September 2016

Derby man’s ‘shame’ after asking underage girl to send ‘sexy pictures’

A pervert dad who sent pictures of his genitals to an underage girl he contacted on the internet asked her to send ‘sexy pictures’ of herself.

Michael Siviter contacted the girl who told him she was 15 by adding her on Facebook.

The 22-year-old and the girl also chatted via BlackBerry Messenger and he asked her how old she was.

David Outterside, who was prosecuting the case against him at Derby Crown Court, said the girl said she “was turning 16”. In fact, she was 14.

Mr Outterside said: “The defendant then went on to say, ‘are you going to send me some sexy pictures whilst you undress?'”

The court heard Siviter, of Somersall Close, Shelton Lock, also “made comments about the size of her bottom” during the exchanges which took place last year.

Mr Outterside added: “He asked her, have you been with a white boy before? She said, yes lots. He then sent a picture of his genitals.”

He told the court the defendant also asked her to send pictures of her private parts.

He sent another picture of his penis and asked her again to send photos of herself.

The messages were then seen by somebody who contacted the police.

Siviter was interviewed by officers and entered a guilty plea at court when faced with the charge of attempting to cause/incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity.

Jonathan Hullis, for Sivitter, said his client was “disgusted and ashamed” with himself.

He said Siviter’s phone had been anaylsed by officers as part of the investigation but they had found nothing incriminating.

He added: “This was very much out of character. The victim was 14, she had told the defendant she was almost 16. Nothing would have caused the defendant to have disputed that.” He said: “He wants to get back to his normal, boring life.”

Recorder Adrian Redgrave said it was a “one-off offence” and that Siviter had no previous convictions.

He handed him a three-year community order and ordered him to do 50 hours of unpaid work within the next 12 months. He is also subjected to a sexual prevention order for five years.

October 2016

Paedophile caught with 100’s of child sex abuse videos spared jail

A paedophile found with hundreds of vile videos of child sex abuse has been spared jail because he wants to start a family.

Warped Richard Arrowsmith faced five years in jail after thousands of sick images and 400 Category A videos – the worst kind possible – were found on his computer.

But the 41-year-old was let-off with a suspended sentence after telling a judge he wanted to become a dad.

Recorder Martin Butterworth told Arrowsmith: “These are not victimless crimes, they encourage serious abuse of sometimes very young children.”

Yet he said he was taking into consideration his previous good character, the fact he has a wife who supports him and that he is in steady employment.

Arrowsmith was arrested after police received a tip off in February that an IP address linked to his Sky account was used to download the depraved pictures.

Officers executed a warrant at his home and seized a computer, external hard drive, laptop, mobile phone and USB sticks on April 19 this year.

A court heard a police computerised scanning system flagged up at least 10,000 indecent images and videos on the devices.

But a large number couldn’t be categorised due to the sheer amount of movies and pictures – including 4,336 videos and 137,000 images.

Arrowsmith, of Church Gresley, Derbyshire, pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images and videos of children when he appeared at Derby Crown Court today.

But he was spared jail after a judge heard he was hoping to start a family with his wife who was still supporting him.

Sentencing Arrowsmith to 10 months in prison, suspended for two years, Recorder Butterworth, said: “You are 41-years-old, with no previous convictions and you pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

“There are three charges against you in relation to the possession of indecent images of children.

“I am taking into consideration your previous good character, you have a wife who supports you, a steady employment and your hopes to start a family in the near future.

“These are not victimless crimes, they encourage serious abuse of sometimes very young children.

“You were less than honest about the nature of the images.”

Arrowsmith was ordered to pay £250 costs and carry out 160 hours of unpaid work as well as being made the subject of a curfew restricting him from leaving his house between 7pm and 5am.

He is also banned from working with children and was ordered to sign the sexual offenders register.

The court heard police found 400 videos in Category A, which is the worst, with another 255 films in Category B and 186 films and 851 images in Category C.

Overall there were 1,692 movies and images ranging from Category A to C as well as the 4,336 videos and 137,000 images that remained uncategorised.

