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A Southam father has avoided jail after pleading guilty to possessing 385 indecent images of children, with some as young as five.

Christopher Brown, 28, of Ploughman’s Holt, Southam, was caught after an exchange of texts with a 14-year-old girl led to the police discovering hundreds of indecent images of girls on his phone.

But despite a conviction last year for exposing himself while shouting at women passing his home, Brown was sentenced to 12 months in prison suspended for two years after his guilty plea to three charges of possessing indecent images at Warwick Crown Court.

He was also ordered to do 150 hours of unpaid work, to take part in a sex offender programme, and to register as a sex offender for ten years.

Prosecutor Andrew Wallace said that in July last year texts sent to a 14-year-old girl were traced to Brown’s phone, which was seized by the police.

Although there was no charge arising from the texts ‘because there was no co-operation,’ a number of indecent images of children were later found on his phone.

The court heard Brown had entered his pleas on the basis that he had not set out to search for the material, but had started receiving it through a social media group which shared adult pornography.

Although Brown said he had only been in the group for about two weeks, Mr Wallace pointed out that the images were ‘still something he has deliberately had to save.’

He added that in January last year Brown was in court for offences of exposure after he stood at the window of his home while shouting at passing women to get their attention.

He was given a 10-week suspended sentence for those offences, and in August was ordered to serve five weeks of that after failing to comply with supervision requirements.

Kate Hatton, defending, said: “He initially went onto the site with the view that he would be able to develop relationships.

“He then ventured into part of the site which contained pornography. He didn’t think at that point that he would be receiving anything other than adult pornography, but he was sent large amounts of material, some of which was child porn.

“He should have had no further involvement, but sadly he did, and he continued to view the material over the course of several weeks.”

Sentencing him, Recorder Kevin Hegarty QC told Brown: “Why you went on to keep those images, albeit for a relatively short period, is not really explained in the pre-sentence report, and you have not as yet faced up to what you interest was in those images.

“One would have thought the fact that you are a father of a young child would have made it plain to you how desperately wicked the creation of these images is.”

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A man has been jailed for 11 years after admitting grooming an 11-year-old girl and making indecent images of children.

Alastair Hodge, 28, of Condor Boulevard, Shortstown, was sentenced at Luton Crown Court today (Thursday) after pleading guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and two separate charges of causing and inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

Hodge was arrested after the victim’s parent discovered messages of a sexual nature sent by him to the child, in which he groomed her and encouraged her to send him indecent images of herself.

Officers from Bedfordshire Police then executed a search warrant at Hodge’s home and seized a number of phones and computer devices. Digital forensics officers carried out examinations on the items and found multiple indecent images of several children.

Investigation Officer Amanda Dickson, from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team (ICAIT), said: “Hodge’s computer devices contained images from the most severe category of child sexual abuse and there is no doubt that he is a dangerous sexual predator, so I am pleased he has received such a lengthy sentence for these sickening crimes.

“He took advantage of a young girl, grooming her via messaging apps and intentionally inciting her to engage in sexual activity, as well as encouraging her to send indecent images of herself to him which he added to his sickening collection.

“Online child sex abuse is not victimless – it causes severe harm to the children involved and is likely to have a lasting impact on them. We absolutely will not tolerate this and we are committed to tackling those responsible and bringing them to justice so that they cannot inflict their abuse on anyone else.”

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A MANIPULATIVE paedophile groomed a teenage girl by giving her cannabis before going on to have sex with her.

Preston Crown Court heard how Sean Devitt, of no fixed address but who formerly lived in Burnley and Blackburn, was already serving a six-year prison sentence for sexual offences involving another under-age girl when the latest charges came to light.

Prosecutor Lisa Worsley said the teenage victim, who was at that point in a relationship with Devitt, saw footage on his SD card of a child getting undressed and realised she was a victim of abuse herself.

Miss Worsley said the grooming started when Devitt, now 34, would give the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, cannabis.

The court heard that on one occasion after they had both smoked cannabis the pair kissed.

