Latest Offenders

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A pervert who was caught having sex chats with a police officer posing as a young girl is back in jail. Dean Warren was jailed for 20 months last September after he tried to persuade a 13-year-old 'girl' to take part in sex videos

But the 'girl' was in fact a decoy. In his police interview he admitted his behaviour was for his own sexual gratification. In his police interview he admitted his behaviour was for his own sexual gratification.

As well as the jail sentence, 34-year-old Warren was made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for 10 years which prohibits him from using any device capable of accessing the internet unless it has the capacity to retain internet use and does not delete internet history.

But Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court heard the police visited Warren on May 13, the day after his release from prison. They checked his phone and gave him advice about removing some apps.

Officers returned to his home on June 29 and again checked his phone. Prosecutor Rupert Jones said: "It revealed a Virtual Private Network (VPN), which allows the user to browse the internet without the history being recorded. He told the police he had used it to view adult pornography. The usage placed him in breach of the SHPO.

"He had installed the My Cleaner app which is designed to delete evidence of activity. And he had used WhatsApp and Facebook social messaging platforms but had deleted some of the messages sent."

He was arrested. He said he used the VPN to view adult pornography. He said he realised he should have paid more attention to the detail of the terms of the SHPO.

Warren, of no fixed address but formerly of Bentilee, pleaded guilty to three charges of breaching a SHPO. Rob Holt, mitigating, said Warren accepted he would be jailed as he has been recalled until March.

Mr Holt said: "These offences started quickly after his release. He deleted the history. There is no suggestion that there was any contact with children. My instructions are that he was in contact with adults and viewing adult pornography. There seems to be no inherent interest in children."

Recorder Anthony Warner said: "The SHPO made at the time you were sentenced is an important part of the protection of the public in the case of a sex offender such as you going forward.

"Very shortly after you were released you were visited by the police and it was quickly discovered that you had been deleting messages and using apps designed to disguise internet activity. All were a breach of the SHPO.

"It is a deliberate and very serious breach involving the deletion of social media messages and the use of apps designed to disguise internet activity.

"The aggravating features are there were three breaches of the same order and they were very soon after your release from the sentence passed on you for the offences which gave rise to the order in the first place.

"You need to consider how you are going to respond going forward because if you continue to breach the SHPO you will be in the cycle of returning to prison, unless you engage and are assiduous in following the requirements of the SHPO."

Description

A "dangerous offender" who carried out a catalogue of abuse against four young girls has been jailed for 20 years.

Daniel Bottger has already served around half of a 14-year sentence for the rape of a fifth girl which took place after the latest offences which were brought before a court. Bottger had been released from prison prompting four other victims to come forward, Hull Crown Court was told.

Bottger, 35, of Sculcoates Lane in Hull, denied nine offences including two of rape and others of attempted rape and indecent assault. He was convicted by a jury after a trial.

One of the victims said in a statement: "I try to be a strong person but I am not really . . . I don't want anyone else to go through what I have been through." A second victim said: "All I have is trauma . . . I feel like I am on the verge of a mental breakdown. I live in a constant state of panic. I feel isolated like a prisoner in my own home. I look at the same four walls day in, day out.

"I get triggered by every noise. It has been extremely difficult to live with the awful pain for so long, but I have finally gained the strength and courage to speak out."

A third victim said her experiences had been "horrible". A fourth victim added: "Peace still feels very far away. This almost killed me. It almost stole my will to live. The key word in all this is 'almost'."

Charlotte Baines, mitigating, said that psychological harm had been caused to the victims and Bottger had been assessed as posing a high risk of committing further sexual offences. He had committed no further offences since being released from prison after his 14-year sentence for two offences of rape against the fifth girl, for which he was convicted by a jury in 2013.

The two rapes against the fifth girl had been committed after the offences involving the other four girls, but they came to light first. "Since his release, he has made the choice to isolate himself," said Miss Baines.

"He has not been in any relationships. He was keeping his head down and sticking to his licence conditions. He was living an isolated existence with his dog. These are all factors that reduce his risk."

Bottger still denied the offences and claimed that the four girls had all lied, the court heard. He had been on bail during the trial and arrived each day at court on a bicycle, which he left secured outside the court. He was remanded in custody after being convicted of the offences and the bicycle remained secured outside the court for several days until eventually being removed.

