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Fifteenth man arrested for a string of child abuse charges and bestiality as part of an alleged global paedophile ring
By SAHAR MOURAD and JOSH HANRAHAN FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA and AAP
PUBLISHED: 22:44 EST, 27 November 2020 | UPDATED: 22:44 EST, 27 November 2020
A Newcastle man has become the 15th person arrested after police uncovered an alleged global paedophile ring, who allegedly filmed and shared in the sexual abuse of almost 50 children in Australia.
The 54-year-old was taken into custody on Friday and faces a string of charges, including possessing, soliciting and sharing child abused material. He is also charged with bestiality.
The man will face Newcastle Local Court on Saturday.
Police made their first arrest after tip-offs from social media companies were passed on by US authorities.
A NSW childcare worker, a volunteer soccer coach and a disability support worker have already been arrested during Operation Arkstone since February.
The 54-year-old (pictured) was taken into custody on Friday and faces a string of charges, including possessing, soliciting and sharing child abused material. He is also charged with bestiality
Detectives pounced on video librarian Justin Radford, 29, after a tip off from U.S authorities who believed he had allegedly filmed himself abusing two young children.
Material seized from the 30-year-old Wyong man's home sparked a nine-month investigation.
Thirteen other men were arrested from NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.
Justin Radford - a TV library assistant for the major networks - was the first of 15 men charged with child abuse offences under the Australian Federal Police's Operation Arkstone
Their alleged victims were located in NSW, Queensland, Western Australia, Europe, Asia and the U.S.
The 15 men have been accused of preying on 46 children between the ages of 16 months and 15 years to produce and upload abusive material to a range of online platforms.
The accused are aged between 20 and 54.
'Our investigators are leaving no stone unturned,' AFP Detective Superintendent Ben McQuillan said in a statement. They are continuing to examine every piece of evidence seized throughout Operation Arkstone to identify and arrest more alleged members of this online network of child sex offenders.'
Radford allegedly used a child under 14 to make child abuse material and incited a child under 16 into a sexual act, while also possessing videos of child abuse on his phone.
The alleged tattooed and spacer-disk earring wearing paedophile described himself on LinkedIn as having worked as a tape library assistant for Channel Nine since 2017.
But he was actually working for a company called NPC, a joint venture between Nine, Seven and Southern Cross Australia. He is no longer employed by NPC.
Shortly after police swooped on Radford and forensic detectives began to comb his phone, they allegedly found links to another alleged ring member in Kendall.
Police converged on the town and arrested Timothy Luke Doyle, 27, and his partner Steven Garrad, 22. A former childcare worker, police allege Doyle had videoed children in his care and hit him with 303 charges.
Please, people, don't use men as babysitters, even if they are gay. Perhaps, especially if they are gay.
Those close to Garrad have been threatened since his arrest.
Pictured is childcare centre worker Timothy Luke Doyle who faces a whopping 303 charges
During a court hearing for his matters last month, an application by Garrad's family member for his name to be suppressed was refused.
'In the evidence of [a family member], she says that people are entering her front yard,' his solicitor Douglas Hannaway said, The Mid-North Coast News reported.
'On five occasions, people came to her home during the night and turned the electricity off. People came into the yard and banged on the side windows.'
But despite their pleas, Magistrate Georgina Darcy ruled both Garrad and his also jailed boyfriend Doyle could be identified.
Police have been clear that those arrests are not linked to the hunt for Australia's most infamous missing persons case.
Detectives linked to Operation Arkstone also arrested Doyle's boyfriend Steven Garrad (right)
While Radford was based in NSW, they discovered he was talking to men across the country. Among them was a 28-year-old from Hervey Bay who was arrested in May.
From there investigators allegedly discovered links to Grant Harden, 29, and in June this year arrested him at his western Sydney home.
Harden, from St Clair, has been charged with offences including raping a child under the age of 10 between 2017 and 2020.
He has also been charged with three counts of intentionally sexually touching a child, and charges relating to possessing and distributing child abuse material.
Grant Harden, 29, has been charged with sexual offences
Court documents seen by Daily Mail Australia also allege that Harden 'did commit an act of bestiality with an animal... two dogs'.
Two days later, officers arrested an air conditioning mechanic, 48, allegedly known to Harden.
The hunt continued in October when a 40-year-old man from Pialba - a town only a few minutes drive from Hervey Bay - was arrested.
Jake Caldwell, 27, was then arrested in November and charged with four offences related to possessing and accessing child abuse material.
In total, 828 charges have been laid against the group.
The unnamed members include a retail assistant, supermarket employee, a chef, disability support worker, electrician and a court officer.
AFP Assistant Commissioner Lesa Gale said at the time detectives believe they have uncovered one of the biggest domestic child exploitation networks of recent years.
She said police would allege in court that some of the nine accused men had sexually abused children known to them and recorded videos and photographs of the abuse to share with others online.
'We are continuing to try to identify other children who we suspect were preyed on by individuals in the alleged network,' she said.
