Latest Offenders Dover

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An Andover man has been jailed after being found guilty of sexually abusing a teenage boy.

Matthew James Parker, 45, of Picket Twenty Way, had been found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child for offences that took place between May 2022 and April 2023.

Parker had also admitted 15 breaches of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and his sexual offender notification requirements before the trial, which took place in March.

On Tuesday 30 April, at Winchester Crown Court, Parker was sentenced to a total of 14 years, with up to nine years in prison and five years on an extended licence.

A further three breaches of his order and notification requirements were taken into consideration at the sentence hearing.

The trial had heard that in 2019, Parker was convicted of attempting to arrange or facilitate a sexual offence against a child, for which he was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence and an indefinite SHPO.

He was also made subject to sex offender notification requirements indefinitely.

The court heard that on Friday 29 September, 2023, Parker completed a notification requirement at a police station, and it was noted that Parker had failed to disclose new bank accounts within a specified time period.

His Offender Managers searched Parker’s home address and he was arrested.

Evidence of further breaches were found at the address, including attempts to change his name, travel outside the UK, the creation of new bank accounts and possession of internet-enabled devices.

Officers also found evidence of contact with a teenage boy. The court heard that further enquiries established that Parker had sexually assaulted the boy on separate occasions in 2022 and 2023.

Description

Deranged James Ford, 33, ambushed two teenagers and two women in a spate of “worrying” incidents in Andover. It led to the flasher being jailed for two years at Winchester Crown Court.

The sex attacks happened on June 23, with the first of those taking place at around 1pm when a 29-year-old woman was on Anton Lane when Ford cycled past her. He then dismounted from his bicycle and pulled down his trousers before putting his hand in his pants and touching himself inappropriately in front of her.

A short while later, Ford cycled past a 17-year-old girl and sexually assaulted her. This was at the junction of Colonzo Drive and Vigo Road.

Officers then received a report at around 2.45pm that a 23-year-old woman saw a man masturbating in some bushes on Picket Twenty.

Ford also assaulted a 14-year-old girl on the same day. At around 4pm the victim was walking on Anton Lane Path when Ford cycled past her and sexually assaulted her.

Following police enquiries, Ford was arrested at his home address on 24 June. Whilst at his address, officers seized a bicycle matching the description given by the victims.

Ford, of Dines Close in Andover, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault, two counts of indecent exposure, and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

On top of his two-year jail term, Ford received a seven year restraining order for each of the victims and his Sexual Harm Prevention order amended to include further restrictions.

Detective Sergeant Mike Jarvis said: “Ford’s behaviour towards these women is very worrying and I am glad that he has been held accountable for his actions.

“I hope this result sends a clear message that we take these reports very seriously and will investigate thoroughly. I am pleased that we have secured justice for these victims. Reducing violence against women and girls remains one of our top priorities and together with other agencies we do a lot of work to tackle this issue.

I would like to take this opportunity to remind people that if you have been the victim of a sexual offence, please report it to us – you will be listened to and you will be taken seriously. We will also work to get you the support that you need.”

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A 55-year-old man from Latvia has been jailed for sexually assaulting 2 young girls on the Isle of Wight back in 2011, more than 4 years after his victims reported their ordeal to Police.

Sergeis Jakobovskis, formally of Batchelor’s Barn Road in Andover, first appeared before the Isle of Wight Magistrates Court back in August 2020. He stood accused of 2 counts of sexual assault on a girl under 13 and 1 count of sexual assault on a female aged 16 or over.

It’s said that Jakobovskis intentionally touched the 2 girls, the youngest of which was just 8 years old. The matters only came to light when the victims, both now adult women, courageously reported the crimes to Police in 2018.

The case was sent up to the Isle of Wight Crown Court where it was heard for the first time in February 2021 – with an interpreter present. A plea and trial preparation hearing followed in April 2021, followed by another hearing in June. The trial got underway in February of last year but was halted in March, followed by a further case management hearing in early October.

It was later in October 2022 that Jakobovskis was found guilty of all 3 charges against him and he was remanded in custody.

The 55-year-old, who has been in the United Kingdom for over 11 years, was initially due to be sentenced on 12th December but it was only today (Tuesday) that he was finally sent down.

