Latest Offenders Falkirk

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A ‘predatory’ priest who repeatedly molested a sleeping train passenger has been jailed for 16 months at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

Father Daniel Doherty, 61, from Falkirk, was the parish priest at St Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Falkirk.

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A serial Scottish rapist who inflicted violent sexual abuse against three women has died behind bars.

Lee Thomson died at HMP Glenochil on May 20, the Scottish Prison Service confirmed. The 52-year-old violent offender was jailed for life in December 2020, following a campaign of abuse against his victims between 2003 and 2018.

His vile crime include six rapes, two sexual assaults, four assaults and two stalking offences that took place in Fife. A trial at the High Court in Edinburgh heard how Thomson stalked two of his victims - monitoring them using covert devices, reports the Daily Record.

He also made one of his victims undergo lie detector tests. Thomson, who was a dad-of-ten, continued to deny his crimes, which went undetected for years.

During sentencing, he was handed an Order for Lifelong Restriction and was placed on the sex offender's register.

Speaking at the time, Detective Sergeant Gordon Patullo of Police Scotland's Domestic Abuse Task Force said: “Lee Thomson’s offending took place over a number of years against three women which until now went largely unpunished. Thomson’s offending included sustained violence and sexual abuse of his victims.

"He is a dangerous, manipulative individual who went to extraordinary lengths to monitor and control these women. With this sentence of an order of lifelong restriction, Thomson will face the consequences of his actions for many years.

"His conviction sends out a clear message that domestic abuse crimes will be robustly investigated by Police Scotland."

He continued: "I would like to thank the victims in this case for the strength and dignity they have shown throughout this investigation and subsequent court case and I hope that today's sentencing provides them with some closure which will allow them to move on with their lives.

"We would take this opportunity to reach out to anyone who is experiencing or has experienced domestic abuse; it is never too late to report to the police or seek support and advice from one of our partner agencies such as Women's Aid."

Officers from Police Scotland said the death is not being treated as suspicious. A Fatal Accident Inquiry will take place in due course.

A spokesperson for the SPS said: "With each death in custody, Police Scotland are advised and the matter reported to the Procurator Fiscal. Fatal Accident Inquiries are held in due course."

A Police Scotland spokesperson said: "We received a report of the sudden death of a 52-year-old man at HMP Glenochil around 8.05am on Monday, 20 May, 2024. The death is not being treated as suspicious. A report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal.”

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A man who attempted to rape a woman in the woods in Falkirk has been given an Order for Lifelong Restriction and will serve a minimum of 32 months in prison.

Maximiliano Moreno, 22, grabbed a 20-year-old stranger from behind as she walked home from work in 2022, admitting the intention to rape her.

He was in possession of a knife and a rucksack which contained what prosecutor Angela Gray described as a "rape kit".

The bag contained cable ties, condoms, a pare of pliers, latex gloves and two scarves.

Moreno was given an Order of Lifelong Restriction at the High Court in Glasgow, an indeterminate sentence which sees convicts supervised by electronic monitoring for the rest of their lives.

He was also sentenced to an indefinite prison term as part of the order, and will serve a minimum of 32 months.

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A high school teacher is facing jail after sending a 15-year-old girl sexual Snapchat messages and seedy photos, and trying to entice her to go to a hotel with him.

James Connal, 31, a maths teacher at Larbert High School, Stirlingshire, groomed the girl while giving her private tuition at her home.
She was not a pupil at his own school, and he had been given her phone number so lesson times could be arranged.

A jury at Falkirk Sheriff Court heard that his contacts with the girl "started out innocently enough but within a couple of weeks had developed into something that was anything but innocent".

Connal began to text her throughout the day, including during school hours, telling her she was "pretty", that he "looked forward to seeing her", and then asked her to go away with him and stay in a hotel in Edinburgh with him.

He added her on Snapchat and sent her selfies of himself topless and with his hand down his trousers, messaged asking if she "wanted to see something hard", and texted to ask if he could put his hand down her top.

She said in evidence he had tried to kiss her on two occasions when he turned up for maths lessons, and he had also told her to delete some of the messages he had sent.

Connal tutored the girl, now 18, for about two months from the start of October 2021 to November 28th 2021, when her mother spotted on her daughter's phone some of what Connal had been sending, cancelled a lesson set for that day, and the police were called in.

The seedy pics showed some had been taken in his classroom at Larbert High School, and showed his "distinctive tattoos".

