Latest Offenders Coventry

Description

A Coventry rapist has been jailed for 13 years after his teenage victim revealed a catalogue of offences described as sickening by the police. Carlos Cope, 24, had been in a relationship with the woman but his behaviour became controlling to the point where he was managing her finances and questioning who she was seeing.

Cope began using her money to buy drugs and checking her phone to see who shed been in contact with. The situation came to a head in June last year when Cope became violent towards the young woman and her sister.

He punched her and dragged her along the floor by her hair. Although police were called, she decided not to take the matter further.

However, the following month Cope, of Westminster Road, Spon End, launched his most brutal and disturbing attack. After checking her texts, he punched, her, bit her arms and smashed a lamp on her head repeatedly. In the wake of this the victim disclosed what had happened to West Midlands Polices specialist domestic abuse team.

Detective Constable Jonathan Barker, from West Midlands Polices Public Protection Unit, said: The details of the attack are too sickening to share. It is enough to say the young woman was defiled in the most humiliating way.

I applaud her bravery in bringing this prosecution and ensuring that other women are safe from Cope for some years to come.

Cope was found guilty of rape and assault after a week-long trial and sentenced at Warwick Crown Court on Friday (July 15) where he was also given a restraining order preventing him from contacting the victim or her sister. He will also remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.

In the wake of Copes sentencing, West Midlands Police has urged anyone who is a victim of domestic abuse or coercive control to come forward.

A force spokesman said: If you are a victim of coercive control or domestic abuse, we have specially trained officers who can help you. We work with a number of other agencies and charities who can support you.

Description

A callous and calculating killer who murdered three people in six days is facing life behind bars after being convicted of raping his final victim. Anthony Russell murdered mother and son Julie and David Williams, 58 and 32, at their flats before raping and killing Nicole McGregor, 31, who was pregnant and had shown him a baby scan. Despite knowing she was dead, he told Nicoles boyfriend: I bet you cant wait for it to be born. The murders took place in Coventry in October 2020 and Nicoles body was found in Leamington Spa three days after her death. After Russell was found guilty, police released footage of the moment he was found sleeping in a stolen car which he had been using as a hideout. Russells murder spree began on October 21 when he strangled David with a lanyard. Four days later he murdered Julie in a violent and sustained attack, hitting her repeatedly around the head and neck. He inflicted over 113 injuries on her and is believed to have killed her because she knew he had murdered her son. The following day, Davids body was discovered with 87 injuries Russell would later go on to say hed killed a man who had had sex with his girlfriend. The deaths sparked one of the biggest ever manhunts in the West Midlands. Detective Superintendent Shaun Edwards said: This was a violent series of killings which happened over a period of just seven days, but which have left two families devastated for the rest of their lives. We believe that David was killed due to Russells mistaken belief that he was in a relationship with his girlfriend. When Russell went to speak to Julie about her sons disappearance, we suspect that he confessed to Davids killing. He then killed Julie to stop her from speaking to the police. Theres no known link between Russell and Nicole, and it appears to be pure chance that he has encountered her. CCTV footage of Ms McGregor, who lived in a flat in Leamington, was played to the jury during the trial, showing her walking alongside Russell at 7.45pm on October 26. During her opening speech, prosecutor Zoe Johnson QC said of the footage: This is the last time Nicole is seen alive. Just three hours after meeting the defendant it appears that Nicole has agreed to walk with the defendant into Newbold Comyn. We suggest that the defendant lured Nicole on to the Comyn, not for sex but more likely for drugs. The defendant murdered Nicole McGregor shortly after that image was captured, just hours after they had met. After the murder, he pretended to help Ms McGregors partner look for her. The killer was eventually the subject of a national manhunt, and fled Leamington by robbing a 78-year-old man of his car. Russell rung the pensioners doorbell asking for directions, and when the victim was distracted he hit him over the head from behind with a brick, leaving him with a fractured skull and a bleed on the brain. The killer was arrested on October 30 after police spotted the stolen Ford C-Max parked on a road near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, and found Russell on the back seat. While being booked into custody, he told officers: I admit it, I did it. Russell, from Coventry, will be sentenced on Friday.

