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A man has been jailed after grooming and then sexually abusing a young girl.

Paul Jenkins of Southampton appeared at Southampton Crown Court where he faced a four charges of child sexual abuse.

The court was told that Jenkins began abusing the girl when she was just 11 years old and the repeated abuse continued for two years.

Jenkins was found guilty of three of the four charges he faced.

The judge handed Jones a 30 month prison sentence of which he must serve half.

Jones is also required to register a sex offender for life

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• making Category C indecent images of a child between October 2014 and July 2015
• meeting a child following sexual grooming in June 2016
• sexual assault in June 2016 inciting a child to engage in sexual activity between January and June 2016
• making Category A, B and C indecent photographs of a child between January and June 2016
• inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in March 2016
• making indecent photographs of a child in March 2016
• inciting a child to engage in sexual activity in May 2016

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A sex gang leader who preyed on 15-year-old girls with his girlfriend has tracked down and jailed after fleeing Britain for Spain.

Paul Silverthorn, 36, gave one of his victims legal high '5 NEO' before stifling her screams with a ball gag and tying her to a bed, a court previously heard.

The fugitive paedophile has now been jailed for nine years after he was arrested on the holiday island of Ibiza earlier this month.

He was arrested months after his girlfriend, Leila Kassam, was also caught in Spain.

Kassam, 32, fled to the same island after admitting child sexual exploitation offences last March.

But she was captured after a local worker recognised her from a Crimewatch appeal over the summer while she was working as a farmhand and she was extradited to Britain last November.

Silverthorn, formerly of Leytonstone, east London, was jailed for nine years for sexual offences against teenage girls after being returned to the UK on a European Arrest Warrant.

He fled Britain after pleading guilty last March to two counts of unlawful sex with a 15-year-old victim, and one count each for possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

He failed to appear for trial in May in relation to an offence of administering a substance for sexual purposes to a second 16-year-old victim, and was found guilty in his absence.

He was sentenced in his absence to nine years in June; receiving four years for the administration offence; four years for each of the unlawful sex offences; and six months each for the two separate indecent photo offences.

Detective believe he fled to Spain last April with his former girlfriend Kassam who was also sought in connection with the case.

She too had failed to appear for sentencing after pleading guilty at the March hearing to having unlawful sex with the same 15-year-old victim as Silverthorn; and admitting to arranging the commission of a child sex offence.

The offences, which took place between May and December 2014, involved two victims who were purposely befriended, taken to a central London address, plied with 'legal highs' and alcohol, and - in the case of the first victim - sexually abused by the couple.

The pair were found after a farm owner in Ibiza, who had hired them as farm hands over the summer months, recognised them following appeals on Crimewatch and by Crimestoppers.

Kassam was arrested in November and flown back to the UK on December 9. She was jailed at Blackfriars Crown Court for four years.

Silverthorn and Kassam received an additional six-week sentence for breaching their bail.

The pair were described as leading figures in a sex ring exploiting young girls during 'legal high' parties at a flat in Haymarket, central London.

Another member of the gang, Daniel Trinnaman of Harrow, was sentenced to two and a half years in jail after being convicted of causing a 15-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity and perverting the course of justice.

Faham Jaffer, 34, who had sex with one girl after Kassam texted her a photo with a message which read, 'Only got me a cute little 15-year-old', was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of sexual activity with a child.

Silverthorn, described by Spanish police as a Canadian national, is said to have given his victim legal high '5 NEO' before stifling her screams with a ball gag and tying her to a bed.

Det Con Rob Dewhurst, from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said after Trinnaman and Jaffer were jailed and the other two gang members went on the run: "This is a shocking case of child sexual exploitation.

"The defendants targeted young vulnerable girls, plying them with alcohol and what were then legal highs in order to facilitate their sexual abuse by a number of people.

"I commend the young victims for their courage in reporting the offences and giving evidence at trial."

