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A gun smuggler who admitted he was a bit of a paedophile has been convicted of importing illegal firearms through the post.

A National Crime Agency probe found that Aaron Bishop, 39, took a delivery of guns with Martin Beard, 38, via the dark web.

A court heard that police searched Bishops house and found child pornography on a USB drive buried in his garden.

Bishop and Beard were convicted of importing firearms but a jury at Birmingham Crown Court cleared them of importing ammunition.

Bishop also admitted possessing indecent images of children and Beard admitted producing cannabis.

Mark Richards, 38, who delivered guns to the pair, was jailed for five years and four months.

Senior investigating officer Dawn Cartwright of NCAs border policing command, said: Richards used Beard and Bishop to accept the guns because he believed they were off law enforcements radar.

It has been a long wait to put these men before the court and we are very pleased with the jurys decision.

We will continue to target and pursue those supplying illegal guns regardless of how long it takes.

Bishop, of Andover Way, Aldershot, was jailed for four years and 10 months and Beard was sent to prison for four years and six months.

Richards, of Cramhurst Lane, Godalming, admitted conspiring to import prohibited Glock handguns and ammunition.

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A paedophile who filmed up the skirt of a child has been jailed for four and a half years.

Philip Goodwin was sentenced on Friday April 21 at Blackfriars Crown Court having pleaded guilty to multiple charges.

Goodwin was spotted filming up a 14-year-old schoolgirl's skirt as she walked up a set of stairs at Moorgate London Underground station in October 2016, by a member of the public.

The commuter reported the incident to station staff, leading to a British Transport Police investigation.

When Goodwin, of Swakeleys Drive, Hillingdon, was arrested and brought in for questioning, he admitted possessing multiple indecent images of children and had further images and videos of him filming up women and schoolgirls skirts.

The footage was mostly taken in public places, the majority of which were on tubes and trains, the police said.

After a forensic examination of the material, he was charged with two counts of outraging public decency, one count of voyeurism and ten counts of possessing or making indecent images of children.

Goodwin has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register and a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order has been imposed.

Investigating officer, DC Andrew Parkinson, said: Goodwin is a predatory offender who will now spend the next four and a half years behind bars for his actions.

"Whilst he was travelling to work one morning, he spotted his victim, a young girl in school uniform, and targeted her.

I welcome todays sentence as it has taken a child sex offender off the streets - I hope this jail sentence brings a level of comfort to his victims.

This result clearly identifies how important it is to report behaviour such as this.

"This member of the public spotted a man who she thought was acting suspiciously and reported him and in doing so she has helped us bring a paedophile to justice.

"If you are ever a victim or a witness to a sexual assault, I would encourage you to report it to us.

"Just texting the details to 61016 you can start us build a picture of a perpetrator.

"Ultimately, this small step could help us catch a criminal.

Siwan Hayward, TfLs head of transport policing, said: This case shows how much every report of unwanted sexual behaviour on Londons public transport matters and helps police build a picture, so they can catch sex offenders like Goodwin and sentence them for their disgusting crimes.

"We do not tolerate unwanted sexual behaviour and I commend the woman who came forward to report what she saw.

"Sexual offending has no place on our network and offenders will be identified and brought to justice."

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TWO men who filmed a video of themselves having sex with a teenage girl that was subsequently put on the internet have been jailed.

William Wright, aged 24, of Andover Green in Bovington, and Connor Hayes, aged 24, of Namu Road in Bournemouth were sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Police have used the opportunity of the sentencing to urge victims of Child Sexual Exploitation (CSE) to report offences.

Detectives said Hayes and Wright exploited their victim's vulnerability to engage in sexual acts with her.

 Although the girl was over the age of consent, she was under 18, making it illegal to make or possess indecent images of her.

Wright pleaded guilty to taking an indecent moving image of a child, intentionally obtaining for himself the sexual services of a child under the age of 18, distributing an indecent moving image of a child and making indecent images of a child.

Hayes pleaded guilty to taking an indecent moving image of a child, possession of indecent images of a child and paying for the sexual services of a child.

The pair were sentenced to two years in prison and also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for five years.

The court heard that Hayes befriended his victim in 2014. The girl was over the age of consent, but under the age of 18, meaning it is illegal to make or possess indecent images of her.

