Latest Offenders

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HE BUILT up his reputation as a photographer by working with some of the most famous names in the world.

Erik Russell started taking pictures as a child and his career ranged from taking shoots for global magazines to snapping Olympic sailing medallist Ben Ainslie as he met local schoolchildren.

But beneath this guise is one of the countys most vile paedophiles who enjoys watching youngsters subjected to torture and horrific sexual abuse.

Today, as he prepares to be jailed for the sickening crimes, which he has managed to keep a secret in the town where he lives, the Daily Echo can reveal the true horror of what he did.

Russell, who lives with his partner in Lymington, was uncovered by detectives from Hampshire polices Child Abuse Investigation Unit.

He was arrested in his home by officers who swooped and seized his computers and photographic equipment during an undercover operation on October 19, 2006.

His computer records showed he had paid to access a number of websites which contained graphic images and videos of children mainly girls from toddlers to teens.

It took detectives weeks to plough through the thousands of horrific images and videos.

Eventually detectives concluded that he was responsible for making and possessing a staggering 32,832 photos. Also found were 1,699 videos of the same horrific abuse.

Police used new guidelines to rank the scale of the abuse with one being the weakest and five the most sickening and Russells disgusting catalogue included the very worst kind.

A further 42,122 pictures were found on his computer that could not be categorised. Likewise, 512 videos were not given a ranking because officers could not be sure they showed children.

Russell was eventually charged with 20 specimen counts of making indecent images and videos (downloading and saving). He was also charged with two further offences of possessing indecent images of a child.

Denying the charges, he stood trial for five days at Portsmouth Crown Court, where a jury took just 50 minutes to unanimously find him guilty.

Following conviction, Russell was released on conditional bail to be sentenced today.

Until now he has managed to keep his depraved behaviour a secret in the tight-knit community of Lymington, where he moved in 2005 following the acrimonious breakdown of his marriage.

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Michael Thomas, a 44-year-old businessman from Abergavenny, South Wales, drilled spy holes in a wooden shed near victim Susan George's home to monitor her movements. The 45-year-old, who waived anonymity, was in a two-year relationship with him.

Thomas built a makeshift bed in the shed and lived there, just yards away. He attacked when George opened her back door late at night to let her dog out. Brandishing a hammer, he raped her twice and held her captive until daybreak.

Her ordeal ended after the mother-of-one persuaded Thomas to drive to a petrol station for cigarettes. She whispered to the assistant: "The guy in the car has raped me. Call the police now - he says he's going to kill me."

Police arrested Thomas, a haulage contractor and owner of successful racehorses, after pulling over the car.

At Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones jailed the father-of-one for 16 years, with a minimum of eight before parole consideration. Thomas must register as a sex offender for life.

He was convicted of seven rapes involving three women, including George, plus attempted rape, sexual assault, and threats to kill. Some of the 19 offences dated to the 1980s. All victims described his eyes as "black and menacing" during attacks.

The judge said: "The most striking similarity was that all the victims described the same look in your eyes as you carried out the attacks." He added: "You petrified your victims, used violence against them, grabbed them by the throat and hair and used both knives and hammers. Two of the women suffered serious psychological harm. Your victims were terrified and thought they were going to die."

Thomas kept horses at Chepstow, had his own racing colors, and attended National Hunt and flat racing meetings across Britain.

After the case, George said: "I hope he rots in jail. I have no sympathy for him because he showed me no sympathy at all." She feared for her life: "He told me he was going to kill me. He said we would both be dead by morning and that he would let me enjoy one more cigarette before I died. The worst part was when I had to see the hammer in court, I just broke down."

She added: "Finding out there were other victims was a big shock. I had been intimate with this man not knowing he was a serial rapist." Treated for PTSD, she now counsels victims: "I am hoping some good can come out of all this bad. I hope by telling my story it will encourage other victims to come forward. It shows the police system is better than it was years ago and that there are people who can help you."

