Latest Offenders Port Talbot

Description

A paedophile subjected a young boy to years of sickening sexual abuse. The victim suffered in silence for more than two decades until he heard that his abuser had been convicted of online child sex offences, and he decided to go to the police to report what had happened to him as a youngster.

Gary Fisher has now been handed a 20-year extended sentence as a dangerous offender for the abuse his carried out on his young victim in the 1990s, abuse which the victim said had stolen his innocence.

Matthew Cobbe, prosecuting, told Swansea Crown Court that Fisher carried out a campaign of sexual offending on his victim which began when the boy was aged under 10, and which continued for years. The offending included the attempted rape of the child. The court heard the boy would cry and say "no" while being abused but the defendant continued anyway, often placing a piece of material over the child's head during the attacks.

The prosecutor said the offending went unreported until earlier this year when the victim learned that Fisher had been convicted of attempted sexual communication with a child, an offence which had seen the 62-year-old asking what he believed to be a 12-year-old boy he met online for pictures of his penis. The boy was actually a decoy account being run by the the police. The court heard Fisher has already been given a suspended sentence for the communication offence.

In an impact statement, which was read to court, the victim said the years of abuse had destroyed his life. He said he had lived with the secret of what had happened for 20 years, shutting out the world around him and battling to keep the demons at bay. He said he had not sought counselling because he did not want to relive the memories of the abuse, and he said it was impossible to know what kind of person he would have been had the defendant not done what he did to him.

Gary Fisher, whose address in court was given as the Twelve Knights pub and hotel in Margam, Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to 11 counts of indecent assault of a child, attempted buggery of a child and attempted rape of a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. Stewart John, for Fisher, said the defendant had indicated his willingness to seek help while serving the inevitable lengthy custodial sentence he was facing.

Judge Geraint Walters told Fisher that effects of abuse on the scale he subjected his victim to lasted a lifetime, and said his victim "Will take those memories with him to his last breath". The judge said he could not better the three words the victim had used in his statement to the court of "stole my innocence" to describe what happened.

The judge said as a matter of law he could not exceed the maximum sentence which would have been applicable for the offences at the time they were committed, even if the modern equivalent of those offences carried a greater maximum. He said the conviction from earlier this year showed that more than 20 years after the sexual abuse of his victim, Fisher was still seeking to engage with children in sexual way - he said in those circumstances he could come to no other conclusion than that the defendant posed a risk of causing serious harm by the commission of further specified offending.

With a one-quarter discount for his guilty pleas, Fisher was sentenced to a 20-year extended sentence as a dangerous offender comprising 15 years in custody following by an extended five-year licence period. The defendant can apply for release after serving two-thirds of the custodial element of the sentence but it will be up to the Parole Board to determine if he is safe to be released.

Description

The abuse has left the girl suffering with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

A paedophile manipulated and threatened a young girl who he was subjecting to sex acts. Scott Banks abused the child over a prolonged period before claiming that he loved her.

Swansea Crown Court heard the offending has had a significant impact on the child, leaving her suffering with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, and leading her to struggle at school as well as to self-harm.

Helen Randall, prosecuting, said that after meeting the child, Banks acquired her mobile phone number and began communicating with her. He then started asking the girl - who he knew was under 16 - for sex, requests the youngster "did not think she could say no to" as she did not want to make him angry.

The barrister said the sex acts went on for a prolonged period and when, on occasions, the girl would refuse to do what the defendant wanted he would threaten to smash her possessions and tell people what was going on. The prosecutor said the girl would later describe how she was felt "disgusted" at what Banks was doing.

In a statement which was read to the court by the prosecutor, the girl said the offending had left her suffering with anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. She said her experiences at the hands of Banks had changed her as a person, had impacted her education, and caused her to self-harm.

Scott Banks, aged 25, of Southville Road, Sandfields, Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual activity with a child when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has two previous convictions for four offences including criminal damage and assaults by beating.

Nicola Powell, for Banks, said it was clear from reports into the defendant that he was "immature" and that there were "concerns about his cognitive abilities". She told the court it was perhaps a sign of his "immaturity" that he had said he was in love with the girl. The barrister said the defendant had witnessed domestic violence as a child, experiences which had had a "marked effect" on him.

Judge Geraint Walters told Banks he appeared to be a "somewhat manipulative, maybe domineering" individual who effectively threatened the girl "if she did not yield to your demands". With a 20 per cent discount for his guilty pleas Banks was sentenced to four years in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant will be on the sex offenders register for the rest of his life, and was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order to control his access to girls.

As a victim of a sexual offence, Banks' victim has life-long legal anonymity.

Description

A man has been jailed for a series of sickening sex attacks he carried out on a boy in the 1980s.

Neil Thomas was himself just a teenager when he subjected a victim half his age to repeated abuse after grooming him with pornographic magazines and the offer of playing computer games.

Swansea Crown Court heard the 45-year-old has had "zero consensual sexual experiences" in his life, a situation which had led him to become addicted to ever more extreme pornography.

John Hipkin QC, prosecuting, said the offending took place in the late 1980s.

He said Thomas, who was around 15 at the time, showed his young victim pornographic magazines, and offered him the chance to play computer games before going on perform a series of sex acts on the boy, as well as getting the boy to perform sex acts on him.

The barrister said as the victim - who was half Thomas' age - grew up, he came to realise what had happened to him but it wasn't until 2017 that he confided in his partner.

The police were subsequently told, and in 2018 officers executed a search warrant at the defendant's home - in his bedroom they uncovered "a large amount of pornographic material" while on a computer they found more than 130 indecent images and movies featuring children, as well as images showing women "being physically assaulted for the purposes of sex".

The court heard police also found the computer had been used to search online for indecent images of youngsters using terms such as "toddler incest".

Mr Hipkin read details of an impact statement from Thomas' victim in which he said his life had "gone off the rails" after the abuse, and he had been left battling the "demons". He said he felt Thomas had stolen his childhood, and the abuse had impacted every aspect of his life.

Thomas, of Greenfield Avenue, Taibach, Port Talbot, had previously pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent assault and gross indecency with a child, and to five counts of possessing indecent images and extreme pornography when he appeared in the dock for sentencing.

James Hartson, for Thomas, said there was only limited mitigation he could put forward on the defendant's behalf but that his guilty pleas - albeit ones entered on the first day of his trial - had spared his victim from being publicly cross-examined.

He said there had been an "element of opportunism as well as grooming" in the offending, and Thomas was deeply ashamed of what he had done.

The barrister said though not an excuse for his behaviour, as a teenager the defendant had "left out" while his school friends had been talking about sexual experiences as he is "a man with zero consensual sexual experiences - and that applies to this day as a 45-year-old".

He said Thomas had been "somewhat depressed and repressed" through his life, and had developed a "compulsive addiction" to pornography, something which had led him to seek out ever-more extreme material.

Judge Keith Thomas said it was not an easy case to sentence because of the age of the defendant at the material time, and also different charges and sentences which were in place in the 1980s.

For the assault charges the defendant as sentenced to four-and-a-half years prison, and for the indecent images charges to eight months - the sentences will run consecutively making an overall sentence of five years and two months. Thomas will serve up to a half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.

The defendant was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order to control his internet use and contact with children, and will be a registered sex offender for the same length of time.