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Paedophile Staffordshire couple jailed for twisted sex crimes
against children over six years
stokesentinel
A Staffordshire couple have been jailed for a combined total of more than 24 years after admitting a string of horrific child sex abuse crimes.
Kevin and Nicola Hitt were brought to justice after Staffordshire Police were made aware of historical allegations of abuse against children which were made to another force.
Cops raided their home in October 2019 and seized video footage of abuse and pornographic images.
Kevin Hitt, aged 56, pleaded guilty to 21 charges - seven of engaging in a sexual act in the presence of a child; ten of causing a boy or girl to engage in a sexual act without penetration; and four of causing a child to watch sex.
Nicola Hitt, aged 53, pleaded guilty to five counts of causing a boy or girl to engage in sexual activity without penetration and four counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
The offences took place between 2008 and 2014.
On Monday, Kevin Hitt was jailed for sixteen-and-a-half years, while Nicola Hitt was jailed for eight years and three months.
Both defendants were made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order and will have to sign the sex offenders register for life.
The couple, formerly of Avill in Tamworth, gave an address in Gosport, Hampshire, during the sentencing hearing at Stafford Crown Court.
Speaking after the case, Det Con Kat Middleton, of Staffordshire Police, said: “I want to thank the witnesses for coming forward and having the bravery to speak about the harm they suffered, allowing us to bring Kevin and Nicola Hitt before the courts.
“I hope these jail sentences demonstrate that we will always do whatever it takes to bring offenders to justice, while ensuring victims and their families are offered the support they need.”
Tamworth, UK
Child abuser jailed for sexually assaulting girl in Chesterfield, UK
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A 26-year-old man has been jailed for four years for sexually abusing a girl in Chesterfield
By Lloyd Bent
Wednesday, 20th January 2021, 7:11 pm
Luke McGough, 26, of Thanet Street, Clay Cross appeared at Derby Crown Court on 8 January and pleaded guilty to sexual assault of a child and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
The offences took place in 2015, when the victim was under the age of 13, but did not come to light until August 2019 when she felt able to confide in someone about what had happened.
Detective Sergeant, Ross O’Brien, who led this investigation said:
“I would like to thank the victim in this case for her bravery in speaking out about what McGough did to her back in 2015. This cannot have been an easy thing to do, and she is to be commended for the dignified way in which she has conducted herself throughout this investigation.
“The predatory actions of McGough have had a real and lasting impact on the victim’s life and no sentence can undo the hurt he has caused her; however, I do hope that she feels some comfort in knowing that he is off the streets and cannot prey on other children in the same way.
“I would urge anyone who has been affected by sexual abuse, or sexual assault, to report it to police if you feel able to. We will take you seriously and we will investigate, making every effort to achieve justice for you.”
McGough’s four-year sentence is comprised of a three-year jail term and an extended licence period of one year.
He has also been handed an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention order which prohibits him from having contact with any female under the age of 16, amongst other conditions.
He will also remain on the sex offender register for life.
Police charge Ottawa senior, following alleged child sex offences
By Craig Lord Global News
Posted January 20, 2021 9:53 am
Sexual assault investigators with the Ottawa Police Service have charged a 77-year-old man in connection with alleged incidents earlier in January. Nick Westoll / File / Global News
A 77-year-old Ottawa man has been arrested and accused of multiple counts of sexual assault involving two young girls, police said Wednesday.
The Ottawa police sexual assault and child abuse unit said in a release that it began an investigation earlier this month into incidents that were said to have occurred in early January.
The incidents involved two young girls under the age of 10 who were in the care of the accused’s spouse, police said.
Gerard “Joseph” Chamberlain, 77, is now facing three counts of sexual assault and three counts of sexual interference, police said.
The suspect is currently in police custody awaiting a show cause appearance in court.
