Latest Offenders Cambridgeshire

Description

A paedophile who abused two young girls and paid almost 5,000 for adults to abuse other children around the world has been jailed.

Nathan Lovell, 33, has been locked up for 15 years at Cambridge Crown Court

When officers arrested him, indecent images of children were discovered on his phone, including 1226 category C images or videos, 18 category B images or videos and 14 category A the most severe.

Officers also discovered screen recordings where Lovell was taking part in online conversations directing and paying for children to be abused by other adults.

In one of the recordings Lovell could be seen on the front-facing camera. In another of the conversations, he promised a puppy as payment to an adult about to abuse a young girl.

Officers carried out further enquiries with social media companies, which revealed further instances of Lovell paying for child sex abuse online. In total, he spent about 4,800 in this way.

Lovell, of Opportune Road, Wisbech, was charged with 18 counts in total, including:

• Four counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13 by touching
• Three counts of making indecent images or videos of children
• 11 counts of arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child under 13

He pleaded guilty to the three indecent image charges at his first court hearing but denied the others.

However, after an eight-day trial at Cambridge Crown Court in December, jurors found him guilty by unanimous verdict on all 15 other charges.

Lovell was sentenced at the same court on Monday (19 February) where he was handed a total of 15 years in prison, with an extended four years on licence.

Passing sentence, Judge Mark Bishop said Lovell posed a significant risk to children and there was an unpredictability to his future behaviour.

A restraining order prohibiting Lovell from contacting the two sexual assault victims was also put in place for 25 years, together with a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) for the same timeframe to monitor any future offending. He must sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

DC Ollie Plant, from the forces Child Abuse Investigation and Safeguarding Unit (CAISU), said: Our thoughts are with the two young girls targeted by Lovell in the most horrific of ways, and his other victims who were targeted online.

We are pleased he has now been brought to justice and hope the sentence gives his victims and their families some closure from this traumatic period in their lives.

What Lovell did in paying other adults to abuse children across the world will no doubt be shocking to many. A child is victimised when an indecent image is taken and every time it is viewed or shared.

Protecting young people from harm is one of our top priorities and we have specially trained officers who are there to support victims and bring offenders to justice.

Description

A man who sexually assaulted a young girl in Wisbech has been jailed.

Arturas Opulskis, 41, assaulted the girl in the town between 2016 and 2018.

The sexual assault came to light in 2021 after the girl told a friend and then confided in a trusted adult.

Police were contacted and Opulskis was arrested.

He denied any sexual assault.

In September, Opulskis, of no fixed abode, was unanimously found guilty of assaulting a girl under 13 by penetration following a trial at Peterborough Crown Court.

On Friday (9 February) at the same court he was jailed for eight years.

Description

A man who sent pictures of his dog to someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl in a bid to groom her has been jailed.

Scott Burke, 37, of Leverington in Cambridgeshire, contacted the "teenager" on social media in November 2021. She was in fact a police officer.

Cambridgeshire Police said he quickly sexualised the conversations and sent a photograph of his penis, along with one of him with his dog.

Burke pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to arrange, facilitate or commission sexual activity with a child and was jailed for two years and six months.

Burke, of Leverington Common in the village near Wisbech, repeatedly discussed sex and a desire to meet up with the girl during a fortnight of online conversations, Cambridgeshire Police said.

He claimed he had booked them a hotel room and suggested taking the girl to a sex toy and lingerie retailer.

On arrest, he told officers he had been hacked.

Burke also pleaded guilty to one count of being an adult attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one count of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13-15 into sexual activity.

Description

A man has been jailed after attempting to sexually assault two children. 

Alfred Dempster, 57, tried to lure two people he believed were children into sexual activity.

He began talking to someone he believed to be an 11-year-old girl on KIK Messenger - a popular messaging platform with youngsters -  before moving to Whatsapp on New Year’s Day 2020.

Dempster, who was actually speaking with a member of an online child activist group, asked them to send an explicit photo, touch themselves and call him "daddy". 

The contact ended on January 9, 2020. 

Dempster also began speaking to another decoy pretending to be a 14-year-old girl in November of the same year.  

He asked for photos, said he wanted to have sex and also encouraged them to touch themselves.

Dempster was arrested at his home in Nene Quay, Wisbech, on January 11, 2021, and his electronic devices were seized.

He was jailed for two years and six months on February 2 at Peterborough Crown Court after pleading guilty to two counts of attempting to incite a girl to engage in sexual activity. 

Two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, which Dempster denied, were ordered to lie on file. 

DC Zip Lloyd said: “This was a disgusting case where Dempster showed intent to potentially sexually assault two children.”