In November that year, Hayes got his victim to take part in a sex video with his friend Wright, telling the girl that the video was just for them and would not be shown to anyone else. Hayes told her that if the video got out he would be in trouble as she was under the age of 18, the court was told. After it had been recorded the victim asked the pair to delete the video.

The video was discovered to have been uploaded onto the internet around November 2015.

On December 15, 2015 both men were arrested at their home addresses. Several computers and phones were seized.

An examination of the iPhone belonging to Wright showed that there were ten video clips and 27 still images of the victim. Examination of a laptop used by Hayes showed there were 18 images of the victim which were indecent.

The pair were charged on May 3, 2016.

Detective Constable Mandy Brimicombe, of the Integrated Missing Persons & Child Sexual Exploitation Team (IMPACT), said: "Hayes and Wright exploited their victim's vulnerability to engage in sexual acts with her. They knew full well that she was under the age of 18 when they published videos of her on the internet. This is a serious criminal offence.

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The heir to the Greggs bakery chain has had his jail term for sexually abusing young boys cut by five years.

Colin Gregg was jailed for 13 and a half years in March for indecently assaulting four boys aged between 10 and 14 over three decades.

The 76-year-old, from Newcastle, lost a bid to have his convictions overturned at London's Court of Appeal.

But senior judges said his prison term, imposed at Newcastle Crown Court, was too long and should be reduced.

The original trial heard Gregg, who helped build up the family business and was also a social worker and teacher, was a "predatory paedophile" who abused his position of trust.

Swimming pool
Trial judge Robin Mairs described him as "charismatic, inspiring teacher and mentor" who used those attributes to groom young boys.

The assaults began in 1963 and continued over a period of almost 30 years, during which Gregg was a teacher.

He abused one child in a swimming pool and others were molested in a gym, his study or a car.

Sasha Wass QC, representing him at the Appeal Court, argued his sentence was excessive in light of the fact his offending was not in the most serious category.

Lord Justice Davis, sitting with Mrs Justice Nicola Davies and Judge Nicholas Dean QC, said the appeal against sentence must be allowed.

He said: "Having reflected upon the matter, the view of this court is that a total sentence of eight-and-a-half years is appropriate for this offending and for this offender."

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A murderer who spent 17 years in prison for dousing an ex-girlfriend in petrol and setting fire to her is back behind bars after being caught with child sex abuse pictures.

Ian Anthony Harris downloaded the indecent pictures after visiting internet sex chatrooms.

However, officers from the South Wales Police On-line Investigation Team (Polit) were alerted to his activity and swooped on his Swansea house.

In 1988 Harris murdered his ex, Mandy Jackson, after she ended their relationship - he went to her flat in Uplands, poured petrol over her as she made a cup of tea and threw a match on her. Police later found her charred body by the kitchen table.

Harris was given a life sentence for murdering the 21-year-old.

Dean Pulling, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that on February 10 this year officers from Polit received information about activity involving a computer linked to an address in the Ravenhill area of the city.

Harris was out, but officers went to his place of work and took him back home - in a bedroom at the property they found a desktop computer containing 18 indecent images including one of Category A, the most extreme kind. Officers also found evidence Harris had shared a Category B image.

The 52-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of distributing an indecent image of a child and three of possessing indecent images when he appeared in custody in the dock.

The court heard that during his police interviews Harris said he had downloaded the images after visiting internet chatrooms where the talk was invariably sexual, and in a variety of forms. He said he had uploaded an image - of Category B - after somebody in a chatroom asked to see it.

The prosecutor said Harris had convictions for some 22 offences including murder.

Harris was released from jail in 2006.

He was recalled to prison after his arrest on the indecent images charges.

Dan Griffiths, for Harris, said his client accepted that in due course he would have to convince the parole board he was no longer a danger.

The advocate said his client was a family man who had started a new relationship after his release in 2006, and had spent six years working as a greenskeeper at a Swansea golf course.

Recorder Ifan Wyn Lloyd told him possessing indecent child images was a serious matter.

He said: Behind every one of these images there is a child being abused - these are not just images, these are real children being abused so people like you can get some sort of perverted pleasure from viewing them.

Harris was sentenced to a total of eight months in prison, and will be on the sex offenders register for the next 10 years. He was also made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order controlling his access to the internet.

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A VICTIM who was targeted by a 'disgusting vile paedophile' over a 10-year period has spoken out after he was jailed for 14 years.

The 31 year old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was raped by mobile disco entertainer Graham Horrix - also known as DJ Elvis - between the ages of four and 14.

