Latest Offenders

Description

A PERVERT arranged to meet up with a ’13-year-old girl’ for sexual activity – but he was shocked when he found out who actually turned up at his home.

George Brusby was in fact having sick sex chats online with an adult member of a paedophile hunter group pretending to be a vulnerable teenage child.

The 26-year-old was confronted by the group and ended up being live-streamed online before being arrested and taken away in a police van.

He has now been locked up after admitting charges of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and arranging the commission of a child sex offence.

He was sentenced yesterday, Tuesday, at Liverpool Crown Court, despite turning up almost three hours late after claiming he missed his train due to suffering from a panic attack.

Opening the case, prosecutor Carmel Wilde spoke of how his offending came to light in chats with an adult from a paedophile hunter group named Elusive Child Protection Unit.

Members try to identify adults who talk to children online for sexual gratification, the court heard, with a group member operating a decoy profile on a dating site called Jaomo.

The adult purported to be a 13-year-old girl named Abbie, whose profile claimed to be 22 to meet age restrictions, but she made it clear from the outset in messages that she was in fact aged 13.

On January 7, 2023, ‘Abbie’ received a message from the defendant which read: “Hi there beautiful, can I just say you look absolutely stunning.”

There was a gap in chats, with the decoy engaged in other discussions with online child sex offenders, but she replied with ‘hiya’ on January 21.

Conversations continued on a daily basis in February, with Abbie making it clear early that she was only 13 years of age, with Brusby undeterred, telling her that he was former military, aged 25 and from Warrington.

They exchanged phone numbers so that chats could continue on WhatsApp, and by February 15, the pair exchanged photos, one of which was of his penis saying she could ‘play with it’.

When Brusby asked the ‘girl’ if she liked what she saw, she said she did not know him yet, to which he replied: “I promise I’m not a bad person.”

The court heard how Brusby had a setting applied which meant that messages auto-deleted, but the decoy was saving them by screenshotting them.

By February 23, discussions turned to meeting up at Brusby’s Warrington home, suggested by him, with a date set for February 26 as he was ‘babysitting’ on the days prior.

He said she could ‘hold her first d**k’, and on the day of the meet-up he sent her his address, asking her to message him when she had got in a taxi from the train station.

However, the decoy had informed other paedophile hunters, the founders of the Elusive Child Protection Unit, of the meet-up, who attended the defendant’s home address to confront him.

The confrontation and interrogation was live-streamed online, before police arrived, arrested the defendant and placed him in the back of a police van.

Brusby was interviewed by police and initially said he was ‘fed up of fake accounts being made up’, and then claimed that he thought he was talking to an adult.

The interview then had a short break, and when they resumed, the defendant answered ‘no comment’ to questions put to him.

Brusby was represented by Mark Pritchard, defending, who highlighted how his client should be afforded full credit for his guilty pleas, and the fact that the ‘child’ was not real.

“There is real remorse from this defendant and an insight into his offending,” the barrister said, adding that Brusby has no previous convictions.

It was said that he spent time in the armed forces but was ‘rudderless’ afterwards and found it difficult to form relationships or find employment, leading to him consuming a significant amount of alcohol.

The court also heard that the defendant received threats following the paedophile hunter group streaming his interrogation on social media.

“The defendant is the author of his own misfortune, but the criminal justice system does not rely on vigilantism, and no one should be subjected to shame and bear baiting, and bullying for 47 minutes,” Mr Pritchard said.

He urged the court to suspend the sentence so that Brusby could get assistance with his rehabilitation, but this was rejected by judge Katherine Pierpoint.

She said: “It is a great shame to find someone like you before the court facing such serious matters, having never been in trouble before.

“You told the author of your pre-sentence report that you do not have a sexual interest in children, but in my judgement, you clearly have a sexual interest in children.

“Such behaviour has a devastating and long-lasting impact on children, and the fact that no real child was harmed in this case is a matter of chance rather than design.

“You made arrangements to meet a person you thought was a child. This was not hopeful, but actual that came to fruition.

“The only reason you did not meet up was because this was a decoy.”

Brusby, of Cavendish Close in Old Hall, was sentenced to 27 months immediate imprisonment.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offender register and comply with a sexual harm prevention order, both for the next 10 years.

Description

A Fife paedophile who says he works in “freelance digital forensics” was caught with more than 140 indecent images of children.

