Latest Offenders

Description

A paedophile been sentenced to 24 years imprisonment for raping and sexually abusing a child aged under 13. He was described as a "predatory individual" who took advantage of a child in the "most horrific way".

Steven Felix, 36, of Bridgend, sexually abused the child between 2019 and 2020. An investigation was launched after the abuse was reported in 2021.

The defendant, of Brackla, was charged with a total of 24 counts of rape and sexual activity with a child. At Cardiff Crown Court he was sentenced to 24 years imprisonment with an additional six years on licence and a lifetime sexual harm prevention order.

Following the hearing detective sergeant Jo Williams-Smith of South Wales Police said: "Steven Felix is a predatory individual who took advantage of a child and abused them in a horrific way. The victim in this case has to live with the memory of this awful abuse.

"I’m pleased that the court have recognised this by handing Steven Felix this lengthy jail sentence which is the outcome the case deserved. I’d like to personally pay tribute to the victim for coming forward and sticking with the investigation. It is thanks to their bravery that we secured a successful prosecution.

"I hope that this sentence will serve as encouragement to other victims of sexual abuse to come forward. We will believe you and do everything we can to bring offenders to justice no matter how long ago the offences took place.

"We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously. We have specially trained teams that investigate sexual offences and provide support to victims. If you have experienced these kinds of offences you will be heard and listened to and your report will be believed.”

Description

A 15-year-old was sexually assaulted by a man who approached her outside a shop and threatened to hold her knife to her throat and rape her. When the victim told her his age he continued to follow her and repeatedly grabbed her as she tried to escape.

Seekio Wittridge, 25, approached the girl outside a Tesco Express in Cardiff in April last year after she had got off a bus. She saw the defendant staring at her and he was in possession of a wooden plank.

A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Thursday heard Wittridge slightly barged the victim into the store windows in North Road and he told her she was "beautiful". She ignored him and tried to cross the road but he walked alongside her as she tried to speed up. He grabbed her right arm and pulled her back and repeated to her that she was "beautiful".

The victim told him she was only 15 years old and he claimed he was 14, which she knew to be untrue on account of his appearance. The defendant then told her he was 25 and when she brought up the 10-year age gap he said: "So that's 10 years in prison for me is it?"

Prosecutor Ruth Smith said Wittridge put his arms out to touch the victim and stroked her to her upper chest and touched her skin around her collar bone. He stroked her outer legs on both sides back and forth and she swatted his hand away. The defendant pulled her back again by the shoulder which caused the victim to kick him in the shin and tell him to go away.

The victim began recording the incident and left a voice message for a male friend to come to the scene and was crying as she did so. Wittridge became aggressive, asked the victim if she was speaking to her boyfriend, and threatened to assault him with a plank of wood.

He went on to repeatedly asked the victim to "f*** him" and when sherefused he made a threat to hold a knife to her throat and rape her. The male friend arrived at the scene and was hugged by the victim who said Wittridge had touched her chest and she felt "disgusting".

The friend questioned the defendant who apologised and again described the victim as "beautiful". He also claimed again he was a teenager but the victim struck Wittridge with a chocolate bar and told him he was lying. When asked why he was carrying a plank of wood the defendant said it was his walking stick. He eventually apologised and said he "didn't want any trouble".

The police were called and the defendant was arrested. He admitted speaking to the victim and claimed she had accused him of being a paedophile. Wittridge, of Yr Hen Fuarth, was initially placed in a secure hospital over concerns he was experiencing psychosis but later pleaded guilty to a count of sexual assault. The court heard he had previous convictions for assaulting an emergency worker and a public order offence during which he followed a woman he spoke to outside a pub and asked to go to her home to have sex with her.

In a victim personal statement the girl said: "The incident has made me not want to walk out on my own anymore and have to ask friends to come with me everywhere I go. It made me anxious about talking to new people, especially men who are talking to me in the street, even though they might not have any intentions. I am angry and upset about most things that happen now in life. Since the incident I have a shorter fuse with everything that goes wrong. I shower and feel gross about myself, leading to me crying a lot."

