Community 'hero' jailed for sex attacks

Above: Lane won an award for his Neighbourhood Watch group

A Neighbourhood Watch leader honoured for his work by the Home Secretary has been jailed for 13 years after being convicted of sexually attacking four women.
Tony Lane, 56, a former army lance corporal from Newport, south Wales, was found guilty at the city's crown court of 12 offences against women.

You have sat there in the dock quite unmoved by the evidence as it has been given

Judge Llewellyn-Jones

They included two charges of rape, one attempted rape, four indecent assaults and causing and encouraging prostitution.

He was also convicted of indecency with a child, abducting a teenage girl, and two counts of actual bodily harm.

Lane had told the court how he had been presented with a gold medal by then Home Secretary Jack Straw for winning the best Neighbourhood Watch scheme award.

He had denied all the charges against him.

But the jury found him guilty of 12 charges after deliberating for six-and-a-half hours.
 

The trial was heard at Newport Crown Court

They cleared him of a further nine offences.

Sentencing, Judge Llewellyn-Jones said he took into account Lane's previous contribution to society and his army service.

However he told him: "No person who has listened to the evidence in this case can but have been affected by the accounts of violence and perverted sexual behaviour that you inflicted upon four women over many years.

"The only person who it appears has not been totally moved is you.

"You have sat there in the dock quite unmoved by the evidence as it has been given."

He ordered Lane to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life and banned him from working with children.

Tools

The former soldier had set up a Neighbourhood Watch scheme in the Newport suburb of Gaer in 1994 after tools were stolen from his car.

Within a few weeks, petty crime and vandalism on the estate had fallen by 90%.

But at the same time, he was carrying out the attacks on women and girls.

He had claimed he was "set up" by the women, whom he said had conspired against him.
 

Life sentence for paedophile means life this time - says judge

A PAEDOPHILE, from Ellington was jailed for life yesterday - for the second time.

The judge, Andrew Patience QC, said it was "inconceivable" that the man and his co-accused would ever been freed. They had previous sentences going back 40 years.

The two, aged 60, and 61, were jailed for the rapes of two boys aged seven and nine, one boy from Cambridgeshire, the other from Kent.

The mother of the Cambridgeshire boy said she was pleased with the sentence but shocked when she found out Hogg had received a previous life sentence.

She said: "This time life should mean life, otherwise what is the point? It was known in 1960 that Hogg had a mental illness and was tampering with children so why was he ever let back on the streets? He was obviously a danger to children."

Brian Hogg, 60 from St Peter's Way, Ellington has offences going back to 1957. He was jailed for life in 1987 but the Appeal Court reduced the sentence to 10 years.

At Maidstone Crown Court this week, Hogg and Wing were sentenced for rapes and indecent assaults happening over two years in Huntingdon and in Kent.

The mother of the Cambridgeshire boy, now aged about eight, described how Hogg had spent years befriending the whole family in order to gain access to the child.

She said: "My son was never alone in the house with Hogg. We all travelled down to Kent. The only time they were alone was in the computer room. That is why I was so horrified when the police turned up on my doorstep and told me what was going on."

She said: "I went through every emotion, it was a mixture of horror and disbelief."

She said: "Hogg met my husband's father when they were both walking their dogs round Grafham Water. They started taking photographs of the dogs and then it moved on to taking photographs of the grandchildren. When my son's grandfather died, Hogg stepped into the grandfather role. He was such a kind gentlemen, you don't imagine they could ever do something like that, especially being elderly."

She said she wanted people to know that abuse happened everywhere. "It's not just in isolated places. You think it doesn't happen where you live but it does."

Hogg's co-accused, Jeremy Wing pleaded guilty to two charges of rape, 12 of indecency with a child and four of making indecent pictures of children.

Hogg was found guilty of three charges of rape, one of indecency with a child and one of assault. He admitted five other charges of indecent assault and three of indecency with a child.

Wing and Hogg met in Maidstone Prison and shared their victims.

The abuse was discovered after a retired police officer who had dealings with Wing saw him in the company of children and was worried.

He told the police and on August 9 last year, Wing's home, Skeetwell in Orpington, was raided. Officers found sweets, computer games, go-karts and tree-houses. A search revealed hidden video cameras and more than 45 films, mainly showing abuse of the boys.

A detective sergeant was watching one of the films at the house when a father arrived with his son. The officer realised he had just seen the same boy being abused on the film.

Judge Patience told Wing and Hogg: "Abused children never forget what has happened to them. In that sense, each of them has a life sentence."

The judge imposed life for the rapes and seven years concurrent for the other offences.
 

Scottish teacher held in child pornography raids

A TEACHER from the west of Scotland has been charged with possessing child pornography following a police raid on 60 homes.
The arrest was made last week as part of Operation Ore, the biggest crackdown ever made on child pornography in Britain. The homes of teachers and social workers, all of whom live or work with children, were also raided. At least 100 people have been arrested in England.

They are among an estimated 75,000 people worldwide who allegedly used their credit cards to pay for access to a website run by a company in Texas that offered pay-as-you-go pictures of children. The Sunday Times has learnt that official figures show there are 350 people on the Operation Ore list in Scotland. All but two of them are professionals.

Last week’s raids followed months of research and planning. Police categorised the 350 suspects into different priorities. The most serious category — those who work with or live with children — were visited last week.

This group is made up of teachers, social workers, baby-sitters and parents. A number of people on the high-priority list work with children on a voluntary basis.

Officers are also investigating whether the suspects have any involvement in child abuse. Studies in America show that four in 10 people who download child pornography progress to abusing youngsters.

More than 20 houses were raided in Strathclyde, a dozen in Edinburgh and 20 across the Highlands.

Before officers can make any further arrests all the computer files will have to be examined. The teacher has been released on bail but has not returned to the school. The school said he is on sickness leave but the council has refused to confirm whether he has been suspended.

The home of the Rev Keith Whitefield, who quit his post with the Scottish Episcopal Church three years ago, was also among the addresses searched. He has not been arrested or charged, but police removed computer equipment from his home in Edinburgh.

The Scottish Episcopal Church, where Whitefield used to work, issued a statement, saying: “Keith Whitefield resigned as rector of St Luke’s, Wester Hailes, in August 1999 over unrelated matters and he holds no position in the church at all.”

In a UK crackdown on child pornography last April 75 warrants were issued and at least 27 people arrested.

Computer equipment was seized from homes in Tayside, Aberdeenshire and the Highlands as part of Operation Magenta — which at that time was the biggest operation of its kind in Britain.

Bob Ovens, the Association of Chief Police Officers Scottish spokesman on child protection, said: “Ultimately the message is, don’t think you are causing no harm by looking at these pictures on the computer, — a child somewhere has been abused for you to be able to look at them.

