York and Darlington, UK man jailed for
30 years for unspeakable child sex abuse
A MAN who has lived in York and Darlington has been jailed for 30 years for child sex abuse.
Graham Leslie Howard, 47, of Croft Avenue, Knottingley, near Leeds, who previously lived in York, Scarborough and Darlington was jailed at York Crown Court on Thursday, August 23.
He was found guilty of 18 charges including 11 counts of the rape of a child, two of indecency with a child, three indecent assaults, and two of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual behaviour.
He also faced trial for three offences of cruelty to a child but pleaded guilty to those charges just before the start of his trial.
Howard subjected the children to "unspeakable, sickening abuse, both sexual and physical".
Following his imprisonment, Investigating officer, Detective Constable Rosie Rogers of Scarborough CID, said: “This is one of the worst cases of child abuse I have ever dealt with. No child should have to go through the terror and pain that they suffered at his hands.
“Although the sentence reflects the seriousness of his horrific crimes, nothing can take away the trauma he has inflicted on those children and the impact on the rest of their lives.
“They have been incredibly brave in coming forward to re-live their ordeals and in doing so have ensured that a dangerous man is now behind bars where he cannot harm any more children. I hope the result gives them some form of closure on a horrendous time in their lives.
“Protecting children is everyone’s responsibility and I urge anyone who is aware of any child being abused that they step forward and report it. Don’t turn a blind eye and think it’s none of your business, it is, please tell us.”
If you have been the victim of sexual abuse, whether it is happening now or in the past, please contact the police.
DC Rogers added: "Even if it is not possible to put an offender before the courts, it’s important that you are offered the support and advice that is available. Your information could also help to protect other victims and help the police form a wider picture of offending.
"We appreciate that telling the police what has happened takes courage. It is not easy reliving such distressing situations. We understand this and have specially trained officers who will guide you through the process as well as signposting you to other agencies who can help you.
"Child sexual abuse and exploitation is a foremost priority for all police forces and all reports will be fully investigated. Please do not suffer alone, if you have been abused, please report it."
To report a sexual crime to the police, call 101. If you are in immediate danger, always call 999. If you prefer not to go direct to the police and you are not in immediate danger, you can contact a sexual assault referral centre (SARC) in your area. Bridge House, North Yorkshire’s SARC can be contacted on 01904 669339.
Childline 24-hour helpline is 0800-1111. NSPCC’s online safety helpline on 0800-800-5002. If you are worried about a child, call the NSPCC’s helpline on 0800-800-5000.
Rotherham abuse trial: Abid Saddiq denies
child sex offences
A man accused of sex offences against vulnerable teenage girls has denied the allegations saying: "It's not them telling the truth, it's me."
So far, the guy on the right, Tommy Robinson, has spent the most time in jail
Abid Saddiq, 38, is one of six men on trial at Sheffield Crown Court accused of abusing girls in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, between 1998 and 2002.
Sheffield Crown Court was told Mr Saddiq raped a girl in an alleyway when she was aged 14 or 15, then taunted the girl's mother.
The six men deny all charges. They are accused of offences including rape, indecent assault and child abduction of seven schoolgirls.
Mr Saddiq, from Rotherham, faces two counts of rape, five of indecent assault, and two of child abduction.
Sharaz Hussain, 35, of Fitzwilliam Road, Rotherham, and Masaued Malik, 35, are charged with four and three counts of indecent assault respectively.
Masoued Malik, 32, of Bridgewater Way, Rotherham, guilty of one rape, one count of conspiracy to commit indecent assault and one of false imprisonment, in 2016. He was sentenced to 16 years.
Meanwhile, Aftab Hussain, 40, is accused of two counts of indecent assault.
The final two defendants cannot be named for legal reasons, with one facing a charge of rape and three of indecent assault, and the other on trial for one count of indecent assault and two of child abduction.
Mr Saddiq, a father-of-four, said he had sex with some of the complainants, but they were over age at the time and consented.