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School technician, 44, who swapped more than 18,000 messages, naked pictures and explicit videos with an underage pupil via fake Facebook accounts is jailed for four years

A school technician swapped more than 18,000 messages, naked pictures and explicit videos with an underage pupil in what was described by a judge as 'one of the worst cases of grooming' he'd ever seen.

Matthew Ian Townsend, 44, from Penzance, Cornwall, who also ran magic lessons for children, was discovered after a pupil saw him kissing the girl at a school in west Cornwall.

Townsend pleaded guilty to inciting a girl aged under 16 to perform sexual acts, two charges of intentionally sexually touching the girl, performing a sex act in front of the girl and possessing 240 indecent pictures and 16 videos of a child.

Prosecutor Ramsay Quaife told a judge at Truro Crown Court that the school technician had set up false Facebook accounts for him and the girl and messages started to be sent and those messages were sexual in nature.

Those messages soon became pictures and videos.

'If she didn't send a message, he would not talk to her and she did not like that,' he said.

'He was even able to buy her clothing that he asked her to wear during these photographs and videos.'

Mr Quaife said the pair sent each other around 500 sexually explicit pictures.

He said that after Townsend's arrest, the girl told police that the pair had initially just been friends.

Defence barrister Steve Molloy said: 'Mr Townsend is a broken man.

'He is a family man with two small children. The background in no way excuses what he's done but he is one of the hidden victims of male domestic violence.

'What happened on this occasion is that he became friendly with the victim.

'This was someone he believed he had a connection with, although she was a schoolgirl.

'I would suggest he is not someone who is habitually attracted to teenagers.

'The defendant was not in his right mind at the time and has been greatly affected by the devastating effect on the girl.'

He added that the Probation Service judged Townsend's risk of reoffending to be low and said his client had vowed to move away from Cornwall.

Addressing the defendant, Judge Simon Carr said: 'This is one of the worst cases of grooming I have seen.

'Quite deliberately, over a period of time, you continued to raise the expectations of this young girl and got her to do increasingly more extreme sexual acts for your enjoyment.

'You continually pushed her to go further than she did before. This included masturbating in front of the screen and wearing inappropriate clothing that you bought for her.

'The pressure that you brought to bear on her was immense. The sheer number of messages shows that, let along their contents.

'At the time you were in your early 40s about 30 years older.

'You were in a position of immense responsibility and trust.

'The effect on her has been totally devastating. The suggestion that she did not see it as serious is something I utterly reject.

'She has suffered from depression and has on occasions considered taking her own life.'

He sentenced Townsend to four years in prison for inciting a girl aged under 16 to perform sexual acts.

For the other offences Townsend was sentenced to three terms of eight months in prison to run concurrently.

Townsend will remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life and sexual harm order, to run indefinitely, was also made by the court.

This means Townsend must allow police access to his internet history and computer passwords on request and not live or stay in a premises where someone is aged under 16, unless authorised by the Family Court or Social Services.

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A SON sexually abused by his own mother as a child has spoken out after she was spared jail, saying: "She's dead to me."

Andrew Stevens told The News his life has been ruined after his mother Linda Denham-Larholt, now 67, exploited him as a young boy.

He was barely a teenager when she forced him to touch her breasts while pretending to comfort him in her bed, a court heard.

She preyed on him while his late step-father John was away in Saudi Arabia.

Andrew, now 44, who has waived his anonymity to speak out, told The News: "I want to think of her as being dead."

"I don't care what happens to her. I'm not going to give her that any more."

"I've got to let go and just move on and be an orphan, it's better that way. It has seriously screwed me up."

"I hate her for what she's done."

At the Portsmouth Crown Court trial, prosecutor Rufus Taylor said the pair had an "odd relationship".

The court heard when Andrew asked his mother why he had no memory of his childhood and if he should see a counsellor, she said: "They'd probably just say that you were sexually abused."

Andrew had previously told police in Hampshire about the abuse.

But he was dealt a hammer blow when police said "a jury would never believe a mother would do such a thing to her son," Andrew said.