David Gordon, of Redcroft Place, Leuchars, seemingly used encrypting software and a specific network to access abuse material online anonymously.

Description

A 59-year-old man has been found guilty of sexually abusing two boys in Fife and is now behind bars.

Robert Brown targeted one of the children from when they were aged nine and the other from the age of 14.

Description

A registered sex offender who pretended to be a teenage girl to trick a boy into sharing sexually explicit messages has been given an extended sentence of nine years.

In spring 2021, the victim began chatting to someone he thought was a 15-year-old girl via Snapchat, messaging and chatting via online gaming for weeks before the pair arranged to meet in Cheshire.

When the girl didn’t show up, the boy got a phone call from a man claiming to be her older brother Josh, raising the suspicions of a family member who had gone with the boy.

On the boy’s phone they then found sexually explicit messages and images from the girl, as well as conversations with Josh, and the matter was reported to police.

All the messages were traced to Joshua Neves, a 26-year-old registered sex offender living near Kettering, and Northamptonshire Police’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Unit (OCAIU) took over the investigation.

Officers went on to confirm that not only had Neves been breaking the terms of a previously-imposed Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by using Snapchat accounts, but he had also been grooming the boy into sharing sexual messages, images and videos.

Neves went on to be charged with causing or inciting a boy aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration, engaging in sexual communication with a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child, three counts of making indecent images and videos of a child (one count each of Category A, B and C), and breaching the SHPO.

On April 8, 2024, Neves, of Dawkins Court, Broughton, appeared before Northampton Crown Court where he admitted all the offences, and on Monday, August 5, he returned to the same court for sentence.

Neves was given an extended sentence – used for criminals convicted of specific offences who are deemed to be dangerous – made up of four years’ imprisonment with an extension of five years on licence. He was also ordered to pay a £228 victim surcharge.

Speaking afterwards, investigating officer PC Charlotte Carden of the OCAIU said: “The bravery of the survivor in supporting our investigation is remarkable, and I am so pleased that we now have a robust custodial sentence which reflects the harm Joshua Neves caused.

“He went to great lengths to groom this boy in order to sexually abuse him, convincing him that he was in a relationship with a girl his own age to coerce him into sharing photos and videos he would otherwise never have sent.

“Neves was an adult who took sexual advantage of a child, abusing his trust and exploiting him emotionally for his own sexual gratification.

“The fact the offending was carried out online does not lessen the harm and distress he caused and I hope this outcome helps the victim survivor to continue to recover and move forward positively.

“This case also demonstrates the need for parents and guardians to have open and ongoing conversations with their children about who they are talking to online – without this family’s vigilance Neves would no doubt have continued his abuse.

“Northamptonshire Police takes all forms of sexual abuse very seriously and we will do all we can to secure justice for survivors.”

Description

A man who collated a sick online library of child abuse victims on his home PC over a period of eight years was finally exposed after he was caught leering over a picture of a 17-year-old girl on the social media platform X.

Craig Adams, 34, secretly kept hundreds of indecent images of children being abused on his computer for his own perverted pleasure, including images of a baby and images of bestiality. But he was eventually reported to police due to ''suspicious activity'' on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, when he received a picture of another internet user's girlfriend when she was 17.

In direct messages on X the other man said: “You must like jailbait” to which Adams replied that he wanted to ''see it all", followed by disgusting suggestions. The user then messaged back saying: “Sent.''

Officers raided Adams' home in Davenham Way, Middlewich, Cheshire in June last year, seized his PC and mobile phone and found to 683 still images of children, 137 of which were in highest category A, 102 in category B and 444 in category C.

He also had 45 “disgusting” images which “portrayed, in an explicit and realistic way" acts of bestiality. The sexually exploited and abused children, both male and female, were aged up to 12-years-old, and included babies. All had been gathered by Adams between March 2015 and 15th June 2023.

At Chester Crown Court, Adams whose girlfriend is standing by him, pleaded guilty to four offences related to making or possessing indecent images and one offence of possessing extreme pornographic images.

He was sentenced to 10 months in prison suspended for two years with requirements he complete 35 rehabilitation activity days and 200 hours of unpaid work. He faced up to three years jail under sentencing guidelines.

Prosecutor Thomas McLoughlin said: “On June 14, officers attended the defendant’s address having been passed intelligence that his Twitter account had been used to share indecent images of children.

