Latest Offenders Exeter

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A disgraced maths teacher jailed for having phone sex with a 14-year-old former pupil – who later tried to kill herself – sought legal advice on suing her for 'harassment', a hearing was told.

Richard Ariss, 29, was sentenced to a year in prison for abusing the girl earlier this year and has now been banned from the classroom for life.

Ariss taught the girl, referred to only as Pupil A, in Years 7 and 9 at a school in the Plymouth area.

After he left for a job at another school in Torbay, he set up a Facebook page as a teaching tool. It was through this that the girl's parents contacted him to arrange private tuition.

But just before the first lesson, her shocked mother found Ariss had been sexting her daughter and called the police.

Exeter Crown Court heard Ariss told the girl to delete texts and messages he sent on another, private Facebook page and told her to store his number as 'random male'.

Prosecutor Peter Coombe told the court hearing in March: 'Shortly after this came to light she overdosed on paracetamol and her mother found farewell letters to friends, one of which was to the defendant and indicated they had planned to meet.'

His messages encouraged her to perform sex acts on herself and showed that on one occasion he had got her to ring him so he could listen to her.

Mr Coombe said: 'The aggravating features are inciting her to penetrate herself and suggesting she should perform oral sex on him. There was significant planning and he has groomed her over time in gross breach of trust.'

Ariss worked at the victim's school from qualifying in July 2010 to May 2014, when he moved from Combe Martin, North Devon, to Exeter, to start his new job.

In February this year, he admitted three offences of inciting a child to take part in sexual activity in September 2014 and was jailed for a year.

But a report by a misconduct panel revealed that when asked to explain himself to teaching watchdogs Ariss showed little remorse.

'Throughout the various investigations, hearings and the trial, Mr Ariss, for the most part, still seems to be focussing on himself and the impact that his actions have had on him,' the findings stated.

The panel note that in his letter of mitigation dated 7 July 2016 and sent from prison, he states that he had been advised by his barrister and solicitors that, if the situation had been different, he could have sued Pupil A for harassment.

'The panel commented that specifically referring to this point reinforces their view that he has shown very little insight into his actions.'

The misconduct panel agreed with the trial judge that the teacher's actions were 'planned and premeditated' and it was 'a classic case of what is called "grooming"'.

It also noted the judge's remarks that 'had the relationship between Mr Ariss and Pupil A continued, there would have been sexual contact', adding: 'Mr Ariss had a blatant disregard for safeguarding policies that would have been in place at the schools in which he taught and which he would have been aware of.

'Pupil A was a vulnerable 14-year-old student (Mr Ariss was 28 at the time of the relationship).

'Even to the extent that Mr Ariss did not know this before he started tutoring her, this would have become clear to him very shortly thereafter. His actions took advantage of this vulnerability.

'The actions of Mr Ariss clearly had a very significant impact on Pupil A (who was already vulnerable), in that she tried to take her own life shortly after these matters came to a conclusion.'

The girl sobbed as she stood in the witness box at Exeter Crown Court in March when she asked for her abuser to be jailed.

She said: 'I have struggled to sleep, I have self harmed, and taken an overdose. I have struggled with feeling responsible, even though I know it was not my fault.

'I have had trouble at school with people laughing at me behind my back and calling me names. I am scared to walk down corridors because of what everyone is thinking about me.'

Recorder Mr Andrew, QC, told Ariss: 'Your contact with the girl became increasingly intimate and sexualised. You gained her trust and she spoke of things which were worrying her.

'You encouraged her to touch herself sexually and discussed her performing oral sex. These were repeated offences.

'You were intending to meet her and this was only prevented because her mother saw the texts.

'I have no hesitation in concluding that if you had met there would have been sexual contact. Behaving in this way to a former pupil was a gross breach of trust.

'You were 27 and she was 14. Teachers are supposed to protect pupils, not to abuse them. This was planned and premeditated. It was a classic case of what is called grooming.'

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A computer engineer has been jailed for two years for distributing indecent images of children in one of the "most serious cases" a judge has heard.

Keith Gibson, 50, of Milford Cottages, Kennford had 2,300 still and moving images on his computer which he then distributed to a paedophile ring.

Exeter Crown Court heard some content included the rape of a three-year-old.

Gibson from Devon admitted 10 offences of making, four of distributing and two of possessing indecent images.

The court heard he formed part of an internet paedophile ring which exchanged child sex fantasies and images in chat rooms with some of those involved posing as children.

'Pre-meditated' behaviour

The victims included babies under six-months-old and two of the movies he distributed showed girls aged about three and 10 being raped.

He was caught through an investigation by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection squad in London, the court heard.

Judge Francis Gilbert QC said: "You did not care if you were talking to adults or children and you fantasised you were talking to children.

"The probation report says your behaviour was pre-meditated, well planned and persistent and that you went to significant lengths to avoid detection, and you had no regard for the children who were being abused.

"In my judgment this is one of the most serious cases of this type I have ever come across."

Gibson ran a computer repair business where police seized equipment and found 1,682 still images and 638 movies of which just under 1,000 were in the most serious category.

Formerly of Milford Cottages, Kennford, Gibson recently moved to River Drive, Cullompton, following flooding at his property over Christmas.

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A convicted sex offender who raped a teenage girl while on probation was today jailed for life. Richard Ewing dragged the 17-year-old girl into a remote storehouse as she walked across a field near a school in Weymouth, Dorset, on July 22 and raped her.