The other victims knew Thomas. One, in her 30s, was raped after sharing wine at her home. Another was dragged from her car, kicked, punched, and raped at knifepoint. Thomas attempted to rape a fourth woman as her two-year-old clung to her leg.

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A pervert primary school teacher has been jailed for three years for indecently assaulting girls at his school, all aged just eight and nine years old.

At the time of the offences, he put one of his young victims in the dunces corner after the school disbelieved her claims of abuse, a court heard.

Bearded Graham Nichols, 62, indecently assaulted five girls at St Annes Catholic Primary in Keighley, where he taught from the 1970s to 1980.

Prosecutor Judith Naylor yesterday told Bradford Crown Court that two of the girls had complained about his behaviour at the time but the headmistress, a Sister Eugenie, did not believe them and Nichols placed one of them at the dunces table.

Nichols, of Storr Hill, Wyke, Bradford, had pleaded guilty at a previous hearing to ten charges of indecent assault and one of gross indecency with a child.

He was told by Judge James Stewart QC: You abused your position as a teacher, a position of trust. You were looking after these children who were entitled to look up to you. When one complained, you denied it and had her put in the dunces corner.

A further offence of indecent assault was taken into consideration after another woman came forward, following publicity in the Telegraph & Argus, to say she had been abused by Nichols at St Columbas School in Bradford.

Mrs Naylor said Nichols indecently touched the girls as they stood next to him for reading or to have their work marked.

On one occasion he asked one girl to stay behind at lunchtime. He took her to the book corner, asked her to lie on the floor and expose herself and committed a sex act in front of her.

Nichols left St Annes and became a supply teacher in the Bradford area. The offences came to light many years later when one of the victims was taking a child protection course as she trained to be a nursery nurse and thought about what had happened to her.

When he was arrested Nichols, who had no previous convictions, made admissions to police and said he had committed the offences out of curiosity as his knowledge of girls was very limited.

Michael Reeves, representing Nichols, said he was not a predatory paedophile and was suffering from a personality disorder at the time of the offences.

Judge Stewart said the offences were not the most serious, though the act of gross indecency was nasty.

He ordered that Nichols register as a sex offender indefinitely and made a Sexual Offences Prevention Order to stop him having unsupervised contact with children under 16.

After the case, Detective Sergeant Stephen Hanson, of West Yorkshire Polices Child and Public Protection Unit, said: Primary school years are supposed to be the happiest of a persons life, but these women have been traumatised by the actions of Nichols.

We would like to commend the bravery of the ladies who have come forward to help us bring Nichols to justice.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Leeds was asked for a comment by the T&A, but did not respond.

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A 25-year-old man has been sentenced to 20 months in prison for a string of disturbing sexual assaults, which included touching womens buttocks in public.

Desislav Branimov Ivanov, whose address was given as Grampian Prison, appeared at Lerwick Sheriff Court on Wednesday. At an earlier hearing his address was given simply as Shetlands North Mainland.

Ivanov had previously pleaded guilty to eight charges of intentionally or recklessly sexually touching a number of women and a child between May and August this year. Sentencing was deferred at the time for background reports.

This week the court heard a narration of the charges from procurator fiscal Duncan MacKenzie, who said that Ivanov had engaged in a course of conduct redolent of a most unusual form of sexual fetishism.

Mr MacKenzie said that Ivanov appeared to achieve sexual gratification from surreptitiously touching unsuspecting females on the buttocks and from visually recording the contact on mobile phones.

Police examining material on two mobile phones and a laptop belonging to Ivanov found over 7,000 videos of concern over a period of three years, the fiscal said, adding that only a handful were taken in Shetland. The majority were taken abroad and fell outside of the jurisdiction of the court, Mr MacKenzie said.

Police first became involved after a woman was sexually assaulted on two separate occasions at the Brae Co-op supermarket. On 7th August Ivanov rubbed his hand across her buttocks, the charge states.

There was a distinct sense of disbelief, Mr MacKenzie said, and when the woman later reported the incident to her husband she was visually distressed.

At the same supermarket later that month Ivanov dropped his hat next to the same womans feet. As he crouched to retrieve his hat he then pressed his face against her buttocks while filming himself.