“His address was searched and a number of items were seized, a Samsung Galaxy mobile phone and a Vimeo 8 mobile phone. There was a full download taken on both devices. Details show data being present from April 2015.

“By way of overview, there was the presence of both males and females up to 12 years of age and a baby. The extreme pornography included bestiality matters. The defendant was subsequently interviewed but gave no comment.''

In mitigation, defence counsel Mark Connor said: “The defendant has the support of his long-term partner and father and his mother. His partner is here today but the defendant did not want her to come into the court.

“In my submissions, Mr Adams has had a significant period of time since this arrest to reflect on his offending behaviour and consider what he has done and the pattern of offending that he has got himself into.

''He is very fearful of receiving a custodial sentence. He is an intelligent man who has thought long and hard about his criminal behaviour and how it developed and it has to be conceded developed over a significant period of time. He was refreshingly frank in an interview with the probation officer and did not seek to minimise or justify his conduct.

“He accepted that it was morally unacceptable and harmful and that ultimately it was to satisfy his own sexual gratification. It is not often in these types of cases that defendants are so forthright and frank about their own shameful behaviour.''

Adams was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for 10 years and made to sign on the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

Judge Simon Berkson said: “You have a partner and a good job nevertheless, between 2015 and 2023, a substantial period of time, you downloaded on your computer 683 indecent images of children. Each one of these images displayed some sort of abuse committed to a child for you to happily look at whenever you wanted to over those years.

“You also had a substantial number of images of extreme pornography, of people engaging in sexual activity with animals. These are serious offences and there were a number of different victims, children suffering abuse for you to look at.

“One of those children has been described as a baby. You also had on that computer a way of cleaning up things on that computer. But the mitigating factors are that you have never been in trouble in your life. You are in a good job and you have a steady relationship. Both your partner and your father speak highly of you.''

Description

A PAEDOPHILE said to a 15-year-old schoolgirl that he was going to have sex with her and told her to meet him near a Morrisons supermarket.

Osman Mohamed lied to his victim he was the same age as her before sexually assaulting her by touching her bottom after he had been drinking.

The 36-year-old defendant went up to the girl, a stranger, in the Bargoed area of Caerphilly after he had taken a train there from Cardiff.

Christopher Evans, prosecuting, said the victim no longer feels safe in the area where she lives.

Mohamed was found guilty by a jury following a trial of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity and sexual assault.

He had denied the offences which took place on the summer bank holiday of 2021 on Monday, August 30.

Mohamed, of Taff Embankment, Grangetown, Cardiff had a previous conviction for drink driving.

Harry Baker representing the defendant asked for the inevitable prison sentence “to be kept as short as possible”.

Sentencing Mohamed at Cardiff Crown Court, the judge, Recorder Caroline Rees KC told him: “You drank alcohol and the victim assessed you to be drunk.

“You approached the victim who was just 15 who was with her friend and you hugged her.

“You touched her to the area of her bottom over her clothing.

“She told you she was only 15, you said you were 15, although she very quickly assessed that you were talking rubbish and that you were obviously older.

“The police were called a short time later and you were detained in Bargoed.”

Recorder Rees added: “You continue to deny your responsibility for the offences and that remains your position today.

“It follows that you demonstrate no insight or remorse for the behaviour of which the jury were sure you were guilty of.”

Mohamed, who followed proceedings with the help of an Arabic translator, was jailed for 15 months.

He will serve half of that time in custody and any time spent in custody will count towards his sentence.

The defendant will have to register as a sex offender for the next 10 years although he was told he faces the prospect of being deported from the UK.

Description

A university graduate was found in possession of indecent images after police pulled him over in Newcastle.

Joshua Tilley was stopped by police after "suspicious" online activity had been flagged up to them, and his mobile phone was seized. Following an examination, 11 indecent images in category C were discovered on the phone and he was arrested.

This week, Tilley, of West Bridgford, Nottingham, appeared at Newcastle Magistrates' Court facing a charge of making indecent images. He pleaded guilty to the offence, which was committed on or about May 13, 2022.

The court heard that police were on duty in Newcastle when Tilley's vehicle was stopped. Stephen Davies, prosecuting, said: "They stopped a vehicle which was occupied by the defendant. His mobile phone was seized and examined and a number of images were found. [A total of] 11 category C images involving children were found."

The court heard Tilley had no previous convictions. Michael Gibson, defending, said: "He came to police [attention] due to some suspicious activity on the web. There was a file with 11 pictures on his phone, the last time that file was accessed was in 2020.