Investigators are concerned there could be other victims and ask anyone with information to call 613-236-1222 ext. 5944. Anonymous tips can be submitted via Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
Jailed: Whitehaven, UK child sex 'predator' who ruined young lives
By Phil Coleman @incarlisle
A PREDATORY paedophile who ruined the lives of his young victims as he sexually exploited them has been jailed for eight years.
Darren Chambers groomed young girls and amassed a sickening collection of vile child abuse images, including some recordings of his own sickening abuse, Carlisle Crown Court was told.
They consisted of trying to engage a child in sexual communication; breaching his sexual harm prevention order; three counts of making indecent child images; and nine charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.
The court heard that the defendant had groomed his two young victims - one of them just 14 when he exploited her. One one occasion, Chambers was fooled by an undercover police officer. Believing he was talking online with a 13-year-old girl, he engaged in highly sexualised conversations.
The court heard extracts from the victim impact statements of the two victims he sexually abused. "You clearly in my view groomed her to satisfy your sexual appetite," said Recorder Andrew Nuttall.
Referring to the statement from one girl, the Recorder said: "She says you destroyed her life. At one point, she said she did not want to continue with her life... What you did to her was truly life-changing. She says she will struggle to rebuild her life."
The other child's statement was equally poignant. "She describes herself as a shell of herself. She says her experience with you has ruined her life. She puts it heartbreakingly in this way: she says she feels broken."
After describing the horrific child abuse images found on the defendant's devices - which he was barred from having because of his previous sexual offences - the Recorder said: "You were offending again within a short time of [your] release."
The judge told Chambers: "You are a paedophile - a predatory one in my judgement. I have seen very little evidence of remorse or true understanding of the devastation you have caused. Your interest is clearly in young girls."
The judge said he found Chambers to pose "a significant risk" to the public and a dangerous offender. He imposed eight years jail, specifying that Chambers must serve at least eight years, with a five year extended licence period when the eight years expires. Chambers will remain on the Sex Offenders' Register for life.
Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Inspector Ian Harwood, of Cumbria Police's Cyber and Digital Crime Unit, said: “Cumbria Constabulary is committed to pursuing those people who choose to commit offences such as this.
“We will not tolerate it and we will be robust in our pursuit, making use of the most advanced technology available.
“We will do everything in our power to bring those committing these offences to justice.
“We encourage anyone who has any suspicions of anything of this nature to contact us on 101.”
German man who helped promote overseas child sex tours gets porn sentence appeal rejected in Singapore
By Lydia Lam CNA
20 Jan 2021 03:24PM)
SINGAPORE: A German businessman who was given 12 weeks' jail for possessing child pornography has failed in his attempt to have his jail term reduced to a fine or to have the charges "deleted", after new evidence showed that the number of films was smaller than the prosecution originally indicated.
A high court judge on Wednesday (Jan 20) upheld the jail term meted out by a lower court on Michael Frank Hartung, a 50-year-old former senior executive at Deutsche Bank.
He had pleaded guilty in the State Courts to two charges of possessing obscene films, with another two charges taken into consideration, and was given 12 weeks' jail in July last year.
This was on top of his jail term of about five-and-a-half years for providing information for the facilitation of commercial child sex tourism overseas, which he had contested in a trial.
On Wednesday, the prosecution asked the court to amend Hartung's pornography charges, citing further evidence that reduces the number of obscene films. The evidence was uncovered after an investigation officer was tasked to conduct further examination of the films for the appeal.
Hartung was convicted of possessing 225 DVDs in August 2016 that contained 225 obscene films, and of possessing 20 obscene films in a Samsung phone. However, new evidence showed that the figures should be 216 and 15 respectively instead.
Of the 225 films, eight could no longer be played so it could not be confirmed that they contained obscenity. One DVD contained a slideshow of obscene pictures instead of a film.
Of the 20 films in Hartung's phone, one was a hidden file created by the phone's operating system, while another four were created when the laptop's operating system was in use to store data temporarily, so Hartung might not have been aware that these five obscene films were in his possession.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Chua Ying-Hong asked the court to amend the charges and convict Hartung on the amended charges instead. The judge granted this, after Hartung said he did not object.