A member of staff and another shopper were alerted by her screams, Mr MacKenzie said, and police were informed. Officers seized CCTV footage of both incidents.

The fiscal added that there was no suggestion that the accused was following the complainer and that her twice ending up in the supermarket at the same time as him seems to have just been a coincidence.

After being identified in CCTV footage Ivanov was detained and interviewed by police, though he answered no comment to most questions. Police seized two mobile phones and a laptop and an initial search turned up 209 videos of concern.

Three of those videos were identified as having taken place in Shetland leading to a further three charges being brought against Ivanov, who was by then taken into custody where he remained after being refused bail.

This gave police more time to begin an onerous investigation which would eventually turn up over 7,000 videos of concern, Mr MacKenzie said.

Disturbing

Eight charges were eventually brought against Ivanov, including one involving touching a child aged between 13 and 16 on the buttocks. In another incident Ivanov was said to have placed his hand on the buttocks of a woman on a bus.

Mr MacKenzie said that the charges amounted to a disturbing course of conduct which was achieved with no concern for the distress that its caused the complainers.

In mitigation defence agent Tommy Allan said that Ivanovs behaviour was clearly very bizarre.

I dont have an explanation for it, he added.

In some of the cases its extremely fleeting, Mr Allan said, adding that the incidents did not progress towards groping or fondling and that some of the victims arent even aware of it. Nonetheless, his client had to accept that it caused distress to the complainers who were conscious of what had happened.

Ivanov appears to have some kind of compulsion, the defence agent added, noting that he had previously received psychological attention for an amphetamine addiction.

By way of punishment his client, whose parents live in Bulgaria, actually favoured the option of deportation Mr Allan said, also noting that Ivanov had already spent the equivalent of a six-month jail term in custody.

Sheriff Philip Mann said that if taken in isolation Ivanovs offences probably did not merit a custodial sentence for a first-time offender, but the total number of offences led him to favour a custodial sentence.

He said: When one considers that there are eight charges in total it paints a very disturbing picture of a course of offending which it is clear causes great distress and anxiety to those who are aware that they have been targeted in this way.

He sentenced Ivanov to two months in custody for each of the seven charges involving adult females and a further six months for the offence involving a child, running to a total of 20 months.

The time in prison will be backdated to when Ivanov first entered custody in August. The sheriff also granted a Crown motion for forfeiture of the two mobile phones and the laptop seized as part of the police investigation.

As for Ivanovs desire to be deported, that was a matter for the Home Office, Sheriff Mann said.

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A MAN who downloaded hundreds of indecent images of children from the internet has walked free from court.

Paul Brentnall, from Mossbank, was caught after his estranged wife found the images on his computer after he moved out of their house in Wiltshire.

And when the 46-year-old was arrested at his new home in Shetland officers found he had been at it again.

Lynne Henderson, prosecuting, told Swindon Crown Court this week that in November or December 2006 the defendant left his wife when they lived in Moormead Road, Wroughton.

She said he left a personal computer and a laptop and his wife asked a family friend to look at them because of what she found.

The family friend stopped quickly after finding indecent pictures on the machines and they were handed over to the police. Officers found 372 of the images on the computers, including 24 in the worst two categories.

Miss Henderson said Wiltshire officers flew to Shetland in November last year and with the permission of the islands sheriff arrested Brentnall.

When they questioned him he assured them there would be no more similar pictures on his new computer.

But when it was searched it was found to contain 32 more indecent images of children including two in the worst two categories. He told police he could not fathom how they got there and said he had erasing software on the new computer.

Brentnall pleaded guilty to one count of possessing and three of making indecent images of children. The court heard that though he admitted a further count of possession and making of similar images they took place in Scotland, and could only be prosecuted there.

Michael Cullum, defending, said his client had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity. Much of the material had been sent to him by people he was communicating with over the internet, the court was told.

Mr Cullum said his client suffered from sleep apnoea and had to sleep with a mask because of the condition. He said his client was keen to accept help for what he had done and was being supported by his new partner.

