Latest Offenders York

Description

An “evil and foul” man who sexually abused a little girl in North Yorkshire has been jailed for 12 years.

Gary Henshall recorded himself sexually abusing the girl in the middle of the night, York Crown Court heard.

Tom Jackson, prosecuting, said the light on the paedophile’s phone would wake her, and he persisted in what he was doing as she tried to stop him, by moving away from him.

“He is the most selfish, evil and foul old man,” the victim said in a personal statement.

She said the abuse had affected her mental health so much it had drastically affected her education.

Mr Jackson said the girl eventually stopped the abuse by telling her family about it.

Following Henshall’s arrest, police found a video he had made of himself alone performing a sex act, making sexual comments about children and pretending to be a six-year-old girl.

He had previous convictions from the 1980s for child sexual abuse.

After the girl had stood up to Henshall, the paedophile had “manipulated” and delayed the court process by initially denying the charges, then pleading guilty, then trying unsuccessfully to change his plea back to not guilty and finally not turning up to his sentencing hearing, so that North Yorkshire Police had to locate him and fetch him from Leeds.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, said Henshall “twisted the knife” by not turning up to court.

Henshall, 65, formerly of the Caravan Park at Scalm Park, Wistow near Selby, and later of Batley, pleaded guilty to five sexual assaults and was given a 17-year extended prison sentence, consisting of a 12-year prison term plus five years extended prison licence.

For the rest of his life he will be on the sex offenders’ register and subject to a sexual harm prevention order to protect all children from him and a restraining order to protect the girl including after she becomes an adult.

For Henshall, Kevin Batch said the defendant understood the “devastation” he had brought the girl and no words would come “anywhere to alleviate that level of distress and suffering”.

Detective Constable Sophie Wilson, of North Yorkshire Police, who led the investigation, said: “This has been a very difficult case, and I cannot praise the victim and her family enough for standing up for what is right and seeking justice against Henshall.

“Henshall also dragged out their suffering by repeatedly changing his plea. The judge’s intervention ensured that justice has been served, and I hope the victim and her family can draw strength from the outcome at court.” 

Description

A man who subjected a teenage girl to repeated sexual offences and told her she would not be believed has been jailed for 14 years.  

Kyle Burns, 33, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court on Monday (14 April), after earlier being found guilty of two counts of rape, two of sexual assault and two of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. 

The victim came forward to police in July 2024, and her report was investigated by specially trained officers from the Kirklees District Safeguarding Unit.  

The judge told Burns, of Robertson Terrace in Cleckheaton, that he must serve two-thirds of his sentence in custody and made him the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and a restraining order. Burns was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register. 

Description

Charles Andrew Chapman, 61, of Sycamore Road, Barlby, Selby, has today (Thursday 27 March 2025) been sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for the non-recent sexual abuse of two girls in the Harrogate area.

• He was found guilty of all 19 offences at York Crown Court on 27 February 2025.
• They happened more than a decade ago and include:
• Rape of a girl under 13
• Assault a girl under 13 by penetration
• Cause or incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity (both penetration and no penetration)
• Cause or incite a girl aged 13-15 to engage in penetrative sexual activity
• Assault a girl under 13 by penetration
• Assault a girl under 13 by touching
• Engage in penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13-15
• Engage in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13-15
• Engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13
• Attempt to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child aged 13-15

As well as the custodial sentence to which he must serve an additional one-year on licence, Chapman has also been placed on the Register of Sex Offenders for life and been made subject of an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Description

Terrence James Waters, 82, (DOB: 17/06/1942) from Driffield in East Yorkshire, who used his position to sexually abuse young boys over more than a decade, was sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment earlier today (26 March) at Hull Crown Court after pleading guilty to and being convicted of 36 non-recent offences, including indecent assault, indecency with a child and buggery.

The case involved 14 complainants aged between seven and 13 years at the time, who all provided evidence of being abused by Waters in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

The majority of the abuse, which involved 12 of his former pupils, took place between 1978 and 1984. Waters also sexually abused two boys at several other locations, including his address in Old Woking, between 1984 and 1988.

Waters had already pleaded guilty to a number of the offences, including 20 counts of indecent assault and seven counts of indecency with a child, prior to the trial at an earlier hearing.

During the trial he pleaded guilty to a further five offences, including gross indecency with a child and four counts of indecent assault.

The jury subsequently found him guilty of a further four offences, including indecent assault, gross indecency with a child and two counts of buggery.

