Latest Offenders

Description

A courageous woman who was subjected to a torrent of sickening sexual abuse between the ages of 7 and 15 at the hands of a former Army corporal has spoken of the torment of having to carry a secret that ate away at her for decades.

Spontaneous applause broke out around courtroom one at Truro Crown Court on Wednesday (March 14) after Judge Robert Linford jailed Kosovan war veteran Martin Rowe for 11 years.

The sentence will begin to run once the peadophile completes an existing eight-year sentenced handed to him at Swindon Crown Court for abusing a seven-year-old girl and taking pictures of the acts on his mobile phone.

The Truro courtroom was packed with the victims friends and family and she has since welcomed the sentence, saying it allowed her to finally open a new chapter in her life.

Rowe, formerly of Bodmin, previous admitting charges of rape, three indecent assaults and indecent activity with a child in the 1980s and 1990s.

The victim, who is guaranteed anonymity by law, said: I feel relieved I no longer have to carry this secret. This is 100% a new chapter for me and I can move forward and never have to face him again. For the last 20 years I would never know when he would come home (from overseas) and pretend to be my friend to everyone else.

I carried my secret and buried it to the core. It affects your whole life. It is hard and I convinced myself that I never would get justice.

Today was a massive day for me. I can now more forward and know its not eating away at my anymore. I feel a totally different person.

She said she learned to adopt a "hard exterior" and caught Rowe looking at her out of the corner of his eye during the hearing before he quickly looked away.

She added: I had to find the inner strength or else I wouldnt be here today. He abused me for nine years and in my adult life I started drinking heavily. Then I vowed that he took my childhood away so I had to deal with it so he wouldnt take any more of my life away.

Im hoping others will now come forward, not just with him but anyone who has been in that situation. These sick men need locking up.

During the sentencing hearing prosecutor Heather Hope told the court the chilling details of Rowes crimes.

She described how the abuse started when Rowe, now 45, was 14 or 15 and continued over an extended period of time.

Miss Hope explained how on one occasion Rowe put his hand in her underwear and touched her vagina.

Miss Hope said: It amounted to grooming behavior and he manipulated her making her think that she was special, saying that if she was to say anything she wouldnt be believed. She became introverted and shy as a result of the abuse.

The victim is said to have frozen when the defendant approached her and tried to have sex with her.

When he was 16 Rowe joined the Army, giving the defendant temporary respite, but he returned following training, telling her that he loved her and wanted to have sex with her.

The most serious count admitted by Rowe was a rape when he was in his twenties and the defendant was a underage, Miss Hope saying he coerced her into sex as she lay there rigid hating every minute.

Rowe told the girl the sexual activity must remain a secret. Further sexual activity included when he made her masturbate him and perform oral sex on him.

It wasnt until many years later, when the victim found out he was being prosecuted for other sex crimes against children, that she went to the police.

Defending Rowe, Deni Matthews, said he entered his guilty plea at the earliest opportunity, preventing the victim from having to give evidence, and that he was a teenager when the abuse started.

Mr Matthews said: For 24 years her served with distinction and was a corporal when he left the Army. These crimes have cost him his relationship with his natural children and his wife.

Heavy drinking is a backdrop in his life and he has been struck low and taken to the bottom by his offending. He understands what he did.

Sentencing Rowe, Judge Linford said: You groomed, manipulated and told the victim that she was special and that if she ever said anything she wouldnt be believed.

When you joined the Army she got some respite but when you returned you raped her and coerced her into sex even though it wasnt what she wanted. You told her you loved her and that you wanted to marry her.

You have a highly relevant conviction which proves this was not an isolated set of offending and you have demonstrated that you had and still have deviant peadophile tendencies.

You have now lost everything and cut a sad and isolated figure. None of your family want anything to do with you.

The victim personal statement describes how the victim went from being a happy, confident girl to someone who suffers flashbacks and has had problems forming happy relationships and trusting men. She says you stole her innocence.

