Latest Offenders Northampton

Description

A 26-year-old registered sex offender has been sent back to prison after he breached his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Myles James Winfarrah, previously of Northampton, was convicted in 2019 of sexual assault against a woman.

He was placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register as a result and issued with a SHPO, meaning that he had to abide by some very strict conditions when he was released from prison.

However, in March 2024 he breached his requirements when he had sex with someone without notifying the police of their name, address and telephone number within seven days of the event.

He was also found to be developing a relationship with the same woman without notifying the police of her details as well as failing to notify police of an address where he had stayed for a period of 12 hours or more where a child resided.

Then, in September, he again breached his requirements by failing to have registered at a police station within three days of leaving prison.

He was arrested and subsequently charged with two counts of breaching his SHPO and two counts of breaching his notifications requirements.

After pleading guilty to the offences at Northampton Crown Court in November, he returned to the same court in December where he was sentenced to one year and two months in prison.

Description

A man convicted of multiple child sex offences, including rape, has been given an extended sentence of 18 years.

Jason Yongblah, aged 56, formerly of Weedon Close, Northampton, began abusing the girl when she was just 12 years old.

His offending escalated from sexual touching to rape, and also saw him send the girl multiple inappropriate text messages.

These proved to be his undoing after a relative of the girl saw one by chance, leading to a report to Northamptonshire Police.

The Force’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) went on to uncover the scope of Yongblah’s crimes, and he was charged with 19 offences, including rape and repeated sexual assaults.

After admitting one count of sexual communication with a child and three counts of making indecent images of a child, Yongblah went on trial on the rest of the charges, with the jury finding him guilty on all counts on October 8.

On Friday, January 24, Yongblah appeared at Northampton Crown Court where he was given an extended sentence – used for criminals convicted of specific offences who are deemed to be dangerous – made up of a total of 17 years’ imprisonment and a further one year on licence.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and made subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, designed to prevent further offending once he is released.

Description

A 64-year-old man has been jailed for nearly eight years after he pleaded guilty to a number of child sex offences.

On September 13, 2021, police officers from Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO (Management of Sexual or Violent Offenders) Team carried out an unannounced visit at Michael Stephen Lewis’ address in Deal Street, Northampton.

As a registered sex offender, Lewis was required to abide by a number of conditions as part of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

One of these conditions was to expect unannounced visits from the police and that evening, when they asked him to produce his internet enabled devices for inspection, they suspected that his computer, which was custom built, had possible encryption software on it.

Lewis denied installing the encryption software himself however his devices were seized and upon examination, they were found to contain a number of indecent images of children – 115 in total with 47 (41 photographs and six videos) being Category A, the most serious.

Lewis was subsequently charged with three counts of making indecent photographs/pseudo-photographs of a child, one count of possessing extreme pornographic images involving animals, one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child, one count of breaching his SHPO and one count of failing to comply with notification requirements.

After pleading guilty to the offences at Northampton Crown Court at an earlier hearing, Lewis returned to the same court on January 2, 2025, where he was sentenced to seven years and ten months in prison.

Lead investigator PC Carl Gardner from the Force’s MOSOVO Team said: “I am pleased to see Michael Lewis sent to prison for nearly eight years for these very serious offences, and I hope it shows our local communities just how seriously we take these types of cases.

“Registered sex offenders like Lewis are very closely managed by our team and we regularly show up at their homes, day and night, to ensure they are abiding by their conditions. Any breaches are dealt with robustly and with an approach of zero-tolerance.

“The images found on Lewis’ computer were abhorrent and by ensuring that he returns to prison, we are keeping the public in this county safe.

“We will continue working hard to ensure more people like him also find themselves behind bars.”

Description

A 24-year-old man has been sent back to prison after he harassed a woman who was selling baby products online.

As a registered sex offender, Josh Guilder, previously of Northampton, was required to abide by very strict conditions after leaving prison or face going back to jail.

However, in May of this year, he committed multiple breaches including harassing a woman online who was selling baby products.

At first, the woman in question believed Guilder to be a genuine buyer, however he then went on to send her messages about wanting her baby to “suck on the dummies” she was selling as he “wanted them used”.

The woman, who described feeling “shocked and disturbed” by Guilder’s messages, stopped engaging with him. However, he sent her another message which read “can I take the dummy out of your baby’s mouth and suck on it.”