Waters was able to use his position as a teacher to target young boys, with the abuse taking place in the art building, which was located away from the main school building and contained a darkroom for developing photographs, and a specially constructed loft area. He also organised camping trips in the school holidays where further abuse took place.

Waters would take naked photographs of his victims in exchange for favours or payment, or on a false pretence that they were modelling for sculptures or for book covers.

One of the victims described the effect on his life after being abused as a young boy:
“I found following the abuse that I avoided making friends with boys and men. I have struggled since that age with my weight as eating became a comfort and would make me forget about things, I suffered with depression and still have this impacting on my life today which requires me to take medication. As a result of what happened to me, I found I repressed my sexuality and missed out on many years of being who I am.”

Remarking on the abuse he suffered some 40 years ago, another victim said:
“First of all, I would like to thank sincerely Surrey Police in the last five years of this investigation. I would like you to hear the voice of the eleven-year-old child that I was then. Allen House school was a small, seemingly safe prep school, set in beautiful grounds outside Woking. Terry Waters was a popular teacher who used his position of trust to groom and sexually little boys in his care.

“When the investigation began in 2019, wounds that had closed over 35 years started to reopen. The old sense of guilt, the old sense of secrecy, the old sense of dark favouritism had returned. Some may say that we were complicit, however we were eleven-year-old children, and a child cannot legally consent to sexual activity.”

Speaking about the abuse he suffered, another victim said:
“I cannot explain why it is that I don’t feel angry when I think about what he did to me. I feel empty. When you are abused as a child, abuse seems normal. In later life, you expect abuse, or even subconsciously seek it out.

“Abuse twists your relationship with the world. It takes a beautiful and innocent time, and it scars it. It changes the way you look at physical relationships. I tried to lock those feelings away. Of course, they come to the surface in other ways.”

Detective Inspector Ross Linaker, who led the investigation, said: “Waters was a sexual predator who used his position as a trusted member of staff at a well-respected school to abuse and violate innocent young boys.

“The outcome in the court today is the result of a lengthy and complex investigation and shows that no matter how long ago the abuse took place, we will always carry out a thorough investigation to seek justice and ensure perpetrators are punished for their actions.

Description

A sexual predator has been jailed at York Crown Court today, Thursday 20 March 2025.

Daniel Roberts, 31, of Jorvik Close in York, appeared in court charged with six offences of distributing indecent images of children, making indecent images of children, possession of extreme pornographic images and possession of prohibited images of children.

The defendant was remanded in custody since his last appearance at York Crown Court on Tuesday 19 November 2024, having pleaded guilty to 18 previous similar offences. He received a four-year custodial sentence with a four-year licence period.

Roberts has been investigated by North Yorkshire Police since June 2022 and throughout this time has continued to offend whilst on police bail, court bail and as a convicted registered sex offender. 

Following his arrest officers seized his devices which uncovered Category A, B and C indecent images of children and extreme pornography.

Description

A registered sex offender put her phone under public toilet cubicles to secretly record men using the loo.

Chleo Sunter, 37, was caught with 790 pictures and 15 videos of men inside toilet cubicles and standing at urinals. She took the photos in the men's loos at an Aldi supermarket and a shopping centre in Middlesbrough, and at Darlington Train Station.

Sunter, previously known as John Leslie Graham, admitted her latest offences at Teesside Crown Court on Wednesday.

She pleaded guilty to two counts of voyeurism; "recording a person doing a private act with the intention that she herself, for the purpose of obtaining sexual gratification, would look at the image of this person knowing they did not consent to her recording the act" between January and November 2023. She also admitted six breaches of a sexual harm prevention order.

The sex offender order was given to the defendant after being convicted of sexual assault in 2012, when Sunter was named John Leslie Graham. The offender was also convicted of possession of extreme pornographic images, in 2014.

She has appeared in court since for further breaches of the order - including in 2018 when caught using an alias on a dating site.

Sunter was caught with the material when her sex offender manager turned up at her home in Thornaby, to check she was complying with the court order. Photos and videos of victims using public conveniences near Middlesbrough's Captain Cook Square shopping centre, at a Middlesbrough Aldi; and at Darlington station, were stored on her phone.

Paul Newcombe, prosecuting, told the court: "Some of the males were stood at the urinals. Some were recorded under the cubicles."

On a police visit in November 2023, Sunter wasn't at home, but was found nearby. Police investigators found she had deleted 695 chats, 712 photos, and four videos from the gay dating app, Grindr, the court heard.