The victims family and friends applauded Judge Linfords lengthy sentence before embracing tearfully outside the courtroom.

Description

A "callous" man has been jailed for 10 years after he kidnapped and raped a woman he met on a night out in Headingley.

Ross Waterhouse is said to have been 'completely predatory' and shown 'no remorse' after he took the woman back to a flat and raped her when she was extremely drunk.

The 24-year-old, of Manor Park in Scarcroft, was sentenced after he was convicted of rape and kidnapping at Leeds Crown Court on Tuesday, March 13.

The jury heard how Mr Waterhouse and another man went to The Shed Bar with the victim and her friend in November 2016, after the four of them met at a pub in Headingley.

The women started to feel 'uneasy' in the company of the two men and asked a bouncer to let them leave via a back door, but Mr Waterhouse then ran into the victim outside a McDonald's restaurant in the early hours of the morning.

When summing up the evidence, Recorder Bryan Cox said Mr Waterhouse decided to offer the victim a lift home when she was 'extremely drunk' and 'in no fit state to get herself home, let alone consent to sexual intercourse'.

Mr Waterhouse drove her to another man's flat, after ignoring her friend's attempts to get her out of his car, and proceeded to rape her.

Recorder Cox said the woman had suffered 'substantial psychological harm and some physical harm' as a result of the attack.

When sentencing the defendant, he said: "You were determined to exploit her vulnerability. You took her to your friend's flat and raped her."

"Your attitude that night was exceedingly callous. You had no regard of (the victim's) feelings at all.

"You targeted her for sex, that was clear from the evidence I have heard.

"You have shown no remorse and sought to lie your way out of this predicament, during this trial."

The judge also said there was 'significant planning' before the attack and noted that Mr Waterhouse has previous convictions for drink driving and drunk and disorderly.

He said: "While you do not have convictions for sexual offences, you do have convictions which suggest you have a tendency to drink to excess and break the law when you do so."

He was sentenced to 10 years for rape and four years for kidnapping, but the sentences will run concurrently.

During the hearing, Soheil Khan, prosecuting, read passages of a victim impact statement the woman gave to police in March 2017.

She told police that she was afraid to leave the house, unable to work and forced to take various medications for diseases such as HIV and hepatitis as she was concerned that she may have contracted a sexually transmitted infection.

She also told police she could 'not stop thinking about it and reliving it every night' and said the anxiety caused by the attack was putting a strain on her relationship with her family.

"Sometimes I feel like our once happy family is falling apart. This gets me down and it feels like a never ending cycle of stress, worrying and upset," she said, "It's a very dark feeling over my head and I hate it."

"Waterhouse’s behaviour that night was completely predatory"

The defence disputed the prosecution's claim that the victim did not have the capacity to consent because she was so drunk, adding that there was no significant planning involved and also that the defendant had already served 77 days on remand.

After the trial, detective inspector Phil Jackson said West Yorkshire Police "we hope that convictions such as this one will help to give victims (of sexual offences) the confidence to come forward.”

He added: “Waterhouse’s behaviour that night was completely predatory. He preyed on the victim when she was in a vulnerable state and abducted her and raped her for his own sexual gratification.

“The victim has been left very badly traumatised by what he did and we hope the significant prison sentence he has received will provide some reassurance to her."

Description

A MAN has been handed a six-year prison sentence for engaging in sexual activity with a teenage girl.

Billy Charles Ward, 28, was sentenced at Carlisle Crown Court today for offending against a victim aged in her early teens.

At a previous court hearing Ward had admitted five charges of sexual activity with a child. He wept in the court dock this afternoon as details of his criminal conduct were outlined.

In a letter outlining the effect of his illegal activity, the victim wrote: "I can't say how I will feel about this in the future. Right now I just want it to be over."

Ward was said by his lawyer to have shown "palpable remorse both for what he has done and the impact he has caused".