Ms Chua said 12 weeks' jail is already at the lowest end of the sentencing band, with "no scope for any lower sentence". She added that the child abuse material here includes penetrative sex and BDSM involving children as young as four.
"In total, the appellant possessed more than 13 hours of child abuse material," said Ms Chua, adding that Hartung not only possessed the material but imported them into Singapore when he came here from Germany years ago.
HARTUNG POINTS OUT "ERRORS THAT WERE DONE BY THE PROSECUTION"
Hartung was unrepresented and made his arguments from a grey room in prison, appearing visibly slimmer. He said he had pleaded guilty according to the original charges and had "no freedom to choose the words of pleading guilty" as they were chosen by the prosecution and the court.
"The appeal itself has not much to do with the 'plead guilty' but it is ... pointing out the kind of errors that were done by the prosecution," he said.
Referring to himself in third-person, Hartung said: "The concern the appellant has is that this investigation was done after the case was closed, so without this kind of effort and motions by the appellant to freeze all the evidence for future review, there would have been unlikely any kind of review and the case would be closed and judged on false statements presented by the prosecution."
He charged that the prosecution did not know its case, and had "a lot of time, a lot of means to get their facts right and they didn't".
He also made long arguments on "morality", saying that he saw the issue with the abuse of children and child pornography. When talking to morality, we have to consider the ethical standard of the prosecution itself who are lying, presenting false evidence in court and misguiding judges," he said.
He said there was a need to protect human rights, adding: "If the prosecution will be so keen on really protecting the victims, then we need to ask why Singapore does not sign (a) human rights charter, why Singapore supports a maid system with benefits to foreign workers' levies, which leaves a lot of women, single mothers, away from their children which (contributes) more to child abuse than the appellant has done?"
Moralizing to a High Court Judge after being convicted of child sex abuse materials was probably not a strategy with a high success probability.
He asked why "all these material" could be seen online and called the prosecution "hypocrites" for not taking actions they could have.
He asked to have the charges "deleted" and claimed the police had mishandled the evidence, which they had been reviewing since 2016, adding that he has "no intention to harm anyone in this society or disturb any peace".
JUDGE'S DECISION
Justice Vincent Hoong dismissed Hartung's attempt to challenge his conviction, as well as his submission for a fine instead of 12 weeks' jail.
"I am unable to agree and I do not find 12 weeks' jail ... to be manifestly excessive," he said.
"The argument that the DVDs in question were commercially available in most other countries is a non-starter," said the judge, adding that this does not reduce Hartung's culpability in the eyes of Singapore's law.
He said that the degree of obscenity in the films portrays the need to deter importation of them and that the films were in fact "appalling".
"The sentence imposed is already, in my view, on the lower end of the spectrum," said Justice Hoong.
For each charge of possessing obscene films, Hartung could have been jailed for up to six months, fined at least S$500 per film up to a total cap of S$20,000 or both.
B.C. court rejects sexual predator Martin Tremblay's bid
to overturn his sentence
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Court labelled Trembay a dangerous offender in 2013,
sentencing the sexual predator to indeterminate prison time
The Canadian Press ·
Posted: Jan 21, 2021 1:31 PM PT
A British Columbia man who plied two teenagers with drugs and alcohol (at his Richmond home) and then failed to intervene as they died will remain in prison indefinitely after the B.C. Court of Appeal refused to overturn his sentence.
Martin Tremblay was convicted in 2013 of two counts each of criminal negligence causing death and failing to provide the necessities of life, and was labelled a dangerous offender, which carries an indeterminate sentence.
His trial heard he invited 16-year-old Kayla Lalonde and 17-year-old Martha Jackson to his home, gave them drugs and alcohol until they passed out, sexually assaulted them and then failed to get help when their conditions deteriorated.
