Search results for Kent

Description

A "depraved" physiotherapist who convinced his patients to take off their clothes for what he claimed were necessary treatments has been put behind bars for six years. Purnoor Bawa, 44, told the women that removing their clothing was a standard procedure required to treat their injuries.

However, once they were undressed, Bawa would proceed to sexually assault them, touching areas unrelated to their treatment, said police. Labelled as a 'danger to women', he exploited seven women across a span of five years. Bawa denied eight counts of sexual assault but was found guilty after a trial at Woolwich Crown Court and received a six-year sentence on Friday (June 14).

The court was informed that in December 2018, Kent Police responded to an incident at Bawa's workplace in Gravesend where he had reportedly conducted an inappropriate massage on a patient being treated for an ankle injury. At that time, Bawa was already under restrictions to work only with a chaperone present due to ongoing investigations by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) into his conduct.

An earlier hearing by an HCPTS tribunal panel revealed that Bawa, during sessions with a woman recovering from a car accident, asked her to take off her bra and massaged her breasts without any clothing. Feeling "groomed" after the encounter, the woman reported Bawa to the authorities. Bawa, who moved to the UK from India in 2003, had worked with various NHS Trusts from 2005 until 2018.

In 2017, he started his own private practice, offering physiotherapy services in Gravesend and Dartford. After the December 2018 incident, Bawa was arrested and was later released while further enquiries were underway. These included revisiting two previous reports against Bawa which, at the time, hadn't met the evidential threshold for prosecution.

By April of the following year, five women had stepped forward. Detailed investigations into each case provided enough evidence to charge Bawa. Kent Police's press release on the charges prompted two additional victims to report offences Bawa had committed against them.

Despite denying eight counts of sexual assault, Bawa was convicted after a trial and received a six-year prison sentence last week. Detective Constable Peter Hylands, the officer in charge of the investigation, said that Bawa's victims' testimonies clearly showed he "belongs behind bars".

Hylands stated: "Purnoor Bawa manipulated and groomed his victims, making them think his actions were justified when in reality he was taking advantage of them for his own depraved ends. Each offence was committed in the privacy of Bawa's treatment room where there were no independent witnesses, CCTV cameras or any other forms of evidence."

The detective also highlighted the bravery of the victims: "It is therefore almost entirely down to the courage of each victim and their strength in numbers that we were able to prove beyond any reasonable doubt that Bawa had sexually assaulted them. He has shown that not only is he unfit to practice as a physiotherapist, but he is also a danger to women and belongs behind bars."

Description

A registered sex offender who breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) multiple times has been jailed.

Graham Robinson, from Faversham, was convicted at Canterbury Crown Court in 2018 of possessing indecent images of children and was made subject to strict conditions on his behaviour.

These included restrictions around his access to mobile phones or computers and his use of the internet.

He was also required to notify the police of any devices and bank accounts he possessed and allow his devices to be examined whenever it was requested.

The SHPO also required Robinson to install monitoring software on his phone and other internet-enabled devices, to allow officers to check he was not committing further offences or breaching the conditions imposed by the court.

Between 2020 and 2022, investigators completed unannounced visits to Robinson’s home and discovered multiple breaches.

On one occasion, a smartphone was recovered at his property that he claimed belonged to a friend.

When the officers called the number they had had for Robinson the phone rang and it was seized.

Two phones and two internet-enabled devices that he hadn’t declared were recovered during a further inspection and investigators found Robinson had been using software to wipe his phone and computer.

In February 2022, Robinson was arrested and officers located a tablet, multiple USB drives and other storage devices at his home.

They also found he had several bank cards and accounts he had not disclosed.

During the search, the constables seized a flick knife and a credit card that concealed three blades.

The devices seized from Robinson were forensically examined and found to contain more than 460,000 images.

A proportion of the content was reviewed, and officers discovered 138 indecent images of children.