Sending him to prison, Judge Barbara Forrester told him he was guilty of "total selfish exploitation" of the girl.

Ward, of Serpentine Road, Kendal, must sign the sex offenders' register and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order - both indefinitely. His case will also be reported to the Independent Safeguarding Authority.

Description

The defendant initially denied doing anything wrong and the case was due to go to trial. But on the morning of the hearing the defendant admitted what he had done.

What you did has had a significant impact on the young girl, said the judge.

You damaged her carefree years.

He said the defendants previous conviction should have been seared in your brain as a deterrent and he still posed a threat to the public.

Kevin Hopper, in mitigation, said it was a completely irrational act but OConnor was the type of person who would benefit from a treatment programme.

Judge Evans said the defendant had previously be given the chance to complete a sex offender course but had left before it was finished.

He said OConnor had underlying perverted attitudes.

The defendant was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order banning him from contact with children under 18.

Description

A PAEDOPHILE carried out a string of attacks on two children while he was being investigated for possessing indecent images.

Timothy Tonks raped a seven-year-old girl over four years and videoed himself carrying out the disturbing assaults.

Police initially arrested Tonks for possessing indecent images of children but after he was released under investigation, officers were shocked to spot the 49-year-old on images on a phone carrying out the acts on the child involved.

During his second interview with police, Tonks new mobile was examined and another seven-year-old boy was found to have been sexually assaulted by Tonks with images once again captured on the device.

Tonks, from Southampton but whose address was given as HMP Bristol, smiled as he was given a life sentence when he appeared at Southampton Crown Court.

Daniel Sawyer, prosecuting, said Tonks had been downloading indecent and extreme pornographic images on to devices at his home in the city in September.

When he was arrested, Tonks told officers he was a paedophile and that they would find more indecent images involving children on his devices.

Mr Sawyer: While carrying out the investigation of Tonks computer for the images, the officer was shocked to recognise the defendant in some of the images.

During the full forensic examination it appeared that many of the images involved the sexual abuse of a child by Tonks.

What was clear from the videos was that Tonks was essentially directing the child and telling her what to do.

Tonks had another interview with officers about what they had found, during which time he answered no comment to all questions and his new phone was seized.

On this device, more images involving Tonks were found this time with the young boy.

The court heard that since the investigation began the images involving the child abuse carried out by Tonks had made their way on to the dark web, although Mr Sawyer said it was unclear who uploaded and distributed them. The court was told Tonks had attempted to kill himself by overdosing as he struggled to deal with the guilt these crimes have caused.

Mitigating, Berenice Mulvanny said: Tonks was glad to be caught. It is a relief to him as he knew it was going to happen.

She added: He is now demonstrating a degree of remorse and is now looking for closure on this.

In sentencing, Judge Christopher Parker QC said deviant Tonks was a danger to small children as a result of the disturbing attacks.

He added that the only way to protect the public was to hand him a life sentence.

The judge added: The girl involved in these crimes was aged between four and seven years old, so was abused just as she was developing her earliest memories.

The damage you have done to her is unending.

Tonks, who pleaded guilty to 29 counts of child sex offences, will serve at least nine years imprisonment before he is eligible for parole.

He will only be released if the parole board believe he no longer poses a threat to children.

Description

A music teacher accused of kissing an under-aged girl after the pair exchanged 'flirty' emails has gone on trial.

Newcastle Crown Court heard married Gareth Parry, embarked on an illegal fling after the youngster blew him a kiss, it is claimed.

The 38-year-old has denied six charges of sexual touching.

His trial heard claims from the girl that they would email up to seven times a day - while also chatting via FaceTime.

And the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, claimed he performed sexual acts on her in his car and during walks.

Afterwards she is said to have wrote a note in her phone saying she felt Disgusted. Hurt. Sick.

The alleged victim is expected to give evidence from behind a screen on the second day, of what is expected to be a five day trial.

The girls testimony was delayed after a frustrating first day plagued by IT problems.

