July 2021

Queen Ethelburga’s School owner jailed for child abuse offences

The owner of Queen Ethelburga’s School near York has been sent to prison for three years and three months for sexual abuse of a boy and a girl.

Brian Richard Martin, aged 71, of Ferrensby, Knaresborough, was sentenced at Leeds Crown Court today (Friday 2 July 2021) following a retrial for a sexual assault on a boy in the late 2000s that was first put before a jury in 2018.

Martin was also found guilty of indecent assault on a girl in the early-to-mid 1990s at another retrial held in 2019.

He was acquitted of six other child sexual abuse offences at the original trial in 2018.

Martin has been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register.

June 2021

Judge dismisses excuse of paedophile who had over 5,000 ‘repugnant’ images of children

Sickening images of babies being sexually abused and drugged children being raped were amongst a paedophile’s collection of indecent images.

Twisted Connor Coxon, from Middlesbrough, was found with more than 5,000 indecent images of children.

However the 29-year-old claims that he was “thrill seeking” and does not have a sexual interest in them.

Teesside Crown Court heard how police received information and searched his home in July 2019.

Jonathan Gittins, prosecuting, said officers seized a number of devices including a laptop, USB sticks and a mobile phone.

He told the court: “5,305 indecent images of children were found across three of the devices.”

Mr Gittins said that there were:

• 842 still and 79 moving category A images – the most serious

• 2,650 still and 13 moving category B images

• 1,719 still images and two moving category C images

He said: “In his police interview the defendant admitted to being in possession of the indecent images of children.”

Mr Gittins told the court how Coxon said he found them more exciting then sexual and got addicted to doing it.

He said: “He would look for them one to two times a week. He said he would have all categories on the device.

“The defendant also provided to the police usernames and passwords to devices.”

Mr Gittins said the case was aggravated by the severity of the images.

He also highlighted the age and vulnerability and the fact they appear to be intoxicated or drugged.

The court heard how Coxon was given a caution in 2006, when he was 14 or 15, in relation to an indecent image of a child.

Coxon, of Ainsworth Way, Ormesby, pleaded guilty to three offences of making indecent images of children.

Judge Jonathan Carroll described the material as “repugnant”. He said that every single abused child in these videos is a real child really being abused and suffering.

He told Coxon: “This is amongst some of the worst, particularly bearing in mind the age of the children under category A measure in months not even years.”

The judge said that if he is not seeking out this material, involving very young children, for sexual interest he can’t conceive what pleasure or excitement he is trying to achieve.

He told Coxon he had had a warning in 2006 when he was cautioned in relation to an indecent image of a child.

Judge Carroll said that the public “quite rightly” call for people convicted of this type of offences to go to prison but he knows that there is a limited amount of work that can be done in custody.

He said that on this occasion the case was so serious that he could not suspend his prison sentence.

Coxon was sentenced to 18 months behind bars.

He was also ordered to abide by a sexual harm prevention order and sign the sex offenders register, both for 10 years.

June 2021

Pervert caged for ‘unfathomable’ drunken sexual assaults on teenage girl

A pervert who sexually assaulted a teenage girl was also found in possession of extreme pornography involving animals.

Stephen Johns carried out the “unfathomable” sex assaults against the victim in 2019 and was later found in possession of the sickening material in July, last year

The 45-year-old gave the girl a drink of Jack Daniels and Coke before carrying out the assaults after he himself had drank around “20 bottles” of lager.

Johns, of Kingfisher Drive, Guisborough, appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Thursday to be sentenced for two counts of sexual assault and one count of possessing extreme pornographic material.

Shaun Dodds, prosecuting, said at the time of one of the sexual assaults, Johns was “drunk” and had given the girl a sip of Jack Daniels and Coke.

“He had been drinking lager all night”, he said.

Johns then “held” the victim to the floor and “got on top” before sexually assaulting her, saying “it will be all right”.

After carrying out the assault, which left the girl “feeling sick”, Johns then “said sorry”.

Mr Dodds said that months previous to the incident, Johns had carried out another sex assault on the girl, who was described as “vulnerable”.

When Johns was finally arrested by police he admitted the assaults but denied he had a sexual interest in children.

He said he’d had “about 20 bottles of lager” in the lead up to the second assault.

Recorder Jamie Hill QC said Johns’ crimes were “unfathomable” and “caused great suffering”.

He jailed him for six-years.

Johns will also be on the sex offender register for life, and was made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and an indefinite restraining order against the victim.