"He had graduated with a first degree and was studying in Edinburgh, he was bored and was chatting to a female [online] and she told him she was 16-years-old. The [chat] was transferred to Snapchat and she sent him some images. He never requested them."

Magistrates fined Tilley £666 and ordered him to pay a surcharge of £266 and costs of £85. He will also be on the sex offenders' registers for five years.

Description

A Northumberland man has been jailed for carrying out sexual offences against two underage girls and possessing child sexual abuse images.

Callum Hall chatted to one underage girl on social media and "pressured" her into sending him naked pictures of herself. He then coerced the girl into having sex with him and made comments saying he would show people her pictures if she didn't comply.

Hall committed offences against a second underage girl as well, and led her into woods before gripping her neck and asking her to perform a sexual act on him. The 21-year-old was also found to be in possession of indecent images of children and extreme pornography - some images he had depicted babies being abused.

On Friday, Hall, of Newlyn Drive, Cramlington, appeared at Newcastle Crown Court to be sentenced for causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of making indecent images, three counts of sexual activity with a child, and breach of a sexual risk order. The offences were committed when Hall was under the age of 18, but was significantly older than the victims.

The court heard that Hall met one of the girls on Snapchat, and "pressured" her to send him naked pictures and videos of herself - which she did. Glenn Gatland, prosecuting, said: "The defendant was pressuring her to send pictures of herself. She complied for him [and sent pictures] on a live Snapchat feed."

What the girl didn't know, was that Hall had used software to save the pictures and videos and then told her to meet him for sex, otherwise he would "show people". The court was told that the girl then met Hall on three occasions and they had sex.

During separate offending, Hall struck up a conversation with a second girl and "encouraged her to walk into the woods". Mr Gatland said: "He put his hands around her neck."

Mr Gatland said that while in the woods, the girl fell over and cut her hand, with some of her blood staining Hall's shirt. He then asked the girl to carry out a sexual act on him as "compensation" - which ultimately did not happen.

The court was told that between 2017 and 2022, Hall was also in possession of indecent images of children. He had 67 category A images, which included babies being sexually abused. He also had 78 category B, and 63 category C images. He had also used "key words" to search online for child sexual abuse images and also had extreme pornography in his collection.

At one stage, Hall was made subject of a sexual risk order - which involved certain prohibitions. But he breached that order when he struck up a conversation with a teenage girl on Snapchat in 2022. His breach came to light when the girl's mother saw his messages and reported it.

Shaun Routledge, defending, said Hall demonstrates a level of immaturity and "didn't have much of a start in life". He said: "He has difficulties that seem to be [related to] ADHD and autism. He has high levels of anxiety and poor decision making."

Mr Routledge said that despite the age gap between Hall and his victims, he was "operating nearer their age than his actual age" and lives in an "isolated world". He added Hall was "extremely remorseful" and that a pre-sentence report advised he would be "extremely vulnerable" in a prison environment.

Sentencing Hall, Recorder Mark McKone KC said his sexual offending was "persistent" and jailed him for 26 months. He was made subject of a 10 year sexual harm prevention order and will be on the sex offender register for 10 years.

Description

A former Spandau Ballet singer from Aberdeen has been unmasked as a “prolific predatory” sex offender after being found guilty of rape, sexual assault and voyeurism.

Ross William Wild, whose real name is Ross Davidson, was found guilty of a string of sickening offences which the depraved singer had video recorded on his mobile phone.

Description

A man from Birmingham has been jailed for 21 years for rapes against a woman and historic rape and sexual abuse of two children.

Marcus Newton’s vile offending came to light after his three brave victims came forward.

The 27-year-old, from Aston, was jailed at Wolverhampton Crown Court on July 26 following a trial.

As well as being jailed for 21 years he was placed on the sex offenders register for life.

He was found guilty of two charges of raping a child under 13, one charge of sexually assaulting a child under 13 and three charges of rape.

Newton’s sexual offending was brought to light when one of his brave victims contacted us to say that he had been raped by Newton.

He told us how Newton’s actions had a massive impact on his mental health and he was having suicidal thoughts. He told us the offending took place when he was a young boy.

As a result of the first victim contacting us two more victims also came forward. One was a woman who said she had been raped by Newton back in 2018 and 2019.