Description

A Coventry man has been jailed after he sexually assaulted a woman last year.

Saad Sheikh, 30, of The Spinney, Coventry, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assaulting a stranger. The incident took place on the evening of August 1, 2020, near Jephson Gardens, in Leamington.

The victim, a woman in her 40s, was sitting on a bench when Sheikh sat down next to her and sexually assaulted her by touching her over and under her clothing.

Sheikh was identified on CCTV and was arrested five days later.

He was sentenced to 30 months in prison at a hearing held at Warwick Crown Court yesterday (September 29). He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and given a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, which stops him from engaging in paid or unpaid work with vulnerable people.

Detective Constable Nic Mort, from Leamington CID, said: This was a terrible ordeal for the victim, who is an extremely vulnerable woman. The judge was clear that Sheikh would have been aware of her vulnerabilities and targeted her because of this.

The ordeal left her distraught and traumatised.

I would like to recognise the bravery of the victim who has conducted herself with bravery and dignity throughout the investigation.

As well as receiving a custodial sentence, Sheikh will also have to sign the sex offender register and be subject to sexual harm prevention order which means he will be closely monitored when he is released from prison.

Incidents of this nature inevitably have an impact on the local community, so I hope the police response and this outcome will reassure the people of Leamington that we will work tirelessly to bring offenders like Sheikh to justice.

Description

A sexual "predator" who abused four schoolgirls has been given a substantial jail sentence.

Gareth Berry was convicted by a Leicester Crown Court jury, of 10 counts of sexual assaults upon the girls.

But only after the 39-year-old defendant had denied the offences and accused his victims of lying - leading to a trial.

Sentencing, Judge Robert Brown said: "What you did to these four young girls is been devastating for them.

"Over a period of five years, between 2011 and 2016, you took advantage of them.

"You used grooming behaviour.

"By having a trial you required all four of your victims to re-live the events.

"You denied the allegations and accused every one of them of making up those allegations and there's no hint of remorse as you stand before me now - I presume you are still in denial."

Andrew Howarth, prosecuting, all the victims were left traumatised by what happened to them in separate events in Leicester and Northampton.

The offences came to light In 2016 when two victims living in Northampton reported the abuse to police and an investigation began. As a result of inquires, two victims living in Leicester identified themselves to officers from the force's Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) and said they too had been sexually abused by Berry.

In victim impact statements read out by the prosecutor prior to sentencing, two complainants described suffering flashbacks, depression, anxiety, loss of trust and feeling isolated. One of them had self-harmed.

A third complainant went into the witness box to face her abuser and tell the court how her mental health had suffered.

She wept as she said: "I tried to take my life more than once, I felt it was my fault.

"I still have nightmares, flashbacks and thoughts to kill myself."

The fourth victim did not wish to make a personal impact statement, the court was told.

The judge told the victims' parents and two of the complainants, who attended the sentencing: "You are the victims and you've done nothing wrong at all, at any stage.

"He's a predator, he sought you out in moments of vulnerability - you're in no way to blame.

"It takes real courage to stand up and say what needs to be said and I admire you for it.

"You know that all 12 jurors believed you and every one of those guilty verdicts was unanimous."

He said he accepted that Berry, of Houldsworth Crescent, Coventry, had not previously been prosecuted of matters involving sex offending.

Helen Johnson, mitigating, said: "This is a case that has been delayed which has affected everybody involved and that includes Mr Berry, who was arrested at the beginning of 2017 and was under investigation for two years before being charged.

"He had four trial dates before actually getting a trial and the delay is a justification for a reduction in the sentence."

Judge Brown said the delay was also partly due to the pandemic.

Berry was jailed for 14 years with an additional one year licence period.

He was convicted of:

- Six counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13

- Three counts of sexual activity with a child

- One count of assaulting a child under 13 by penetration

He was placed on an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and will have to enlist on a sex offender register for life.

Afterwards, one of the investigating officers, Detective Raj Pahal, said: "All four victims were children when Berry began abusing them.

"He took advantage of them for his own sexual gratification in the belief that they wouldn't tell anyone about what he was doing.

