TEACHER'S CHILD PORN SHAME

TWO teachers have been told they will never work with children again after they were caught with child porn downloaded from the internet.

The two were caught by police as part of Operation Ore, after the FBI handed over details of people who used credit cards to download child porn from an American internet site.
Martin Costello, 45, a teacher at Newlaithes Junior School, Horsforth, Leeds, was suspended last November pending the outcome of yesterday's case.
He has been ordered to sign the sex offenders' register and now faces the sack.
At Dewsbury Magistrates Court, Costello pleaded guilty to 20 charges of possessing indecent images of a child. Police searched his home in Highbury Road, Headingley, Leeds, seizing computer discs containing 166 indecent images of children under 16.
Prosecutor Stephen Gration said the images included pictures of young girls with an average age of between 10 and 13 years posing naked.
Costello was fined £600 and ordered to pay £60 prosecution costs. Magistrates also ordered the forfeiture of his computer.
Defence solicitor Frank Joyce said Costello, who had no previous convictions, had an unblemished 22-year teaching career – and blamed the crime on "curiosity".
Mr Joyce added: "There is much more serious stuff out there. He forgot about the images altogether and had not viewed them recently.
"In the next week or so he will be dismissed from his job and will be unemployed and on the sex offenders' register.
"This has been a terrifying experience for him."
Magistrates chairwoman Nan Chadwick said "Because you are a teacher these are considered extremely serious offences. We have taken into account your guilty plea."
Costello spoke only to confirm his name and address as he pleaded guilty.
Teacher Richard Briggs, 42, of Cliffe Terrace, Shipley, also pleaded guilty to 20 separate charges of possessing indecent images of a child.
Briggs, who has been suspended from duty, had 850 images of children in his possession.
His case has been referred to Leeds Crown Court for sentencing at a later date as the images he viewed were considered as being among the worst kind available on the internet. They included disturbing images of children being abused.
The court heard how Briggs, who is engaged to be married and has children of his own and step children, had previously worked with disabled children.
He was ordered to sign the sex offenders' register and is likely to face a jail sentence.
He was remanded on unconditional bail.
After the hearing, an Education Leeds spokeswoman said: "Decisions on the employment of school staff are made by the governing body of the school.
"Education Leeds will continue to offer advice, guidance and support to the governors and management team at Horsforth Newlaithes Primary School."
 

Man faces jail in sex abuse case

A WEALTHY businessman who abused a seven-year-old Farnworth girl in a game of 'doctors and nurses' is facing a lengthy jail sentence.

Mohammed Ramankhan, aged 27, coaxed the girl into his bedroom, put his hands under her clothes and pretended to examine her.

A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court, London, took six hours to find him guilty of one charge of indecent assault, by a majority verdict .

Judge Martyn Zeidman QC told him: "This is such a serious offence of sexual assault upon a vulnerable child that, despite your previous good character, a prision sentence is inevitable."

Ramankhan fled to his native Mauritius, an island off mainland Africa, when the allegations emerged. Interpol were contacted and he became the first Mauritian ever to be extradited.

During the trial Ramankhan tried to claim the allegations were a bid to blackmail his father, who imports motor vehicles to Mauritius.

A cousin of the young victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said: "I am delighted with the verdict and while I am happy justice has been done and the truth has come out, it is still very sad for me and my family." Detective Inspector Seewoosug Kur, head of the Mauritius Central Criminal Investigation Department, flew to London to sit through the trial.

He said: "This case was overseen by our Prime Minister and generated a great deal of interest in the media. It's had a dreadful impact on the community of Mauritius."

Ramankhan, of Winchester Road, Lower Edmonton, was remanded in custody until April 7 for pre-sentence reports.
 

Policeman jailed for sex attacks on scouts

Mark Bailey: peformed sex attacks on scouts in his care
A Barnet policeman has been jailed for ten years today (Friday, February 14) after being found guilty of a series of sex attacks on scouts in his care.

Mark Bailey, 41, a community beat officer in Mill Hill for 23 years, was sentenced at St Albans Crown Court after being found guilty of three counts of indecent assault and two offences of buggery on scouts from the group in Holders Hill Road, Mill Hill.

Passing sentence, Judge Colin Colston told him that, behind his exterior, there was another man' who had used his position to commit the offences.

"You have not shown a shred of contrition not a shred of remorse for what you have done," he told Bailey.

"The breach of trust was of the gravest kind. You were both a scout leader and a police officer and you were trusted by the boy and his parents.

"You have brought real shame on the scouting movement. Similarly you bring shame on the uniform you wear as a police officer."

The court heard how Bailey assaulted boys on camp, at the scout clubhouse in Mill Hill and at his home in Watford. The adolescent boys were too frightened to tell their families what was going on, fearing no-one would believe them.

Bailey would target the most promising scouts so as to be able to spend time alone with them while they prepared for their next badge.

He would ply them with alcohol, show them pornographic magazines and videos and encourage them to play sex games and dares and carry out naked massages.

One former scout, now aged 23, told the court how he would wake up after having passed out drunk to find Bailey indecently assaulting him using bottles and even offering his truncheon for use as a sex aid.