Another woman also came forward to say she had been raped by him over a period of four years while she was still a child. We analysed footage on her phone which included messages and pictures sent by him to corroborate her story.

Description

A 66-year-old man has been jailed for five years for historic sexual offences against children in Stirling.

Peter McCormick was sentenced today (Monday, 5 August, 2024) at Glasgow High Court for the sexual assault of four boys, who were each under the age of 13, in Stirling between 1978 and 1996.

He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

McCormick was previously found guilty of four charges of Lewd and Libidinous practices at the High Court in Glasgow on Tuesday, 28 May, 2024.

Description

A controlling thug sexually assaulted his ex during a harrowing, months-long ordeal that left her feeling 'utterly powerless, trapped and defeated'. John Haywood, 41, was jealous and paranoid during the three-month relationship with the woman.

He accused her of looking at other men and humiliated her on social media. Minshull Street Crown Court heard he would send her derogatory messages and post intimate information about her online.

Haywood constantly phone her while she was on her way to work and timed how long it took her to get home. The woman ended the relationship after and requested police speak to Haywood, from Bolton, as he was 'stalking her', the court heard.

The woman has waived her right to anonymity as a sex offence victim to allow the full facts of the case to be reported. The Manchester Evening News is not naming her here.

"He would turn up at her house unannounced," prosecutor Virginia Hayton said. "On one occasion, he let himself into her house whilst she was in the bath and got into her bed."

A few weeks later, while on holiday with her mum, the woman was told Hayton's sister had taken her own life. She contacted him to offer her sympathies. She ended up being pulled back into the relationship.

During a night out for her 30th birthday, he began messaging her. When the woman was returning home in a taxi she missed a call from Hayton. When she arrived, he demanded to see her Uber app to 'check if she had dropped anybody off'.

"They argued and she went upstairs to pack her belongings and take her dog home," Ms Hayton said. "He followed her, pinned her onto the bed and [sexually assaulted her] telling her he was checking to see if she was with someone else."

"She tried to fight him off, but was unable to do so due to his large size." The woman was left with bruises to her neck, arms and legs.

Following a trial, he was unanimously found guilty by a jury of assault by penetration. In an emotional statement read in court, the woman said: "Initially, he appeared to be a beacon of hope, making me feel cherished and promising a future filled with love and stability. He presented himself as a successful businessman with a home, promising both emotional and financial security. Sadly, this was all an elaborate façade.

"In a matter of weeks, John's charm dissolved into relentless interrogation and oppressive control. I went from being a confident, independent woman - a single mother who had built a successful career and maintained her own home - into a shell of my former self. I lived in constant fear, terrified that any minor action might provoke his wrath.

"I avoided eye contact in public, terrified that a mere glance at another man would incite his rage. My spirit was broken, trapped in a relationship with no apparent escape. John's [behaviour] was incessant and all-consuming. He would appear unannounced at all hours, follow me everywhere, bombard me with abusive calls and messages, and even attempt to break into my home."

The woman said she felt 'utterly powerless, trapped and defeated', adding: "The weight of my trauma is crushing, and I live in constant anxiety. His constant verbal assaults on my appearance and self-worth have left indelible scars. Phrases like 'you look like you've been attacked with an axe' due to stretch marks haunt me, eroding what little self-esteem I have left.

"I am terrified of the day he is released, convinced he will seek revenge. The thought of returning to that dark place in my life - paranoid, anxious, and performing safety rituals every night - fills me with dread. The longer the legal system can protect me from this man, the better."

The mother of the victim, speaking from the witness box, said: "I stand here before you today to discuss the impact this perpetrator's actions have had on my daughter and my family. Before his infiltration into her life, she was an independent, outgoing confident woman.

"The stark change in her is hard to witness. Once radiating happiness and strength, she is a shadow of her former self. She is consumed by anxiety. She suffers with flashbacks, panic attacks and nightmares. The psychological damage she endured, it has broken my heart to see my daughter struggle.

"Her PTSD is so high, it is comparable to a veteran of war. The devil infiltrated our lives with pain and managed to derail her pathway of success. My daughter is a cherished and loved paediatric nurse who has dedicated her life to helping people. She has now made it her life mission to assist potential victims and survivors. She wants to bring attention to this epidemic of crimes.

"Her sister summed it up in one sentence - 'I was grieving someone I love who is still alive'. This criminal can't be rehabilitated, but he most certainly can be punished." The court heard that Haywood had previous convictions, including for battery.