Sunter has also been using her phone in incognito mode so that her internet history couldn't be seen. She further breached the terms of the order by resetting her phone to factory settings.

Mitigating, John Nixon said Sunter has a history of alcohol abuse and "no longer has a phone or laptop with internet access." Sunter was remanded into custody eight months ago, after admitting some of the offences at the magistrates' court. Mr Nixon said prison has been an "exceptionally challenging time".

Sunter's barrister asked the judge to consider a court order instead of prison - as if imprisoned would mean she would lose her accommodation and face homelessness when released.

Judge Geoffrey Marson said he was aware of Sunter's mental health difficulties and "particular circumstances, but they have little, or no affect on the offences."

The judge jailed Sunter, of Avon Close, Thornaby, for 26 months, telling her that he accepted she is "emotionally vulnerable and custody will be difficult."

Description

A man has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for breaking the conditions of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order while staying in Wiltshire.

Jason King, 32, of North Ferriby, North Humberside, was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court on February 14 after pleading guilty to numerous offences.

Between November 2023 and May 2024, King made and distributed indecent images and videos of children including some of the most serious category A.

After serving his custodial sentence King will continue to be on licence for a further two and half year and will subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order indefinitely.

Detective Constable Anthony Swift, of the Child Internet Exploitation Team said: "King was convicted of multiple distribution and making indecent images of children. While staying overnight in Chicklade he has engaged in sexual communications with a child which is a breach of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order. These are court orders put in place to protect the public from sexual harm.

"We will continue to manage these orders robustly and undertake more work that goes unreported.

Description

A Kirklees sex offender who sexually abused a child more than three decades ago has been jailed for 20 years. 

Yusuf Kayat (54) of Dewsbury was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court today ( Wednesday February 5th) for serious sexual offending against a child in the Dewsbury and Mirfield areas between 1989 and 1992.    

Jurors today found the 54-year-old guilty of 17 offences including unlawful sexual intercourse with a girl under 13 and indecent assault on a girl under 14, at a trial which began at Leeds Crown Court in late January.  

He was also found guilty of aiding and abetting indecent assault on a girl under 16.   

Leeds Crown Court heard the victim was just 10 years old when the offences started in locations such as cars and derelict buildings.   

Investigations into Kayat’s offending began in 2021 when the victim was identified and spoken with.   

DCI Oliver Coates of Kirklees District Police, said:

“We welcome the sentencing of Yusuf Kayat for multiple serious sexual offences against a victim who was only 10 years old when he began to abuse her.   
“Kayat groomed and then committed some extremely serious sexual offences against the victim for a number of years.    
“ I want to praise her courage for supporting the police investigation into this man’s appalling offences against her, and then working with us and our partners in the CPS to bring him before a jury.   
“Thanks to her bravery, this man has now been made to pay for what he did to her and will be in prison for a number of years to come.”  
He added: “This case again demonstrates that the passage of time need not be a barrier to justice for victims and for the police and CPS to bring those responsible of such offending before the courts.   
“We continue to urge any victims of sexual abuse in Kirklees who may not have made reports to the police, for whatever reason, to contact us.   
“Specially trained officers will listen, investigate, and do what they can with partners to support you.”
 

Julia McSorley, Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS’s Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, said:

“Yusuf Kayat used a young vulnerable child for his own sexual gratification and passed her around to others to do the same.
“Not only has he burdened the victim with the traumatic and lasting effects of his offending but by denying what he did to her, he has also forced the victim to relive the awful events she experienced during the trial. The prosecution team, in collaboration with West Yorkshire Police, was able to build a strong case to present to the jury, who found Kayat guilty.  
“My thoughts are with the victim of these appalling crimes. The Crown Prosecution Service would like to thank her for the incredible courage she showed in giving evidence, which was instrumental in bringing the offender to justice. 
“The CPS remains dedicated to pursuing justice for victims of child sexual abuse and will continue to work tirelessly with law enforcement partners to hold sex offenders accountable - no matter how much time has passed since they committed their crimes.

Description

A previously convicted child sex offender has been jailed again after police found indecent images of children of the most serious category in his possession. 

Nigel Stephen Collins, 75, from Redcar, has been jailed for two-and-a-half years after being charged with making indecent images of children after nearly 850 of the most serious category of pictures were found on his computer.

Collins’ offending came to light when Cleveland Police’s management of sexual or violent offenders unit (MOSOVO) carried out an unannounced visit to his home to ensure compliance with court orders stemming from two prior convictions for similar offenses.