Judge William Hart imposed a community order and told him to be under supervision for 18 months, do 120 hours of unpaid work and pay 250 costs. He will have to register as a sex offender for five years.

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A former sandwich delivery driver has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 24 years for the rape and murder of 17-year-old Hannah Foster.

Maninder Pal Singh Kohli, 41, a father of two, was found guilty at Winchester crown court today of the A-level student's murder, rape, false imprisonment and kidnap in March 2003.

Kohli shook his head slightly as the jury returned its four unanimous verdicts after five and a half hours of deliberations.

Sentencing him, Justice Keith said his crime was aggravated by "Hannah's vulnerability as a young slip of a girl, the terrible and appalling ordeal which Hannah must have gone through before you killed her, the wanton way you disposed of her body and the unimaginable grief to which you have subjected her family".

He told him: "It took a long time for you to be brought to justice but the law caught up with you in the end.

"The jury saw through your lies and you stand there exposed as a heartless and contemptible man who abducted and raped an attractive 17-year-old girl with everything to live for, and then callously and quite premeditatedly took her life so she would not be able to point the finger of guilt at you."

During the trial, the court heard that Kohli abducted Hannah as she walked down a street yards from her home in Southampton after spending a night out with friends. Terrified, she called 999 hoping an operator would hear what was happening, but the call was terminated when she did not speak.

The jury listened to a recording of the 999 call, in which Kohli was heard to tell Hannah "I want to fuck" before instructing her to keep her head down as his sandwich delivery van travelled out of Southampton.

She was raped in the van before Kohli strangled her when he feared she might identify him. He dumped her body beside a road in West End, Hampshire, and returned home to his wife and sons.

Hannah's body was found on March 16 in brambles off Allington Lane after being spotted by a 14-year-old boy from his mother's car.

Four days after the killing, Kohli fled the country, changing his name and creating a new life for himself in his native India.

Today's verdicts come nearly six years after the killing, during which time Hannah's parents travelled to India four times to put pressure on authorities for Kohli to be extradited.

Hilary and Trevor Foster today paid tribute to their daughter, describing their "overwhelming sense of relief" at the verdict.

Trevor Foster said Kohli had shown "not one iota of remorse for his actions", adding: "Today finally justice has caught up with him."

On the first trip the Fosters made to India, in July 2004, they found Kohli after a national appeal for help, but he fought his extradition for a further three years. He made a filmed confession to an Indian television station that he later retracted, saying it was made against his will.

He said in the confession: "I abducted, raped and killed Hannah Foster. I want to unburden myself and tell the truth (about) what happened that night. I was totally drunk that night. I strangled her and killed her."

Kohli said he had seen Hannah on the night of the murder but had not been stalking her. He claimed he was confessing "because I am already too tired to run here and there".

He was extradited to Britain in July 2007 and claimed he had been abducted, blindfolded and tied up on the night of Hannah's death and forced to have sex with the teenager.

During the trial he painted a picture of himself as a victim of a revenge attack orchestrated by a former colleague. Kohli said he owed the colleague £16,000 and had had an affair with his wife.

The claims were called "absurd" by the prosecution.

DNA belonging to Kohli was found on Hannah, and Hannah's DNA and blood was found in Kohli's van when it was seized. Her mobile phone was tracked moving along the M27 and M275 in Hampshire at the same time Kohli's Transit van was spotted on cameras.

CCTV footage from a garage placed his van three times in the vicinity of Allington Lane in the early hours of March 15 as he disposed of the body.

In a victim impact statement read to the court after the verdicts today, Hannah's mother, Hilary, said she would feel guilt for the rest of her life that she was not there to protect her daughter when she was murdered.

"Kohli ripped out my heart and stamped on it. When Trevor and I saw Hannah in the mortuary, I couldn't believe what I was seeing, there must be some mistake. The cold, battered and bruised body certainly looked like her, but where was the sparkle in her eyes?"