Appearing at the Isle of Wight Crown Court earlier today, Judge Mousley handed Sergeis Jakobovskis an immediate prison sentence of 4 years and ordered him to sign as a registered sex offender. He was also made subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

He was sentenced to 6 months in prison for sexual assault and 4 years in prison for each of the 2 counts of assaulting a girl under the age of 13 by touching. Each sentence will be served concurrently totalling a 4-year prison term.

DC Dave Widger of Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary has said:

“Finding the confidence to report sexual abuse takes an incredible amount of bravery on behalf of the victim. I want to commend these two young women for their courage and patience throughout this investigation.

“For any victim, going through the criminal justice process is effectively being made to relive the trauma of what happened to you. I am so pleased that both victims got some very hard earned justice.

“Protecting children is a duty we take extremely seriously as police officers, and we will do everything in our power to bring child sex offenders like Jakobovskis to justice.”

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A sexual bully who repeatedly slapped womens buttocks as they passed him has been jailed.

Steven Medhurst, of Dover, assaulted his latest victim three times, telling her off you go after the first smack.

Following his arrest the 62-year-old claimed the woman, who must remain anonymous for legal reasons, was lying.

But a jury unanimously convicted Medhurst of sexual assault following a three day trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

Judge Mark Weekes sentenced Medhurst to 16 months in prison at the same court last month.

He labelled Medhurst a sexually incontinent bully who derived pleasure from his victims sexual humiliation.

The action of slapping a woman on her bottom is undermining and demeaning for her, he added.

The judge voiced fear that handing down an immediate spell in custody would see the high risk sex offender, who has already served the equivalent of a 21 month sentence on remand, released without intense supervision.

Instead, he imposed a 12 month sentence suspended for two years which will see Medhurst under the strictest supervision, to help protect the public.

Judge Weekes also passed a 16 month immediate spell in custody for a separate matter, after Medhurst breached a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

During the trial, jurors heard Medhurst previously denied sexually assaulting two other women in 2013 and 2019, by slapping their bottoms.

But jurors had found him guilty on both occasions.

The court heard Medhurst attacked his latest victim on three separate occasions in 2020, while just out of sight from wife Debra.

'Whats it going to take for him to realise its not OK - you cant treat women in this way....'

His victim told the court she has been left constantly looking over my shoulder.

I feel dirty and violated with what hes done to me, she continued.

Whats it going to take for him to realise its not OK - you cant treat women in this way.

Hes a predator and he needs to be stopped before he does it again.

In his closing speech, prosecutor James Benson told the jury of four men and seven women the attacks show he has a propensity to sexually assault women in a certain way, by touching their bottoms.

He branded Medhurst: A man who has difficulties keeping his hands to himself when it comes to womens bottoms.

He became very flustered, you may think, when I asked him if his alleged victim had a nice bottom, Mr Benson explained.

His instant reaction was to lie and suggest he didnt have any view of her bottom, didnt look at it.

He ended up making the suggestion that Debbies bottom is nicer, which wasnt said with the greatest deal of conviction, he added.

He argued Medhurst became overwhelmed with the urge to assault his latest victim after she got so close he could smell her.

But Kieran Brand, defending, urged jurors to acquit Medhurst after dubbing the victims account inconsistent.

Alluding to Medhursts previous criminal record, and the fact he maintains his innocence on all convictions, he said: coincidences do happen.

Mr Brand told the story of Violet Jessop, a stewardess believed to be the only person to survive three sinking ships, including the Titanic, earning her the nickname Miss Unsinkable.

And he said although jurors may not like Medhurst they must be sure of his guilt to convict.

But Medhurst was convicted unanimously on all three counts after jurors deliberated for an hour and seven minutes.

Medhurst could be seen shaking his head in protest as the jury foreman delivered the verdicts, which the judge branded amateur dramatics.

Medhurst, of Reach Close, was on bail at the time of his latest offence and in breach of a suspended sentence order handed down in 2019.

He was also in breach of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order after failing to notify the authorities about owning a computer tower.

A probe revealed 70,000 images had been deleted and could not be recovered.

Medhurst was handed a 10 year restraining order and 10 years of notification requirements.

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Thomas Martin, 30, set up a Snapchat profile with the name ‘TomLock11’ and came across a 15-year-old girl asking for someone to buy her tobacco. He agreed but in return for a picture of her boobs, she did so and sent his account to her friend as she also wanted tobacco.

