June 2021

Child rapist sent back to prison just months after early release

A child rapist has been sent back to prison after breaching his supervision requirements — ten months after being released early from his 16-year sentence

Leon Ashley Ward (41) was released in January last year after serving half of his sentence for twice raping an eight-year-old girl in 2012.

He pleaded guilty on Thursday to breaching a sexual harm prevention order, which banned him from deleting his internet history, and failing to notify police of his change of address.

Prosecutor, Ms Fatima Zafar, said Ward had been living at an apartment in Hayfield Walk, Rotherham, when police visited his address on October 13 to examine his devices.

“The defendant had a Huawei mobile phone with discrepancies in its internet history,” she said.

“One entry visibly appeared to be a search about deleting your internet history.”

Ward told police he had watched an adult porn video on his device the previous night and had deleted it from his history.

“The phone was examined and showed internet history had been deleted and that there were history wiping apps installed on his mobile telephone,” Ms Zafar told Sheffield Crown Court.

Ward, who has 17 convictions for 37 offences, went missing on October 15 after being recalled to prison.

“Instead of responding, the defendant disappeared from his home address,” said Ms Zafar.

“That relates to the breach of his notification requirements.”

He was later arrested and during his interview on November 1 told police he had panicked and “done one” because he knew he would be recalled.

He claimed he had deleted two days worth of history and some images of children that had not been sexual.

Ward, who represented himself at the hearing, told the court he didn’t have anything to add.

“I don’t think it would make any difference what I say anyway,” he said.

Recorder Anthony Hawks sentenced him to six months in prison for each offence, to run consecutive to his previous sentence.

Addressing Ward, Mr Hawks said: “You’re a serious sexual offender and therefore these supervisions are extremely important.

“But you pleaded guilty and you will now have to serve the remainder, or a significant part, of your sentence that was passed upon you in 2012.”

During his May 2012 sentencing at the same court, Ward was described as being “obsessed with deviant sex”.

Ward, formerly of Badsley Moor Lane, Clifton, was convicted of two rapes, sexual assault and possession of child sexual abuse images

He lost an appeal in the same year against his 16-year sentence.

December 2012

Pervert fails to win cut in 16-year sentence

A pervert obsessed with deviant sex has lost an appeal against his 16-year prison sentence for twice raping an eight-year-old girl.

Leon Ashley Ward (32), of Badsley Moor Lane, Clifton, was jailed at Sheffield Crown Court after he was convicted in May of two rapes, sexual assault and possession of child pornography.

But appeal court judges upheld his jail term after ruling that it was not ‘manifestly excessive’

The court was told that Ward had been arrested after his young victim told her family about the attacks.

He was found to have child porn on his mobile phone and  the was evidence that he had visited sick internet sites.

The judge at the Crown Court said Ward had been ‘obsessed with deviant sex’.

Ward had admitted having a sexual interest in 13 and 14-year-olds, but denied the attack on the younger girl.

May 2021

Doncaster paedophile sexually abused young girl in bed

A paedophile who crawled into bed with a young girl and sexually abused her has been jailed.

Michael Fisher had been drinking at a house in Doncaster last February when he was found in bed with the child the morning after.

It wasn’t until later when his victim complained of feeling sore on her private parts that the 33-year-old’s sex attack came to light.

Police visited the young girl’s home following the abuse on February 23 and she was also medically examined.

Fisher had been due to be sentenced on Wednesday but the case had to be adjourned, leading to Fisher pleading with the court to remand him in custody to protect him from those sickened by his crime

Judge Jeremy Richardson took a long look at the case in front of him and came to the conclusion he must pass an immediate custodial sentence.

He labelled Fisher’s offending as “grotesque” and jailed him for 20 months.

Fisher’s early guilty plea to two counts of sexual assault of a child reduced the sentence.

Judge Richardson made a further reduction in line with the conditions of prisons under Covid and a final reduction due to Fisher’s vulnerability as an act of mercy.

April 2021

A South Yorkshire pervert caught with thousands of indecent images of children is jailed

A pervert who was caught by police with thousands of indecent images of children has been put behind bars.

Sheffield Crown Court heard on April 23 how Lee Taylor, aged 51, of Daylands Avenue, Conisbrough, between Rotherham and Doncaster, had his home searched by police who found the images on a laptop and hard drive.

Edison Flint, prosecuting, said a warrant was executed on October 25, 2018, at the defendant’s home on suspicion someone in the location had been downloading indecent images of children.

The court heard police recovered category C rated images including 8,753 images and no fewer than 228 moving images.

There were also 53 still images and over 100 moving videos from category B, and three still images and no fewer than 48 moving videos from category A, according to the court.

Taylor pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images relating to categories A, B and C, with A being the most serious.

Lauren Fisher, defending, said: “He accepts downloading at least some of the images but he maintains some of them were sent to him.”

She added that Taylor has not come to the attention of the courts or the police since these offences for any repeated behaviour of this sort.

Ms Fisher also said Taylor has been left fearful about people finding out about the offences and he has been fearful of going into Doncaster town centre.

Recorder Benjamin Nolan QC told Taylor: “The children involved were sometimes very young and their misery can be seen no doubt in viewing some of the images.”

He added: “The fact of the matter is images of this sort have to be made in order to be viewed and to be made there has been extreme cruelty to children and those who have these images are contributing to the cruelty of children.”

