April 2021

Grandad amassed 21,500 sickening abuse images

A Yarm grandad is still in denial that he does not have a sexual interest in children after narrowly avoiding time behind bars.

“Successful” Robert Carter asked officers if searching for “nudist beaches” was an offence as they rifled through his family home on January 29, 2019.

But Cleveland Police found that the paedophile had amassed a collection of almost 22,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse.

The sickening material was stored on a number of Apple devices spanning over 18 years.

The 68-year-old previously pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of children.

Teesside Crown Court heard how police officers carried out a search of Carter’s home address on Nursery Gardens, Yarm, which he shares with his wife.

The pensioner was arrested at 7.10am and a “large amount of technical equipment” seized.

Officers described Carter as “running a smart home and complex set up”.

Annelise Haugstad, prosecuting, said a number of Apple devices were seized by the force, including an iPhone 10, iPad Pro, Macbook Pro, Mac Mini, as well as two Western Digital hard drives.

A report examining the devices found the Apple computer and storage systems were linked to one single AppleID.

Ms Haugstad said there were a number of search terms relating to child abuse materials.

She also added there were emails located from 2002 linked with the abusive materials.

On Carter’s mobile phone, “indecent keywords” were found in his history as well as “pre-teen” searches.

In total, Carter possessed 312 images and 62 videos under category A – the most serious under the law.

There were also 679 images and 98 videos classified as category B and 20,415 images and 133 videos under category C.

A total of 21,699 images and videos were located on Carter’s devices.

During police interviews, Carter denied the child abuse images but told officers he had looked at “nudist beaches” – then asking if that was an offence.

He also said he didn’t search for the materials but “collects pictures”.

Carter maintained he “doesn’t have a sexual interest in children” throughout his interviews and presentence report.

Judge Deborah Sherwin told Carter how the abuse is perpetrated on “real-life children” stating that he “quite clearly must have an interested” in youngsters.

She sentenced Carter to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He must also complete 25 rehabilitation activity requirement days and pay the prosecution’s costs.

Carter will also be on the sex offenders register for 10 years.

June 2021

Paedophile filmed himself raping child

A paedophile who filmed himself raping a female toddler has been jailed for 21 years.

John-Paul Zegstroo, 28, twice tried to evade justice by making unnecessary trips to York and Scarborough Hospital and getting doctors there to examine him when he was perfectly well, York Crown Court heard.

April 2021

Mum’s torment after Scarborough children’s entertainer raped and abused her young daughter

A mother has spoken out after a Scarborough children’s entertainer was found guilty of raping and sexually abusing her daughter.

On Monday a jury at York Crown Court determined that John-Paul Zegstroo, 27, was guilty of eight separate charges relating to abuse of the girl, including two counts of raping a child under 13 years of age between December 2018 and March 2020.

Zegstroo, of Overdale Gardens, Eastfield, was also found guilty of sexually assaulting the victim between the same dates, three counts of causes or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity between October 2019 and March 2020, and two counts of taking indecent images of the girl.

Zegstroo had previously pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The case, which had been due to begin on April 15, was delayed by claims of ill-health by Zegstroo, who was on taken out of court in an ambulance after complaining of chest pains.

The mother of the victim said that the delays had been upsetting, particularly as she was not able to get her child proper psychological support until the trial’s end, in case more evidence was required.

“I’m just relieved it’s over,” she said, “My child suffered so much”.

She said that a lawyer had said that the images in Zegstroo’s possession were some of the worst they had seen.

She thanked North Yorkshire Police, describing their work on the case as “amazing”.

Zegstroo has previously worked as a mascot for Party Time, a bouncy castle and party hire company.

Sentencing has been adjourned pending a psychological evaluation.

April 2021

Man hit sex offender in Strensall street

A man caused a street disruption when he targeted a sex offender in Strensall.

York Crown Court heard the man attacked Anthony Welburn, 36, and then called out police to stop the situation escalating when his actions led to residents coming out onto the streets.

April 2021

Pervert watched porn with children before asking one to perform sex act

A HIV positive man who forced to young children to watch pornography has been jailed for almost four years.

