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A 26-year-old man who started a relationship with a 12-year-old girl online with the intention of sexually exploiting her has avoided jail.

Matthew Eglinton, of no fixed address but from the Surbiton area, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, after pleading guilty to cause/incite a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity with no penetration.

He will also be on the sex offenders register for ten years.

Eglinton met the victim in 2016 and, despite knowing her age, began a relationship with her on Facebook.

He urged her to meet him in his back garden and then in a local park. When they met, they would kiss and cuddle.

As the relationship developed, Eglinton would send her sexually explicit messages.

The girl’s parents found out about the relationship in late September of the same year after noticing she was leaving the house at the night and discovering communication between the pair.

They confronted Edlington and ordered him to stop seeing their daughter. Once the victim returned to school, she told a member of staff about the relationship who then called the police.

Officers went round to Eglinton's address but he had moved out.

However, he later handed himself in to the police station and was arrested and charged.

DC Huw Jones of Twickenham Police, who led the investigation, said: “Matthew Eglinton deliberately targeted a vulnerable girl for the purposes of his own sexual gratification.

“If his actions hadn't been discovered there is little doubt that he would have carried on with his efforts to exploit this child.”

Eglinton was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court on Friday, August 18.

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A paedophile who filmed up the skirt of a child has been jailed for four and a half years.

Philip Goodwin was sentenced on Friday April 21 at Blackfriars Crown Court having pleaded guilty to multiple charges.

Goodwin was spotted filming up a 14-year-old schoolgirl's skirt as she walked up a set of stairs at Moorgate London Underground station in October 2016, by a member of the public.

The commuter reported the incident to station staff, leading to a British Transport Police investigation.

When Goodwin, of Swakeleys Drive, Hillingdon, was arrested and brought in for questioning, he admitted possessing multiple indecent images of children and had further images and videos of him filming up women and schoolgirls skirts.

The footage was mostly taken in public places, the majority of which were on tubes and trains, the police said.

After a forensic examination of the material, he was charged with two counts of outraging public decency, one count of voyeurism and ten counts of possessing or making indecent images of children.

Goodwin has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register and a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order has been imposed.

Investigating officer, DC Andrew Parkinson, said: Goodwin is a predatory offender who will now spend the next four and a half years behind bars for his actions.

"Whilst he was travelling to work one morning, he spotted his victim, a young girl in school uniform, and targeted her.

I welcome todays sentence as it has taken a child sex offender off the streets - I hope this jail sentence brings a level of comfort to his victims.

This result clearly identifies how important it is to report behaviour such as this.

"This member of the public spotted a man who she thought was acting suspiciously and reported him and in doing so she has helped us bring a paedophile to justice.

"If you are ever a victim or a witness to a sexual assault, I would encourage you to report it to us.

"Just texting the details to 61016 you can start us build a picture of a perpetrator.

"Ultimately, this small step could help us catch a criminal.

Siwan Hayward, TfLs head of transport policing, said: This case shows how much every report of unwanted sexual behaviour on Londons public transport matters and helps police build a picture, so they can catch sex offenders like Goodwin and sentence them for their disgusting crimes.

"We do not tolerate unwanted sexual behaviour and I commend the woman who came forward to report what she saw.

"Sexual offending has no place on our network and offenders will be identified and brought to justice."

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A 27-year-old former teacher who worked at a primary school in Potters Bar has been jailed for six years in relation to inciting children to send indecent images of themselves to him via social media.

Nicholas Taylor, of Barnet, was sentenced at a St Albans court today (Wednesday March 22) after earlier pleading guilty to a series of internet-related offences.

The sentence follows a long investigation by Hertfordshire Constabularys Joint Child Protection & Investigation Team into the offences committed by Taylor.

Between October 2014 and October 2015, while working as a teacher, he incited girls to engage in sexual activity and was involved in the making and distribution of indecent photographs of children.

Under the alias Jackson_Law2002, he had made contact with a number of children through a chat group on Instagram. After befriending them initially, he then bullied and manipulated them into sending him indecent images of themselves.

The children were aged between 10 and 15 at the time of the offences and attended the same school or were involved in a Girl Guiding group in London.

Officers identified all of the children involved and contacted each victim and their family directly to investigate Taylor and provide specialist support.

The investigation revealed no evidence of offences relating to direct physical contact with children.