After he was arrested Arrowsmith admitted to viewing and downloading indecent images of children for “four or so years”.

October 2016

Evil rapist ‘may have victims across the Midlands’

An evil rapist jailed for a string of sex attacks on a teenager may have struck across the Midlands.

John Peart terrorised the victim with a catalogue of assaults which began when she was just 14.

He was jailed for 19 years after being convicted of seven counts of rape and indecent assault.

Now detectives are investigating whether Peart – who moved across the region – had other victims who had not yet been traced.

Investigating officer, Det Con Neil Powell, said: “Peart has lived in Derby, Loughborough, Staffordshire and Birmingham.

“I cannot rule out the possibility that he has offended against other people.

“If anyone has suffered at Peart’s hands, I’d urge them to contact me so we can investigate.”

Peart, 54, attacked the female – now 28 – at addresses in Derby, Loughborough and Handsworth between 2002 and 2007.

He first struck after forcing the girl into the downstairs toilet of a property in Loughborough, but the attacks continued for years.

The victim did not reveal details of her ordeal until 2013 when she confided in a nursery support worker.

West Midlands Police took up the case and arrested Peart in January 2014.

He denied the allegations but detectives from the force’s Public Protection Unit worked with the woman to build a detailed account of the offences.

Peart was jailed at Birmingham Crown Court on September 28.

October 2016

Pervert had indecent images of girls as young as five

A pervert who was caught with indecent images of children as young as FIVE engaged in sexual activity with adults has been spared a prison term.

Andrew Baigent’s computer contained moving pictures and photographs a judge said “would have put young children in considerable pain and distress”.

More than 100 of the films and photographs were in the most serious category A and further analysis found another 132 extreme pornographic images that contained adults and animals engaging in sexual activity.

Analysis of his computer and a disc drive discovered a total of 863 indecent or extreme pornographic images.

And when police knocked on the 30-year-old’s door and asked him why he thought they might be there he answered “I might as well fess up”.

Handing him a three-year community order, which involves him spending time being rehabilitated, Recorder Nicholas Syfret QC said: “Behind every image there is a real human being and what has been described to the court must have involved very young children in extreme distress.

“Only somebody that is completely desensitised to human suffering will not appreciate that.

“There are young children, very young and that’s an aggravating feature.

“Any child having what has been described to the court done to them is going to suffer considerable pain and distress.”

Gregor Purcell, prosecuting at Derby Crown Court said police were alerted to online activity that Baigent’s IP (internet protocol) address had downloaded indecent images of children and they carried out a warrant at his home.

Mr Purcell said: “When he was asked the reason for why they had come to be at his address he said ‘I might as well ‘fess up’.

“A number of devices were seized and analysed and across a computer and disc drive there were a total of 126 (of the most serious) category A moving pictures and images, 87 category B, 518 category C and 132 extreme pornographic images involving sexual activity with animals, although those did not involve children.

Mr Purcell said Baigent was arrested and in interview admitted he had been looking at indecent images of children for around a year since the breakdown of a relationship.

He pleaded guilty to possessing indecent images and extreme pornographic images between April 2014 and April 2015.

David Watts, for Baigent, said his client, of Spring Close, Renishaw, has worked for a high street electrical retailer for around 10 years and his job did not involve him coming into direct contact with children.

He said: “He made full and frank admissions, pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and there is genuine remorse.

“These offences are now 18 months old and he has had the worry of custody hanging over him for that time.”

As part of his community order, Baigent will have to take part in group sex offenders’ rehabilitation work.

Recorder Syfret QC also handed him a sexual harm prevention order, ordered him to pay £1,200 costs and he ordered him to sign the sex offenders’ register.

October 2016

Derby pervert sent sex messages to ‘teenage girl’ who was in fact a police officer

A pervert was snared after he sent sexual messages to someone he believed was a teenage girl but was in fact a police officer.

At the time, James Lowrey was awaiting sentence for contacting a real girl. In the latest offence, Lowrey believed the person he was messaging on Kik and Skype was a 14-year-old girl with the user name Lala Lauren, heard Derby Crown Court.