A 2015 police interview with her, filmed months after the alleged incidents, struggled to play during proceedings.

However, in it the alleged victim claimed she was the one who began flirting.

He was just funny - his personality was just amazing, she told Cleveland Police .

Asked why she was attracted to him, she added: His personality and maturity, intelligence, wit and height.

She claimed the pair had banter while admitting she feared his wife finding out.

However, she alleged that banter soon turned intimate, giving a detailed account of what she claimed was their first kiss.

The Crown say Parry seriously exploited the young girl.

But the defendant, of Stonebridge Crescent, in Ingleby Barwick, insists the events simply didnt happen.

The trial continues.

Description

Description

A DISGRACED paedo maths teacher at one of Scotland's top private schools has been jailed for making his own child porn - recording girls as young as nine on webcam chats.

Craig Wood, 52, who worked at Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow, pleaded guilty to three charges of involvement with indecent images of children and was caged for three years.

He was caught with almost 1,000 indecent images of girls between aged nine and 15, created using apps called 'Flashing' and 'Penis Pokey'.

Wood also made videos - some which lasted as long as two hours - in which he exposed himself to girls after watching them perform sex acts.

Among Woods's sordid stash was a 12-minute video of a girl aged between 13 and 15 performing sex acts on herself while "interacting and/or taking direction" from someone on the other end of a web cam.

Last month he admitted making "indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children" at his home in Paisley between August 3, 2014 and February 23, 2017.

He also admitted charges of possessing child porn and forcing children to expose themselves to him.

He has lost his job as a teacher and faces being struck off after being caught with 959 indecent images.

Some of them were at the most extreme end of the scale.

There were so many victims of Wood's horrific online behaviour that prosecutors were unable to say how many children were involved.

A former teacher at £11,000-per-year Hutcheson's, Wood previously worked at Renfrewshire Council-run Paisley Grammar.

He was jailed at Paisley Sheriff Court and placed on the sex offenders register for life.

Wood was slammed by Susan Sinclair, the judge who sentenced him, who said: Over a period of two-and-a-half years you were able to contact females between the age of nine and 15, in the context of some form of web communication.

"In the course of which you have exposed yourself to these children and created videos of this and their participation in it, as a result of information sent by you.

"You used this knowledge to target the groups concerned.

"There is no alternative but to impose a sentence of imprisonment."

Wood showed no emotion when he was led away in handcuffs.

A spokesperson for Hutchesons’ Grammar School said: "A member of staff at the Secondary School was immediately suspended when we became aware of the criminal charges.
"He no longer works at the school having left last year.

"Police Scotland has advised us that our pupils and staff have not been, and are not, at risk.

"All the relevant and required checks were carried out at his time of employment. These were satisfactory."

Description

43-year-old Richard Moore from Newport has been sentenced to 16 months in prison and given a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order after being caught trying to meet who he thought was a 12-year-old girl for sex.

Moore was arrested by Police at Portswood Road, Southampton on 6th January following an online sting by the group 'S.K.I.D Community'.

Decoys pretending to be a 12-year-old girl called India were able to gather evidence that Moore was attempting to meet the child for the purposes of carrying out sexual acts. He is said to have used explicit language and sent nude photographs of himself to 'India' with the aim of going to her aunties' house on the afternoon of 6th January.

Earlier this month Moore pleaded guilty to attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to meet a child following grooming.

Richard James Moore was sentenced to 16 months in prison at Southampton Crown Court this morning (Monday). He was also handed down a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

Description

A TADLEY man has been sentenced to 12 years in jail having admitted to multiple sexual offences against children.

Daren Jones, 48, of Silchester Road, Little London, pleaded guilty to 29 counts of sexual offences during a hearing at Winchester Crown Court last month.

The offences include sexual assaults on two boys under the age of 13 that took place in the Tadley and Reading areas between 2015 and 2017.

