March 2021

Dangerous paedophile spotted roaming Brough streets after serving prison term

A dangerous paedophile who served jail time for grooming a teenage girl and having sex with her in the back of his van has been spotted back in his home town.

Matthew Kelsey pretended to be a teenager to gain the trust of his victim – who was just 14-years-old at the time – before having sex with her.

Having plied her with presents and calling her “Pumpkin” and “Princess”, he coaxed her into the back of his black that he had fitted out with a rug and bed.

He had sex with her twice, Falkirk Sheriff Court heard in September before he was sent down.

He pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with the girl, who could not be named for legal reasons, and sending her sexual communications

He was slapped with a two-year jail term, as well as an 18-month extended sentence, during which time he could be returned to custody if he re-offended.

Kelsey was also placed him on the sex offenders’ register. However, residents in Brough say Kelsey is now back living in the area.

He had been caught out when the besotted girl, who lived in Scotland, told her mum what she believed was the truth – that Kelsey was a 19-year-old called Alan Thomas.

Her mum contacted the police in Scotland, the place where the offences took place.

The court heard Kelsey first made contact with the girl through Facebook Messenger in March 2019, and before long they were messaging each other several times a day.

Ronnie Hay, prosecuting, said: “They discussed their lives and he said he was depressed and wanted to kill himself.

“The girl told him not to do it, that she was also depressed due to being bullied at school, and often self-harmed.

“He told her often that she was beautiful and amazing and she was the only person in the world who could make him happy.

“She sometimes referred to him as ‘Dad’.”

After role-playing sex on Facebook with the girl, he met her for the first time in August 2019, driving up to Cowie, Stirlingshire.

Mr Hay said: “They sat on a bench and he hugged her and whispered in her ear that she had a lovely body.

“He told her he loved her and gave her a silver-gold bracelet with an inscription referring to her as his ‘queen’.”

A few days later he coaxed her into his van because it was raining, and they sat down on the bed where he gave her a rose before touching indecently and days later turned up in his van again, and she agreed to let him have sex with her.

The court heard Kelsey had sex with the girl twice and on neither occasion did he wear a condom.

He was arrested in January after the girl’s mother demanded to meet him.

When she did, she instantly realised he was not a young teenager, and phoned Police Scotland.

Humberside Police later forced entry to his home and arrested him

During the sentencing last September, the court heard that the girl had since had trouble sleeping, and had suicidal thoughts.

Kelsey appeared by video link from Low Moss Prison, where he had been on remand since his arrest. However, he is now believed to be walking free.

The court also heard that Kelsey was convicted in 2012 of inciting a girl under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity – at the time he was working as a piano teacher and he picked up a girl pupil in his vehicle and kissed her on the mouth.

For that offence, which he pleaded guilty to, he was placed under supervision for 24 months.

A Brough paedophile who travelled 270 miles to Scotland to have sex with a schoolgirl is set to be sentenced next week.

Matthew Kelsey, 32, repeatedly drove over 270 miles from East Yorkshire to meet the vulnerable youngster near a Stirlingshire primary school.

Kelsey groomed his victim and lured her into his van, which was fitted out with a rug and bed, and had sex with her twice

The car company owner avoided jail eight years ago after grooming another schoolgirl in the East Riding.

He was handed a community order at Hull Crown Court after the parents of the girl, 13, made a plea for mercy.

He had taught the girl piano and then groomed her online, sending each other sexually explicit messages.

At the time, the judge said: “You are remorseful and I take the view this was isolated behaviour on your part and behaviour that is not going to be repeated.”

Alas, those words proved unfounded after he pleaded guilty to having sexual intercourse with child and sending her sexual communications. The offences were committed between March 2019 and January 2020.

The court in Scotland heard that the schoolgirl believed Kelsey was a 19-year-old called Alan Thomas.

Kelsey first made contact with the girl through Facebook Messenger in March 2019, and before long they were messaging each other several times a day

After role-playing sex on Facebook with the girl, he met her for the first time in August 2019, driving up to Cowie, Stirlingshire, where the offences took place.

The court heard that they sat on a bench in the grounds of Cowie Primary School and he hugged her and whispered in her ear that she had a lovely body.

