Edward Swan – Hawick

July 2021

Scots pensioner raped schoolgirl in woods during campaign of sexual abuse against children

A pensioner was jailed after raping a girl on a woodland walk following an 18-year campaign of sex offending against children.

Edward Swan, 75, attacked the girl at Buckland Woods, at Hawick, in the Scottish Borders, and seized her and removed her lower clothing before pushing her to the ground and raping her.

The victim later told a police officer and social worker during an interview: “He forced me down so that he could do it to us.”

She was one of four girls subjected to abuse by Swan between 2000 and 2018.

Swan, of Fairhurst Drive, Hawick, had denied a string of offences during a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh but was today convicted of five sex crimes – two rapes, two indecency offences and a sexual assault.

His first victim was aged between six and eight when he targeted her for abuse during stays that she made at an address in his home town between 2000 and 2003.

A second girl was molested and raped by him at a house and in the woods in Hawick when she aged seven or eight. The third girl was a primary school pupil when she was subjected to abuse by Swan between 2011 and 2013 in a Borders town.

The fourth girl, who was raped at Buckland Woods, was aged 10 or 11 at the time of the offence which occurred between 2015 and 2018.

His first victim gave evidence, which was pre recorded and shown to the jury at his trial. She spoke of three incidents when Swan abused her as a child during stays at a house in Hawick where he was supposed to be sleeping on a couch.

She said he would come into a bedroom where she was sleeping and touch her and perform a sex act. She said: “I don’t know what time it was. It was dark.”

The woman, now aged 27, said that the first time it occured she “just froze”. She told the court in her filmed evidence that she did not understand what was happening but added: “I just knew it was not right.”

On a second occasion Swan had whispered in her ear as he abused her and told her “that I needed to know what it felt like.”

She said that when a third incident took place she felt she could not stop it from happening and screamed and a woman came to her aid.

The woman said she later told her partner that she had been abused and came forward to speak to police after a newspaper article.

Swan, who has no criminal record, was on bail following a court appearance in 2019.

But after the jury returned its verdicts the trial judge, Lord Burns, remanded him in custody and placed him on the sex offenders’ register.

The judge adjourned sentence on Swan until September for the preparation of a background report on him 

Darryn Seaman – Washington/Sunderland

July 2021

Convicted Washington rapist jailed after ‘misleading’ police about where he was living

A convicted rapist has been sent back to prison after failing to update police with his details because it was “easier” not to.

Darryn Seaman was given a five year sentence in 2007 for rape and was made to sign the sex offenders’ register for life.

The 52-year-old must follow strict conditions so he can be monitored by the authorities, including making them aware of where he is living and who he is staying with.

The court heard how Seaman, of Southcroft, Fatfield, Washington, has 10 previous convictions for 14 offences.

Since his rape conviction, he had failed to comply with notification requirements in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 with the latest resulting in a 13-week custodial sentence.

Newcastle Crown Court heard Seaman had failed to notify police his address had changed following the breakdown in his relationship with his ex-partner in May last year.

He moved out of their home in Southcroft, Washington, but did occasionally stay at the address up until September.

Seaman lived in a number of premises over a 12-month period, including at Toll Bar House on Ryhope Road, Sunderland.

On a number of occasions he was living in a van, but Seaman claimed he did not know he had to tell police this.

Michael Bunch, prosecuting, said: “He failed to notify police of those changes of address and indeed in September of last year and April of this year provided the police with the same address of Southcroft [Washington] being his current home address.

“In May of this year he gave a further address of Penyghent Way [in Washington] as being his new permanent address.

“Effectively therefore from May 10 last year when he left Southcroft until May 13 this year when he registered his new address, police were ignorant to the fact he had moved and no longer residing at the address they held for him.

“In fact he actively misled them as to the location of which he was living.”

Seaman was arrested on June 16 and accepted he had been living at various addresses and failed to tell the police because it was “easier”.

He appeared at Newcastle Crown Court on Thursday after admitting to failing to comply with a notification requirement.

Recorder Carl Gumsley sentenced Seaman to 24 weeks in prison, of which he will serve half in custody.

He told him: “You still don’t seem to be getting the message and you’re going to head towards that five-year sentence in the future unless you actually do what you are told to do.

“You have to learn to obey court orders.”

Seaman was also ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

Thomas Edwards – Llangunnor

July 2021

Ex-nurse in his 80s shared ‘disgusting’ messages with people he thought were girls aged 11 and 13

A former nurse in his 80s engaged in highly sexualised online conversations with people he thought were girls aged 11 and 13, a court has heard.

Thomas Edwards chatted to three separate social media profiles, encouraging the girls to perform sex acts on themselves and to kiss and fondle their friends and telling them he liked “lesbian love”.