But this wasn’t the end of Guilder’s breaches as he was also found to have deleted messages in WhatsApp which was contrary to his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) before making admissions to having contact with two unknown children when buying used baby products from the internet.

Guilder was charged with one count of harassment without violence, two counts of breaching his SHPO and one count of attempting to breach his SHPO.

After pleading guilty to the offences at Northampton Crown Court in June, Guilder returned to the same court this week (Monday, October 28) where he was sentenced to over one year and six months in prison.

Description

A 23-year-old man has been sent to prison for 18 months for breaching the terms of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) after accessing the internet without permission and installing social media apps.

Between December 2022, and January 2023, Louis Davies engaged in an online conversation with someone he believed to be a 14-year-old girl. This included exchanging explicit messages and sharing images of a sexual nature.

However, the “teenage girl” was in fact a decoy from an online activist group, and Davies was charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, attempting to cause a child aged 13-15 to watch/look at an image of a sexual activity and attempt to cause/incite a girl 13-15 to engage in a sexual activity.

Davies, of The Crescent, Flore, was issued with his 10-year SHPO at Northampton Crown Court last year, along with a 16-month prison sentence, which was suspended for 24-months.

The SHPO was issued with certain conditions which he must abide by which included not using any computer or device capable of accessing the internet unless it has capacity to retain and display the browser history as well as notify police within three days of any online usernames.

During a routine visit on April 30 this year, officers from Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO team, which closely manage sexual and violent offenders, arrested Davies after he admitted breaching the conditions of his SHPO.

In his police interview, Davies admitted to installing, deleting, and then reinstalling various social media apps on his phone – including Snapchat, Tinder, and Instagram – on three or four occasions over a two-month period.

Davies was subsequently charged with seven counts of failing to comply with Sex Offenders’ Register notification requirements and one offence of breaching his SHPO.

On May 10, Davies appeared before Northampton Magistrates’ Court where his case was committed to Northampton Crown Court and on June 21, he pleaded guilty to all charges.

He was sentenced to 18 months imprisonment, which included 12-months for breaching his suspended sentence – and eight months for the new offences.

Lead investigator, PC Mark Edkins from the Force’s MOSOVO Team, said: “Louis Davies rightly, has very strict notification requirements he is expected to abide by, however, his actions clearly demonstrated a total disregard for the sanctions imposed by the court.

“We take an absolute zero-tolerance approach to situations like this, if a breach is identified, there are no second chances and I hope this case demonstrates how extremely serious we take the management of sex offenders.”

Description

A man who sexually abused a young girl and used social media to sexually exploit another child has been jailed.

Lewis Green, aged 22, was first reported to police in August 2022, after a seven-year-old girl told her mother that from March of that year he had repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

Northamptonshire Police’s Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) began an investigation into Green’s behaviour and he was later charged with two counts of sexual assault of a girl under 13 by touching and two counts of being an adult engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl under 13.

He was awaiting trial on these matters when, in February this year, the Force received another report about him after a parent who knew Green found more than 200 messages from him on their nine-year-old child’s Facebook Messenger account.

The two investigations were brought together, and Green went on to be further charged with engaging in sexual communication with a child and causing/inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity - no penetration.

Green, of Staverton Road, Daventry, admitted all the charges at a crown court hearing on March 6, having also admitted one count of breach of bail conditions before magistrates on February 21, in relation to the 2022 investigation.

He was remanded in custody ahead of sentencing which took place at Northampton Crown Court on August 9.

There, Green was sentenced to a total of 27 months’ imprisonment and placed on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

He was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order which bans him from living with, contacting or communicating with any females under the age of 16, and from using any internet-enabled device without notifying his offender management team and complying with strict inspection and usage rules.

Speaking afterwards, CAIU’s joint investigators Detective Constable Emily Faulkner and Detective Constable James Wright, said: “Lewis Green is a serial offender with a history of sexual abuse against young people.

“He knew the ages of the children he abused yet continued to groom and coerce them into sexual activity to satisfy his own desires.

“Green showed a complete lack of regard for the victims themselves and the bail conditions that he was meant to be adhering to which banned him from any contact with anyone under 18. This for us points towards someone who simply doesn’t care about anyone other than himself and, as noted by the judge, the sexual gratification that he was clearly gaining from his offending.

“Only when the evidence against him was overwhelming did Green enter guilty pleas to all counts. He has however only ever felt sorry for himself and nobody else and has shown little remorse.

