Dangerous predators and paedophiles who targeted vulnerable children have disgusted and shocked ECHO readers.
Some horrific cases have been brought before Liverpool Crown Court, including victims who were just children. From violent rapists to manipulative groomers, their crimes appalled readers when they were first reported.
The impact this kind of abuse can have on its victims is life long and severe, leaving deep psychological and emotional scars.
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To make parents and guardians aware of the ways in which predators can target and groom children, we have put together a list of some of these men and their sick crimes.
Phil Hudson
A vile pervert who sent his partner a video of himself performing a sex act in front of a young girl said "what have I done" as police stormed his home.
Three months after Phil Hudson, 33, and the woman broke up, she went to Huyton police station and reported he was saying things about a child that disturbed her. She told officers “he started to disclose his fantasies and desires around children”, said Kate Morley, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, August 15.
She said he sent her a video of him engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. She still had the video on her phone and gave it to officers for investigation.
Liverpool Crown Court heard the 33-year-old university graduate, who had been working at Pets at Home and had a partner, was arrested on June 15 this year at his home in Garston. When being arrested he said “What have I done?”
He said he had had “a fling” with the woman and “had to leave his job and she was accusing him of serious offences.”
Andrew Holland
Andrew Holland was jailed this week after locking a 14-year-old in his attic and indecently assaulting her.
Andrew Holland's victim was branded a liar after police dropped their initial investigation into the child molester. Decades later, he finally confessed to his sickening crimes and has now been brought to justice for sexual offences for a second time.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the attack occurred in the attic room of the 60-year-old's then home on Merseyside. He asked the teenager "if she was willing to walk about naked for £20" and locked the door when she said no.
Holland - of no fixed abode, but previously of Alexandra Place in Crewe - then removed her lower garments, performed a sex act on her and kissed her on the lips. The pervert groped her breasts and pulled her hand towards his penis as he masturbated, although she pulled away.
The teen told her mum about the assault the following year, and the incident was reported to the police. But this was "not proceeded with" and she was "branded a liar".
The ECHO can now reveal the 60-year-old's previous convictions for sexual offences, which ultimately led to him being brought to justice for attacking the second youngster decades after he had carried out his horrendous crimes.
The pervert was last locked up in November 2020 after admitting six counts of sexual assault and two of gross indecency with a child, which were committed in North Merseyside. Liverpool Crown Court heard that on one occasion Holland touched the victim's knickers and "looked at her and asked her if she liked it" - leaving her in "a state of shock and embarrassment".
He would also "give her piggybacks" in order to touch her bottom. The predator told her "no one would believe her" if she told anyone he had sexually abused her.
Holland was jailed for five years and told to sign the sex offenders' register for life, as well as being handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order. In a statement read out to the court on the girl's behalf, she said: "I feel part of my childhood was taken from me by him and I can never get that back."
Oliver Roughley
A vile paedophile's abuse was so bad that he was jailed for longer than most murderers.
Oliver Roughley, 24, of Bailey Way in St Helens, subjected his seven-year-old victim to a "campaign of rape" over the course of three years, leading to the youngster attempting suicide. The "predator" was jailed for 21 years on Wednesday, but continues to maintain his innocence.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Roughley carried out the abuse over a three-year period when he was in his late teens. He groomed the boy by buying him presents including toy cars and teddy bears.
He also used violence to ensure his silence, including by twisting his arm behind his back. The pervert kept a pair of the child's underwear in his bedroom and messaged him telling him that he loved him.
Roughley first assaulted the boy when he was aged seven by touching his penis. He then "told him not to tell anyone or he would go to jail and never see him again".
Jamie Sharkey
A convicted sex offender filmed himself performing a sex act by his open front door.
Jamie Sharkey was also caught with a stash of indecent images of children on his phone, while messages revealed his sick desire to engage in sexual activity with a "hot schoolgirl". Liverpool Crown Court heard that the 33-year-old was previously handed a two-year community order after being convicted of attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity and attempting sexual communications with a child in November 2019.
He was also given a sexual harm prevention order, the requirements of which included a ban on deleting his internet history. But on May 7 last year, police "had cause to attend his home" on Mellors Close in Southport.