Summing up the case, Judge Michael Slater explained how one complainant was aged 14 or 15 when she was allegedly taken down an alleyway and raped by Mr Saddiq, with the defendant supposedly then taunting her mother about the incident.
The judge read from the complainant's interview with police in 2016, with her describing Mr Saddiq as "so ugly" and "dopey Abid".
During his summing up on Friday, the judge quoted Mr Saddiq as saying of the complainants during his evidence: "I had nothing to do with any of them until they were over 18.
"It's not them telling the truth, it's me."
I believe you, Abid. A Muslim rapist would never lie. Pfft!
Larnaca, Cyprus: 59 y/o jailed for sexual abuse of a child, incest
Edited by Bouli Hadjioannou
In-Cyprus
Larnaca Criminal Court on Friday sentenced a 59 year old man to prison for six years after finding him guilty of sexually abusing a child.
The decision was announced by police which did not give any details.
Cases involving child victims are held behind closed doors to protect the identity of the victim.
The Cyprus News Agency said the man was found guilty on eight charges relating to the sexual abuse of his daughter, aged 12 at the time, in the period 2016 and 2017.
UK teen found with stash of vile child and dog sexual abuse videos facing jail
The 18-y/o faces up to 3 years in jail after a police raided his Fenham home
By Ian Johnson,
Newcastle Chronicle
A teenager is facing jail after being caught with a stash of disgusting videos depicting child and animal abuse.
Police raided Yi-Yun Wang's Fenham home and found an Ipod Touch with nine of the most serious Category A child abuse clips and a Category B video. There was a clip showing "a person performing a sex act" with a dog.
The teenager - who now calls himself Ian Wilson - could be jailed for up to three years after admitting a trio of offences.
Armed with a warrant, police swooped on his house in an early morning raid last year where they made the discovery. Prosecutor Oriana Frame said the 18-year-old refused to answer almost all of the police's questions when quizzed - but owned up to one crucial fact.
"He did admit the device was his," she told North Tyneside Magistrates' Court. "He also said he had not shown any images to anyone else."
At Wednesday's hearing, the three-man bench ordered the teenager to remove a hoodie which covered much of his face.
The defendant pleaded guilty to two counts of making indecent photographs of a child. He also admitted one charge of possessing an extreme pornographic image portraying an act of intercourse with an animal.
The sick material is said to have amassed over a near three year period, starting from when the teenager was just 14 years old.
Wang was told he must now register with the police as a sex offender. No mitigation was offered as the case was passed up to a judge to sentence him. The court heard Magistrates didn't have sufficient powers to punish the defendant.
His crimes carried a starting point of six months behind bars - which Magistrates can impose - however the prosecutor said such a lenient sentence was "very unlikely" due to the Category A material.
The defendant, of Simonburn Avenue, was granted unconditional bail to appear at Crown Court on September 11.
Manawatu, N.Z., man jailed after being caught accessing 4000 child sexual abuse files
By: Sam Hurley
New Zealand Herald court reporter.
A Manawatu man has been jailed for nearly six years after being caught accessing nearly 4000 child sexual abuse files and using social media to distribute them.
Nigel Maurice Urwin was sentenced today in the Palmerston North District Court to five years and nine months' imprisonment.
The 43-year-old had earlier pleaded guilty to nine charges involving the distribution and possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation materials.
The starting point for Urwin's sentencing was the highest in New Zealand history for possession of this kind of objectionable content by a person with no relevant criminal history.
In a statement after the hearing, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA) said its investigation revealed Urwin accessed close to 4000 child sexual abuse files.
A large amount of which were found to depict the extreme sexual abuse of young children.
Urwin also used social media to distribute 109 files depicting the sexual abuse of children, including infants and toddlers, the DIA said.
"These are not just images, they are real children who are forced into extremely abusive and exploitative acts," Jolene Armadoros, the DIA's director of digital safety, said.