In mitigation Andrew Davies said it was most likely his client was suffering with psychosis at the time of the offence as a result of psychoactive substance abuse. He said the defendant wishes to stay away from drugs and wants to "settle down".

Sentencing, Judge Lucy Crowther said: "This must have been an extremely frightening experience for a 15-year-old girl on her own in the middle of the day... The effect of your behaviour has been grave on this young woman."

Wittridge was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment. He was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order, sex offender notification requirements, and a restraining order each lasting for 10 years.

Description

A detective has described a 42-year-old sex offender starting a life jail sentence after being convicted of raping a "stranger" as "dangerous".

Anthony Bassett had attacked a "young man" he met outside a Wellingborough pub while on bail, police said.

He had been convicted of rape and told he would serve more than seven years before being eligible for parole.

Det Con Victoria Thomas said his offending was "horrific".

Police said a jury found Bassett, of Midland Road, Wellingborough, guilty of rape, and two other sex offences, after a trial at Northampton Crown Court in January.

He had been sentenced earlier this month and given a life sentence with a minimum term of 86 months.

'Predatory'

"Anthony Bassett is a dangerous man, and I am so pleased that the severity of his horrific offending has been recognised with a life sentence," said Det Con Thomas, who investigated the attack.

"Despite his attempts to lie and explain away what happened that night, the evidence clearly showed his calculated and predatory behaviour in taking advantage of a young man and brutally attacking him."

She added: "Throughout this investigation and trial the victim survivor has been so brave."

'Bail'

Police said the attack took place in July 2023 and said Bassett had approached his victim, a stranger, under the guise of "helping" him, police said.

He had previous convictions for rape and other sexual offences and committed the rape while on bail, police said in a statement.

Description

Simon Neale, 54, recently admitted sexually assaulting the girl while she slept and recording the act.

A court heard the child had no idea what happened until police investigated Neale’s electronic devices and found the images indecent, leading to assault charges sexual.

Neale, formerly of Telford but recently of Catshill in Worcestershire, had his door knocked on by police in July 2022 while living in Telford.

They had traced potentially illegal activities to him using a Dropbox account and his Internet Protocol (IP) address, prosecutor Mr Robert Edwards told Shrewsbury Crown Court this week.

Mr Edwards said that when officers knocked on Neale’s door and asked him to come in, he asked them “is that Dropbox?”

His home was searched and officers seized his devices. Police found hundreds of indecent images of children, still and moving, on a Sony laptop and an 8GB SD card, including 119 category A images, the most serious in the eyes of the law, depicting the worst abuses.

In interviews with police, Neale said he was “addicted to pornography” and had “unintentionally” downloaded images of children, the court heard.

Description

An Ellesmere Port man found with indecent images of children on his computers was also found to have been sexually abusing a girl for several years.

Jordan Leiper, from Rossmore Gardens, Little Sutton, previously pleaded guilty at Chester Crown Court to a total of 10 charges five in relation to downloading and possessing indecent images of children and extreme pornography, and five in relation to child sex offences. The defendant did not enter a plea on two further counts, which were ordered to lie on file by judge Michael Leeming.

Appearing back at court on Monday, March 25, the 27-year-old was sentenced to a total of seven years, eight months

Prosecuting, Karl Scholz said police had received information from the National Crime Agency that an address in Ellesmere Port was being used to obtain indecent images of children.

Police attended in July 2023 and, during their searches, seized six devices two of which the defendant had attempted to hide on a flat roof outside the bedroom window.

Analysis of the seized devices found hundreds of indecent videos and images of children. Of those, 243 videos and 42 images were assessed as category A the most serious category, with 51 videos and 24 images assessed as category B and 23 videos and 21 images at category C. In addition, there were 10 videos and 21 images of extreme pornography, plus four prohibited images of a child.

Judge Leeming noted the indecent material included children aged between six and 16, with some involving children performing sex acts on other children and one image involved a child in pain.

