Ex-Harrogate teen sentenced to 18 months for indecent images of children

An 18-year-old former Harrogate man has been sentenced to 18 months in a young offenders institute for making and distributing indecent images of children.

Dylan Paul Ansell also admitted possessing extreme pornography and a prohibited image.

Besides his 18-month sentence, Ansell was handed a 10-year sexual harm order, ordered to sign the sex offenders register for 10 years and given a five-year restraining order when he appeared at York Crown Court yesterday.

Ansell, now of Camping Close, Haddenham, Ely, but formerly of Harrogate, answered “no comment” when first quizzed about content found on devices seized from his address on August 20, 2021.

However, during a trial at York Crown Court he later pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent photographs of children, three counts of distributing indecent photographs of children, one count of possessing extreme pornography and one count of possession of a prohibited image.

Ansell also pleaded guilty to stalking — he used false social media accounts to repeatedly target a victim, which has had a lasting impact on their day-to-day activities.

Speaking today after sentencing, investigating officer Detective Constable Sullivan of North Yorkshire Police‘s online child abuse team said,

“The devices seized from Ansell’s home were found to contain hundreds of illegal images and videos – including category A indecent images of children, prohibited images of children between the ages of three and 17 years, as well as extreme pornography.

“Ansell also manipulated photos of children that he knew and shared them with others online, without their knowledge, for sexualised purposes. He was also actively involved in an online network that created and shared indecent images of children.”

He added:

“His actions have caused significant distress to his victims, including one of whom he repeatedly stalked using false social media accounts. In addition to this he has shown blatant disregard to the bail conditions that were put in place, by repeatedly attempting to contact the victim, causing additional stress and anxiety. He has shown absolutely no remorse for this.

“I’d like to commend the bravery of that victim and their family, who due to Ansell’s repeat offending had to endure a prolonged investigation. They have all shown strength and determination throughout our enquiries and the resulting court process.”

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Harrogate man jailed for ‘sexualised’ online chats with young girls

A Harrogate man has been jailed for over three years after his debauched online chats with young girls led him into a trap set by police.

Benjamin Shutt, 30, “cruised” the internet in search of easy targets and found them on social media apps installed on his phone, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor David Hewitt said police forensic officers downloaded no less than 816 pages of chats which “began innocently and soon became sexualised”.

Shutt, who told one girl she “needed a sugar daddy”, used the KIK messenger app to contact the first under-age child, who told him she was 14 years old.

Mr Hewitt said there were about 220 messages sent between Shutt, of Grove Park View, and the teenager between April 20 and May 16, 2020.

Shutt sent her a picture of his private parts, which he followed up with a request for her to “send me more please, baby”.

Mr Hewitt added:

“He asked for some photos of her body in the bath.”

He told the girl he wanted to have sex with her “so badly” and then they talked about meeting up. 

The girl agreed to meet, but Shutt told her they “probably couldn’t” because he was twice her age.

There were further sexual conversations in which Shutt talked about “the various things he would like to do to her”.

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After the girl sent him a very intimate picture of herself upon request, Shutt asked her if she had photos of herself when she was younger.

He then sent her a link via the KIK app to videos of him performing a sexual act on himself and urged her to watch them. 

Shutt targeted another young girl on the Whisper app in December 2020. He asked how old she was and when she initially told him she was 12, the messages continued regardless.

He asked her if she “enjoyed” the conversations and urged her to send him an intimate photo.

The girl later told him that her real age was 14, to which Shutt replied: “That’s fine with me.”

He said he wanted to have sex with her and “advised” her on how to perform a sexual act on herself. He then sent the girl an image of himself performing a lewd act.

Police trap

On Valentine’s Day 2021, Shutt ran out of luck when the 12-year-old ‘girl’ with whom he thought he was chatting turned out to be an undercover police officer posing as a teenager who posted a message on Whisper asking: “Why are boys so rubbish?”

Mr Hewitt said:

“The defendant replied and invited her to engage in private chat.”

The chats moved to another online platform and lasted about five weeks to the end of March 2021.