"Our tamariki (Moari for children) are our brightest asset, by protecting them, we protect the future of New Zealand," she said.
The internet, she continued, was a "wild and challenging beast" but her DIA team was determined to "rid the digital world of these horrific crimes and protect the children who are forced into these abusive acts".
"Education and prevention are a large part of what we do and we encourage people who are looking for this material to seek help. If you make, view, or distribute child exploitation material, you will be caught and prosecuted," Armadoros said.
Urwin was also ordered by the court to register as a child sex offender.
Earlier today, the Herald reported the case of Aden Seymour Garlick, who was caught by fellow passengers on an Auckland city ferry viewing images of child sexual exploitation on his smartphone.
He was sentenced to a 19-month prison term for his offending.
The Herald has reported on several other Kiwis this year as it continues its series to unmask those guilty of participating in the international exploitation of children.
• If you've experienced sexual assault or abuse and need to talk to someone you can call the confidential Safe to Talk crisis helpline on: 0800 227 233
8chan, the message board with connections to Christchurch mosque attack, investigated over child sex abuse content
Paula Penfold and Eugene BinghamSTUFF CIRCUIT
A notorious internet message board with connections to the Christchurch mosque attacks is being investigated over child sex abuse content.
Authorities in the Philippines, where the owner of the site lives, told Stuff Circuit the investigation began after they had received requests from overseas agencies to monitor it.
"They informed us that [Jim] Watkins migrated to the Philippines and he's connected with some sites that are questionable in nature - we're looking at 8chan," said Attorney Victor Lorenzo, head of the cybercrime division of the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
Watkins, a US citizen who now lives in the Philippines capital, Manila, has owned 8chan since 2014.
The decision to focus on child sex abuse content is a blind-side move against 8chan, which has come under increasing global pressure since the attacks of March 15, when 51 people were killed. Links to a livestream video of the attack, a manifesto, and a message to supporters were posted to a message board on the site moments before the shooting.
Anonymous users celebrated and amplified the attack, translating the manifesto, saving and distributing the video, and creating memes lionising the alleged shooter.
Since then, two other attacks - one in Poway, California, and another in El Paso, Texas - have been connected to 8chan.
The El Paso attack forced 8chan's security provider to cut ties, leading to 8chan disappearing offline, although Watkins has indicated that is only a temporary glitch, and the site's administrators have vowed to bring it back.
But the latest move by the Philippines authorities could thwart that.
Lorenzo said his office was aware of the Christchurch links with 8chan but while he personally found the site "disturbing", his office focused on child sex abuse content.
"When we visit that site they're also catering to child pornography and some other illegal activities, so we focus our investigation on child pornography because they are violating a specific law here in the Philippines," he said.
Attorney Victor Lorenzo is head of the cybercrime division of the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation.
PHIL JOHNSON/TOBY LONGBOTTOM
The offences carry a penalty of six to 12 years' imprisonment, followed by deportation in the case of an "undesirable alien".
Watkins is a former US Army soldier who began building his computer technology empire while still in the army.
He runs his company, N.T. Technology - which hosts 8chan among dozens of other sites - out of Manila, where he now lives. He has declined media interviews since the Christchurch shootings, including with Stuff Circuit, but has said in an online video statement, "I had nothing to do with this. I'm not a white supremacist".
8chan, which described itself as "the Darkest Reaches of the Internet", is the subject of a Stuff Circuit documentary, Infinite Evil.
While there have been calls for 8chan to be permanently shut down, experts remain sceptical that is even possible.
In New Zealand, internet provider Spark has announced that, even if 8chan comes back, it will block users from accessing the site - something it tried as a temporary measure immediately after the attacks.
"We feel it is the right thing to do given the website's repeated transgressions and continual willingness to distribute disturbing material," a spokesperson for Spark said.
The founder of 8chan, Fredrick Brennan, has spoken out against the site.