There, a support worker present "advised the officer that the defendant had deleted the internet search history on his mobile". His iPhone was seized as a result, and analysis subsequently confirmed this to be the case.
Thomas Byrnes
A paedophile has vowed never to use the internet again after being found with more of images of children being abused.
Timothy Byrnes has multiple convictions and was jailed again this week after hundreds more horrendous pictures and videos were found on his laptop.
The 70-year-old was handed three years and two months behind bars at Liverpool Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday after admitting breaching a sexual harm prevention order and further counts of possession of indecent images of children.
He had a total of 181 Category A images, 102 Category B images and 400 Category C images on a laptop in his home, though they are believed to have originated on an iPod that has never been located.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Byrnes, from Bebington, is desperate to avoid offending again and is determined to stop accessing the internet for the rest of his life. He started offending when he was 59, receiving his first conviction in 2011 before being convicted in 2015 and 2019.
Matthew Tipping
A paedophile digger thief sent a picture of his naked bum to a 13-year-old girl.
Matthew Tipping, from Ellesmere Port, sent a string of lewd messages to the teenager over the course of nearly two months. But, unbeknown to him, he was actually being ensnared in a paedophile hunter sting.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that the 36-year-old sent a friend request to the decoy account on Facebook on December 8 last year. Tipping messaged the profile and was immediately informed of her supposed age, initially apologising and stating he "didn't realise".
But he "persisted with the conversation", despite also being told she was autistic and a carer for her nine-year-old sister. The pervert "told her she was pretty" and said he "bet she had lots of males chatting her up".
When the teen told Tipping she had a cold he instructed her to "rub Vicks into her chest", which he asked for a picture of. He then suggested that they should have a video call together.
Nicky Lloyd
A pervert caught with "paedophile manuals" and banned from collecting pornography has been hauled back before the courts.
Nicky Lloyd was found with vile sexualised cartoon images of children aged as young as four on his computer. The 37-year-old, from Warrington, also flouted a court order not to keep any pornography at all having stashed images of video game characters in states of undress.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that he was handed a sexual harm prevention order in 2017 after being jailed for 26 months. This came after Lloyd's then home on Straker Avenue in Ellesmere Port was raided by police in June the previous year.
Officers discovered more than 24,000 indecent images of children, extreme pornographic images of animals, two paedophile manuals and an instructional chat log on how to sexually abuse children. The manuals in question "provided graphic guidance and instruction on how to select, groom, gain the trust of and then sexually abuse children without getting caught".
Lloyd had downloaded these materials on the dark web, but was caught after a tip-off about his online activities. At the time, he was described as having a "clear and dangerous interest in children".
Abdul Gani
A pervert groped a 10-year-old girl as she chose a packet of crisps in a newsagents.
Abdul Gani, 32, of Langsdale Street, Everton, groped the girl as she was in Jim’s News in Fountains Road, Kirkdale with her nine-year-old cousin. The girls were stood selecting packets of crisps when the pervert walked past and touched her bottom.
Olivia Beesley, prosecuting, told Liverpool Crown Court on Monday, August 1 how Gani turned around to wink and smile at the girl.
Ms Beesley said: "When she approached the till he was again nearby. After paying for the items she walked past him and he again felt her bottom in a deliberate way. At this point she ran out of the shop before returning for her cousin who was unaware of what had happened.”
The victim went home and told her uncle what happened and he went to the shop asking to see CCTV footage. Shop staff pointed out where the culprit, who did not work at the premises, was believed to be.
The police were called "and they found Gani unconscious outside his address having been assaulted", Ms Beesley said.
Marc Stokes-Denson
A paedophile who tried to arrange the rape of a 12-year-old girl in front of her mum told an appeals court that the jury did not get to hear about his mental health conditions.
Marc Stokes-Denson, formerly of The Close in Walton, was arrested over two-months' worth of sick conversations with what he thought was a woman called 'Becky', and her 12-year-old daughter 'Lizzie', on a website called Chat Avenue. In fact, the 45-year-old was speaking to undercover police officers and the mother and daughter did not exist.
During a trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Stokes-Denson claimed he was in fact a paedophile hunter and continued the disgusting chats with 'Becky', who appeared to agree to help him abuse her daughter, because he was "concerned" and wanted to report her. However the jury heard he also made sexualised comments in a chat with what he thought was 'Lizzie'.