Detective Inspector Chris Treadwell said: This was a long and complex investigation which involved the examination of more than 30 different phones, computers and other devices owned by Nicholas Taylor.

Taylor went online to contact children for his own sexual gratification. Using a false identity he bullied and manipulated them into sending him images with despicable threats and intimidation. He also deceived his colleagues and fellow volunteers.

I would like to thank the victims and their families for their support during this investigation.

Clearly it has been a harrowing experience for them, but I hope this sentence brings some sort of closure on this difficult chapter in their lives.

Taylor admitted six counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of making indecent photographs of a child, and one count of distributing indecent photographs of a child. He was given a six year custodial sentence by a judge sitting at St Albans Magistrates Court today.

Advice for children and young people about going online safely is available on Hertfordshire Constabularys website here

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Two men have been jailed for eight years each for the rape of an 18-year-old girl in a hotel room.

Abdinasir Darbiye and Nurudeen Mohamed, along with one other friend, had met the victim while at a nightclub in Watford town centre on August 1, 2016.

She had been with two of her friends and at the end of the night one of the men offered to give the three girls a lift back to the Travelodge at Maylands Avenue where the girls were staying.

However once there, the girl became seperated from her friends and 22-year-old Darbiye and 23-year-old Mohamed raped her in the hotel room.

Darbiye, of Steward Holte Walk in Barnet, was found guilty at Luton Crown Court of three counts of rape and Mohamed, of High Road, north London, three counts of rape.

Both men were sentenced to eight years in prison.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Jarl Thomason, from Hertfordshire Constabularys Sexual Offences Investigation Team, said: Darbiye and Mohamed subjected their victim to a harrowing and prolonged ordeal which left her traumatised.

"I would like to thank her for her bravery in reporting the matter to police and in her assistance with the investigation.

The sentences handed to Darbiye and Mohamed by the court reflect the gravity of their offences. They now have a long time ahead of them to think about the harm they have caused this young woman.

Darbiye and Mohamed were acquitted of one count of digital penetration and the third man who it was alleged had been present at the time of the offence and was found not guilty of rape by joint enterprise.

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A sex gang leader who preyed on 15-year-old girls with his girlfriend has tracked down and jailed after fleeing Britain for Spain.

Paul Silverthorn, 36, gave one of his victims legal high '5 NEO' before stifling her screams with a ball gag and tying her to a bed, a court previously heard.

The fugitive paedophile has now been jailed for nine years after he was arrested on the holiday island of Ibiza earlier this month.

He was arrested months after his girlfriend, Leila Kassam, was also caught in Spain.

Kassam, 32, fled to the same island after admitting child sexual exploitation offences last March.

But she was captured after a local worker recognised her from a Crimewatch appeal over the summer while she was working as a farmhand and she was extradited to Britain last November.

Silverthorn, formerly of Leytonstone, east London, was jailed for nine years for sexual offences against teenage girls after being returned to the UK on a European Arrest Warrant.

He fled Britain after pleading guilty last March to two counts of unlawful sex with a 15-year-old victim, and one count each for possessing and distributing indecent images of children.

He failed to appear for trial in May in relation to an offence of administering a substance for sexual purposes to a second 16-year-old victim, and was found guilty in his absence.

He was sentenced in his absence to nine years in June; receiving four years for the administration offence; four years for each of the unlawful sex offences; and six months each for the two separate indecent photo offences.

Detective believe he fled to Spain last April with his former girlfriend Kassam who was also sought in connection with the case.

She too had failed to appear for sentencing after pleading guilty at the March hearing to having unlawful sex with the same 15-year-old victim as Silverthorn; and admitting to arranging the commission of a child sex offence.

The offences, which took place between May and December 2014, involved two victims who were purposely befriended, taken to a central London address, plied with 'legal highs' and alcohol, and - in the case of the first victim - sexually abused by the couple.

The pair were found after a farm owner in Ibiza, who had hired them as farm hands over the summer months, recognised them following appeals on Crimewatch and by Crimestoppers.

Kassam was arrested in November and flown back to the UK on December 9. She was jailed at Blackfriars Crown Court for four years.

Silverthorn and Kassam received an additional six-week sentence for breaching their bail.

The pair were described as leading figures in a sex ring exploiting young girls during 'legal high' parties at a flat in Haymarket, central London.

