Mark Day 58

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A woman and four men were found guilty on Wednesday of offences relating to an international paedophile ring which used a nudist website as a guise for its offences.

Melissa Noon, 30, and the four other defendants, including Daniel Bell, 27, a serving soldier, were convicted on a total of 16 charges.

The jury at Portsmouth crown court was still deliberating on one charge against Noon, of arranging a child sex offence.

Noon, Bell, Simon Hilton, 29, Mark Day, 45, and John Maddox, 46, had denied the offences.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, told the trial that Noon and her partner, Robert Hathaway, 36, were at the centre of the international paedophile ring, which abused two British children under the age of 13.

Hathaway set up a naturist website as a guise for distributing indecent photographs and videos of children as well as for meeting like-minded perverts around the world, the jury was told.

Using the internet the couple discussed abuse of children with some of the other defendants and arranged to meet some to carry out further sexual assaults on the young victims, the trial heard.

The abuse included rape, attempted rape and the use of sex aids. The police seized more than 20 sex aids from Noon and Hathaway, the trial heard.

The children had been made to engage in naked wrestling and play the game Twister in the nude.

The jury of six women and six men took more than 12 hours to reach the verdicts in the majority of the charges.

Noon was found guilty of three charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one of causing a child to watch a sexual act, two of sexual assault of a child, two of arranging a child sex offence, one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two of possessing indecent photographs of children. Noon had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of cruelty to a child.

Hathaway, of Portsmouth, Hampshire, was described at an earlier date as the ringleader. He previously pleaded guilty to 45 offences. These included two charges of rape of a child, four of sexual assault of a child, 15 of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, two of distributing indecent images of children, and one of possessing prohibited images of children.

He has also pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, three of arranging a child sex offence, four of making indecent photographs of children, and 13 of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Bell, who had military accommodation but was previously living in Emsworth, Hampshire, was found guilty of two charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of attempting to distribute an indecent image of children. He was found not guilty of two charges of arranging a child sex offence.

Simon Hilton, 29, of London, was convicted of one charge of arranging a child sex offence. Hilton had previously pleaded guilty to 13 offences, including sexual assault of a child and extreme pornography possession.

Mark Day, 45, of Whitefriars Meadow, Sandwich, Kent, was found guilty of one charge of arranging a child sex offence. The judge had ordered a not guilty verdict to be ordered on a second similar charge against Day.

John Maddox, 46, of Rainham, Essex, was convicted of a charge of causing a child to engage in sexual activity. He had previously pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing indecent photographs of children.

As well as the defendants convicted on Wednesday, a further three, are among those who have already pleaded guilty to participation in the paedophile ring.

Stephen Fraser, 41, of Cambridge, admitted 27 charges. These included one offence of sexual assault of a child, two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child, and one charge of arranging a child sex offence. He had also pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing extreme pornography, one of making an indecent image of a child, and 19 of possessing indecent images of children.

Lee Parson, 38, of Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to one charge of arranging a child sex offence, three charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of taking indecent photos of children.

Jonathan Garner-Harris, 37, a teacher, of Marrick, North Yorkshire, appeared at Durham crown court over 20 offences. These related to three charges of inciting a child sex offence and 17 counts relating to indecent photos of children. He is to be sentenced alongside the other convicted defendants at Portsmouth at a later date.

Hampshire police began investigating the ring after being tipped off by Australian authorities who uncovered a "mirror image" ring which also abused a young child. Hathaway was in contact with this ring in Australia and shared images with them. One of the charges faced by Noon concerned her encouragement of an Australian child to engage in sexual activity.

Chat logs totalling 2,000 pages were uncovered by police, as well as 14,000 indecent images of children and 300 videos of children being abused.