“Both children were deeply affected by Green’s offending and the knock-on effect to their families and the breach of trust involved was very upsetting.

“We welcome Green’s custodial sentence, as hopefully this will give him time to reflect on what he has done to these poor children. He will be closely monitored by a specialist sex offender team when he is released, making it very hard for him to offend again, but for us, he will always remain a threat to children.

“As OICs, we would like to thank both families for the way they have dealt with matters, and for the support they have offered their children through what has been a very difficult time.

“Moreso the children, who from the beginning had the strength and bravery to talk about what Green did. This shows just how strong they are, and they should be commended for their bravery.

“Northamptonshire Police takes any form of abuse against children very seriously and we will always seek the strongest penalties against offenders.”

Description

A man who admitted trying to have sexual conversations with children online has been given an extended sentence of more than eight years.

Stephen Poulter, aged 43, was using a chat site to have sexualised conversations with profiles he believed belonged to two 14-year-old girls.

In reality he was talking with a member of an online child abuse activist group, who went on to report him to Northamptonshire Police on February 18 this year.

Officers immediately attended and arrested Poulter, previously of Lindsay Avenue, Northampton, who was already under a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) imposed in 2021 following a previous conviction.

An investigation by the Force’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Unit (OCAIU) revealed how despite being told each ‘child’ was just 14, Poulter had sent them indecent images and videos of himself.

He went on to be swiftly charged with two counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and one of attempting to cause a child to look at an image of sexual activity.

Poulter had refused to give the police access to his mobile phone despite this being a requirement of his previous sentence, resulting in him also being charged with breach of the SHPO.

He was also charged with possession of the Class B drug cannabis, which was found in his home upon his arrest.

Having entered guilty pleas to all charges at Northampton Crown Court in March, on July 10 he returned there to be sentenced.

Poulter was given an extended sentence – used for criminals convicted of specific offences who are deemed to be dangerous – made up of 40 months’ imprisonment and a five-year extension period on licence.

He was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £228, with orders made for the forfeiture and destruction of his electronic devices and the seized cannabis.

Description

A 51-year-old registered sex offender has been sent back to prison after he failed to disclose his conviction to a new employer.

As a registered sex offender, Steven Grosvenor, previously of Northampton, was expected to abide by very strict conditions as part of his release.

However, in March this year, he applied for a job in Northampton and failed to disclose his criminal history to the recruitment agency.

Having been given the job, he was then provided with a mobile phone for work purposes which had the ability to connect to the internet. He then failed to disclose this to police as per the requirements of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Grosvenor was arrested and subsequently charged with one count of fraud by false representation and one count of breaching his SHPO.

After pleading guilty to the offences at Northampton Crown Court at the end of last month (May 31), he was sentenced to one year and four months in prison.

Detective Sergeant Tom Curlett-New of Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO Team said: “I am really pleased with the result of this case and the fact that we managed to utilise the Fraud Act meaning the sentence was longer than usual.

“This is all down to the work of PC Dani Wilton and I’d like to thank her for her diligence and determination which achieved this result.

“Our team will always endeavour to do what we can to support and encourage people who have been released from prison to gain employment. However, when breaches occur, we take a zero-tolerance approach to ensuring offenders are brought to justice.”

Description

A sex offender who ran into the street naked while brandishing a machete has been jailed.

Witnesses said Trevor Evans became aggressive after being told to turn down music coming from his flat in Little Stanion near Corby on 15 December.

Evans, 46, of Mendip Way, pleaded guilty to possession of a knife and also exposure with the intention of causing alarm or distress.

He was jailed for 16 months at Northampton Crown Court on 24 May.

Northamptonshire Police said Evans discarded the machete in a plant pot, where it was later found by officers.

Evans had already been given a three-year community order at Nottingham Crown Court on 6 November after being found guilty of one count of sexual activity in the presence of a child.

PC Hayley Wollacott said: "The judge in his previous case had made it very clear that any further criminal activity or breach of his sentence conditions would result in him going to jail."

She said Evans reacted in "the most extreme of ways" to being asked to be more considerate of his neighbours.

Description

A sex offender caught chatting to a person he thought was an underage girl over a two month period has avoided a jail term.

Scott Bradshaw was exposed by a group of online paedophile hunters in February.

The 52-year-old of Buckingham Close, Wellingborough, thought he was talking to a girl aged 15 via voice notes and messages. But the messages had been intercepted by the group, who told police of their findings in February this year.