“The priority for all the agencies in this operation is not only to gather proof but to protect the children.”

A police spokesman said: “Operation Ore is designed to arrest those people who access photographs and other images that depict the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.

“The Scottish forces have liaised with area procurators fiscal, children’s reporters, directors of social work and, importantly, the Crown Office and executive to provide a planned response to the issues raised. Further inquiries are ongoing and details of searches and any subsequent arrests will not be divulged at this time.”
 

ASYLUM SEEKER SENT TO JAIL FOR RAPE OF 15-YEAR-OLD GIRL

 An iraqi asylum seeker from Stoke-on-Trent has been jailed for four years after he pleaded guilty to raping a 15-year-old girl.

Ayub Ahmed Toufik, who lived in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, at the time of the attack, was on a work's night out when he forced himself on the girl, who was at the party because she was a friend of a relative of his boss.

They had travelled from Doncaster, where he was working, to Cleethorpes in a minibus for a night out.

Prosecuting, Noel Philo told Grimsby Crown Court how the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, suffered a nose bleed during a coughing fit brought on through smoking, while in a nightclub.

She was taken back to the vehicle by Toufik, who was trusted to escort her by others in the party.

Once inside the minibus, he pulled her clothes down and raped her as she cried.

Jailing Toufik, of Chatham Street, Shelton, Judge John Reddihough said: "You have pleaded guilty to the offence of rape.

"Rape of an innocent, sexually inexperienced young girl who was only 15-years-old.

"What more dreadful experience could there be for a young girl like that?"

Mitigating, Robert Underwood said that his Toufik had been drunk at the time and acted uncharacteristically.

Asking for credit for sparing the teenager from the ordeal of giving evidence in a trial, he said: "He came to this country fleeing persecution in Iraq.

"He seeks asylum on the basis that he has been persecuted while in his native land, as he is a Kurd."

Showing an 18-inch scar on his back to the court, Mr Underwood said it had been caused while he was tortured by the authorities in Iraq.

He added: "He now knows that having lost his good character, and having served his prison sentence, it is more likely than not that the Home Secretary will decide he is not a welcome visitor to these shores and will duly deport him."
 

School governor in porn probe

A FORMER Newham councillor has been questioned by detectives in connection with an investigation into child pornography and the Internet.
Greg Vincent, 33, until May a lead member in the Cabinet of then council leader but now Mayor Sir Robin Wales, was arrested on November 22 by police from New Scotland Yard’s Clubs and Vice Obscene Publications and Internet Squad.
The former election agent for West Ham MP Tony Banks, was taken to Charing Cross police station where he was interviewed on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.
Mr Vincent, a governor of Shaftesbury School in Forest Gate – was later released on police bail until April 21.
Town Hall officials said on Monday that he had resigned as a local education authority governor while the police investigation continues. “He has no connection with any school now. Should police ask for help we will of course oblige,” said a Newham Council spokesman.
Computer
It is believed the probe centres around a computer at Mr Vincent’s place of work – the University of London – where he is an internal auditor. Police are also believed to have searched and confiscated a laptop from his home in Plaistow.
A police spokesperson said: “We can confirm a 33-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of possessing indecent images of children.
“He was arrested at his place of work in Central London and computer equipment was seized. He has been bailed to return in April.”
Mr Vincent was elected to serve Bemersyde Ward from May 1998 to May this year. In May last year he was appointed as a deputy to the leader, Cllr Wales, with responsibility for Community Forums.
He was also a member of the Newham Community and Police Forum, a member of the Young People’s Panel and Anti-Social Behaviour Policy and served on the Leisure Services, Environment and Investment committees.
At the West Ham Constituency Labour Party meeting last Wednesday Mr Vincent’s name in connection with the investigation was made public.
 

Teacher is jailed for sex letters to pupil, 10

A PRIMARY school teacher who wrote sexually-explicit letters to a girl pupil was yesterday jailed for nine months.

York Crown Court heard how Douglas Charnick, 37, showered the girl, who was 10 at the time, with gifts before her mother found one of his letters while tidying the girl's bedroom.
In it the married father-of-two described in graphic detail the sex acts he wanted to perform on the girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and in turn how she could reciprocate.
Rupert Doswell, prosecuting, said the letter – 10 pages, closely written – described a fantasy set at school when no-one else was around and asked the girl for a pair of her knickers.
For two years Charnick had taught the girl – described as a gifted pupil – and on one occasion she returned home with a soft toy he had given her.
When her mother asked where the toy came from, the child said Charnick gave it to her for working hard.
Mr Doswell said the mother thought it unusual because no other children had received gifts, but not sinister.
Gifts to the girl became more frequent, sometimes as many as three a week, and Charnick tried to increase contact with the girl outside school hours.
When he offered to take the girl orienteering her parents were uncomfortable with the idea and refused, after which presents stopped arriving.
The girl's mother found Charnick's letter on July 11 and she contacted the police.
Charnick, of Church Close, Bubwith, admitted he had written to the girl more than once and told the police he knew it was "a stupid thing to do".
Mr Dowsell said Charnick told police after telling stories to his class the girl had asked him for "porny stories" and seemed to enjoy what he wrote.
Nicholas Barker, in mitigation, said Charnick's contact with the girl went no further than the letters and he had never physically interfered with her. He denied Charnick was "grooming" the girl for future physical contact.
Mr Barker said at the time exceptional circumstances – including work and domestic pressures – made Charnick act in an extraordinary and self-destructive way, with his actions exposing him to the "significant likelihood" of being caught.
Judge Scott Wolstenholme said Charnick was guilty of a "very gross" breach of trust. "As a teacher for nine years you were trusted by school, staff and pupils of parents to educate and protect their children," said the judge. "You targeted a 10-year-old girl, showering her with presents, seeking social contact with her family and sent her a series of sexually-explicit letters."
Judge Wolstenholme said Charnick harboured sexual fantasies and a "powerful sexual attraction" to the girl but said the letter went beyond fantasy and acted as an invitation to the girl to engage in sexual activity.
The judge gave credit for his guilty plea and heard evidence Charnick was suffering from depression at the time of the offence but said he had yet to acknowledge the feelings expressed in the letter.
He said Charnick may have caused the girl, now 11, serious emotional harm but the damage could have been greater had she responded to his invitation. "The act of sending the letters was a form of child abuse and a serious breach of trust," the judge told Charnick.
For the charge of inciting a child under 16 to commit an act of gross indecency, he jailed Charnick for nine months, telling him he would serve only half that time.
Judge Wolstenholme also ordered Charnick to sign the sex offenders' register for 10 years but remarked that the law did not permit him to ban the former teacher from working with children.
 