Jones was sentenced today at Winchester Crown Court.

The incidents were reported to the police in December 2017, and following an investigation by Hampshire Constabulary, officers tracked down Jones to a hotel in Brighton, Sussex, on Wednesday, 27 December where he was arrested.

The court was told Jones had left the United States in 2008 while on bail, having been charged with serious sexual offences against children.

Jones used the name Simon Jones to live “under the radar” until his arrest, the court heard. 

After the hearing, investigating officer detective constable Sarah Moyce-Phillips, of Hampshire Constabulary’s Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “We hope that today’s sentence provides some form of closure to the victims and their families for what has been an extremely difficult time.

“Once the offences came to light, officers worked tirelessly to make sure Jones was arrested and could be brought to court to face justice for what he did.

“We hope that the sentence given today will give confidence to others who have suffered abuse of this nature.”

Judge Jane Miller sentenced Jones to 12 years in prison, with an extended licence period of five years. He was also made subject of a sexual harm prevention order until further order.

Description

A Twerton man found guilty of a dozen of historical sex offences, including the rape of an underage girl, has been jailed for more than 11 years.

David Matthews, aged 61, of Linley Close, off Poolemead Road, abused two girls on multiple occasions in the 1990s and 2000s, the court heard.

The jury found Matthews guilty of ten counts of indecently assaulting a girl during a six-day trial at Bristol Crown Court in January.

He was also found guilty of the attempted rape of a girl under the age of 16 and guilty of raping a girl aged 13, 14 or 15, by a majority verdict.

Matthews appeared again at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday (February 21) and was sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison.

He was also put on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

The victims, who cannot be named for legal reasons, were aged 11 and 12 when the abuse first started.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Gemma Crew said: Matthews actions have resulted in lifelong consequences for his victims who, more than 20 years on, are still coming to terms with what he did.

Now that he is behind bars for a substantial length of time I hope they feel a sense of justice for the trauma he caused.

Both victims showed tremendous courage in talking to us about their experiences and I hope this conviction will also encourage other victims to report offences to us.

It doesnt matter when the assaults happened, where they took place or who did it well take every report seriously and help provide support."

Description

Description

A former car trader from Torquay has been jailed after being caught by vigilantes trying to meet a 'nine-year-old girl' for sex.

Richard Giles, 24, fell for an online sting by self-styled paedophile hunters, Exeter Crown Court was told.

The girl he thought he had groomed online was actually a decoy created by an adult on behalf of UK Database and did not exist.

Davis was confronted by members of the group after trying to lure the girl to his house.

He claimed he only wanted to play Monopoly with her.

Giles admitted that on December 23 last year he communicated on more than one occasion with who he believed to be a nine-year-old girl and attempted to meet her for sexual activity.

Prosecutor Gordon Richings said the defendant struck up a conversation online with the decoy who told him at the outset that she was just nine years old.

Within a day the conversations turned sexual said the prosecutor.

The defendant referred in explicit sexual terms to the girls body and sent her a photo of a BMW he said he owned.

The defendant suggested the girl meet him at his home address on December 23. He was confronted at the scene by members of the vigilante group.

The group filmed him making confessions and police arrived to arrest him, said the prosecutor.

Police said they found a pair of childs knickers at his address. Giles said they belonged to an adult ex-girlfriend. He said he was not sexually attracted to children and preferred older woman.

Mr Llewellyn Sellick, defending, said Giles had been married before to an older woman and divorced at the age of 19.

At the time of the offence he had been drinking heavily and looking after his blind father.

He had previously had a business trading in cars and had been studying in prison to get better qualifications.

Judge Geoffrey Mercer QC told him: You went to considerable lengths to engage in online conversation with a girl who you thought was nine years old. The conversation turned to a clear sexual element. You had a clear sexual interest in her, although you were told she was nine years old.

You arranged to meet her believing her to be a nine-year-old girl but you undoubtedly believed that she was. You went to meet her and your intentions in meeting her were clearly sexual. You were not concerned, as you suggested, to play Monopoly.