He was charged with attempting to cause a child to watch images of sexual activity for his own sexual gratification and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Bradshaw pleaded guilty to both offences at a hearing a Northampton Crown Court on May 28.

Appearing before Her Honour Judge Rebecca Crane, the court heard he had issues with drug dependency.

He was given a suspended prison sentence of 21 months and told that if he reoffends within two years he will have to serve the sentence behind bars.

He was also ordered to undertake nine months of mandatory drug testing, six months of mental health treatment and 45 rehabilitation requirement days.

The court also imposed a sexual harm prevention order for ten years during which Bradshaw will have to sign on the sex offenders’ register regularly at his local police station.

He will not be allowed to use any kind of online device without notifying his supervising officer of his PINs. He is banned from deleting his internet history or using any software that hides searches and will not be allowed to associate with any children under the age of 18.

Description

A "dangerous predator" has been jailed for eight years for historic sexual assaults on two girls

Kevin Gleeson from Irthlingborough, Northamptonshire, was convicted after the victims told police about abuse that happened two decades ago.

Gleeson, 67, denied all twelve charges but was found guilty after a trial at Northampton Crown Court.

Northamptonshire Police has praised the "courage" of the women who came forward

The court heard how the victims told the police in August 2020 that Gleeson had abused them when they were children.

The force's Protecting Vulnerable People department began an investigation which found Gleeson had assaulted one of the children several times and then attacked the other during the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Gleeson, from Straws Close in Irthlingborough, was charged with 11 counts of indecent assault on a girl under 14, and one count of gross indecency with a girl under 14.

He was found guilty on all charges last November and remanded in custody.

On 29 February 2024, he appeared before the same court and was told he would serve a total of eight years in prison.

'Abhorrent' abuse

Det Con Abigail Kennedy, who led the investigation, said: "Kevin Gleeson's repeated abuse of two young children was abhorrent, and I am very glad that he has received a significant prison sentence which reflects the severity of his offending.

"The passage of time may have left Gleeson feeling he had got away with what he did, but thanks to the courage of the two survivors who came forward to report him he has now been proven in court to be both a dangerous sexual predator and a liar."
Gleeson will also appear on the sex offenders register indefinitely.

Description

A detective has described a 42-year-old sex offender starting a life jail sentence after being convicted of raping a "stranger" as "dangerous".

Anthony Bassett had attacked a "young man" he met outside a Wellingborough pub while on bail, police said.

He had been convicted of rape and told he would serve more than seven years before being eligible for parole.

Det Con Victoria Thomas said his offending was "horrific".

Police said a jury found Bassett, of Midland Road, Wellingborough, guilty of rape, and two other sex offences, after a trial at Northampton Crown Court in January.

He had been sentenced earlier this month and given a life sentence with a minimum term of 86 months.

'Predatory'

"Anthony Bassett is a dangerous man, and I am so pleased that the severity of his horrific offending has been recognised with a life sentence," said Det Con Thomas, who investigated the attack.

"Despite his attempts to lie and explain away what happened that night, the evidence clearly showed his calculated and predatory behaviour in taking advantage of a young man and brutally attacking him."

She added: "Throughout this investigation and trial the victim survivor has been so brave."

'Bail'

Police said the attack took place in July 2023 and said Bassett had approached his victim, a stranger, under the guise of "helping" him, police said.

He had previous convictions for rape and other sexual offences and committed the rape while on bail, police said in a statement.

Description

A 31-year-old registered sex offender has been sent back to prison after breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO).

Freddie Millar, who the court was told also identifies as Xenia Jade Millar, previously of Northampton, was issued with the SHPO in 2017 after being convicted of raping a woman.

As a registered sex offender, Millar was required to abide by very strict conditions after leaving prison in September last year or face going back to jail.

These conditions included notifying police of any new relationship, any new social media accounts created, or the purchase of any devices capable of accessing the internet.

However, on December 8, 2023, when police officers from Northamptonshire Police’s MOSOVO Team spontaneously visited Millar, they found a laptop and a woman inside the address who claimed to be in a relationship with Millar. Neither the laptop nor the relationship had been disclosed to police.

Then on January 22, Millar was once again visited by the MOSOVO Team who discovered a mobile phone with multiple social media accounts that hadn’t been disclosed. They also found conversations which suggested Millar had once again formed friendships/relationships that police weren’t aware of.