Eight were of the most serious category. There was also evidence of 23 extreme pornographic images.

Robinson, of Beech Close, was later charged and, at Maidstone Crown Court pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of a child, three counts of possessing extreme pornographic images, seven counts of breaching his sexual harm prevention order, three counts of failing to comply with notification requirements of the sex offenders register and having an offensive weapon in a private place.

Today (Thursday, June 13) the 66-year-old was sentenced to three years in jail.

He was also handed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which will remain in place for 15 years and was also added to the Sex Offender’s Register indefinitely.

Detective constable Jamie Easdown, of the Swale offender management unit, said: “We regularly visit registered sex offenders living in our communities to monitor their conduct and ensure they are complying with any conditions in place to prevent further crimes. We install software on their devices to monitor activity online and will promptly complete searches at home addresses if we suspect further offences.

“In this way, we endeavour to protect the most vulnerable in our community and, where any breaches are discovered, they will be arrested and brought back before the court to answer for their actions.”

Description

A registered sex offender who continued to target young girls online has been jailed.

Police were alerted to Alfie Murray’s reoffending after receiving a report from a girl last October about indecent messages she had received from a man online.

Investigators identified Murray, who is from Medway, as the offender with the usernames KLOWN.7010 and ALFIEMILWALL85.

He had asked for indecent images, made threats and caused the victim considerable distress until she blocked him from contacting her.

Murray was convicted on June 1, 2022, of sex offences involving children and was made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

This had a number of conditions which included notifying the police if he took possession of an internet-enabled device or had any unsupervised communication with a child aged under 16.

He also had to make his devices available for inspection by a police officer and allow monitoring software to be installed.

“Murray has exhibited a willingness to breach the conditions of his court order and subject further children to his appalling obscene conduct…”

Murray was arrested on January 4 this year and when officers searched his house they recovered undeclared internet-enabled devices and proof he had been contacting many other children.

Murray, of Queens Road, Gillingham, was charged and pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court to six counts of breaching his SHPO, one count of breaching his sex offender notification requirements and one count of communicating sexually with a child.

The 32-year-old was sentenced last Thursday (May 30) to three years’ imprisonment.

This included the activation of a suspended sentence and he will have to serve 18 months in prison with the remainder to be completed on licence.

PC Leona Valsler, of the Medway Offender Management Unit, said: “We regularly visit registered sex offenders who are subject to court orders and notification requirements, to monitor their behaviour and prevent them committing further crimes.

“We also install software on their phones and computers to monitor activity online and will make unannounced visits at their home addresses to check their compliance.

“Murray has exhibited a willingness to breach the conditions of his court order and subject further children to his appalling obscene conduct. He has shown himself to be entirely untrustworthy and the court has quite rightly sent him to prison.”

Description

A 58-year-old man who sexually assaulted a young child over a three-year period has been jailed.

Anthony Jarrett, of Maple Close, Larkfield in Kent, previously admitted four charges of sexual assault.

The abuse, which took place in the south of Lincolnshire, related to a single victim, Lincolnshire Police said.

Jarrett was jailed for 10 years and 10 months at a hearing at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday.

He was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

A restraining order was also imposed.

Description

A Metropolitan Police officer granted anonymity at a misconduct hearing despite being a convicted sex offender has finally been named and shamed.

PC Alex Law, 43, was pictured for the first time after his brave victim - who was under the age of 10 - came forward to speak of her two decades of fear and shame.

Law, then 15, twice indecently assaulted the girl who had been out playing in woods near his hometown of Hexham, Northumberland - 20 miles west of Newcastle - in 1996.

Law then secured a job with the Met any years later and hid his dark secret.

But in December 2022, the victim finally decided she had suffered in silence for too long and reported him to Northumbria Police.

Controversially, Law was allowed to remain anonymous at a Scotland Yard misconduct hearing on April 25 – three days after being sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment at Newcastle Crown Court.