Once he had indecent images of the two girls, Martin used them to pressure the girls into sending more, by threatening to show the images publicly if they didn’t comply.

Russell Pyne, prosecuting, told Winchester Crown Court that Martin, of Launcelot Court, Andover, also sent images of his penis and made his victims watch him masturbate.

Mr Pyne said: “(One of the victim’s) asked him to delete what he had. The defendant replied saying that he wouldn’t but also would post them on four social media sites, Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.”

The other girl said that she would go to the police, but he threatened her saying “he would ruin her life more than she could ruin his”. He sent an indecent image of the girl to her friend.

The blackmail came to end after one of the victim’s stepmother saw the girl attempting to take an indecent photograph.

Martin was arrested and his phone was examined which was found to contain indecent images – one of Category A, deemed to be the worst by police, 10 of Category B and two Category C.

One of the victim’s said: “The experience I went through definitely ruined my life for a while. It was demeaning, I was scared that people would find out what happened. I didn’t know who Tom Lock was or if he knew who I was.”

The other victim said she felt violated after what happened and left her having panic attacks.

Martin previously pleaded guilty to two counts of blackmail between May 1 and October 21, 2019, disclosing private sexual photographs with intent to cause distress and three charges of making an indecent photograph of a child.

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Following sentencing last week, Benjamin Cheyne will face 11 years in prison, after he was found guilty of two counts of assault by penetration, and two counts of sexual assault against the minor.

On October 7, at Salisbury Crown Court, Judge Barnett described the actions that took place between February 2019 and May 2020 as "an extremely serious offence".

"Your selfish, totally unthinkable conduct, on the last two occasions while she was sleeping, caused unthinkable damage to her," he said.

In a statement from the victim's mother, it was revealed that as a result of the assaults, the young girl has "deteriorating self esteem and confidence".

"The impact is immediate and will affect her for the rest of her life," she told the court.

It was heard that the now 11-year-old finds her own home triggering and suffers from night terrors, with a lack in sleep affecting her learning.

She worries about trusting people and making relationships, fearing Cheyne, a father-of-two himself, will come and take her away.

Judge Barnett added that what happened has had "far reaching consequences" on the victim's "happiness, development, relationships with others and schooling", causing "enormous trauma".

The court heard that Cheyne, aged 32, did not agree with the jury's guilty verdict following the trial, but respected it, and he plans to move away from the area as soon as his sentence is over.

Following his 11-year sentence, Cheyne, of Pilgrims Way, will be under licence for a year, and a sexual harm prevention order and restraining order will be in place indefinitely.

Detective Sergeant Eileen Speck of the Child Abuse Unit, Basingstoke, said: “I would like to thank DC Jenks for her hard work in investigating this complex case and in supporting this family. This is a really positive result at Crown Court.

"Working in the Child Abuse Unit provides immense rewards for our detectives and police constables in protecting children against all levels of abuse. The dedication and passion they have to their role, allows children to have a brighter future and achieve the goals they so rightly deserve in life.”

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ANDOVER paedophile Callum Lee Bates has avoided a prison sentence after admitting to breaching his sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to speak to a 13-year-old boy on the dating app Grindr.

The 21-year-old, from Andover, was sentenced to a three-year community order at Winchester Crown Court on Thursday (February 4).

The court heard how Bates is a unique case due to his complex learning difficulties and naivety.

Wesley Potterton, prosecuting, told the court how Bates, having been sentenced to a five-year SHPO in April 2018, was prohibited from unsupervised contact with any male child under the age of 16.

However, in February of last year, police had concerns about the contact Callum Bates had been having on Grindr, after it was raised by probation officers and other agencies.

Officers seized his phone and computer and found messages on the Grindr app which indicates he had contact with a child who indicated that he was 13, Mr Potterton told the court.

He added: They started off with some sexual messages, but on the basis at that point that Mr Bates was under the impression that he was 18. But it becomes clear that he becomes aware he is under the age of consent.

There are no sexual messages from the point it is clear that Mr Bates knows that the child is under 18 years of age, but contact does continue when clearly it is prevented by the sexual harm prevention order.