He carried on offending throughout the 1990s until another former scout, now 22, finally told his parents last year what he had been through. Bailey was arrested on February 5 last year.

In a statement, the Scout Association said: "The impact on victims and their families is painful and traumatic and can never be overestimated. The Scout movement is very aware of this and apologises that this suffering has arisen through membership of the movement".

A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman disciplinary proceedings would be initiated against Bailey.

His name will also be added to the sex offenders' register for an indefinite period.
 

Pervert GP has sentence reduced on appeal

Healy: had his sentence reduced by four years
Jailed paedophile doctor Timothy Healy has had his 12-year sentence reduced to eight years on appeal.

Healy was jailed at Southwark Crown Court last September after admitting drugging and sexually assaulting young boys at his surgery in Southern Road, East Finchley.

But at the Appeal Court on Tuesday, Healy's lawyer Jim Sturman successfully argued that because there had been no penetration or oral sex in Healy's attacks, they were at the lower end of the categories of indecent assault.

"This was a serious offence but it's nowhere near a double-digit offence," he said.

Reducing the sentence to eight years, Judge Elias said: "These were distressing offences and the sentencing judge had an undoubtedly extremely difficult sentencing exercise, calling the offences outrageous and despicable."

At Southwark Crown Court last September, Healy admitted 15 counts of indecent assault on a male, six counts of administering stupefying drugs with intent to assault, four counts of taking indecent photographs and another four counts of possessing them. Twelve further offences were left on file after he denied them.
 

MY KIDS AT MERCY OF SEX BEAST

A HORRIFIED father today revealed how his four children were living in the shadow of a dangerous paedophile.
Leeds dad Michael – whose name has been changed to protect the identity of his young children – told how his sons and daughters were put at risk after his ex-wife started a relationship with a man who has convictions for sex offences against young boys.
Michael's ex-wife even had a child by her paedophile lover – and so concerned were social services that a social worker was present at the birth.
Now social services chiefs have put all five children on the 'at risk' register and have told their mum if her sex-offender boyfriend comes anywhere near her or the youngsters they will act.
Today Michael, who complained that Leeds' social services failed to react quickly enough to his fears, said: "My concern is my children, of which my ex-wife has custody.
"Allowing this man near my children is like putting a fox into a chicken house and asking the fox not to eat the chickens.
"I am concerned that this man clearly has the potential to abuse my children. "It beggers belief that a mother would put her children in that situation – knowing his background.
"We all have a legal and moral responsibility to look after the welfare of our children. My advice to my ex is get rid and keep well clear of this man."
The YEP can reveal that the paedophile, who is on the sex offenders' register, served more than four years in jail for committing sex offences against young boys. He struck up a relationship with the Leeds mother-of-four, whose marriage had ended, shortly after he left prison.
Confirm
The mother subsequently gave birth to their baby son last year.
While the sex-offender was living at a separate address and not in the family home, social services were so concerned they put all five children on the "At Risk" register.
Mr Keith Murray, Director of Leeds Social Services, told the YEP: "I can confirm that Leeds Social Services are aware of the details of this case.
"We have invoked all the appropriate child protection procedures and accept without reservation that children should not be in contact with Schedule One offenders."
"We and other agencies are monitoring the situation closely. If there is evidence to suggest contact is taking place, we will take whatever action is necessary."
Michael's ex-wife became angry when approached by the YEP.
At her home in a Leeds suburb, she said she knew the father of her newly-born baby was on the Sex Offenders Register from the outset but added: "I go on gut instinct."
She added that she was no longer seeing the baby's father, even though her ex-husband claimed she was.
 

Nab rabbi in kiddie sex sting

Israel Kestenbaum A city rabbi was busted after he tried to arrange a sexual encounter with a 13-year-old girl over the Internet, police said yesterday.

Rabbi Israel Kestenbaum, 54, director of the Jewish Center for Spiritual Care at the New York Board of Rabbis, was arrested in his Manhattan office yesterday after a month-long sting operation, cops said.

Kestenbaum, of Highland Park, N.J., allegedly initiated an online chat with a city detective posing as a teenage girl early last month and eventually arranged to meet the "girl" in a Manhattan coffee shop, police said.

Detectives from the NYPD Computer Investigation and Technology Unit set up surveillance at the Starbucks on Dey St. in the Financial District, where Kestenbaum turned up Sunday afternoon expecting to meet the child, police said. He eventually left when she did not appear.

Kestenbaum was picked up at his office on E. 39th St. at 1 p.m. yesterday and questioned at the 17th Precinct stationhouse.

The rabbi, who allegedly engaged the cops in at least a dozen raunchy computer chat sessions, was charged with multiple counts of attempted endangerment of a child and attempted dissemination of indecent material to a minor, police said.

He was being held overnight and is expected to be arraigned today. Cops seized computers from his home and office.

The New York Board of Rabbis Web site states that its chaplains "serve men, women and children in scores of institutions throughout New York State" and offer "solace, comfort, compassion - and a taste of love" to Jews who cannot celebrate festivals with their families.

The Board of Rabbis could not be reached for comment last night.
 

Man kept hoard of child-sex porn in room of daughter

A MAN was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders' Register yesterday after being caught with computer equipment containing thousands of indecent images of children.