PHIL JOHNSON/TOBY LONGBOTTOM
But Fredrick Brennan, the founder of 8chan who has now cut ties with it and spoken out against the site, told Stuff Circuit he did not believe such a move would stop 8chan or its users.
"I know that in your country some [Internet Service Providers] tried to block it ... but a lot of people got around that," said Brennan. "The most tech-savvy people can find ways around those things, always."
Even during the temporary ban, for instance, users in New Zealand could still access 8chan via the dark web.
"What I would say is, I don't feel like the way the internet is architectured that there's anything that can really be done about 8chan," said Brennan.
Nova Scotia police searching for suspect after
alleged sexual assault of a child
By The Canadian PressPORT HAWKESBURY, N.S.—RCMP say they are looking for a suspect after an alleged sexual assault of a child in Port Hawkesbury, N.S.
Police say a man approached a nine-year-old boy in a public washroom of a business around 5:15 p.m. on Friday.
They allege the man forced the child into a bathroom stall, locked the door and attempted to pull the boy’s pants down.
Police say the boy escaped and employees of the business tried to stop the man from leaving, but he fled.
Investigators are asking for the public’s assistance in identifying the man, who is described as white, five-foot-eight, in his 40s or 50s and has dark hair.
Sure, I know about 60,000 people like that!
Aussie child killer and notorious molester may be out of prison soon thanks to concurrent sentencing
Michael Guider, a man described by one abuse victim as having “tentacles with insidious reach”, could soon be back on the streets.
Sarah McPhee
news.com.au
With his camera never far from reach, Michael Anthony Guider seeped into at least a dozen Sydney families.
He was the man who broke up “the boring school holidays” for children aged from 16 to two. “Regrettably, they appear to have found him entertaining,” a sentencing judge once expressed.
Guider — a serial paedophile and child killer — has been described as compulsive, dangerous, deceptive, manipulative, remorseless, “psychosexually impaired” and a loner. Drawings of young boys were found in his jail cell as recently as 2012.
And he could soon be back on the streets.
Guider has been in jail since February 1996 for dozens of child sex offences and the manslaughter of nine-year-old Bondi schoolgirl Samantha Knight. He has never revealed her final resting place.
The now 68-year-old has since served his time for the countless convictions and has been due to be released since June. But NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman is fighting to keep him there.
Samantha Knight disappeared in 1986. Guider only admitted in 2002 to having killed her.
Source:News Corp Australia
Before the community came to fear Guider, he wore many hats. Babysitter, part-time gardener, copy boy, clerical assistant, labourer and cleaner to name a few.
From at least 1980, and for the next 15 years, Guider befriended the mothers of young children in Sydney and regularly visited their homes.
“The specific modus operandi adopted by the defendant, whereby the child victims could be more readily sexually assaulted (and perhaps to render them with no memory of what had been done to them), was to administer them a well-known sedative,” Justice Richard Button said earlier this year.
Stupefying drugs were his weapon of choice.
Guider befriended Sydney women and abused their children from 1980. Source:News Limited
Guider infiltrated families and provided gifts and outings for the children, all while masking his unspeakable crimes from their adult loved ones. “His tentacles have such insidious reach,” Lisa Giles, one of more than a dozen of his child sexual abuse victims, said in the NSW Supreme Court in Sydney last Tuesday.
“He positioned himself to be able to realise his fantasies over, and over, and over. He was like a travelling showman.” He was “the guy who breaks up the boring school holidays” but was “hunting in plain sight”, she said.
Police in 1996 found thousands of indecent photographs in Guider’s possession along with pornographic books, children’s underwear and cameras.
Ms Giles, 43, publicly revealed the atrocities of her childhood for the first time this week in a bid to convince the court her attacker — who “discarded” children when they got too old — should never be freed.
She’d prepared 13 pages worth of reasons.
“If we don’t fight, we die...and we give ourselves over to the tragedy completely,” she said. “He is the real life version of the psychotic bad guy you see in the movies.”