Speaking on the seriousness of the offence, Mr Potterton said: Crown accepts it cant be identified if the child exists or in fact, is under 16 or not, but would point out what he has done is carried on messaging the child and clearly should have stopped as soon as he became aware he was 13.

Those are not just innocent messages about friendship. There have been previous sexually charged messages between them.

In mitigation, Lucy Conroy, defending, called it a unique case and urged the judge to consider a community order and mental health programme requirement.

She said: It is a unique case in this particular area of the law, in the type of defendant Mr Bates is. We see very regularly individuals who are out to prey on the young of society. That is not this defendant.

Ms Conroy told the court that Bates has a low IQ and is functioning in only the third percentile of cognitive ability at 21 years of age.

That in and of itself is cause for concern, she said.

This is a case that is crying out for somebody to tackle the route cause of Mr Bates behaviour, which seems to be his cognitive difficulties.

When the order was first put in place he had just come out as gay, was struggling with that, and turned to Grindr which reports to be an app for those over 18.

There is a naivety, in my submission, to his behaviour online that needs to be addressed.

The doctor who carried out a psychiatric assessment of Bates - who has been diagnosed with autism - recommended an 18-month mental health programme.

It is clearly work, in my submission, that cant be done in a custodial setting, but it is vital, both to the community at large and Mr Bates, that it is done, said Ms Conroy.

She urged the judge to allow professionals to strike while the iron is hot, as Bates has already begun weekly therapy sessions aimed at working on interests off the computer and developing tangible friendships in the real world which he does not currently have.

Ms Conroy stressed the important role of Bates mother, Mrs Grant, in his life, and of carers who attend his house three times a week to help him control his diabetes.

She said: That gives a flavour of how little Mr Bates can be responsible for his own care.

Addressing Bates, Judge Angela Morris said: You are now 21-years-old Mr Bates and I must consider that usually doing what you did would mean that you would go to prison today.

She added: But I also have to look at the reports. It is clear that you have a complex series of learning difficulties and that is a very strong factor in your case. I have come to the conclusion that imposing an immediate custodial sentence on you today would not in any real sense address your offending behaviour and protect other people in the future, particularly young people, and protect you from yourself.

Judge Morris sentenced Bates to a three-year community order, with a mental health treatment requirement, also for three years.

Bates must also take part in 60 days of rehabilitation activities, including the adapted sex offender treatment programme.

He will remain subject to his existing sexual harm prevention order until 2023.

I am satisfied that there is a doctor who will oversee your treatment, so there are many people that are going to look after you, said Judge Morris.

If you do not attend, it will put you in breach of this order and you will come back before me and if that happens, Mr Bates, you will go to prison.

You must help yourself in order for others to help you too.

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Jonathan Furber, of Salisbury Road, had previously pleaded guilty to two charges, attempting to incite a child to sexual activity and attempting to incite a child to watch a sexual act. He was arrested after paedophile hunters arranged a meeting at a pub where he was confronted.

The 31-year-old was given a 16-month sentence for the offences, suspended for two years.

Sentencing Furber on January 28, Judge Miller QC said that this was “a one and only” opportunity for him, but warned that any reoffences or breach of the sentence would see him returned to court.

Winchester Crown Court heard from prosecutor Roderick Blain, who said that in 2018, Furber began messaging with an account that he believed was used by a 14-year-old girl called Hannah. This account was actually being run by an adult female member of a “vigilante organisation”.

Despite telling Furber that the supposed user of the account was underage, he proceeded to send sexually explicit pictures. Conversation then moved to WhatsApp, where “extremely graphic and sexualised” messaging continued, including video of the defendant masturbating and suggestions ‘Hannah’ should do the same.

A meeting was then arranged at a pub, where the court heard that Furber “wanted to take her into the forest for sex”. Upon arrival, he was confronted by the paedophile hunter group “in numbers”, who livestreamed their citizens arrest on the internet. Police subsequently were called and arrested Furber.

Mitigating, Ruby Selva said that Furber had lost his job and his relationship, and had not been taking medication for ADHD. She said that he had been communicating with adult females, and this “spiralled”, leading to him being “humiliated” on the internet.

She said that there was “no suggestion” her client had been pursuing others, with no evidence of other messaging or sexually explicit images of children found on his phone or computer.