The following week a full sexual relationship started despite Devitt being 26-years-old and knowing his victim was a lot younger.

Miss Worsley said Devitt would meet the girl after school and walk her to a furniture store where they would occasionally have sex upstairs.

The court heard the victims mother became suspicious of the relationship which resulted in constant arguments that eventually forced the victim to move out of her family home.

Miss Worsley said that on one occasion Devitt filmed himself having sex with the girl, with her consent, and that the relationship had briefly ended when she discovered he had a sexually transmitted disease.

The relationship did eventually come to an end when the victim found the video of the child.

Miss Worsley said at that point Devitt phoned his mother from prison and attempted to get her to threaten the victim if she didnt withdraw her complaints to the police.

In a victim impact statement read out by Miss Worsley the victim spoke of how Devitt had ruined her life.

Miss Worsley said: She says Sean Devitt controlled her. He cut her off from her family.

She regards him as clever and someone who manipulated what she did.

She finds it really difficult to trust people now, particularly men. She feels like theyre all paedophiles and is concerned she wont ever have a relationship.

Devitt pleaded guilty to 13 counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child and one of making phone call from prison with intent to pervert the course of justice.

Defending Simon Gurney said his client realised the impact his offending has had on his victim.

Describing Devitts offending as serious Judge Andrew Woolman imposed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and banned him from contacting the victim.

He was jailed for five years at a hearing yesterday.

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A Moray man has admitted sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl while she tried to sleep.

The teenager lay motionless on a sofa while Stephen Gwilliam carried out the attack.

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A rape victim has said her "dreams disappeared" after being violently attacked and raped in Guildford in October.

On Friday (May 19), Avan Mogridge, of Church Street in Stamford, was sentenced to 18 years for raping and threatening to kill an 18-year-old woman in Guildford in October 2016.

Mogridge dragged the victim to a woodland copse where he raped, sexually assaulted and threatened to kill her.

He was sentenced to 18 years behind bars, 14 of which custodial with four years on licence.

In a statement read out in court, the victim spoke of the impact the violent attack has had on her life.

The victim said the day she was raped changed her life so much that she is now scared to leave her home, does not sleep and is frightened for her future.

The statement said: I used to be a bubbly and confident girl and enthusiastic about life and living it.

I had dreams for my future and dreams to achieve my dreams.

"I am now traumatised, scared, drained and frightened. What sort of life is this? Its not. Its an existence.

I havent been able to work and I loved my job.

I used to love my life, my friends and family, my work, my independence, my hopes and dreams.

But all that changed. One day in October, because of one person.

My life turned upside down and my dreams disappeared.

Following the sentencing of Mogridge, Detective Constable Tim Faltermeyer said: I hope that the victim can somehow find the strength to get on with the rest of her life knowing that justice has been served.

This was a horrifying and traumatising hour-long attack on an innocent young woman and I would like to commend her for the sheer bravery she has shown throughout the court process.

I would also like to thank the couple who witnessed and intervened and called police that morning, without them who knows how long the attack could have lasted.

I hope this reassures anybody who may have been a victim of sexual assault or rape that we take reports extremely seriously and specialist officers will always investigate fully and sensitively.

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A paedophile has been handed a two-year jail sentence for grooming a girl he believed was 12.

Craig Hall, of High Road in Sandy, was jailed at Luton Crown Court yesterday after being found guilty of three counts of attempting to incite a child under the age of 13 to engage in a sexual act.

The pervert struck up an online conversation with someone he believed to be 12 years old, and sent her sexually explicit messages as well as trying to persuade her to carry out a sexual act on him in exchange for money.

But Hall was shocked to find he was being duped and was in fact talking to a 17-year-old teenager – who reported him to Bedfordshire Police.

Investigating officer Nicky Owen, from the Internet Child Abuse Investigation Team at the force, said: “Hall believed she was only 12 years old, and thinking she was of such a young age spurred him on even more in his attempts to engage in sexual activity.