She expressed concern about having to review the status of Guider’s freedom until he is dead. “We are not physically safe if he is released, our children are not safe and our minds are not safe.”
The State of NSW has applied for Guider to be kept in jail for another year by way of a continuing detention order.
Mr Speakman is also seeking an extended supervision order with stringent conditions — including electronic monitoring and anti-libidinal medication — for at least five years after that.
Guider was first jailed in 1996 after pleading guilty to 60 child sex offences against nine young girls and two young boys.
These included 15 counts of sexual intercourse without consent “comprising acts of penile penetration, penetration with a finger and with objects, and oral intercourse”.
He was sentenced to a maximum of 16 years “penal servitude” for 16 counts of administering a stupefying drug with intent to commit an indictable offence.
Fixed terms of six years, four years, 18 months, 12 months and nine months were imposed for all of his other crimes.
But they were all served concurrently and therefore completely overlapped.
In 2000, he was nabbed for eight more child sexual assault offences dating back to the 1980s. He was sentenced to further terms of six-and-a-half years’ imprisonment and of 12 months.
These were also served concurrently.
Finally, in 2002 and part way through his child abuse prison sentences, Guider pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Samantha Knight and received a head sentence of 17 years’ jail.
It took immediate effect.
Which means, all other sentences were basically nullified! What in Hell possessed the judge to make that decision?
“Had Guider been serving his sentences consecutively, we wouldn’t be here today,” Ms Giles said. “He would be incarcerated for life.”
Samantha’s mother, Tess Knight, “woke up in hell” 33 years ago when her daughter vanished without a trace off a street in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
The nine-year-old was last seen talking to an adult male on Bondi Rd in August 1986.
“Did she remember him (Guider) from years ago when we lived in Manly? Unlikely,” Ms Knight opined in court on Tuesday.
“Had he been stalking her in Bondi? Possibly.”
Ms Knight has always wondered about her daughter’s death at the hands of Guider. He has never spoken of her last waking moments.
Tess Knight searched desperately for her daughter.
Source: News Corp Australia
“Was she scared straight away?” Ms Knight wondered aloud.
“At what point did Samantha realise something was wrong?
“Did she struggle?
“Where did he take her?
“Was it a long drive?
“Did she wonder where I was and why I wasn’t there to help her?
“Did she call out for me? And what did she say?
“And was she so scared that she used the words of a younger child?
“Did she ever say ‘I want my mummy’?
“Did she tell him ‘I want to go home’?
“Did she cry?
“Did she panic?
“And did he drug her straight away?
“I don’t imagine that poisoning is an easy death but I don’t know exactly how much it hurt. Perhaps it was excruciating.”
She wondered if Guider had tried to comfort Samantha as she died. “Would that be kindness or just disgusting?” Ms Knight asked.
Her seemingly endless stream of worries rippled through the packed public gallery in the NSW Supreme Court. Many shifted in their seats, others sobbed.
“Please don’t release him into the community until the time comes when we have no choice,” Ms Knight asked the judge.
That time should never have come if the judge had any compassion for children, any sense.
There is more on this story which can be found here
Scottish pensioner caught with nearly half-a-million images of children being raped and tortured
By Paisley Express
Barr at Paisley Crown Court
James Barr, 72, downloaded videos and photos of babies and toddlers being tortured by paedophiles.
The pensioner was previously nabbed by cops after filling a laptop and 92 USB sticks with the sickening footage.
But after being released on bail, the beast crammed another 24,885 images onto harddrives in just six months, taking the total number of abuse files to just under 490,000.
When he returned to Paisley Sheriff Court yesterday, Sheriff Seith Ireland ruled that prison was the suitable place for the repeat offender and caged him for 27 months.
Barr has also been placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for the next decade.
The court had earlier heard that Barr was initially busted by police at his home in Thorn Brae, Johnstone, last August.
He appeared in court charged over the find and was released on bail, with special conditions designed to prevent him from accessing more illegal images online.