Furber had been “wholly co-operative” with the investigation and prosecution, she said, having pleaded guilty even after the Crown Prosecution Service informed the defence that the vigilante group was not responding to their attempts at contact, with the leader having been prosecuted.

Selva said that he had “expressed true remorse” for his actions, and had “strived to address his offending”, calling for a suspended sentence to be given.

The judge agreed with Selva, with the starting point of four years for the first charge halved as the offence in question could never have taken place, as the 14-year-old child did not exist. This was then reduced by a third due to his guilty plea, and then suspended for two years.

Sentencing Furber, Judge Miller said that he had demonstrated “considerable remorse” by pleading guilty despite the absence of evidence from the paedophile hunters, and said that was “a real chance of rehabilitation.”

“I am being lenient,” she said. “You’re not going to get another chance like this, it’s a one and only.”

She warned him against reoffending or breaching the terms of his sentence, adding: “This is a chance. Please don’t make me regret it.”

In addition to his suspended sentence, Furber was ordered to attend a sex offenders course and to attend 25 days of rehabilitation, as well as conduct 100 hours of unpaid work. He was also given a sexual harm prevention order and ordered to surrender his phone, which is to be destroyed.

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A MAN from Andover has pleaded guilty to sexually grooming an underage girl, which was actually a decoy.

Alan Smith, of Collingwood Walk, admitted attempting to meet with a child with the intention of sexual activity.

The offence took place between July 3 and September 8, last year, but according to court records Smith was talking to a decoy.

He appeared at Winchester Crown Court on Friday November 13.

The 40-year-old will be sentenced at the same court on December 18.

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AN ANDOVER man who drove hundreds of miles to meet a 14-year-old girl for sex, only to be caught by a paedophile hunters group, has been jailed.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Ian Mace, then 51, travelled 400 miles to Scotland thinking he was going to meet a teenager he had been speaking to online.

It was reported that Mace had sent her thousands of messages on WhatsApp and app Highfive over the course of a month.

But when he arrived at the destination, 'Kelly' was not there. The girl who he thought he had been talking to was instead an adult from a group called 'Rising Against Online Predators', which describes itself as a "team who endeavour to take as many people who sexually exploit children online off the streets to make it a better place for children to grow up."

At a previous appearance at Hamilton Sheriff Court, he admitted communicating indecently with 'Kelly' and also attempting to meet with her between February and March 2018.

On Friday last week (August 21), Mace was jailed for 30 months for the incident.

A statement released on behalf of Hamilton Sheriff Court read: "The court having seen and considered the reports and having heard from Counsel in respect that no other method of disposal is deemed appropriate sentenced the accused to six months imprisonment from this date on charge 1.

"The court sentenced the accused to 24 months imprisonment on charge 3, said period to be consecutive to the period imposed on charge 1.

"Total period of imprisonment 30 months from this date."

Mace was placed on the sex offenders' register. Mace was present at sentencing.

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A PICKET Twenty man arranged to meet a “13-year-old boy” at a theme park after grooming him through an online dating app.

Matthew Parker sent messages to the boy’s profile saying he wanted to “kiss, cuddle and hold hands” with him after meeting him on Grindr.

The 41-year-old later bought tickets for the pair to go to Thorpe Park.

But the 13-year-old’s profile was actually a fake – run by an adult working for paedophile hunter group Child Safe UK.

Parker, a former Red Funnell ferry officer, was arrested by police and pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to facilitate a sexual offence against a child.

Last Thursday, at Southampton Crown Court, Parker was given a suspended sentence.

The court heard he first began speaking to the boy through Grindr, an online dating application geared towards gay, bi and trans people.

Prosecutor Nick Wells told the court that Parker had stated in his profile that he was “only into young guys”.

Mr Wells said the conversation between the Parker and the boy later moved to free online chats website Kik Messenger.

He said Parker sent a number of “inappropriate messages” to the boy, including telling him he wanted to “kiss, cuddle and hold his hand”, but said that they could do “nothing more”.

Parker, who was previously employed as a First Officer on Red Funnel, the company that operates ferries to the Isle of Wight, was arrested in July last year after arranging to meet the young boy at Surrey-based theme park, Thorpe Park.

In mitigation, Lucy Conroy said Parker had undertaken counselling sessions since his arrest.

In sentencing, Judge Gary Burrell QC said Parker’s case was unusual.