Known only as Officer A, the force said he had pleaded guilty to two charges of indecently assaulting a female under the age of 14. Law was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

In an interview, the victim told The Journal newspaper in Newcastle: “He’s ruined my life. I could have been somebody so different.”

While Law got on with his life as a respected custody officer in London, hers spiralled downwards and she struggled to cope.

She said: “Growing up I felt like I was a weirdo, I felt dirty.

“He made me hate myself. I have made some not great life choices and been in some violent relationships because of him.”

The woman claimed Law sent her a picture of himself in his Met uniform, which encouraged her to come forward and speak up about “monster Alex” to protect other women.

Law, of Cedar Drive in Dartford, Kent and attached to Met Detention, was dismissed without notice by Assistant Commissioner Pippa Mills.

Law apologised and recognised it would be unlikely he would ever have been a police officer if the circumstances were known at the time.

Northumbria Police Detective Constable Phil Trotter, who led the investigation, said on Tuesday: “This conviction was only possible because of the bravery shown by the victim.

“She found the courage to speak out and trusted that our officers would listen and fully investigate what happened.

“I hope her brave actions act as an inspiration to other victims, who may feel it is too late to report historic abuse.

“It is never too late to come forward, and as a Force, we are committed to supporting victims and bringing perpetrators to justice.”

Met Detective Chief Superintendent Andy Cox added: “I am grateful to Northumbria Police for their investigation.

“He is now serving a prison sentence and has rightly been swiftly dismissed from the Met.

“We remain committed to ensuring those who are not fit to police are removed from the organisation.”

Description

A South London paedophile gripped a copy of George Orwell's 1984 after he admitted asking an undercover police officer to perform oral sex on him - believing they were a 13-year-old girl. Alex Parsons appeared at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday (May 10) where he confessed to four child sex offences after a sting by the Metropolitan Police in February this year.

The 37-year-old from Parish Gate Drive, Sidcup, held his head in his hands before entering court, then stood in the dock wearing a grey plaid suit and thick glasses he pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, two counts of attempting to cause a child to watch sexual activity, and one count of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard he communicated with an undercover cop - posing as a 13-year-old child called Chloe - between February 20 and 22 this year, during which time he sent 'messages of a sexual nature'.

The perverted bookworm also sent a photo of his genitals and a sexual video and he asked her to perform a sex act on him, the court was told.

Orwell's novel 1984 is a book that features the Thought Police, a secret police force acting for Oceania, a fictional superstate which controls almost every aspect of the characters' lives.

Thought Police are tasked with finding and punishing thoughtcrimes (personal and political thoughts not approved by the regime), often working undercover to lure out criminals.

On Friday, defence counsel Mark Stevens said his client was of previous good character had already signed notification requirements for sex offenders. Parsons was previously granted bail by the magistrates, who ordered that he be monitored on a curfew between 10pm and 5am and is only allowed a single mobile phone.

Judge Charlotte Welsh ordered an 'all options' pre-sentence report, and granted Parsons conditional bail ahead of his sentence on July 12. Parsons said 'Thank you very much' as he left the dock, then later walked out the courthouse holding a copy of the dystopian novel.

Description

A “dangerous” man who subjected a woman to a degrading and humiliating sexual assault has been jailed for 15 years.

Leon Walmsley carried out the attack within just a few months of his release from prison in August 2022, with a judge telling the 25-year-old he was “disturbed” by the escalation in his offending.

His victim suffered multiple bruises to her head and body, as well as severe psychological harm, Canterbury Crown Court was told.

Walmsley, of Hertford Place, Ramsgate, admitted a charge of assault causing actual bodily harm but denied assault by penetration, only to be convicted by a jury.

The court heard that having struck his victim repeatedly with an item, causing it to break, he then used it to sexually assault her.

At his sentencing hearing on April 5, a victim impact statement described how the woman had been left "terrified and paranoid" by her ordeal.

