Latest Offenders Swindon

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A CHILD rapist from west Swindon has been jailed for 19 years. Jailing John Whelan at Swindon Crown Court on Monday, Judge Jason Taylor QC told him: Your grooming and manipulation was nothing more than a selfish and perverted desire to prioritise your sexual gratification over their welfare. Recent changes to the law mean that the 64-year-old will spend at least two thirds of that 19 year sentence behind bars. Once he is released he must spend a further two years on licence. Whelan was found guilty earlier this month of indecent assault, gross indecency with a child and rape. The offences were committed between the mid-1990s and 2000s against two girls, both of whom were under 11 when the abuse began. His younger victim, who was raped by Whelan after being made to perform sex acts on him while they played games in his man cave, told the court on Monday that she had felt totally and utterly powerless. She said: I have carried around the weight of the world on my shoulders for most of my life. The older woman said Whelan had stolen her childhood and the person she could have been. Mitigating, Whelans barrister Clare Evans said her client had been a hardworking family man whos done everything he can to support his family. John Whelan's custody shot Picture: WILTSHIRE POLICE During the trial, jurors heard how Whelan turned his abuse of the children into games, including instructing one seven-year-old girl to play hide and seek with his private parts after covering his genitals with a blanket. The abuse was perpetrated from the mid-90s to mid-2000s. The older girl claimed Whelan had occasionally babysat her while her mother was out at work and she had also been looked after at his family home. Jurors were told he had arrived to babysit her at her home with what he called special films pornography that he would make her watch while she sat on his lap. He was said to have molested her; touching her sexually and getting her to touch him. The touching continued at his own home, as they played video games in his man cave, although he would not expose himself at the house. Opening the case to the jury last week, prosecutor David Scutt said: She said this: It was our secret, it was our little game and that, no doubt was what he was telling her as that young girl. As she got older she had refused to take part in the games, she claimed. When her mum switched work shifts the girl no longer needed to be babysat by the man. On the occasions she went around to his house she stayed close to her mum, Mr Scutt said. The older girl said she had noticed Whelan taking an interest in another younger girl. They would both be called upstairs to watch TV in his bedroom. On occasion he would be wearing a towel, she claimed. The younger girl claimed Whelan had begun sexually abusing her when she was around seven. She said the man had shown her pornographic playing cards and websites. He had been grooming her, Mr Scutt said. He was getting her to look at it, this is to say the stuff on the computer, and what was described as his game; it was made into play for this young child. He would get her to look at videos, she said, and he told her what he wanted her to do. The girl claimed she had been made to touch him sexually and perform oral sex on him. On one occasion he raped her, she said. [He said] he was going to make her happy like the ladies in the videos, Mr Scutt said. One victim said she had experienced urinary problems during her childhood. During Whelans sentencing hearing, the judge suggested that could be the result of a sexually transmitted infection. The abuse was reported to police in early 2019. In December the previous year, the younger woman had told her mother and father she had been raped by Whelan. Her brother was instrumental in persuading her to go to the police, jurors heard. The woman had told her then partner later her husband about the abuse. The older woman came forward after being told by her mother that the younger complainant had gone to the police. Interviewed by police last year, Whelan denied sexually assaulting the girls. He said the pornographic cards belonged to his late father. Sentencing Whelan, Judge Taylor said: You forced [your victims] to live with this shameful secret for years, knowing as they did that if they ever came forward it would go nuclear. It took tremendous courage for them to come forward but at last they feel back in control for the first time for 20 and 15 years respectively. The judge commented that Whelan, formerly of Stamford Close, Toothill, but appearing in court via video link from Bristol prison, had been shaking his head as he summarised the evidence against him.