Mr Hewitt said:

“He told her that she needed a sugar daddy and explained what this was.”

Shutt asked the ‘girl’ if she had ever performed a sexual act on herself and offered her an “instruction” on how to do so. He then urged her to carry out the act.

Police raided on his home in Harrogate in April 2021 and found him in his bedroom. They seized his mobile phone.

Forensic analysis showed there were seven category C indecent images of children on Shutt’s phone. Mr Hewitt said there was also evidence to suggest Shutt had been chatting with other children, although this didn’t lead to further charges.

Shutt was charged with two counts of attempting to cause or incite a child to engage in sexual activity, two counts of attempted sexual communication with a child, one count of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act and one count of possessing indecent images of children. 

He admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence today.

‘Corrupting young girls’

Defence barrister Andrew Stranex said Shutt had endured a traumatic childhood and had been chatting with the girls during the coronavirus lockdown.

He added that Shutt was an “isolated and marginalised” figure with few friends and that his offending had had a “massive” impact on his family.

Judge Sean Morris told Shutt: 

“You pleaded guilty to a whole series of offences which involved you cruising the internet looking for young girls to corrupt. 

“There were two real victims before you were caught by an undercover officer patrolling the internet. 

“As far as you were aware, that was (an underage) girl. You were obviously sexually aroused by young teenage girls.” 

Shutt was jailed for three years and five months and placed on the sex offenders register for life. 

He was also given an eight-year sexual-harm prevention order mainly to curb his internet activities. 

Ripon man admits making indecent images of children

A man from Ripon has pleaded guilty to making indecent images of children.

Dilan Anwar, of North Road, Ripon, appeared before Harrogate Magistrates Court yesterday where he spoke only to confirm his name and enter a plea.

Anwar, 20, admitted two charges of making indecent photographs of a child on June 3, 2021.

Sarah Tyrer, prosecuting, told the court that police searched the 20-year-old’s bedroom in June 2021.

Officers seized devices, including an iPhone, were a category B image and 12 category C images were found.

Ms Tyrer told the court that the images were of females aged between 10 and 17.

Brian Nuttney, mitigating for Anwar, said the 20-year-old felt remorse for his actions and had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity.

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Mr Nuttney added that the case was different to other indecent images cases.

He said:

“They are not the blizzard of images that you see in other cases. These [offences] were committed some time ago.”

Mr Nuttney added that Anwar’s family had sent him for counselling in order to “ensure this does not happen again”.

He said:

“They feel he is in a position to put this behind him.”

Magistrates ordered Anwar to appear before York Magistrates Court for sentencing on April 19.

Harrogate man claimed indecent pictures of children were to trap paedophiles

A man who made thousands of indecent images of children told police he had downloaded the photos to try to “trap” another paedophile.

David Michael Rochford, 35, was arrested after police searched his home in Harrogate and seized several computer devices, York Crown Court heard.

Rochford told officers they would find indecent images on the devices but later claimed he had downloaded them to “lure” someone he believed to be a paedophile and that he had not viewed the illicit material, said prosecutor Brooke Morrison.

He maintained this pretence until he was sentenced yesterday for downloading more than 9,600 indecent images over a five-year period.

Some of the images, which included videos as well as photos, were rated Category A – the worst kind of such material involving the serious sexual abuse of children.

Ms Morrison said that Rochford, of Poplar Grove, told police he was “accessing (the images) because he wanted to trap somebody else who was a paedophile”.

Rochford told a probation officer the same thing after he admitted the offences, but the prosecution never accepted his claim due to the length of time he had been downloading the material and the sheer number of images involved.

When Rochford appeared for sentence, his barrister Daniel Ingham said his client was still “standing by” his dubious claim as to why the images were found on his computer.

But after Recorder Simon Jackson KC advised Rochford that he should reconsider his claim and confer with his counsel during a short adjournment, Mr Ingham said that Rochford now resiled from his far-fetched story and was prepared to be sentenced on the full facts as set out by the prosecution.