Another member of the gang, Daniel Trinnaman of Harrow, was sentenced to two and a half years in jail after being convicted of causing a 15-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity and perverting the course of justice.

Faham Jaffer, 34, who had sex with one girl after Kassam texted her a photo with a message which read, 'Only got me a cute little 15-year-old', was sentenced to two years in prison after being found guilty of sexual activity with a child.

Silverthorn, described by Spanish police as a Canadian national, is said to have given his victim legal high '5 NEO' before stifling her screams with a ball gag and tying her to a bed.

Det Con Rob Dewhurst, from the Sexual Offences, Exploitation and Child Abuse Command, said after Trinnaman and Jaffer were jailed and the other two gang members went on the run: "This is a shocking case of child sexual exploitation.

"The defendants targeted young vulnerable girls, plying them with alcohol and what were then legal highs in order to facilitate their sexual abuse by a number of people.

"I commend the young victims for their courage in reporting the offences and giving evidence at trial."

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A man has been jailed after a court heard how he drove from his home in London to north Wales to have sex with a girl aged 13.

But it turned out the girl did not exist and teenager he was grooming was in fact a police officer.

The sting by North Wales Police was described as very professional and well organised at Mold Crown Court, where James Shand was jailed for 21 months.

Shand who had no previous convictions - was placed on the sex register for ten years and a ten year sexual harm prevention order was made to curb his future activities.

The court heard the defendant had booked a room at a hotel in Warrington and was on his way to pick up the girl at Rhyl when he was stopped and arrested by police on the A55.

The 30-year old of Southbrook Road, London, admitted a charge of attempting to meet up with a girl under 16 in order to commit a sexual offence.

When arrested he said Ive f.... up big time.

Interviewed, he claimed he planned a day out and that while he had booked a double bed he said he did not intend any sexual contact.

When it was revealed the girl did not exist but that he had been messaging a police officer, he clapped his hands and said well done.

James Shand believed he was undetectable and embarked on online grooming of an individual who he believed was a thirteen year old child. Not content with his online behaviour, he then travelled from London to North Wales with the sole intention of meeting the child for sex. Those who seek to exploit the internet for such vile acts are monitored and will be prosecuted.

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A Chinese medicine practitioner who raped one of his patients at a shop in Camden and sexually assaulted two others has been jailed for seven years.

Dr Hongbin Liu, 53 of the Peabody Estate, Vauxhall Bridge Road in London pleaded guilty at Wood Green Crown Court on 8 January to one count of rape, one count of assault by penetration and two counts of sexual assault.

In February 2015, an unnamed woman in her forties attended the Chinese Traditional Medicine Centre on Haverstock Hill in Camden and as her usual therapist was not at the premises, she agreed to see Liu instead. During the acupuncture and massage consultation, Liu raped and assaulted the victim. On leaving the premises, the victim went straight to a police station to report the offences.

Liu was subsequently arrested, interviewed and provided a prepared statement denying the offences. He was bailed pending further enquiries. In March 2015, two more women reported two further offences to police. Both took place at the Shu Jun Healthcare Centre on Wells Street, Westminster. In each case, the defendant sexually assaulted his victims.

Jane Tunnicliff, detective constable at the Metropolitan Police sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse command, said: "Dr Liu prayed on the vulnerabilities of his patients. It is important that each and every one of us feel safe to seek treatment when we are ill or in pain. As police officers we strive to make our community safer for everyone – even behind closed doors."

One of the victims thought that while giving her a massage, Liu took a picture of her with his phone. However, officers were unable to recover the photographs.

Detective inspector Lee Davison added: "People who abuse their position of trust damage the fabric of our society and the impact of their actions on their victims can be great. We will pursue all such offenders to bring them to justice."

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A Catholic priest and former children’s home worker has been jailed for 12 years after admitting the sexual abuse of 13 children dating back to the 1970s.

Philip Temple, 66, was sentenced at Woolwich crown court after pleading guilty to 20 charges of sexual assault in April and a further seven charges this week.

Temple twice stood trial in the late 1990s. In the first case the jury was unable to reach a verdict and Temple was acquitted in a retrial.

Before passing sentence on Wednesday, the judge, Christopher Hehir, apologised to one of Temple’s victims that “justice was not done when you came to court in 1998 and 1999”.