She added: "Our lives have revolved around our two girls, their wellbeing, personal interests and hopes for the future. On March 14 2003, our lives changed forever."

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A former PE teacher who used a social networking site to offer a 15-year-old pupil £200 for sex has been jailed for 21 months.

Andrew Delafield, of Fairfield Road, Newton Abbot, Devon, also asked the teenager and another 15-old-girl pupil to send him indecent images.

The 28-year-old called himself Lanky Monkey when he made contact via the Bebo website, Exeter Crown Court heard.

Delafield had earlier been convicted of making indecent images of a child.

He was eventually caught when a male school friend of one of the girls pretended to be her and persuaded Delafield to send a facial image of himself.

Delafield was found guilty of two offences of attempting to make indecent images of a child and 11 of making indecent images of a child.

Judge Jeremy Griggs said the defendant knew the girls, which "takes it out of the normal run of internet cases".

Prosecutor Malcolm Galloway told the court Delafield was a software sales manager at the time of the offences, having previously been a PE teacher at a community college, which he left in the summer of 2007.

Delafield admitted he was aged 27 and used to be a PE teacher at the college, where he knew the girl from gymnastics.

When he finally agreed to send a facial image, the girl's male friend told him he was "busted" and the police and college were informed.

The prosecutor said Delafield had 271 still and moving images of child abuse on his computer.

Mackenzie Robinson, defending, said Delafield believed the girls were aged 16 and what he had done was "reckless stupidity".

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A judge said the 48-year-old music teacher at a Sevenoaks school had persistently carried out organised recruitment of under-age boys for his sexual gratification.

“I conclude there is a significant risk of serious harm from future offences,” he added.

Woodward, of Hawden Close, Hildenborough, will have to serve a minimum of two-and-a-half years, less nine months spent on remand, before being considered for release.

He was convicted of 10 charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, one of sexual activity with a child and one of possessing an indecent photograph of a child.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Woodward, who taught at The New Beacon, had a sexual interest in boys under the age of 16 and would drive them to his home in his Saab car and get them to duck down in an attempt to hide them from neighbours.

Peter Forbes, prosecuting, said some of the seven complainants complied with his obscene requests, while others declined. They were paid £10-20 or rewarded with alcohol or cannabis.

Woodward’s secret began to unravel in July last year when one of the boys told his parents about what had been happening.

When arrested, Woodwood maintained that boys had only been to his house when accompanied by parents.

Mr Forbes said a computer was seized from an office at Woodward’s school. He had used search words such as “naked boys” and “boys showering”.

Woodward claimed notes he had written were “silly fantasies”. He added: “They are embarrassing, but I don’t abuse children. I don’t want to. I never have done. A suggestion I would bring them to life is ridiculous. I am not a danger to children.”

But the prosecutor said: “The Crown’s case is that Paul Woodward is a predatory paedophile, who has over a period of time established relationships with young under-age boys and encouraged them to his house.

“He has given them lifts to his home. He has incited them to engage in sexual activity, playing on young boys’ weaknesses and naivete.

“No doubt his experience as a teacher gave him an insight into the minds of young boys. Some may have been more street wise than others, but they are all under the age of 16.”

Charlotte Newell, defending, said Woodward, who suffered from diabetes, had fragility and had been a lonely man.

“Where he finds himself today is a terrible shame,” she said. “He has dedicated his entire adult life to teaching. He is held in high regard and affection by many of his former pupils and their parents.

“He is described as being kind and thoughtful to those he teaches. He worked hard to gain that respect and his position in school. He has lost everything, his job and chance of ever teaching again.”

Judge James O’Mahony told Woodward: "You prostituted these young boys, giving them money. You took them in your car where they could score cannabis with a supplier.”

Woodward changed tactics when he was arrested and released on bail. He then used his car for sexual activity.

“You still deny the undeniable, as you did to the jury, saying you are not interested in under-age boys,” said Judge O’Mahony.

Because he did not accept what he had done, some of the boys were forced to give evidence and relive what happened.

The judge said if he had imposed a determinate sentence it would have been one of five years.