Horrix, 59, who maintains his innocence, first attacked the young girl in a toilet block near his seaside caravan before raping her on a mattress in the back of the vehicle.

Prosecutor Corinne Bramwell said: "When she was alone in the van Horrix used that opportunity to sexually abuse her and she describes wanting to scream, but being too frightened to do so."

On another occasion, he forced the victim to give him oral sex and raped her for the second time in his bathroom.

Speaking after Horrix was sentenced, the victim said: "I've finally got the news Ive waited so long to hear. The disgusting, vile paedophile Graham Horrix is now in prison.

"I have spent so much of my life feeling ashamed of what happened, made worse by it being constantly dismissed and being told to forget about it.

"He will no longer have any control over me."

During the trial the court heard that Horrix, of Priestwood Avenue, had a collection of porn and condoms in his touring van and has previous convictions for sexually abusing other young girls.

Jailing Horrix at Kingston Crown Court, recorder Sallie Bennett-Jenkins QC told Horrix, said: "They are grave offences. You were an adult yet committed a range of sexual offences against a child, who was young and extremely vulnerable.

"She was a child who had her innocence stripped from her by your brutal actions and she has suffered severe psychological harm."

Horrix, who shook his head in defiance during the hearing, says his partner has split with him and destroyed all his property, leaving him with nothing.

Horrix was convicted of two counts of raping the girl and was also convicted of three counts of indecently assaulting the girl in Clapham.

Recorder Bennett-Jenkins ordered Horrix to remain on licence for an extra twelve months when he is finally released and made an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and Restraining Order.

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Joe Shanks is an Irishman from Co. Westmeath, who moved to England. He is a member of the Mormon 

An Irish Mormon missionary who tried to have sex with three children he thought he had lured over the internet, was nabbed in a sting operation by UK police.

Pervert Joseph Shanks, originally from Co Westmeath, claimed he was doing “charity work” and would be rewarded by GOD.

But the twisted predator didn’t realise the children’s mother he met online in England was really an undercover officer and he was arrested before any abuse took place.

When the 63-year-old married father turned up to rape the ‘victims’ he thought were aged nine, six and three, he was arrested by officers.

Shanks, who lives in the Church of Latter Day Saints missionary home in Chorley, Lancashire, was jailed for seven years on Monday after admitting ten sex charges.

The former civil servant had turned up for the rendezvous carrying a USB stick with thousands of vile abuse images of children.

Canterbury Crown Court in England heard how a police officer posed as “Sarah”, a mother to three fictitious children, was contacted by Shanks - who used the name Andy Brown.

Prosecutor Daniel Stevenson said: “Following conversations between ‘Sarah’ and Shanks it was clear from their conversation that the meeting was to facilitate him engaging in sexual activity with all three children.”

Shanks claimed he was in the army and volunteered for the church.

He rang from a mobile number but when that didn’t work - he called from a landline registered to the Mormon Church’s missionary training centre in Preston.

In November last year, the missionary worker left his wife in Lancashire and drove in his Hyundai Tucson 260 miles to the M23 Pease Pottage services, Kent, when he was arrested.

Shanks told police he was a member of the Mormon faith living in a Mormon community since 2016 and claimed he was doing “charitable work of God who would reward him with blessings as he tried to bring light into the lives of the three children”.

But Judge Simon James told him all he was doing was to act out his twisted sexual fantasies.

He said: “She used the name Sarah and her children were said to be aged three, six and nine.

“The two youngest were girls and the nine year old a boy.

“During the course of online communications, ‘Sarah’ spoke with a man who used the name Andy Brown. Andy Brown was in fact the defendant.

“Following these conversations, Mr Shanks made arrangements to travel to meet her and on November 26 they were scheduled to meet at Pease Pottage Services on the M23.

“Upon arriving he was disappointed to be greeted by officers of Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team, rather than the willing mother of three children.”

The prosecutor added that Sarah and Andy had been in contact from October 2016 after the undercover officer received contact from [email protected].

He said he had a sexual interest in children and stated he was 63 years old, he was called Joe and claimed to have come originally from Ireland but was now living in Preston.

He told her he wanted to meet her children and promised to bring KY jelly, some of which was later found in his car.

During sentencing on Monday, Judge Simon James told him: “It is clear that you are an individual who is sexually attracted to children.