Jackson died after being rushed by ambulance from Tremblay's Richmond home. Lalonde was found dead on a Burnaby street after witnesses said she had been dumped from a van.
In a decision posted online Thursday, a panel of three judges ruled unanimously against allowing the appeal of his sentence or an introduction of new evidence that shows his progress in sexual offender programs.
Tremblay asked that his sentence be changed to 20 years in prison, followed by 10 years under supervision, claiming the trial judge failed to properly consider his risk during sentencing.
Writing for the panel, Justice Patrice Abrioux says there was no legal error and while Tremblay had made progress is addressing his risk factors, he wouldn't admit it as new evidence.
"The reasons as a whole indicate that the judge paid careful consideration to the appellant's risk assessment and treatment prospects," he says in the ruling.
History of violence
Tremblay had a long history of offences, the court noted.
He was convicted in 2003 of assaulting five teenage Indigenous girls. He invited them to his house to party, gave them alcohol and drugs, waited until they passed out and videotaped himself sexually assaulting them.
Remarkably, he was sentenced to only 14 months for this.
In an extraordinary act in 2011, police issued a warning about Tremblay, who was 45-years-old and in jail at the time, asking for victims to come forward so that he could be kept imprisoned.
Unfortunately, there is no indication why he was in prison in 2011, or why the police issued the warning. But it is certainly appropriate that he never see the light of day again.
Tremblay claimed as a result of the programs he had completed in prison, he had taken responsibility for his actions.
The Crown had opposed the introduction of the new evidence, telling the Appeal Court it did not relate to the legal error Tremblay claimed the trial judge made or relate to the prison sentence he had been given.
Auckland man jailed after trying to buy girl on Dark Web
under username 'kiwipedo'
Catrin Owen, Stuff
11:32, Jan 22 2021
An Auckland man has been jailed for five years after he tried to buy a girl under the age of 7 for sexual exploitation.
I don't think the term 'hid behind' is appropriate for the name kiwipedo. It's more like an astonishing arrogance than a hiding behind.
He thought he was chatting to fellow paedophiles but unbeknownst to him, he was actually talking to agents for the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA).
On Friday at the Auckland District Court, Judge Allan Roberts sentenced Hutton to five years imprisonment on a charge of attempting to deal in someone under the age of 18 for sexual exploitation and possessing 417 pieces of objectionable material.
Hutton pleaded guilty halfway through his trial in 2020. He stood emotionless in the dock, sometimes shaking his head during the sentencing.
Crown prosecutor Sam McMullan said Hutton had made significant attempts to distance himself from the “very serious offending”.
Hutton told a probation officer and a psychologist he only engaged in the communications because he knew he was talking to law enforcement and decided to “play cat and mouse”.
Right! Good grief!
The defendant claimed he simply received a dump of government documents which included the objectionable material.
McMullan said that couldn’t be true, as Hutton was already active on the Dark Web and had a significant amount of material relating to child sex abuse on his devices.
The lawyer acting on behalf of Hutton said there was no meeting planned and no exchange of money in relation to the charge of attempting to buy the young girl.
She said Hutton still requires some intervention and “some serious support”.
Judge Roberts said there were a number of “alarming factors” in relation to Hutton’s “self-serving statements” to a clinical psychologist.
Hutton said he had no intention to commit a crime and had no paedophilic tendencies.
Judge Roberts said this was “nonsense” and Hutton had a “dreadful purpose” of detaining a young girl to sexually exploit her.
The offending showed Hutton had an “unhealthy interest” in sexual activity in young girls, Judge Roberts said.
The judge said the impact on the children depicted in the collection of images must be “horrific”.
According to court documents released to Stuff, the DIA believed Hutton used the Dark Web to talk to other paedophiles and attempted to get access to a girl.
The Dark Web is an area of the internet that allows users to operate anonymously. While the Dark Web itself is not illegal, it does lend itself to illegal uses, such as the sale of drugs and weapons (and children).
There is more to this story on Stuff.