Judge Mark Bury told Bottger: "You have left in your wake four traumatised young women. Chickens have a habit of coming home to roost and I can tell you that yours have. Each of these four complainants have had severe psychological harm.

"I hope that they can get some closure from the end of these proceedings. Your attitude was to blame everybody but yourself. You wouldn't discuss the offences with the probation officer. This is a clear case where you pose a significant risk to members of the public. You are, therefore, a dangerous offender."

Bottger will not be released from prison until the Parole Board decides that it is safe to do so. He will be on extended licence of four years after his release.

Following sentencing, Detective Constable Emma Andrew, of Humberside Police, described Bottger as "an abhorrent man" who "cruelly abused his victims". DC Andrews added: "He has shown no remorse for his actions, putting his victims through the further torment of a trial by refusing to admit his crimes.

“I am reassured that Bottger is now facing significant time behind bars for his crimes . . . I want to thank the victims for their bravery in coming forward and commend them for the courage they have shown.”

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Stephen Pocklington, who has been jailed before for crimes against children, made contact with girl over Messenger earlier this month, but was a decoy profile run by a paedophile hunter group.

Leeds Crown Court was told that the 50-year-old initially asked an innocuous question about liking chocolate, and when the profile responded making it clear she was just 12, he told her not to tell anyone.

It quickly turned sexual and over the course of two days, he encouraged her to masturbate and asked if he could perform sex acts on her, prosecutor Gareth Henderson-Moore said. He also asked for her phone number and when she would be alone, telling her it would be their secret.

The case was handed to another hunter group who then went to his home on Clifton Road, Sharlston Common, Wakefield. The court was told that Pocklington has five convictions for 17 offences, 12 of which are against children. He was jailed for 33 months in 2018 for multiple counts, including causing a child to watch sexual activity. He also attempted to pay a child for sexual services.

He was put on the sexual offender register and given a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO).

For his latest offending, he admitted attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, breach of the SHPO and breach of the terms of the sex offender register.

Mitigating, Ian Cook told the court: He understands his only real mitigation it entering his guilty pleas at an early opportunity and co-operating with the police investigation. He has expressed a willingness and desire to work with probation in the prison environment to get to the bottom of his offending that causes him great shame. He feels it is triggered by alcohol misuse.

Jailing him for 32 months, and putting him on the sex offender register indefinitely, Judge Simon Phillips KC said: Its part of a clear pattern of offending behaviour. You pose a risk towards female children. This was determined sexualised behaviour towards what you thought was a young child.

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A callous rapist who was "on the prowl" outside a Hull nightclub – and deliberately targeted a vulnerable woman who was "hammered" after a night out – has been jailed for 12 years.

Lazarus Olleh coaxed her into a car within about three minutes after he approached her outside in the street. He had earlier parked nearby at about 5.10am to look out for a woman to have sex with and he found just that person, Hull Crown Court heard.

Olleh, 38, of Belmont Street, Hull, denied raping the woman but he was convicted by a jury after a retrial spanning about seven days. An earlier jury in April had been unable to reach a verdict.

Jeremy Evans, prosecuting, said that, during the early hours of October 29 last year, Olleh decided that he wanted to have sex. He was so determined to do so that he drove the short distance from a friend's flat in Whitefriargate, Hull, and parked in a taxi bay outside the Propaganda nightclub – and waited at about 5.12am.

"Over 15 minutes later, at approximately 5.30am, that lone female presented herself – she was 18 years old – and she left the nightclub, dressed in a schoolgirl uniform, together with fake blood on her clothing and face, in a Halloween-theme costume that both she and her friend had chosen when going out the previous evening," said Mr Evans.

The woman, who is now 19, and her female friend had been to Bar Babylon and then Silvers/Yates Bar before going to the Pink Parrot cocktail bar and the Atik nightclub, where they stayed until 3am. The original plan was for them to get a taxi home at about 5am but the two friends became separated and could not find each other.

The woman had been drinking heavily and seemed to be struggling to put her arms into a jacket that had been on her shoulders.