As a result, Millar was subsequently charged with one count of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and one count of Breaching Notification Requirements.

After pleading guilty to both offences at an earlier hearing at Northampton Crown Court in December 2023, Millar returned to the same court last week (February 5) and was sentenced to one year and four months in prison.

Description

A man has been given a 10-year extended sentence after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13.

Michael Plunkett, 66, and from Little Billing, Northampton, will serve five years in custody and five years on extended licence.

Northamptonshire Police said Plunkett had two previous convictions for sexual offences against children. The force described the sentence as a "fantastic result".

On 18 May 2023, Northamptonshire Police received a report from the victim's mother that Plunkett, of Hanemill Court, had sexually assaulted her young child the previous evening. He was arrested and Northamptonshire Police's Child Abuse Investigation Unit (CAIU) began an investigation, which resulted in Plunkett being charged with sexually assaulting a girl under 13 by touching.

He denied the charge when he appeared at Northampton Magistrates' Court on 20 May 2023, but a jury found him guilty following his trial at Northampton Crown Court in November.

At his sentencing hearing at the same court, Plunkett, who has two previous convictions for sexual offences against children, was given an extended sentence by the judge.
He was placed on the sex offenders' register for life and is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order, which banned him from unsupervised contact with any female under the age of 16. He was also banned from working with children and vulnerable adults.

CAIU Sgt Stephen Wells said: "This is a fantastic result against a significant and serious sexual predator. "Michael Plunkett did not care about the harm he caused to this young child, and I am very pleased to see him receive this significant sentence which reflects the seriousness of his offending.

"I would like to pay tribute to the survivor in this case, and also express my thanks to the investigating officer who worked hard to both support the victim and their family, and to ensure the evidence presented to the jury left them in no doubt of Plunkett's guilt."

Description

An international rugby player who had been due to play for the Barbarians has been sentenced to two years and 10 months for a series of sexual offences.

Api Ratuniyarawa, 37, admitted two counts of assault by penetration and one charge of sexual assault at a hearing in December in relation to three young women.

The Fiji lock had been due to feature on the bench for the Barbarians in their match against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on 4 November 2023.

Cardiff Crown Court previously heard the offences took place between 31 October and 2 November last year.

Ratuniyarawa, who lives in Northamptonshire, denied two further charges of sexual assault relating to one of the three women.

The court previously heard the father-of-four had been without a club since the summer when premiership side London Irish went into receivership.

A sentencing hearing on Tuesday was told Ratuniyarawa had travelled to Cardiff ahead of the Barbarians match, "to attend media commitments and training for the fixture".

Prosecuting, Heath Edwards KC said "the defendant appears to have spent many of his nights socialising" in the week prior to the game.

The prosecution said Ratuniyarawa attended the Revolution bar in Cardiff on the evenings of 31 October, 1 November and 2 November.

The court was shown CCTV footage of all three incidents from the bar's VIP area.

One of his victims read her impact statement in court.

"My attack came out of the blue. It was sudden, shocking," she said.

"I feel degraded, embarrassed and humiliated. I still do."

She said the incident had "started not just to impact [her] but [her] family".

"I should be excited to be going out with my friends, but I can't stop thinking about what has happened," she added.

"He's ruined my life by what he's done, and I feel like I'm in my own personal hell."

She told the court she had been "such an independent person" prior to the incident.

"I couldn't shower until I'd been examined and all I wanted to do was wash that man off me," she said.

"This man had his whole career ahead of him, and such a high-profile person. He did this to me."

In mitigation, Ruth Smith KC said the defendant would like to apologise for his actions but that he had "limited recollection" of the incidents.

"The defendant would like, through me, as an initial statement, to apologise to each of the victims in this case," she said.

"The consumption of alcohol for him in such quantities was completely out of character."

Ms Smith told the court Ratuniyarawa had "never drunk that much before in his entire life".

"This incident fell at a time of upheaval in the personal life of the defendant," she added.

"He was without employment. He is a gentlemen that supports not only his immediate family financially, but a range of others financially. And it resulted in a situation of stress for him," Ms Smith said.

The court heard the defendant had been described "by those that run Fiji Rugby as a dedicated and valuable asset".

"He knows his legacy is forever tarnished with behaviour that is reflected in these counts," Ms Smith added.

"He has not only let himself down, his family, but also his country in respect of his behaviour."

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke also granted a restraining order of three years in relation to one of the victims.