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The victim of a serial sex offender says when she learned he had offended again she felt "sick to her stomach". Peter Kis was jailed for two years at Swindon Crown Court on Friday after being caught performing a sex act in front of two young girls. It was the latest in a string of offences involving young children, dating back to the 1960s. One woman he abused when she was a girl says she and other victims had been let down by the legal system. Swindon Crown Court heard Kis's latest offence happened on 2 May when he indecently exposed himself to an eight-year-old girl and her six-year-old sister who were playing near his home in Barnum Court, Swindon. Kis was arrested the same day and pleaded guilty to one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. His previous convictions include an eight-year sentence for indecently assaulting two girls in 1967, a suspended sentence in 1971 for gross indecency with a child and a three-and-a-half-year jail sentence for sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl in 2018 'Career as a sexual abuser' Speaking after Friday's sentence, one victim - now in her 30s - said she was shocked to hear he was still offending. "I definitely didn't consider that he would still be out there doing this to other girls like me," she said. "I feel let down because I reported this when I was eight and I just feel that perhaps if I had been taken more seriously and Peter had been monitored a bit more then he wouldn't be out there still doing this. "The legal system has effectively allowed this man to comfortably continue what is a 50-year career as a sexual abuser." She said that Kis had changed her life, but not destroyed it, and that "short sentences were not enough". "I really hope the justice system has a serious think about how they sentence dangerous individuals like him. It needs to be done more efficiently and effectively," she added. A Probation Service spokesman said: "While sentencing is a matter for independent judges, the offender was robustly monitored while on licence by diligent probation staff." The Crown Prosecution Service said its regional Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) team worked closely with police "to ensure justice was delivered swiftly."

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A RAPIST has been ordered back to prison after police found vile child sex abuse images on his computer. David Stephens was jailed for life in 1999 after he was convicted of five rapes and a series of sexual assaults on children. The Wiltshire paedophile was released on licence in 2012. But now hes been sent back inside after detectives found 49 sickening images, including some showing children as young as five being molested. Sentencing the 64-year-old to a further eight months imprisonment for three counts of making indecent images of children, Judge Peter Crabtree said: Anyone who engages in downloading child pornography is involved in fuelling a business which results in those children being the subject of psychological and harm sometimes over many, many years. Stephens long history with the courts began in 1971. In 1984 he was accused of presiding over a reign of terror in Chippenham, where he lived at the time, by committing 37 burglaries and thefts from clothes lines taking womens underwear and childrens clothing to satisfy a sick lust. Stephens also stole documents and photographs belonging to the women from whom he stole, using them to compile dossiers on his victims. In 1999, he was convicted at Swindon Crown Court of a series of five rapes and eight other assaults, including on girls under-13. His jail term was bumped up to life imprisonment by appeal court justices. He was released in April 2012. Under his licence conditions, registered sex offender Stephens was prevented from having access to electronic devices capable of accessing the internet except where police gave the go-ahead. Acting on a tip-off, police officers raided Stephens home on August 28. They seized a number of electronic items including a Dell computer. A forensic trawl of the computer found Stephens had downloaded indecent images of children the day before and had deleted them on the morning of the raid. Evidence pointed to Stephens searching for terms like barely legal. Stephens, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children. Alistair Haggerty, defending, said his client had made full admissions, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and was remorseful. Seven years had passed without incident since Stephens was released from prison on licence, he added. By comparison to many similar cases that come before the courts, Stephens was in possession of relatively few indecent images.

