Latest Offenders

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Stuart Witham’s “vast” collection of vile images included sordid videos featuring children as young as five, York Crown Court heard.

Witham, 31, shared images with others in a Whatsapp group.

Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said that Witham was also having debauched video chats on a dark website where he would perform lewd acts in front of women and young girls and encourage them to do the same.

The father-of-two was also active on a private-messenger app on which he “offered to sell quantities of indecent images in exchange for Bitcoin and gift cards”.

He was finally nailed when an undercover police officer joined the Whatsapp group posing as a member and began chatting with Witham who sent him indecent images of youngsters and “bragged” about his vile collection of illicit images.

Police turned up at his home and brought him in for questioning when he owned up immediately to his depraved behaviour.

He was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of distributing indecent images and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13 years of age.

Witham, of Back Mayfield Terrace, Harrogate, admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence last Thursday.

Ms Morrison told the court: “The defendant was a member of a Whatsapp group in which he and other adults (had sexual discussions about) and shared indecent images of children.”

In June 2021, Witham had a Whatsapp chat with a man he presumed to be another member of the group but who was in fact an undercover officer.

“The defendant shared indecent images with the officer and showed him his collection of material,” added Ms Morrison.

After being trapped by the undercover cop, officers swooped on Witham’s home and seized his internet devices.

Forensic analysis revealed a huge cache of indecent material, namely 32,708 vile photos and videos of children, some of them extremely young.

They included 3,800 images of children rated Category A in their level of seriousness and featuring the sexual abuse of minors.

Ms Morrison said police also found chats in which he offered to sell indecent images of children in exchange for digital currency and gift vouchers.

She said forensic officers also found over 40 videos or “screen-recorded conversations” on the dark website.

“Those recordings show that whenever (Witham) was matched with another male, he quickly skipped onto the next user,” she added.

“As soon as he was paired with an adult woman or child, he would begin (performing a lewd act) on screen.”

Witham would move the camera so that the other user would see him doing the act.

On other occasions, he would message the user urging them to “show themselves” and to perform lewd acts.

In one video chat, Witham performed a sexual act in front of a nine-year-old girl and asked the child to “show (their) body on camera”.

Analysis of his internet search history revealed he had sought out “hidden-camera instructions”.

During police questioning, Witham admitted that he had sought out indecent images of children since he was 12 years of age.

He was charged only with the online offences committed in 2021.

Defence barrister Lucy Brown said that Witham, a working man who was married at the time, had undergone cognitive behavioural therapy and sought help from an offenders’ rehabilitation charity to try to curb his nefarious online behaviour.

She asked judge Simon Hickey to consider suspending the inevitable prison sentence, citing Witham’s “very traumatic” childhood and his deep remorse.

But Mr Hickey said it had to be an immediate jail sentence due to the “vast” number of images found on Witham’s devices.

He said although Witham had led an “industrious life” and had taken steps to reform himself, only an immediate prison sentence could be justified for such behaviour.

Witham was jailed for two years and ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

He was also given a 10-year sexual-harm-prevention order to curb his internet activities and contact with children.

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A 'despicable' sex beast who abused two females in West Lothian has been jailed for six years.

Kyle Sievewright, 20, was found guilty of eight offences, including rape, committed between 2019 and 2022 at the High Court in Livingston on January 17.

Today, Sievewritght received his sentence of six years in prison and a further three years extended sentence at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Detective Constable David Bryce said: “Kyle Sievewright subjected the females to violent, sexual attacks over a period of time. He’s been found guilty of these despicable crimes and now faces the consequences.

“I hope today’s sentencing brings some form of justice to these females as they continue to move forward.

“Police Scotland is committed to bringing all perpetrators of sexual crimes to justice, regardless of when it happened. I would urge anyone who wishes to report a sexual crime to contact us. We will always investigate thoroughly and you will receive support from police and partner agencies.”

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Andrew Glyn Passmore, 41, from Hirwaun, has been sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of attempt rape of a girl under 16, assault by penetration and sexual assault. 

In addition to the jail term, he will have to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life; will be the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for 15 years; and has a 10-year restraining order placed on him.

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A Dunfermline man was caught with a sick stash of child abuse material, which included children having sex with animals, after meeting fellow paedophiles on Twitter.

Ian Dunbar’s stockpile of sick images and videos depicted boys and girls aged between three and 12 being raped.

The 69-year-old, of Queens Court, Dunfermline, appeared at the city’s sheriff court to plead guilty to having indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children at an address in the street or elsewhere between July 6 2022 and February 22 2023.