"She crossed the road and sat, alone, with her back to the wall, with her knees pulled up towards her chest," said Mr Evans.

"Within seconds of watching her leaving that nightclub, the defendant walked over, crouched down in front of her and engaged her in conversation.

"In little over three minutes, the defendant walked her to his car, with his arm around her, and assisted her into the front passenger seat before driving away at 5.34am.

"He drove her a short distance, parked up in what turned out to be a short walk from his friend's flat on Whitefriargate." He almost "frogmarched" the woman and she had little option but to comply because because of her drunken state. "He was preying upon a drunken woman," said Mr Evans. "This was the very reason that he targeted her. The defendant had taken hold of her arm at the wrist and then placed his arm around her shoulders as he ushered her to the entrance of the flat."

Olleh took the woman to one of the bedrooms and raped her. She could not remember much about it afterwards except for waking up on her side, facing a wall and immediately realising that someone had been having sex with her.

"Such was her state of fear at the time that she could do nothing to resist," said Mr Evans. "Her next recollection was losing her consciousness once again."

DNA tests later confirmed that Olleh was responsible. The woman was awoken by a second man and helped from the bed to her feet. Olleh and the woman walked to the car, followed by his friend. Olleh asked her for her phone number and she gave a false number.

She was scared, confused and feeling insecure while they were in the car. She asked to be dropped off at the end of a street where a friend lived.

Olleh was eventually traced after police made inquiries at his friend's flat in Whitefriargate. When he was told that the police were looking for him, he contacted them. He gave mainly no comment replies to questions, despite being told about the DNA found.

"She doesn't see herself as a victim," said Mr Evans. "She sees herself as a survivor."

Liam Gregory, mitigating, said: "The verdict has come as a shock to him." Judge Mark Bury replied: "The only person that it has come as a shock to, then."

Mr Gregory said: "It's something that he is going to have to come to terms with. He still feels that he is not guilty of this offence."

The fact that Olleh turned up in his own car and did not use a condom suggested that there was not detailed pre-planning, claimed Mr Gregory.

Olleh was from Nigeria and he had been in this country for only about six weeks at the time. He had previously lived or studied in Canada and Ukraine.

Judge Bury told Olleh that he rejected the idea that Olleh had wanted to help and look after the woman by getting her something to eat and then taking her home.

"She was so out of it that she could not protest or fight you off and she fell back into unconsciousness," said Judge Bury. "She was hammered."

She was awoken after the rape by Olleh telling her: "We are going."

Judge Bury said: "That was because you had achieved your aim, which was to look for and find a vulnerable young female to have sex with. You were on the prowl outside Propaganda and you found exactly what you were looking for in her.

"It's plain that she had no capacity to consent. She was too drunk and too tired. There was some abduction because she did not want to go with you. She was just not able to stop you taking her.

"She has suffered severe psychological harm. She was devastated in the hours following the incident. You were a total stranger. This is the sort of nightmare that people worry about.

"All you wanted was to have sex and, if it involved rape, then so be it and that's what happened."

The woman had the worry for several weeks that she might become pregnant or suffer a sexually-transmitted disease. She later received the all-clear.

"You are a Nigerian national and that means that you fall to be deported at the end of your sentence," said Judge Bury.

Olleh, wearing a white long-sleeved top, showed no emotion as he was led out of the secure dock to be taken down to the cells. He will have to register as a sex offender for life.

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James Moorcroft, 35, of Wigtoft, near Boston, was convicted of two counts of rape when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court in August.

Lincolnshire Police said Moorcroft did not enter a plea and was found guilty by a jury.

A force spokesperson said Moorcroft’s victim “was a person he met online”.

"Due to the tenacity and will of those involved with the investigation, Moorcroft was identified and arrested within hours of the offence,” they explained.

“He has now been brought to justice and was sentenced last week, Friday, September 22, after a two-year investigation.”

The officer in charge added: “This was a lengthy investigation that has resulted in a positive outcome for the victim.

“Although this crime will stay with the victim forever, hopefully this will provide an element of closure for her.

“Credit must go to the victim for her courage and bravery shown during the investigation.

“I would also like to thank the supporting agencies involved - SARC at Spring Lodge were incredible in supporting the victim.”