Some of that material had been obtained while Leiper was already subject to an existing Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and a sex offenders rehabilitation programme, the court heard, after Leiper had previously been sentenced for possessing indecent images in 2017.

Also found in the material caused officers concern as chat records were found of Leiper and an underage girl, the court heard.

Police interviewed the girl and found she had been groomed from the age of 12, with "frequent" sexual activity happening at that time and which included sexual intercourse when she was 15. Leiper had also sought indecent images of the girl during this time.

Mr Scholz read out a statement on behalf of the victim, who was present in court for sentencing, in which the victim said she had always struggled with her mental health, but had not understood why.

She had added: "In reality, I was being groomed and being taken advantage of for a long time."

The victim added her brain was "in a fog" and she did not have any energy to take care of herself, and she wondered what kind of adult she could have been had this not happened to her.

The judge added he did not look favourably on the defendant's pre-sentence interview with probation, where he had tried to deny the sexual offences ever took place.

Defending, Max Saffman said that was no longer the defendant's position and he accepted they had taken place, knew he had done wrong and was to be punished.

The sexual offences had taken place several years ago and he had not reoffended on that type of crime since.

Judge Leeming told Leiper: "You are a persistent sexual offender with an unhealthy interest in child pornography.

"You would have known full well that engaging in behaviour like this is not only unlawful but completely unacceptable."

He added Leiper's actions had had a "destabilising" effect on his victim.

The judge said, while the age gap between the defendant and the victim was "not enormous", it was still "significant".

Leiper must serve half of the 12-month sentence he received for the indecent images offences, and two-thirds of the six years and eight months he additionally received for the sexual offences with a child, in custody.

He was handed a new indefinite SHPO restricting his internet usage and contact with children, and handed an indefinite restraining order preventing contact with his victim.

He must sign the sex offenders register for life, and the devices seized were to be deprived.

Description

A 57-year-old Southampton man has been sentenced to 27 years in prison for child sex offences.

Barry Jones, of Granby Grove, was found guilty in January of 19 offences against three victims, all of whom were aged between six and nine when Jones’s offending began.

Jones was reported to police in 2022 and, following an extensive investigation, was charged with the following offences:

• Three counts of rape of a child
• Four counts of sexual assault of a child
• Four counts of sexual activity with a child
• One count of sexual assault by penetration
• Three counts of causing or inciting a child into sexual activity
• One count of indecent assault
• Three counts of making indecent images of children

He pleaded not guilty, however a jury found him guilty on all counts following a two week trial at Southampton Crown Court.

Detective Constable Paul Hills, who led the investigation, said: “It took a tremendous amount of courage for the victims in this case to come forward and tell us what had happened to them at the hands of Jones.

“I have nothing but the greatest admiration for the bravery they have shown, alongside their families, throughout the criminal investigation and court process. Without them we would not have been able to secure this outcome today and we would sincerely like to thank them.

“I am so pleased that justice has now been served, and while this result won’t rid the victims of the memories of what Jones did to them, I truly hope it allows them to move forward with their lives.

“I also hope this sentence will reassure other victims that they will be listened to when reporting similar incidents to us. If anything of this nature has happened to you, please come forward and speak to us. We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and work hard to bring offenders to justice.

“I would also like to thank everyone who assisted in ensuring that a dangerous predator will now be taken off the streets, including the jury and witnesses in the case.

Description

A man has been jailed for paying a teenage girl for sexual services in Bournemouth.

Amir Saadi, 47, of Haven Road, Poole, was found guilty of three counts of sexual activity with a child and one count of paying for sexual services of a child.

He was jailed for nine years after a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court.

Dorset Police said Saadi first met his victim, a 14-year-old girl, in Boscombe in 2020.

A force spokesperson said the girl then visited Saadi's home "on a number of occasions" and was given money in return for sexual activity.

Officers launched an investigation and in June 2021 arrested Saadi, who claimed he did not know the victim.

'Lifelong impact'

Det Con Andy Hale, said: "Saadi took advantage of a teenage girl and showed no regard for her emotional or physical wellbeing.