The jury saw through his lies, and on July 6, 2021, he was convicted of arranging or facilitating sexual contact with a child and attempting to have a sexual communication with a child. Judge Anil Murray sentenced him to five and a half years in prison.
After his conviction, Stokes-Denson applied for leave to appeal both the conviction and his sentence. The pervert's lawyers argued that Judge Murray's decision to prevent the jury seeing a report by a forensic psychiatrist during the trial was unfair.
Jonathon Byrne
A paedophile was caught with hundreds of sick images of child abuse and bestiality on his phones as well as a story depicting a "sexual fantasy" about a drunken teenager.
Jonathon Byrne, 34, was arrested at home on January 9 last year when officers arrived with a search warrant. Jamie Baxter, prosecuting at Liverpool Crown Court on Wednesday, said the unit from Cheshire Police’s online child abuse investigation team seized two Samsung phones and took Byrne, of Widnes, into custody for questioning.
Byrne confirmed his personal details but denied having seen any indecent image of a child or having any sexual interest in children. He claimed he didn’t believe any such matter would be found on his devices.
Mr Baxter told the court: “How wrong he was.”
After initially being released under investigation, Byrne was interviewed again on November 5, when he gave “no comment” answers to detectives after a “large number” of abuse images were found on his phones.
In total, there were 283 images and six videos in Category A - the most serious type, 270 still and six moving images in Category B, 186 images and 14 videos in Category C, plus 24 still images and 40 videos of “extreme pornography” - namely of bestiality.
Glyndwr Willis
A 'depraved' retired teacher downloaded more than 60,000 images of children being sexually abused.
Glyndwr Willis, also known as George Williams, amassed a huge collection of indecent and prohibited images of children over years.
Liverpool Crown Court heard Williams continued to search for indecent images even though he knew police were investigating him and despite the fact he was subject to a court order aimed at stopping him from accessing images showing the sexual abuse of children.
The 72-year-old told probation officers he had an addiction to images showing child sexual abuse before a judge jailed him. Nardeen Nemat, prosecuting, said Willis admitted to police he began accessing images of child abuse on the internet in 2011 - three years after he was convicted for possession of indecent images.
She said images could not be traced back to that date but that digital records from a computer recovered from his house provided evidence of him downloading images from at least March 2016. At that time he was still subject to a sexual harm prevention order imposed on him after the 2008 conviction and that order compelled him to tell the police if he had any devices capable of recording or storing images - but he did not do so.
Chris Morriss
A teenage girl had her "childhood stolen" after a vile paedophile raped her 10 times.
The actions of Chris Morriss, 49, formerly of Denecliff, Stockbridge Village, came to light after he was found in breach of the terms of the sex offenders register after being released from prison for previous sexual offences. He had tried to evade detection by changing his name, but was jailed for three and a half years for that offence in July 2021.
While officers were investigating the breach, officers were made aware a 13-year-old girl was raped 10 times by the vile paedophile. Morriss groomed the youngster by buying her presents before assaulting her to satisfy his perverted sexual urges.
The girl described how her whole family had changed because of what Morriss had done and how he had robbed her of the chance to be a normal teenager. Morriss was convicted of 10 rapes on the 13-year-old and was jailed for life in court earlier this week. He must serve at least 11 years before he is eligible to apply for parole.
The judge described him as a "dangerous offender" as he was being sentenced.
Cole Thomas
A pervert attacked a woman, sexually assaulted her and stole her possessions on a busy city centre street.
Cole Thomas headbutted and throttled his victim before groping her during a shocking incident outside St Johns Shopping Centre. The 22-year-old then made vile threats to rape her and her family.
Liverpool Crown Court heard on Monday, that the incident occurred shortly before midday on November 9 last year. Thomas, from Aigburth, "began shouting at" the complainant before grabbing her fingers and headbutting her.
She pushed him away, but he responded by "grabbing her round the throat and digging his fingers into her neck". The defendant continued to be "verbally abusive", calling her "disgusting" and saying that her mum was a "paedo".
Thomas, of Mossley Hill Drive, then told her: "I hope you get raped. I will rape your mum and siblings while I'm at it."