In his messages he said he was the owner of a construction firm and he owned a Porsche and asked if the girl wanted to lose her virginity.

He stated sexual things he wanted to do to the girl and also sent a picture of his genitals. At one point he talked about making the girl his wife and the response he got was: “What does a wife do?” Lowrey replied: “Cook, clean, oh and sex.”

Jailing Lowrey, 41, of Brindley Court, Allenton, for four years for the latest offence, Judge Jonathan Bennett said: “(The offence) related to conversations with a young girl, as it turned out this was not a real girl.

“Very early on in the conversation she told you she was 14, you told her you were 30. You tried to impress her with your job and your vehicle. There were sexual conversations over a number of occasions where you were clearly trying to groom her.

“It became clear to you after a while that she was vulnerable. Her parents were separated. She lived with her father. Her mother had an alcohol problem.”

Lowrey admitted attempting to facilitate contact with a child between November 25 and December 17 and breaching a sexual offences prevention order.

The court heard that in 2008, Lowrey was jailed for six years for grooming and meeting a 13-year-old girl. He was then given a suspended sentence for having a “huge number of indecent photographs”.

In October he pleaded guilty to contacting a 13-year-old girl and taking photographs up someone’s skirt on public transport.

Before he was sentenced for this he committed the latest offence. In December he was sentenced to 12 months in prison from which he was released in June.

Judge Bennett told Lowrey that after two years of serving this latest sentence he would be referred to the parole board which would decide whether it was safe to release him. However he will be released from jail after no more than four years.

Following the four years, Lowrey will be on licence for another three years. He will be subject to a sexual offences prevention order indefinitely.

October 2016

Derbyshire man had 27,000 indecent images of children, some as young as 10, on his computer

A Derbyshire pervert has been slammed by a judge for keeping a “dark secret for 10 years or more.”

Derby Crown Court heard how Peter Grass had more than 27,000 indecent images of children at his address.

The 44-year-old had been downloading and viewing movies and stills of girls and boys as young as 10.

The court was told of the 4,500 he was eventually charged with possessing, more than 400 were of the most serious Category A and showed the victims “in clear distress.”

They included young girls engaging in sexual activity with both underage boys and adults and scenes of sadomasochism.

When Grass was arrested, he admitted he had an interest in paedophilia.

But Recorder Peter Cooke spared him jail believing that an intensive three-year community order and treatment programme would be more “in the public interest” than sending him to prison.

Recorder Cooke said: “You have been looking at this filth for more than a decade and this is a bad case because it is a large number of category A films and images.

“You were unusually candid saying that you have these paedophilic tendencies and that you were using [the images] them for pornographic stimulation.

“But there is no evidence you distributed any of them or went on to commit any offences involving contact [contacting young children].

“It has been your dark secret for 10 years or more and this community order I am handing you, certain sections of the public will struggle to understand, given what you have done.

“But my greatest responsibility is to ensure that you do not come back before the courts again.”

Abu Joyce, prosecuting, said police issued a warrant to search Grass’s address where they seized a number of electronic devices including a data storage unit, a computer and a Samsung mobile phone.

She said they started analysing the computer first and discovered the huge amount of indecent images.

Miss Joyce said: “He has been doing this secretly for a decade.

“On that computer alone there were in excess of 27,000 illegal images which could not be individually categorised because of the sheer volume they found.

“Having found that on just one of the devices the decision was taken not to analyse each and every device.”

In total, Grass was charged with possessing 419 Category A images and films, 799 Category B images and movies and 3,357 of Category C, the least serious.

Grass pleaded guilty to all three charges, which dated from September 5, 2005 to December 16, 2015.

Kelly Shooter, mitigating for Grass, said her client had made “open and candid admissions” both to the police and through his guilty pleas.

She said: “A long community order will allow him to openly get the help that he does want.”

Recorder Cooke handed Grass, of Burns Road, Grassmoor, Chesterfield, a three-year community order, ordered him to sign the sex offenders register and handed him a sexual harm prevention order.