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A man has been handed a long jail sentence after he was convicted by a jury of five rapes upon two Devon women over period of nine years.

Craig McCormick, of Colsedown Hill, Plymouth appeared at Plymouth Crown Court on Monday for a sentencing hearing following a three-day trial held in June. Having been initially charged with two counts of rape against one woman the jury found him guilty of one charge and not guilty of another.

He had previously pleaded guilty to four charges of rape against another victim. The offences took place between 2012 and 2021 in the Torquay and Newton Abbot areas of Devon.

The 33-year-old was told by the judge he would spend 18 years in custody with further four to remain on licence.

Following the sentencing, DC Sarah Hall, who led the investigation, said: "We welcome this sentence. I also wish to pay personal tribute to the victims. Their bravery in reporting these matters and supporting a prosecution has brought this man to justice.

"I hope they and their families can now move forward with their lives in the knowledge that they have seen some justice for what he did to them. Devon and Cornwall Police remains committed to supporting survivors of abuse and sexual offences and we will actively investigate and, where evidence supports, charge people who commit these crimes.

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A sex offender gave an underage girl alcohol before illegally having sex with her in Derbyshire. Derby Crown Court heard how Daniel Jeffries was six years older than his victim when he carried out the offence against the “vulnerable” 15-year-old.

In heartbreaking victim impact statements, the brave girl told how since it took place, what happened has “affected her every day” while her father said his daughter “had taken a huge emotional dip”.

Now the defendant is tasting custody for the first time at the age of 23. Jailing him for 15 months, Judge Shaun Smith KC said: “It is important to say from the outset you were six years her senior, you knew how old she was and you knew she had mental health issues. The pair of you had drunk alcohol and you were no doubt both disinhibited.

“You then had sexual intercourse with her, it was unprotected and, in short, you took advantage of a young girl you knew was vulnerable. You showed no remorse and you then embarked on victim blaming in pursuit of that.

“The consequences for her have been drastic, she had regressed and it was effectively mid-trial (when you changed your plea) and the fact of the matter is this has made her worse when she was getting better.”

Kevin Jones, prosecuting, said the incident took place in Derbyshire when Jeffries was 21 and the girl was 15. He said the defendant was drinking alcohol with a friend and contacted the victim saying he had booze and she joined them. Then, after his friend had gone, he had sex with the girl.

The prosecutor said: “He knew she had been drinking alcohol as he had provided her with it. She told her parents 'something bad has happened,’ they gave her some comfort and she then rang her boyfriend and told him and it was him that made contact with the police.

“Mr Jeffries was arrested at his home address and gave a different account of what had happened to the one she gave.” A number of victim impact statements were summarised by the judge who read them out in court.

In hers, the teenager said what took place “affected her thoughts every day” and that it “affected her self-confidence and self-esteem”. The victim’s father, in his statement, told how the family had moved to Derbyshire to help his daughter and “things were on the upturn” until she was abused by the defendant.

He said: “Everything has changed since, she has regressed and does not feel safe. It is an emotional rollercoaster, she is permanently on edge and cannot relax. In short, she’s taken a huge emotional dip.”

In another statement, the girl’s mother told how Jeffries “has damaged our daughter and we are trying to fix it”. And the teen’s aunt said: “She is now a shell of the person she once was, she now has no zest for life.”

Midway through his trial, Jeffries, of Chapel Lane, Rangemoor, Burton, pleaded guilty to sexual activity with a child. Lucy Jones, mitigating, said: “He comes to crown court with his (prison) bag, it (the offence) was out of character and unfortunately what happened that night caused the consequences we have heard about (in court)

As well as the jail sentence, Judge Smith handed the defendant a five-year restraining order and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order. He also placed him on the sex offender register, also for 10 years.

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A 42-year-old Southampton man has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of child sex offences.

David Richman, of Landguard Road, Southampton, was convicted of four offences against a child under the age of 13.

Following the initial report in 2020, Richman was sentenced this morning at Southampton Crown Court. He has also been placed on the sex offenders register.

Following the sentencing, Police Staff Investigator Christopher Manning, from the Child Abuse Investigation Team, said, “First and foremost, I would like to praise this young victim for the bravery she has shown in ensuring this sexual offender has been brought to justice.