Mitigating, Nicholas Clarke said his client would not 'habitually ignore' court orders. "It is accepted this was humiliation," he added. "This was the utmost humiliation and degradation.

Jailing him, Judge Jonathan Seely said he had heard evidence of Haywood's 'jealous, controlling, domineering and at times cruel' conduct towards the woman.

Description

A CARLISLE sex offender previously described as “dangerous” is back behind bars after he set up secret online accounts.

Registered sex offender Joshua Watson, 26, has already served a jail term for failing to comply with a sexual harm prevention order that means he has to notify the police of his online accounts.

At Carlisle Crown Court, he admitted four new offences. The defendant, of Beaumont Road, Carlisle, pleaded guilty to:

• Breaching his sexual harm prevention order in July by possessing an internet enabled device with a WhatsApp application which featured an “auto delete” function for messages.
• And three counts of failing to comply with his obligation under the Sex Offender Register by failing to disclose to the police his usernames online accounts he had set up. All three breaches - one for each of the social media accounts involved - were committed on dates between June 30 and July 24.

His defence barrister said Watson’s primary mitigation was his prompt guilty pleas to the four offences.

In January last year, Watson was recalled to prison for illegally acquiring a mobile phone and setting up a Snapchat account without telling the police.

He committed that offence a year after he was sentenced for downloading dozens of indecent child images and at the time he was awaiting sentence for buying alcohol for teenage girls and making sexual suggestions to them.

Watson was put on the Sex Offender Register for a decade. This requires that he must inform the police of any online accounts he opens or uses, and reveal the relevant username.

He must also register with the police all his internet enabled devices with the police within three days of acquiring them.

All his devices must be fitted with police monitoring software and be capable of displaying internet history.

In the January offending last year, police found a mobile phone he had failed to register with them after visiting Watson at his home. He claimed a relative gave it to him the day before and he planned to inform the police the next day.

But when police examined the phone, it was immediately apparent that Watson acquired the phone much earlier than he said. Watson then claimed he had simply forgotten to tell police about the phone.

He then blamed his failure to tell the police about the phone on “stress” linked to his parents’ splitting up and the death of his dog.

The prosecutor in that case told the court:  “The police take the view that he’s a dangerous offender and obviously these are serious offences, committed very shortly after he was released."

Description

A prominent and "highly thought of" farmer from the Pocklington area has been branded "horrible" and "vile" after he repeatedly sexually assaulted a girl, causing her "repeated nightmares".

Peter Fletcher took advantage of the girl on a number of occasions but he later tried to pretend that the accusations against him were "total lies" and that they had been "made up" by people because they were out to "ruin" him.

He also targeted two other children for nasty cruelty that left them suffering serious long-term problems and feeling that he had stolen their childhoods from them, Hull Crown Court heard.

Fletcher, 57, of Seaton Ross, near Melbourne and west of Market Weighton, denied an offence of sexual assault but he was convicted by a jury on a majority verdict of 10 to two after a retrial. He was cleared of three other offences of sexual assault.

He was also convicted of six offences of child cruelty, involving two girls and a boy. The jury returned majority verdicts of 11 to one for those offences.

The girl said in a statement that she had been diagnosed with depression after her ordeal. "I wanted to die in my sleep," she said.

"I find it hard to communicate the pain that Mr Fletcher has inflicted. I find it hard to trust men in general." She had suffered "repeated nightmares".

Another girl, who was targeted for cruelty, said: "I remember being very scared of him. He was very unpredictable. I never knew what mood he was going to be in. I felt like I had no way out.

"We were petrified of him and the threats he made. I would describe Peter as a bully. I will never forget the trauma he has caused. He stole my childhood from me."

A boy who suffered cruelty from Fletcher condemned him as a "horrible man" and said: "I went off the rails. One of the things that I can't forgive Mr Fletcher for is that he stole my childhood.

"Still today, I struggle to sleep. He is a vile individual. I will never be able to forgive Mr Fletcher for the things he has done."

Paul Williams, mitigating, said that Fletcher was capable of being a different person. "He is not a danger to children generally," said Mr Williams.

Fletcher's health had declined and he would find a prison sentence that much harder. "Any sentence of custody will have a real impact," said Mr Williams. Fletcher had convictions for two previous offences, including assault.