Net porn teacher gives up his job

A PERVERTED city teacher has admitted storing 72 pornographic images of children on computers at his home.

Timothy Coldwell (31) has now been forced to sign the Sex Offenders' Register and is facing the possibility of a prison sentence.

Today, it emerged he had resigned from his job as head of physics at the prestigious King's School, in Park Road, Peterborough.

Coldwell, a married father-of-one, pleaded guilty to 16 charges of making indecent images of a child at Peterborough Crown Court.

During the hearing, the court heard he also "accepted responsibility" for the remaining 56.

Prosecutor Craig McDougall told the court how Coldwell was arrested as part of Operation Solomon, the police crackdown on child pornography which is available on the internet.

Officers raided the teacher's home, in Hawthorn Road, Newborough, near Peterborough, on October 4 at 7am.

Coldwell was taken to Thorpe Wood police station while his house was searched and 72 images collected from two hard drives on his PC, a laptop and other computer equipment.

Indecent images are categorised by police from level one to level five, with level five being the most hard-core.

Magistrates retired to view the pictures taken from Coldwell's home and when they returned, John Butler, chairman of the bench, said 12 of the images were level one, three were level three and one was level four.

Coldwell was granted bail and will be sentenced at Peterborough Crown Court in January. Because of his guilty plea, he had to sign on to the sex offenders' register immediately.

Murray MacGregor, a police spokesman, said: "This court case sends a clear message to those who access these sites that they will be found.

"This is 21st century policing and shows the force is committed to protecting the most vulnerable members of our society.

"People accessing websites of this type is an increasing problem, but one that the force is committed to tackling."

Coldwell started work at the King's School in September 2001, having previously taught at Stamford School.

Gary Longman, headteacher of King's School, confirmed Coldwell was no longer in employment at the school, as he had handed in his resignation just days before his court appearance.

He added: "Obviously, I am very sad to hear the news about Tim."

Website subscribers named

OPERATION Solomon was set up after US authorities named more than 7,000 UK subscribers to a child pornography website run in America.

Investigators claim there are 279 alleged offenders in Cambridgeshire.

To date, three people in the county have been charged as part of the operation.

Nine other people have been arrested, five of whom are from the Peterborough area.

The five men have all been released on bail and are due to return to Thorpe Wood police station in the next few weeks.
 

Mystery over crisis cardinal's trip

Some want the cardinal to face criminal charges

The Vatican is maintaining near-silence on the dramatic visit to Rome by the beleaguered head of the Roman Catholic Church in Boston, Cardinal Bernard Law.
Cardinal Law flew to Italy after abruptly cancelling an appearance at a Sunday mass, as pressure grew on him to resign over his handling of child abuse by priests.
 

FBI FURY AT BRIT COPS' PAEDOPHILE 'FAILURE'

Banks refuse to hand over perverts' credit card details

THE FBI has slammed British police for failing to track down internet paedophiles on a wanted list.

Our cops have traced less than ONE HUNDRED of SEVEN THOUSAND names handed to them by the bureau a year ago as part of Operation Avalanche-the pursuit of a worldwide ring of child sex fiends.

An FBI source told us last night: "We are furious. We expected prompt action from Britain and all we've got is feet-dragging."

And the police dithering could be leaving hundreds of UK youngsters at the mercy of perverts who should be off the streets.

For the FBI has discovered that a horrifying ONE IN THREE of the 10,000 web paedophiles it has traced in America was actively engaged in assaulting children.

John Carr, internet adviser to UK children's charity NCH, said last night: "It is a national disgrace so few arrests have been made. Many of these men will be continuing in their sickening activities and children will have
their lives destroyed."

But police are blaming banks and credit card firms for hampering their investigation as they try to check thousands of card numbers handed to them by the FBI which have been used on porn sites.

Refused

The organisations are refusing to hand over personal details of paedophiles because it would invade the perverts' privacy.

Michael Hames, former head of Scotland Yard's Paedophile Unit, said: "Some of the credit card companies have not been that helpful."

Top cops also claim cash-strapped forces around the country need more money to tackle the massive FBI list of 7,272 names.

The Association of Chief Police Officers which is co-ordinating the British inquiry-codenamed Operation Ore-has had a £2 million demand to cover the additional workload refused by the Home Office.

Meanwhile another policeman has been arrested in connection with Operation Ore. PC David Brown, 39, of Cheadle, Greater Manchester, faces 15 charges of possessing indecent images of children.

So far 30 cops have been questioned. Those charged with possessing child porn include Det Con Brian Stevens, 41, who read a poem at a memorial service for murdered schoolgirls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, and a colleague, 34-year-old PC Antony Goodridge.

It is believed there could be more than 100 serving officers on the FBI list-if their colleagues ever get round to questioning them.

Child protection is listed under 'other policing responsibilites'.

"If we are to effectively protect all our children, we need a strategic approach to child protection taken at a national level, led by Government," the spokesman said.

"The policing plan does not acknowledge child protection as a priority area.

"This will result in forces allocating resources to the specific problem of child abuse only on an ad hoc basis after the four key priorities have been addressed. We are unlikely to see a clear preventive strategy."
 

Cop on child porn charges

A GREATER Manchester policeman has been charged with 15 offences of Internet child pornography.

PC David Brown is due to appear before Bolton magistrates on October 31.

He is the first GMP officer to be charged in an investigation triggered by a massive probe into Internet porn based in the United States.

At least one other GMP officer is to be interviewed and a number of care workers are also being quizzed.

They are suspected of subscribing to an American website which is the first such site to be set up for profit by organised crime.

US investigators probing a massive porn ring known as Landslide found more than 7,000 British subscribers had used credit cards to pay for images.

Detectives established addresses and other details and passed the information to British authorities.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service and National Crime Squad received the information from America and set up Operation Ore to pass it on to each police force in the UK where there were suspects.

GMP is understood to be investigating more than 200 names, including "a very small number" of its own officers.

As part of Operation Ore, one officer from Lancashire and another from Cheshire have both been charged with offences involving indecent images. Both are suspended.

There is no suggestion that any of the suspects were working together.
 
 

COP ARRESTED OVER CHILD PORN

A special branch officer has been arrested over Internet child pornography.

The 44-year-old from the Metropolitan force was taken in and questioned eight days ago and later released on bail.
 

A police spokeswoman confirmed he was arrested "in connection with downloading pornography".

However, she would neither confirm nor deny that the arrest was part of Operation Ore, in which police have swooped on child porn site users using a 7,000-strong US database.

Police have not named the officer.

Threats

The Sun newspaper said his job involved investigating spies, terrorists and threats to national security.

He is the 14th police officer arrested in connection with Internet child pornography.