A few days later he coaxed her into his van because it was raining and she agreed to let him have sex with her. Mr Hay said Kelsey had sex with the girl twice and on neither occasion did he wear a condom.

In January 2020 the girl told her mother Kelsey was visiting her that day, and her mother said she wanted to meet him. The girl had told her mother Kelsey was 15.

But when she met Kelsey the mother was shocked and said ‘he’s not 15’ but Kelsey insisted he was.

The girl’s mother was uneasy and phoned her daughter who told her Kelsey was 19, and the mother instructed her daughter to return home.

Kelsey then gave the girl a bag of presents and a cuddly toy and “left abruptly”

The girl told her mother shortly after that she and Kelsey had sex.

The mother phoned police and Humberside Police arrested him.

Kelsey confessed he had created a false Facebook profile in the name of Alan Thomas, which he had used to communicate with the girl.

The court heard that the girl had since had trouble sleeping, and suicidal thoughts.

Unmarried Kelsey appeared by video link from Low Moss Prison, East Dunbartonshire, where he has been on remand since his arrest.

Placing Kelsey on the sex offenders’ register and continuing Kelsey’s remand, Sheriff Simon Collins QC said: “This is plainly a case where reports will be required.” He will be sentenced on September 1.

October 2012

Piano teacher, 24, who groomed 13-year-old girl with sex texts and Facebook messages is spared jail after plea from HER parents

A piano teacher who bombarded a 13-year-old girl with sex texts has been spared jail after a plea from her parents for mercy.

Matthew Mark Kelsey, 24, has been given a community order for sending explicit texts and e-mails to the girl after her mother made a tearful appeal for him to be spared prison.

Speaking at Hull Crown Court yesterday, the mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wept: ‘She doesn’t support this. She hates me and her dad for causing all this.’

Kelsey, from Elloughton, East Yorks, had taught the girl to play piano before befriending her on Facebook.

They began sending each other explicit e-mails and texts. The court heard they eventually arranged to meet in his car around the corner from her East Riding school, where Kelsey kissed her.

The girl’s parents later discovered the messages and called the police however, the court heard they did not want him to be jailed.

Prosecutor Nick Adlington said: ‘The defendant had been her piano teacher.

‘He established contact with her when she started a Facebook account.

‘The contact on Facebook developed from low-key, general conversation and pleasantries.

‘She said she had a crush on someone older. He told her age was “just a number” if two people like each other.

‘He suggested she could visit him at his home and tell her family she was going to stay with friends. He told her she should be careful and not tell anyone of their relationship.

‘He also asked her if he could kiss her when they met and her response was affirmative.

‘There is then a thread of sexually explicit comments.’

The girl’s mother asked the judge in the case not to jail Kelsey and said she hoped her daughter would not meet him again in secret.

She said: ‘I hope she won’t. I’m not going to lie, I just don’t know. I didn’t even know she did Facebook.’

Mr Adlington said the attitude of the girl’s parents towards Kelsey was ‘extremely charitable’.

He said: ‘They have made it clear they are saddened it has gone to court and have no desire to see him receive a custodial sentence.’

Kelsey pleaded guilty to causing a child under the age of 16 to engage in sexual activity

Judge Mark Bury told him: ‘You are 24 years old, although I suspect you are a lot less emotionally.

‘You got involved with a younger girl whom you met when you had a professional relationship.

‘You began texting her and messaging her on Facebook over innocuous matters and then it became more personal. 

‘Then you were essentially talking about having a sexual relationship with her. You are remorseful and I take the view this was isolated behaviour on your part and behaviour that is not going to be repeated.

‘Both your parents and the parents of the girl are sympathetic and supportive of you, which says something about you as a person.

‘In all the circumstances it doesn’t seem to me to be necessary or appropriate to send you to custody.’

The judge did, however, warn Kelsey he faces a prison sentence if he is caught doing the same thing again.

Judge Bury told him: ‘You have a lot of offer society in general and I take the view this is an isolated lapse due to your own difficult personal circumstances. 

‘If any harm had come to her the sentence would have been different.’

Kelsey was sentenced to a two-year supervised community order and ordered to attend a sex offenders’ treatment programme.

He was also given a five-year restraining order not to contact the child by phone or Facebook or go within 100 metres of her.

Kelsey must sign the sex offenders’ register for five years.