Latest Offenders

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A Wakefield man has been sentenced to 12 years in jail after being found guilty of the rape of a teenage girl.

Awais Hamed, aged 30, of Watson Crescent, Wakefield, was found guilty following a trial at Grimsby Crown Court of one count of rape of a female over 16 years and one count of assault by penetration against the same female victim who was a teenager at the time.

Appearing before the court again today, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.

The court was told the victim had been plied with cocaine, heroin and alcohol before the offences which took place in Wakefield in December 2022.

Hamed gave his victim the money to buy drugs.

This prosecution follows a complex investigation by Wakefield District’s Child Vulnerable to Exploitation Team (CVET).  

Another man, Nadeem Hussain, 47, was jailed last year for offences committed against the same victim as part of the wider investigation.

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A Stirling sex offender played dumb when police searched his home, claiming not to know the password to a secret child abuse cache on his phone.

Ian Couper’s home was raided by police who examined his  phone.

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A prison officer who preyed on who he thought was a 13-year-old girl during his lunch breaks using a messaging app has been spared jail.

Peter Sugden, 46, began communicating with the Kik profile in June 2024, believing it belonged to a young girl from Essex.

However he was actually messaging a volunteer from an online protection team, who was managing the decoy account.

Sugden, of Falkirk, sent indecent messages and sexual remarks to the fictional teenager over the course of 16 days.

So-called paedophile hunters managing the account travelled to his home on June 27 and confronted him, and then contacted police.

Sugden was taken to Falkirk police station and made “full and frank admissions”, according to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service.

He confessed during interview to sending messages before he left for work, at lunchtimes and early in the evening on an almost daily basis.

Sugden’s mobile phone was examined and found to contain 12 images of child abuse, ranging from category A to C, according to prosecutors.

Sugden appeared at Falkirk Sheriff Court on April 2 and admitted taking or making indecent images between March 2019 and June 2024.

He also admitted attempting to indecently communicate with a child.

He was given a three-year community payback order at the same court on Tuesday and will be subject to supervision and restrictions.

He was also added to the sex offenders register.

Helen Nisbet, procurator fiscal for Tayside, Central and Fife, said: “Peter Sugden deliberately conducted a sexualised exchange online with someone he thought to be a 13-year-old girl.

“Following his arrest, his phone was found to contain several images containing child sexual exploitation and abuse.

“Sugden has now been held accountable for his predatory and exploitative conduct, and we hope this prosecution makes clear that we will take action against those who commit this type of offending.”

The Scottish Prison Service has been contacted for comment.

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A former house parent at a Scarborough children’s home has been jailed for 18 months for sexually abusing a child in his care in the 1970s.

John William Laister, 83, of no fixed address, currently residing in Full Sutton Prison where he is serving an 12-year sentence for similar crimes, was jailed at York Crown Court on Tuesday 20 May 2025.

He previously pleaded guilty on 4 February 2025 to indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14 years.

Laister was previously employed as a house parent at May Lodge children's home in Scarborough. In 1970, a boy resident at the home, was in bed recovering from major surgery when Laister entered his room and put his hands down the child's pyjamas and sexually assaulted him.

The victim has lived with this for over 50 years and recently found the courage to report the abuse to the police.

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A shopkeeper who sexually assaulted a schoolgirl when she tried to buy a vape from him in Montrose has been placed on the sex offenders register.

Salman Hssainni denied sexually assaulting and communicating indecently with the 13-year-old when she tried to buy the e-cigarette.

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A burglar who raped an elderly and disabled woman in her own home has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Michael Hanmore, 46, attacked his victim at an address on the Isle of Sheppey in the early hours of Saturday 7 May 2022 before stealing her car from outside. He was arrested by Kent Police officers in London the following day and later admitted being responsible for the offences.

The resident of Queenborough Road, Sheerness was sentenced at Maidstone Crown Court on Tuesday 20 May 2025 and must serve at least 12 years in prison before being eligible for release on parole, minus the time he has already spent remanded in custody. He will also be subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the rest of his life.

Prolonged attack

Hanmores victim was woken at around 2am by the sound of someone moving in her kitchen. A short time later Hanmore burst into her bedroom and carried out a prolonged attack, which including him raping her before stamping on her arms and body whilst demanding money.

The woman then witnessed him stealing cash from within her room before he finally left the property after more than an hour inside. She later realised her mobile phone and tablet were also missing, leaving her unable to call for help until just after 9am when a visitor she was expecting arrived and was told what happened.

An investigation was carried out by Kent Police detectives who were able to use ANPR (automatic number plate recognition) technology to trace the route taken by the victims car after it was driven away from her property.

