Thomas Powell – Ellesmere Port

July 2021

Sex offender who exposed himself to teenage girls in Ellesmere Port sentenced

A sex offender who exposed himself to three teenage girls in Ellesmere Port has been handed a suspended sentence.

Previously, a jury at Chester Crown Court unanimously found Thomas James Powell, 30, of Wilkinson Street, had intentionally exposed himself on two separate occasions in 2019 to vulnerable girls aged 16 or under, following a three-day trial.

Prosecuting, Ryan Rothwell had told the jury the victims in the case were a 16-year-old girl and two 14-year-old girls at the time of the offences. None of the victims can be named for legal reasons.

The court heard the 16-year-old girl did not know the 14-year-old girls, and vice versa.

One of the offences happened in May 2019, in broad daylight, as the 16-year-old girl was pushing a relative’s baby in a pram in St Andrews Road.

Powell rode towards the girl on his bike, went behind her and said: “I think you might want to see this.”

The girl turned around and saw Powell had exposed himself, and had a “weird smirk” on his face.

Giving evidence in court, the girl said she had replied with a dirty look, told him “no”, and moved away from him before contacting the police.

The second incident happened in the evening, two months later, when two girls were on their way to a fast food restaurant.

They had previously seen Powell on his bike, wearing a long coat with a fur-rimmed hood, pass by a few minutes earlier.

Powell then approached the two girls from behind, again on his bike, and exposed himself to both of them.

One of the girls later said in interview she could not understand why someone would do that to girls of their age, and felt “disgusted”.

One hour later, one of the two girls went into the Ohri Convenience Store on Bunbury Green, only to find Powell was there with his bicycle.

She told the other girl, who had been telling a woman in a takeaway shop about what had happened earlier, and all three went into the store.

CCTV footage showed the woman speaking to Powell, who rode off on his bike.

Aaron McIntyre – Aberdeen

July 2021

Perv asked paedo hunter posing as girl if she slept in silk pyjamas or naked

A north-east pervert asked what he thought was an underage girl whether she would meet him for sex.

Aaron McIntyre was caught in August 2020 while messaging a fake Facebook account created by an adult member of a paedophile hunter group posing as a 15-year-old called Kasey-Anne.

He was seen to repeatedly ask the girl to engage in sexual activity and send him pictures of herself.

The 39-year-old also quizzed the child about whether she liked to sleep in “silk pyjamas or naked”.

McIntyre pleaded guilty at Aberdeen Sheriff Court to repeatedly message what he believed to be a child and of sending sexually explicit remarks, alongside attempting to induce the girl into meeting him and to send indecent images.

Fiscal Depute Victoria Kerr told the court: “On August 4 2020 a friend request was received from a male, the accused, to the account posing as Kasey-Anne.

“The creator accepted the friend request and immediately received a message from the accused.

“He replied to this message again posing as a 15-year-old girl and further conversation took place.

“The accused then sent messages to Kasey-Anne making reference to how she preferred to sleep – asking ‘do you like silk pyjamas, or cotton or do you prefer to sleep naked?’

“He then further asked ‘what are you wearing now? Pyjamas, underwear or nothing at all?’”

Ms Kerr said McIntyre had then went on to encourage the 15-year-old to meet up with him, stating that “it would just be between us”.

The court also heard how McIntyre described graphic sexual fantasies he wanted to carry out with the girl across repeated massages to the Facebook account.

He also asked the girl whether she would sleep with him despite the clear age difference between them.

Ms Kerr said: “He asked if she was free during the day and if they could meet up.

“As the conversation developed the accused sent further sexualised messages, stating ‘you’re so hot’, ‘you’re turning me on’ and ‘I shouldn’t be thinking what I am’.

Sheriff Donald Ferguson deferred sentence for McIntyre, of Balnagask Avenue, Aberdeen, in order for a criminal justice social work report and a restriction of liberty assessment to be carried out.

He also placed the 39-year-old on the sex offenders register.

Andrew Matthews – Breightmet

July 2021

Pervert deleted internet history ‘so wife wouldn’t know he was viewing porn’

A paedophile claimed he illegally deleted the internet history on his laptop and phone because he did not want his wife to discover he had been viewing adult porn.

In 2016 businessman Andrew Matthews was given a suspended prison sentence and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order which included a ban on removing the browsing history from internet-enabled devices.

He had pleaded guilty to downloading several indecent explicit images of children.

But Bolton Crown Court heard how, when police from the from the sex offender management unit made a routine visit to his Beechcroft Drive, Breightmet, home on October 6 last year they discovered that 59-year-old Matthews had deleted the the browsing history from an iPhone 10 and an Apple Macbook.

Eleanor Gleeson, prosecuting, said Matthews claimed he was about to sell the iPhone and so had wiped its history.

A Macbook, which Matthews said he had bought a week earlier, had also had its history removed.

Matthews admitted breaching the terms of his sexual harm prevention order when interviewed by police.

“The defendant stated that he had viewed pornography on his laptop. He deleted the internet history so his wife could not see what he had been looking at online,” said Miss Gleeson.

“The defendant admitted that he was aware of the sexual harm prevention order and ignored the rules about deleting the history.”

Matthews was ordered to undertake 150 hours of unpaid work, must participate in 25 days of rehabilitation activities and pay £340 towards prosecution costs.

Robert Malaney – Barrhead

July 2021

Twisted pensioner used a camera hidden in a shopping basket to film up children’s skirts and collected 8,000 images

A predatory pensioner from Barrhead hid a camera in a shopping basket to film up the skirts of children before sharing the clips with paedophiles across the world.