“Her courage also means that this offender is now behind bars and unable to abuse anyone else.

“I hope that this sentence goes some way to helping the victim move forward with her life.

“I also hope this sentence will reassure other victims that they will be listened to when reporting similar incidents to us.

“We encourage others who have suffered this type of abuse to come forward and speak to us.

“We take allegations of this nature extremely seriously and work hard to bring offenders to justice."

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A man has been jailed for six years for historical child sexual offences dating back to 1998.

Richard John Tilley, 52, of no fixed address, was convicted of three counts of indecent assault following a trial at Lincoln Crown Court.

All offences involved the same victim, Lincolnshire Police said.

Tilley was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and was made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

Investigating officer Det Con Caroline Pendell said: "I would like to thank the victim for having the courage to come forward and having the confidence in the police and criminal justice system to bring the offender to justice.

"The victim in this case has remarkable strength and courage."

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A woman ‘pretended to be asleep’ during a sex attack perpetrated by a Chippenham man.

42-year-old Nicholas Hodges was convicted of assault by penetration and sexual assault by a jury at Salisbury Crown Court on 14 September.

At a previous hearing, prosecutor Asha Seenauth said the defendant had been invited back to a woman’s address with another man following a night out in Chippenham in 2022.

The woman put her children to bed and continued drinking with Hodges and the other man. When she went to bed, he sent her a message asking if he could come and give her a hug.

After she ignored his message, Hodges entered her bedroom and kissed her neck and lips as she pretended to be asleep. The other man is said to have told Hedges to leave her room and he did.

A short time later, he have returned to her bedroom – where he started kissing her neck before lifting her leg and sexually assaulting her digitally.

 The victim “froze” during the sex attack, which is said to have lasted approximately two minutes.

Hodges, of Charter Road, Chippenham, will be sentenced on 17 November. An offence of assault by penetration carries up to 19 years imprisonment.

Description

An evil sex offender and career criminal has been jailed yet again after he breached a sexual-harm prevention order designed to protect children.

Garry Dover Afflick, 57, formerly of Northallerton, was under a strict order not to delete his search history from any internet-enabled device, York Crown Court heard.

But following an impromptu visit to his home by his police offender manager in May, it emerged that the former crack-cocaine dealer – who has over 170 offences to his name including kidnap, blackmail and many “horrific” sex offences against young boys – had deleted data from his Samsung phone.

Prosecutor Jemima Stephenson said Afflick had been placed on the order after being convicted of possessing indecent images of children in October 2017.

He denied breaching the lifetime order but was convicted following a trial at Scarborough Magistrates’ Court earlier this year.

When his offender manager turned up at his home on May 24 for a routine inspection, Afflick told him his phone had been stolen in Scarborough town centre.

“He said he bought a new phone which he registered (with police) within three weeks,” said Ms Stephenson.

He said that his original phone had subsequently been found and that he had tried to sell it at a pawnbroker’s but that the shop wouldn’t take it, so he sold it to a friend.

However, police enquiries revealed that the shop made Affleck sign a form confirming he had re-set the phone to “factory settings”, thereby deleting its history, and that he had sold it to the shop, which he ultimately accepted but denied deleting any data.

Afflick, formerly of Ashlands Court, Northallerton, but lately of Pavilion Square, Scarborough, appeared for sentence on Friday, September 22, after being remanded in custody.

Ms Stephenson said Afflick had 32 previous convictions for 170 offences including sexual attacks against children dating back to the 1990s. These included indecent assault against a boy under 14 years of age, failing to comply with notification requirements as a registered sex offender and making indecent images of children.

In October 2017, he was jailed for 19 months for seven counts of possessing indecent images of children.

In November 2019, he was jailed for three years and four months at York Crown Court for a previous breach of the sexual-harm prevention order by befriending a family with a young child.

Afflick started offending when he was just 13 years of age, subsequently wracking up convictions for burglary, theft, public disorder, handling stolen goods, serious violence, supplying Class A drugs, kidnapping and blackmail.

In 1997, he was jailed for 14 years for indecently assaulting a boy under the age of 16, upon which he was branded a “Fagin-style” sex offender.