Christopher Jones, 38, of Bracken Edge, Bradford, was found to have between 8,000 and 10,000 images on his computer, Dewsbury magistrates were told.
Some were pictures of children in indecent positions, while others were film clips showing girls, in one case as young as two, being sexually abused.
Jones's details came to light when US authorities alerted the National Crime Squad about subscribers in the UK who had used credit cards to download images from an American website.
The information was passed to local police who executed a search warrant and found the computer equipment and in turn the images, the court heard.
Yesterday Jones pleaded guilty to 20 charges of being in possession of indecent images of children in November last year.
He was committed to Leeds Crown Court for sentencing.
Sixteen of the charges relate to video clips which show footage of girls some aged under five and others up to 12 being abused. Three charges involve pictures involving the abuse of girls aged between two and five, and the final charge relates to a Polaroid image.
After hearing details of each charge, chairman of the bench Norman Brown said: "We consider this particular case far too serious for this court to deal with and therefore it will be dealt with by the Crown Court."
Jones was given unconditional bail but was told he must register as a sex offender within the next three days.
Earlier magistrates heard how Jones had an 11-year-old daughter and that some of the material was kept in the room where she slept.
Prosecutor Stephen Gration said: "She had access and use of a computer, although there is no evidence that she had access to this material."
Jones is the 11th person to go before the courts in West Yorkshire in connection with Operation Ore, the codename for the UK operation to track down the Internet porn subscribers.
Meanwhile, a 58-year-old man from Ackworth, near Pontefract, also appeared before Dewsbury magistrates yesterday in connection with investigation.
Brian Berry, of Denton Gardens, faces 20 charges of being in possession of indecent photographs and images of children on January 15 this year.
Magistrates were told that Berry was a man of previous good character and that the case would affect both his personal and professional life.
His case was adjourned for four weeks.
 

Paedophile with child star obsession jailed

A paedophile who was obsessed with former child star Jenny Agutter was sentenced to two years for a string of offences over a 20-year period culminating in the indecent assault of a young girl.

Julian Carr, 41, hoarded hundreds of items of youngsters' underwear and photos he had stolen from families with whom he had stayed while touring as an actor at children's theatres.

He also collected more than 50,000 pornographic images on his computer, thousands of which he took secretly up the skirts of unsuspecting women he had targeted with a mirror and digital camera.

Carr, who wrote about his fantasies of child rape and murder, was arrested after he indecently assaulted a nine-year-old girl on a Tube escalator.

Today was sentenced at Kingston Crown Court to two years after admitting eight charges, the majority centring on abuse of the internet.

Speaking outside court, DCI Steve Putman said: "We believe his offending was increasing and that it would have become more serious had he not been caught."

The court heard that Carr, of Raynes Park, was "obsessed" with Jenny Agutter, now 50, who first starred in the TV version of The Railway Children in 1967. He collected images of her and set up a website to display them.
 

Paedophile jailed for two years

An amateur actor from London who pursued an "obsessive fetish" with schoolgirls, women's underwear and explicit images of young children has been jailed for two years and nine months after two decades of deviant sexual behaviour.

Julian Carr, 41, of Richmond Road, Raynes Park, used a digital camera and hand-held mirror to take more than 12,000 photographs up the skirts of unsuspecting women and young girls he stalked around the streets during a 20-year period from 1980 until his arrest.

Carr, a member of a Christian amateur theatre group based near his home in south-west London, stole underwear, school uniforms and family photographs from friends he stayed with while on tour with the group.
 

Man, 59, sexually abused girl, 7

A MIDDLE-aged man who sexually abused a little girl and downloaded sadistic child porn from the internet was today facing a 'substantial' jail term.

Burnley Crown Court heard how ex-soldier David Taylor, 59, also got the seven-year-old to pose for him, took explicit shots of her with his digital camera and uploaded them on to a website.

Judge Barbara Watson, who was told the victim had had to have psychiatric treatment, adjourned sentence until today as she wanted more information about the effects of the defendant's behaviour on the girl.

Taylor, of Portree Crescent, Blackburn, admitted distributing indecent photos, possessing and taking indecent photos and three charges of indecent assault. He was remanded in custody and disqualified from working with children.

John Maxwell, defending, said Taylor knew he faced a substantial prison sentence. He could not offer any explanation for his behaviour and expressed remorse.

Taylor had pleaded guilty. Such offences were difficult for anybody to bring themselves to admit and the defendant had had the courage to do so. He was thoroughly ashamed of himself and found it difficult to come to terms with what he had done.

He knew he had caused damage to the little girl as well as hurt to her family and he was worried about how long it may take her to recover -- if she ever did.

Mr Maxwell said Taylor suffered considerably from ill health, had been forced to leave the Army and was in receipt of a war pension.

It would be his first time in jail and, at the very least, it would be difficult for him. He faced a hard time ahead.

The barrister added the only person standing by Taylor at the present time was his mother.
 

Credit card perverts on sex register

THREE internet perverts who used credit cards to pay for child porn have been ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register.