October 2016

Pervert (36) fantasised about raping children

A Derby pervert had more than 500 indecent images of children on his computer and shared sick web chats saying how he “wanted to rape children”, a court was told.

Daniel Thomas lived a “sad and solitary life” which caused him to “fall prey to the darker reaches of the internet” by searching for the images, Derby Crown Court was told.

Raglan Ashton, prosecuting, read out some of the web chat exchanges the 36-year-old had with another internet user. In them he was asked “have you raped a boy?” to which he replied “no, but I might do”.

And, when asked how young his potential victim would be, Thomas wrote back saying “the younger the better”.

Mr Ashton said officers discovered a total of 544 indecent images of children when they swooped on Thomas’s home in Parker Street, Derby, 138 of which were the most serious category A.

And he said a further 98 “extreme” pornographic pictured were also found which featured adult men and women having sex with animals.

Mr Ashton said: “Analysis showed he had used search terms such as ‘boy sex with animal’ and ‘boy and girl sex’.

“The children in the images ranged from 10 to early teens but the reason why the defendant came to the attention of the authorities was chat logs he had been engaged in.

“They contained graphic and very explicit talk which the Crown say were pretty disturbing.

“He was talking on incessantly about fantasies that revealed a disturbing background and insight into this man.”

Mr Ashton said Thomas was arrested and, when he was asked in his interview by detectives about the web chat in which he talked about raping children, he said it was “a wind up’.”

Thomas pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images and one of possessing extreme pornography.

Nothing was mentioned about any prosecutions on the second man with whom Thomas was engaging in the web chats.

Samina Rashid, for Thomas, said: “He does not make excuses for his behaviour but he has had a very difficult year during this period.

“He lost a very close friend he had known since childhood and watched him deteriorate through illness which made him very depressed himself.”

Handing Thomas a three-year community order, Judge Peter Cooke said: “I do not say this as an insult but you appear to be someone that leads a sad and solitary life and you have fallen prey to the darker reaches of the internet.

“This is two men perverted by the material they have viewed indulging each other in an orgy of fantasy they were not going to re-enact.”

As well as the community order, which will see him take part in regular community sex offender group work to address his offending, Thomas was handed a five-year sexual harm prevention order and has had to sign the sex offenders register.

November 2016

Derby man jailed for sexually assaulting young girl

A 27-year-old man who sexually assaulted a young girl has been jailed for almost two years.

Michael Dunmore reached under the girl’s clothes to indecently touch her at a house in Normanton.

Dunmore, of Pear Tree Street, Derby, had been drunk at the time, heard Derby Crown Court.

He was found guilty, by a jury, of sexually assaulting a girl under 13 years of age.

Jailing him for 22 months, Judge Nirmal Shant QC said: “In this case you’ve involved yourself in activity which, having heard the trial, I have no doubt was due to the large amount of drink you consumed on that day, and it was an isolated incident.

“Having said that, if you can behave in this way in drink you do present a risk to both male and female children. You touched her under clothing and to a large extent what has caused this is drink, which is not an excuse but gives some explanation of why this happened.”

Dunmore must sign the sexual offenders’ register for 10 years and must obey a sexual harm prevention order indefinitely. Judge Shant told him it was “highly likely” that he would be barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.

November 2016

Internet sex offender with indecent photos is spared from jail

An internet sex offender has been given a suspended prison sentence after he was caught during a police operation for distributing and making indecent photos of children.

Derby Crown Court recently heard how John Carnall, 67, of Leabrooks Road, Somercotes, Alfreton, was snared by Greater Manchester Police during an operation that targeted people using the internet for sexual offences.

Prosecuting solicitor Robert Carr told a previous hearing at Chesterfield magistrates’ court that these offences came to light as part of a Greater Manchester Police operation and included evidence of people making images of children and making them available to others over the internet by a peer-to-peer network.

This police investigation led to an address, according to Mr Carr, which was visited by police in February and Carnall was there and he made admissions to police of being responsible for these images.