"The young victim in this case has been exceptionally brave throughout the investigation and subsequent trial and I would like to pay tribute to her and her family for their support.

"Dorset Police will continue to seek justice for young victims and bring offenders such as Saadi to court to face the consequences for their horrible actions, which can have a lifelong impact on those involved.

"I hope that this case will give victims the courage to speak out and seek help. We will do everything we can to support them and ensure offenders are held to account."
Saadi has been placed on the sex offenders' register for life, as well as being made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

Description

A convicted flasher who thought that he was sending explicit messages and videos to a 14-year-old girl got a nasty shock when it turned out that her account was being run by a paedophile hunters group.

Tristan Bradshaw had already been specifically warned not to message children, but he brazenly attempted to do so after drinking spirits heavily, Hull Crown Court heard. Bradshaw, 23, of the New Bridge Road area of east Hull, admitted attempting to communicate sexually with a child, attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act, attempting to invite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting to breach a sexual harm prevention order.

Ayman Khokhar, prosecuting, said that a five-year sexual harm prevention order was made against Bradshaw in November 2019 following a conviction for an offence of exposure. However, on December 30, Bradshaw sent a friend request on Facebook to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.

He followed it up with two messages saying "Hey!" The girl did not exist and had been set up by an online protection group.

Bradshaw sent sexually explicit messages to "the girl" and, on three separate occasions, he sent her a six-second video of him committing a sex act. He attempted to get the fake girl to video call him while he was doing this.

Further sexual messages were sent and Bradshaw suggested that they could have sex at his home. He ended the conversations on January 3. The online protection group contacted the police and Bradshaw was arrested. He made no comment during police interview.

"It's a very serious breach of the order," said Mr Khokhar. "The harm and the risk was very serious."

Rachel Scott, mitigating, said that Bradshaw had suffered problems and this led to him seeking out inappropriate relationships. He used alcohol to cope with his difficulties.

"That's why he doesn't remember this offending," said Miss Scott. "He simply doesn't remember. He confirmed that the messages were from his account. He accepts that it must have been him who sent them. It appears that he has stopped this conduct rather than the other way round."

Bradshaw, a former supermarket worker, had been in custody on remand for two months. "He accepts that he is looking down the barrel of a significant custodial sentence," added Miss Scott.

Judge Alexander Menary told Bradshaw: "You were in sexual communication with a profile that was an adult posing as a 14-year-old child. You knew that this person was purporting to be 14 because they said so at the outset and you engaged in sexual communication with them throughout that time. You very quickly engaged in sexual communication with them."

Bradshaw was jailed for two years and three months. He was given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender for 10 years.

Description

A cyber forensics expert who sold software to the police, Interpol and the FBI has been jailed after he accidentally gave his work a hard drive full of child pornography.

Iain Nash was jailed for 15 months and branded a danger to children after officers discovered a library of child pornography on his home PC.

The 46-year-old mistakenly handed in a personal hard drive with the images on and 'frantically' messaged a colleague, pleading with him to 'delete the image'.

Suspicious, the co-worker looked through the device and found vile images of youngsters being abused by paedophiles, a court heard.

Nash was then given a deadline to allow him to surrender himself to police and confess.

Officers then seized Nash's mobile phone and a total of 35 other electronic devices and found 1,123 pictures - some including a 12-month baby - plus others featuring girls aged between four and six being raped.  

Sentencing him, the judge slammed his crimes as 'truly horrific' and said: 'It is the demand for this material which stokes and incentivises the supply of it,' adding 'these were real children being raped by real men'.

When quizzed, Nash, who lives in a £540,000 house in Congleton, Cheshire, claimed he only took a sexual interest in children for a brief time in 2013 when his marriage was on the rocks. 

But officers found a poem he had written in 2006 in which he confessed his desires for underage girls.

At Chester Crown Court, Nash was jailed after he pleaded guilty to charges of possessing, making, taking and distributing indecent images of children. 

He was also made subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and will have to sign on the Sex Offenders' Register for ten years. His current girlfriend is standing by him.