David Green, Andrew Dalzell and Craig Wilmore appeared before Dewsbury magistrates, all admitting possessing indecent images of children under 16.
Green, 45, of Beech Grove, Kinsley, Pontefract, admitted 20 charges of possessing indecent photographs of a child on his home computer. His home was raided on December 2 when police found 580 indecent images of children, which were categorised at the most serious level.
Magistrates referred him to Leeds Crown Court for sentencing and told him he faced a jail sentence. He was bailed.
The court heard Green, who was previously convicted of indecent exposure in June 2000 at Pontefract, had used a credit card to access websites including the US-based Landslide site.
Dalzell, 26, of Regina Crescent, Havercroft, Wakefield admitted 14 charges of possessing indecent images of children.
His home was raided by police in December and police found 220 indecent images of children.
He was fined £600 and ordered to pay £40 costs. He was also told to sign the sex offenders' register for a period of five years.
Wilmore, 27, of Wallingford Mount, Allerton, Bradford, admitted 20 charges of possessing indecent photographs of a child. He was told his case would be dealt with at Leeds Crown Court because of the serious level of what he had paid to view.
Police found 575 indecent images of children on a computer at his home.
He was ordered to sign the sex offenders register.
West Yorkshire Police have arrested 51 people as part of the nationwide Operation Ore investigation into internet child porn. So far 13 people have been charged and six cautioned.
 

Shock as priest admits to child porn offences

A FORMER Mid-Anglia parish priest has admitted downloading pornographic images of children.

Father Neil Crayden, 47, was Roman Catholic priest at the St Felix parish in Haverhill for about 15 months from January 2001 and worked closely with the St Felix Roman Catholic Primary School.

He previously worked at Brandon and at a Cambridge parish. He left Haverhill due to ill health, but had stayed in contact with members of the town's church.

One shocked church member, who asked not to be named, said she could not believe that Father Crayden could have been involved in porn.

"I just cannot believe it, he is the last person I would expect to be involved in anything like that," the parishioner said.

"He was a lovely man, we knew him quite well and he has been back for visits since. He was very well thought of at the church, there were people in tears when he left."

Before magistrates in Exeter, Crayden admitted downloading images of adults having sex with young boys.

The court was told he is still ordained in the church despite having a previous court conviction and a police caution.

Detectives raided his home on December 30 and found six child sex pictures. The priest was caught by Operation Ore which is targeting paedophiles who have used credit cards to access child abuse images from the Texas-based Landslide Productions website.

He did not own a computer but police found the six pictures on a floppy disk.

Crayden, who is now living at Marine Parade, Twywn, Mid Wales, admitted receiving child pornography from Landslide Productions in 1999 and six charges of possessing indecent images of children.

Magistrates adjourned the case for pre-sentence reports.

Rev John Warrington, spokesman for the East Anglian diocese, said Crayden has been out of active ministry for the past 18 months.

Monsignor Tony Rogers, administrator of the Diocese of East Anglia, said: "Within the Church we are deeply saddened whenever a priest is found to have been involved in offences of child abuse.

"We are profoundly sorry that young lives have been damaged in all of this. We recognise that the knowledge of the charges brought against Neil Crayden will cause distress and concern to many people in this diocese where he exercised his ministry.

"From the outset of the inquiry Neil has co-operated fully with the police. I ask everyone to keep him in their prayers while we await the outcome of the case."
 

Guilty

A SEVENTY-year-old former builder has been convicted of sexually abusing young girls over a 30-year period.
 

The victims of paedophile Colin Knight spoke yesterday of their relief after the jury at Cambridge Crown Court passed its unanimous verdict on 18 counts of abuse involving four victims, stretching back to the 1970s.

Knight, of Hauxton Road, Little Shelford, stared straight ahead as the verdict was announced. His wife Thelma, who has stood by him throughout the case, broke down after hearing the news and was comforted by one of her sons.

Speaking outside the courtroom, one victim who gave evidence in the trial said: "When I heard the verdict it was unreal, I was overwhelmed. I am just really glad justice has been done today.

"He has had a terrible effect on my life and now we can all move on. It wasn't very nice reliving it in court but I knew I had to come and tell the truth."

Another victim broke down and cried when she heard the verdict and said later that now Knight had been found guilty Little Shelford was a safer place for children. She said: "The fact that I have had to come here, stand up in court and then hear the things he has said about me has really upset me.

"I knew that he would say not guilty because that is the sort of man he is.

"To the bitter end he still believes he hasn't done anything wrong; he is an arrogant man.

"There are a lot of children close to where he lives and we had to protect them, that's why we came forward."

One of the investigating officers in the case, Det Sgt Darryl Preston, paid tribute to the courage of the victims in coming forward to give evidence.

He said: "I always firmly believed that he was guilty. It is often very difficult for a jury to decide but I know they have made the right decision.

"His victims had to relive their experiences in a public court room and I believe that he took it the whole way because he hoped they would pull out and the case would collapse.

"It is quite possible he wanted to see his victims suffer once more."

Judge Jonathan Haworth adjourned the case until Wednesday, April 2, when Knight will be sentenced.

Shocking history of abuse on girls

COLIN Knight was responsible for a shocking history of paedophile activity that saw him entice his victims into his garden shed and drive them to secluded fields to abuse them.