Mr Carr added that police inspected Carnall’s computer equipment and discovered 28 category A images, 13 category B images and 63 category C images of children including 21 movies.

Carnall accepted to police that he had used a laptop and no one else but him had downloaded any of the images concerned to the network.

The defendant also told police he had shared some of these images and he had been downloading these images for some time.

Carnall pleaded guilty to distributing an indecent photo at Leabrooks Road between December 17, 2013 and February 3, 2016.

He also admitted three counts of making indecent photos at Leabrooks Road between the same dates concerning the 28 category A images, the 13 category B images and the 63 category C images.

Mr Carr had said the defendant accepted it had been going on for over about six years and he was disgusted with himself and realised what he had done was wrong.

District Judge Andrew Davison committed Carnall’s case from Chesterfield magistrates’ court to Derby Crown Court for sentencing.

Carnall was given a six-month custodial sentence suspended for 24 months providing he commits no further offences in the next two years.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years and he was banned from working with children.

Carnall was also ordered to pay £200 costs and an £80 victim surcharge.

November 2016

Convicted killer is jailed for 12 years after raping child

A convicted killer who burnt his girlfriend to death has now been jailed for 12 years for raping a child in Derbyshire.

Anthony Frost, jailed in 2004 for 10 years for manslaughter and arson, has now been convicted of sickening sex crimes against two young girls during the 1980s.

Frost forced himself on a teenage girl, put his hands around the back of her neck and pulled down her trousers and her underwear and raped her, Derby Crown Court was told.

The 57-year-old also sexually assaulted another girl, who was aged under 10 at the time.

The court heard that the teenager was raped by Frost in the late 1980s in Holbrook but that she was “still haunted” by him and still “wakes up crying” almost 30 years after it took place.

His second victim was “a likeable and innocent little girl who he took his disgusting sexual needs out on”.

The attacks took place in Holbrook in the late 1980s and early 1990s – before Frost, then of Park Road, Belper, was jailed in 2004 for 10 years for manslaughter and arson.

The hearing was told how in that case he pushed a burning bag through the letterbox of his former partner’s Belper home after he dialled a wrong number, heard a man’s voice and thought that she had found a new lover.

The house set on fire and 33-year-old Sarah Jane Dudley, a mother-of-two, was heard screaming as she became trapped in a bedroom. She died from the effects of smoke inhalation.

Stephen Kemp, prosecuting the rape and sexual assault case today at Derby Crown Court, said the two victims decided to come forward to police in 2015 after they both discovered they had been sex victims of Frost.

Frost, now of Elizabeth Walk, Northampton, pleaded guilty to one count of raping a child and another of sexually abusing a child.

Sentencing Frost, Judge Robert Egbuna said of the attack on the younger girl: “This was a dreadful thing to do a young girl, she was a child and you chose to gratify yourself with her.

“You heard what the reaction was (to the other victim). She says the whole set of circumstances have been a nightmare for her and she wakes up still recording the events that happened to her when she was a young girl.”

November 2016

Paedophile admits sexually abusing boys and grooming children online

A paedophile who sexually abused two boys and groomed others online has appeared in court.

Ross Michael Patman (31), admitted a series of offences against youngsters and distributing child pornography.

At Leicester Crown Court, Patman, formerly of Coalville, but recently of Mercia Court, Repton, Derby, pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual activity with a boy under 16, between June and December 2011.

He admitted two counts of sexually assaulting a boy under 13 and causing or inciting the same child to engage in sexual activity, between January and December 2015.

Patman further admitted a specimen count of causing or inciting several other children under 13 to engage in sexual activity, between January 22 and 28 this year.

He pleaded guilty to three counts of distributing child sexual abuse images, relating to four indecent images in the most serious bracket, category A, 26 in category B and 16 in category C.

Patman admitted three counts of accessing child pornography on the internet, relating to 163 images in category A, 505 in category B and 351 in category C.

The defendant further admitted three offences of causing or inciting a 10-year-old boy to engage in sexual activity, via the internet, between October 3 and 10 this year.