Dunbar further admitted distributing or showing indecent photographs of children between February 19 and February 21 last year.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders Register and will be sentenced later.

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A convicted sex offender boasted online about raping and abusing a child.

In October 2019, Brian David Smith was engaged in an online chat with a man – who was actually an investigating officer from the North East Regional Organised Crime Unit (NEROCU) – during which he admitted to sexually abusing a child.

He had further phone conversations with the officer and arranged to meet who he thought would be a 12-year-old girl and planned to take her virginity.

Smith travelled from his home in Morecambe in November 2019 to the pre-arranged location in the North East only to find officers from NEROCU waiting for him.

He was arrested on suspicion of attempting to arrange of facilitate the commission of a child sex offence and while under caution said: “I don’t know why I did it. I’ve made a big mistake.”

When he was searched, Smith was found to be in possession of sex toys, sweets, and a mobile phone.

Later the same day, officer from the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team searched Smith’s home in Fairhope Avenue, Morecambe, and found indecent images of children and extreme pornographic images on several of his electronic devices.

Officers managed to track down the victim of Smith’s sexual abuse and she confirmed she was just eight years old when it started. It only stopped when she attempted to take her own life, such was the impact of Smith’s abuse.

He appeared at Preston Crown Court on Friday, January 19 and was jailed for 14 years, with three years on extended license.

Smith, 57, was convicted of rape, indecent assault, arranging or facilitating the commission of a sexual offence, and making indecent images of children.

He was also made subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offender’s Register for life.

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A Sheffield man has been jailed for eight and a half years after raping a 12-year-old girl in a local park.

Sheffield Crown Court heard how 21-year-old Lewis Stacey deceived the young girl over Snapchat messages by using a false name and convincing her he was 15-years-old.

The victim initially met Stacey in June 2022, and during the meeting he raped her twice. Stacey then arranged to meet the girl again in a park in July 2022, where he led her into some bushes and raped her again.

Detective Constable Jason Earl, officer in the case, said: The young victim very bravely came forward and reported to the police what Stacey had done to her.

Upon his arrest, Stacey initially denied having ever met the victim and only entered a guilty plea when forensic evidence proved he was responsible for the offences.

This incident has had a profound effect on the victim and I would like to praise her for the tremendous courage and dignity she has shown throughout the investigation and court proceedings.

I am pleased that Stacey is behind bars where he can do no further harm, and I hope this sentencing allows the victim to attempt to move forward with her life.

South Yorkshire Police takes all reports of rape extremely seriously and will work tirelessly to bring offenders to justice.

Stacey, of Richmond Hall Road, appeared before Sheffield Crown Court on 6 October 2023, where he pleaded guilty to four counts of rape of a child under 13.

On Thursday 8 February he was sentenced to eight and half years in prison, given a fifteen year restraining order restricting him from contacting the victim, and handed and given an eight and half years sexual harm prevention order starting upon his release from prison.

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TWO "predatory" sex offenders who filmed the vile rape of a woman in a car have been jailed.

Bujar Jashari, of Victoria Road, Southend, has been jailed for seven years for his role in the attack in Hornchurch town centre, in east London, last June.

Jashari, 34, and his co-defendant Rinor Korqa, 25, approached the 34-year-old victim when she became separated from her friends during a night out.

She was alone in a bar when two men approached her, took her to a car and drove away.

The victim, who has been praised by police for her bravery in speaking out and contacting the force, recalled being raped inside the car by one of the defendants while the other recorded the attack on his phone.

Staff who worked at a nearby bar told police officers during their enquires that both Jashari and Korqa had been spotted approaching several women before leaving with the victim.

Following the conviction, both men were branded “predatory offenders” who “would likely” still be offending if they had not been caught.

The pair were eventually traced and charged.

During a sentencing hearing on January 24, at Snaresbrook Crown Court, Jashari, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for rape.

Korqa, of Romford, east London, was sentenced to five years and six months imprisonment for rape and failing to disclose his mobile phone PIN.

Both men had been convicted of rape two days earlier at the same court.

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A sexual predator who abused two young girls after plying them with alcohol and cannabis kept his head in his hands during a Sheffield Crown Court hearing, as he was forced to listen to the devastating impact of his crimes.

Despite being judged to have 'no empathy whatsoever' for the two girls he abused, Darren Oldham barely looked up to face them as he was brought to justice, during a hearing held at the court on February 7, 2024.

Sending Oldham, aged 35, to prison, the judge - Recorder Ian Mullarkey - said his sexual abuse had 'touched almost every aspect' of his victims' lives, and had caused 'perhaps irreparable damage'.