"However, as they got older they realised what had happened and reported his crimes to police.

"I hope the fact that he has been convicted of his crimes – and is now serving a significant custodial sentence – will provide some reassurance and allow them to begin to move on with their lives."

Description

A man who became obsessed with a 13-year-old girl 'threw his life away' to have sex with her, a court has heard.

David Beeseley knew the age of his victim from the outset when he started sharing sexually explicit messages and pictures with the girl on SnapChat.

He then picked her up from her school in Leicestershire one day in November 2019 and drove her to the car park at Groby Pool where they engaged in sexual activity. The next morning he turned up at her home after her parents had left for work and had sex with her.

The girl, who had been a virgin, believed Beesley was a 19-year-old graphic design student at Warwick University, but really he was more than twice her age as a 29-year-old Starbucks cashier at Corley Services on the M6 near Coventry. He also lied about his surname.

They had sex again on another occasion a few weeks later, and the girl told her mum she had sex with a man as she was worried she was pregnant. Her mum called the police.

At Leicester Crown Court on Friday, Beesley, now 30, of Proffit Avenue, Coventry, was jailed after admitting nine separate sexual offences against a child.

Judge Timothy Spencer told him: "I think you were overcome by some sort of madness. You had a decent job, a steady relationship and your partner was expecting your first baby.

"You had so much positive going on in your life it's really difficult to decide why you threw it all away.

"Right from the start you knew she was 13, but you decided to live out your sexual obsession with her."

The court heard that Beesley had first contacted the girl in September or October 2019, when he was 29 and she was 13.

Prosecutor Michael Cramner Brown said he met her after school on November 4.

He said: "He picked her up and took her to the car park at Groby Pool. She thought they were just going to meet to talk and maybe a kiss or two.

"She was in her school uniform and had some holes in her tights and he was touching the holes, and then they kissed and he pulled her onto his lap."

The following morning they had sex in her bed, and after that he "went off the radar", Mr Cramner Brown said.

A few days later she received a text message from Beesley's partner, who told the girl she was eight months pregnant with Beesley's child and asked the girl not to contact him again. Beesley later told the girl he did not have a partner and that the message was really from his sister, who was being overprotective.

Beesley convinced his partner, meanwhile, that he was not going to see the girl again, and denied knowing she was just 13.

Mr Cramner Brown said: "He managed to wriggle his way out of it with his girlfriend. The girl bought it all, too."

Beesley went back to see the girl on December 4, and they had sex again, including unprotected sex that led to the girl confiding in her mother.

As soon as Beesley found out the police were involved, he sold his phone. But because he was on a contract, phone records made it easy to find out who he was.

Description

A Tory campaign chief who admitted possessing 1,500 child porn images has been handed a suspended jail term and told to complete 150 hours of unpaid work.

Mark Lerigo walked free after Warwick Crown Court heard he has been judged not to pose a high risk to children.

The 49-year-old, of William Bristow Road, Coventry, pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to charges brought following a National Crime Agency inquiry, including two of distributing images.

A court hearing on Friday was told Lerigo was arrested in 2018 and initially denied having a sexual interest in children.

Some of the images, the court heard, showed babies, while others involved bestiality and torture.

Sentencing Lerigo for offences relating to more than 1,500 images, Recorder Martin Butterworth said: 'I have to sentence you for downloading dreadful images of children, of children being abused, and downloading other unlawful sexual images.

'Any consumer of this dreadful material causes others to make it.'

Addressing Lerigo's former job, the judge added: 'You held a senior post in a political party.

'You are now disgraced, your reputation destroyed.

'Those two factors are not mitigation and you're not entitled to any sympathy for that.

'But you have demonstrated remorse and shame by your attitude in interviews, latterly with the police but most recently with the Probation Service, and you have pleaded guilty.'

Explaining the decision to suspend the jail sentence, the recorder added that he had to consider the best way to protect the public and children.

He told Lerigo: 'The pre-sentence report demonstrates that you want help and you have already sought it.

'That help can only be offered if you remain the subject of some order to be served in the community.'