Others include Det Con Brian Stevens and Pc Tony Goodridge - who worked on the murders of 10-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman - and Det Con Chris Lacey, who worked on the investigation into missing teenager Danielle Jones.
 

Child porn swoop nets 90 police

Hundreds of child welfare professionals, including police officers, care workers and teachers, have been identified as 'extremely high-risk' paedophiles by an investigation into internet porn.
The discovery came after US authorities passed on more than 7,000 names of UK subscribers to an American-based child porn website. When police examined a sample of the most dedicated users, they discovered that many worked with children.

Investigators knew paedophiles targeted jobs which brought them into contact with children, but were shocked by how many British suspects had been undetected by the usual checks.

The discovery that many were working in jobs of the highest sensitivity will send shock waves through the child protection world and lead to calls for even more stringent safeguards.

Investigators now believe as many as 90 police officers have so far been identified from an initial trawl of 200 of the British names found in the US. Many of the other suspects work in other sensitive professions, often
linked to the criminal justice system.

John Carr of the Children's Charities' Coalition for Internet Safety (CHIS), which represents all major children's organisations, including the NSPCC, NCH and Barnardos, said: 'It's very distressing to learn that so many
policeman are being arrested for these sorts of offences. It undermines people's confidence in our ability to deal with it at all.'

Harry Fletcher, deputy general secretary of the probation union Napo, said: 'There has been growing evidence over the past 10 years that paedophiles have infiltrated careers that put them in direct contact with children.
This latest evidence suggests we have to be even more vigilant.'

Specialist child porn investigators, including officers from the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit, have initially concentrated on users who had made more than 10 purchases of child porn from the internet. They used a US web 'portal' that gave access to dozens of sites with titles such as Cyber Lolita, I Am Fourteen and Child Rape. The sites were run by porn barons in Russia and Indonesia and involved abuse committed on captive children.

British involvement in the child porn ring was so large that police set up Operation Ore to investigate all 7,200 subscribers in this country. They have passed on all the names to the relevant forces for further investigation; 700 are known to be in Scotland and 279 in Cambridgeshire. Police believe at least 5,000 could be considered 'goers' and lead to arrests.

Operation Ore has also uncovered civil servants, a firefighter and a teacher in Northern Ireland. Another teacher has been arrested in Cambridgeshire and suspended from working with 11-year-olds at a village school.

One Home Office insider told The Observer that investigations targeted the most serious cases, where arrests and convictions were thought to be relatively straightforward. These involve images of pre-pubescent children
where suspects cannot claim they believed they were purchasing adult porn.

The US investigation, Operation Avalanche, was set up by the United States Postal Inspection Service, which probes online porn. It began in Texas and has generated more than 75,000 identities worldwide.

The website portal was run by Thomas and Janice Reedy, a married couple in Fort Worth, Texas, who were running an online porn empire from their suburban mansion which generated £1 million a month in fees. Both have been sent to prison.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Apco) has warned Ministers that forces do not have the resources to deal with the problem. It is awaiting a Home Office decision on a submission for £2 million of crisis funding.

A Home Office spokeswoman said Ministers welcomed Acpo's focus on the issue, but they had already provided an extra £25 million to help combat hi-tech crime, including child porn.

A police spokesman said: 'There are people up and down this country who are sweating. Give us their computer, even if it's been thrown on a skip, and we can quickly nail them.'
 

Surgical tags plan for sex offenders

Silicon chip to be inserted under skin

Britain is considering a controversial scheme to implant surgically electronic tags in convicted paedophiles amid fears that the extent of the abuse of children has been massively underestimated.
Documents obtained by The Observer reveal the Government could track paedophiles by satellite, with a system similar to that used to locate stolen cars.

The tags can be put beneath the skin under local anaesthetic and would also be able to monitor the heart rate and blood pressure of the abuser, alerting staff to the possibility that another attack was imminent.

A letter from Hilary Benn, the Minister responsible for the supervision of sex offenders in the community, reveals the Home Office's electronic monitoring team is already developing technology to track paedophiles
constantly. The team is now investigating the 'implant tag' after it was alerted to its capabilities by a campaign group for victims of paedophiles.

Tracker, the company which runs Britain's largest stolen vehicle monitoring network, has already been approached about paedophile monitoring and computer company Compaq has been asked to develop the software.

Compaq Software Solutions has developed similar technology for Nasa to monitor remotely the bodily functions of astronauts. In the case of paedophiles, the technology would not measure sexual excitement, but would
monitor the offender's state of nervousness and fear.

Technology currently used can tell only whether an offender is where he is supposed to be, which is usually a curfew address. New 'reverse tags' can also monitor whether an offender is approaching a former victim's house or a high-risk area such as a school, but it can not track every movement.

In a letter to Labour MP Andrew Mackinley, Benn wrote: 'The Electronic Monitoring Team is... looking actively at the possibilities for using tracking technology to monitor offenders' whereabouts as they move from
one place to another. To date... the team is unaware of any available technology which uses bodily implants to track offenders' movements or which can measure bodily functions to predict likely criminal activity. Such future
improvements are, however, worthy of consideration if it can be demonstrated to be feasible and reliable in delivering improvements in public protection.'

Ministers would need to pass new legislation to oblige offenders to be surgically fitted with the tags.

Civil liberties groups expressed horror at the proposals last night. 'Implanting tracking devices provides a very frightening vision for the future. We already know that the rules protecting our privacy are inadequate. Where would this stop?' said John Wadham, director of Liberty.
'This would be used initially for sex offenders, but we would soon find that other marginalised groups, such as asylum seekers, would find they were forced to have implants.'

The implant tag has been proposed by Phoenix Survivors, a group of child abuse victims who were traded as child prostitutes in the north-west of England. Their name is taken from Operation Phoenix, an investigation into
the activities of 72-year-old Stanley Claridge.

Claridge's stepdaughter and Phoenix Survivors' spokeswoman Shy Keenan said: 'I am sick to death of it being acceptable that I am a victim because these people have to have their human rights. These people live outside the law and cannot be controlled, so you have to know what they are doing all the time.'

The news of the implant tags comes after the first wave of arrests from a list of 7,000 suspected British paedophiles was passed to British police by investigators from the US Postal Inspection Service.

Credit card details had been traced to British customers of a portal on the internet, which gave access to hundreds of child porn sites. An investigation by Northumbria police as part of the nationwide Operation
Ore led to the seizure of hard drives from more than 100 computers. Police in the North East had been given around 70 names from the list of 7,000 to arrest. In all, 56 men and four women were arrested. They were not picked up by the usual vetting procedures because most had no previous criminal record.

