Harrogate paedophile jailed for 22 years for 86 sex attacks

A Harrogate paedophile has been jailed for 22 years for subjecting four young girls to sexual abuse.

Jessica Brennan, who was listed as Allan Brennan by the court but is a trans woman who identifies as Jessica, groomed and then sexually assaulted the children, one of whom was just four years old, in separate incidents over a 17-year period from the late 1990s.

Brennan, from Harrogate, tried to rape one of the youngsters and one girl was subjected to systematic sexual abuse over 10 years which involved “multiple” incidents, York Crown Court heard.

None of the victims, who had been “haunted” by the abuse, can be named for legal reasons.

Prosecutor Philip Standfast said one of the victims came forward to police with allegations against Brennan, who has two children, as early as 2000 but no charges were brought.

He said there had been no fewer than 86 separate sexual assaults on the girls over a 17-year period.

The allegations re-emerged three or four years ago when the abuse finally stopped and other girls came forward. Brennan was finally charged with a raft of sexual offences which had “ruined” the girls’ lives, the court heard.

Read more:

One of the victims said she had suffered anxiety attacks since the abuse, and she had been taking anti-depressants.

She had been unable to form proper relationships and felt an inexplicable guilt.

Another victim had been having counselling sessions due to anxiety after losing her “self-worth and self-esteem”. She said:

“It’s made it hard for me to trust people.

“This has affected my family. Anything that this evil man gets (in terms of punishment) won’t be enough for what he’s done to me and my family.”

Another victim spoke of her “pain and suffering over the last 21 years. I was sexually abused when I was four.” She added:

“I had minimum understanding of what was happening to me. The comprehension of what happened to me as a child makes me sick to my stomach.

“I’m constantly haunted by what happened to me.”

She said she got flashbacks to the abuse and was put on anti-depressants and anti-anxiety medication for panic attacks.

“At 12, I was taking medication I didn’t even understand.”

“It didn’t stop what happened ruining my life. It has affected every aspect of my life (including) forming a relationship with boys. I felt like my body was not my own.

“There just doesn’t seem to be any aspect of what happened to me that doesn’t live with me to this day.”

It had affected her college education and her work and left her with a “pit of depression”, she added.

She had to take time off work due to anxiety attacks, which meant that she had lost out financially too.

“My life was stolen from me when I was just four years’ old,” she said.

“I was abused and violated by an…adult.”

The fourth victim, a “vulnerable child”, said she “always felt (the abuse) was my fault”.

She too was signed off work last year for anxiety and depression.

Read more:

Brennan, of Bowland Close, was charged with 16 separate offences including sexual assault of a child, indecent assault, sexual activity with a child and one count of attempted rape of a girl under 13.

She was found guilty after a trial earlier this year and appeared for sentence via video link on Monday. Three other allegations of sexual abuse were “severed” and not-guilty verdicts recorded.

Gillian Batts, for Brennan, said her client, who had been remanded in jail since the trial, had no previous convictions.

Judge Simon Hickey criticised Brennan for her chronic abuse of the children, who were aged from four to their teens:

“You attacked four separate young girls over (a) 17-year period.

“You are in my mind a dangerous offender (and) there is a risk of you causing (further) serious harm to young females.”

“You chose to hide behind these offences, claiming you had no memory (beyond) a few years ago.”

Brennan was jailed for 22 years, of which she will serve half behind bars before being released on parole.

However, the judge also imposed a four-year extended period on prison licence upon Brennan’s eventual release from jail.

In addition to the jail sentence, Brennan was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order limiting her contact with children for an indefinite period.

Ripon supermarket worker jailed for inappropriate videos of children

A paedophile who collected numerous sex videos involving children and encouraged a girl to expose her breasts on the internet has been jailed for nearly two years.

Timothy Cheesbrough, 35, from Ripon, trawled the internet for inappropriate pictures of children as young as four, York Crown Court heard.

He downloaded videos of children being raped and sexually abused and depraved movie clips featuring “erotic” dancing by a young girl, said prosecutor Julian Jones.

Cheesbrough, a supermarket worker, visited numerous websites, including one in which he used video technology to encourage a girl, aged between 12 and 13, to expose herself.

He first came to the attention of police in September 2018 after they were tipped off about illegal online activity linked to his computer IP address, mobile phone number and associated Yahoo email accounts with female usernames.

Police searched his flat on September 27 2018. Cheesbrough was initially arrested on suspicion of the possession and distribution of indecent images.

He refused to answer police questions but forensic analysis of his internet devices, including an iPhone, desktop computer and hard drive, revealed a collection of more than 170 illegal child images.

These covered of all levels of seriousness including 61 Category A images and videos – the worst kind of such material.

Prosecutor Mr Jones said some of the Category A videos were “particularly disturbing” and included girls between four and 12 years old being raped by adult males.

In one of the recorded videos – from a website frequented by like-minded individuals – Cheesbrough, and possibly others, urged a girl in a school uniform to expose an intimate part of her body.

Mr Jones said:

“The female remains unidentified.”