In 2013, at Teesside Crown Court, he was given an order banning him from having contact with boys under the age of 18.

In 2001, he was jailed for five years at Winchester Crown Court for two counts of indecently assaulting a child under 14 and a serious sex assault of a boy under 16.

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A 55-year-old former Suffolk teacher with an “entrenched sexual interest in children” has been jailed for nine years and two months for sexual assaulting a vulnerable former pupil.

Mark Langford met the girl while he was a middle school teacher in Suffolk, but he only began sexually abusing her after a chance meeting on a beach when she was 15, Ipswich Crown Court heard.

Marc Brown, prosecuting, said the victim had a number of problems which made her vulnerable to abuse.

He said Langford had sent her fantasy stories and pictures of himself in his underwear.

“The sexual contact between the defendant and the victim was born out of an imbalance of power and he took advantage of her youth, naivety and sexual immaturity and groomed her,” said Mr Brown.

He said Langford had picked the girl up from school and had groped her and put his hands inside her underwear.

The court heard he had also attempted to persuade her what she should tell the police if they contacted her.

Mr Brown said police officers had found indecent images of children on Langford’s electronic devices and on-line conversations with other people with a sexual interest in children in which he described having had a "lucky perv moment" when he had looked up a pupil’s skirt when she was bending down in class and commenting: “It’s going to be a fun year”.

He also said he "a lot of kinks" that wouldn't be approved of and how shocked his pupils would be if they knew he liked looking at indecent images of children younger than them.

Langford of Ingleton Camforth, North Yorkshire, admitted eight offences of indecency with a child, two offences of indecent assault and one offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

He also admitted three offences of making indecent images of children, possessing 109 extreme pornographic images, possessing 199 prohibited images of children and distributing indecent images of children.

The charges of making indecent images of children relate to 654 indecent images of children and 30 movies in the most serious level A category, 514 still images in category B and 1,528 still images and 11 movies in the least serious level C category which had been downloaded over a period of six years.

Judge Martyn Levett described Langford as a dangerous offender with "an entrenched sexual interest in children" and jailed him for nine years and two months with an extended licence period of four years and eight months.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

In a statement read to the court the victim described the offences as “abhorrent “ and said Langford “disgusted her to the core”.

She described him as “devious and manipulative” and said she was haunted by the way he had sexually abused her.

Juliet Donovan for Langford said he had been a maths and science teacher for 25 years and was genuinely remorseful.

She said that since his arrest he’d lost his wife, family, friends, and home and had sought help from a child protection charity.

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A retired fire chief has been placed on the sex offenders register after he was caught with child sex abuse images.

Jamie McMurtrie – who had 30 years service with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service – was found to have downloaded indecent images of children to his mobile phone when police raided his home on August 24 last year.

The former crew manager retired from duty in 2016 and had been working as a Heritage volunteer with the fire service between June 2022 and June this year.

McMurtrie, 58, admitted at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month to possessing the pictures and he was back in the dock for sentencing on Thursday.

Sheriff Anderson placed McMurtrie on a six-month supervision order and issued a conduct requirement that prohibits him from owning devices that can access the internet without prior permission.

McMurtrie was also placed on the sex offenders register for six months and banned from having any contact with children under 18 unless authorised by his supervising officer.

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A former Tunbridge Wells resident who used social media apps in attempts to groom children for sexual abuse has been jailed for seven years.

Gareth Lucas repeatedly sent explicit images to the profiles of two children he believed were only 14 years old.

Operating under the alias of ‘Garfuncle Lucas’, between 2 August and 13 November 2019 he accessed Facebook and instant messaging apps to seek out and contact victims.

Despite receiving several replies, clearly stating they were 14 and were at school, Lucas bombarded two children with messages of an explicit nature, urging them to engage in sexual activity and to send him indecent images.

Lucas also made efforts to meet one of them in Sevenoaks, where he planned to carry out abuse on a train.

Phone hacking claims

Unbeknown to him, the children did not exist – their profiles were linked to fictitious accounts. He was arrested in Tunbridge Wells on 12 November 2019 and taken into custody.

During police interviews, Lucas initially denied responsibility and claimed his phone ‘had been hacked’.