Description

A Wisbech man has been sentenced for more than 75 cases of sexual offences against a child dating back to the early 2000s.

David Graham, 49, of Walpole St Peter, appeared at King's Lynn Crown Court on Monday after pleading guilty to rape of an underage girl on 75 occasions.

He was also found guilty to a separate count of rape of an underage vulnerable child and three additional sexual offences all against the same victim.

The female survivor reported to police in September 2021 after being sexually abused for a period of eight years between the early to mid-2000s in the King’s Lynn area.

Graham was arrested in November 2021 and subsequently charged with sexual offences against a child.

The judge found the offences to be a ‘clear campaign of rape’ involving grooming, degradation, and humiliation of a vulnerable child.

He told the court that the survivor had been robbed of her childhood and that Graham was a dangerous offender.  

At court, the survivor’s statement was read out detailing the impact the sexual abuse had on all aspects of her life, relationships, friendships, mental health and work life which culminated to attempts on her own life.

The statement read: “The impacts of sexual abuse have cost me profoundly in many ways, will continue to affect me on a daily basis and has without a doubt set me on a different path from the one I would have taken had I not been abused for many years.

"For so long I have wanted to say goodbye to this chapter in my life and even though a part of it will always be with me I refuse to let it limit the life I want to live anymore.”

DC Loli Ward said: “We hope the sentence will help to provide some justice for the turmoil the victim has gone through during her life.

"We would like to thank her for her bravery in coming forward and reporting these historic sex offences, which have had a profound impact on her life in every way.

“We would also ask that anyone else who has been a victim of such offences seeks help, either through the police or from one of our support organisations, such as the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC).”

David Graham was sentenced to a total of 21 years to serve an additional eight years on licence.

Description

A man was warned he faces a sentence of "many years" after admitting a string of child sex offences.

Andrew Bonner, 56, pleaded guilty to 15 sexual offences when he appeared at Lincoln Crown Court on Thursday.

They included raping a child aged under 13 and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

All the offences were committed in the Lincoln area, against the same victim. Bonner, of Chatteris in Cambridgeshire, will be sentenced on 9 October.

Judge Catarina Sjolin Knight told him: "You have pleaded guilty to what I know you know are extremely serious matters.

"I will remand you into custody. It will be a sentence of many years."

Description

A registered sex offender who was found with child abuse images and a haul of illegal weapons has been jailed. Paul Page was being monitored by dedicated officers after he was previously convicted of child abuse in the USA.

The 49-year-old was arrested at his then home in Littleport on May 16 after intelligence suggested he was in possession of indecent images. Page admitted he had been downloading indecent images of children on to a USB stick.

Digital tests revealed a total of 254 images – 113 category C, 32 category B and 109 category A, which is the most severe. When Page was on bail, officers were alerted to a stash of rifles, pistols and crossbows.

The weapons were being kept in a shed at his former home in Littleport. Firearms officers seized 74 items, including 25 firearms.

Page, formerly of Littleport but now no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, six counts of possessing a weapon in a private place and two counts of possessing a weapon for the discharge of a noxious liquid/gas/electrical incapacitation at Peterborough Crown Court on Wednesday (August 30). He was handed a prison sentence of one year and eight months.

A Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) was put in place for 10 years to monitor any future offending. He remains on the Sex Offenders Register for life following his conviction in the USA.

DC Andrew McKeane, who manages sex offenders in the community, said: "Page is a dangerous sexual predator and I am pleased he has faced justice. Offenders are closely monitored to ensure they are complying with orders – to protect the public and help prevent further crime."

A Cambridgeshire Police spokesperson said: "Anyone who is concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to a child, can apply for disclosure information through Sarah's Law. Anyone who looks out for the welfare of a child can make an enquiry. This can include parents, carers, guardians, extended family, friends and neighbours."

Description

A paedophile has been locked up again just months after he was released from prison. Justin Barrs, 25, was convicted of making indecent images of children five years ago and again in 2020.

But after being released back into the community on January 26, he has been jailed once again after he was found to have breached the conditions of his release. As part of the conditions, Barrs was made to present his mobile phone to Thorpe Wood Police Station, in Peterborough, the day after he moved to the county from Suffolk on April 4.

When officers examined his phone, they found Varrs had created three usernames for online chat sites and had deleted the social media site Snapchat from his phone. He admitted he had been part of an online group for 13 to 19-year-olds.

When he was discovered, he told the police: "I'm an idiot."

Barrs, of Essendyke, Bretton, was sent back to prison after being charged with three counts of failing to comply with notification requirements for the Sex Offenders Register and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). On August 3, at Peterborough Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to the charges and was sentenced to three years and four months in jail.