Lerigo was given a two year jail-term, suspended for two years, and made the subject of a 40-day rehabilitation activity requirement.

He was also made the subject of a four-month curfew and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order.

Description

A Coventry man has been jailed for more than 12 years after the rape of a 76-year-old as she walked her dog.

Glenroy Barnes, 27, was sentenced at Warwick Crown Court yesterday (November 20) to 12 years and nine months with an extended five year sentence for the rape and sexual assault of his female victim.

Barnes had pleaded guilty to the two offences before the trial, although he entered not guilty pleas at the first hearing.

The victim encountered Barnes who was also walking his husky-type dog in a village in the Rugby area of Warwickshire.

He tried to engage her in conversation on February 7 before dragging his elderly victim into a ditch and carrying out the vicious assault.

Prosecutor Siobhan Collins told Warwick Crown Court Barnes had a string of convictions for robbery, violence and exposure.

She said the victim spotted Barnes lying in a field and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

Ms Collins told the court: "The defendant grabbed her round her body. She screamed and told him to stop, but he dragged her to the grass verge and pushed her down into a ditch, causing immediate pain to her hip, and he went into the ditch after her."

Barnes then threatened to kill the terrified pensioner before raping and sexually assaulting her.

Following the attack, Barnes made the woman promise not to tell the police before walking back with her towards her village.

It was when she slumped onto the bonnet of the car and the occupants checked on her, Barnes squared up to them, before finally walking away.

They helped his sobbing victim into their home and called for the police and an ambulance.

Barnes was later linked to his victim from DNA and blood under his fingernails.

Miss Collins added in a victim impact statement the victim spoke of the emotional impact of the attack and her desire to scrub herself clean.

But she also said she was determined that the ordeal would not defeat her.

Judge's sentencing comments

Peter Cooper, defending, said: "He has little recollection. He accepts, based on the forensic evidence, it must have been he who committed these dreadful offences.

"He had a lot of alcohol and had not been taking his ADHD medication. He has written a letter expressing remorse.

"He wants to say sorry for the appalling ordeal this lady went though."

Jailing Barnes, Judge Andrew Lockhart QC said: "I have read her victim impact statement. Rarely are such statements so moving. This has had an enormous impact on that person.

"Glenroy Barnes has numerous offences on his record. There is a litany of violence against fellow humans and in 2015 he was sentenced for wounding.

"It is then that a very disturbing aspect of this man's psyche has come out."

Of the rape, the judge said: "He grabbed her and threw her into a ditch, and immediately the sexual offences began.

"He got her out of the ditch and moved her along. I have absolutely no doubt he was moving her to another location, and that the offences would not stop.

"This is one of the gravest offences of rape one can imagine. There was degradation and humiliation, and there was violence and threats beyond what was required for the offence.

"I find Mr Barnes does present a clear and present danger, and I can see no end to it."

Barnes, deemed a danger to the public was ordered to serve and extended sentence meaning his must serve at least two thirds of his sentence behind bars before he can be considered for release.

After release, he must remain on licence for the remainder of the custodial period and for a further five years.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offender's register for life.

Crown Prosecution Service Statement

Kanwal Juss of the CPS, said: "These offences have traumatised the 76-year-old victim and while the evidence against Barnes was overwhelming, he chose to plead not guilty until a few days before the trial causing further distress to the victim and her family.

"The CPS will support and seek justice for victims of such offending and commends the bravery of this victim in coming forward to report these horrific offences.

"We hope the sentence imposed on Barnes today brings some comfort to her.

"We worked with Warwickshire Police who conducted an excellent investigation and the evidence against Barnes included the victim's account, positive identification of the suspect by three witnesses and DNA from the nail scrapings."

Description

A paedophile science teacher who kept a sickening photo hoard of children stripping - which he assembled by posing online as a teenage girl - has been jailed.

Alaric Bristow, 31, tricked more than 200 school pupils aged 13 to 15 into performing sex attacks by flirting with them on social media using a fake profile.

Many of the victims were his own students and featured among the thousands of indecent images stored on his laptop that were used for the sex offender's own gratification.