The court heard Nash had begun working for MD5 Ltd, a Digital Forensics company who provides Virtual Forensic Computing software to law enforcement agencies.As well as Interpol and the FBI, clients also included the National Crime Agency, Homeland Security, the Australian Federal Police and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

Prosecutor Philip Clemo said: 'The defendant's role was as a Business Development Manager, selling software to high-tech crime and law enforcement agencies and involved him visiting police stations and giving demonstrations of the software packages.

'At the beginning of January 2020, the defendant handed in his notice and worked his four week notice period which ended on February 6.

'The defendant returned the laptop and phone he had been provided with and, in accordance with standard procedure when employees left the company, these were forensically imaged and there were no issues with either device.

'The defendant had also been asked to return the external hard-drive he had upgraded his work laptop with, which he did on January 31. However, a staff member at MG5 who the external drive had been given to, was contacted by the defendant on the February 3 stating that he had provided his personal external drive in error and asked for it to be handed back.

'He stated within the message "If you've already imaged it, I'd be obliged if you would delete the image" and said he would be at the office within two hours. 

'Suspicions were raised and when the staff member viewed data from the drive, he identified video and image files indicative of indecent images of children.

'The defendant was then contacted and given a deadline to contact the police otherwise his former manager would contact them himself. The defendant did attend at Congleton Police Station on February 14, 2020, saying that two years earlier he had downloaded pictures of young girls from the internet.

'His mobile phone was seized, along with the external hard-drive he had handed in to MD5 and 27 other electronic devices seized from his address.'

The court was told images included those of a child aged 12-18 months, and images of children were located on seven devices. One file read 'hot teen girls are best 2'.'

Nash had set webpages as favourites including 'welcome to paedo paradise' and 'the best child porn site ever!!!'. 

Two documents entitled 'Dangerous Innocence.doc' and 'Lotis Gala Night.txt' were found, with the former being written by Nash, detailing the narrator's 'first sexual encounter' and attraction to female children.

A document containing altered lyrics to the 1999 hit song Mambo Number 5 by German singer Lou Bega was filed under the name 'Paedo No 5'. 

Nash was later bailed but was subsequently caught drink driving and was then convicted of weapons offences after security staff found a pen knife in his pocket as he attended court.

In mitigation, defence counsel Nicola Daley said: 'I accept this is a serious case that undoubtedly passes the custody threshold and the defendant comes to this court in trepidation and fear of that. But this is also a case of a 46-year-old man who at the time he committed these offences he had no other convictions. Though some of the images date from 2020 the majority of the dates were a lot earlier.

'They are all dates now that are multiple years away from where we are now in 2024.'

But in sentencing the judge Mr Recorder Richard Conley told Nash: 'There can be no doubt as to the gravity and the truly horrific nature of the material that was in your possession.

'These were real children being raped by real men for the sexual enjoyment and gratification of people like you. Were it not for people like you, these horrific offences would not have to be committed. It is the demand for this material which stokes and incentivises the supply of it.

'It has been suggested the offences only occurred over a short period of time, in a particular low point in your life when your marriage was joyless and in free fall and in decline. But it is also suggested more strongly you did not simply flirt with this sort of material but had a much more established and entrenched attraction to young children, girls in particular.

'I take the view that you are someone who has a serious problem you won't fully face up to. You refused to accept that you were attracted to children and I take the view that you present a danger.'

The judge added: 'I fully accept that you did not intend to return that hard drive to your employer, quite the opposite, but I do not accept that you forgot those images. 

'I suspect you spent an uncomfortable and anxious weekend on February 1 and 2, knowing exactly what was in that hard drive and worrying whether it would be discovered by your former employer.

'The fact is you were frantically seeking its return to you, knowing as I am quite sure you did, that the hard drive contained incriminating and illegal matter upon it. The fact you returned the hard drive on the Friday, seeking its return on the Monday, highlights to me the first of numerous examples of your deceitful and dishonest nature.'

Description

A Sheffield child sex offender who bragged about being too clever for the police has now been jailed.