Woodward was banned from unsupervised contact with children under 16 and using the internet to view images of children. He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life.

The officer in charge of the investigation, Det Con Donna Hopper said: "Preparing the case against Paul Woodward was a lengthy and painstaking process. It was important that I gained the trust of his victims, who were naturally very reluctant to speak of what happened, sufficiently to persuade them to give evidence against him.

"They are to be commended for having the courage to do so.

"I am very pleased that Paul Woodward was given a custodial sentence of a type that now requires him to address his actions and behaviour and prove he is no longer a danger to the public before he can be released."

Mike Piercy, head teacher at The New Beacon School, said: "None of the charges related to pupils of the school."

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A SERIAL sex offender who preyed on young girls has been jailed for 20 years.

Leslie West, 64, was locked up after being convicted of 15 sexual offences against children, including two counts of rape.

He was led from the dock at Southampton Crown Court with the words of Judge John Boggis QC ringing in his ears.

The judge told him: “At your trial you denied being a dirty old man but that’s exactly what you are – a disgusting, perverted, dirty old man.

“You are a danger to young girls because you won’t control yourself.”

The court heard that West, of Bracklesham Way, Sholing, Southampton, committed two sets of offences that were separated by a gap of 30 years.

Megan Topliss, for West, said the defendant was suffering from a raft of serious health problems, including angina and emphysema, but knew a prison sentence was inevitable.

She added: “My client recognises that a term of imprisonment is the only possible sentence and that it will be a long one.

“He was a man of previous good character.

Beyond that there is little I can say in the light of the jury’s verdicts.”

Miss Topliss said West was remanded in custody following his conviction last month and had begun to experience panic attacks.

She added: “He has become very depressed and is receiving medication.”

Sentencing West, Judge Boggis told him: “I’ve taken into account your age, the fact that you’re not a well man and the effect of a prison sentence on a person of your age.”

The defendant was jailed for ten years for each of the rapes. The two terms will run concurrently.

He was also handed prison sentences for the other 13 offences, which included indecency, sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and was jailed for a total of 20 years.

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A HAMPSHIRE teacher who admitted downloading indecent images of children and sexually touching a 16-year-old girl has been spared a jail term.

Michael Page was given a three month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, and an 18-month supervision order for touching the girl.

Page, 41, was also given an 18-month supervision order for making and possessing the images.

He was banned from working with children and prohibited from having any unsupervised contact with any girl under 16 except his daughters.

Religious studies teacher Page, of Avon Road, Bitterne Park, Southampton, was also placed on the sex offenders’ register for seven years.

Sentencing him at Southampton Crown Court Judge Derwin Hope said Page had abused his position of trust.

He added: “The incident involving the girl was not the most serious of offences, but she was a particularly vulnerable individual and the impact on her life has been particularly severe as a result. She was 16 and you were 40, which further aggravated the situation.”

James Newton-Price, prosecuting, said the victim had become afraid of leaving her house, lost contact with her friends and grew depressed.

Defending, Simon Gruchy,said Page had lost his job and was £30,000 in debt.

“Financially, things have, not surprisingly, taken a turn for the worse as a result of all this,” said Mr Gruchy.

Page, who had no previous convictions, was ordered to pay £1,000 costs and was told that his computer would be confiscated.

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A COURT security guard who conducted a “campaign of rape” on four children was yesterday jailed for 15 years.

Paul Aird used the two boys and two girls, “for his sexual gratification” in a litany of abuse spanning more than 20 years.

The 49-year-old guard, who worked at Hartlepool Magistrates’ Court, was convicted of raping and indecently assaulting the four victims in his car and at his home, following a five-day trial at Teesside Crown Court, in July.

He claimed the allegations were engineered by his former wife’s family following his second marriage to a younger woman.

The trial jury was told that Aird, of Oxford Road, Hartlepool, told one girl to stay silent for years because the shock would kill her ill mother.

Despite his denials, Aird was found guilty of seven charges of rape, two of buggery, one of attempted rape, and three of indecent assault, on dates between December 1981 and February 2002.