At Maidstone Crown Court, he admitted two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and three counts of attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity.

Lucas denied a further charge of attempting to arrange or facilitate the commission of a child sex offence but was found guilty following a trial.

On Friday 22 September 2023, Lucas, 31, of Hollingworth Road, Maidstone was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, with an extended licence period of four years.

Upon his release from custody, he will be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. He was also added to the sex offender register for life.

Hugely concerning

Detective Constable Carl Evans, of the Paedophile Online Investigation Team, said: ‘Lucas made persistent and repeated efforts to contact children for the purposes of his own gratification. He has displayed a clear desire to meet and abuse them, and the graphic detail and demands he included in his messages was hugely concerning.'This case also acts as a reminder to parents of children who have mobile phones and tablets to speak to them and help them understand the precautions they should take when using the internet, or the many instant messaging services that are available.'Children should only communicate with people that they know personally and report any suspicions or inappropriate advances from strangers to their parents, schools, or the police.’

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A SCHOOLGIRL subjected to grooming behaviour and unwanted sexual touching by a 55-year-old west Cumbrian man bravely told a court how the offending changed her life.

At Carlisle Crown Court, Paul Henderson listened in silence as the teenager described the devastating impact of his crime. 

At an earlier hearing before magistrates, the defendant, of Firth View Walk, Workington, pleaded guilty to a charge of sexually touching the girl over her clothing.

Prosecutor Paul Brookwell outlined the facts.

On the day of the sexual assault, said the barrister, Henderson initially began “joking around” with the girl but the teenager later reported that his facial expression suddenly changed, and he began touching her sexually.

He suggested the girl she liked what he was doing - but the teenager ran away and immediately reported what happened to a friend.

A short time later, there was then a confrontation between people who were made aware of the offence and the defendant, with Henderson telling them: “I don’t know what came over me; I am so sorry.”

He then drove into the Lake District, feeling suicidal and guilty after admitting what he had done, said Mr Brookwell. Henderson’s family reported him missing.

Twelve hours later, when police found him, he told the officers: “I’ve done something I should not have done.”

At the police station, he made full admissions and accepted the teenager’s account of what he had done. Before touching the girl, the defendant told her that he wished he too was a teenager so he could spend a day with her.

Everybody in the court, including the girl's family, listened as the teenager stood in the witness stand and read her victim impact statement, outlining the impact of the offending. She wanted Henderson to hear her account as she faced him across the courtoom. 

“Since this incident,” she began, “I have been anxious about everything – even leaving the house." Whenever she sees a bald white man – a reference to the defendant – her stomach jumps and she begins to feel sick and shakes, she said.

She was unable to shut what happened from her mind. “I just don’t feel safe,” the teenager told the court, recalling how the memory of defendant’s face - which became "serious and creepy' as he committed the offence - kept replaying in her mind.

“It can happen any time but is normally worse at night,” she continued. “I feel scared and get a knot in my stomach."

Daniel Bramhall, defending, said the defendant had never before been before a court and he felt ashamed of his behaviour and disgusted with himself.

“This behaviour is completely out of character,” said the barrister.

“He simply does not have an explanation for what happened. He accepts it was a foolish and stupid mistake but can’t give any explanation for why the offence took place. He has suffered from issues with his mental health.

“He is supported by his family, who remain supportive of him with the full knowledge of what took place.”

Character references painted a different picture of Henderson to the man who committed the offence.

Though his family did not condone what Henderson had done, they spoke of his reliability and how he continues to be there for them.

Mr Bramhall added that the defendant had been assessed as posing a low risk of reoffending and he presented a realistic prospect for rehabilitation. “He is absolutely terrified of going to prison,” added the barrister.

Recorder Eric Lamb told the defendant: “You have been in court to hear the consequences of your selfish sexual act.” The victim was vulnerable and the impact on her was abundantly clear from the statement.

The judge accepted Henderson felt remorse but noted the "element of grooming" in his behaviour before he committed the sexual assault. Recorder Lamb imposed a six-month jail term, suspended 18 months, saying that rehabilitation work with the Probation Service would provide wider protection for society.

The defendant will be on the Sex Offender Register for seven years and subjected to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.