The case was adjourned until December 12, for the preparation of a pre-sentence report, which will address the issue of “dangerousness,” the court was told.

Patman was remanded back into custody.

December 2016

Man, 62, admits making indecent images of children in Burton over nine years

A 62-year-old Derby man has been made to sign the sex offenders’ register after he admitted making 38 indecent images of children in Burton over nine years.

Brian McNeice has appeared at Derby Crown Court after he previously pleaded guilty to making 16 category A rated indecent images of children, 17 category B rated and five category C rated, all in Burton between December 30, 2007 and July 7, 2016.

McNeice, of Byron Street, Derby, was made the subject of a three-year community order with supervision and will appear on the sex offenders’ register for five years.

December 2016

Paedophile raped girl in Derbyshire – when she was just SIX

A “disturbed” paedophile raped a girl when she was just six years old.

As well as raping her, John Madin also sexually assaulted the girl on 10 occasions, Derby Crown Court heard.

Clive Stockwell, prosecuting, said the now 63-year-old first rubbed the victim’s chest and then progressed to sexually abusing her over her clothes and then under her clothes before raping her in the mid-1980s in Derbyshire.

He said the victim kept the rape and abuse secret until she told her family and then her GP – but the authorities were not alerted.

The victim finally went to the police last year after confiding to her counsellor what had taken place more than 30 years ago.

Jailing Madin, now of Ferrier Bank, Warton, Preston, Lancashire, for 10 years, Judge Jonathan Bennett said: “There are some elements of what I have read about you that seriously disturb me.

“I have read your pre-sentence report and you do not seem to fully understand why you are here because you have apologised and made an out of court settlement.

“That shows a total lack of understanding of the effect of what you did has had on your victim. This was a vulnerable child, a little girl with difficulties and you took advantage of that.

“You even suggest that she was doing this deliberately and that she was sexually active. She was six. You have some very disturbed thinking and you pose a high risk.” 

Mr Stockwell said the offending took place in the mid-1980s.

He said: “He showed her affection which started with kissing and cuddling and then progressed to stroking her chest and then stroking her sexually over and under clothing. She told her family and her GP when she was around 16 but this was not pursued.

“The defendant had a sum of money that he used to bribe or compensate her for what he had done. But she continued to struggle to cope over the years and he was arrested after she disclosed what had happened to a counsellor.”

Madin was arrested and gave “no comment” answers to questions put to him.

He was charged and pleaded guilty to the rape of a child and 10 other counts of sexually abusing the girl.

Michelle Brown, defending Madin, said her client committed the offences “when he was a much younger man”.

She said: “There is little mitigation is such cases. He accepts he was looking for love and affection and appreciates he took it too far.

“It is right to say that the defendant became a Jehovah’s witness in 2011 and there is no suggestion there has been any other offending of this nature over the past 30 years.

“His strongest mitigation is that he pleaded guilty to what he did at the earliest opportunity.”

Derbyshire police were unable to supply a custody photograph of Madin.

January 2017

Man caught with indecent photos of children could be jailed

A man who was caught with hundreds of indecent photos of children is due to be sentenced.

Derby Crown Court heard on Wednesday, January 4, how Gerold Downs, 61, of Springfield Avenue, Shirebrook, pleaded guilty to five counts involving possessing indecent images and a prohibited image and extreme pornography.

Defence barrister David Webster said Downs is of previous good character and entered an early guilty plea to the offences and he suffers with significant physical problems.

However, Judge Robert Egbuna told the court that custody cannot be ruled out as a sentencing option despite Downs’ physical difficulties.

Downs pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent photos of a child for show from between October 2012 and March 2016 involving 146 category A photos, 67 category B photos and 245 category C photos with a view to distribution.

He also pleaded guilty to possessing a prohibited image of a child from between October 2012 and March 2016 and pleaded guilty to possessing extreme pornography during the same dates involving an animal.

Judge Egbuna adjourned the case until February 9 when Downs must attend Ripley police station to be sentenced by the court via a link.

Downs was granted bail in the meantime and was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register before he is due to be sentenced on February 9.