Knight’s activities grew in severity as he became more and more confident and at one point he referred to himself as a “boyfriend” to one of his young victims.

He would give her money, cigarettes and alcopops while subjecting her to sustained abuse including full sex.

His victims, three of whom are now in the 30s and 40s, came forward to police last year and they searched his shed, finding a sex manual, packets of the impotence drug Viagra and a leaflet detailing the changes in young girls as they go through puberty.

In the case of one victim, who he abused between 1994 and 2000 starting when she was nine years old, he became violent and one of the charges related to an incident in which he punched her in the face.

Throughout the trial he maintained his innocence, saying his victims were forming a conspiracy against him.

While giving evidence, he described one as “fat and full of fleas” and another as “horrible, nasty and disruptive”.
 

Foster father convicted of sexual abuse
Court told of assaults at Donaghadee

A FOSTER father was today awaiting sentence after being convicted of sexually abusing two teenage girls with learning difficulties who were placed in his care.

James Gilpin Thompson (54) was found guilty of raping and indecently assaulting one teenager and indecently assaulting the other.

He abused them while they were on respite and foster care at his Greenbank Avenue home in Donaghadee between 1999 and 2001, when they were aged 16 and 17.

A jury yesterday returned unanimous guilty verdicts on two counts of rape and ten of indecent assault after a five-day trial at Downpatrick Crown Court.

However, they found Thompson not guilty of one further count of rape.

The defendant bowed his head in the dock as the jury of ten men and two women returned their verdicts after three hours of deliberation.

During the trial both his victims, who are both aged 19, had to face the ordeal of giving evidence in court.

One of them told the court how she was sent for holiday respite care with Thompson and his wife from the community centre she lived in.

She described how he told her to strip in her bedroom where he then removed his own clothes and indecently assaulted her.

She then went on to describe how Thompson eventually raped her on her bed despite the fact that she cried out in pain.

The teenager claimed Thompson had sexually abused her 'lots of times'.

At one point the victim broke down when counsel suggested that her claims were untrue.

The second victim described how she was indecently assaulted in both the kitchen and her bedroom.

She said the abuse had left her in 'shock' and described her ordeal as a 'nightmare'.

She also described how Thompson had talked to her about 'grown up things' like babies and being pregnant.

The court heard that Thompson preyed upon the girls when his wife was either out or in bed asleep.

The court heard that the offences came to light when one of the teenagers eventually made a complaint and Thompson was arrested.

The second girl later made allegations against him too despite efforts to stop her from doing so.

Trial Judge Mr Justice Girvan remanded Thompson in custody for sentencing on a date to be fixed.

He ordered that Thompson be placed on the sex offenders register.
 

Sex pest must stay indoors at home time

A 55-YEAR-OLD man has been given a curfew order to keep him indoors when children come out of school after being found guilty of inciting two young girls to commit gross indecency.

James Henry Smith escaped a jail sentence for the sex offences which he committed last June.
He was put on a six-month curfew to keep him indoors at the end of the school day and placed on the sex offenders' register for five years.
Smith, of Gillsike House, Thornbury Road, was also ordered to pay his victims £50 each in compensation, complete 200 hours of community service and pay £350 costs.
The Wakefield man was convicted earlier this month after a day-long trial of two offences of inciting gross indecency.
Child witnesses had to give evidence by video link.
He was sentenced this week.
The prosecution withdrew a charge alleging that Smith had threat-ened one of the witnesses the day after the trial.
Jon Heath, defending, said Smith had no previous convictions and a curfew order would enable Smith to continue to look after his disabled wife.
Magistrate Barry Atkinson said: "These were two very serious offences.
"We are dealing with two offences of inciting two children to commit an act of gross indecency and the guidelines for this sentence suggest custody we have waived that option."
Smith was put on the sex offenders' register for five years. His curfew order will run from March until September.
Mr Atkinson said: "The curfew order will be for six months from 2pm to 6pm this coincides with schoolchildren leaving."
A Home Office spokeswoman said: "Protecting the public from dangerous offenders is of the highest priority to the Government and Sex Offender Orders are one of a number of measures that have been introduced to help manage the risks posed by sex offenders.
"The orders can prohibit offenders from doing certain things which indicate they might be repeating a pattern of behaviour which previously led to sexual offending, such as going to children's playgrounds."
 

Music teacher jailed for sex assaults

Kitchen was jailed for eight years

A music teacher who admitted sexually assaulting children while they were drugged has been jailed for eight years.
Geoffrey Kitchen, of Scalby Way, Scarborough, pleaded guilty at York Crown Court to a range of assaults on boys aged between nine and 15.

Kitchen, 48, whipped, beat and blindfolded many of his victims.

Judge Paul Hoffman described the case as one of the most depraved he had ever come across.

The assaults began in 1986 and ended in 2002 when Kitchen was arrested.

'Sadomasochistic nature'

On one occasion he handcuffed a boy and tied him with a cord to a bed.

He denied seven charges of drugging the children with intent to commit offences on them.

The prosecution accepted he had administered the drug amyl nitrate to heighten the boys' pleasure rather than to coerce them.

Andrew Murray, defending, said his client was full of remorse and begged for forgiveness.

