December 2020

Rapist sentenced for multiple offences

A man who raped a teenage girl and also had underage sex with another teenager has been sent to prison for a total of 12 and a half years and will be on the sex offenders register for life.

Lee Banks, 27, raped the victim a total of four times, two of them as she lay asleep, and when he appeared at Taunton Crown Court for sentence the judge, recorder Richard Shepherd said that he had shown himself to be a “manipulator.”

Banks, of Ditton Street in Ilminster, pleaded guilty to a further charge of penetrative sexual activity with an under-age teenager.

All of the offences of which Banks was convicted took place in Yeovil in 2018.

A pre-sentence report prepared by the probation service concluded that Banks was drawn to younger girls

In sentencing Banks, Recorder Shepherd said that the victim of the rapes was emotionally vulnerable.

He said: “You are a manipulator and the rapes need to be seen like a man in his twenties exploiting and controlling a girl.

“Two of the offences involved you having sex with her while she was asleep.

“On the other two occasions you made it clear you wanted sex but she made it crystal clear she didn’t.”

He added: “These were not cases where there was simply a lack of consent, but where she positively did not consent.

“You wanted sex, and you were going to have sex, whatever she said or did.”

He said the offence involving the under-age girl occurred when he was 24.

November 2020

Bridgwater pensioner found with more than 12,000 indecent pictures of young children walks free

A Bridgwater pensioner who was found with more than 12,000 indecent pictures of young children has walked free from court with a suspended prison sentence.

Michael Foster had a visit from bailiffs who had come to his property to seize items in lieu of debts when they made the shocking discovery.

They found the place littered with indecent printed photographs of children aged as young as six, and when the police were alerted they discovered thousands of images had been downloaded on internet devices.

Among the haul they also came across extreme pornographic photographs involving humans and animals along with a number of stories that the defendant had penned himself, detailing indecent acts with youngsters.

He was arrested and confessed he had been downloading child porn for around 10 years after first buying a book while visiting Amsterdam.

When he appeared in the dock at Taunton Crown Court, Judge Paul Cook said that although the images “disclosed a lamentable and tragic record of abuse which was sickening and disturbing” he believed the defendant’s risk of re-offending could be managed in the community.

He sentenced Foster to a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, along with a community order with 45 Rehabilitation Activity Days and a requirement to attend the accredited sex offenders’ programme.

He also imposed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order where Foster will be subject to a number of stringent conditions including being prohibited from owning or using any device that accesses the internet unless it can retain the browsing history; must not delete any browsing history and must make all devices available for inspection when requested by the police.

Foster, 70, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children between September 4, 2009 and February 15, 2019.

He also admitted further allegations of possession of indecent images of children and possession of extreme images of pornography involving images that were grossly offensive, disgusting or otherwise of an obscene character involving a person performing sexual acts with animals.

Dominik Morton, prosecuting, said that bailiffs attended the defendant’s address on February 16 last year due to missed mortgage payments and were in the process of repossessing the property.

“The bailiffs were given access and discovered a number of indecent images of children in paper format around the property, so notified the estate agent who called the police,” he said.

“Officers attended and seized a number of electronic devices, six USB sticks, two laptops, two computer towers and one hard drive which were forensically examined and found to contain thousands of images.”

The images discovered comprised 3,725 in the most serious category A, of which 693 were unique and the remaining were duplicate copies.

There were also 5,935 in category B, of which 1,082 were unique and 3,011 in category C, of which 684 were unique and three images of extreme pornography.

Mr Morton said there were also a large number of folders found around the property containing indecent images and stories involving young boys engaged in sexual acts.

He added that there were a large number of aggravating features in the case due to the age and vulnerability of the victims involved, the period of time that the offences were committed, and the high volume of images recovered.

In delivering his sentence, Judge Cook told Foster that his interest in child sexual offending was demonstrated by the stories he had written.

He said the defendant had “demonstrated some insight” and appreciated that his offending was not victimless because every image involved a victim who had been abused and traumatised.

Alongside the suspended sentence and sexual harm prevention order he ordered him to pay £425 costs and made an order for the images to be destroyed.

February 2020

Bristol man jailed for taking photos of himself sexually abusing boys

A Bristol man took indecent photos of boys and pictured himself sexually abusing them.

Martin Berry regularly had the children at he and his partner’s home for games and sleepovers, Bristol Crown Court heard.

Unbeknown to parents who trusted him, he was a convicted paedophile who sexually exploited the youngsters for his own perverted ends.

Berry, 58, now said to be of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to multiple sexual assault and attempted sexual assault as well as causing the sexual exploitation of a child.

Today (February 12, 2020) he also pleaded guilty to a further charge of causing the sexual exploitation of a child, two charges of voyeurism and possessing indecent images of a child.

The recorder Mr Adam Vaitilingam QC handed him a 12-year prison sentence with four years’ extended licence.

He told Berry: “You are a sophisticated sex offender with previous convictions and a caution for sex offences.

“You identified families with young children.

“You manipulated parents into trusting you.

“You manipulated children into trusting you too.

“This was a gross breach of trust which the parents and children placed in you.”

Berry was handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order designed to stop him re-offending and his electronic devices were forfeited.

Fiona Elder, prosecuting, said Berry sexually abused three boys aged between five and 11.

As well as touching their private parts Berry was found to have photos on his phone in which he captured his indecent acts or photographed the boys in semi-clad or naked poses.

One lad was asleep when Berry abused him, the court heard.

When police forensically examined his phone they found videos and stills of unknown youngsters aged between five and 12 being sexually abused, which he accessed via the dark web.

November 2020

Kingswood man raped child and tried to keep her quiet with ice cream and sweets

Ice cream and sweets were not enough to buy the silence of a little girl who had been raped.

Kurt Webber abused the youngster and gave her the treats, telling her not to tell anyone – not even her mother.

But the child did reveal what happened later, even though it concerned her to break the confidence.

Webber, 30, of Court Road in Kingswood, denied wrongdoing.

A jury at Bristol Crown Court found him guilty of rape of a girl aged under 13.

Judge Michael Longman handed him a 14-year sentence, comprising of 13 years’ custody and a year’s extended supervision.

He told Webber: “The jury found, on very compelling evidence, that you raped her.

“The evidence of (the complainant) was extremely persuasive.

“You told her not to tell anyone what happened and obviously felt she would do as she was told to keep a promise.

“But she did tell someone.

“It plainly troubled her she had broken her promise.”

The judge ordered Webber to notify as a sex offender indefinitely and handed him a Sexual Harm Prevention Order designed to prevent re-offending.

Mark Worsley, prosecuting, said Webber abused the child, who would keep secrets when people told her to.

Mr Worsley said: “He committed the offence and then gave her ice cream and sweets and told her not to tell anyone, not even her mother.

“She felt like it was her fault.”