The computer files seized included the scenes of the rape of children as young as two. One man had 12,000 images of child abuse on his computer. As a result, Northumbria Police has estimated that the numbers of people on the Sex Offenders' Register in the area will increase by 10 per cent. If the hit-rate of the Northumbria investigation is replicated across the country, it could lead to as many as 5,000 arrests.
 

Sex charge teacher remanded

A SECONDARY school deputy headteacher from Bolton has been further remanded on bail on charges of having unlawful sex with a 16-year-old pupil.

Alan Dawson, aged 37, a maths teacher at a Blackburn school, is charged with two offences of having sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 18 while in a position of trust. The offences are alleged to have taken place on October 5 and 7. Dawson, who previously gave his father's address at Hampton Road, Great Lever, has been ordered to stand trial at Preston Crown Court. He was further remanded on bail until December 23 for the preparation of committal papers. Conditional bail was granted.
 

Life for rapist who grabbed girl at bus stop

A CONVICTED rapist grabbed a schoolgirl at a bus stop and was dragging her towards a beck when he was disturbed and ran off, a court heard.
 

Sean Cawthray, who had twice been in prison for rape, waited until the 14-year-old girl was alone in the bus shelter in Kippax, near Leeds, before he struck.
He grabbed her by the hair and began pulling her down a back alley, putting his hand over her face when she screamed.
His terrified victim was finding it hard to breathe when her desperate struggles drew the attention of a young boy playing in a garden nearby, who realised she was in danger and went for his grandfather.
When Cawthray heard that man shouting he released the schoolgirl and ran off but was arrested by police later after a search of the area, said Patrick Palmer, prosecuting, at Leeds Crown Court yesterday.
Cawthray told officers he did not know what he planned to do with the girl.
Cawthray, 31, of Charles Street, Leicester, was jailed for life after he admitted kidnapping the schoolgirl.
Judge James Spencer said he was imposing an indeterminate sentence with a minimum recommendation of five years because of the risk Cawthray posed to young women. He would not be released by the Parole Board until it was satisfied he no longer posed such a risk and would then be on licence for life.
The judge said that, had it not been for the intervention of Edmund Wheeler and his young grandson, Harvey Jordan, "one wonders what you would have done with that girl, especially having regard to your previous history.
"There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that, had you not been disturbed, this girl would have been more seriously attacked."
He awarded Mr Wheeler and his grandson £100 each from public funds for their public-spirited actions.
Mr Palmer said the schoolgirl had sheltered at the bus stop from rain while waiting for a friend. Another woman also came in, followed by Cawthray.
After the woman left the girl began to feel uncomfortable. Cawthray grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up from the seat.
He then began dragging her down an alley, occasionally lifting her off the ground and putting his hand over her mouth when she struggled and screamed.
At one point she bit him but he tightened his hand until she was struggling to breathe. She realised he was taking her towards bushes near a beck and continued to try to get free.
It was then that Harvey realised the two were not fooling around and, fearing the man was going to kill the girl, rushed for his grandfather. Mr Wheeler shouted at the attacker, who ran off, leaving the girl gasping for breath and hysterical.
When arrested nearby, Cawthray said he did not know what was in his mind at the time. "I'm not sure, I can't really put it into words," he said.
The court heard Cawthray was jailed for four years at Leeds Crown Court in 1990 for rape and attempted rape and in 1993, after a further rape conviction at Leicester Crown Court, was given eight years in prison.
Jonathan Carroll, for Cawthray, said his client had emotional problems stemming from a disjointed upbringing. At the time of the offence he was visiting West Yorkshire to try to sort out some of the issues from that period of his life but someone he had hoped to confront was not in when he called on them.
He was in an emotional state when he saw the girl and had not really formed any intention about what he was going to do with her.
Mr Carroll urged the judge not to conclude Cawthray was a "calculated sex attacker" deliberately targeting the girl but that in his emotional turmoil she just happened to be "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
 

Delgado pleads not guilty

Hendon and Edgware scout leader Joseph Delgado has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of indecent assault, some of them on boys as young as 14.

Silver-haired Delgado, 52, dressed in a navy suit, denied each count as it was read to him at Harrow Crown Court on Monday. He will be tried in April next year.

The charges date from 1983 to the end of last year and involve eight alleged victims.

Delgado, of Riverdene, Edgware, who was also a teacher at a school in Stevenage, worked at various scout groups in Hendon and Edgware, the most recent being the Excel Venture Scouts in Broadhurst Avenue, Edgware. He was suspended from the scout movement in February as a result of the allegations.

Delgado was granted bail on the condition he does not enter Mill Hill pubs The Railway Engineer in Bittacy Hill, Adam and Eve in The Ridgeway, and The Mill in Holders Hill Road.

Barnet police's child protection team is appealing for anyone else who believes they may have been assaulted by Delgado to come forward. Call Detective Constable Paul Thomas on 020 8733 5205.
 

Nicola: Man goes to court

A MAN appeared in court yesterday charged with the murder of teenager Nicola Dixon, who was beaten to death on New Year’s Eve six years ago.

Colin Waite, 41, (above) was remanded in custody to appear before Birmingham Crown Court next Monday.

The father-of-three, of Highgate, Birmingham, spoke only to confirm his name and address. Sutton Coldfield JPs refused an application for bail.

    Nicola ... battered to death
Nicola’s partially-clothed and battered body was found on New Year’s Day 1997 in the grounds of a rectory. The sixth-former, who had been sexually assaulted, had set out to walk half a mile to meet friends.
 

Sex charge teacher remanded

A SECONDARY school deputy headteacher from Bolton has been further remanded on bail on charges of having unlawful sex with a 16-year-old pupil.

Alan Dawson, aged 37, a maths teacher at a Blackburn school, is charged with two offences of having sexual intercourse with a girl under the age of 18 while in a position of trust. The offences are alleged to have taken place on October 5 and 7. Dawson, who previously gave his father's address at Hampton Road, Great Lever, has been ordered to stand trial at Preston Crown Court. He was further remanded on bail until December 23 for the preparation of committal papers. Conditional bail was granted.
 

Delgado pleads not guilty

Hendon and Edgware scout leader Joseph Delgado has pleaded not guilty to 17 counts of indecent assault, some of them on boys as young as 14.

Silver-haired Delgado, 52, dressed in a navy suit, denied each count as it was read to him at Harrow Crown Court on Monday. He will be tried in April next year.

The charges date from 1983 to the end of last year and involve eight alleged victims.

Delgado, of Riverdene, Edgware, who was also a teacher at a school in Stevenage, worked at various scout groups in Hendon and Edgware, the most recent being the Excel Venture Scouts in Broadhurst Avenue, Edgware. He was suspended from the scout movement in February as a result of the allegations.

Delgado was granted bail on the condition he does not enter Mill Hill pubs The Railway Engineer in Bittacy Hill, Adam and Eve in The Ridgeway, and The Mill in Holders Hill Road.