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A JEHOVAH'S Witness who sexually abused his two daughters would have faced a lengthy jail sentence had he not been suffering with Alzheimer's Disease. Judge Jason Taylor QC described Dennis Cottee's crimes as evil, saying the octogenarian's campaign of abuse had had a devastating and debilitating effect on the two women. The Broad Town 85-year-old, who was convicted alongside son Jacques Cottee, can now be identified after his two victim's asked to partially waive their right to anonymity to ensure their dad and brother were named publicly. The Adver has agreed not to name the two women. Earlier this month, 57-year-old Jacques was jailed for three years and 10 months after a Swindon jury found him guilty of incest, molesting the elder of his two sisters as they returned from watching a film at The Savoy cinema in the early 1980s. Dad Dennis was ruled unfit to plead, after a court heard he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's and was receiving palliative care. The jury found proven 12 charges against him, including raping his elder daughter and repeatedly abusing the younger girl. Judge Taylor sentenced Cottee to a two-year supervision order, with the defendant placed under the eye of the probation service. He must sign onto the sex offender's register for five years. He said the impact of Cottee's actions on his two girls had had lifelong consequences: "It's clear to me that these actions have had a devastating and debilitating effect on their lives and will continue to do so as they move forward. "They are emotionally and psychologically scarred and they always will be." The Swindon court heard that had Cottee been ruled fit to stand trial he would likely have received a significant custodial sentence and may well have died in jail. "It was with a heavy heart that I could not pass a far more punitive sentence on Mr Cottee for what is obviously incalculable pain and harm he has caused his daughters," Judge Taylor added. The court heard Dennis Cottee had begun abusing his older daughter after she started at secondary school. The dad had got her to perform sex acts on him as he drove back to their farm, had simulated sex and finally when she was in her mid-teens had raped her. The abuse of the younger daughter began when she was just four-years-old, with Cottee getting the youngster to perform a sex act on him as they were parked in his car outside shops in Cricklade. He had simulated sex with her in the animal sheds on the family farm, north west of Swindon. On one occasion, he had molested the girl on an upstairs landing in the farmhouse. In a nearby room, a friend of the girl's mother lay dying of cancer. She said: "While he was doing this I had to listen to her dying. She was gargling. She was rattling."

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Stuart Eager, 70, of Lady Lane in Swindon, was convicted by a unanimous jury verdict of three counts of indecent assault at Portsmouth Crown Court.

The court heard that Eager, who denied the allegations, had assaulted the boy on three separate occasions in 1988 at Budds Farm in Havant, where he allowed the victim to sit on his lap and steer his car around. The boy had been 11 or 12 years-old at the time.

Judge William Ashworth sentenced Eager to four years in prison with indefinite licence conditions.

Following the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Julia Nicol, who led the investigation, said: "The horrific manipulation and abuse perpetrated by Eager has had a significant impact on this young boy's life.

"He was only 11 or 12 at the time of these offences, which makes them all the more shocking and depraved.

"The boy, now a grown man, harboured this secret for decades, during which he struggled to cope with life and school, his identity, and suffered terribly with his mental health.

"His childhood was stolen from him, and his adult life was spent trying to come to terms with the trauma.

"It is only in the last couple of years that he has found the courage to come forward, and I wholeheartedly commend him for that.

"I have no doubt that there are many people out there that have suffered similar abuse, and spent decades struggling with the trauma, that have not yet found the confidence to report it to police. I would like to assure those people that they are not alone, and we are here to listen to them and support them if they wish to make an allegation."

