A picture has emerged of a hospital worker who has been convicted of sex attacks on young boys and jailed for eight years at Lincoln Crown Court.
Alex Hepburn was found guilty by a jury last month of charges involving five boys.
He was placed on the sex offenders’ register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order at Lincoln Crown Court on Friday February 9.
As reported previously, Judge Simon Hirst, passing sentence, said Hepburn, who was employed as a housekeeper at Lincoln County Hospital, had groomed his young victims before sexually abusing them.
The judge said: “There was grooming behaviour. You abused them sexually.
“Many of the mothers blame themselves. I make it perfectly clear that there is only one person to blame for your behaviour and that is you. Each of the mothers cannot and must not blame themselves.”
During the trial Andrew Vout, prosecuting, said that Hepburn indecently touched boys over a number of months, the youngest of whom was just four years old.
The offences came to light after he was arrested over a separate matter which was not subsequently pursued.
Mr Vout said that checks carried out on Hepburn’s computer revealed a stash of over 2,500 pornographic images of children including 401 in the most serious category.
The prosecutor said that the boys and their families had been badly affected by what happened to them.
Hepburn, 28, of Garfield View, Ermine West, Lincoln, was found guilty of a total of six charges of sexual assault of a child.
Two of the verdicts were by an 11-1 majority and two verdicts by a 10-2 majority.
The offences took place between January 1, 2016 and July 8, 2017. He was cleared of four charges of sexual assault and a further charge of inciting a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity. He denied all 11 charges.
He did not give evidence during his trial.
Hepburn admitted three charges of making indecent photographs of children, three charges of distributing indecent images of children and a further charge of possession of a prohibited image of a child.
Mark Watson, in mitigation, said that Hepburn, who had no previous convictions, lacked maturity and has been diagnosed with autism.
“Having obtained a degree of independence with his flat that is now lost to him. His employment is now gone.
“He knows he is going to prison. In all likelihood he will have to move away from this area when he is released.”
The court was told that a psychologist had assessed Hepburn as having autistic spectrum disorder.
Hepburn, he said, had suffered significant physical and emotional abuse as a child and had been bullied at school.
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The problem of cyclists ignoring signage and riding on the main pedestrian precinct in Grimsby is “really bad”, according to a local resident.
The local council has been enforcing the issue since 2019, but BBC Look North said it appears only a handful of people are actually getting off their bikes and pushing them in the precinct.
There are no cycling and pedestrian only signs and even one stating there would be a £100 fine, but some cyclists in Grimsby are still choosing to ignore the rules.
When BBC Look North visited Grimsby one cyclist admits he shouldn’t be cycling and gets off to push his bike. A man with another cyclist swears when told about the rules not being followed.
A man called Trevor who initially contacted BBC Look North about the issue said: “I come down this High Street very often and I see cyclists just rushing by. One day there’s going to be a serious accident on the High Street here.”
Another resident said: “It’s really bad, it happens every five minutes around here, especially at weekends it’s even worse. They don’t stop, they don’t care.”
A 38-year-old man from a North Lincolnshire village charged with murder will face an eight-day trial later this year.
Emergency services were called at 4.23am on Saturday, July 2 to reports that a man was seriously injured on South Parade in central Doncaster.
The 28-year-old victim was taken to hospital but was sadly pronounced dead a short time later.
A post-mortem examination found that he died of injuries to his head, chest and abdomen.
Formal identification of the victim is yet to take place, South Yorkshire Police said earlier this week.
Steven Ling, 38, of Park Drain, Westwoodside in North Lincolnshire, has been charged with murder and was remanded in custody to appear at Doncaster Magistrates Court on Monday, July 4.
Ling later appeared at Sheffield Crown Court on Tuesday, July 5 for a plea and trial preparation hearing.
No pleas were entered during the hearing, but an eight-day trial was set for November 28, 2022. Ling has now been remanded into custody until the next hearing.
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