Jailing Walmsley, Recorder David Elvin KC told him he was considered a "dangerous" offender in law and would have to serve at least two-thirds of his prison term before being considered for release.

Once freed, he will then have a further three years added to any licence period.

Recorder Elvin said Walmsley, who had been offending since he was 18 and twice recalled to prison while on licence for a previous conviction, had not only shown an "inability and unwillingness to learn from his past" but also demonstrated "a failure to realise he has serious issues".

Recorder Elvin's observations of how Walmsley had presented himself at trial and to the author of his pre-sentence report were just as scathing.

Describing him as "deceitful" and a significant risk to the public, he said: "At the end of the interview you asked the author whether you had 'said the right things', suggesting your account may not have reflected your true feelings but what you believed would create a good impression.

"You gave evidence in a very calm, very controlled and very polite manner, seeking to gain favour with the jury."

On his release from prison, Walmsley will be subject to indefinite sex offender notification requirements.

Description

A man who subjected two children to repeated sexual abuse during the 1980s and 1990s has been jailed.

Bernard High, of Rochester, was convicted of 16 offences, including indecent assault and gross indecency.

His crimes were initially reported to Kent Police in September 2018 and he was arrested on 17 November the same year.

At Maidstone Crown Court, the 67-year-old was sentenced to 16 years in prison.

High, of Jenner Road, denied the offences and the case went to trial, where he was found guilty on all counts.

He was sentenced to 16 years imprisonment and added to the sex offenders register for life.

Det Sgt Rachael Cheney said High was a despicable individual who targeted the vulnerable victims.

The crimes committed by High have had a long-lasting impact on their lives and I hope they can now move forward in the knowledge that their abuser is serving a considerable prison sentence, she said.

Description

A paedophile who sexually abused a teenager has been jailed for more than two years.

Clinton Woodcock, from Chatham, had previously denied the offences but was found guilty by a jury at Maidstone Crown Court on March 14.

He was convicted on three counts of engaging in sexual activity with a child aged 13 to 15, and one count of sexual activity in the presence of a child aged 13 to 15.

Woodcock, of Eden Avenue, committed the offences in Gillingham between 2016 and 2018.

The 50-year-old sex offender was also charged with two counts of voyeurism in 2021 and admitted those offences.

Woodcock was jailed for two years and 10 months and handed a ten-year sexual harm prevention order.

He was also added to the sex offenders’ register for life.

Description

A convicted sex offender has been jailed again after he was found using his phone to send explicit messages to a child.

Former East Malling resident, David Knight, used social media apps to befriend the young boy and made repeated attempts to meet the victim on his own. 

Knight, 46, was previously sentenced in 2005 to more than six years’ imprisonment, for offences relating to the sexual abuse of children.

He was convicted under his former name of David Thomas and added to the sex offenders register, for life.

Name change

Upon his release from prison, he changed his name to David Knight and became the subject of new allegations made to Kent Police in August 2022.

An investigation established Knight had been communicating with a child by using internet platforms including TikTok.

Posting under the profile name of FireKnight2017, he sent several inappropriate and explicit messages, and expressed a desire to be with the child on their own.

Knight was arrested on 16 August. A police analysis of his phone found searches on the internet including ‘nude junior archives’ and ‘kids’ nudists chase game’.

Sentenced

He was charged with attempting to meet a child following grooming and with failing to comply with a notification requirement (relating to the sex offenders register).

Knight pleaded guilty at Maidstone Crown Court, where a further offence of engaging in sexual communication with a child was ordered to lie on file.

On Tuesday 19 March 2024, Knight, of no fixed address, was jailed for four years and one month. He will have to serve two thirds of the sentence before he can apply for parole.

Upon his release from prison, Knight will be the subject of an additional licence period of three years, as well as a sexual harm prevention order and restraining order, both for 10 years. 

