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Tuesday 20 December 2011

Five Jailed Over 'Horrific' Child Sex Abuse

A woman and four men have been jailed for their part in an international paedophile ring which committed "horrific" crimes against two young children in the UK and one in Australia.
Ringleader Robert Hathaway, 37, of Portsmouth, was given an indeterminate sentence of 12 years while his partner Melissa Noon, 30, received four years.
A six-week trial heard how the couple - along with Stephen Fraser, 42, of Cambridge, Simon Hilton, 29, of north London, and Lee Parson, 38, of Portsmouth - abused two young children in the UK, using a nudist website as a guise for their perversions.
The abuse included offences of rape and sexual assault as well as forcing the children to engage in naked games of Twister and wrestling.
Addressing Hathaway in court, Judge Roger Hetherington said: "I have no doubt you set the rules and enforced the regime.
"You set out with ruthless determination to exploit these two innocent children you used as your sexual playthings but also for the gratification of various other men."
There were sighs and tuts of disgust could be heard from the packed gallery at Portsmouth Crown Court as prosecuting officer Kerry Maylin described how the victims, some as young as four, were "systematically and repeatedly" raped by Hathaway and sexually assaulted on a daily basis.
She added that the abuse was documented with thousands of photographs and videos, some as long as 42 minutes, which were distributed by the ringleader over the internet.
The court heard how the three other defendants became involved by meeting Hathaway and Noon on the internet. Fraser and Hilton were each given four years behind bars, while Parson was jailed for three years.
All five were ordered to sign the sex offenders register and the judge said all the computer and photographic equipment used in the abuse must be forfeited and destroyed.
Hampshire police launched their investigation into the ring after being tipped off by the authorities in Australia, who had uncovered a "mirror image" group in Brisbane and Sydney which also abused at least one young child.
A total of 2,000 pages of chat logs were uncovered by police, as well as 14,000 indecent images of children and 300 videos of children being abused
Detective Inspector Victoria Dennis, senior investigating officer, said the sentencing was closure for what has been one of the largest and complex investigations of its type by Hampshire Constabulary.
"It is one of the most horrific incidents of child abuse I have ever investigated," she said.
She added that the international paedophile ring involved 35 suspects in total.
"Their conviction and sentencing is a warning to anyone who thinks that they can get away with taking, viewing, downloading and distributing indecent images of children or otherwise sexually abusing children or encouraging others to do so."
A further four people accused of being involved in the child abuse ring will be sentenced next month

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