Judge Mark Bury told Fletcher: "They have all struggled, all three of them, with their mental health. They find it difficult to let people in and they push people away.

"All three, I hope, will obtain some closure from today. They can hold their heads up knowing that they have come to court to tell complete strangers their story and they can have the comfort of the fact that those strangers have believed their story."

Judge Bury said that Fletcher had given evidence during his trial and he had claimed that the children were lying about him and that it was "all about money" as far as he was concerned.

At an earlier hearing in August, Judge Bury told Fletcher: "You have been convicted by the jury on what I regard as strong evidence. You are a working man who is highly thought of in the farming community in the Pocklington area."

During the trial, Fletcher spoke of his work as a farmer and agricultural contractor, making reference to "200 acres of land and 200-head of cattle". When he was asked by the prosecution whether he sexually assaulted the girl by repeatedly groping or slapping her bottom, he replied: "Certainly not" and "Not at all."

He claimed that the other incidents did not happen. "I wouldn't do it," he claimed. "They are just accusations." He claimed that those who had made allegations against him were just trying to "ruin" him and he denied any claims of cruelty to children. "No, it wouldn't happen," he claimed. "I suggest it didn't happen. It's made up. It just didn't happen. Total lies. Anybody can make lies up.

"It's to put me in prison. They are jealous of what I have done for myself. I keep my head down. I run my own business. They are out to ruin me."

He denied that people who knew or suspected what had been going on had previously called him a "paedo" at the time and he denied that anything sexual took place. He denied being sexually attracted to the girl and making sexualised comments to her, although he admitted that he thought she was a "nice girl".

Fletcher was jailed for six years and he was given a ten-year restraining order.

Description

An intelligence officer at the National Crime Agency (NCA) who abused his access to the dark web to view hundreds of indecent images of children on his work computer has been jailed for 18 months. In June, Adam Taylor, of Waltham Abbey, Essex, admitted two counts of misconduct in a public office, three counts of making indecent photographs of children and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

Sentencing the 40-year-old former NCA officer at Southwark Crown Court on Friday, Judge Justin Cole condemned Taylor for the “gross abuse of trust” placed in him. The judge told Taylor “Because of people like you there’s a market for this”, saying interest in “vile” indecent images has led to the “rape and torture of innocent children”.

Taylor, who never moved out of his family home, was a grade five intelligence officer in the NCA, equivalent to a police constable. He had access to the dark web, although he was not required by his work to view such images because his focus was on offences involving drugs and firearms, the court heard.

Taylor was arrested by officers from the NCA’s anti-corruption unit after it was established that an IP address linked to his home was accessing illegal content. The defendant admitted to committing misconduct by making indecent images of children on a work device between March 2019 and April 2022.

He had 221 category A images – the highest category of seriousness – as well as 203 extreme images and hundreds of category B and C images on both work and home electronic devices between May 2012 and the time of his arrest. Prosecutor Amy Nicholson said Taylor “sought to use his employment to gain further access to child sexual abuse material” in “deliberate intentional acts” that caused a “high level” of harm.

She went on: “The defendant’s conduct will have undermined public trust and confidence in the NCA and its investigation of this sort of offending. Furthermore, the viewing and downloading of indecent photographs of children perpetuates the production of further indecent photographs, which requires the serious sexual abuse of young children.”

Eddison Flint, defending, said Taylor was at a low risk of reoffending and was “not a man who needs to add to the prison population”. Taylor has also been given a sexual harm prevention order and was made to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years.

Catrin Attwell, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said: “Adam Taylor intentionally used his employment to obtain information to facilitate the viewing and downloading of indecent images of children and used NCA official devices for this purpose. The indecent images of children on the devices contained some of the most horrific sexual abuse of children.

“His actions were a gross breach of the trust placed in him as an officer and severely undermined the integrity and standards expected from those in his position. After collaborative work from the CPS and the NCA, Taylor was left with no option but to plead guilty and face the consequences of his actions.”

NCA director general Rob Jones said: “The NCA is committed to protecting children from sexual abuse, wherever in the world it is happening. We are determined to ensure there is no safe haven for perpetrators, including and especially within law enforcement.

“NCA officers from our anti-corruption unit carried out a meticulous, covert investigation which identified Taylor’s offending and ultimately brought him to justice. The NCA will work tirelessly to tackle corruption and breaches of our standards of professional behaviour, without fear or favour, wherever they occur."