Rochford had already admitted three counts of making indecent images, including 147 rated Category A. In total, he downloaded 9,631 illicit images between 2014 and 2019.

The Crown moved straight to sentence and duly dismissed Rochford’s initial claim that he was engaging in a “scheme of entrapment”.

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Ms Morrison said that police raided Rochford’s home in June 2019. They seized a “large number” of devices including three laptops, a computer tower, hard drives and memory cards.

They found indecent images on seven of the devices, forensic analysis of which showed that Rochford had used “peer-to-peer” software as part of his online activities.

“He was interviewed and admitted having the material (but) said this was in order to lure a person he suspected of being a paedophile,” said Ms Morrison.

She said that Rochford had four previous convictions including for violence but nothing of a sexual nature.

Mr Ingham, for Rochford, said his client was a full-time carer for his mother, who was seriously ill and with whom he lived.

She said he had a past alcohol problem for which he was getting help and mental-health problems.

Recorder Mr Jackson KC said Rochford had initially admitted the offences “on the false premise that this was to trap another paedophile”.

He said the sheer number of images and the years-long period of offending showed there was “plainly a sustained pattern of downloading sexual images for your own sexual gratification”.

However, he said he had to bear in mind the delay in the case reaching court and Rochford’s caring responsibilities for his mother.

He said it was for those reasons that he could suspend the inevitable jail term.

Rochford was given an 18-month suspended jail sentence and placed on the sex-offenders’ register for 10 years.

He was also given a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order, mainly to curb his internet activities, and ordered to take part in a sex-offenders’ programme, complete a 20-day rehabilitation course and carry out  40 hours of unpaid work.

 

 

Harogate man made thousands of indecent images of children

Warning: the following article contains details some people may find offensive.

A Harrogate man who had a “totally unacceptable” interest in images of child abuse and extreme pornography has been given a suspended prison sentence.

Philip Grange, 53, of Hillside in Follifoot, appeared before York Crown Court this morning on a string of charges, including possessing an extreme pornographic image of a person performing an act of intercourse with a dog.

Grange was also charged with three counts of making an indecent photograph of a child and three counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child.

He pleaded guilty to all charges.

Thousands of indecent images

Police arrested Grange on August 14, 2020, and seized a number of devices including nine mobile phones, a Samsung tablet, a laptop and a USB stick from his home.

Analysis of the technology found five of the mobile phones included indecent material.

A total of 650 category A images, which are the most graphic, and 37 videos were found, along with thousands of category B and C images.

Police also discovered 180 images of extreme pornography and 10 videos.

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Grange was also found to be using the Kik Messenger social media platform to request and distribute images.

The prosecution told the court that he also had “very explicit” conversations on the platform.

Ismael Uddin, defending Grange, said he had no previous convictions and was “socially isolated”.

He added that he was “remorseful” for making and distributing the images and was unlikely to offend again.

Mr Uddin said:

“All of them [the images] are of a disdainful nature.

“He is 53 years of age and is likely to not commit offences again. He has told me that he is no longer on the internet.”

‘Unacceptable’ and ‘perverted’

Sentencing Grange, Recorder Paul Reid told the 53-year-old that he had an “unacceptable” and “perverted” interest in pornography.

He said:

“You are described as a socially isolated individual who has a totally unacceptable and perverted interest in pornography and, in particular, images of child abuse.”

Mr Reid described Grange’s conversations on the “notorious” Kik platform as “utterly disgusting”.

He added that he noted that Grange told probation that he was “glad to be caught” as he “knew what he was doing was wrong”.

Grange was sentenced to 20 months in prison suspended for two years.

He was also ordered to undertake 200 hours unpaid work, 40 days rehabilitation and subjected to a sexual harm prevention order.

Police officer avoids jail after downloading 8,000 indecent images of children

A North Yorkshire Police officer who downloaded more than 8,000 indecent images of children has avoided a prison sentence.

Christopher Groom, 41, of Main Street, Claxton, trawled the internet for images of youngsters using search terms such as ‘naked young teens’ and ‘youngest naked models’, Leeds Magistrates Court heard today.