But when officers arrived at his home in January this year to carry out a bail check they found another laptop and two USB devices.
He held his hands up over his sordid and sickening obsession when he appeared in the dock at Paisley Sheriff Court pleading guilty to downloading abuse images at his home on various occasions between January 1, 2012, and January 31 this year.
Procurator Fiscal Depute Keri Marshall told the court Barr had images and films that were categorised as being the most serious there are.
The children being abused in the files were aged between six-months-old and 16-years-old and were boys and girls.
As well as videos of young children being raped, he had files that showed youngsters bound, gagged and being tortured.
The content of most of the files is too horrific to report.
After hearing the amount of images Barr had downloaded, and the fact he had continued to do it after being caught initially, was because he has “an addiction to it” Sheriff Ireland called for background reports to be prepared ahead of sentencing.
You might call it, Demonic possession!
The sheriff ordered that Barr be assessed by social workers and professionals who help rehabilitate sex offenders in Renfrewshire ahead of sentencing for what he termed the “very serious matter.”
When Barr returned to the dock yesterday, Sheriff Ireland was asked to consider placing him on a community-based disposal, which would allow him to go to counselling, to try and get him to change his ways.
But he ruled prison was the only place the pensioner was going.
Girls young as seven groomed by paedophiles on the web every day
22,000 children tricked into sexually-explicit acts by perverts
who record and sell the videos and images
By JON AUSTINExpress
There has been a huge rise in self-generated child sex abuse [FILE PIC] (Image: Getty Images)
Perverts then share the images with other paedophiles or sell them. The huge rise in offences has been branded a “national crisis” by Susie Hargreaves, CEO of the IWF. Alarmingly, it found cases where a parent, oblivious to what was going on, was heard in the background calling their child for dinner while online grooming was underway.
The IWF has a hotline for people to report online child abuse and works with police to serve notices on UK internet providers to remove child pornography. Last year it removed more than 100,000 web pages featuring images and videos of child sex abuse, an increase of a third from the year before.
“Online sexual abuse of children is a massive, growing issue and, in particular, the IWF is concerned about the increase in cases of self-generated child sexual abuse,” said Ms Hargreaves. “In the first five months of this year, the IWF dealt with 22,484 reports of self-generated child sexual abuse material.”
She said 96 percent of the content featured girls and two percent featured boys. Of content featuring girls, 85 percent were aged 11-13, and one in 10 featured girls aged seven to 10.
Ms Hargreaves said: “We’ve been seeing more and more images and videos where girls have been groomed, coerced and tricked into performing sexually over webcam. Someone is recording this and creating still images which are then shared online.
“Most often, we see this happening in a bedroom or a bathroom. We’ve seen videos where a parent is knocking on the door to call the child to dinner, whilst the child is in the process of being groomed. This is becoming a national crisis – sexual predators no longer need in-person contact.”
The self-generated content is a third of the total online child pornography the IWF has dealt with this year. “People assume that because they are at home they are safe, but they are not necessarily; a child should not be alone with a device with a camera and internet access.
“It is important parents know what their children are doing in their bedroom, but if they do find they have done something they shouldn’t, it needs to be dealt with in a non-judgmental way.”
Rob Jones, a director of the National Crime Agency, said the tech industry needed to match police efforts to crack down.
“The NCA is seeing an increase in the scale, severity, and complexity of online child sex abuse and exploitation,” he said. “Barriers to preventing child sex offences on the open web are so shockingly low as to be virtually non-existent.
“The problem is treated as a crisis by law enforcement, but the tech industry needs to match that. Industry must block abuse images upon detection and prevent online grooming and it must work with us to stop live-streaming of child abuse.”
But, of course, they are forever dragging their feet. And almost every day there is a new platform where the first users are paedophiles, just waiting til kids come unsuspectingly online. It would be nice if there was a way to regulate all new platforms to ensure they have adequate child-sex-proof mechanisms in place before they can start.
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