The court heard that the victim had become a self-harming recluse and had attempted suicide following the trials.

“I can only imagine the damage he has caused to other victims. We can never escape from what he did and we can never be free of it,” the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court. Temple was “an extremely skilled liar and manipulator with sociopathic qualities”, the victim added.

The judge said there had been another missed opportunity to bring Temple to justice when the youngest known victim, who was six or seven when abused by Temple when he worked for Wandsworth council in south London, began civil proceedings against the council in 1991.

According to Jonathan Polnay, prosecuting, the civil case “appeared to be settled with no payment” and police did not investigate when the victim reported the alleged abuse four years later.

Temple sexually assaulted boys and one girl when working for Wandsworth and Lambeth councils in the 1970s. He became a priest in 1988 and abused two altar boys while serving at Christ the King monastery, Vita Et Pax in Cockfosters, north London, in the 1990s.

The judge said he viewed Temple’s move to become ordained as a Catholic priest as an “aggravating factor”.

Hehir said: “You of course exploited the opportunities your deceit as to your character had afforded you, not only by sexually abusing children but, as a priest, by lying on oath to deny the truthful accusations brought against you by one of your victims.

“Your actions as a priest demonstrated that in truth you were a wolf in shepherd’s clothing.”

Detectives from the Metropolitan police’s sexual offences, exploitation and child abuse (SOECA) command launched an investigation after receiving information that implicated Temple in multiple offences. He was arrested on 6 July last year.

Lambeth council said it was cooperating with the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA). “We hope the outcome provides some solace to the victims of these dreadful crimes,” said a spokesman.

In a statement, the diocese of Westminster said it was “aware of the sentencing of Philip Temple, a member of the Monte Oliveto Benedictine order. The diocese has fully cooperated with the statutory authorities throughout the investigation.”

The statement added: “The diocese of Westminster has robust safeguarding policies in place and rigorous selection procedures for candidates for the priesthood.”

Temple, of no fixed address, also admitted two counts of perjury relating to his earlier trials.

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A paedophile rapper who groomed schoolgirls on social media before filming himself having sex with them has been jailed for 16 years.

Daniel Rodriguez, also known as Grymey D, used Instagram, Facebook and Blackberry Messenger to contact girls who he invited to his home.

Videos found on devices in his bedroom at his parents' house showed Rodriguez engaging in sex with young girls.

The 28-year-old of Hackney, north London, wore a casual shirt and had his long hair in a plait during the sentencing at Wood Green Crown Court on Friday.

Sentencing him for 15 counts, Judge Joanna Greenberg QC said he deliberately targeted young girls in order to carry out "deviant sexual fantasties".

In one encounter, Rodriguez filmed himself having sex with a 14-year-old girl who had arrived at his house wearing her school uniform.

Judge Greenberg told him:

"Your modus operandi makes it clear to me that your desire for them was because they were young girls. Your expressions of remorse ring hollow. You cannot have failed to be aware just how seriously the sexual exploitation of children is dealt with. You do present a significant risk of causing serious psychological harm to young girls."

An spokesman for children's charity the NSPCC said:

"Daniel Rodriguez committed appalling offences towards vulnerable young people, and his deplorable activities have highlighted yet again the dangers young people face online from grooming by predators."

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A paedophile once dubbed the most evil man in Britain after raping two 14-year-old boys has reportedly been housed next to a primary school.

Roger Gleaves, who was jailed for life in 1998, now lives in the council block of flats that looks on to a nursery and an adventure playground in Tottenham, north London.

The paedophile, who posed as a social worker and a vicar, calling himself the Bishop of Medway, was reportedly caught 'leering' at children outside Brook House Primary.

When The Sun approached Gleaves, now 84 and with a huge grey beard, he reportedly told Stephen Moyes: 'Mind your own f****** business. If I was going to do anything it would have happened by now.'

The block he lives in is full of families and a resident slammed Haringey council for housing him there, dubbing the decision 'disgusting and sick'.

Campaigner Chris Wittwer, who tracks paedophiles who have been freed, told MailOnline: 'We hear it all the time, offenders released to live near primary schools, play parks, estates full of children.

'The authorities are meant to rehouse these type of offenders sensitively but that does not happen in most cases.

'Most are moved back to the area that they offend in, meaning they reside in close proximity to the victims.

