Ricky Stubberfield 31

Description

A Plymouth man has been jailed for 26 years after sexually assaulting women, including those he lured into his teeth-whitening salon with offers of free treatment.

Ricky Stubberfield, 31, messaged popular young women on Instagram to offer them free treatments in exchange for promoting his business on their platforms.

But when the trusting victims attended his Essex Smiles franchise on Mutley Plain they were instead subjected to lewd remarks and forceful sexual assaults.

Stubberfield, of Walnut Gardens, Plympton, abused three women who answered his social media offer and two other regular female customers at the salon between 2022 and 2024.

However Plymouth Crown Court heard that his sexual offending actually began many years before. He had abused three other females at various locations including at a concert between 2013 and 2022.

During a trial in June, Stubberfield was convicted of 23 offences - eight counts of rape, nine counts of sexual assault, four counts of digital penetration, indecent exposure and making an indecent image of a child.

They were unable to reach a majority verdict on three further charges of rape, digital penetration and sexual assault.

At Plymouth Crown Court today, 21 October, Stubberfield was jailed for 26 years, plus an additional six years in licence. He will also sign the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Stubberfield first came to the attention of police in February 2022 when a 16-year-old girl reported that he had sexually abused her on two occasions that month.

On one night he had raped her in the disabled toilet during a concert at Plymouth Pavilions and later in the back of his van on Plymouth Hoe.

On the second occasion the victim was at a house with a friend and Stubberfield. Throughout the night he carried out a torrent of multiple rapes and other sexual offences against her while telling her to ‘be quiet’.

Some of the offences were captured during a FaceTime call to her friend after Stubberfield brazenly pulled her out of view to sexually assault her and forced her to commit a sexual act upon him.

Unbeknown to Stubberfield his actions were reflected in a nearby cooker hood and seen by the caller who shouted out to stop him. She had also recorded the call and provided this to police.

The court heard that in 2024 a woman reported that she had been abused by Stubberfield at Essex Smiles.

Operation Highrock was then launched by Devon and Cornwall Police’s Project Gemstone, a specialist sexual offences investigation team in Plymouth.

After a third report in 2024, Stubberfield was arrested and charged with multiple offences. A report in the local media prompted other victims to come forward. Some believed they were the only one and Stubberfield’s sexualised behaviour had often been dismissed by those who knew him as it being ‘Just Ricky’.

The investigation uncovered the shocking extent of Stubberfield’s offending. Between 2022 and 2024 he had abused five women, all in their 20s, at the teeth whitening and tanning salon.

Four victims were sexually touched while receiving teeth whitening treatments, three from his social media offers. He also exposed himself to a fifth victim.

In all cases Stubberfield made inappropriate sexual remarks as a precursor and asked details about their sex lives.

Once in the treatment chair with a mouth guard in, he took advantage and sexually assaulted them, asked for photos and made repeated forceful sexual advances. One woman described feeling trapped while another told police she froze in fear of what may happen next.

The fifth woman was accompanied by her toddler when she went to buy a product from the salon. Stubberfield asked her out on a date which she declined. He then showed her a picture of his genitals before pulling down his trousers to expose himself. She left the shop and, unbelievably, he called a few minutes later to ask her out again.

In 2013 Stubberfield sexually assaulted a woman he met on a dating site, forcing himself upon her before she was able to get away.

Another victim encountered Stubberfield in 2021 where he raped her twice before asking her is she ‘fancied a Nando’s’. She described him as always being ‘forceful in his sexual nature’.

In July 2024 he was further arrested while on remand in prison. Stubberfield consistently denied any wrongdoing and on one occasion he even asked interviewing officers if they found one of his victims attractive.

He was charged and found guilty of the 23 offences against eight females during the June trial. His victims were aged between 16 and 27 at the time of the offences – all younger than Stubberfield.

HHJ Judge Linford said to Stubberfield on sentencing: “Your behaviour was utterly remorseless predation.” He described the offending as ‘part of your personality’ which was ‘very worrying’ and stated Stubberfield posed a ‘very high risk of harm’ to the public.

Detective Inspector Marcus Hodges, senior investigating officer, said:

“I welcome the sentence given today to a man who preyed on young women for over a decade.

“My utmost thanks and praise are with the victims who not only had the courage to report the offences, but to support the police investigation and give evidence in court.

“Their strength and bravery is admirable, and I sincerely hope that they may find some closure and be able to start moving forward with their lives following this outcome.

“I also hope it may encourage others and give them the confidence to report crimes and know that they will be taken seriously.

“My thanks also go to the detectives who investigated this incredibly complex case diligently and thoroughly, resulting in a compelling case which resulted in a guilty verdict.”