One of the two girls - both of whom were just 14-years-old at the time of Oldhams offending - said she has not been in education since the abuse took place, and has 'missed out' on taking her GCSEs. The girl, in her statement to the court, said she has also lost a dramatic amount of weight, going from eight-and-a-half to six stone, as she attempts to come to 'come to terms with what has happened'.

"I do not feel like myself anymore. [After the abuse] I couldnt shower or do anything without breaking into tears. After what happened, I began to look differently at men, I even began to look at my own granddad differently," she said, adding: "I already had anxiety and depression, but obviously this has made it worse, a lot worse."

"Ive lost all my friendswe were close before but since this I dont want to do anything. For the last year Ive done nothingIve changed as a person since Darren did this to me, and its not changed since."

Speaking directly to Oldham through her statement, his second victim told him: "You ruined my mental health, you made me want to take my own life because of the trauma you caused. I struggle going to schoolI feel like every male will hurt me. You made me feel like that. I feel a shell of a person whos angry because of the trauma in my life."

"I hope you get punished, you deserve to rot in jail," she continued.

The court was told how Oldham abused the two girls - who are not known to each other - in separate incidents, which took place in Rotherham and Cornwall, seven months apart.

Prosecutor, Michael Collins, told the court that Oldham gave both and alcohol prior to carrying out the sex offences.

In addition, in both cases, the two girls were rendered unconscious - with one falling asleep after being given cannabis and one being knocked unconscious after he forced her head back, causing her to hit it on a rock - during the course of Oldhams abuse.

The shameless sex offender persisted with the abuse while the girls - neither of whom can be named for legal reasons - were unconscious, and they both awoke to find him on top of them, the court heard.

Recorder Mullarkey told Oldham: "What we have here are two 14-year-old girls intoxicated by you, asleep or unconscious. Its difficult to think of a more vulnerable situation."

He added: "There was this pattern here, of plying young girls with intoxicants."

Mr Collins said that after abusing one of the girls, he pretended to be asleep after she pushed him off, and fled the scene after the other girl 'screamed' out for help.

Oldham was wanted by South Yorkshire Police for several months, before being located charged with sex offences in connection with the two incidents in November 2023.

He subsequently pleaded guilty to two counts of assault on a female 13 and over by penetration with part of body/a thing at an earlier hearing.

Defending, James Baird said Oldhams best point of mitigation was his guilty pleas, which were 'effectively entered' at his first hearing before Sheffield Crown Court.

Mr Baird continued: "Your Honour knows he is the product of the care system, taken into care at the age of 11he started abusing drugs at a very early age, 12 or 13, and there is also a serious drink problem."

Mr Baird said Oldhams substance misuse issues intensified following the death of his daughter, adding that he was intoxicated at the time of both sets of offences, something Mr Baird said he advanced as an explanation, but did not seek to suggest it as a point of mitigation.

Referring to the conclusions reached by the author of Oldhams pre-sentence report, Recorder Mullarkey told him: "You have no empathy whatsoever for the victims of your offending, and fail to recognise the seriousness of your offending."

He jailed Oldham, of Middleton Road, Banbury, for nine years, and said he felt it necessary to also impose an extended licence period of three years - bringing his total sentence to 12 years.

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Paul Armitt pled guilty to carrying out the attack on the woman on April 28 last year on Seagate.

The 43-year-old touched the woman’s back and seized her buttocks.

Armitt also admitted assaulting a police officer during the same incident.

He attacked PC Younis Yaqub by seizing his clothing, pushing him on the body and trying to drag him by the body onto the ground.

Armitt, of St Edmund Terrace, Dundee, has previous convictions for sexual offending and is now on the Register for the next two years.

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A scrap metal dealer from Wales who sexually abused a teenage girl in Rustington has been jailed.

Mark Rumbol, 58, of Hewelsfield in Wales, sexually assaulted a girl under the age of 15 repeatedly between 2020 and 2021.

The abuse was reported to police in March, 2021 and Rumbol was arrested while his victim was supported by specialist officers.

He was subsequently charged with rape, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity (no penetration).

At Lewes Crown Court on 18 December, he was found guilty of all charges except rape, of which he was found not guilty.

At the same court on Friday, 26 January, Rumbol was jailed for 11 years, ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life, and given a restraining order and an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order significantly reducing his ability to offend.

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A man has been jailed after attempting to sexually assault two children. 

Alfred Dempster, 57, tried to lure two people he believed were children into sexual activity.

He began talking to someone he believed to be an 11-year-old girl on KIK Messenger - a popular messaging platform with youngsters -  before moving to Whatsapp on New Year’s Day 2020.