DC Jon Edwards said: "Protecting children and vulnerable people from harm is one of our top priorities and I am very pleased Barrs' breaches of his release conditions were discovered so he could be brought back before the courts. I would urge parents and carers to talk to their children about the dangers of phones, social media and the importance of online safety."

Description

A paedophile tried to hide a mobile phone containing indecent images of children in the sunroof of his car.

When officers arrived at Roy Seymour-Morris' house on March 27, he was at the gym, but as he pulled up officers noticed him put his hand towards the sunroof - where he put a phone.

The visit followed Seymour-Morris’ IP address being found to be used to upload illicit images of children.

The phone was seized and found to contain three Category A videos, the most severe, and three Category C indecent images.

Seymour-Morris, 62, was also in breach of one of the conditions of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) handed down after he was convicted of indecent image offences at Guildford Crown Court in April 2018. 

He had failed to let officers know of a new phone so they could instal monitoring software.

On August 3, at Peterborough Crown Court, Seymour-Morris, of Sandbank, Wisbech St Mary, was jailed for one year and eight months after pleading guilty to distributing an indecent photograph of a child, breaching an SHPO and two counts of making indecent photographs of a child.

DC Claire Cummings said: “Seymour-Morris knew what he was doing was illegal so I am glad he has faced justice.” 

Description

18-year-old Dylan Paul Ansell appeared at York Crown Court today and was sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institute for making and distributing indecent images of children and possession of extreme pornography and a prohibited image.

He was also handed a ten year sexual harm order, ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a 5 year restraining order.

Ansell, now of Camping Close, Haddenham, Ely, formerly of Harrogate, answered no comment when first interviewed regarding the allegations and content found on devices seized from his address on Friday 20 August 2021.

However, during a trial at York Crown Court he later pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent photographs of children, three counts of distributing indecent photographs of children, one count of possessing extreme pornography and one count of possession of a prohibited image.

Ansell also pleaded guilty to stalking, using false social media accounts to repeatedly target a victim, which has had a lasting impact on their day-to-day activities.

Speaking today after sentencing, investigating officer Detective Constable Sullivan of the North Yorkshire Police Online Child Abuse Team said,

“The devices seized from Ansell’s home were found to contain hundreds of illegal images and videos - including category A indecent images of children, prohibited images of children between the ages of 3 and 17 years, as well as extreme pornography.

“Ansell also manipulated photos of children that he knew and shared them with others online, without their knowledge, for sexualised purposes. He was also actively involved in an online network that created and shared indecent images of children.

“His actions have caused significant distress to his victims, including one of whom he repeatedly stalked using false social media accounts. In addition to this he has shown blatant disregard to the bail conditions that were put in place, by repeatedly attempting to contact the victim, causing additional stress and anxiety. He has shown absolutely no remorse for this.

“I’d like to commend the bravery of that victim and their family, who due to Ansell’s repeat offending had to endure a prolonged investigation. They have all shown strength and determination throughout our enquiries and the resulting court process.”

Description

A convicted sex offender who was found with 25 category A images and used search terms including “children in swimwear” on his computer has been jailed for more than two years. 

Specialist officers trained in dealing with sexual offenders were carrying out a routine inspection at 56-year-old Lee Williams’ home in St Neots in April 2021 when they discovered the searches and images. 

They were unable to access Willams’ spare mobile phone and computer as he gave incorrect password details and claimed he hadn’t set the computer up yet. 

As a result, the devices were seized and sent to the forensics team, which discovered child abuse images, 25 of which were category A, the most serious. 

Williams pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order and three counts of making indecent images of children. 

He was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison at Cambridge Crown Court last week (June 22). 

Detective Constable Decca Riondino said: “Specially trained officers will continue to monitor and engage with registered sex offenders in the community and conducting device inspections is an important part of our work. 

“Williams was subject to a sexual harm prevention order and demonstrated a blatant disregard for it. 

“We work with partner agencies to protect the public and bring offenders and reoffenders to justice.” 

Anyone who is concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to a child, can apply for disclosure information through Sarah’s Law. 

Anyone who looks out for the welfare of a child can make an enquiry. This can include parents, carers, guardians, extended family, friends and neighbours. 

Description

A 91-YEAR-OLD man has been sentenced to ten years in jail for his sexual offences against a young girl almost two decades ago.

Eric Grant, 91 of Hall Barn Road, Isleham, appeared at Basildon Crown Court on Thursday, February 23, where he was jailed for his offences which took place between 2004 and 2005.

The victim was just 11 years-old at the time she was abused. The abuse took place in Essex and in Cambridgeshire.