Cheesbrough, of Kirkgate, had used PowerPoint software to record the live-streamed video, added Mr Jones.

Read more:

The Ripon man admitted three counts of making indecent images and one of causing or inciting an under-age girl to engage in sexual activity.

Temitayo Dasaolu, Cheesbrough’s defence, said her client had embarked on his nefarious online activities after becoming socially isolated because he was working night shifts at the supermarket.

She said:

“He accepts he fell into this offending out of curiosity.”

She added Cheesbrough had mental health problems and had been extremely distressed since his arrest in 2018. He had since sought professional help and had been planning to set up his own electrician’s business.

Judge Sean Morris told Cheesbrough:

“You have fallen into the trap that the courts see often: of becoming addicted to surfing the internet looking for pornography, which has descended into actively seeking out (indecent images of children).

“It’s bad enough looking at illegal images of children, but when an adult male goes online and takes part in the incitement of a child to engage in indecent behaviour, that I’m afraid is so serious that it can only be met by an immediate prison sentence.”

“That child will soon realise that images of her are out there. What that will do to her mental health, one can only speculate.

“It was deliberately sought out (and) it would appear that that was a website where others were also observing or encouraging (the girl), and the images were recorded.”

Cheesbrough was jailed for 21 months, of which he will serve half behind bars before being released on licence.

He was also given a sexual harm prevention order, which will last seven years and is designed primarily to curb his internet activities.

He was also placed on the sex offenders’ register, which forces him to notify the authorities about any change in his circumstances and whereabouts after he is released from prison.

Harrogate binman caught by paedophile hunter group

A 57-year-old father-of-three from Harrogate who tried to sexually groom a 12-year-old ‘girl’ on WhatsApp has been spared jail.

Former binman Gary Milner sent the ‘girl’ pornographic sketches and urged her to send him a lewd picture of herself.

But in fact he had been set a trap by a paedophile hunter group called Dark Light, one of whose members set up an online decoy profile as a pre-teen girl on the dating app Mingle, York Crown Court heard.

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

Prosecutor Chris Dunn said the vigilante group turned up at Milner’s home in the Harrogate area following the entrapment and uploaded the video on Facebook. Milner was immediately dismissed from his job at a recycling waste service.

“(The vigilante group) contacted police, informing them that representatives (from Dark Light) had attended the home of the defendant following him communicating online with their decoy profile set up to mimic a (named) 12-year-old female,” added Mr Dunn.

Read more:

The decoy profile had lain dormant until Milner contacted the ‘girl’ on the dating website, which was for adults.

“For just over a fortnight (in August 2018) the defendant corresponded with this false profile of a child thinking it was a 12-year-old girl,” said Mr Dunn.

“The initial chat took place via Mingle (but) shortly after that, the conversation moved to the personal messaging app, Whatsapp.”

Asked for lewd image

Milner, whose username was ‘Gazza1Gazza’, became “more intimate” in his conversations with the ‘girl’ after only a few days, manoeuvring the chats towards “messages of a sexual nature”.

He talked to the ‘girl’ about “how to have sex”, asked if he could perform a sexual act on her and sent her pictures and sketches from an adult sex manual.

“On a number of occasions throughout this Whatsapp correspondence, (the ‘girl’) told him she was 12,” added Mr Dunn.

“Thereafter, he sent her a picture of his car, asking her if she’d like to go in it for a drive.”

Milner — formerly of Harrogate but now of Horsefair, Boroughbridge — asked the ‘girl’ to send him a lewd shot of herself and sent her a picture of a woman in a state of undress to give the ‘youngster’ a better idea of the kind of image he was expecting, said Mr Dunn.

After being arrested at home, Milner told police he had talked to the ‘girl’ about sex but claimed it was “more educational”.

He claimed he didn’t get any sexual gratification from the debauched chats and didn’t intend to meet her, but these claims were rubbished by both the prosecution and the sentencing judge.

History of dishonesty

Milner — who lived alone following the collapse of his marriage about 11 years ago — claimed he was looking for a long-term adult relationship on the dating site and that he “happened” to talk to a ‘child’ “for friendship”.

However, he ultimately admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child and attempting to cause a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

The court heard that although Milner had an extensive criminal history, mostly for “dishonesty” offences, there was nothing on his record for sexual matters.

Susannah Proctor, for Milner, said her client was “deeply ashamed” about his behaviour but that he had not gone onto the dating site looking for children.

She said he had lost his job as soon as his employers became aware of the Facebook video, bringing an end to a 30-year career as a binman and causing him severe financial difficulties.

Moved to Boroughbridge

Since his arrest, Milner had lost all contact with his family. He had moved from Harrogate to Boroughbridge a few years ago following the death of his father.

Judge Simon Hickey said it was clear that Milner thought he was chatting to a real 12-year-old girl and that he had been sexually grooming her.

However, he said that Milner had already been punished of sorts following the “opprobrium” he had received following the Facebook video and the loss of a job he had held since 1989.

Milner was made subject to a 10-year sexual-harm prevention order and ordered to complete a 30-day rehabilitation programme and sexual-offending prevention course.