The mother of one of the young victim’s told judge of the devastating impact Keith Vernon had on her son’s life as a result of his depravity.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the youngster was so traumatised by what he had experienced that he ‘thought he would be better off not being here anymore’.

Paul Abrahams, prosecuting, told the court how the offending took place at a sleepover in the North Yorkshire area when Vernon got the youngsters to watch pornography and urged one of them to perform a sex act on themselves, despite not knowing what the defendant wanted him to do.

He said the defendant had served two years for other sex offences.

Vernon, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity and causing child to watch a sexual act in the summer of 2019.

The court heard how Vernon had pleaded guilty to offences and had saved the two victims from having to giving evidence during a trial and the judge had read a letter of apology written to the two children.

Judge Recorder Tahir Khan jailed Vernon for three years and nine months and issued him with a sexual harm prevention order.

He said: “You were in a position of trust and you abused that trust and that is a significantly aggravating feature.”

During a victim personal statement, his heartbroken mother said: “The past 20 months have been an awful time for our family and still is. This is something that we never thought that we would have to deal with, it has had such a detrimental impact on our mental health – emotionally and physically to us all.

“What you have done to our son, we will never be able to forgive you. We don’t think we will ever know exactly what has gone on.

“What we do know is that you have mentally, physically and emotionally scarred him at this present time and maybe for the rest of his life.

“You have made, our once happy boy, shy, timid and depressed. He now struggles with his emotions and trust with adults. He wants to know where we are going and it is more protective than ever of his siblings and doesn’t like any cuddles, hugs or affection from us.”

She added: “He thought he would be better off not being here anymore. As a parent hear your child say something like this is very upsetting. We have had to get him help with respective authorities supporting him and us as parents too.

“Hopefully, in time we will be able to help him overcome this and help fight any demons he may have and get him to understand no of this was his fault.”

She said the family was still struggling to come to terms with what happened to the two young boys.

She added: “When I found out you were HIV positive that added a lot more pressure on us as a family. I was disgusted that I had to take my children to hospital to have their bloods taken for a full screening.

“We will never forgive you for what you have done and we are struggling to understand why you did it.”

April 2021

Uni student dubbed himself ‘Daddy’ and threatened to rape girl, 12, if she didn’t send him indecent snaps

A Teesside student threatened to rape a 12-year-old girl if she didn’t send him indecent images of herself.

Declan Bailey of Middlesbrough demanded to be sent the sick photographs after targeting the girl on Snapchat.

Teesside Crown Court heard how the 24-year-old then distributed her pictures to others.

The court heard how Bailey committed the offence weeks after being arrested for targeting a 13-year-old girl.

Richard Bennett, prosecuting, said that he added the first victim on Snapchat and demanded that she sent him pictures of herself or he would “find her”.

He said that she sent him two naked pictures and nothing was said by Bailey, with the account appearing to have been deactivated.

The court heard how Bailey, who studies computing at Teesside University, created a new account and targeted her a second time.

Mr Bennett said he had an application on his phone in which he stored images, videos and a screen shot of her account.

He said he told her that he had her old pictures and demanded to be sent more.

The court heard how she reported the matter to police and, following an investigation, Bailey was tracked down and arrested.

Two weeks after his arrest, Bailey created another online account and targeted the 12-year-old girl.

Mr Bennett said that he contacted her and demanded that she sent him pictures.

He said: “He threatened to rape her and attack her family and friends.”

Mr Bennett told the court how the girl sent him indecent pictures and he began to say he loved her.

He said Bailey referred to himself as daddy, saying things like “show daddy his baby girl”.

Mr Bennett said: “He said he did not want her to be with anyone else.”

The court heard how he later ordered her to hand over her online passwords to him.

He locked her out of the Snapchat application and she found out that the pictures were being circulated.

She contacted police and Bailey was arrested, following an investigation.

The court in Middlesbrough heard how he was also found in possession indecent images of children.

He had 77 category A images – the most serious – and three category B videos.

There were also 50 images and 23 category C videos.

Bailey pleaded guilty to two charges of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and distributing indecent images of children.

He also admitted three offences of making indecent photographs of a child – category A, B and C.

Recorder Hawks sentenced Bailey to three years behind bars and ordered him to sign the sex offenders register for life.