Among the photos downloaded by Groom were sexual images of children between eight and 14-years-old, said prosecutor Charles Macrae.

Groom, who has since resigned from the force, was arrested after police from North Yorkshire’s online abuse team searched his home on December 16, 2021. They seized a computer tower and a mobile phone and took the devices away for analysis.

Groom was brought in for questioning and gave a prepared statement but denied he had been searching for indecent images of children and said he was “shocked” images were found on his device.

Forensic analysis of Groom’s computer tower revealed that he had downloaded 8,707 Category C images of children over what is thought to be a seven-year period.

Mr Macrae said that “file names and internet searches associated with child sexual abuse” were found on the tower.

He was interviewed again in January after the forensic report and provided a further prepared statement in which he claimed he had “not deliberately sought out” indecent images.

Groom, of Main Street, Claxton, was charged with one count of making indecent images of minors between December 2014 and November 2021. He admitted the offence and appeared for sentence today.

Following his arrest, Groom claimed he had initially downloaded what he thought was legal pornography only to find it contained indecent images.

However, the forensic report debunked his claims that the downloads were accidental because “the searches had been made where such (indecent) images were likely to be”.

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Matthew Savage, mitigating, said Groom was now a changed man having voluntarily enrolled on an offenders’ prevention course. He added Groom had resigned from the force because he “felt that his position was untenable”. Mr Savage said:

“He remains deeply embarrassed and ashamed about his behaviour.”

He said Groom “understands fully the impact that this type of offending has” and that his arrest and subsequent conviction had been a “very salutary lesson”.

‘Not a victimless crime’

District judge Richard Kitson said the huge number of images was an “aggravating factor” in Groom’s despicable offences:

 “You understand that this is not a victimless crime. At some point, these photographs had been taken of very real children who have suffered that abuse.

“You were a police officer for a number of years and you have now lost that. Not only have you lost that employment, the public have lost what under other circumstances was a very good and brave police officer. You were a man not only of good character, but positive character.”

Mr Kitson told Groom he would not be sending him to jail because the probation service said he was at low risk of reoffending and could be rehabilitated in the community.

He said he had also taken account of the steps that Groom had taken to address his offending and his early guilty plea.

Instead, Groom was given an 18-month community order which includes 30 rehabilitation-activity days and 150 hours’ unpaid work.

He was also ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for five years and made subject to a five-year sexual-harm prevention order to allow police to monitor his internet activities.

As part of his notification requirements, Groom will have to periodically report to Scarborough Police Station.

North Yorkshire Police officer admits making 8,700 indecent child images

A North Yorkshire Police officer pleaded guilty today to making 8,707 indecent images of children over seven years.

Christopher Groom was charged with making the Category C indecent photographs over a seven-year period between December, 3 2014 and November, 14 2021.

Groom, who was a serving officer at the time, was suspended and arrested on December 16, 2021, and had his computer and phone examined.

At today’s hearing at Leeds Magistrates’ Court, prosecutor Angela Terenzini said there was no evidence he had distributed the images.

Groom, of Main Street, Claxton, Malton, will be sentenced on June 14. He received unconditional bail.

North Yorkshire Police has said it will make a formal response when the case is concluded.

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Ex-Harrogate hospital IT worker who downloaded 750,000 indecent images of children jailed again

Warning: some readers may find aspects of this article distressing

A former Harrogate hospital IT worker was labelled a danger to children as he was jailed yet again for downloading images of children.

Martin Richard Shepherd, 50, from Harrogate, was already under lifetime curbs on his internet use after being convicted of downloading three-quarters of a million indecent images of children in 2017.

But when police officers paid him an impromptu visit in September 2020, they found he had been deleting “vast” amounts of data on his computer, York Crown Court heard.

Analysis of his devices revealed that the computer buff had downloaded hundreds more images – including videos featuring child rape – while on prison licence and subject to a lifetime sexual-harm prevention order to stop him trawling the web for illicit material.