Barnet police's child protection team is appealing for anyone else who believes they may have been assaulted by Delgado to come forward. Call Detective Constable Paul Thomas on 020 8733 5205.
 

Children's entertainer preyed on audiences

A children's entertainer who sexually assaulted young members of his audiences faces jail today.

Julian Carr, 41, carried out his crimes while touring the country performing in shows such as The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

Police found 20,000 pornographic images on his computer at his home in Wimbledon.

Carr will be sentenced at Kingston Crown Court after pleading guilty to eight indecency offences against young women and children.
 

Child rape conviction is quashed

A BOY jailed for the rape of a five-year-old girl in a Leeds graveyard has had his conviction quashed.

The boy, who was just 12 at the time of the alleged attack in September 1997, was found guilty of raping the girl in Harehills Cemetery.
But judges at the Court of Appeal in London overturned the conviction stating the case was 'unsafe' after fresh evidence was produced.
Lord Justice Rose, sitting with Mr Justice Gibbs and Mr Justice Davis, yesterday said that accounts given by the victim and the 12-year-old's co-accused were 'unreliable.'
The boy received a three-year sentence and his co-accused, a 13-year-old boy, was detained for 12 months after pleading guilty to indecently assaulting the girl during the same attack.
The Court of Appeal in London heard evidence from the boy's barrister, Anthony Jennings QC, that both children may have fabricated parts of their story. He put forward material not available at the original trial four years ago at Leeds Crown Court.
Language
A paediatrician said the girl's "behaviour, lack of distress, over-familiarity, use of language and behaviour beyond her maturity were worrying and may suggest she had been sexually abused previously".
Other post-trial material was very damaging to the credibility of the boy's co-accused. A psychiatric assessment of the 13-year-old boy noted he "says he always lies."
A member of a Youth Justice Team referred to the co-accused giving an account of the cemetery incident which suggested he played a more active role than he had admitted, "preferring to put all of the blame on the other boy."
Lord Justice Rose said: "The post-trial material engenders doubt in this court as to the safety of the conviction in a case which was highly unusual, in view of the ages of the three children and the abnormal sexual background of the two who gave evidence for the prosecution." If the trial judge had the material relating to the girl and the co-accused, he would probably have given the jury a stronger warning about the reliability of their evidence.
And he probably would have given a firmer direction as to the defence case that the co-accused was the rapist, not the younger boy.
 

The boy, 7, who snared monster

A MUM today praised a youngster for sparking a chain of events leading to the arrest of a serial rapist who was today beginning life in jail.

Sean Cawthray had attempted to kidnap a terrified 14-year-old girl in Kippax, Leeds, but was foiled by the quick thinking of seven-year-old Harvey Jordan.
He spotted Cawthray dragging the struggling teenage girl to a secluded spot in Kippax. As other passers-by ignored what was happening, Harvey ran to tell his grandfather.
Edmund Wheeler rushed out and shouted at 31-year-old Cawthray, who fled leaving his
victim in shock. Cawthray was arrested less than an hour later when a woman in her car recognised Cawthray. She had overheard the terrified teenager giving the police a description of the attacker. She called the police on her mobile and even picked up a policewoman to help cut off his escape.
Today, in an exclusive interview, the girl's mother said: "If it hadn't been for that young boy and his grandfather, and the woman, who knows what would have happened to my daughter?
"I can't thank them enough. I might never have seen my daughter again." Cawthray carried out the attack on the girl after returning home to Leeds in July this year. He spotted the teenager waiting for a friend in a bus shelter in Station Road, Kippax, and went up to her, asking for a cigarette and then the time.
Seriousness
He grabbed her and began pulling her across the road. Passers-by, including adults, paid little attention as the girl began
struggling and screaming for help. It was left to young Harvey to realise the seriousness of what was happening.
Harvey, now eight, was praised, along with his grandfather, by Judge James Spencer, QC, who handed each a £100 reward.
After Cawthray fled the scene, the girl was comforted by
Andrea Concannon. An hour later, Mrs Concannon, 37, of Westfield Grove, Allerton Bywater, was driving to keep-fit class when she spotted Cawthray in
nearby Brigshaw Lane.
She said: "I recognised him from the description the girl had given police while I was comforting her after the attack. I pulled up and rang the police. At first they couldn't understand how I knew about what had happened."
Mrs Concannon said the police began to pursue Cawthray and she drove on, giving a policewoman a lift, to head him off.
Within minutes police had arrested Cawthray and yesterday he was handed a life sentence after admitting attempted kidnap.
The girl's mother said her daughter would still not talk about the ordeal.
But she added: "I am proud of her for the way she was able to give such a full description of the man. Just after it happened, she was ringing me two or three times a day to let me know where she was. She made a determined effort to go out because she won't let that man spoil her life."
It later emerged Cawthray was jailed for four years 1990 for raping a 15-year-old girl in Leeds and jailed in 1993 for raping a woman in the Leicester area.
Det Con Andy Lambert, of Killingbeck CID, said: " What the seven-year-old boy did was quite remarkable for someone so young. We also have nothing but praise for the villager who called us when she spotted Cawthray."
 

A BRUTAL PERVERT IS BEHIND BARS

A NORTH Lincolnshire paedophile has been caged for 10 years after being found guilty of a series of sickening sex attacks.

Farm worker John Gunn, 56, (above) kicked and beat his victims, raping a seven-year-old girl twice and beating one middle-aged women until her nose broke.

His youngest victim was left traumatised and admitted she had been made to feel like a prostitute after he 'paid her' £5 following a sex assault.

She had calmly told the jury at Hull Crown Court she did not care if he was found guilty or not, adding: "I am doing this for me."

Gunn, who protested his innocence to the most serious charges of rape admitted he 'felt guilty' about the young girl and it had 'eaten away' at him for 30 years since the offence occurred.

Gunn of Eastfield Road, Epworth, admitted charges of wounding, and two counts of indecent assault on an under-age girl.

He was found guilty of two rapes and buggery in addition to his pleas of guilty to a series of common assault on three boys.

Prison officials were keeping a suicide watch on Gunn as the court heard he took an overdose of pills after the first day of the trial, forcing it to be suspended for four days until he was medically fit to stand trial.

He once allegedly threatened to kill himself with a piece of wood and a six-inch nail. He was described in court as a weak and broken man.

Judge Tom Cracknell jailed Gunn for 10 years and said: "It seems to me, having heard the evidence, you are brutal, selfish autocratic and perverted man.

"Your sexual abuse of that girl has emotionally disfigured her - all to satisfy your perverted lust. The two rapes and buggery beggar belief."