The court heard she was visited by police in 1999 and denied the allegations but was not interviewed.

Hampshire police has since said the force has no record of this but officers are now aware of how to deal with allegations.

It was only in 2015 he went back to the force, which launched an investigation.

Sussex Police later took over.

Yesterday a judge handed Denham-Larholt, of Bartons Road, Havant, a six-month jail term suspended for two years with a one-month curfew and electronic tag.

Recorder Michael Vere-Hodge QC ordered her to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years after she was convicted of indecency with a child at a trial last month.

The judge said he imposed a sentence "on the basis of an isolated incident of incitement to commit an act of gross indecency".

Addressing the defendant, he said: "On one occasion you encouraged, or your son was already in your bed for comforting, and you incited him to feel your breasts."

He added: "It doesn't need me to emphasise that this is highly unusual for a mother to commit such an offence on her own son."

"And, of course, it brings naturally considerable public distaste and condemnation."

He added the crime was "bad enough" but not of the "worst kind" of indecency.

Denham-Larholt, who denied all the charges, was cleared of indecent assault against her son when he was a child and another charge when he was an adult.

Jordan Franks, mitigating, said she suffers from COPD and asthma and there was 'trauma' in the family.

Probation said Denham-Larholt, who has depression and anxiety, is at low risk of re-offending.

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ONE of the victims of rapist David Simon, 73, said that she still had flashbacks today although the crimes were committed in the 1980s.

Sentencing Simon to 15 years in prison for raping and indecently assaulting a child and a young woman, Judge Russell Finch commended the two victims for having the courage to come forward and give evidence at trial.

The other woman said she self-harmed, had tried to kill herself and the court process had 'ruined her'.

Simon, who continued to deny he had committed the crimes, was found guilty in November of 11 historic offences against the two women.

The charges included five counts of rape, five of indecent assault and of gross indecency.

One of the rape counts and three of the indecent assault ones were specimen charges.

'These are grave matters,' Judge Finch said.

'The victim impact statements are vivid and speak for themselves.

'Each of these women have had their life affected by your, and indeed others – but that is not relevant to this case – predatory activities.'

He said the Jurats found that the use of drugs, given to the victims, was a significant aggravating factor.

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A man who raped a 12-year-old girl at a house party has been jailed.

Connor Freeman, 19, of Victoria Road, Dukinfield , was at a party where he met the young girl.

They ended up in a bedroom together where Freeman went on to rape her.

The girl initially confided in a friend who told her mother and it was reported to police.

Greater Manchester Police launched an investigation and Freeman was arrested.

Freeman pleaded guilty to rape of a girl under 13-years-old at an earlier hearing.

He was sentenced to 40 months in prison and placed on a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely, following a hearing at Minshull Street Crown Court.

DC Rochelle Evans, of the Phoenix Team in Tameside, said: Child sexual exploitation takes place in many forms.

In this case the victim was raped by Freeman, who paid no heed to the fact that she was only 12-years-old at the time.

I want to commend the girl for her bravery in reporting what happened to her and helping to stop Freeman from preying on any more girls.

Please visit www.itsnotokay.co.uk for information for children, young people, parents, carers and professionals on how to spot the signs of child sex exploitation and what to do about it.

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Karim Stuart watched his young victim a girl under 13 give evidence in a prerecorded video at Portsmouth Crown Court.

But the 57-year-old could not deny his guilt any longer and admitted what he had done.

Now as Stuart is waking up in a prison cell at the start of a long stretch in jail, the girls mother has told how her family has a scar for life inflicted by the pervert.

Speaking to The News the mother said: Im glad its over but I will never ever get over what hes done.

Its a scar for life for me.

I hope my daughter forgets it but I doubt she will.

She understands whats happened.

Watching her tape he must have realised that he cant get away with it.

Even the jury walked out crying.

My daughter has changed completely after what happened.

Stuart, of Earlsdon Street, Southsea, had denied four counts of raping a female child under 13 and two counts of assault on a female child.