Ewing, whose previous attacks earned him the nickname the Spider, pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of kidnapping, attempted rape and sexual assault on the schoolgirl when he appeared under heavy guard at Dorchester Crown Court, Dorset today.

The 41-year-old was living in Weston Bail Hostel in the seaside town at the time, having been released early from an 18-year jail sentence for a string of rape sex attacks on women in Exeter between 1989 and 1993.

He was electronically tagged and under special arrangement, known as Mappa, which are aimed at offenders likely to pose a serious risk to the public.

Judge John Beashel imposed a life sentence on Ewing and told him he would serve nine years before being considered for parole.

The judge added: "This is not a nine-year prison sentence. It is a life sentence. It potentially is a sentence that could lead to you remaining in prison for the rest of your life."

He said if he was ever released he would be subject to a licence for the rest of his life.

He added: "You were complying with the terms of your licence but at the same time it seems to me you were cynically planning your next offence. You found some farm buildings and in particular a storehouse and that is where you committed these dreadful offences on July 22 of this year.

"Your victim was a virgin aged 17 years. She is of slight build. You are a powerful and fit man. Once more you exercised control over your victim.

"It was a truly terrifying ordeal for this young woman. You dragged her to the place where you committed these offences.

"You tied her wrists and subjected her to sexual indignities before raping her. You threatened to assault her again if she told anyone as to what had happened.

"You have demonstrated all too clearly that no matter the restrictions placed on you outside of prison you will find a way to obtain sexual gratification by attacking women.

"You are a very dangerous sexual predator."

The judge also jailed Ewing for five years for sexual assault to run concurrently.

He said Ewing had been recalled to prison to serve the remainder of his 1995 sentence which expires in December 2011. He also ordered him to register once again as a sex offender.

Despite having to check in at the hostel every two hours, and abide by a nightly curfew, Ewing found time to plan the attack, said Martin Meeke QC, prosecuting.

Mr Meeke said the evidence of this was that Ewing had planted some rope in the storehouse.

The victim had been shopping with her boyfriend in Weymouth and went back to his house, before walking home across the field.

She had seen Ewing before and he told police in interview that he often ran and trained in a nearby barn where he kept his weights.

Mr Meeke said Ewing put his hand around her mouth, another round her waist and dragged her up a bank saying: "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm going to mug you."

He took her into the storehouse, tied her hands behind her back and told her not to look at him, said Mr Meeke.

He then undressed her and the victim said in a statement to police: "He stopped, he started to examine me, looking at me."

He sexually assaulted her, tried to rape her and then told her to lay down before sexually assaulting her and raping her for the first time without using a condom.

"Until that moment this 17-year-old girl was a virgin," added Mr Meeke.

Ewing redressed the girl before raping her a second time.

"When he'd finished with her she asked him to untie her wrists, he did so," said Mr Meeke.

The victim said Ewing was "thinking whether he should let her go or not."

Mr Meeke said: "He said don't tell anyone or I will come and get you again. I will come and find you.

"She promised not to tell. He picked up her handbag and took 4 from her purse."

She ran home and told her stepmother.

Fingerprints at the scene and DNA evidence linked Ewing to the attack. He fled after the rape and Dorset Police launched a massive manhunt involving more than 100 officers.

The attack on the teenage girl bore all the hallmarks of his previous assaults and Dorset Police feared he may strike again.

An off-duty chief superintendent of Dorset Police recognised Ewing from a wanted poster as he was walking along the promenade on the Bournemouth Poole border on July 25.

He called the police and Ewing, who has distinctive tattoos, including an anchor on his left thumb, a cross on his left forearm and dots on the knuckles of his left hand, was arrested in Bournemouth and subsequently charged.

He told police during the interview about the "demon inside" him.

Ewing told police: "Even though I knew it was wrong, I'm wasting the rest of my life, but I still couldn't do anything about it. I just couldn't logically put it into sense."

Ewing added during interview: "Whoever it was has had his wicked way and left me to deal with it."

Ewing had served 12 years of his 18-year sentence.

After his arrest his licence was revoked and he was returned to jail to serve the remainder. Mr Meeke said he was released as a statutory right under the Criminal Justice Act 1991 and added: "The Probation Service could not have done any more in terms of supervising this man than was done.

"There was no discretion in the Home Office or the Parole Board as to his release. He was entitled to be released."

Ewing's previous attacks earned him the nickname the Spider because of the way he stalked lone women, hiding in isolated areas before pouncing on them from behind.

He was born Richard Carpenter but changed his name by deed pole to Ewing because he was a fan of the TV show Dallas.

Detective Chief Inspector Neil Redstone, of Dorset Police, said outside court the victim had shown "courage" during the investigation.

"From the time that she was brutally attacked by Richard Ewing, during the time he was at large, and leading up to this court case, the victim has always acted with great dignity," added Mr Redstone.

"It is very difficult at times to remember that she was only 17 at the time of this horrific attack.

"I cannot stress enough the seriousness and brutality of this attack. A young woman walking home during the late afternoon was grabbed from behind, dragged to a place away from public view where she has been tied up and savagely raped."

Mr Redstone said the "sheer weight" of evidence against Ewing led to his guilty pleas. "This dreadful offence has been committed by a man who had committed identical offences against women in the past," said Mr Redstone.

"I only hope that he is never given an opportunity to do so again."