Description

A paedophile carried out a series of sexual assaults on vulnerable young girls over several decades. Dennis Yarr subjected his victims to sickening attacks leaving them suicidal, depressed and unable to feel safe around men.

The offences committed by Yarr spanned several decades and included luring a young girl into his car, sexually touching another child and forcing another to sit on his lap and perform a sex act.

A hearing at Cardiff Crown Court on Wednesday, March 20 heard Yarr, who is Scottish and was working as a bus and taxi driver in the Vale of Glamorgan, accused his victims of lying before being found guilty of indecent assault and indeceny with a child at trial in February this year. Judge Timothy Petts said Yarr had shown "no remorse" for his actions and described him as "manipulative and predatory".

The court heard Yarr, 63, of Dunstan Avenue in Westage-on-Sea, Kent, carried out a series of disgusting attacks on a young girl in the 1990s. This included touching inside her underwear and on one occasion penetrating her. He then told his victim not to tell anyone in order to prevent her from reporting the ordeal.

A statement on behalf of the victim said Yarr's attacks had meant she "grew up feeling let down and disappointed" and had "affected her choices in life", adding that she still struggled with mental health issues and had been left traumatised by it taking 10 years for the offences to be brought to light. The victim said what happened had "ruined my childhood years", adding: "Every time I hear a Scottish accent, smell whiskey and see a man with a moustache it makes me think of my abuser." She said she had self-harmed as a result of Yarr's actions and had been admitted to hospital and had been "petrified" at the idea of giving evidence at his trial.

Yarr was also found to have indecently assaulted another girl in the 1990s by encouraging her to get into his car before asking her to sit on his lap while he drove, at which point he proceeded to touch her crotch area. A statement read on behalf of the victim said what happened had left her with trust issues as an adult, only being comfortable leaving her child with close family members, wary of men and feeling unsafe taking taxis unless she sat in the back seat. She said years later that she felt "anxious, overwhelmed and distressed" when the case came to court and suffered from PTSD, and that Yarr's conviction had "given [her] closure" to move on with her life.

The court also heard Yarr had carried out another offence on a girl when he was a teenager in the 1970s by getting her to sit on his lap and perform a sex act. He later pleaded guilty to indecent assault and was given a conditional discharge. A statement read on behalf of his victim said what had happened had been "difficult to deal with" and resulted in her trying to take her own life. She said it had affected her trust in men and made her struggle in relationships even into her adult life.

South Wales Police began investigating Yarr after one of his victims came forward. He was arrested in Margate, Kent, in December 2020 and two more victims later came forward. Yarr was found guilty of four counts of indecent assault and one count of indecency with a child following a week-long trial at Cardiff Crown Court last month.

David Pernell, defending, said his client had no submissions in relation to the offences and that there had been "no change" to the position he took during trial. He said Yarr was in poor health for a man in his 60s and suffered from COPD and diabetes, adding that he had "come to court to accept his fate carrying a cocktail of prescription medication" from his GP. He summarised a letter by Yarr's partner of 18 years who said he had been "very supportive of her mental health issues" and that she would "keenly miss that support" if he went to prison.

Judge Timothy Petts said Yarr had caused "severe psychological harm" to his victims and that there was "very little" to mitigate what he had done. He said it was noted that the defendant "showed no remorse" and was "manipulative and predatory" in how he carried out the attacks and tried to prevent his victims from reporting what had happened.

Yarr was sentenced to seven years in prison and an additional year on licence. He will become eligible for parole after two thirds of his prison term has passed and will be registered as a sex offender for life. He was also banned from working with children or vulnerable adults and a sexual harm prevention order was made.

After the sentencing, Investigate Assistant Steve Gunney from South Wales Police said: “Dennis Yarr’s actions have had a devastating effect on the three women.

“But thanks to their bravery and a thorough investigation, he has been brought to justice. He has shown no remorse and during cross examination, claimed that the three women were lying and had plotted together to make false allegations."