He said: “Throughout the conversation you do not try to promote messages of a sexual nature and you do not request sexual pictures or send any yourself. This is unusual [in these cases].”

Parker, previously of Holbury, near Southampton, but now of Picket Twenty Way, Andover, was sentenced to a 12-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to complete 55 days of rehabilitation activity requirement, pay £600 in court costs and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

Speaking after the case, a Red Funnel spokesperson said Parker left the business in October 2018.

The spokesperson added: "As the court ruling against Mr. Parker does not pertain to his employment at Red Funnel, it would be inappropriate for us make any further comment for legal and data protection reasons.”

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A convicted sex offender and former RAF officer who was imprisoned in Winchester Prison died in the citys Royal Hampshire County Hospital an inquest has heard.

Richard Adrian West aged 74, died just six months after being jailed for historic sex offences.

Richard West, born on July 7 1942, and previously of Armstrong Rise, Charlton, was sentenced to five and a half years in prison in June 2016 after being found guilty of six counts of historic indecent assault.

West originally faced 11 charges of historic sexual offences during the 1970s concerning two young girls.

Following a trial in November 2015 at Salisbury Crown Court, a majority guilty verdict was passed in relation to the charges concerning one victim but the jury failed to return a verdict relating to the second victim.

The pathologist Dr Basil Purdue said that the cause of death was heart failure due to severe heart disease combined with diabetes.

The court heard that Mr West who had been largely bed bound since June 2016, was frail at the time of his death but could stand with the aid of a Zimmer frame.

The senior coroner Mr Grahame Short said that Richard West, who resided in Winchester Prison died on February 10 2016 due to natural causes.

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A COACH driver who'd been banned from working with children filmed up schoolgirls' skirts with a hidden camera for two years.

Andrew Whatmough, of Wood Park in Ludgershall, worked as a coach driver for Parnhams Coaches, based in Ludgershall.

The 35-year-old had worked for the company, which holds contracts with both Wiltshire and Hampshire Council to provide school run services, on and off for about ten years.

Salisbury Crown Court heard on Friday (June 2) that between September 2013 and September 2015 Whatmough had installed a hidden camera on his coach and was filming schoolgirls.

Despite having no previous convictions, Whatmough received a letter from the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) in 2014 which banned him from working with children, but he was already employed by Parnham Coaches.

Defending, Berenice Mulvanny did not clarify what led to the DBS involvement but referred to "an unpleasant action from 1997".

Prosecuting, Dawn Hyland said Whatmough's offending came to light when, without his knowledge, his mother lent his Play Station console to his step-brother.

When his step-brother used the console he found "a number of films" that had been made by the defendant, and he found further films on a USB stick Whatmough had lent him "on an earlier occasion".

Ms Hyland said the hidden camera, located near the steps of the coach, had captured "up-skirt films" of schoolgirls under the age of 16, "showing their underwear and on occasions their genitals as well can be seen".

About 20 girls, who are kept anonymous due to the nature of the crime, have been identified by police using facial recognition software on stills from Whatmough's films, and from their school uniforms.

However, Judge Andrew Barnett told the court: "It is accepted that there were more girls than this affected on these counts".

Judge Barnett said he had read victim impact statements which he described as "very distressing".

He said: "All say they were horrified to discover what had happened, as getting on the school bus they thought they were quite safe."

One girl said: "I feel more cautious wearing skirts and dresses" and Ms Hyland said many of the girls had been "embarrassed" to find out they'd been filmed.

Police seized two phones from Whatmough during their investigations and uncovered more than 1,500 images of children (114 in the most serious bracket, category A, 135 in category B and 1,263 in category C).

In his first interview in January Whatmough "fully admitted" possessing the indecent images and making movie clips.

He told police he was "in a dark place and didn't know how to get out" and that he "didn't have any sexual interest in young children".

Whatmough said he'd record on the camera for his whole shift and then "cut out the parts he didn't want" but he knew it was wrong and apologised for his actions.

He pleaded guilty to eleven counts of outraging public decency by covertly filming someone under the age of 16, two counts of possessing indecent images and one count of engaging in barred activity.

Ms Mulvanny said "despite this" Whatmough was a man of good character with no previous convictions and that he'd pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

His family were supporting him in court and a letter from his father was handed to the judge as well as a letter from Whatmough himself.