In sentencing, the Recorder of York, Judge Hoffman, said Kitchen was a risk to the public.

He said: "The offences became a way of life for the boys.

"As I see it this case involved systematic sexual corruption by you of a sadomasochistic nature over a period of 16 years."
 

Mothers angry at sex offender's sentence

TWO angry mothers have criticised a sentence imposed on a persistent sex offender, saying he has ruined their daughters' lives by exposing himself in front of them.
 

The two women watched from the public gallery at Bury St Edmunds Crown Court yesterday as Nathan Frost was sentenced to a three-year community rehabilitation order, on condition that he attends a sex offenders' programme.

At an earlier hearing Frost, 28, of Great Eastern Street, Cambridge, admitted an offence of outraging public decency last August.

The court was told that Frost exposed himself and talked about a sex act to the girls, aged 11 and nine, as they were making mud pies on a playing field in Haverhill.

He had repeated convictions for indecent exposure going back to 1995 and had been made the subject of a community rehabilitation order just six weeks before the Haverhill incident for a similar offence.

Outside the court the two mothers said they felt the sentence was an insult and that Frost should have been jailed.

"I think it is absolutely disgusting, the system stinks," one of the mothers said.

"Our girls are still suffering. They won't go out on their own and they won't even sit next to a man.

"He pleaded not guilty until the day of the trial, so they were both sitting there waiting to give evidence and had earlier picked him out of an identity parade. They were really scared."

Frost's employer, who asked not to be identified, has stood by him and is providing him with a job and accommodation.

He felt the sentence would help Frost to overcome his problem.

"He has a serious problem, but he is a hard worker and I believe someone with great potential. He has let society down by his actions, but society has also let him down by not providing him with the professional help he needed before now," the employer said.

In court, Judge Nicholas Beddard told Frost his behaviour was extremely damaging to young children.

He took into account that Frost had spent the past six months in custody and said he would almost certainly return to prison if he did not comply with the order.

"My concern is to bring an end to this sort of behaviour and protect young children," the judge said.

Constance Briscoe, representing Frost, said 19 young girls or women had been victims of his offending behaviour, yet he had never received any professional treatment.

Other orders and imprisonment had failed, as he simply could not stop exposing himself when he was under stress.
 

Police probe teacher resigns

A SENIOR teacher at a Rossendale high school has resigned following the launch of a police investigation into his personal life.

Mr Trevor Mann, a geography teacher at Fearns High School, Fearns Moss, Bacup, and a school governor, resigned last week after being questioned at the school by officers.

He was not arrested. Greater Manchester Police are aware of the inquiry, which is being conducted by Lancashire Police.

Mr Mann, who lives in Bacup, has been a prominent member of staff at the school after teaching for more than 20 years.

He was not at his home today and was unavailable to comment.

Mark Smallwood, headteacher at Fearns Community High School, said: "We can confirm that a teacher has resigned from his position at the school due to personal reasons.

"We held a meeting last week with the teacher, who then decided to hand in his resignation.

"The message is that parents can be reassured that the welfare and safety of the pupils has not been compromised at any time. A replacement teacher is now working at the school."

Sgt Danny Trelawny, head of problem orientated policing for Rossendale, today confirmed: "There is an investigation on-going at the moment but I am not able to comment further."

Bacup councillor Jimmy Eaton said: "I wouldn't like to make a comment about what I think of the situation because it's a personal issue that is being handled by the police."
 

Ex-police trainee in court over child porn

A FORMER probationary officer with West Yorkshire Police appeared in court yesterday charged in connection with Operation Ore.
Simon Dagger, of Love Lane, Pontefract, pleaded guilty to five counts of possessing an indecent photograph of a child.
He appeared at Leeds Crown Court before Judge Norman Jones QC, the Recorder of Leeds, who agreed to a defence request that sentencing be adjourned to allow for a psychological report to be drawn up.
Dagger spoke only to con- firm his name and enter his pleas.
He is to return to the court next month to be sentenced.
Dagger had worked as a probationary police officer in Wakefield but has since left the force.
He was arrested in November last year as part of Operation Ore, a worldwide investigation into Internet child abuse.
The investigation began when US authorities alerted the National Crime Squad about subscribers in the UK who had used credit cards to download images from an American website.
The information was then passed to local police to investigate.
So far in West Yorkshire, there have been 58 arrests, 17 people charged and six cautioned in connection with Operation Ore.
Last night a West Yorkshire Police spokeswoman said: "One of those arrested as part of this operation, a 34-year-old man, was a probationary West Yorkshire Police officer.
"He has since left the force. He was based in the Wakefield district division."
 

CREDIT CARD CREEP

A HUSBAND used his wife's credit card to pay for a sickening collection of internet child porn.

David A. S. Collins, 51, 69 Thornhill Street, Calverley, Leeds LS28 5PR, admitted 20 charges of possessing indecent photographs of a child.

Dewsbury Magistrates were told yesterday how police found more than 4,000 indecent images of children stored on his computer.

Prosecutor Zafar Siddique told the court police raided Collins's home at 7am on December 11 last year. The FBI had passed on details to British police of credit card holders who had accessed the Landslide child porn site in the US. Sentencing Collins's hoard included clips of naked children as young as four being abused. Some of them were showing signs of distress.