"South Wales Police takes all reports of sexual violence extremely seriously and it is never too late to report a crime. Help and support is available for all victims of sexual violence, and we would encourage any victims; no matter how long ago the offence happened, to please come forward.”

Description

A sex offender has appeared in court again and admitted sharing indecent images of children on social media.

Police raided John Daly’s home in Thanet after the disturbing clips were retweeted from an account on X – formerly known as Twitter – connected to his address.

When officers searched the 58-year-old’s home they found category B and C images on his phone, as well as a prohibited image of children.

Daly, of Manston Road, Ramsgate, was later charged with two counts of distributing indecent photographs, two counts of downloading indecent images and one count of being in possession of a prohibited image of a child.

He admitted all of the offences when he appeared before magistrates in Folkestone on March 12.

The court heard when police searched Daly’s home they found he had shared a category B image online on May 16 last year, and had also shared 24 category C images between May 7 and May 22.

A total of 125 indecent images – five category B and 126 category C – had also been downloaded on May 30, and Daly was also found to be in possession of the prohibited image.

Rajni Prashar prosecuting said: “He’s a registered sex offender and has previous convictions for indecent images.

“The indecent images were on Twitter (now X) and were in a direct message but had been retweeted as videos by this account, and the address connected to it matched him.

“The images were found on his mobile phone and he also had a prohibited image of children which showed children in bikinis and swimsuits, and he had used a public Twitter account.

“He was convicted of having indecent images in 2010 and 2014 and he also failed to comply with notification requirements [as a sex offender] in 2022.”

Magistrates decided the offences were so serious they sent Daly’s case to Canterbury Crown Court for sentencing.

He was granted bail until the hearing – a date for which has yet to be set.

Description

A sex offender has been jailed after targeting teenagers in Tenterden in November 2023.

On Friday 3 November and Monday 6 November 2023, Joseph Kemp, 33, approached teenage girls in the Ashford Road area of the town and made inappropriate comments to them.

Investigation

The girls reported the incidents and, following an investigation by the East Kent Vulnerability Investigation Team, Kemp was charged on Thursday 9 November.

Kemp, of Tenterden Road, Cranbrook, pleaded guilty to two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two counts of attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child.

Jailed

He was sentenced to three years and seven months’ imprisonment at Canterbury Crown Court on Thursday 14 March 2024.

Description

A sex offender from Whitstable has been jailed after admitting to a series of online offences.

Detectives from Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) led an investigation in which charges were brought against James Clark, of Victoria Street, who carried out his crimes between December 2020 and January 2024.

Multiple crimes

Clark was charged with multiple offences, including nine counts of attempting sexual communication with a child; three counts of attempting to make a child watch a sexual act; three counts of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity; three counts of publishing an obscene article and making and distributing indecent images of children.

Sentenced

After pleading guilty, Clark, 26, was sentenced to five and a half years’ imprisonment at Canterbury Crown Court on Friday 8 March.

He was also made the subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Description

Following an investigation by the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) a 38-year-old man has been jailed for a sex offence and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Michael McGee, of King Street, Ramsgate, Kent was jailed for six years and eight months on at Reading Crown Court on Thursday (7/3).

He pleaded guilty to one count each of arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Between November and December last year, McGee was communicating online with a girl who he believed was 12 years old. He sent sexually explicit messages and arranged to meet her in person.

He also breached the conditions of a SHPO by factory resetting one of his devices.

Investigating officer Detective Sergeant Lisa Betchley, of SEROCU, said: SEROCU takes sexual offending extremely seriously.

McGee contacted and arranged to meet someone he believed to be underage. Thankfully no children were in danger, however McGees intentions were clear.

Further, due to the risk that he was deemed to pose because of previous offending, he was made subject to a SHPO meaning that he had to abide by certain conditions. He breached one of those conditions. Such breaches are not taken lightly, and he has been sentenced accordingly.