The twisted teacher, from Coventry, West Midlands, even made a horrific powerpoint presentation of the 'trophies' he had collected.

Bristow pleaded guilty to 12 charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, nine of making indecent images of children and one of having prohibited images.

He has been ordered to serve at least two-thirds of his five-year sentence in prison and will be on the sex offender's register for life.

Judge Peter Cooke told Bristow that he abused his position of trust by living a 'dark secret double life'

He told Warwick Crown Court on Friday: 'The offending has been rightly described as a campaign to get over 200 boys to display themselves to you over the internet.

'To achieve this, you created false profiles of teenage girls and furnished them with images intended to be seductive, and you sent requests of what you wanted them to do.

'A very large proportion of those lads were your pupils, you being a teacher at the time.

'You didn't just watch, you stored the images and catalogued them for your own sexual gratification.

'You were, unknown to them, recording what they were doing, and you kept a record of how compliant particular boys were and how much further enjoyment you were likely to get from them.

'When they thought they were flirting with a girl their own age, they were being recorded and lusted over by one of their own teachers, a man they were supposed to be able to trust.

'You were leading a double life, imparting knowledge during the day, but leading a dark secret life at night.

'I am satisfied there is a significant risk that you will commit further specified offences in the future and cause serious harm to members of the public, most likely young people.'

West Midlands Police snared Bristow at his home, where he lived with his mum and brothers, last September after receiving information of suspicious internet activity.

He created a series of fake profiles of teenage girls, using images he had downloaded from the web, and tricked the youngsters into exposing themselves.

Bristow kept meticulous records of the names of the boys, the false profiles he used when contacting them, and the images sent and received.

Evil Bristow admitted creating the fake profiles to get images and movies of the boys, but insisted he had never met or had any intention to have physical contact with any of his victims.

John O'Higgins, prosecuting, praised police for the 'enormous investigation' involving 20 specialist officers at one stage to trace all the boys involved.

Detective Constable Ian Russell, from West Midlands Police's Online Child Sexual Exploitation Team, said: 'Bristow created folders and spreadsheets on his laptop in order to keep track of his numerous fake profiles and his large number of contacts, detailing the different stages of each 'relationship'.

'Even after his initial arrest, Bristow could not abstain from his deviant behaviour and breached his bail conditions by obtaining a laptop and accessing the internet to continue offending.

'More than 1,000 images were found to have been stored.

'As a school teacher he was in a position of trust and should have known the devastating emotional effect this type of abuse can have on young people.

'I would like to thank those who have been brave enough to speak to us for their help in securing this sentence and also the partnership agencies for their collaborative support.'

Description

Three men who forced a 14-year-old girl into prostitution and "plied her with drugs" have been sentenced for sexual exploitation offences.

Jake Cairns, 21, was sentenced to eight years, while Brandon Sharples, 20, and Jack McInally, 21, were given five years in prison.

The men took explicit photos of the teenager and posted an advert of her on an escort site, claiming she was 18.

The men, all from Coventry, were found guilty of the offences in November.

The girl was held at an address in Coventry for five days and a missing person inquiry was launched when she disappeared from a relative's home on 8 June 2015.

For three days men visited the property and paid for sex with the teenager; West Midlands Police believe about 20 men were forced on her.

On 13 June 2015, police raided the house and rescued her. She was found dressed only in her underwear and trying to climb out of a first floor window.

Cairns, of Cheveral Avenue in Radford, Sharples, 20, of Wyley Road in Radford and McInally, 21, of no fixed address, were arrested on suspicion of child abduction.

'Hellish ordeal'

DNA discovered on a duvet in a room where the girl was held was found to have come from five people, including Cairns.

All three men were sentenced for arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child and facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child.

Cairns was additionally charged with distributing indecent photographs of a child.

The trio were also given 10-year sexual harm prevention orders and ordered to sign on to the sex offenders register for life.

An NSPCC spokesperson said: "These predators callously exploited a vulnerable teenage girl and forced her to endure a hellish ordeal.

"These sentences show that victims of child sexual abuse can get justice and highlight the importance of reporting concerns that a child or young person is being sexually exploited."