During the visit, officers reviewed Collin's computer and discovered he had accessed child abuse images again.

He was subsequently arrested, interviewed and then charged and remanded until his court appearance last Friday, January 24. 

PC James Sexton of the MOSOVO unit said: “Collins is clearly still a dangerous individual with an enduring interest in making or accessing child abuse images.

“We work tirelessly to ensure everyone subject to restrictions and conditions are monitored so that any breaches like this are detected and dealt with.

“I’d like to thank my colleagues from the force’s Digital Forensic Unit for working so quickly on this case; their assistance ensured we were able to return a high-risk offender back to prison.”

Description

APPEAL court judges have doubled a North Yorkshire sex offender's prison time and ordered him to hand himself in to police.

Benjamin Dilnot was jailed for two years and five months for sexually assaulting  a woman in November last year. York Crown Court heard that because he had spent just under 500 days on remand, he would be released shortly.

The woman told the court she had had nightmares for years, would bear the scars of his actions for the rest of her life and has been seeing a counsellor.

The Attorney General sent his case to the Court of Appeal on the grounds that the sentence was too short for the sexual assault which, York Crown Court heard, had been a prolonged and violent incident.

Three judges sitting in the Court of Appeal agreed and increased the sentence to four years and nine months. As Dilnot was a free man at the time of the hearing, they ordered him to hand himself in to a police station so that he could be sent back to jail.

It is the second time Dilnot has been jailed for offences against women. Before he was sentenced in November, he had served a two-year prison term for offences against a second woman.

After carrying out the offences against the first woman, he was acquitted of alleged offences against two more women at two trials.

He is currently subject to three restraining orders which ban him from contacting the first woman and the two women he was acquitted of committing offences against, and going near any of their homes among other conditions. He will be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

Dilnot, now 23, of Willow Bank, Brayton, pleaded guilty to offences including sexually assaulting the first woman, causing her actual bodily harm and witness intimidation against her, all committed when he was 18.

Andrew Petterson, prosecuting, said after the sexual assault, Dilnot had tried to get the first woman to withdraw her statement against him by phoning her repeatedly despite being under bail conditions not to contact her. He claimed he would kill himself, that she had ruined his life and that he would never get a job.

Defence barrister Laura Addy said there had been a period when the first woman had been protected under an earlier restraining order when he had not contacted her.  

Description

A sex offender who traded videos and pictures of “misery, debauchery and child cruelty” has been jailed for 18 months.

Among the films of children being sexually abused that John Gary Humphreys sent to his online contacts was one of the rape of a toddler aged six to 18 months old, York Crown Court heard.

Lydia Carroll, prosecuting, said the 45-year-old complained in online chats about others shutting down access to their stock of indecent images of children.

Humphreys, of Coupland Road, Selby, pleaded guilty to three charges of distributing indecent images of children and three of possessing indecent images of children.

The Recorder of York, Judge Sean Morris, told Humphreys he had taken part in a “filthy trade in misery, debauchery and child cruelty.

“You were passing on through the internet the most horrendous images of children.”

Comparing Humphreys to a drug dealer, the judge said he had to be jailed to deter others thinking of “pushing” similar images by putting them on the internet “where everyone could see them".

He jailed Humphreys for 18 months and made him subject to a sexual harm prevention order for five years. Humphreys will be on the sex offenders' register for 10 years.

Ms Carroll said police got a tip-off that Humphreys was uploading sexual images of children to the internet and raided his home in September 2023. He tried vainly to hide a mobile phone from them.

Forensic examination of his mobile revealed he had been downloading thousands of images from the Mega Folder cloud facility and trading illegal sexual images of children via Telegram as well as sending other people links.

The folders had names often used for sexual images of children.

Forensic investigators found Humphreys had uploaded 23 videos and five pictures of the worst category of sexual images of children via Telegram as well as 25 more videos and pictures of less serious categories.

He also had his own cache of nearly 4,000 images, 997 of which - including 83 videos - were in the worst category and more than 2,500 in the least serious category. All could be easily accessed. Police found 62,000 more images which they did not categorise.

For Humphreys, Sean Smith said since his arrest, he had undertaken an initial course with Safer Lives, an organisation that rehabilitates sex offenders, as well as having monthly meetings with its representatives.

He no longer used the internet and, for family reasons, now lived in a van where it was difficult for him to access the internet.

A medical report following an assessment in November 2023 suggested he may have autism and this may have contributed to his offending, among other causes which the barrister did not identify.