Shepherd, who had “curated” the images according to their levels of depravity, told officers he found “irresistible” the urge to view images of children being sexually abused.

He admitted possessing indecent images and appeared for sentence via video link on Thursday.

Jailed for five years in 2017

The court heard he was working as an IT expert at Harrogate District Hospital at the time of his original offences in 2016, when police found about 750,000 indecent images of children on his computer devices.

This led to a five-year jail sentence in 2017 for possessing and distributing indecent images, as well as two counts of voyeurism and computer misuse in relation to his work at the hospital.

Shepherd, described as a loner, served half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence in July 2019.

In September 2020, police monitoring officers made an unannounced visit to his home in Harrogate and found he had been deleting a “vast amount” of data from an Android tablet, in breach of the sexual-harm prevention order. This resulted in a further two-year jail sentence in January last year for four breaches of the order.

However, no illegal images were found at the time and it was not until later that a further police investigation unearthed yet more images of children which Shepherd had stored on five memory sticks.

Deleting images

Prosecutor Jonathan Foy said that Shepherd, formerly of Chatsworth Grove, had started deleting the images – about 125 gigabytes in total – within six months of being released from prison. Mr Foy said:

“When interviewed, he admitted that as soon as he was released from custody, his temptation to (view) pornographic images of children was something he found irresistible.”

Analysis of the devices revealed that Shepherd had downloaded hundreds of indecent images of all levels of seriousness, including 148 photos and videos rated Category A – the worst kind of such material. They included images of girls aged between four and 11 years of age being raped by adult men. One of the children in the depraved movie clips was unconscious.

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Mr Foy said:

“He troubles himself not only to obtain (the indecent images), but to separately save them (on USB sticks), curate them (in terms of) highest quality”

There were a “large number” of young victims featured in the scenes.

Downloading indecent images since 2002

The court heard that Shepherd, who worked in the hospital’s IT department for 22 years, had been downloading indecent images of children since 2002, but his computer skills enabled him to encrypt the huge stash of material and avoid detection for 14 years.

In 2016, police cyber-crime detectives finally snared him and found that he had amassed about three-quarters of a million indecent images of children.

They found a “massive library collection” of images featuring the serious sexual abuse of “very young” children including 12-month-old babies and youngsters who had been drugged or plied with alcohol.

Shepherd had painstakingly catalogued the images in 22 encrypted volumes and used an “extremely-complex” system of passwords to hide them. He also distributed about 20 depraved videos on a paedophilic file-sharing site.

His previous conviction for voyeurism related to two young women whom he secretly filmed getting undressed and walking around naked at a property in Harrogate after setting up covert video equipment. Those offences occurred between 2005 and 2012.

The previous offence of computer misuse, or gaining unauthorised access to private computer files, occurred at Harrogate District Hospital where Shepherd, who was working in the IT department, had somehow “abstracted” photos from a family computer of a young girl in her underwear, bikini and school uniform.

Resigned from hospital in 2016

Ashleigh Metcalfe, mitigating, said Shepherd had been on custodial remand for over a year and had been working in Hull Prison’s upholstery department.

However, a probation report noted that since being forced to resign from his hospital job in 2016 following his arrest for the original offences, Shepherd had spent much of his time searching for indecent images of children.

Judge Simon Hickey said the discovery of even more indecent images “reinforced” his opinion that Shepherd was a dangerous offender “and that he will simply continue to reoffend”.

He said he had noted the “extremely young” ages of the children featuring in the sordid videos.

He told Shepherd:

“You admitted (to police) that you can’t stop yourself finding children of this age irresistible. You were downloading a vast amount of material. The children depicted are clearly vulnerable and visibly distressed.”

Shepherd, described as intelligent, was jailed for 12 months. He will be released from jail halfway through that sentence but will then have to serve an extended two-year period on prison licence.

Mr Hickey also added 10 new prohibitions to the sexual-harm prevention order for the protection of the public, namely young girls. Shepherd will remain on the sex-offenders’ register for life.