Dempster, who was actually speaking with a member of an online child activist group, asked them to send an explicit photo, touch themselves and call him "daddy". 

The contact ended on January 9, 2020. 

Dempster also began speaking to another decoy pretending to be a 14-year-old girl in November of the same year.  

He asked for photos, said he wanted to have sex and also encouraged them to touch themselves.

Dempster was arrested at his home in Nene Quay, Wisbech, on January 11, 2021, and his electronic devices were seized.

He was jailed for two years and six months on February 2 at Peterborough Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity. 

Two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, which Dempster denied, were ordered to lie on file. 

DC Zip Lloyd said: “This was a disgusting case where Dempster showed intent to potentially sexually assault two children.”

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A Wigan borough man who admitted making hundreds of indecent images of children has been jailed.

Karl Ashton, 36, of Rugby Road, Leigh, pleaded guilty to having the pictures as a trial was due to start in October.

He made four of the most serious (category A) images, five category B and 133 category C between October 4 and November 13, 2018.

He also admitted making three category A images, one category B and 31 category C between October 20 and November 6, 2022.

It was ordered that a charge of perverting the course of justice should lie on file.

Ashton has now been jailed for 21 months by Recorder Peter Atherton at Manchester’s Minshull Street Crown Court.

He will be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years and a sexual harm prevention order will run for an indefinite period.

He must pay a £187 victim surcharge and the devices upon which the images were found will be forfeited and destroyed.

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A Dundee creep caught with hundreds of child abuse images phoned the police and told them he had watched “bad things”.

Tommy Craig, 22, freely admitted to officers who later arrested him that he had downloaded the vile material.

A report has now been ordered and the Broughty Ferry Road man will learn his fate next month.

Hundreds of images

Prosecutor Lee Corr told Dundee Sheriff Court: “He contacted Police Scotland to say he was watching child pornography and using it as a coping mechanism.

“He openly stated to officers ‘I have watched bad things – child porn. It isn’t that bad, it’s like teenagers and that. I feel like I belong in a mental institute.’

“He provided a pass code for his phone to be searched.

Several hundred images were found during the search.

Unprompted confession

Craig pled guilty to downloading child abuse images between August 28 and December 23 2022.

According to defence solicitor Mike Short, Craig had been struggling to cope after what was described as a difficult upbringing.

Mr Short said: “He is a young man who knew there was a problem and sought assistance for it.

“He drew it to police attention and did nothing to try and hide it.”

Sheriff Paul Brown deferred sentence for the preparation of social work reports and Craig’s bail was continued.

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Following an investigation by Surrey Police’s Sexual Offences Investigation Team, a man from Woking has been jailed for four years and nine months for multiple non-recent sexual offences against two girls aged 14 and 15 at the time.

Thomas Pattison, 32, (DOB 23.09.91) from Woking committed the offences between 2013 and 2014. Evidence of his offending was uncovered when one of his victims reported to the police that she had been in a sexual relationship with Pattison. Soon after this a second victim came forward. Pattison’s phone was seized by officers and messages were found which corroborated one of the accounts and witness enquiries confirmed the other.

The sentencing at Guildford Crown Court was part heard on Tuesday, 6 February with the victims present but was adjourned until the judge was able to confirm the sentence later that week. On Friday, 9 February, Pattison was sentenced for seven counts of penetrative sexual activity with a child, having pleaded guilty at a pre-trial hearing previously.

He will serve his time in prison and will then be released on license. He will also be subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will be on the Sex Offenders Register for life.

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A man from Churchdown has been jailed after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a woman and secretly filming two others.

Alex Russ, aged 34 and of Craven Drive, was sentenced to six years and five months in prison when he appeared at Gloucester Crown Court last week.

He had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault against one woman and two counts of voyeurism against two further women.

The court heard that, the day before the first incident, Russ had used his tablet device to search for sleep disorders involving sexual behaviour.

In 2015, while staying at the home of a woman, she had started to go sleep when Russ pulled her pyjama bottoms down and sexually assaulted her. She was able to stop him and challenge his behaviour.

On another two occasions Russ got into bed with her while she again tried to sleep and he sexually assaulted her.

Russ also admitted secretly filming women without their knowledge or consent. One incident saw him set up a camera phone in a washbag and leave it in a bathroom, where he was able to film a woman before and after she showered. 

The other incident involved a camera hidden in an alarm clock which he set up in a room being used by a different woman.

Although he initially denied the offences, Russ pleaded guilty at the first day of trial in October 2023.

As well as being jailed, Russ has been put on the Sex Offenders Register for life and restraining orders have been put in place to protect the women.