The judge accepted that Humphreys had worked to rehabilitate himself and was “ordinarily a decent man”.  

Description

A Barnsley man jailed in his early 20s for sexual offences committed against a child is beginning another stint behind bars, after he admitted to raping a 12-year-old girl.

Description

A pervert who sent a photograph of his genitals to a teenage girl has been locked up for his sickening behaviour.

Lewis Hart also sent sexualised images to his landlord six months later during a campaign of harassment while he was on police bail.

The 36-year-old sent several messages to the woman telling her that he found her attractive, Teesside Crown Court heard.

Jon Harley, prosecuting, said Hart told the teenager that he wanted to ‘get it out of his system’ when he sent her the sexually explicit images last May.

He said the defendant sent a WhatsApp message to the woman while he was intoxicated and the harassment had left the victim feeling physically sick.

Hart, of Blackmore Close, Guisborough, pleaded guilty to sending sexual communication to a child, sent a photograph or video to cause alarm, distress or humiliation, and cause harassment without violence.

John Nixon, mitigating, said the father had become ‘low and desperate’ when he committed the offences.

“It doesn’t excuse what happened but does show that it was out of character and is something that he bitterly regrets indeed,” he added.

“There is a very good prospect of rehabilitation and little likelihood of further offences being committed. He still plays a role in the life of his biological children and there is hope for the future.”

Judge Timothy Stead jailed Hart for a total of 16 months.

He said: “It is understood that you and your family had been having a difficult time and your own mental health has not always been good.

“The difficulty in this case lies in the most serious offence in this case, sexual communication with a child, is an offence committed against a 14-year-old.

“You sent six images to her and are undoubtedly of a sexual nature and most people would find them troubling and disgusting.”

Hart was also ordered to sign on the sex offenders’ register for ten years and was made subject of a ten-year restraining order.

Description

A "dangerous" convicted sex offender got a nasty shock when a 12-year-old schoolgirl that he was exchanging explicit and highly sexualised online messages with turned out to be an undercover police officer trying to trap paedophiles.

Perverted predator Connor Smith had already been jailed in the past for seven years but, after he was released from prison, it did not "deter" him that the decoy girl was only 12, Hull Crown Court heard.

Smith, 43, of Eastfield Road, Market Weighton, admitted attempting engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity between July and August.

Judge Alexander Menary told the court that Smith had been jailed at Hull Crown Court for seven years in July 2018 for two offences of sexual activity with a child. He had been given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

The offences, from 2016, involved him befriending and forming a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl and having sex with her on a number of occasions when she should have been at school.

Smith served a significant period of that prison sentence but he was twice released on licence. He had been recalled to prison because of other concerns from the probation service.

After he was released, he began communicating with someone he thought was a 12-year-old girl but who was really an undercover police officer. "The fact that she was a 12-year-old girl did not deter you," said Judge Menary.

Smith encouraged the decoy girl to commit sexual acts. He had a worrying interest in children but he had not acknowledged this. The probation service regarded him as posing a risk of serious harm to children through further offences.

Billy Torbett, mitigating, said that Smith pleaded guilty at an early stage. "There is no denying that his behaviour is, quite simply, unacceptable," said Mr Torbett.

"He is ashamed of himself, as he should, quite frankly, be. He is remorseful for his offending."

Smith had kept out of trouble for a time after his release from prison but he "ruined that" by committing the offences. He was realistic about facing a prison sentence again.

Smith, who was already in custody, was jailed for four years after being branded a "dangerous" offender. He will be on extended licence of five years after his release from prison.

He must register as a sex offender for life and the indefinite sexual harm prevention order will continue.

Description

A man has been jailed for three years and nine months for sexual offences relating to a child.

Anthony Henderson, 62, of Francis Avenue, Withernsea, was sentenced at Hull Crown Court on 15 November.

Henderson previously pleaded guilty to causing a child to engage in a sexual act, meeting a child following grooming, causing a child to watch a sexual act and engaging in sexual communication with a child.

He has also been given a sexual harm prevention order and will be added to the sex offenders register for life.

In October, police received evidence of Henderson sending sexual messages to a fake profile of someone he believed to be a 13-year-old girl.

He sent the profile sexually explicit content of himself and others and arranged to meet who he believed to be a young girl in a public place.

Det Sgt Frances Robinson said: “Henderson is a sexual predator and I’m pleased he is now behind bars and unable to continue with his attempts to target vulnerable people."