An Isle of Wight man has been jailed for 10 years
for sexually abusing a child
Published at: 21st January 2021 16:44
Island Echo
An Isle of Wight man has been jailed for 10 years for sexually abusing a child and being found in possession of thousands of indecent images.
Michael Anthony Henderson, 32, of Ventnor, came to officers’ attention after accounts he was using on online forums to discuss child abuse were identified.
Hampshire Constabulary’s Internet Child Abuse Team carried out an investigation, which led to the seizure of a number of devices, including laptops, phones and a kindle, that had inappropriate content on them.
Isle of Wight Crown Court heard Henderson was found to have a large number of indecent images on these devices, many of which had been accessed on the internet. Also among the images were a number which showed Henderson engaging in the sexual abuse of a child and Police worked hard to identify the victim and provide support to them and their family.
Henderson was charged with 4 counts of sexual assault on a child, 5 of taking indecent images of a child, 3 of distribution of indecent images, 4 of possession of indecent images, 1 of possession of prohibited images of children and 1 of possession of extreme pornography – 18 charges in total.
He pleaded guilty to the 3 counts of distribution of indecent images, 4 of possession of indecent images, 1 of possession of prohibited images of children and 1 of possession of extreme pornography.
Following a trial, Henderson was convicted of the 4 counts of sexual assault on a child and 5 of taking indecent images of a child.
Appearing at Isle of Wight Crown Court for sentencing last Friday (15th January), Henderson was jailed for a period of 10 years.
Investigating officer DS Claire Lyons said:
“The images found on Henderson’s devices are unquestionably amongst the worst I have seen while working within the Internet Child Abuse Team, and this sentence takes a dangerous offender off the streets.
“The sexual abuse of children causes unfathomable damage, and I hope that this sentence provides some justice for the victim and their family, who will continue to receive support from partner services.
“We take all reports of sexual assault extremely seriously, and will do everything in our power to bring those responsible to justice.
“It is so important to us that people have the confidence to report these incidents to us, whether they have happened to you or somebody you know. It is also important to us that survivors and their families are provided with the support they need, and we work in partnership with other organisations to ensure this happens”.
French victims of child abuse speak out in new #MeToo wave
Jan 21, 2021 4:47 PM EST
PBS.org
PARIS (AP) — “I was 9. … It was my father. He raped me until I was 17.”
The French government pledged on Thursday to toughen laws on the rape of children after a massive online movement saw hundreds of victims share accounts about sexual abuse within their families.
The move comes in the wake of child abuse accusations involving a prominent French political expert.
France’s justice minister said Thursday the government will soon present new legal measures to better protect children, while a draft bill has started being debated at parliament to toughen laws on the rape of minors under 13.
The social media campaign was launched Saturday by activists of the French feminist group #NousToutes in reference to the #MeToo movement that sparked a global debate about sexual harassment and assault.
The #MeTooInceste hashtag overwhelmed French social media in just a few days. In French, the word “inceste” is widely used to refer to any sexual act between members of the same family, including abuse of children, stepchildren or younger siblings.
Hundreds of people shared appalling accounts about how they were sexually abused when they were children:
“I was between 11 and 14. It was my brother. I’m now 57 and still a victim of that past.”
“I was 8. Abused by my grandfather.”
“Just one amid so many others. I was 6-7-8 year-old, I don’t remember.”
Tens of thousands of people responded by sharing and commenting under the same hashtag.
Laurent Boyet, 49, was among those who tweeted. A police officer and head of the association Les Papillons (“Butterflies”) fighting against child abuse, he published a book in 2017 to tell his story. He said he was raped by his brother, who was 10 years older than him, when he was between 6 and 9.
“I really hope society is going to have the courage to face the problem,” he told The Associated Press. “We need to stop looking away.”
When he spoke to his mother, over 30 years after the abuse started, Boyet said she answered: “I believe you because I had doubts about it.”
“All the signals I had sent her, she got them but did nothing,” he recalled.