Recorder Nolan sentenced Taylor to nine months of custody.

Taylor was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for ten years and made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for the same period.

April 2021

Sheffield rape survivor fears for safety of others when ‘psychopath’ attacker is released from prison mid-way through sentence

A woman who was held captive and raped in a seven hour ordeal in Sheffield fears for the safety of others when her attacker is released from prison next month – mid-way through a 12 year sentence.

Benjamin Recio-Nugent, now aged 31, was jailed for 12 years in 2016 but after serving one year on remand and five years of his sentence, he is eligible for early release from prison next month.

He repeatedly raped his victim in his flat on Shirebrook Road, Meersbrook.

During her ordeal she had piping hot water poured over her and a sock stuffed into her mouth to stifle her screams.

Laura, was 26 years old when her life was forever changed by the actions of Recio-Nugent, who she branded a ‘psychopath’.

Now 32 and having completed a masters in law in a determined effort to help other survivors of sex attacks, Laura is calling for all rapists to be forced to serve their full prison sentences behind bars rather than being automatically eligible for early release mid-way through.

A petition has now been set up, backed by Laura, which urges the Government to change the law.

If her attacker is released, Laura wants his movements to be restricted, with a ban on him visiting Sheffield.

She is in talks with the probation service about a city-wide exclusion zone.

Laura, who knew her attacker before he raped her, accepted an invite to visit him on her way home from a night out when he pounced – a decision which changed the course of her life.

She branded her attacker a ‘psychopath,’ ‘devoid of human emotion’ and said he could easily have killed her.

Laura said: “I think I am still in denial that he will shortly be released and there will be a strong possibility of me having to come face to face with him. I don’t even know what to say about that to be honest. How do you even deal with that? Coming face to face with someone that held you captive and tortured you? It’s just unimaginable.

“For some time I have been in talks with the probation service about an exclusion zone and I have found it very frustrating. I don’t see why it is so unreasonable to expect the psychopath that subjected me to such degrading, humiliating, physical pain, who could very easily have killed me, be inconvenienced by having to live in a different part of the country to the person he did that to.

“I feel like six years in prison from a 12 year sentence is nothing to the amount of devastation he caused me and those closest to me.

“The sentencing guidelines clearly are not harsh enough for such a crime. The guidelines clearly do not reflect the devastation caused by sexual assault to the victims and the families.”

Because her attacker denied rape and claimed the sex had been consensual, Laura said she was forced to endure accusations in her local community that she had lied.

“I think one of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with is the amount of lies that have been spread about me in my local area. I had always been such a private person, so I found this really difficult. Everyone in the local area seemed to have an opinion. You become known as just the ‘girl who got raped’ or worse still ‘the girl who lied about being raped’. It detracts from who you are as a person, devalues you as a human to a lot of people,” she said.

“I had to deal with a lot of hatred, hearing how people I barely know were discussing me in the local pubs, people that know nothing about what really happened.

“I went through stages of wanting to hide away and other times where I felt it was necessary that I show my face, that I defend myself.”

She added: “The majority of people have no idea about the criminal court system, they do not understand how difficult it is to secure a guilty verdict in a rape case even if the police and the prosecution know 100 per cent that the defendant is guilty. It has definitely changed me as a person.”

Laura said: “For a long time, I found that very difficult to accept, that I didn’t feel like ‘me’ anymore. Those first few years after what had happened and after the trial were incredibly difficult, I wasn’t okay but me being not okay was making things worse for the people closest to me. It affected so many of my relationships with family and friends, and I resented what a huge impact it had on my entire life.

“Most days now, I feel more accepting of it. It took me a long time but I am finally at a point where I have realised I shouldn’t feel ashamed about what happened. The only thing I’m guilty of is trying to help and support someone who, I now believe, is incapable of help because he is devoid of real human emotion, I truly believe he is a psychopath.

“So now I try to use what happened to fuel me to help create positive change, to support others that have survived sexual assault. I try now to stay upbeat and positive and keep moving forward and I’m not under any illusion, not having to worry about bumping into him has allowed me, to a certain extent, to pretend he doesn’t exist.”

She said: “It has changed the course of my life. It definitely influenced me and I now want to dedicate my life to a career that contributes to the prosecution of violent sex offenders.”

Recalling the trial she was forced to attend to give evidence against her attacker, Laura said: “Everything is geared towards the human rights of the offender. At the court case it was acceptable that my character be attacked, the clothes I wore when he attacked me be debated, for the defence to paint me as the villain. Yet there was so much that could not be brought up about the defendant by the prosecution.

“In my opinion, rape is as serious a crime as murder. The impact is life changing and destroys a lot of lives. I am fortunate enough to have a very good support network around me or I wouldn’t have got through it, not everyone is that lucky.

“I realise that this petition may be too late to prevent me from having to deal with coming face to face with my attacker but if I can prevent others from going through that, I will do everything I possibly can to achieve this.

“A city-wide exclusion zone will also help me, in terms of I will feel safer. However, I am also conscious of the fact that a violent sex offender will be walking the streets, even if they’re not my local streets, they will be the local streets of other women. I am scared for others, I don’t want any other woman going through what I went through at his hands.”

To sign the petition visit the change.org website.

April 2021

Paedophile repeatedly abused young girl in Nottinghamshire

A man who repeatedly sexually abused a young girl who was aged under 13 over a period of more than six years has been jailed.