In fact the 85-year-old was communicating with decoys set up and operated by so-called paedophile hunters.

Swansea Crown Court heard that at the beginning of August 2019 Edwards made contact with what he thought were young teenage girls online.

Hannah George, prosecuting, said the three profiles were actually run by members of a group called Children Need Protecting.

The court heard the profiles made their purported ages clear to the defendant but over the following days he engaged in sexual conversations with the “girls” – telling them they were gorgeous, asking them about their sexual interests, and encouraging them to perform sex acts on themselves while he “talked them through” what they should do.

Miss George said Edwards encouraged the girls to try kissing and touching their female friends because he liked “lesbian love” and discussed setting up a webcam so he could watch what the girls were doing. He also asked one of them about her underwear and asked another for pictures of her in their nightie.

The court heard that on August 6 members of the group travelled to Edwards’ home to confront him.

The defendant was arrested later that evening and initially gave a “no comment” interview before telling police officers he didn’t have a sexual interest in children.

Thomas Picton Edwards, of Rhoslas, Llangunnor, Carmarthen, had previously pleaded guilty to attempted sexual communication with a child and attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. His failure to attend for two earlier crown court hearings had resulted in arrest warrants being issued.

Judge Paul Thomas QC told the defendant he had engaged in “highly sexualised or, to use another word, disgusting” conversations with what he believed to be young girls.

He said Edwards had tried to portray himself as extremely fragile and in poor physical and mental health but his medical conditions were, in fact, no worse than might be expected of a man of his age.

The judge said it was clear that when Edwards had engaged in the conversations he had “full mental capacity – warped though that was”.

Judge Thomas said the appropriate sentence after trial would have been one of seven years in prison.

He said reducing that as he was obliged to do to account for the defendant’s age and for the extra difficulties of serving a prison sentence in the current Covid pandemic brought the starting point down to four years.

Allowing a one-third discount for the guilty pleas he sentenced Edwards to two years and eight months in prison.

The defendant will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence under the UK government’s early release scheme to serve the remainder in the community.

The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the next 10 years and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same length of time.

Benjamin Hewens – Laugharne

July 2021

Bus driver abused vulnerable girl ‘for his own sexual gratification’

A well-known bus driver manipulated and abused a vulnerable teenager for his own sexual gratification, a court has heard.

Benjamin Daniel Hewens repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl over the course of a number of months.

The 30-year-old father-of-two denied the allegations but was convicted following a trial at Swansea Crown Court.

The court heard how Hewens, a well-known bus driver in Carmarthenshire, repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl who was aged under 16 at the time.

In a statement from the victim, which was read to court by prosecution barrister Nicola Powell, the girl described the impact the abuse had had on her, and on her family. She said she had been left feeling “dirty and ashamed”, and had lost all feelings of self-worth as a result of what the defendant did to her.

As a victim of sexual offences the girl has life-long legal anonymity.

Benjamin Daniel Hewens, of Orchard Park, Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, had previously been convicted of four counts of sexual assault of a child, and one count of possessing indecent images when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has no previous convictions.

Judge Catherine Richards told Hewens he had manipulated and abused a vulnerable girl “for your own sexual gratification”. She said the defendant had “devastated” his victim’s young life.

Hewens was sentenced to 14 years in prison. He will serve two-thirds of that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the rest of his life.

Paul Burrows – Checkendon

Restaurateur’s stash of indecent images

A Restaurateur has avoided prison after being caught with more than 40,000 indecent images of children.

Paul Burrows, a former executive chef at the Highwayman Inn near Checkendon, was living at the pub when he was arrested following a police raid in October 2019.

The officers, who were acting on a tip-off, found he had downloaded more than 8,200 “category A” photographs, which depict the most serious levels of abuse, and more than 36,200 in the categories B and C.

Burrows, 57, had acquired these over many years, some showing children as young as four, and had also collected images showing the abuse of animals.

He admitted the offences when questioned and later pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images, which refers to the act of downloading, and a further count of possession.

At a hearing at Oxford Crown Court on July 1, Burrows was sentenced to 20 months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out 180 hours’ unpaid work plus 40 days’ rehabilitation activities.

He will also be subject to a sexual harm prevention order limiting his internet access for the next decade, during which time he will be on the sex offenders’ register, and had to pay £425 in prosecution costs and victim surcharges.

Staff and trustees of the Highwayman said they knew nothing of his arrest or conviction until last week, when he suddenly departed and it is not known where he is now living.

Burrows remains an active director of The Highwayman Inn (Checkendon) Ltd, a registered company which was running the business until then.

But the trustees, who live nearby and own the freehold, say they have terminated his lease with immediate effect and will run it themselves so he will make no money from it.