May 2021

Sex pest former Devon council leader jailed

A former Devon council leader with a ‘dark side’ has been jailed for sexually assaulting three women.

Brian Greenslade, 72, a long-time leader of Devon County Council, assaulted two of his victims while on council business.

He lunged at one of the women, trying to kiss her, and put his hands down her trousers while she tried to push him away. He groped and fondled the other women’s breasts.

Greenslade, who led the council for 16 years and was also chairman of the Devon and Cornwall Police Authority, denied any of the incidents ever happened and suggested one of the women had been ‘put up to it’ for political reasons.

But the jury agreed with the prosecution that he was ‘completely driven by ego and self importance’.

A judge sentencing him said he had abused his position of power and status when committing the offences.

Judge Timothy Rose said: “You’ve lived a long life in the service of your local community, particularly in the county of Devon.

“It seems to me throughout a large part of that period you had a dark side to you that you couldn’t control yourself in the presence of women.”

Greenslade, of Marwood, Barnstaple, was found guilty of two charges of indecent assault and one sexual assault dating back to the 1990s and mid 2000s.

He was jailed for 16 months.

The first incident happened when Greenslade was alone with the woman on council business. He suddenly lunged at her, grabbing both her arms and tried to kiss her. He then put his hand down the front of her trousers. She tried to resist and pull away but he was too strong for her.

The woman drove off in shock and disbelief at what had happened.

In a victim statement read to the court she said: “He was in a privileged position which he abused. I was completely embarrassed, ashamed and angry.

“I asked myself why he thought he could do that.

“This was a period when men had mistresses and men thought they could do as they liked.”

The second victim said she was assaulted by Greenslade during a function at the County Hall.

The leader of the council approached her and spoke to her before putting his arm around her and fondling her breast. She told him to move his hand or she would break his fingers.

She said she did not report the assault at the time because she thought she would get into trouble.

“It was a shocking experience and still shocks me now,” she said. It was only recently she had come to the conclusion that she had done nothing wrong and that Greenslade had acted in an outrageous way

The third incident happened in the 1990s when Greenslade was working as an accountant.

He stood behind a woman in an office and reached over to grab her breast. She could recall feeling sick and shaking while he just grinned. She said she had been terrified by the incident.

The process of coming back to court to relive the event in the witness box had given her a panic attack. She too had felt guilty for not reporting the incident sooner.

The court wass told that Greenslade could not ‘control himself’ in the presence of women.

The three women came forward with their allegations in 2018. It followed a public censure of Greenslade by the county council on the grounds of his harassment of members of staff.

May 2021

Torquay man, 18, admits series of sexual offences against a child

A Torquay man has admitted a series of sexual offences against a very young child.

Diesel Gaskell, 18, of Thurlow Road in Torquay, appeared at Exeter Crown Court

He pleaded guilty to four offences, including sexual activity with a child under 13, causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and committing a series of acts intending to pervert the course of public justice.

Mr Barry White, defending, asked the judge to order a pre-sentence report.

Judge Peter Johnson agreed and set a date for sentence of August 3.

Gaskell, who spoke only to confirm his name and enter pleas during the short hearing, appeared via video link from custody.

Judge Johnson adjourned the case and remanded him in custody until the sentencing hearing.

He said Gaskell would be given appropriate credit for his guilty pleas and reports would be prepared to assist the sentencing judge in August.

May 2021

Serial flasher drove around naked and kept blow up doll in his car

A serial flasher drove around Devon towns with an inflatable sex doll in the passenger seat of his car

Shane Turner, aged 50, was wearing a little black dress when he passed a man in Tavistock.

The same man later saw Turner drive past in a Ford Ka wearing nothing at all.

He was part of a group of men and women who saw the naked man turn into a school car park on a January night, Plymouth Crown Court heard.

A jury found that Turner was in breach of a court order imposed five years ago for a terrifying campaign of exposing himself to lone female at night in Exeter – sometimes by a graveyard.

Turner, of Mary Tavy near Tavistock, went on trial after denying that he broke the terms of the Sexual Harm Prevention Order from 2016.

He is banned from exposing his genitals in public.

But a jury found him guilty by a unanimous verdict after a four-day trial.

The conviction relates to the second incident outside Tavistock Primary and Nursery School on January 9 last year.

He was not charged in connection with driving about the inflatable doll, which the witness said happened some time before Christmas 2019.

Recorder David Shepherd released Turner on bail for a probation report before sentencing on June 11.

The judge said it was an unusual case.

He told the defendant: “You have been convicted by the jury of a single offence. I do not know what I am going to do when it comes to sentence.

“I make it clear to you that all options are open, including custody. This is a serious offence in breach of a court order for previous serious offences.

“Be in no doubt of how seriously I take it.”

The prosecution’s main witness told the jury that a Ford Ka turned into the primary school car park at about 7.20pm that January night.

He said he was few feet away on the driver’s side with other men and women nearby with torches.

The man said: “He did not appear to be wearing anything. That is what caught my attention.

“I could see his head, shoulders, body, lap and genitals.”

The witness said that his group carried on to the adjoining car park at Tavistock Community College, where they saw the same car being driven around a few minutes later.

He added that he recalled seeing the man in a similar car a few weeks before in nearby Pixon Lane.

The man said: “What attracted my attention is that he had an inflatable sex doll on the passenger side of the car. He appeared to be wearing a little black dress.

“It did make me stop and wonder. It was quite an unusual sight.”

The witness said that he Googled “Tavistock flasher” and found a Daily Mirror story about Shane Turner with a picture from 2016. He added that it was the same man he had seen.

The court heard that he also later picked out an image of Turner from a video identification procedure.

The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that he later saw the man fully clothed at the tills of Morrisons in Tavistock.

He followed him to the car park and saw him get into a Ford Ka, making a note of the registration.

Turner tried to claim that he had been wearing a flesh-coloured woman’s strappy top near the school, holding the garment up in the dock.

But the witness insisted he had been naked.

Turner was locked up five years ago for a campaign of exposing himself in Exeter.

He lurked around alleys near a graveyard and continued to expose himself to terrified victims.

Turner was caught after a brave mother caught him on mobile phone footage.

She spotted him naked from the waist down in Exeter at 3am one morning, asking: “Excuse me, mate, why do you keep walking around naked?”

Police said he was finally brought to justice when officers mounted a special operation in Cowick Street and waited beside his BMX bike for him to pick it up.

Turner was handed the Sexual Harm Prevention Order to curb his perverted antics.

He has breached it once already by having a video or audio recording device without informing the police keeping an eye on him.

The offence from last year makes his latest conviction even more serious.

May 2021

Pervert avoids prison over indecent images of kids

Edward John Porter, aged 42, of Tollox Place, Laira: making two still Class B indecent images of children – 26-week prison sentence suspended for 12 months

He will be required to complete 40 hours unpaid work and the Rehabilitation Activity Requirement

He was ordered to pay £80 victim surcharge and £85 costs.