“Behaviour such as this is completely unacceptable and it’s only right and proper that we thoroughly investigate sexual predators such as Hall, in order to ensure that they are made to pay the price for their actions.”

The convicted paedophile has also been placed on the Sex Offender Register for 10 years and has received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

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A SCOUT leader has been jailed for four years after committing sex offences involving two schoolgirls, in one case at a Scout camp.

Sentencing Peter Gavin at Leeds Crown Court yesterday, Judge James Spencer QC said he had undergone the relevant safeguarding training to be in his position of trust with the Scout group concerned and therefore knew it was wrong to take advantage of their naivety.

“You knew as well as anybody else it was illegal to do what you did and I am quite sure you only did it for your own sexual gratification.”

Mark McKone, prosecuting, said in early 2015 the girls began to have online contact with Gavin, and there came a point when he realised who he was in contact with and continued to speak to them privately.

An “online relationship” then developed between him and one of the girls, although she was only 14 at the time. He told police later he realised she had a “crush” on him.

During the course of this contact they discussed sex and the defendant sent her an indecent picture of himself and she sent him some pictures of her naked breasts, said Mr McKone.

She described a break-up between them prior to a Scout camp in May last year where Gavin, 24, committed offences involving the second girl.

The second girl was also only 14 and he persuaded her to meet him late one night at a toilet block that he knew could be locked from the inside.

Once he had locked them in he kissed her, undressed her, touched her sexually and persuaded her to perform a sex act on him before they returned to their respective tents.

Mr McKone said it was clear from what Gavin later said in police interview that he knew that girl was upset by what had happened in their sexual encounter because he accepted he had apologised to her.

John Ozyer, representing Gavin, said texts between him and the second girl showed he had apologised more than once for what had happened that night.

“He accepts he was in a position of trust and clearly abused that trust.”

Since then he had voluntarily attended the Safer Lives programme.

Gavin, of Chats Wood Fold, Oakenshaw, Bradford, admitted one offence of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and two of sexual activity with a child and was ordered to register as a sex offender for life.

Judge Spencer said there had to be a jail sentence since he had encouraged the first girl to secretly have an “online” relationship with him rather than steer her away from such contact, then when that was petering out he had groomed the second girl and taken advantage of her.

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A SEXUAL predator pictured holding a new-born baby in his arms is back behind bars after failing to tell the tot's mum of his previous convictions.

Curtis Ferguson, who had recently met the baby's mother, spent three years in prison after preying on children in Warminster, where he lived, while still a teenager.

Shortly after his release from prison in July 2016, the former St Augustine’s Catholic College pupil moved to Windsor Road in Bournemouth.

He then met the young mum, who was heavily pregnant.

She gave birth to a son in August.

A court heard Ferguson, now 26, then started visiting her home almost daily, sometimes letting himself in and even picking up the baby without permission.

Over the course of several months, the defendant became so well-known to the new mum that she considered asking him to babysit for her.

However, in February of this year, she learned of the defendant's previous convictions after a friend shared a news story about him on Facebook.

Ferguson admitted two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

Prosecuting at Bournemouth Crown Court, Stuart Ellacott said Ferguson had described the baby as "good-looking" and "beautiful".

In 2009, Ferguson admitted sexually assaulting a female child under 13 and causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

He was sentenced to a community order.

Four years later, in July 2013, Ferguson was convicted of two counts of sexual activity with a male under the age of 16 and five counts of inciting a male under 16 to engage in sexual activity.

All charges relate to one victim, a boy abused by the defendant as part of a 'dares' game. Two years after the abuse, Ferguson allegedly made "threats of blackmail" and assaulted the same child again.

He was sentenced to three years in prison and served the full sentence after breaching a notification requirement when he was released midway through the term.

Mitigating for Ferguson, Robert Grey said the defendant could only be sentenced for breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order.

Ferguson rejected a suggestion made in a pre-sentence report that he "may have been grooming this child", Mr Grey added.

Sentencing Ferguson to 16 months in prison, Judge Jonathan Fuller QC told the defendant: "You were never left alone with her son but you were no doubt moving towards that position because you were ingratiating yourself and friendship with the family was increasing."