The victim reported the abuse to Essex Police in March 2021.

Prior to speaking to police, she called Grant to confront him about what he did.

She recorded this call, where Grant implied that the acts were consensual. The victim then bravely used this as evidence when reporting to the police.

The investigation was picked up by Essex Police’s Quest Team, who dedicate themselves to investigating all non-recent child sexual abuse.

Grant was interviewed in July 2021 and refused to tell officers anything. Despite this, he was charged a few months later.

Following a trial at Basildon Crown Court, which began on December 12, 2022, Grant was found guilty and placed on the Sex Offenders Register whilst being remanded into custody ahead of his sentencing. He appeared at Basildon Crown Court again on Thursday where he was sentenced to ten years in prison.

He was also given a restraining order, preventing him from making any contact with the victim.

At the sentencing, the victim bravely spoke out in court, describing how Grant’s crimes have had a lasting effect on her including how it’s made her extremely protective of her own child.

His Honour Judge Hurst described Grant’s “cowardly defence” and criticised him for putting the victim through the difficult court process despite his recorded admissions.

Investigating Officer, Detective Sergeant Ed Massey said: “I want to commend the bravery of the victim in this case, who I know feels like a massive weight has now been lifted from her.

“I feel the sentence – and the fact that Grant is likely to spend the rest of his life in prison – reflects the devastating effects of his sexual abuse of a child, and the fact that he made the victim go through the difficult process of a crown court trial.

“I would also like to extend my thanks to the Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) from CARA (Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse) who supported the victim throughout the whole process, including several days of jury deliberations, and being by her side today as she read her Victim Personal Statement.”

Detective Sergeant Shirley Cole, from the Quest team, added: “The Quest team is made up of dedicated, specialist officers who work day-in, day-out to get justice for victims.  Our work shows that just because sexual abuse took place decades ago, it doesn’t mean that you have any less of a right to have someone who abused you held to account.  I would urge anyone who was abused as a child to come forward and report to us what happened to them.”

Support is there for anyone affected by rape and sexual abuse, and no victim or survivor is alone. Synergy Essex provides specialist support for victims and survivors of rape and sexual abuse of all ages and all genders across Essex, Thurrock and Southend.

Synergy Essex is a partnership of rape and sexual abuse centres in Essex: CARA (Centre for Action on Rape and Abuse), SERICC Rape and Sexual Abuse Specialist Service and Southend-on-Sea Rape Crisis (SOS Rape Crisis). Synergy Essex is independent from the police and provides support for victims and survivors throughout their journey.

Victims and survivors can self-refer, or be referred by a parent, partner, friend or professional and can access specialist emotional support, counselling and advocacy.  For victims and survivors who report to the police, Synergy Essex provides an Independent Sexual Violence Adviser (ISVA) service, providing support throughout the criminal justice process.

For more information visit the Synergy Essex website.

Description

A Cambridgeshire paedophile who sexually abused children for more than a decade has been jailed. Robert Codling, 58, of Princes Road, Wisbech, targeted girls, a court was told.

His victims were abused at an address in the town over a 12-year period. During this time, Codling would openly perform sexual acts on himself in front of the children, and would touch them sexually, calling it “playfighting”.

After more than a decade of abuse, one victim confided in someone close to her, who then reported it to the police. Codling denied the allegations.

However, on Thursday, February 9 at Cambridge Crown Court he was found guilty of six counts of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching, engaging in sexual activity in presence of a child, and exposure. He was sentenced to eight years and two months in prison.

DC Melanie Bull said: “No sentence will ever erase what happened to the victims, but I hope they will be able to find some closure from this traumatic period in their young lives. Tackling child abuse is a priority for us and we are working hard every day to bring offenders like Codling to justice.”

People who are concerned someone may have been convicted of a sex offence, and could be posing a risk to someone, can apply for disclosure information through Sarah’s Law. As well as this, anyone who looks out for the welfare of a child can make an enquiry, this can include parents, carers, guardians, extended family, friends and neighbours.

Description

A man snared by online paedophile hunters posing as 12 and 13 year old girls has been jailed.

Paul White, 55, had been having sexualised communication with what he believed were giris, aged 12 and 13, but in fact were members of a group known as Innocent Voices.

Norwich Crown Court heard White had been communicating with them after setting up fake profiles on social media.

Duncan O'Donnell, prosecuting, said that between October 2021 and March this year White had been engaged in "sexualised chat" with the pair, asking them if they had boyfriends and if their breasts had developed yet.

He requested they send pictures and asked whether they wanted to see him - although never met up with them.

But White was then contacted by an adult decoy who said she was an adult woman who he met with at a pub in Upwell on March 13 this year.