The judge said in some cases it was possible to suspend the sentence but not in this instance.

He was jailed for 18 months.

Giles was told to sign the Sex Offender Register and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for 10 years.

Description

THE owner of a toy company has been jailed after being caught with images of infants being "tortured".

Bournemouth Crown Court heard Ian Buckingham had more than 1,100 images of child abuse in the most serious category, more than 600 of which were videos, on computers seized from his home in Roumelia Lane, Boscombe, in December 2017.

A police forensics officer with some 17 years experience said the images were "the worst he has ever seen in his career", said prosecutor David Reid.

The court heard Buckingham, 40, "hates himself" for what he had done, having started to view the images after the death of his mother in 2016, while self-medicating with drugs.

Mr Reid said: "The sample images show very young children, one particular case cited an infant perhaps no older than 12 months."

He said "in excess of 100" of the most serious images, in category A, "depict young children little more than babies, clearly being tortured and put in pain".

In total Buckingham, who has one previous conviction from 2001 for an unrelated offence, had 1,146 still and moving images in category A, 373 in category B, 3,175 in category C and 95 'extreme pornographic' images depicting bestiality.

He admitted 19 counts of possessing indecent images or extreme pornography.

Buckingham is listed as the director of toy firm Fidget Brothers, which has its registered address at his former flat in Boscombe. The court heard he had "given that flat up" as it was "no longer suitable" and currently had no home address.

In mitigation, Kevin Hill said: "Mr Buckingham says that he hates himself for what he did. He says he wants to get well."

The court heard the defendant had been diagnosed with "mental illness" and "serious migraines" and had "suffered considerable anxiety since these offences, and continues to do so in prison".

Mr Hill said his client "wants a better life for himself" and had taken on three jobs in prison to "make the very best of the time he has".

He said Buckingham plans to study for an art degree on leaving prison.

Sentencing Buckingham to 20 months in prison, Judge Peter Crabtree OBE said his actions had helped to fuel "a vile industry" which would have "a lifelong impact on the children who are subject to abuse and the women, and it is always women, who have to perform vile acts with animals".

Buckingham was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and required to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Description

A HAMPSHIRE teenager has avoided prison after performing a sex act on himself in a video call with a 12-year-old girl.

Winchester Crown Court heard how Lewis Howcroft, 19, had been speaking with the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, over video calling service Skype and had also been searching for illegal material online before being found out by police.

Howcroft, of Northington Down, near Alresford, claimed the victim had asked to see him performing the sex act over Skype, and had initially declined, however this had not been proven.

Howcroft was caught out when the victim’s parents found messages on their daughter’s phone, and then contacted police.

He pleaded guilty to causing a child to watch an image of a person engaging in sexual activity

Prosecuting, Colin Meeke said there was evidence of “highly sexualised” chat logs with the girl.

“What is abundantly clear is he knew how young she was, there is evidence of some grooming.

“He did not seek to deny the matters.”

Mr Meeke added: “It is clear the defendant, over a period of time, made a number of disturbing internet searches.”

Mitigating, Chloe Jay told the court that Howcroft “lacked the emotional maturity of an adult”.

The court also heard a psychological report has been produced on Howcroft’s “mental conditions”.

It said he had already suffered “grave” effects including losing his job, college place and being excluded from social groups, as well as him and his family being “harassed” by paedophile hunters.

Howcroft, who was 18 at the time of the incident in November 2016, was sentenced to a three-year community order, with a 60-day rehabilitation requirement and 100 hours of unpaid work.

Judge Pawson said: “You caused a child to watch a highly sexualised act.

“Whether she did or didn’t ask is neither here nor there, she was 12.

“I have seen and heard about the various searches you made on the internet, some of that is likely to have been down to the curiosity of a teenage person, but some of that goes beyond curiosity.”

Hawcroft was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.