Luke Whitfield was arrested by officers after they received information about him and they went on to analyse his digital devices. The police found they contained more than 100 indecent images of children.

South Yorkshire Police also say the 34-year-old man had shown another man evidence of conversations with underage girls and a number of photos of young children. Chats also showed he had arranged to meet one underage child.

The police say he laughed and asked "how old do you think they are?". He also said he had "downloaded multiple photos and videos".

Whitfield, who was previously of Grimesthorpe Road in Sheffield, showed another man a video, telling him it was "our little secret", before he boasted of being "too clever for the police". During questioning by officers, he claimed he had been "set up" and he denied arranging to meet an underage child despite the evidence on his phone.

He then pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and 13 counts of attempting to incite or engage in sexual communication with a child.

Whitfield was jailed for five years and nine months at Sheffield Crown Court on Thursday, March 14. He has also been subjected to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and must sign the Sex Offenders' Register.

Description

A paedophile who sexually abused a teenager has been jailed for more than two years.

Clinton Woodcock, from Chatham, had previously denied the offences but was found guilty by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court on March 14.

He was convicted on three counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 15, and one count of sexual activity in the presence of a child aged 13 to 15.

Woodcock, of Eden Avenue, committed the offences in Gillingham between 2016 and 2018.

The 50-year-old sex offender was also charged with two counts of voyeurism in 2021 and admitted those offences.

Woodcock was jailed for two years and 10 months and handed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.

He was also added to the sex offenders’ register for life.

Description

A man who attempted to rape a woman in the woods in Falkirk has been given an Order for Lifelong Restriction and will serve a minimum of 32 months in prison.

Maximiliano Moreno, 22, grabbed a 20-year-old stranger from behind as she walked home from work in 2022, admitting the intention to rape her.

He was in possession of a knife and a rucksack which contained what prosecutor Angela Gray described as a "rape kit".

The bag contained cable ties, condoms, a pare of pliers, latex gloves and two scarves.

Moreno was given an Order of Lifelong Restriction at the High Court in Glasgow, an indeterminate sentence which sees convicts supervised by electronic monitoring for the rest of their lives.

He was also sentenced to an indefinite prison term as part of the order, and will serve a minimum of 32 months.

Description

A "TRULY depraved" teenager whose attitude to sex has been "warped" by access to graphic pornography has been jailed for his behaviour towards two young girls. 

Nathan Mainwaring, of Llys Maes Teg in Greenfield, appeared at Mold Crown Court for sentence on Tuesday morning.

The 18-year-old, who appeared via video link from HMP Berwyn, had admitted a number of offences at a previous hearing, including: causing/inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, sending threatening communication, making indecent images of a child, sexual exploitation of a child and make/supply article intended for use in commission of computer misuse offence.

Frances Wilmott, prosecuting, told the court the majority of Mainwaring's offending related to his behaviour towards two female children he spoke to online when he was aged 16 and 17.

In both cases, the communication was highly sexualised and graphic - with Mainwaring making degrading remarks and instructing the girls to commit sex acts.

However in the case of the second victim, it was said Mainwaring had admitted his guilt on the basis he had believed she was older than she was - which was accepted by the court.

In interview Mainwaring denied he had a sexual interest in children.

When his computer was examined, it became apparent by the programmes he had that the defendant had also been seeking to access stolen credit card details, as well as stealing passwords and hacking into other computers.

He told police he was "knowledgeable about computing" and that he'd only acquired the programmes as he was "interested in learning," but that over time he'd begun to use them.

Myles Wilson, defending, told the court: "The pre-sentence report assessed him as 'immature' and he is only 18 - but he seems especially immature.

"He's learned about sex, it seems, from the internet. He's a part of this generation which has been exposed to and has had access to eye-wateringly graphic pornography that has never been available so easily before.

"It will have warped his attitude to sex."

Mr Wilson said in some instances, the conversation on the part of both defendant and victim had been "very peculiar."

And he shared his concern that the two children became victims around a year apart - as there was a delay in bringing his client to court.