More than 140 criminal matters have been referred back to police in Europe, Asia, Canada and New Zealand during the investigation, as well as 18 to the United States where three arrests have been made.
Australian investigators have now laid more than 800 charges and have not ruled out further arrests. 'Our investigators are leaving no stone unturned,' AFP Detective Superintendent Ben McQuillan said in a statement.
'They are continuing to examine every piece of evidence seized throughout Operation Arkstone to identify and arrest more alleged members of this online network of child sex offenders.'
N.B. man sentenced to 4.5 years in prison following
child sexual abuse investigation
By Aya Al-Hakim Global News
Posted November 23, 2020, 11:00 am
A 53-year-old man has been sentenced to 54 months in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from an investigation into images of child sexual abuse, the RCMP said on Monday.
Police said the investigation began in July 2019, and then the man was arrested on Jan. 16 of this year after police seized several electronic devices.
The man was arrested at a home in Lincoln, N.B.
On June 1, police said Robert Allan Love was charged in Fredericton provincial court with possession of child pornography and making available child pornography.
On Nov. 20, Allan Love returned to court and was sentenced to 36 months for possession of child pornography and 54 months for making available child pornography. The sentences will be served concurrently, according to the RCMP.
Allan Love has been added to the National Sex Offender Registry for life, and will be required to submit a DNA sample.“Following his release from prison, he will have to abide by conditions set out by the court, including not being around children,” the RCMP said in a statement.
Sweden: Mother suspected of locking up her son for 28 years
The woman is held on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty
and grievous bodily harm
Published: December 02, 2020, 17:50
AP
Police at the scene of an apartment where a woman is suspected of locking up her son, in Haninge, south of Stockholm. Image Credit: AP
Stockholm: Police in Stockholm are investigating a woman in her 70s suspected of having kept her son locked up - reportedly for 28 years - in an apartment south of the Swedish capital, investigators said Tuesday.
Prosecutor Emma Olsson, who heads the preliminary investigation, said the woman who was held on suspicion of unlawful deprivation of liberty and grievous bodily harm.
Olsson said the 41-year-old son was found by a relative who then alerted authorities.
The woman has denied wrongdoing, Olsson said, adding that the son was admitted to a hospital to be treated for "the physical injuries he had when he was found."
"We cannot go into what type of injuries" he has, Olsson said.
Swedish newspaper Expressen said the man was found Sunday by a relative who had learned that the elderly woman had been admitted to a hospital. The relative went to the flat, found the main door unlocked and entered it.
The relative who was not identified, told the daily that there was "urine, dirt and dust" all over the place and "it smelled rotten."
She heard a noise from the kitchen and found the man sitting on blankets and pillows. According to the relative's account in the paper, he had no teeth, had sores on his legs and his speech was slurred.
"He spoke very fast and a little incoherently, but he was not afraid of me," the relative was quoted as saying by Expressen.
The daily said the man's apparent captivity had started 28 years ago, which would have made him 13 at the time.
Olsson said investigators would be interviewing the mother, the son and witnesses.
Haninge, SWE
Isle of Wight pensioner to stand trial on child sexual abuse photo charges
By Court Reporter
The IW Law Courts.
A PENSIONER will stand trial accused of downloading thousands of pornographic images, including many of the most depraved kind.
Raymond Johnson, of Sandown Road, Lake, denied three charges of making indecent photographs or pseudo-photographs of children, one of possessing a prohibited image of a child and another of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a dog, at the Isle of Wight Crown Court on Monday.
The offences are alleged to have taken place between April 6, 2015, and May 1 last year.
The 73-year-old will stand trial the week commencing May 4, 2021, at the Isle of Wight Crown Court.
Carlisle, UK woman, 22, accused of sex abuse says: 'He pressured me'
By Phil Coleman
Chief Reporter, News and Star
A YOUNG Carlisle woman accused of performing a sex act during a video chat with a 15-year-old boy said the teenager “pressured” her into it.
Kaitlyn Dorothy Reynolds-Sloan, 22, has gone on trial at the city’s crown court, where she denies three allegations: causing a child to watch a sex act; engaging in sexual communication with a child; and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
The prosecution says she was seeking “sexual gratification”. But the defendant claims she was “blackmailed” into using a sex ‘toy’ during the Facetime call with the boy on a day between March 18 and April 8 last year.
The court heard from the boy and the defendant, of Buchannan Road, Upperby, Carlisle. In evidence, he said Reynolds-Sloan texted her to apologise for an argument earlier that day in which she was involved and he witnessed.
She asked to ‘Facetime’ him, he said. When the call came through he answered and saw she was in the bath, he said. Later, after putting the phone down, she moved to a bed and it was here that the sexualised behaviour began, he told the jury.
The teenager said she exposed her top half, and then found a sex ‘toy’, letting him watch her as she used it. Asked why he took screen-shots of this, he told defence lawyer Paul Tweddle: “Because I knew it was wrong.”
He denied ‘bullying’ her into performing a sex act, and telling her: “Either you do this or I’m going to call the police.”