The court heard that because the Snapchat app only transmits new photos just taken, the "obvious conclusion" was that some of them had been sent "live" from the school.

Connal, of Hallglen, Falkirk, denied a charge of indecent communication and causing the girl to look at sexual images. He did not give evidence himself but entered a special defence of incrimination that suggested the photos and messages had been sent by another, unspecified, person.

Prosecutor Jamie Hilland told jurors: "Use your common sense. The ragingly clear conclusion is that they were sent by Mr Connal. I would suggest you should have little difficulty in rejecting the possibility that someone else had been sending them."

Referring to Connal's suggestion to the girl about going with him to an Edinburgh hotel, Mr Hilland said: "The implication of that is pretty clear."

After a two day trial, jurors took less than 15 minutes on Wednesday, January 24, to find Connal guilty. The decision was by majority. He was also found guilty of breaching the terms of an undertaking -- so-called police bail.

He showed no emotion when the verdicts were returned.

Peter Keene, defending, said: "The benchmark in this case might not be a jail sentence."

Sheriff Christopher Shead deferred sentence for reports until February 22nd, and continued bail.

He told Connal: "These are serious matters, and the court is duty-bound to consider all disposals, including custody."

Placing Connal on the sex offenders' register, he added that he "had been professional person", but that had been ended by the jury's verdicts.

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A PROLIFIC sex offender set up sick private chat rooms to exchange footage with other perverts of him sexually assaulting 10 children - raping one of the youngsters dozens of times.

Benjamin Young preyed on the youngsters during a near two-year campaign of horror abuse.

The 42-year-old cook was finally snared days before Christmas last year after the National Crime Agency discovered he had sent photos to a fellow paedophile in Denmark.

It led to his home being raided and police seizing two mobile phones which stored almost 20,000 indecent images and videos.

The High Court in Glasgow heard yesterday how one child alone had been raped 26 times.

First offender Young - via his KC Ronnie Renucci - pleaded guilty to a total of 32 charges.

These included rape, multiple sexual assault as well as the possession, taking and distribution of indecent images.

A judge told Young he had plumbed “the depths of depravity”.

A full risk assessment was instructed to be carried out which could eventually lead to Young made the subject of an Order for Lifelong Restriction.

The offences occurred between January 2021 and December 2022 mainly in Argyll and Bute.

Prosecutor Kath Harper said: “This case involves extensive and prolonged sexual offending by Young against 10 children - all aged under 13 years - and one adult.”

Young also pleaded guilty yesterday to sexually assaulting a woman while she was sleeping. He further recorded her in a “voyeuristic manner”.

Family of a number of the young victims were at court yesterday to see Young admit his guilt.

Lord Arthurson remanded him in custody and adjourned the case until March 19 next year in Edinburgh.

The judge said there are some case where “words can be inadequate” to describe what was heard.

Lord Arthurson told Young: “Your offending has plumbed the depths of depravity.

“You are plainly a calculating and committed paedophile.

“I think it can be safely said that this is one of the worst types of this sort of case to come before the court.”

Detective Inspector Adrian Ure, National Child Abuse Investigation Unit, Police Scotland added: “Benjamin Young is a sexual predator who manipulated and abused defenceless young children for his own sexual gratification.

“The nature of his offending, which included multiple serious sexual assaults, was truly horrific and through a long and complex investigation we were able to uncover the significant extent of his criminal behaviour, which also expanded across the dark web.

“He was directly responsible for creating and sharing unspeakable content which contributed to the wider demand and process of child sexual abuse across the world.

“Although what Young has done will no doubt have lasting impacts, we hope this conviction will serve as a warning to others who are involved in this kind of criminality.”

Young showed no emotion as he was led handcuffed to the cells.

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A DELIVERY driver who sexually abused three children has been jailed for 13 years.

Daniel Cassells preyed on his young victims during a string of horror attacks.

A judge heard how a relative of one victim found the child curled up and sobbing after being put through a harrowing ordeal.

The woman later went to police which led to Cassells ending up in the dock at the High Court in Glasgow.

The 37 year-old pleaded guilty to raping two of the children and sexually assaulting the other.

The crimes occurred between 2018 and 2021 at different addresses in South Lanarkshire.

Cassells was today sentenced by Judge Lady Stacey, who also ordered him to be monitored for two years on his release.

Prosecutor Margaret Barron told how Cassells "never spoke" during attacks on the first victim.