He was cleared of indecent assaults on two women, at a barbecue and at a Christmas party. Judge Evans directed the jury to acquit him of another buggery offence and an indecent assault.

He was brought back for sentence yesterday, when Durham Crown Court was told that, despite the verdicts, Aird still denies the allegations.

Robin Denny, mitigating, said:

“There’s nothing I can say about the offences. He still denies them and his wife stands by him.”

Mr Denny revealed that following sentencing Aird was to attend his father’s funeral.

Judge Evans told Aird: “You turned your attentions from one victim to another without any shame, remorse or compassion, using each to satisfy your sexual gratification.

It’s a tribute to them that they have managed to make something of their lives, not withstanding what happened to them.”

Aird was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and is forbidden from working with children for life. He is also subject to various restrictions under the terms of a sexual offences’ prevention order.

Speaking after the sentence, Detective Sergeant Matt Mason, of Cleveland Police’s Hartlepool child abuse investigation unit, said: “The victims, who are now all adults, are delighted with this outcome.”

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A WELL-RESPECTED former football coach who impressed Tony Blair with his fund-raising work has been jailed for 10 months after exposing himself to young girls at a swimming baths.

Mohammed Tahir, a married father-of-two, was living at Adventurers Quay in Cardiff Bay when he climbed into a shower with a 15-year-old girl at the city’s international sports complex in January, this year.

Three days later, he was back there. This time he exposed himself and committed a sex act in front of shocked young teenagers, Cardiff Crown Court heard.

A liaison officer for the Oldham Sunday League and involved with coaching at Oldham Athletic, Tahir was once invited to meet Tony Blair to celebrate his fund-raising work. He was also nominated for a Pride in Oldham Award.

Tahir, who had been due to start work in May as a customer services representative with Conduit UK, was said to have put that job on hold while he pleaded guilty to charges of indecent exposure and outraging public decency. The court was told that Tahir already had a conviction for indecently assaulting a female as long ago as 1988 and for gross indecency in Manchester eight years ago.

He appeared before magistrates in Bury in April, 2004, for what was said to be a strikingly similar offence to the one in Cardiff.

On that occasion, Tahir wedged open the doors of a ladies’ changing room and opened his towel when two 13-year-old girls appeared. Tahir also has a string of convictions for fraud and theft.

David Leathley, defending, accepted Tahir — whose wife is standing by him — was a sexual deviant who displayed an addictive pattern of exposure to females.

He added: “I have referred to him to his face as a pervert and he knows how society feels.”

Jailing Tahir for 10 months and putting him on the sex offenders’ register, the Recorder of Cardiff, Nicholas Cooke QC, said he had been assessed as being a potential high risk to females.

In a Sexual Offenders’ Prevention Order, Tahir was also banned from going to any play area or changing rooms at any leisure facility.

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A PAEDOPHILE has been jailed for repeatedly abusing a child and posing as another boys father to abduct him from school.

Dean Freeman, 21, of Hamstel Road, Southend, viewed vile images of young boys being sexually abused before calling a Rayleigh school claiming to be the father of a ten-year-old pupil.

He told staff he was sending a taxi to collect the child as he needed to attend a dental appointment. Freeman, who later admitted his motivation was sexual, then contacted a Rayleigh taxi firm to pick the boy up.

But his plan was foiled by the quick-thinking actions of driver Steven Hilder.

He became suspicious after the boy said he did not recognise the house where he had been taken. Moments later Mr Hilder picked Freeman up from his home in Hamstel Road, Southend, but threw him out his car after he was told by his office the victim didnt have permission to leave school.

It was only when he was arrested for abduction on January 3 another child came forward and reported he had been sexually abused by Freeman for six years between 2000 and 2006.

At Basildon Crown Court, Judge Michael Brooke QC branded Freeman a danger to the public, and praised Mr Hilder for spotting the danger.

He added: It is clear to me the defendant does have sado-sexual fantasies and he showed he had the motivation to realise such fantasies.