Mr Siddique said: "He had used his wife's credit card to enter the site to view indecent images of children." Collins offered no defence.

The chairman of the Bench, Norman Brown said: "After viewing the images we consider that magistrates' powers are insufficient to deal with this matter, which will be adjourned for sentencing at crown court." Magistrates have powers to hand out sentences up to 12 months.

Collins was bailed until he is sentenced on condition that he has no contact with children under 16. He was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register. In a separate case, a 58-year-old man denied 20 charges of possessing indecent photographs of a child.

Brian Berry, of Denton Gardens, Ackworth, Pontefract, spoke only to confirm his name and address and to enter a plea of not guilty.

His solicitor, John Wilkinson, said they needed time to obtain a specialist report from a computer expert and they wanted to view all the documentation held by the prosecution.

It was agreed that Berry would be tried at Dewsbury Magistrates Court in seven weeks' time. He was placed on unconditional bail until May 16.
 

Canon guilty of abusing boys

Davies abused the boys in his vicarage and on trips

A south Wales clergyman sexually abused two boys entrusted to his care, a jury has found.
Church in Wales cleric, Canon Lawrence Davies - the most senior vicar in Cardiff - turned his parish in St Paul's Church in Grangetown into a trap for the victims whose faith left them in awe of his power.
His lust for boys as young as 12 went unchallenged for 25 years until one of his targets, who had to undergo counselling to cope with his trauma, finally plucked up the courage to go to the police.
And Davies, 62, continued to deny the charges throughout his trial at Cardiff Crown Court, where jurors found him guilty of all 12 charges of sexual assault and serious sex assault.
He was also cleared of one charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice.
The cleric, who had earlier been cleared of another charge on the instructions of the judge, is expected to be sentenced on Friday. He has been remanded in custody.

The trial was heard at Cardiff Crown CourtShortly after the guilty verdict, the Bishop of Llandaff, the Right Reverend Dr Barry Morgan expressed profound sorrow for the suffering of the victims.
"This is an awful case of abuse over a long period of time," he said.
"All I can say on behalf of the church to these young men is I am terribly sorry.
He added that more stringent child policy protection procedures were now in place within the church, and that Davies would no longer be able to serve as a priest anywhere in the Anglican Church.
However, Right Reverend Morgan also said an internal tribunal would decide whether to defrock him.
"As far as I am concerned, because of the nature of the crime he has committed, he will not be allowed to function ever again," he said.
Meanwhile, a St John Ambulance official has confirmed that Davies was suspended from his role as a Chaplain of the Order of St John on 22 October last year.
'Psychologically controlled'
The trial heard the abuse began after Davies was appointed to his vicar post in the early 1970s.
His two victims, one of whom was just 12 when he was first abused, went on to become vicars in the Anglican church.
Davies, who admitting watching porn videos, also admitted lying to police about having a girlfriend.
He said he had made up a story because he feared the police would think he was a homosexual.
Earlier in the trial, he was cleared - on the instruction of Judge Christopher Llewellyn-Jones QC - of one charge of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy.
 

Soham cop jailed over child porn

A former policeman who worked on the investigation into the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman was jailed for six months today after admitting child pornography offences.

Anthony Goodridge, 34, of Ely, Cambridgeshire, was sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court after admitting possessing more than 300 indecent images of young girls.

Goodridge, an exhibit officer during the investigation into Holly and Jessica's murders in Soham, was dismissed by Cambridgeshire police this month.

Judge John Devaux said he had no alternative but to impose a custodial sentence. The judge said Goodridge would be released on licence after serving half of the sixmonth term.

Goodridge was a constable for more than eight years before being dismissed. Detective Chief Inspector John Birch, the senior investigating officer in the Goodridge case, said outside court: "The police are quite satisfied with the outcome of this."

Mr Birch, of West Midlands-Police, added: "The police take this type of offence very seriously and we want to send out a message that nobody is above the law.

"This is not, as some people might think, a victimless offence. There are young children that have been abused in order to produce these photographs."

West Midlands police were asked by the Police Complaints Authority to investigate the allegations against Goodridge .

The authority had wanted a force unconnected with the Soham inquiry to carry out the investigation.
 

Couple's dark secret of sex abuse

Sicko couple: The Akid's attend court
  AN ELDERLY couple who were hounded out of their home after their "dark secret" of child sex abuse was revealed have been locked up by a judge.
 Anthony Akid (56) was jailed for a total of four-and-a-half years and his 66-year-old ex-wife Margaret Akid for 12 months for indecency charges involving two girls dating back 30 years.
Former miner Anthony Akid paid at least one of the girls 10p or 20p for sex acts, Sheffield Crown Court heard.
The divorced pair—who had been living together as friends at their house in East Dene—were forced to flee to a secret address by vigilantes after photographs of them appeared in newspaper reports, the court was told.
Judge Alan Goldsack said that the courts could not condone people taking the law into their own hands but had to take account of how abhorrent such offending made them feel.
The offences—described by one defence barrister as a "dark and grotesque secret"—came to light in April last year.
Both pleaded guilty to two offences of gross indecency with girls aged 11 to 14 between 1971 and 1977.
Anthony Akid—said to be the prime mover—admitted a further ten charges of indecent assault and indecency with a child—including taking indecent photographs and simulated sex.
The prosecution alleged that offending started when the girls—now mature women—were aged ten, but Anthony Akid said it was from the age of 13.   
 