He was then confronted by paedophile hunters who had passed on details to the police.

White had been in possession of an internet-enabled mobile phone which was in breach of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) imposed on him after previously being convicted for sexual offences in 2017.

White, of Dovecote Road, Upwell, near Wisbech appeared at court on Thursday (June 9) to be sentenced after having previously admitted four offences, including two charges of sexual communications with what he believed was a girl under-16.

He also admitted breaching a sexual harm prevention order imposed in 2017 by attempting to communicate with under-16s and possessing a mobile phone without informing police.

Jailing him for 40 months Judge Katharine Moore said the spell of offending was "deeply concerning".

Judge Moore said White was a "dangerous offender" who was assessed as being a "high risk of causing serious sexual harm" to children.

Andrew Oliver, mitigating, said White, who deserved credit for plea, lost his father, who he described as his best friend, about 12 months ago which hit him "very hard".

He said that White needed help to "rewire his brain".

White was ordered to sign on the sex offenders register for 10 years while the case was adjourned until July 7 when a new sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) will be made.

Description

A 41-year-old man described as a fantasist and a monster has been found guilty of the murder of the schoolboy Rikki Neave, who was found strangled in woods near Peterborough nearly 28 years ago.

James Watson, of no fixed abode, was convicted by a jurys majority verdict at the Old Bailey in London of the 1994 murder after a DNA breakthrough in 2016 revealed that, as a 13-year-old, he had been in physical contact with the six-year-old boy on the day of his disappearance.

Watson, who has a long list of previous convictions including sexual assault evaded detection for more than two decades, changing his account of his interactions with Neave as evidence piled up against him.

The conviction brings to a close a cold case mystery in which Rikkis own mother, Ruth Neave, was acquitted of his murder in 1996, removing suspicion that had haunted her since she pleaded guilty to a litany of shocking child cruelty offences against the boy, of which the jury in her murder trial were unaware.

Speaking after the verdict, Neave described Watson as a monster and criticised the original investigation, saying police and social services totally ruined mine and my daughters lives.

saying police and social services totally ruined mine and my daughters lives.

She said: The only thing now is to close this chapter in my life and open a new one. I wonder what Rikki would be like today. Married, children, who knows? But this monster has taken that all from me and my daughters.

Rikkis sister Rochelle Neave, 30, hailed the verdict as a victory for the family who had campaigned for justice. He thought hed got away with it for that many years and thought we were just going to go away and roll under the table. We werent.

She remembered her brother as a cheeky and loving boy who would look after his sisters. Sheradyn Neave, the youngest of the siblings, who was a baby when Rikki died, added: I think we were let down by the police at the time, we were let down by social services, we were let down by everyone who was in our lives who was meant to care.

The jury deliberated for 36 hours and 31 minutes to convict Watson by a majority of 10 to two after an 11-week trial.

The judge, Mrs Justice McGowan, said Watson would be sentenced as if he were a teenager. That means he will receive a life sentence but the starting point for the minimum term will be 12 years. The defendant was not in court on Thursday but watched verdict on a video link.

The prosecution said he lured Rikki to woods near his home in Peterborough on 28 November 1994 and strangled him from behind with a ligature or anorak collar to fulfil a morbid fantasy he had told his mother about three days before.

He stripped Rikki and posed his naked body in a star shape for sexual gratification, deliberately exhibiting him near a childrens woodland den, jurors were told. Rikki was reported missing that evening by his mother and found the next day.

Watson obsessed over newspaper coverage of the killing, photocopying front-page stories at school. The next month he was interviewed as a witness by police after a person reported seeing him with Rikki on the nearby Welland estate. His lies went unchallenged as police wrongly focused on a theory that Neave killed her son and used a buggy to dump his body.

The mother of four was cleared of murder in 1996 but jailed for seven years after admitting child cruelty. The case was unsolved for more than 20 years until Watsons DNA was identified on Rikkis clothes, which had been recovered from a wheelie bin.

In a police interview in 2016, Watson attempted to explain the DNA presence by claiming he picked Rikki up to look at diggers through a hole in a fence. The prosecutor, John Price QC, said that was his really big mistake as police were able to prove the fence was not there in 1994.

After the verdict, the former assistant chief constable Paul Fullwood, who led the cold case, called Watson a fantasist, a dangerous individual, and a compulsive liar. He said: All the way through this, its been a monumental series of challenges. But, as far as were concerned, weve got the right person responsible for the dreadful, dreadful murder of that little boy Rikki Neave.

Hopefully we can bring some justice for his family and also make sure that we put a dangerous individual in prison.

Sentencing will take place on 9 May at the same court.