Ms Mulvanny said in the letter, his father Steve Whatmough said the defendant was "prepared to take whatever was coming to him".

She said Whatmough had brought a bag to court "anticipating that this would be the outcome" and said he was "thoroughly ashamed of his behaviour".

Sentencing, Judge Barnett said: "For two years while you were working as a coach driver you installed a device in your coach which enabled you to film those entering your coach, effectively from the feet upwards and you obtained a number of unpleasant, indecent and disgusting pictures which invaded their privacy and abused their trust.

"They, and the larger public, must be truly outraged by your behaviour.

"You received a letter in 2014 from the Barring Agency that, for various reasons to do with your background, told you you were barred from working with children, yet you ignored that letter and continued to do so".

Judge Barnett added: "I would be failing in my duty to society if I suspended the sentence and I cannot and I will not do so".

He sentenced Whatmough to 14 months in prison for the charges of outraging public decency, 8 months for possessing indecent images and four months for working while barred, to be served concurrently.

He also made a sexual harm prevention order to last ten years.

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POLICE have released the picture of an Andover man who was jailed for almost five years for covertly filming young children in an Andover supermarket.

John Fielding pleaded guilty to a number of sexual offences when he appeared at Bristol Crown Court on Friday 22 July.

The 46-year-old, of Old Winton Road, was sentenced to four years and ten months in prison.

He pleaded guilty four counts of outraging public decency, six counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of a child, two counts of possessing a prohibited image of a child, two counts of possessing extreme pornography, and three counts of breaching a Sexual Offences Prevention Order.

The court heard that Fieldings offending came to light in Friday 27 May, when he was confronted by a customer at the Lidl store in Western Avenue.

The customer had become suspicious of Fieldings behaviour in the store and, with the help of other customers, detained him until police arrived.

A camera pen was found in Fieldings bag.

The court heard that during the subsequent investigation, officers from Hampshire Constabularys Northern Investigations team discovered videos Fielding had covertly filmed children and young people in public places across the South and South West of England using a camera pen or Go Pro camera.

Officers also found thousands of indecent images of children that Fielding had downloaded to his computer from the internet since Friday 29 January.

As well as being sentenced to four years and ten months imprisonment, Fielding received a sexual harm prevention order, until further order.

He was also placed on the sexual offenders register, again until further order.

PC Stephen Court, officer in the case, said: John Fielding is a devious man who used covert methods to film children in public places.

This offending came to light thanks to the actions and bravery of a vigilant member of public who had spotted Fielding acting suspiciously in the Andover Lidl store on May 27.

I would like to place on record my thanks to this customer, and to the other members of the public, who showed bravery and restraint in detaining Fielding in the store until officers arrived.

This investigation and subsequent sentence serves as a reminder that we take the kind of behaviour shown by Fielding very seriously, and strive to bring such offenders to justice.

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A MAN who had unprotected sex with a 15-year-old autistic girl while on bail for impregnating another underage girl has been sent back to prison.

William Tollan-Townsend, 20, was jailed for 16 months in August last year for getting a 13-year-old girl pregnant after telling her he could not wear protection.

He only admitted that crime after DNA from the foetus matched his.

In July last year, just days before he was due in court to plead guilty to the underage sex, he invited a 15-year-old girl, who was on the autistic spectrum, to the park and persuaded her to have sex with him.

The two were on “friendly terms” and used to exchange messages on social media.

Winchester Crown Court heard how she was “reluctant” to have sex because he had a girlfriend, but he told her that they had broken up.

It was her first sexual encounter and Tollan-Townsend was described as being “persistent”.

After the incident he told the girl: “Don’t tell anyone because I’m already being done for having sex with an underage girl.”

Yet the girl told staff at her school the following day, who were able to obtain the morning after pill, and reported it to the police.

Nick Cotter, defending, said Tollan-Townsend had made a “reckless decision” and his judgement was affected by his impending court case.

Tollan-Townsend, from Bell Street, Andover, was charged by police just days before he was due to be released early on good behaviour.

In sentencing him to a further 18 months in jail, Recorder Alastair Malcolm QC at Salisbury Crown Court told him that it was a “serious case”.

He said the crime had been made worse by not wearing protection and that it was committed while on bail.

Tollan-Townsend is already on the sex offender register.