They also quickly identified Hanmore as a suspect and arrested him in Hackney, east London, on the evening of Sunday 8 May.

Analysis of his mobile phone showed it had been in the same locations as the victims car, and forensic evidence captured at the scene was also linked to him.

Hanmore pleaded guilty to charges of rape, burglary and theft of a motor vehicle prior to sentencing.

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A convicted sex offender told an undercover police officer he wanted her to give him oral sex, thinking she was a 12-year-old girl, a court has heard. 

Barrie Williams had been chatting online to who he thought was a young girl in Somerset but who was in fact a police officer acting as a decoy.

Norwich Crown Court heard Williams, who had previous convictions for child sex offences, made sexual remarks to the officer, talking about her giving him oral sex, and taking graphically about what it would be like to have sex with her.

Richard Paterson, prosecuting, said in the conversations, carried out on social media platforms, including SnapChat, between August 2024 and November 2024, the officer clearly stated her purported age was 12.

The prosecutor said Williams, from the Common, Botesdale, Diss, also asked her if she wanted to share some "sexy pictures" for him to wake up to.

The 35-year-old defendant also said if she was closer to home he would get a hotel room so he could stay with her.

Williams, who has three previous convictions for 24 offences, including making indecent images of children, appeared in court, sitting at Whitefriars, on Friday.

He had previously admitted attempting to incite a female child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

He also admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and being an adult causing a child to watch sexual activity.

In addition Williams admitted attempting to breach a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) - imposed in June 2021 after previous offending - by contacting the child and breaching the SHPO.

Jailing Williams for 45 months Judge David Pugh said although the victim in this case was an adult decoy the defendant "posed a high risk of harm to female children".
Jude Durr, mitigating, said: "Plainly and self-evidently the appropriate sentence is immediate custody. The only question is how long."

The defendant read to the court a letter in which he said he understood he needed to be punished for his actions.

He said he had made some "foolish" decisions in the past which he was "disgusted" with and "ashamed of" and was "sorry" for.

Williams was also made the subject of an indefinite SHPO and put on the sex offenders' register, also indefinitely.

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An online child groomer who persuaded multiple young girls to send him indecent images and videos has been jailed.

Jack Davey, 21, from Meopham, lied about his age and met victims in order to sexually abuse them. He also convinced the girls to perform sexual acts during video calls that he recorded without their knowledge.

Davey was sentenced to three years and four months’ imprisonment when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday 9 May 2025 having pleaded guilty to more than 30 separate offences. These included inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, meeting a child following sexual grooming, possessing indecent images of children and making threats to disclose private sexual images with intent to cause distress.

He must serve at least two thirds of his sentence before being eligible for parole and will spend an additional two years on licence under the terms of an extended sentence. Davey was also made subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) and will be on the sex offender register for life.

Arrested

Kent Police officers arrested Davey at his home in Harvel Road in May 2022 after being informed he had groomed a 13-year-old girl he had met online. Davey was 17 at the time but pretended he was younger in order to exchange sexual communications with the girl and to arrange to meet with her.

Following his arrest, by which point he had turned 18, the force was made aware of similar indecent contact between Davey and two other girls from other parts of Kent.

A review of the offender’s internet devices revealed that he had been messaging a large number of girls across various platforms in Kent and elsewhere in the country, and saving images and videos of them that were of a sexual nature.

Davey’s sentencing also includes further crimes committed between November 2023 and January 2024 of grooming a 14-year-old girl and multiple breaches of a previous SHPO.

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A registered sex offender who travelled from Devon to Wiltshire to sexually abuse a young girl has been jailed following an investigation by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU).

Jon Iacomino, 56, from Honiton, made the journey last September, after communicating online to make plans to abuse a girl. When he arrived in Wiltshire, he was met by officers from SWROCU, arrested, and has been remanded in custody since.  

Iacomino was already on the Sex Offenders’ Register.  

He pleaded guilty in March to:  

• two counts of arranging or facilitating commission of a child sex offence  
• three counts of making category A, B and C indecent images   
• two counts of distributing category C indecent images   
• one count of possessing extreme pornography  

He was sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on Friday (16 May) to a total of eight years and 10 months, with five years 10 months in prison and three years on extended licence.  

During the sentencing the Judge said Iacomino “represented a significant and ongoing risk of causing harm in the future by the commission of similar further offences”. He was deemed to need “careful supervision” which could only be done by the judge handing him an extended licence of three years.  

Four further offences, two of making and two of distributing indecent images of a child, will lie on file.  

Iacomino will be on the Sex Offender Register indefinitely and was handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order. 

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A registered sex offender who knowingly breached orders preventing her from having any contact with children has been jailed.