'Hell on earth' at hands of pervert
A WOMAN whose daughter was sexually abused by a trusted family friend has told of the "hell on earth" the family went through when his crimes came to light.

The woman, who cannot be named to protect her daughter's identity, had known Joseph Rodney Daniels most of her life and often allowed him and his wife to babysit her two daughters.
But unbeknown to her, Daniels, a registered foster carer who regularly had young people at his home, had been assaulting her eldest child from the age of just eight.
Daniels, 58, was last week jailed at Bradford Crown Court, after he was found guilty of a string of indecent assaults at an earlier trial.
As the sentences will run concurrently and the longest was 42 months, he could be released from jail in 21 months' time.
Daniels, of Highfield Crescent, Meltham, had been due to stand trial for indecently assaulting a second girl some 10 years previously, but Judge Roger Scott ruled it was not in the public interest to go ahead with the trial as Daniels's sentence would be unaffected.
The judge ordered Daniels to be named on the sex offenders' register for life and banned him from working with children again.
Daniels admitted two counts of indecently assaulting the girl, who was aged between eight and 11 at the time, but denied four charges of indecent assault and two of indecency with a child dating back to 1990.
His crimes only came to light when the girl broke down and told her mother of her experiences more than seven years later.
Her mother said: "By the way she described to me what had happened I knew instantly that she was telling the truth.
"I knew that as a quiet, trustworthy child, she had the right personality for her to be selected by an abuser.
"When I told a close friend what had happened, she told me of another girl who was 10 years older than my daughter and had always claimed that Rodney had abused her.
"I gave the girl's name to the police and when they approached her she also agreed to press charges. The next 18 months were hell on earth, with visits from the police to make statements, visits to court, and Rodney's family telling people that we were lying."
At the trial last November, the woman, now 20 and in a relationship with another woman, fought back tears as she told Leeds Crown Court how Daniels would come into her bedroom during the night and touch her indecently.
She recalled an occasion when she was aged about eight when Daniels called her upstairs after he had had a bath and she found him in the bedroom completely naked.
"He sat me on the bed and pulled down my knickers and touched me," she told the court.
The woman said Daniels assaulted her in this way "several times" – in his house, his greenhouse and his garden shed.
"He used to sit me on his knee while he was playing the organ and lifted my skirt and touched me. He used to put my hand in or on his trousers and make me touch him. I knew it was wrong and I didn't like it.
"If I created and was really adamant, he would stop and say he was sorry."
She said the abuse only came to an end when she refused to go to see him and told her parents she thought it was boring.
Giving evidence at Daniels's trial, the victim's mother said that when she told Daniels that her daughter was gay and dating another woman several years later, he replied: "Oh, the poor girl, something awful must have happened to make her like that.
"Send her up to me and I'll show her a good time and show her what real men are like."
Speaking after the sentencing, she said it was impossible to put into words how she felt about Daniels now.
"At the moment I am still going through the angry stage.
"I just cannot believe that I put my trust in somebody like him."
 

BANNED
THE Catholic Church has blacklisted a 30-year-old Barrow child pornography user from teaching in any of its schools.
Former Holy Family Primary School teacher Jamie Drummond was spared a prison sentence when he appeared before Preston Crown Court for accessing child porn sites.
Instead he received a community rehabilitation order, which means he is not legally barred from working with children.
The Roman Catholic diocese in Cumbria has reacted strongly to the case by banning Drummond.
Communications officer Father Denis Blackledge said the disgraced teacher would be placed on the church's national child protection database, the Catholic Office for the Protection of Children and Vulnerable Adults.
He said: "The Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales views child protection issues with the utmost seriousness, whether in the real or virtual world.
"At least one child a week dies as a result of abuse. Children on the internet are not virtual children, they are real children.
"The diocese will ensure that Jamie Drummond will not teach in any of its schools ever again."
NSPCC South Cumbria manager Pat Palmer said the development of internet pornography sites was causing grave concern.
She said: "It is a relatively new problem and an extremely serious one. It is real children being abused to produce the images.
"People who access the sites to view the images are complicit in the abuse of children."
The governors of Holy Family School, Barrow, say they are informing the secretary of state for education about the outcome of the case so any schools he applies for a job with will know his criminal record.
Cumbria County Council spokesman Brian Hough said the council would also inform the secretary of state for education about Drummond being on the Sex Offenders' Register.
He said: "Normally if anyone went for a teaching job this sort of information would come to light when they did checks.
"But we can't stop him from being taken on as a teacher or working with children. That is something that would be up to the individual school or group.
"They would have to make the checks then it would still be their decision if they wanted to employ him or not."
Cumbria police spokes-man Mike Head said although Drummond will be taken off the Sex Offenders' register in five years there are safeguards in place to make sure he has no access to children.
He said: "He will be monitored for five years while on the register and if there are any concerns raised after that time we can apply to have a sex offenders order put in place.
"This would mean a person is monitored.