Freeman pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to abduction, possessing indecent images of children, gross indecency on a child under 16 and sexual touching of a child without consent and was jailed for five years and eight months.

He was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register.

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A man police said was the "librarian" of a global internet child abuse ring has been jailed indefinitely.

Philip Anthony Thompson, of Stockton-on-Tees, will serve at least three years and nine months, but a Teesside judge warned it could be much longer.

Thompson, 27, admitted 27 charges, including causing children aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The website he was involved with used "borderline-legal" images to bring together "like-minded" people.

Police have so far pinpointed 360 suspects.

Handing down sentence at Teesside Crown Court, Judge Michael Taylor said Thompson posed a "very significant risk" to the public and therefore he would be imposing an indeterminate prison sentence for public protection.

He told him: "You have shown that you are a very dangerous individual indeed. I consider that you pose a very significant risk to the public and you are a dangerous offender."

"He [Thompson] was... the librarian/warehouseman for a myriad of images that were distributed to like-minded individuals both in this country and elsewhere" Det Chief Supt Mark Braithwaite, Cleveland Police.

Thompson, who lives with his mother in Gooseport Road, has also been placed on the sex offenders' register for life and banned from the internet and any contact with children.About 241,000 child abuse images - which were still and moving images of varying degrees of extremity - were discovered in his possession.

Police said more than 130 suspects had been uncovered in the UK and more than 50 arrests have been made.

As a result, 15 children in the UK have been removed from situations where they were being abused or were accessible to an offender.

Police revealed the network was first infiltrated by Metropolitan Police officers, working undercover, in May 2007

It became the largest investigation of its kind in the UK, also involving Cleveland Police and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP).

Users of the forum would post borderline-legal images of children and pass comments on them.

Police said "indicative images" rather than explicit child sex abuse images were posted online in an attempt to keep the site "below the radar" and prevent it being shut down.

According to CEOP, which co-ordinates covert investigations into internet child sexual abuse, users would make contact this way then meet other like-minded individuals and exchange images in "different online environments".

Its chief executive Jim Gamble said: "This website - whilst appearing to operate on the margins of legality - was clearly a front for the sinister, sexual abuse of children and an image trading ground for paedophiles."

Det Chief Supt Mark Braithwaite, from Cleveland Police, said Thompson had been "a critical piece of this network".

"He was the librarian/warehouseman for a myriad of images that were distributed to like-minded individuals both in this country and elsewhere."

Description

A SERIAL paedophile who repeatedly groped a young boy has been locked up indefinitely after being branded a danger to the public.

Former football referee Michael Jalland, 54, has now been convicted three times of offences against boys he met in pool and snooker halls.

He will serve a minimum two years before a parole board will decide when he is safe to return to the community.

The former Bournemouth resident had admitted five specimen counts of indecent assault at a Southampton social club.

Members noticed how he was keen to play pool with the victim, getting close to the boy as he helped him play shots before touching him.

Jalland, living in Chamberlayne Road, Eastleigh, was convicted at Southampton Crown Court.

Paul Dugdale, prosecuting, said a woman who came into the premises saw Jalland and knew he had previous convictions.

That led to the boy's mother asking the victim if anything had happened and he admitted it had.

Jalland in interview accepted it had happened between 20 and 30 times.

Judge Derwin Hope said the probation report assessed Jalland as being a high risk of causing harm to children and sexual reconviction.

Jalland was first convicted at Bournemouth Crown Court in 1998 of indecently assaulting boys aged seven, eight and 11.

He offered one victim 50p to pacify him.

He was was jailed for 15 months, and thrown out of his job refereeing local games for Hampshire Football Association.

During the trial, police told the judge he was seen near playing fields and swimming pools.

He was also jailed for another two years for committing more offences while serving part of his sentence living in the community, in Southampton Street, Southamp-ton, in 2000.

He met an 11-year-old boy playing pool and indecently assaulted him after luring him into a public lavatory.

Jalland was arrested after the boy's mother recognised him from a Daily Echo court report.