The defendant - given an ‘appropriate adult’ in her police interview - told officers: “I’m not that sort of person. I was forced. My head was a mess.”
The boy pressured her to perform a sex act, she said. In court, she said she had depression and an ADHD diagnosis.
On the day in question, the teenager sent her 21 consecutive requests for a nude picture, she said. Asked why she did not hang up, she said: “I did everything he told me to because I was frightened...
“He basically said if I don’t do it he’d phone the police and get me done for it anyway.” After the call, she said, she threw her phone down and felt “disgusted”. The court heard the teenager’s screenshots of what happened were circulated.
Right, 'cause that's what you do with bad things!
When she learned of this, she did not leave the house for months, said Reynolds-Sloan.
The jury heard also from a police officer, who confirmed “appropriate adults” are provided for ‘vulnerable’ suspects.
The boy’s phone was not examined because he refused to hand it over, she said.
The trial continues.
I'm not sure the right person is on trial here. Subpoena the boy's phone and let's get to the truth.
Further complaint over alleged historical child sex abuse
in St John Ambulance, Dublin
Fourth man claims ‘relentless’ sexual abuse by former figure in paramedic organisation
Wed, Dec 2, 2020, 01:00
Jack Power
Mark Pender: feels the actions of the abuser were “an open secret” and the organisation “failed” him.
Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
A further person has made a report to the Garda over alleged historical childhood sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of a former senior figure in St John Ambulance.
In August, The Irish Times revealed three men had been abused by a senior figure involved in St John Ambulance’s Old Kilmainham division in the 1990s.
The child abuse allegations made against the individual had been deemed founded in June 2020 following an investigation by Tusla, the child and family agency.
In recent weeks a fourth man has come forward and reported allegations of abuse against the same figure to An Garda Síochána.
Mark Pender (38) joined the Tallaght division of the voluntary paramedic organisation when he was 15 in 1995, helping to provide first-aid cover at sporting matches and other events.
Speaking to The Irish Times, he alleged he was repeatedly abused in incidents that took place while on duty with the organisation at Lansdowne Road stadium and elsewhere.
Delivery work
Mr Pender said he met his alleged abuser through St John Ambulance, and the man offered him a part-time job helping with delivery work.
“We were doing deliveries and I remember we pulled into this loading bay one day, and he kind of put his hand down my trousers and started masturbating me. . . Then he pressed his elbow onto my chest and held me back. I couldn’t do anything, I just sat there and let it happen,” he said.
In a statement to gardaí on November 17th, Mr Pender alleged he was abused on multiple occasions while on duty with St John Ambulance.
He alleged the abuse was “relentless” and took place over approximately a three-year period from 1995 to 1998, with Mr Pender leaving the organisation around 2000.
Now living in Co Kildare, Mr Pender claims he reported the alleged abuser at the time to other senior officers in the organisation.
One of the individuals Mr Pender said he reported the matter to, who is still involved in the organisation, did not respond to questions from The Irish Times.
‘Open secret’
The alleged abuser, now in his 80s, was a senior figure in the Old Kilmainham division, and a member of the organisation from the 1950s until at least 2000, leaving under pressure to resign.
A Garda spokesman confirmed it had opened an investigation into Mr Pender’s alleged sexual abuse.
Mr Pender said he felt the actions of the abuser were “an open secret” and the organisation had “failed” him. “The unit in Tallaght, we were like a family, everybody kind of looked out for each other. My only regret was I didn’t tell my senior officers in Tallaght because I personally think, hand on my heart, they would have dealt with it properly,” he said.
In a statement, St John Ambulance said it had a “rigorous” volunteer recruitment process, and strictly adhered to “robust” child protection policies.
It had “comprehensive” reporting procedures in places, which “instruct that anyone who has received a disclosure of child abuse or who has concerns of abuse should bring it to the attention of the organisation’s child protection officer immediately”.
Apparently, there is a flaw in the plan!
Calgary man arrested after 10-month child exploitation investigation
By Adam Toy 770 CHQR
Posted November 27, 2020 9:28 am
An investigation by the Calgary Police Service into the sexual exploitation of children has resulted in the arrest of a 23-year-old Calgary man.
Police launched an investigation in January that alcohol and drugs were being exchanged for sex between a man and a 13-year-old girl. Investigators also found two other teenaged girls involved with the same man, police said.
The man was using social media, including Whisper, Yubo and Instagram, to meet the children “for a sexual purpose,” police said in a news release on Friday. CPS allege the man used the nickname “Ray” and had a Snapchat username of “rashidmustafa1.”
Police located and arrested Mohammad Rashid Mustafa on Wednesday, and charged him with a total of 10 charges, including sexual assault, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, obtaining sexual services from a minor and “receiving material benefit” from those services.
Mustafa is due to appear in court on Dec. 22.
Police advise anyone who is a victim of child sexual exploitation and human trafficking or think they know someone who is to call the police non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 or contact Crime Stoppers.
More information about recognizing the signs of child sexual abuse, exploitation and human trafficking can be found at the Calgary & Area Child Advocacy Centre website.
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