“That’s abundantly clear by the large amount of images you had depicting sexual abuse which were found in your car, including images depicting the rape of children as young as two years old.

“It is clear that you made efforts to act out your fantasies, by arranging to meet a mother of three children with the intent of having sex with them.

“What is also clear is that you had no idea that the person you were talking with was an undercover officer.

“You intended to subject those children to a whole catalogue of abuse.”

Mr Stevenson, prosecuting, said that Shanks had contacted a covert investigator on line, who was posing as the mother of three fictitious children.

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A 27-year-old former teacher who worked at a primary school in Potters Bar has been jailed for six years in relation to inciting children to send indecent images of themselves to him via social media.

Nicholas Taylor, of Barnet, was sentenced at a St Albans court today (Wednesday March 22) after earlier pleading guilty to a series of internet-related offences.

The sentence follows a long investigation by Hertfordshire Constabularys Joint Child Protection & Investigation Team into the offences committed by Taylor.

Between October 2014 and October 2015, while working as a teacher, he incited girls to engage in sexual activity and was involved in the making and distribution of indecent photographs of children.

Under the alias Jackson_Law2002, he had made contact with a number of children through a chat group on Instagram. After befriending them initially, he then bullied and manipulated them into sending him indecent images of themselves.

The children were aged between 10 and 15 at the time of the offences and attended the same school or were involved in a Girl Guiding group in London.

Officers identified all of the children involved and contacted each victim and their family directly to investigate Taylor and provide specialist support.

The investigation revealed no evidence of offences relating to direct physical contact with children.

Detective Inspector Chris Treadwell said: This was a long and complex investigation which involved the examination of more than 30 different phones, computers and other devices owned by Nicholas Taylor.

Taylor went online to contact children for his own sexual gratification. Using a false identity he bullied and manipulated them into sending him images with despicable threats and intimidation. He also deceived his colleagues and fellow volunteers.

I would like to thank the victims and their families for their support during this investigation.

Clearly it has been a harrowing experience for them, but I hope this sentence brings some sort of closure on this difficult chapter in their lives.

Taylor admitted six counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of making indecent photographs of a child, and one count of distributing indecent photographs of a child. He was given a six year custodial sentence by a judge sitting at St Albans Magistrates Court today.

Advice for children and young people about going online safely is available on Hertfordshire Constabularys website here

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A pervert has been jailed after being caught with child abuse images during a visit to the Lake District.

Craig Johnson, from Manor Chare, Newcastle, was arrested by police while on an overnight stay in Keswick last summer.

Using a police warrant, officers raided the address where Johnson was staying on July 6 and found sick images of child abuse on his electronic devices.

The 29-year-old has now been jailed after pleading guilty to possessing child sex abuse images.

Johnson admitted possessing indecent images of children and three counts of making indecent images of children.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing an extreme pornographic image involving sexual activity by a person with a horse.

A judge at Carlisle Crown Court sentenced Johnson to two-and-a-half years in prison on Friday.

Johnson has also been placed on the sexual offenders’ register indefinitely and received a sexual harm prevention order.

Detective inspector Jenny Beattie, of Cumbria Police, said: “I am pleased that Johnson has been brought before the courts to answer for his actions.

“Every indecent image of child means that somewhere a child has been a victim of abuse.

“There is no excuse for accessing or sharing these type of images and we will continue to work hard to bring those that do so to justice in order to protect children.”

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A man who threatened, slapped and strangled a woman during a horrific sex attack has been jailed.

Nyasha Malvern Makunike, 26, of no fixed address, subjected his victim to the brutal attack in August 2016.

Minshull Street Crown Court heard his victim walked into a shop in Bury with her two young children in a distressed state.

She asked the shopkeeper to call police after she was violently raped by an attacker in the early hours of the previous day.

During a police interview the woman said she was strangled during the sickening attack.

Makunike also threatened the woman and slapped her.

He was found guilty of two counts of rape, actual bodily harm, sexual assault and nine other counts of assault and harassment.

Makunike will also be placed on the sex offenders register for life.

Det Con Dave Looby, of GMP’s Bury borough, said: “Makunike subjected his victim to what can only be described as a brutal attack which left her terrified and fearing for her life.

“The courage that she has shown in coming forward and helping police take this dangerous man off the streets of Bury is nothing short of tremendous.

“I hope the sentence passed here today will bring her some comfort knowing that her attacker has been brought to justice.”