Category Archives: Essex

Benjamin McNish – Benfleet

15 Thursday Jul 2021

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July 2021

Police officer gets suspended sentence after spying on victim in shower

A Metropolitan Police officer who worked on the sexual offences unit has been given a suspended sentence after being convicted of spying on a female in the shower while he was off-duty in Swiss Cottage.

On July 14, detective sergeant Benjamin McNish, appeared at Southwark Crown Court and was sentenced to 20 weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

The 30-year-old will also be placed on the sex offender’s register for seven years and has been ordered to complete a sexual offenders’ programme, attend rehabilitation and pay £750 in costs.

McNish worked for the East Area Command Unit – which covers Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge – and his charge related to an incident in Adelaide Road on February 18, 2019.

He used his phone to film through a glass panel above a bathroom door while the victim was showering.

McNish claimed he was looking for his razor when he poked his mobile phone into the shower while the woman was naked

After the female saw the phone and confronted him, the police were called and McNish was arrested at the scene.

McNish was a serving police officer who was working in community safety, had been involved in child abuse investigations and the force’s sexual offences unit.

Scott Chapman – Tilbury

12 Monday Jul 2021

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July 2021

Tilbury paedophile posed as young girl online

A paedophile who posed as a young girl online was found with 550 child sexual abuse images.

Officers from the Essex Police Online Investigation Team (POLIT) raided the address of Scott Chapman in Hume Close, Tilbury back on December 4, 2019.

The team, which investigates online child abuse, had received intelligence that the internet at the address had been used to view indecent images of children.

Following searches there and at another address, officers seized a mobile phone which could be attributed to Chapman on which they found more than 550 indecent images of children.

They also found several social media applications on which Chapman had posed as a young girl or sent indecent images to other paedophiles

The 24-year-old was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children and three counts of distributing indecent images of children.

He admitted the offences and at Basildon Crown Court and was sentenced to seven years.

 

Christopher Behn – Colchester

08 Thursday Jul 2021

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July 2021

‘Depraved’ paedophile took pictures of naked boys after cycling trip

A Colchester paedophile who sexually abused young boys after a cycling tour in Myanmar has been jailed for six years.

Christopher Behn, of Mersea Road, flew to the south-east Asian country for a guided cycling trip in November 2016 and, once this had finished, travelled to the Ngapali Beach area.

During his four-night stay in the resort, the 66-year-old sought out vulnerable local boys with the intention to sexually abuse them before he returned to the UK.

Behn, a retired engineer, took posed naked photographs of 11 unidentified Burmese boys under the age of 13.

He also sexually assaulted one of the boys and recorded the assault in a series of images.

Behn was a subject of interest in a wider National Crime Agency investigation when he was arrested by officers at Gatwick Airport in February 2020.

His laptop and Garmin GPS device were both seized, which forensic analysts used to prove Behn was at the locations when the pictures of the boys were taken.

Officers found a total of 265 indecent images of the children on Behn’s laptop, which he had taken himself.

In some, he had instructed the boys to pose naked or partially clothed. In others, it was clear they were unaware that the photo was being taken.

Behn was charged with eight counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, one of sexually assaulting a child under 13, and two counts of taking indecent images of children.

He pleaded guilty to all the charges last month and was sentenced to six years in prison, with a further six on extended licence, at Chelmsford Crown Court on Thursday.

Behn will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

David Bennett – Westcliff

08 Thursday Jul 2021

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July 2021

Paedo is snared by undercover officer

A pervert who was snared by an undercover police officer has been jailed for seven years.

David Bennett, 34, of Albion Road, Westcliff appeared at Basildon Crown Court yesterday charged with a series of sexual offences including trying to incite a child to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard how Bennett was speaking to a police officer who was posing as a 12-year-old girl online.

Prosecuting Gareth Hughes said: “This offending started on March 17 with a police officer playing the role of a 12-year-old girl and in a 10 day period she was groomed by the defendant using online chat rooms and social media.

“She told him she was 12 and he told her he was 16 and then later said he was 28 when he’s actually 34.

“He was asking her about her experience sexually and in relationships.

“He kept asking her for explicit images of herself and sent her explicit images of himself. He then became frustrated with her as she was not sending the images he had requested.”

Bennett had been released from prison in 2019 and was subject to a sexual harm prevention order which meant he had to tell police if he used social media.

He has previous convictions for attempted rape of a child, indecent assault of a child and having indecent images of children.

Judge Andrew Hurst told Bennett offending was part of his “psychological make-up”.

He said: “This offending shows it’s an entrenched part of your psychological makeup

“If you were to reoffend again to a real child the damage would be serious and children are not equipped to deal with adult sexuality.”

Bennett was sent to prison for seven years and will spent seven years on licence once he is released.

Sean Stifman – Southend

06 Tuesday Jul 2021

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July 2021

Paedophile jailed for four years

A paedophile tried to encourage a 12 year old girl to have sex with him, just weeks after being released from prison.

Sean Stifman, 31, previously of Norwich Avenue, Southend, has been jailed for four years and must serve six years on licence.

Basildon Crown Court was told he was speaking to an undercover police officer, posing as a child.

He had a mobile phone and was using social media, despite being ordered not to.

However, he had only been released from prison three weeks before after he used a fake identity to meet children for sex, but was instead met by paedophile hunters

During the hearing at Basildon Crown Court, Stifman admitted the charge of attempting to cause a child under 15 to have sex with him.

Prosecuting, Francesca Levett said: “He is 31 and in October 2019 he was convicted of similar sex offences and admitted seven offences and was sentenced to two years in prison and put on the sexual harm prevention order for ten years.

“He was released on October 14 and got a phone and opened up social media accounts and about three weeks after being released he committed these offences.

“It was a police officer posing as a 12-year-old girl and they began chatting via a dating application and then moved to Whatsapp.

“He was asking for intimate images of the girl and sending explicit images of himself to her.

“Stifman was arrested on November 6 and in his police interview he gave a full admissions.

“He stated his goal was to have sex with the girl and said he didn’t care he had breached the order by having a mobile phone and social media and not telling the police.”

Sentencing Stifman, Judge Andrew Hurst said: “It is lucky this was not a 12-year-old girl you were speaking to. I can only imagine the trauma it would have caused.”

The judge added: “You must understand children are not objects for sex and they are not equipped to deal with the adult sexual world.”

Southend paedo snared after he used alias to groom ‘teens’

A pervert who used a fake identity to meet children for sex was snared by a hunter group.

Sean Stifman posed as another man with the name “Robert Austin” on various social media profiles to speak to three people he thought were 13 and 14 year-old girls.

On each occasion the conversations became sexual in nature and, in one instance, he arranged to meet one of the people he thought was a 13 year-old girl.

In reality, the people he had been speaking to were all adults.

When he went to meet the girl at Southend Railway Station on October 13.

He was confronted at the station by the hunters and arrested.

Stifman, 29, of Norwich Avenue, Southend, was later charged with three counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child, three counts of attempting to cause or incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity, and one count of attempting to a meet a girl under 16 following grooming.

He admitted the charges at Southend Magistrates’ court on October 15.

At Basildon Crown Court on Thursday he was sentenced to two years, half to be spent in prison and half to be spent on licence, and put on the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years.