He said: "In an ideal world, he'd have never got around to committing the offences against [the second victim] over a year after he made admissions to the police about [the first victim].

"Ideally he'd have been getting rehabilitation rather than being on police bail and committing these further offences."

Judge Rhys Rowlands said Mainwaring's behaviour was "really worrying," and "beggars belief."

He told the defendant: "This is all part and parcel of an inadequate young man seeking to exercise a degree of power and control over others.

"Although you were, and remain, a young man - it's plain you were very far from functioning as one would imagine an innocent 16-year-old to behave.

"You were behaving as a sexual predator, displaying a degree of sophistication far beyond your chronological years. It is truly depraved behaviour.

"It has taken the police and CPS far too long to bring the sexual offences to court.

"The impact on the two victims has been profound."

Overall, Mainwaring was handed a 42-month term of detention in a young offenders institute.

He was made subject to a ten year sexual harm prevention order to monitor and control his use of the internet, as well as having to register as a sex offender.

A ten year restraining order was also imposed to protect the victims.

Description

A man tried to kill himself several times after he admitted sexually assaulting a girl over the age of 16, a court heard. When confronted with the allegations he said: "I'll be dead within the hour".

Gareth Mitchell's offending came to light when his victim confided to a counsellor about the attack and the police were informed. A sentencing hearing at Cardiff Crown Court heard the 41-year-old defendant, from Cwmbran, was challenged about those allegations and replied: "I did it." He added: "I will be dead within the hour."

Prosecutor Alex Greenwood said police located Mitchell in a car as he was attempting to take his own life. He was taken to a custody suite where he made a further attempt on his own life. He was taken to hospital and after he was released the following day the defendant was interviewed. He provided a prepared statement in which he admitted the offences, apologised for his actions, and said: "It will never happen again".

Mitchell later pleaded guilty to sexual offences including assault by penetration. The court heard he was of previous good character.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by Mr Greenwood the victim said: "I have been suffering as a result of what he did to me... As a result of his actions against me my mental health has got a lot worse. I have been self-harming every week at least once a week. I was bullied at school and self-harmed from an early age. Prior to this incident I had a degree of stability in my mental health – I was in a much better place and had a good circle of friends...

"I restarted self-harming. I am also looking around everywhere to make sure the defendant is not around or anyone who could possibly hurt me. I am incredibly anxious, scared to leave the house, and prefer somebody to be with me... I'll never forget what's taken place. I want to get my life back on track and be the best person I can be."

In mitigation Jeffrey Jones said his client made admissions upon first being confronted about the allegations and had tried to end his own life. He said this was indication of the remorse the defendant felt and described his life as "likely to be altered forever with natural hostility and isolation".

Sentencing, Recorder Greg Bull KC said: "This was not a long-lasting incident but one of profound effect [on the victim]." He sentenced Mitchell to three years imprisonment. The defendant was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) and sex offender notification requirements indefinitely.

Description

A warehouse worker has been jailed after being found guilty of rape.

Russell Beatty, 28, appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced following a trial by jury. The court heard the Middlesbrough man subjected the woman to "domination and violence" and left her feeling frightened to leave her home.

In a victim impact statement, the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - said the stress of the investigation has impacted her health. She said: "I feel nervous all the time. I feel trapped due to what he's put me through. The incident has had a dramatic impact on my life - I feel frightened and scared to leave my address.

"I have been suffering medical problems in relation to my heart and chest pains. I have been told that the issue I have had is due to stress and anxiety."

The court heard the defendant, who still denies the offences, is previously of good character and Beatty's barrister asked Judge Howard Crowson to take into account the defendant's youth. It was also claimed the defendant has not had any difficulties with his fellow inmates, has a mortgage and works in a warehouse.

Sentencing, Judge Howard Crowson said: "There was an act of sexual intercourse which you forced upon her. It was a selfish act committed for your pleasure alone."

Judge Crowson jailed the defendant, of Hills View Road, Eston, for eight years. He was also banned from contacting the victim.