Gunn put his victims through the second ordeal of giving evidence as well as the abuse itself.

Barrister William Harbage said Gunn had tried to underplay his violent temper and had made his victims fear him.

He said Gunn's victims had been beaten, butted and one had jumped down a set of stairs when she was eight months pregnant to escape him injuring her back.

He said Gunn combined his sexual gratification with violence. He added: "They were beatings. They were bad beatings. Both of these women could have come to court and said worse things. They did not need to."

A middle-aged victim said Gunn had thrown knives at her in a circus trick. He broke her nose and she ran half a mile at night to escape him and call the police.

The court heard social services knew he admitted sex abuse on the young girl in 1995 but at the time the girl did not want to prosecute.

The court heard he had two previous convictions for physical assaults on boys.

Gunn was found guilty of two rapes on the seven-year-old girl as well as buggery. He was found not guilty of raping a third woman outside a pub in Barton and three assaults causing actual bodily harm. At the start of the trial Gunn admitted a wounding charge, two indecent assaults on the girl, and four common assaults on females and young boys. He was found not guilty on the order of the judge of the rape of a middle-aged woman.

Gunn slunk on his heels, as he looked pale-faced at the judge during sentencing. He remained silent as he was handcuffed by a dock officer to be taken to cells below court and Judge Cracknell said: "Now go away."

The court ordered Gunn should be put on a sex offenders' register for the rest of his life.
 

Paedophile gets life for attack on boy

A CHILD rapist with a history of offending spanning nearly half a century has been jailed for life.

Harrold Smith, 61, (above) was convicted of raping a nine-year-old boy and indecently assaulting him.

Smith, of Church Road, Bergh Apton, near Norwich, also admitted attacking a Norwich detective with a broken milk bottle when he was arrested for the serious sexual offences.

After Smith was found guilty, the court heard he had a long history of sex abuse involving young boys but was not on the sex offenders register because his offences pre-dated its introduction in 1997.

He also spent years in Rampton high security hospital but he was discharged in 1982.

Having refusing to appear in the dock, Smith remained in the court cells yesterday as he was sentenced in his absence and placed on the sex offenders register for life. Judge David Mellor said reports showed that Smith was of "high risk" of re-offending

Speaking afterwards, the victim's mother told how Smith had befriended a number of families in Norwich and no-one had been aware of his sordid past:

She described Smith as a "very cunning" and said he appeared as a kind helpful person with lots of friends, many of whom had young families.

Smith also pretended he had been in a relationship and had children of his own.

The woman said: "He was like a grandfather to my children. I did not realise how vulnerable we were. It could be anyone around you absolutely anyone. These people prey on and befriend families with children for their own ends.

"What struck me is how busy the police family protection unit it, abuse is happening all the time, very day."

She warned: "Right now someone could be befriending you for your child. It makes you question why the people around you in your life are around you, and so it should."

"We should all stop and ask questions and look around us. The best way to protect our children is to be close with them, to be open, to talk to each other lots and lots and listen. Tell your children they can tell you anything and that they will be believed."

She said that she and the other families he befriended had no idea of Smith's past offending.

"I did not have a clue that this man was abusing my son, and in actual fact had already been in prison for hurting young boys: he was a paedophile."

She said she agreed that parents should be warned if a known paedophile was living in the area

"It does anger me that it's taken 60 years for him to be put away so that he cannot do it again."

She said her son was still a loving happy child and would always get all the help he needed to cope with his ordeal at the hands of Smith
 

Teacher avoids jail for assaults on boys

A SEX-attack victim has condemned as "deeply insulting" an order that his persecutor pay him £500 in compensation.

The man, who cannot be named, was one of two young boys indecently assaulted by Harrogate scripture teacher John Woolmer more than 20 years ago.
The teacher, who is now 67, had spanked the bare bottoms of young boys aged 10 and 14. Years later he apologised to one of them for satisfying "certain perverted desires".
Yesterday at Doncaster Crown Court, Woolmer narrowly escaped jail after admitting four specimen counts of indecent assaults against two boys.
Judge John Reddihough told the now retired teacher that he had come within a hair's breadth of a jail sentence.
"There was a sexual element of this as far as you were concerned. You know now and you must have known then that what you were doing was entirely inappropriate.
"It is quite clear that the two boys you indecently assaulted have been greatly affected by what you did and it has lived with them ever since."
He was ordered to serve a two-year community rehabilitation order and complete a course for sex offenders.
Woolmer's name was placed on the sex offenders' register for five years and he was ordered to pay the prosecution costs of £2,500, plus his own defence costs.
He was also ordered to pay £500 compensation, a sentiment and a sum condemned by one of Woolmer's victims outside court.
"I find it deeply insulting that the courts should put a price on what he did. No amount of compensation will make up for it."
Woolmer was a former teacher at Birkdale Preparatory School, one of the Sheffield's top private establishments.
The court heard that Woolmer taught scripture and history at the school in the leafy Broomhill area of Sheffield, as well as running a model railway club.
Prosecutor Susan Wright said the indecent assaults occurred "behind closed and locked doors".
The court heard that the offences came to light after one of Woolmer's victims contacted him out of the blue at his home in Norwood Grove, Harrogate.
The now grown-up man visited Woolmer, who then wrote back to him and in a letter said: "I find it hard to think of the right words to express how upset I am that I spoilt your late childhood because of my selfishness in wanting to satisfy certain perverted desires."
Taryn Turner said in mitigation that Woolmer was genuinely remorseful and had long since left teaching and chosen not to have contact with young children.
She said that Woolmer was humiliated by his current position. "The fact of the matter is that since these disclosure were made, his own life has been a living nightmare."
 

Child abuse group halts lottery cash

A grant of £240,000 to London's Camden Irish Centre has been frozen after complaints from victims of clerical child abuse in Ireland.
The National Lottery suspended the payout after members of the Irish Survivors of Child Abuse (Soca) group claimed they had been barred from the centre.

A letter to Irish Soca from the lottery headquarters confirms that an investigation is under way into the running of the centre, which has catered for the Irish community in London for half a century.
Irish Soca, whose members comprise former inmates of Ireland's notorious Industrial Schools, claim the centre refused them access in May 2000 to a public meeting about clerical child sex abuse. The group wanted a platform to challenge Irish government officials about a proposed inquiry into widespread allegations of sexual and physical abuse at the church-run Industrial Schools.