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THE family of a dementia suffering great grandmother set up covert CCTV in her flat because they thought her carer was stealing from her. But when they saw the footage they were shocked to find Andy Newman was sexually abusing the 86-year-old widow. The old lady's granddaughter fitted a motion sensor camera in the hope of catching the 48-year-old taking her food and money. But when she got an alert on her iPhone she was stunned to see Newman carrying out a series of sex acts on her elderly gran. The mum said: "I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I was wondering if I was seeing things. I wasn't expecting that. "I couldn't sleep for three days after that, I had to go to the doctors. I was mortified." And her uncle added: "We didn't really like the bloke but we didn't think anything like that was going on. We thought he was stealing, but not that. "No one has ever really liked him but my mum did and he was good at talking to her. She wouldn't hear a word against him. He was very charming to her." He said after Newman was arrested his mum was in tears after wondering when he was going to come back as the dementia meant her short term memory had gone. Philip Warren, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the former neighbour became a carer for the victim after she was widowed in 2004. Well before he was caught in December 2015 he started visiting to help with domestic chores including washing her hair. Worried about missing money and food the family set up the covert camera in the house which caught him out. When he was arrested on suspicion of rape Newman told cops 'I have done nothing wrong', and 'I am her carer'. In a statement to police he said 'I believe these allegations to be false due to her dementia/mental condition', which Mr Warren said showed he knew about it. When his computer was searched it not only uncovered a vast amount of 'granny porn' but also some indecent images of children and one of bestiality. Newman, of Swindon Road, Stratton St Margaret, admitted sexual activity with a person with a mental impairment impeding choice, having indecent images of a child and extreme pornography. He claimed that about six years before the offending he had been in a sexual relationship with the woman, which her family say they do not believe. Gareth James, defending, said: "He is clearly a man who has some sort of predilection towards older women." He said his client, who had taken an overdose before an earlier hearing, accepted he was facing a lengthy jail term. Sentencing him to ten and a half years in prison Judge Tim Mousley QC said: You know what you did on December 21, 2015, was completely disgraceful. "She was unable to make an informed decision and that must have been as blindingly obvious to you as it was to everyone else. I accept it was not your intention that anyone else should see what was going on but the fact is her grandchildren, at least, saw what was going on by seeing it on the camera. The effect on them as well as the effect on the victim is profound and long lasting. That I regard as a particular feature of this which adds to your culpability. Newman must also register as a sex offender for life, will be barred from working with children or vulnerable people and must abide by a sexual harm prevention order restricting his liberty.

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A CHILD sex offender who moved to Swindon has been warned he is on his last chance after failing to do his unpaid work. Daniel Kerwood, 31, who is on a community order for failing to comply with his registration conditions, said a bad back made it too hard from him to get to the appointments. But a judge at Swindon Crown Court told him that the problem with the order was his attitude and said he was getting a 'last chance'. Andrew Stone, prosecuting, said Kerwood was first put on a six-month suspended sentence in 2014 for sexually assaulting a child under the age of 16. Soon after it was increased to nine months because he failed to notify the authorities of where he lived, as is required under sex offender registration. Then last year Kerwood, of Alpine Close, Shaw, was back before a judge for again failing to comply with the requirements by having contact with a child. Mr Stone said the defendant, then living in the Andover area, was told as part of the order he must not have contact with a child for more than 12 hours at a time. "Mr Kerwood tells me he accepts misunderstanding, he thought it was being alone with a child," he said. After admitting the breach he was put on a 26-month community order with supervision from probation. But he first breached the order in September last year, then again shortly before Christmas when 60 hours of unpaid work was added to it. Mr Stone said he failed to turn up for the work on December 28, February 23 and 24 and the first three days in March. He said the defendant had told him that he lives an hour's walk from the unpaid work centre and he has sciatica. "He says the distance is beyond him with his back in that condition," adding that Kerwood couldn't afford public transport. "He tells me he has applied for universal credit. He applied in January but the checking is still going on." Passing sentence Judge Tim Mousley QC said: "You have breached this order yet again. "As I have said the underlying reason for you not doing what you were ordered to do was because your attitude towards it. "It is suggested in the pre-sentence report that your compliance with this order has been nothing but problematic. That is putting it mildly. "You are now on your last chance, do you understand that. I am going to add 40 hours of unpaid work. That makes a total, less any you have done, of 100 hours. "That is the position you find yourself in. You must do it. There are no more excuses. If you come back before the court, as I have said, you have run out of chances."

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THOUSANDS of disturbing images and movies of child abuse found on a council worker’s computers have put him behind bars for two years.

Jamie Osborn, 41, of Gooch Street, had amassed the catalogue of media over a seven-year period and distributed them to like-minded people over the internet.

Canadian police provided a tip-off to Wiltshire officers after the North American force busted a firm selling paedophilic DVDs around the world.

Osborn, who worked as a sports assistant with Swindon Council, said he was distributing the material as a courtesy to an online community which shared his interests.

Officers in Toronto had raided a company which sold the DVDs and pictures. They found Osborn splashed out £650 on 25 movies with the firm.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre received the initial tip off.