Vile Robert Malaney, 76, amassed a horrific haul of more than 8,000 images during a seven-year long campaign of child exploitation

Malaney prowled the now-closed Dobbie’s Garden Centre in Paisley, Glasgow Central Station and other public areas in Barrhead and covertly filmed footage of children.

The creep trailed around after youngsters, secretly recording voyeuristic images of their bottoms, underwear and privates.

Paisley Sheriff Court heard when cops raided his home in Barrhead, after a tip-off from child protection officers, they found more than 8,000 indecent images featuring child sexual exploitation.

Malaney had also been sharing images online with a notorious paedophile website registered in Russia.

Procurator fiscal depute Ed Sheeran told the court cops raided his home on October 2 last year after receiving intelligence he was sharing indecent images online.

He said: “When the warrant was read out to him, he placed his hands on his head.

“During the course of the search, a number of items were seized.

“These included a Lenova laptop, a number of computer hard drives, a USB stick and a blue tub containing eight SD cards.”

The devices were analysed by cyber crime experts, who discovered four Category A, 26 Category B and 8,285 Category C images depicting the sexual exploitation of children.

Also in his vile stash were 14 video files he had recorded himself of young girls.

The prosecutor added: “Covert recordings were discovered on the devices.

“Footage had been taken in various locations such as supermarkets, shopping centres and other public places.

“On August 9, 2016, the film was taken from a shopping basket at a low angle.

“The images show a female child aged between eight and 12 and at four separate points the images capture up the child’s skirt, capturing her underwear.

“In the footage, the camera holder follows the child, making multiple efforts to capture the footage.”

The court heard Malaney targeted another young girl, whose age was not determined, at another supermarket, where he again recorded “up skirt footage of her underwear”.

Mr Sheeran added thousands of images had been edited together, “so that they almost played like a video”.

Another video file featured him secretly recording a girl in Barrhead, where his voice can be heard as the camera points up the child’s skirt, capturing her underwear.

The court heard Malaney had been involved in creating “first generation” images depicting the sexual exploitation of youngsters.

These are images were then hosted in websites abroad including Russia.

The prosecutor added: “A number of websites were related to the images found.

“These websites allow users to upload and download images.

“One is frequently used by users to upload Category C images.”

Mr Sheeran said a particular website involved is the subject of “an international criminal investigation”.

Malaney pleaded guilty to charges of creating indecent images of children on dates between March 2013 and September 2020.

He admitted conducting himself in a disorderly manner by covertly recording indecent images of children at Dobbie’s Garden Centre in Paisley, Glasgow Central Station and various locations in Barrhead by filming up their skirts and keeping the recordings on dates between April 2013 and September 2019.

He also pleaded guilty to operating equipment to film covert footage of a child in Barrhead in August 2016.

His defence agent confirmed Malaney was admitting responsibility for the offences, but asked to reserve his plea in mitigation until after the court receives background reports in preparation for sentencing.

Sheriff Mark Thorley placed first offender Malaney on the Sex Offenders’ Register and released him on bail to call for reports.

He said: “You are now subject to registration procedures, the length of which will be determined at sentencing.”

Prosecutors also called for a Sexual Offence Prevention Order (SOPO) to be placed on Malaney for protection of the public, which will be decided when he appears back at court on August

Nicolas Moy – Cottingham

July 2021

Sick paedophile with vile images secretly filmed woman taking a shower

A sick paedophile who secretly filmed an adult woman taking a shower and asked vile questions to a 12-year-old boy has been spared jail.

Nicolas Moy was snared by a police officer who posed as a boy aged 12 online in August 2019, with the 48-year-old aware early on that he was chatting with a child.

Moy would ask indecent questions such as whether the schoolboy had “any hair down there” or if he had seen other children naked.

Moy also admitted to fellow paedophiles that he was a voyeur who secretly made a short video of a woman taking a shower and masturbated in a child’s bedroom.

Moy came to the attention of the police after he had engaged in discussions online of an indecent nature.

He was arrested at this home in Cottingham on October 14 last year.

Officers found 25 indecent images on a laptop as well as more images contained on his iPhone on an app called My Disk, a secure password protected app keeping files private.

“Samples of the images described involved children between the age of ten and 13-years-old,” said prosecuting barrister Dale Brook.

“Although it is right to observe there are images depicting children as young as three to five-years-old including category A images involving sexual activity.

“On the laptop were conversations with various users of a relevant indecent nature.”

The court heard that Moy spoke with other users about spying on a girl and masturbating as he did so, including in her own bedroom.

Videos and photos on Moy’s phone also found that he captured a woman getting undressed and showering while she was not aware of being filmed.

“This made her feel disgusted,” said Mr Brook. “She felt really upset and feels her trust has been breached and betrayed.”

Investigating officers also discovered that Moy had engaged in an online conversation in August 2019 with a child called Jacob, or who he thought was a child.

“It was a police officer posing as a child,” said Mr Brook. “The defendant was told early that Jacob was 12-years-old.

“The defendant asked what Jacob was wearing and what colour underwear.

“He asked whether he had any hair down there, whether he had seen people at school naked, whether he got excited while messaging others and whether he had done anything with a girl.

“He asked Jacob to send indecent photos of himself. When a photo was sent the defendant asked for it to be more explicit as he wanted his pants to be pulled further down.”

Moy answered no comment to all questions by police but appeared at Hull Crown Court on Friday (July 9) to be sentenced for three counts of making indecent images of children, voyeurism and attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Moy was sentenced to 18 months in prison, suspended for two years.

He also been subjected to a sexual harm prevention order for ten years and must register as a sex offender for ten years.