In a letter from Dixit Chauhan, the lottery's grants business manager, Irish Soca was assured that the grant would not be handed over until its investigation was completed.
'As part of the investigation, a member of my team has been in further contact, in order to establish whether the organisation is in breach of the community funds terms and conditions of grant award, and will continue to do so until we are able to reach a conclusion,' he writes.
One of the victims of abuse at Artane Industrial School in north Dublin, Jim Beresford, welcomed last night the lottery's decision.
Beresford was held at Artane between 1961 and 1963, after the Irish state decided his parents were 'unfit' to look after him. He was committed by the courts to Artane after members of the Catholic lay group, the Legion
of Mary, reported his mother to the authorities. Her crime was to mention to them that she was having some marital problems with her English husband, who was an agnostic. Beresford described his experiences at Artane as 'two years of hell'.
Children as young as five and six were used as slave labour in the schools; many were beaten up and sexually assaulted by members of religious orders, particularly the Christian Brothers.
Speaking from his home in Huddersfield, Beresford said Irish Soca objected to the lottery grant because the centre excluded them from a public platform.

'We came down to Camden from all over Britain to speak at this meeting.
The Irish government had sent representatives to the meeting and we wanted to challenge their version of events. Our experiences in those schools did not match their side of the story and we wanted a chance to speak.
'Instead we were locked out of that meeting and the priests who run the centre tried to get us moved on when we protested outside, even though we had permission from the police.'
There is no connection between the Camden managers and the priests at the Irish schools.
'Our argument is that this centre is not all-inclusive for the entire Irish community and therefore it would be inappropriate for lottery money to be allocated.'
Beresford said Irish Soca also raised concerns about the role of the Oblate Catholic order in running the centre. He pointed out that the Order is currently in dispute with the Irish government's own inquiry into clerical sex abuse in industrial schools, the Laffoy Commission.
The National Lottery initially awarded £240,000 to the Camden Irish Centre in November. The centre also receives considerable financial support from the Irish government. Its director, Father Jerry Kivlehan, has asked Dublin for a 500 per cent increase in aid.
 

Fury as pervert moves close to victims

A CONVICTED paedophile branded a danger to children has been ordered by Oldham magistrates to live just a stone’s throw away from his victims.

Fury erupted after Derek Robinson (58), who has a string of convictions for sex offences, was arrested again only to be bailed to an address just round the corner from the homes of two sisters he systematically raped when they were nine and 13.

Two weeks ago the former fairground worker was controversially cleared of child-sex offences.

He was ordered to remain on the sex offenders’ register, which monitors the whereabouts of paedophiles, but started living rough in a van.

Police arrested Robinson at his sister’s house on Monday and charged him with failing to comply with the terms of the sex offenders’ register.

Robinson, who denies the charge, was bailed by magistrates to his daughter’s Tameside address, despite concerns from prosecution lawyers that he might strike again.

The ruling means he will live near “umpteen schools” and a public park where children play.

Prosecutor Bill Mutch said: “It is a totally unsuitable address. Robinson has always challenged his requirement to sign the sex offenders’ register, claiming it wasn’t in force at the time he was convicted. He is a high risk repeat offender.”

Following the bail ruling, Michele Elliot, director of child protection charity Kidscape said: “The court’s decision is absurd — this man should be in prison.

“The sex offenders’ register was brought in to ensure this sort of thing doesn’t happen. I wonder how the magistrates would feel if he was living next door to them.”

In 1994 Robinson was jailed for 10 years at Manchester Crown Court, convicted of raping the sisters in the 1980s. He threatened them with a knife and said he would kill them if they told anyone of their ordeals.

He was released after 61/2 years and befriended children near his former home on St George’s Street, Stalybridge. He even took a bouncy castle to fairs and fetes.

He was arrested in December, 2001, after a boy and girl, both 14, complained to police, but was later cleared of gross indecency and an indecent assault.

In court, Robinson claimed he wants to live with his sister, but she had suffered damage to her property.

He will face trial by magistrates next year and must abide by a 6pm to 6am curfew and report to police daily.
 

Basildon, Maldon: Man, 72, jailed for assault on girls

A pensioner has been jailed for 30 months for indecently assaulting young girls.

Harry Addison, 72, had denied seven indecent assaults, dating back more than 40 years, but was convicted on six charges after a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court last month.

Apart from the jail term, Addison was put on the sex offenders' register for life when he appeared in court for sentence on Friday.

The trial heard how the allegations dated back to the 1950s but it was only this year when the matters came to light in a letter written by one of the girls.

Addison, of Louth, Lincolnshire, indecently assaulted the four girls, who were aged between six and 13 at the time.

Amanda Rippon, prosecuting, said the first assault took place between 1957 and 1959, with the last one in August, 1992.

The jury of ten men and two women heard the assaults took place in the Maldon, Basildon and Lincolnshire areas.

Addison claimed there had never been any improper behaviour between him and the girls

Addison told the jury: "It's nonsense. What they are saying is not true. It never happened."
 

I'm disgusted, sex attack victim says

A WOMAN who was indecently assaulted by her stepfather when she was a teenager has slammed a court's decision not to send him to prison.

Michelle Lord, who runs the Plane Tree Hotel in Burnley, was assaulted by Keith Lewis three times at his home in Sandford-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, more than 20 years ago.

She hoped he would be sent to prison after pleading guilty to indecent assault and attempted indecent assault by Oxford magistrates in November.

But Lewis, now 63, was given a three-year community rehabilitation order at Oxford Crown Court last week, on the condition that he takes part in the Thames Valley Sex Offenders' Programme.

His name will also be included on the Sex Offenders' Register for five years.

Miss Lord, 37, who was 13 at the time of the first offence, waived her right to anonymity as a victim of indecent assault after she heard the sentence.

She said: "I'm disgusted. They should have locked him up and thrown away the key for what he did to me. He's denied it for years and my mother believed him.

"I've had absolutely no support throughout this from any of my family, apart from my sister. It's been hard to come to terms with but I've managed to build a happy life. It's made me more determined to fight for justice."

Miss Lord said the first offence happened a year after her mother married Lewis 25 years ago. Lewis moved with her mother to Sandford-on-Thames from Banbury, where he had lived for 30 years.

Michelle lived with her father in Burnley but visited their home each Christmas and during school holidays.

She said she came forward and spoke out about the charge in case there were other victims.

She said: "I'm appealing for any other victims to contact the police. Men like this should not be allowed to walk free. There's no need for people to be scared. They need to speak out."

But Miss Lord's mother Christine said she feared for her husband's safety because of reprisal attacks and believes he has already suffered a 25-year sentence.

Mrs Lewis said: "Keith made a big mistake. He's paid for it. He's admitted it. I'm not saying what he did was right and I will never forgive him for it. But he's served his sentence of 25 years of feeling guilty."

Mrs Lewis told friends she was distraught after her daughter appealed for other victims to come forward.

She said: "I feel terribly sorry for Keith that people just may think that he would do anything like that to anyone else. I'm frightened that they will turn against him. I'm frightened in every way possible."