Investigating officer, Detective Constable Marie Duffy, has praised the victims courage for coming forward.

The young girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, broke down on a train and told her mother of the abuse in February this year.

Police said Stuart took advantage of the girl for his own sexual gratification.

Det Con Duffy, said: I would like to thank the victim for having the courage to come forward about these horrendous crimes and hope that todays sentence will help give her some closure, so that she can move on with her life.

It is because of her courage that the offender now faces a long prison sentence.

This sentence serves as a reminder of the seriousness of these offences.

We will always strive to bring offenders to justice; if youve been a victim or know someone who has, please call police on 101.

Stuart was jailed for 18 years at Portsmouth Crown Court by judge Sarah Munro QC on December 20.

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Dale Goll, aged 51, of Pitchill Cottages, Pitchill, near Alcester, also had 36 extreme pornographic bestiality images showing adults involved in sex acts with horses and dogs, and prohibited ‘pseudo-photographs’ depicting children in indecent acts.

Goll pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children, one of possessing images of extreme pornography and one of possessing prohibited images of children.

He was jailed for 12 months and ordered to register as a sex offender for ten years.

A judge at Warwick Crown Court rejected a submission that the plant nursery boss, whose business it was said would struggle without him, could be given a suspended sentence.

Prosecutor Rebecca Wade said the police went to Goll’s home with a warrant after receiving intelligence that he had been accessing child pornography using file-sharing software.

When they spoke to him, he admitted he had been downloading such images, and they seized seven devices which were then examined by experts.

Three of them, two computer towers and a hard drive, were found to have had illegal images on them which had been downloaded on various dates between 2005 and 2015.

Altogether the experts found 27 category A images, the most serious category, showing children being subjected to sexual activity, including one of a baby no older than two.

There was also a movie of a girl aged between eight and twelve performing a sex act on an adult, although the download was incomplete.

There were also 21 category B images of children and 11 category C images.

On one of the computers peer-to-peer file-sharing software had been installed, which Goll had used to download the images, many had been deleted after being viewed.

When Goll was interviewed, he admitted downloading the pictures, and told officers he knew what he was doing was wrong, but that he was addicted to it, although he denied being physically attracted to children, added Miss Wade.

Marcus Harry, defending, conceded: "There’s not a huge amount I can say about the offences. But although there were more than 50 in total, only eight of those were accessible, and there is only one moving image.

"He’s not a man who spent a lot of time downloading these images."

Mr Harry said Goll had struggled with periods of anxiety and depression, and it was at those times he found it more difficult to resist downloading the images.

Goll, who had been married for over 20 years and had two sons, aged 20 and 17, employs seven people at his plant business.

Urging the judge to pass a suspended sentence, Mr Harry added: "It would be difficult to keep those employees on, were he to face custody today."

But jailing Goll, Judge Sylvia de Bertodano told him: "You knew at the time it was wrong. The reason it is so serious is that although it may not seem like it when you’re sitting in front of your computer, these are real children being abused.

"If there was not a market for them, these children would likely not be being abused in this way – and the market for them is people like you.

"You have run for years a nursery you set up yourself, and you are a good employer. But I have to deal with you for this other side of your character.

"I am afraid it must be an immediate sentence. The message must go out that if adult men download images of children being horrifically abused then, no matter what the mitigation, public policy must outweigh that, and people who do this must go to prison."

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A 101-year-old man thought to be the oldest person convicted by a British jury has been jailed for child sex offences.

Ralph Clarke is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison after being sentenced to 13 years.

The former lorry driver abused three children in the 1970s and 1980s.

One of his victims was as young as four.

Clarke, from Erdington in Birmingham, was convicted of 21 offences of indecency with a child and indecent assault committed against two young girls.

During the trial at Birmingham Crown Court, he admitted nine charges relating to a young boy after describing the offences as "something that happened" in his past.

After his conviction he showed no emotion as Justice Richard Bond told him it would be "amazing" if he lived long enough to be released.