and stared

On 24 April 2023, Hogg attended Maidstone Library, where a group of school children were sitting at a table and studying. He tried to engage them in conversation, stared at them for long periods and shouted towards the group as he was sat at a computer terminal.

Hogg revisited the library over the following weeks and on 12 May approached the same group of children. He asked ‘is this a social meet up or a study meet up?’ and loitered at their table.

Hogg, 64, of Middle Row, Maidstone was arrested on the same day and later charged with breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Appearing before Maidstone Crown Court, he pleaded guilty and admitted further charges which included failing to comply with notification requirements and possessing and making indecent images of children.

Disturbing desires

On Tuesday 20 August, Judge Robert Lazarus sentenced Hogg to two years and 10 months’ imprisonment, describing him as ‘a committed paedophile’. 

Upon his release from custody, he will be subject to a revised SHPO with further restrictions.

Description

A man who sexually abused a young girl and used social media to sexually exploit another child has been jailed.

Lewis Green, aged 22, was first reported to police in August 2022, after a seven-year-old girl told her mother that from March of that year he had repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

Northamptonshire Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) began an investigation into Green’s behaviour and he was later charged with two counts of sexual assault of a girl under 13 by touching and two counts of being an adult engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl under 13.

He was awaiting trial on these matters when, in February this year, the Force received another report about him after a parent who knew Green found more than 200 messages from him on their nine-year-old child’s Facebook Messenger account.

The two investigations were brought together, and Green went on to be further charged with engaging in sexual communication with a child and causing/inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration.

Green, of Staverton Road, Daventry, admitted all the charges at a crown court hearing on March 6, having also admitted one count of breach of bail conditions before magistrates on February 21, in relation to the 2022 investigation.

He was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing which took place at Northampton Crown Court on August 9.

There, Green was sentenced to a total of 27 months’ imprisonment and placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which bans him from living with, contacting or communicating with any females under the age of 16, and from using any internet-enabled device without notifying his offender management team and complying with strict inspection and usage rules.

Speaking afterwards, CAIU’s joint investigators Detective Constable Emily Faulkner and Detective Constable James Wright, said: “Lewis Green is a serial offender with a history of sexual abuse against young people.

“He knew the ages of the children he abused yet continued to groom and coerce them into sexual activity to satisfy his own desires.

“Green showed a complete lack of regard for the victims themselves and the bail conditions that he was meant to be adhering to which banned him from any contact with anyone under 18. This for us points towards someone who simply doesn’t care about anyone other than himself and, as noted by the judge, the sexual gratification that he was clearly gaining from his offending.

“Only when the evidence against him was overwhelming did Green enter guilty pleas to all counts. He has however only ever felt sorry for himself and nobody else and has shown little remorse.

“Both children were deeply affected by Green’s offending and the knock-on effect to their families and the breach of trust involved was very upsetting.

“We welcome Green’s custodial sentence, as hopefully this will give him time to reflect on what he has done to these poor children. He will be closely monitored by a specialist sex offender team when he is released, making it very hard for him to offend again, but for us, he will always remain a threat to children.

“As OICs, we would like to thank both families for the way they have dealt with matters, and for the support they have offered their children through what has been a very difficult time.

“Moreso the children, who from the beginning had the strength and bravery to talk about what Green did. This shows just how strong they are, and they should be commended for their bravery.

“Northamptonshire Police takes any form of abuse against children very seriously and we will always seek the strongest penalties against offenders.”

Description

A CAMERA-SHY sex offender from Ayr who was caught with more than 1,750 sick photos and videos of children as young as four being abused has dodged a jail term.

Kieran Brown hid the horrific images across various digital devices at his address in Churchill Towers on South Harbour Street.

Brown hid his face from the Advertiser's photographer when he turned up at the town's sheriff court to be sentenced.

The 24-year-old had pleaded guilty to charges of possessing, and making copies of, the indecent images over a period of 18 months.

The court heard officers recovered 28 hours of vile video footage, including children aged four to 16 being abused.

The haul included more than 400 videos classed by police as being at ‘category A’ level – the most serious type.

Brown, who amassed the disgusting images between September 2021 and February 2023, was added to the sex offenders register after submitting his guilty pleas in July.

A judge said Brown knew what he was doing was wrong - and also thought he knew how to "hide his tracks".

A not guilty plea to a further charge of possessing extreme pornography involving animals was accepted by prosecutors.

The procurator fiscal depute said: "The accused appeared on an undertaking [to attend court] on March 13, 2023. He entered no plea and the case was continued for further examination. Bail was granted with special conditions.

"An investigation identified access to indecent images of children at the address of the accused. A search warrant was granted, and on February 16 police attended the locus and his brother attended at the door.

"The accused was traced in the bedroom and police carried out a search. 

"Various electronic devices were seized: two mobiles, a laptop, a Kindle, a computer tower and a hard drive.

"A cyber crime examination revealed indecent images were confirmed to be present on the Kindle and laptop.

"The accused was arrested and conveyed to Ayr police office. He made no comment during interview and was released on an undertaking.

"A total of 1,757 moving and still images were recovered from the devices. 

"In the hard drive, none of the images were readily accessible to users, and were deleted prior to its being examined. 

"In total, 429 accessible still images, 573 accessible moving images, 621 inaccessible still images, and 134 inaccessible moving images were found. The total run time was around 28 hours.

"In relation to categories, in category A there were 43 accessible images and 183 inaccessible, along with 407 accessible videos and 80 inaccessible.

"In category B there were 39 accessible images and 96 inaccessible; 75 accessible videos and 20 inaccessible.

"In category C, police found 347 accessible images and 243 inaccessible, along with 91 accessible videos and 34 inaccessible.

"The material in each category included children aged four to 16 being sexually exploited. 

"The Kick Messenger personal online chat app allows a high level of anonymity in chat conversations, and file sharing was found on the Kindle.

"The accused was signed in and images had been received. There were no signs of images being shared by the accused.”

The fiscal said a variety of apps had been used by Brown to attempt to clean up his devices but that police had still found “relevant material” during their search.

The prosecutor asked for a ‘sexual harm prevention order’ to be imposed on Brown.

Defence solicitor Colin McLaughlin said: “There is a very detailed social work report and there are no cases outstanding.  

“He continues to have family support. His father is here supporting him. His parents are no longer together, and he is living in a property owned by his father  

“He tendered his resignation on Friday, regardless of the outcome.” 

Sheriff Desmond Leslie said: “Going by the Crown’s narrative it is quite clear your are extremely adept at using digital apparatus, electronic apparatus, and computers. 

“To have used such knowledge to cover your tracks, you did know what you were doing. 

“You knew what you were doing was wrong.  I’m satisfied the social worker, who is a seasoned observer of behaviour, is satisfied you have shown remorse. 

“This level of abuse will not under any circumstances be tolerated, and people do go to jail for this. 

“This is not a victimless crime. The victims were those poor children being subjected to whatever behaviour in the images, moving and still. I don’t know the impact on these victims.” 

However he added: “I can deal with this through a non-custodial community payback order.” 

Brown was placed under social work supervision for three years, and was ordered to take part in the Moving Forward Making Changes programme, which aims to address the behaviour of sex offenders. 

He will remain on the sex offenders register throughout the three years of the order.

The Crown's request for a sexual harm prevention order was granted and will strictly limit his access to the internet.

Brown's face was shielded by his father from the Advertiser's photographer as he entered the court building.

Afterwards a masked and hooded man left the building with his face fully covered, running the full distance along the Low Green to get away.