The second pleaded with him why he was doing this- but again the pervert "did not respond".

After one attack in 2021, a relative of the youngster found the child lying curled up and visibly upset.

The woman recalled: "The child did not say anything, but the face was crying for help."

The victim later confided in her what Cassells had done.

Cassells, of Denny, Stirlingshire, preyed on the final victim when he was alone with the child.

The woman who had been told about the abuse went to the police in July 2021.

Cassells later handed himself in but did not comment on the accusations.

His lawyer Rosalyn McTaggart today said Cassells had "shown a level of shame and remorse" for what he had done.

Two of the victims had already given pre-recorded evidence which would have been played at a trial before Cassells admitted his guilt.

Lady Stacey told him: "Your behaviour was shocking. You moved from one child to the next."

The judge added she took the view Cassells may "likely be a danger to people" even after a lengthy jail term so he will be supervised when back on the streets.

He was also put on the sex offenders list indefinitely.

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A PAEDOPHILE drug dealer who raped three teenage girls -- one just days after her THIRTEENTH birthday - has been jailed.

Karl Calder-Harley, 26, targeted the 13-year-old after finding her on TikTok.

He messaged her on Snapchat, and she after agreed to meet him, he drove her to a spot near Throsk, Stirlingshire.

He told her he had a knife and then assaulted her in his customised Ford Mondeo.

The High Court in Stirling heard that he gave the "naive" youngster money, took her phone off her while she was in his car, and after the rape told her not to save any of the Snapchat messages they had exchanged.

The rape occurred in December 2020 just two to three days after the child's 13th birthday, when Calder-Harley was almost 24.

The incident came to the attention of police.

Calder-Harley was arrested and gave a "no comment" interview.

Officers spoke to other girls he might have associated with.

The court heard a 15-year-old girl revealed that she too had been raped by Calder-Harley, who used to collect her in her school uniform from her Stirlingshire high school.

At the time, in April to June 2016, Calder-Harley -- who has since been convicted for being concerned in the supply of cocaine and has a previous conviction for an offence under the Proceeds of Crime Act -- was 20.

He was only 18 when he raped his first victim, a woman, also 18, with whom he had been in a relationship between June 2013 and June 2016.

The woman, who gave evidence from behind a screen, said the incident had left her crying and she had pleaded with him to stop.

He continued through her tears.

She told jurors: "I was saying stop, stop, but the minute I would move he forced me back down on the bed."

She said she had been manipulated, had her phoned smashed, her clothes ripped, and had been punched and pushed downstairs by Calder-Harley during their relationship in Stenhousemuir, also Stirlingshire.

After a four-day trial at the High Court in Stirling, a jury of eight women and seven men took less than three hours to find Calder-Harley, an unemployed dumper driver, of Stenhousemuir, guilty of three charges of rape and one of having under-age sex. He had denied the charges and said the rapes never happened.

He sobbed and blubbered as the verdicts were returned and judge Lord Colbeck revoked his bail.

He was remanded in custody for reports until October 3rd at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Prosecutor Chris Macintosh said Calder-Harley had "preyed on three naive and immature young girls to satisfy his own needs".

Solicitor-advocate Simon White, defending, reserved mitigation.

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A man who sexually assaulted six people over a 41-year period has been jailed at the High Court in Edinburgh.

Paedophile John Ballantyne, 60, carried out his evil attacks in victims in Bonnybridge, Dennyloanhead and Moodiesburn, between 1977 and 2018.

His youngest victim was just 5-years-old.

Ballantyne will spend 12 years behind bars with a further 4 years on licence and will also be subject to sex offender registration requirements.

Investigating officers have described him as a "dangerous individual".

Detective Sergeant David Brown from Larbert Police Station said: "We welcome the sentencing of John Ballantyne, who has shown himself to be a dangerous individual who has indiscriminately offended against females and males, both adults and children, over a number of decades.

"His offending has had a significant and lasting impact on the lives of his victims. Todays sentencing ensures that he faces the consequences of his actions.

"I would like to commend the men and women who came forward to report Ballantynes crimes, for their bravery and resilience throughout this process.

"I hope the conviction and sentencing can help them move forward with their lives.

"We treat all reports of abuse and sexual crimes seriously and sensitively, regardless of when they occurred.

"I would urge anyone who has been subject to this sort of behaviour to come forward to police feeling confident that we will investigate it thoroughly.

"Anyone who wants to report crime can contact Police Scotland on 101."