He then began "stroking her face" and grabbed her breasts over her clothing as she was pinned up against a wall. The sex offender "suggested she was enjoying it" and added: "How does it feel to be touched without consent?"
Andrew McMullen
A paedophile performed a sex act during a 19 minute Skype call with an account he thought was run by a 12-year-old girl.
Yet dad Andrew McMullen was actually talking to a police officer when he sent a series of vile messages asking them to perform sex acts and encouraging them to engage in sexual activity.
The 53-year-old was jailed by a judge at Liverpool Crown Court after admitting a range of sexual offences.
Nardeen Nemat, prosecuting, told the court McMullen had begun sending messages to an account run by a police officer under the name “Izzy” on a chat site in May this year. Ms Nemat said: “The officer logged onto a chat site called ChatiW under the user “Year8off”. He used a profile pic of a 18-year-old female, which was the youngest option on the drop down menu on the platform.
“Around 12 minutes later ‘Izzy’ received a message from a user, ‘Wirral xx’, a 53-year-old male, now known to be the defendant. His message said ‘watch me’. Izzy replied ‘no thanks’, to which the defendant said ‘shame give good show, make you horny, big c***. Izzy told the defendant she was not 18.”
Kristian Kolar
This is the face of a voyeur who secretly filmed a woman having sex with her boyfriend after installing spy cameras in her house.
As previously reported by The ECHO, Kristian Kolar "visually raped" his victim by covertly recording thousands of her most intimate moments for more than a year. When his perverted behaviour was finally exposed, police also discovered sick videos of women having sex with horses and dogs on his computer.
Cheshire Police have now released a custody picture of the 39-year-old, from Warrington. Liverpool Crown Court heard on Tuesday, July 12, that Kolar fitted the "concealed" cameras in the complainant's living room, bedroom and bathroom in February 2019.
They were only discovered in September the following year, having taken 20,315 "voyeuristic images" and 4,311 videos of her in the intervening period. This "insidious invasion of her privacy for sexual gratification" also included films of the woman in bed, on the toilet and naked in the shower.
Police subsequently seized Kolar's laptop and discovered that he had been collecting bestiality porn since 2017. A total of 17 such images and two videos were found on the device, including a clip which showed a dog "mounting a naked blonde woman" and another involving a woman and a horse engaged in intercourse.
Brian Morton
A child rapist who groomed a girl with sweets and cigarettes has been jailed for 14 years.
Brian Morton, from Halewood, turned his victim against her own family in order to manipulate her for his sick sexual urges - even telling her that her parents did not love her. More than a decade later, the now 61-year-old attempted to groom another 14-year-old - although he was spared prison when he was caught out.
Liverpool Crown Court heard today, Friday, that he began grooming his first victim when she was 11. Morton also bought her mobile phone top-ups and took her for ride in his car, where he would sexually assault her.
The pervert would watch her while she bathed and "offer to clean her". Then, when she was aged 15, he raped her while she was sleeping in the spare bedroom of his home.
His actions had a "severe psychological impact" on the girl, who turned to drug abuse in order to "self medicate" and "block out what happened to her". In 2018, Morton was convicted of engaging in sexual communications with a child after sending a string of sexually charged messages to another teen the previous year - grooming her "in similar terms to all those years ago".
John Skelton
A paedophile was caught attempting to groom 13-year-old girls after savagely attacking his 66-year-old mum with her own walking stick.
Police discovered vile Facebook chats on John Skelton's mobile phone after his arrest over the serious assault, which saw the pensioner suffer a broken arm and have her had split open. In the messages, he implored the 'teenagers' to perform sexual acts and sent naked pictures of himself.
But the 46-year-old was actually being ensnared in a sting by paedophile hunters, who had set up the decoy accounts. Liverpool Crown Court heard that a number of devices were seized from Skelton by officers after he was detained two years ago.
Upon analysis, it was discovered that he had been "deliberately targeting" two teens by engaging in sexual conversations over Facebook Messenger. The defendant had initiated first contact before "turning sexual".
Skelton - of no fixed address, but previously from Kensington - sent the fake profiles pictures of his penis, encouraged them to perform sex acts upon themselves and asked for indecent images of the pair. He also asked one to be his girlfriend and talked about meeting up for sex.
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