'Schools are not alerted when an offender moves close to a school either, leaving the most vulnerable in society at risk.

'It's something the government agencies have been doing for a very long time, without anyone to answer to.'

Gleaves was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 1998 after he was convicted of raping the two 14-year-old boys, attempted rape, incitement of one boy to rape another, and three counts of indecent assault

He was housed in Albany prison on the Isle of Wight towards the end of his sentence, which locals dubbed 'Paedophile Island' because its three jails held so many sex offenders.

Gleaves was involved in a high profile court case in 2011 after claiming that the prison process of 'slopping out' was humiliating, degrading, and violated his human rights.

But the judge dismissed the case and concluded Gleaves was not actually unhappy with prison conditions but was bored and had brought the case 'for entertainment' and to make 'a bit of cash'.

If Gleaves, 77 at the time, had won the case would have cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of pounds as 10 prisons would have had to be renovated at vast cost.

Ministers would also have had to pay out compensation to around 360 inmates who joined the legal action.

Many of those involved in the case were given legal aid and the bill to taxpayers is expected to run to tens of thousands of pounds.

Gleaves took the legal action as a 'litigant in person' and did not receive public funding.

In his ruling Mr Justice Hickinbottom said the prisoners were not suffering 'inhuman and degrading treatment' and forcing them to go to the toilet in a bucket did not amount to a breach of their right to a private life.

'Mr Gleaves accepted in his evidence that he had conducted litigation for "entertainment",' the judge said in his ruling.

'Further, he said that he considered he had a role in organising prisoners' claims and that he had set up a business with a view to assisting prisoners in suing the prison service."

He added: 'In my view, Mr Gleaves has pursued this claim for motivations other than genuine distress suffered as a result of the sanitation arrangements in HMP Albany.'

'I have no hesitation in saying that they have utterly failed to convince me that either has suffered any distress, anxiety, feelings of humiliation or other harm as a result of the sanitation regime at HMP Albany.'

The judge said prisoners rarely had to resort to the use of the bucket as they were allowed out of their cells to use communal toilets.

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An Orpington man has been jailed after inciting children to engage in sexual activity.

David Hill, 25, was jailed for 19 months on Monday (March 2) after pleading guilty to two counts of incitement to engage a child in sexual activity and one count of witness intimidation.

He was also required to sign the sex offenders register for seven years.

On October 1 last year police were informed that Hill, using the nickname Kemz, was sending messages of an extremely sexually graphic nature to girls aged 14 and 15.

Hill, of no fixed address, was contacting them through Facebook under the name Realke Mzme.

Hill went on to meet his first victim, the 15-year-old, on a train in Orpington and subsequently arranged to meet her at Bickley train station.

The girl took along a 14-year-old friend, but they became unnerved after meeting Hill and returned home.

He then bombarded the 15-year-old with texts, telling her he wanted to have sex with her.

He then turned his attention towards the 14-year-old, sending her sexually explicit texts.

Hill resorted to threats towards both girls when neither responded to his texts.

On October 10 last year Hill was arrested at Bromley police station, after he answered his bail for an assault and affray in Canterbury.

Hill denied the offences when interviewed, and maintained that a friend had accessed his Facebook account sending the messages and texts without his knowledge.

An additional charge of witness intimidation was added to the case after an allegation that Hill sent numerous sexually graphic messages to another 14-year-old girl.

When he became aware that the case had been reported to the police, he threatened the victim and her parents in an attempt to get them to drop the case.

Detective Constable James Coldham, from Bromley CID, said: "Hill targeted the young girls in this case by sending them vile and sexually explicit messages and then resorted to threats of violence when he was rebuffed.

"We would urge parents and guardians to teach your child to be very careful to befriend and communicate with only trusted people that they know.

"Above all, assure them that it's OK to come to you, or another trusted adult, if they feel threatened by or uncomfortable about something they have seen or done on a social networking site".

Hill was sentenced at Croydon Crown Court to 10 months for witness intimidation, five months each for two counts of incitement of child sexual activity to run concurrently, and four months for assault and affray in Canterbury.

In a separate case Hill was sentence to 12 weeks' imprisonment on February 26 at Bromley Magistrates' Court, after pleading guilty to harassment.

Hill had sent his 23-year-old ex-girlfriend a number of messages of a sexual nature through Facebook after setting up an account under the name of Steven Harris.

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