Katie Birtles, 40, of Wroxall Drive in Grantham, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court earlier today (19 May) and was handed a sentence of four years and eight months in prison for the following offences:

• One count of engaging in sexual communication with a child.
• One count of arranging/facilitating commission of offence of sexual activity.
• Two counts of breaching their Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Birtles will have an extended period of two years on license following her release. 

A SHPO is an order given by the Court to a person who poses a risk of sexual harm to either the general public or to an individual person. It consists of restrictions which can include not contacting children or a specific individual, limiting internet use or prohibitions on travelling to certain areas.

Police received a report that a 40-year-old woman was intending to meet with who she thought was a 14-year-old girl at Grantham train station on Thursday 16 January. Officers attended and intercepted the meeting, and subsequently arrested Birtles.

Chat logs obtained from Birtles’ phone revealed that she was sending sexually explicit messages and grooming young girls under 16 years old over a two-week period in January. Within the messages, Birtles was actively encouraging sexual activity, offering to buy gifts such as wine and chocolates, and was making plans to meet her victims for sex.

Birtles was previously convicted of three counts of making indecent images of children in 2017, for which she was sentenced to nine months in prison. She was court ordered to comply with a 10-year SHPO, with one of the conditions preventing her from having any direct or indirect contact with children under 16 both online and offline.

Birtles was charged on 18th January and was remanded into custody. Following today’s sentence, Birtles will remain on the sex offender’s register for life and will have an indefinite SHPO with a restriction on software monitoring. 

Investigating officer DC Nicola Paradowski from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT), said: “As a team we are dedicated to protecting the most vulnerable in our society and keeping children safe from harm, working long hours to make sure dangerous offenders such as Birtles are brought to justice. I hope this sends a clear message that we will not tolerate child sexual exploitation in our county and will take robust action.

“Breaches to orders like the Sexual Harm Prevention Order will be dealt with, and action will be taken immediately, to ensure we continue to protect those at risk of most harm in our communities.”

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A sex offender with hopes of living in Peterhead following his release from prison has been jailed again for breaching his court order by contacting women online.

Sandy Ross, who is not allowed to speak to women on the internet or electronically without notifying the police, was back in the dock last week.

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A woman who groped a man as he sat on a bench at a Fife shopping centre has been placed on the sex offenders register.

Mary Lindsay appeared at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court and admitted the sexual assault in July last year.

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A Turriff paedophile was caught after his girlfriend found indecent images of teenage boys on his mobile phone.

Murray Temple, 31, appeared in the dock at Aberdeen Sheriff Court where he admitted downloading child abuse material over a four-month period.

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In June 2023, one of our officers promised a victim of sexual abuse that he would secure justice for her before she died.

Now, we have been able to fulfil that promise, when a man was jailed after being found guilty of non-recent sexual offences.

James Gibbs appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday 22 May and was sentenced to four years in prison, after previously being found guilty of gross indecency offences.

An investigation by Essex Police’s Quest Team was launched in 2021, after a woman bravely reported that she had been sexually abused by Gibbs more than 40 years ago.

After facilitating early-stage interviews with the victim, Gibbs was arrested in February 2021 and later charged with two counts of gross indecency.

Gibbs pleaded not guilty to both offences.

The victim sadly passed away before the trial began but before she did, Detective Sergeant Ed Massey had seen her in a hospice and pledged to do his best to get justice for her.

DS Massey worked with the Crown Prosecution Service to push for the trial to go ahead, using a pre-recorded interview with the victim as evidence.

Following a trial, Gibbs, 73, of Meadow Way, Jaywick, was convicted in July 2024 of two counts of indecency.

He appeared at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday 22 May and was sentenced to four years in prison, with two thirds to be served before he can be considered for release.

He was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order restricting his access to children for the next ten years and will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

During sentencing, the judge paid tribute to the victim and praised her bravery in coming forward to report the matters.

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A couple who pinned a woman to the floor and raped her have been jailed.

Anthony Preston, 22, and Nicole Rickatson, 27, "took advantage" of the woman's trust when they assaulted her in December 2023 for "their own sexual gratification", Humberside Police said.

The pair, of Allendale, Hull, were convicted of rape at Hull Crown Court in February following a 10-day trial. Preston was also found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

During a sentencing hearing earlier, Preston was sent to prison for seven years and six months, while Rickatson was given a six-year term.

Following the attack, Preston tried "to cover up their sexual deviancy" by removing evidence from a bedroom, but it was later recovered by officers, the force said.

Following their convictions, Det Con Thomas Birkenhead said the pair had "refused to admit their crimes" and instead made the woman "relive the ordeal all over again by subjecting her to a trial".

He commended the woman's "bravery and strength in coming forward" and said the verdict did not "take away the continued trauma she must endure".