After a search of his home in December 2013, officers discovered he had stored more than 250 videos and at least 2,450 pictures of abused children, some as young as two.

Two computers were taken away and found to be loaded with the material.

There were saved searches on his internet browsers such as ‘young boys sex’ and ‘naturalist boys’.

It emerged Osborn had sent more than 1,500 of the files by email to 16 different people he had come into contact with over the web.

Ms Hingston said five of the films sent across the Atlantic contained illicit material, with the others showing child nudity.

Osborn pleaded guilty to eight counts of making, five counts of distributing and one of possessing indecent images of children.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client had already sought help for the problem from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation.

“Everything one learns about Mr Osborn suggests to me he is a man who has lived the life of a loner for a very long time,” he said.

“He was able to divide this interest in looking at images from any suggestion that he would contemplate any physical contact.

“Immediately after he was confronted he began to seek assistance in how to put himself back on track.

“Whatever sentence he gets he won’t have a job as a recreational assistant with Swindon Borough Council. He has to rebuild his life at the age of 41.”

Jailing him for two years, Judge Peter Blair QC said: “You are likely to be barred from ever working with children by the barring authority.”

He also imposed a sexual harm prevention order restricting Osborn’s liberty for five years and told him he must register as a sex offender.

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AN alcoholic who sexually abused a sleeping teenage boy has been jailed for 16 months.

Steven Bays first groped the youngster before performing a sex act on him.

The 51-year-old was told he must register as a sex offender for 10 years and would face restrictions over contact with children.

Tessa Hingston, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court how the 16-year-old was staying at Bays’s flat in May.

She said he awoke in the early hours to find the man, who was estranged from his wife of 17 years, had undone his trousers and was interfering with him.

The victim did not immediately react, a not uncommon reaction in such cases, said Ms Hingston.

Bays then carried out a sex act on him for a few seconds, before touching him again. The teenager left the room and the defendant pretended to sleep.

From the bathroom he heard Bays castigating himself, calling himself an ‘idiot’.

The youngster then left the flat, going first to the police point in west Swindon, which was unmanned, before walking a couple of miles home in the middle of the night.

A forensic examination found Bays’s DNA and saliva in the boy’s pants.

Bays initially denied any wrongdoing. “He said he was heterosexual and had no interest in males,” Ms Hingston told the court.

She said he also told officers he did not have a drink problem but was getting through “about a third of a bottle of whisky” a day.

The court heard that the boy suffered trauma which left him unable to study and he failed his GCSEs.

Bays, of Longstock Court, Eastleaze, pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault.

Rob Ross, defending, said his client was filled with remorse and had since made attempts on his life.

“He is horrified by what he did, he accepts it took place,” Mr Ross told the court.

“Mr Bays accepts this must have had a dreadful affect on the young man.”

He said Bays was now going to narcotics anonymous, and had been off the drink for a month, having drunk to excess every day since he was 19 years old.

Jailing him, Judge Peter Blair QC said “You have heard read to the court the psychological damage you have caused to this young man by what you did. It was a short period of time when you were committing these three offences but it is going to have, as you have heard, long lasting and dramatic effects on the boy.”

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A TEENAGER has pleaded guilty to a charge of a multiple incident counts of sexual activity with a child.

Ian Josiah Sidney, 19, formerly of Galloway Road, Swindon, changed his plea during a trial at Swindon Crown Court last week.

The court heard that he is alleged to use aliases including Sam Boid, Sammy Boid, Ryan Boid, Joey Sidney, Josiah Sidney, Samantha and Angela McDough.

Sidney met his 14-year-old victim on a bus before assaulting her. The offences took place in Swindon during September 2012.

He will be sentenced at Swindon Crown Court on September 27.

Detective Constable Gemma Vinton, who investigated the case, said: “The victim showed great courage in giving evidence in court, which has no doubt contributed to the successful outcome in this case."