“In 2021 we cannot keep quiet anymore, we need to take action,” he added.
Boyet’s association started in September placing mailboxes in schools to allow children to express their distress through letters. Boyet said some of the written notes have led to legal action, including for alleged sexual abuse.
The feminist activist behind the #MeTooInceste campaign, Madeline Da Silva, said “we are convinced that children actually speak out and what’s a very big problem is that no one is hearing them.”
Even if children don’t say the words, they still show signs that they are suffering “and no one is trained to understand them,” she regretted.
I have been saying for years that children are voiceless, but really, they're not. It's just that no one is listening.
That’s why, Da Silva said, the movement is not only about improving the laws but above all about introducing immediate, child-centered public policies.
“Today we know that when you’re training social workers, teachers about prevention of violence, things are changing: you’re saving lives,” she said.
Her #NousToutes group launched a petition urging the government to require systematic training of all people working with children, including teachers, social workers and officials of sports and cultural associations. It was signed Thursday by over 36,000 people, less than two days after it was put online.
The debate about France’s response to child abuse within families broke out earlier this month amid accusations involving top political expert Olivier Duhamel (3rd story on link). A book written by Duhamel’s stepdaughter, Camille Kouchner, accused him of abusing her twin brother during the late 1980s, when the siblings were 13 years old.
Some children protection groups are pushing to introduce statutory rape in law, which would state a legal age below which a child cannot agree to a sexual relationship with an adult.
Under French law, sexual relations between an adult and a minor under 15 are banned. Yet the law accepts the possibility that a minor is capable of consenting to sex, leading to cases where an adult faces a lighter prison sentence than if prosecuted for rape of an adult, which is punishable by 20 years in prison.
Many activists are also in favor of removing the statute of limitations, because the trauma is so deep it can take decades for victims to be able to speak out and face their abuser. The law currently provides that minor victims can file complaints until they are aged 48.
The World Health Organization say international studies show that one in five women and one in 13 men report having been sexually abused as a child aged under 18. Experts say sexual abuses are likely to be underestimated amid secrecy often surrounding the issue.
Globally, reported child sexual abuse is a small percentage of the total number.
Unfortunately, some of the best resources on child sexual abuse use numbers similar to, or less than those quoted by WHO. They told me they do not include peer-on-peer child sex abuse in their statistics or they would go way up. That means that a lot of those #MeTooInceste respondents would not be counted.
Personally, I use 1 in 4 for girls and 1 in 10 for boys, and I'm pretty sure those are conservative numbers. In some countries, I expect a majority of girls, and close to that for boys may be conservative.
Windsor, UK paedophile paid for live streaming children being sexually abused
Gary Green paid more than £200 to people in the Philippines
A Berkshire paedophile has been jailed after paying to live-stream the sexual abuse of children.
Three indecent images of children were recovered from his electronic devices, along with a number of online chat logs where Green expressed a sexual interest in children and arranged the live-streams.
Chat logs and financial data showed that Green paid a woman in the Philippines to view the abuse of a nine-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy.
When arranging for the abuse to take place, he made specific requests for how it should be carried out.
Late last year, in November 2020, Green pleaded guilty to seven counts, including attempting to facilitate the commission of a child sex offence and possessing indecent images of children.
This week, on Thursday, January 14, at Reading Crown Court, he was jailed for three years and four months. He is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order and has been placed on the sex offender register for life.
Martin Ludlow from the NCA said: “Green and individuals like him believe they can abuse children from the comfort of their own homes whilst abusers thousands of miles away are prepared to financially benefit from this horrific abuse.
“Those engaged in the live streaming of child abuse, both in the UK and abroad, are directly responsible for the harm it causes children.
“Live-streaming sex crimes exploits the vulnerable and is a key threat to the UK.
“The Philippines remains a key hub for this type of offending. The NCA works closely with law enforcement partners in-country to combat these heinous crimes and pursue those responsible for facilitating them.”
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