Judge Fuller said Ferguson is "still a young man", but is "heavily convicted for sexual offending".

"Offending in this case was deliberate and it was over a prolonged period of time," he said.

"I do not sentence you on the basis you were grooming the child, but you were opening yourself to the possibility of access to a young and vulnerable child.

"As the author of your pre-sentence report makes clear, your sexual predilections are wide-ranging and you are in the highest category for risk both in terms of reoffending and of causing harm to children."

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The mother of a girl who was raped when she was just 12 after she was groomed online by a Derbyshire paedophile is warning parents to make sure they know what children get up to on the internet.

The 42-year-old mum has issued the warning after Jordan Richards, formerly of Walton Street, Long Eaton, was jailed for two years for rape and sexual activity with a child.

The pervert, now 21, had pleaded guilty to rape and not guilty to the other charge of sexual activity with a child but was convicted by a jury following a trial at Nottingham Crown Court in February.

On two separate occasions, in 2013, Richards befriended two young girls aged 12 and 13 on Facebook and, after some months of messaging, arranged to meet up with them which is when the sexual activity took place.

The mother of the girl who was raped now wants to raise awareness of what happened to her daughter.

She said: I didnt have any suspicions that my girl was up to anything out of the ordinary online. She would chat to boys but everything seemed quite child-like and innocent she didnt seem secretive about it at all.

During the trial, the court heard how Richards had claimed that he thought the 13-year-old girl was older but the messages read out showed that he was aware of her true age.

The court was also told how he had sent suggestive and flattering Facebook messages to the girls. The mother of the 12-year-old said, when she found out the extent of what had happened to her daughter, she was devastated.

She said: To think that he had taken our innocent little girl, taken advantage of her naivety and age with the messages he sent, then arranged to meet up and raped her is absolutely disgusting. She was obviously going to look up to him because he was an older boy.

She didnt know what he had in mind, he should have known better.

Richards will now have to sign the Sex Offender Register for 10 years and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which limits his internet activity and contact with girls under the age of 16. These include having unsupervised contact with a girl under 16, using the internet to contact a girl under 16 and deleting internet history.

The mum said the family has been through a lot over the past four years but this made it all worthwhile.

She added: Im glad that Richards received a custodial sentence in the first instance because hopefully thatll make him realise the seriousness of what hes done. But the fact that hes got these prohibitions against him means that when he does come out of jail, he wont be able to target other girls in this way.

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A Cambridge University poetry professor who had more than 2,000 child abuse images - including one of a baby - has walked free from court.

Professor Simon Jarvis, 53, was found with the vile images on various computers and in online accounts when his city home and college room were raided by the National Crime Agency in September, but a judge said he posed a 'low risk' to children.

Of the almost 2,000 indecent images found, 45 were in the most serious Category A. 

The 53-year-old was found with the vile images on various computers and in online accounts
Yahoo chat logs containing 'extremely graphic' child abuse fantasies and software allowing access to the Dark Web were also found on some of the four computers seized, the court heard.

Other images shows 'pubescent and pre-pubescent' girls as young as 10 being sexually abused, and one of a baby.

He also posed pictures at the lower category C on a page on the Tumblr microblogging website under a pseudonym, the court heard. 

Dressed in a smart grey suit the Gorley Putt Professor of Poetry broke down in tears as he heard his crimes being recounted at Cambridge Crown Court.

Jarvis pleaded guilty to four charges of making and two of distributing indecent images of children, five charges of possessing prohibited images and one of possessing extreme pornography, at Friday's hearing.

Jarvis, 53, was found with the vile images on various computers and in online accounts when his city home and college room were raided

Sentencing him, Judge David Farrell QC said: 'You are an intelligent man, a professor of English literature at the University of Cambridge.

'As such, in my judgment, you must have know that by accessing and viewing indecent images of children you were indirectly encouraging the abuse of children.

'You were looking at these images for your own perverted sexual gratification.'

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