Locations
Houghton Conquest, Bedford, MK45
Description
A 67-year-old man who was once on the FBI’s most wanted list has been convicted of a child sex offence in Kettering.
James Hemphill, previously of Houghton Conquest, Bedford, was on the American law enforcement’s most wanted list for ten years after he pleaded guilty to a child sex offence in America in 1994 but fled to Scotland before he could be sentenced.
After evading the FBI for ten years, he was finally arrested in 2004, returned to America and jailed. But in April 2008, he was deported back to the United Kingdom where he has been living ever since.
At the end of 2022, he was living in Kettering and offended again, contacting a teenage girl and asking her if she wanted him to buy her some underwear.
He also asked her if she wanted adult toys and if she wanted them to share a bed.
The girl in question bravely confided in a family member and Hemphill’s offending was reported to Northamptonshire Police.
He was arrested and subsequently charged with one count of causing/inciting a girl aged 13-15 to engage in sexual activity and one count of failing to comply with the notification requirements of being on the Sex Offenders’ Register.
Following a trial which ended at Northampton Crown Court on Monday, June 18, he was convicted on both counts.
He will return to the same court in September to be sentenced.