A child rapist, and a man and a woman sentenced for rape and sexual offences against children, were among over 30 papaedophiles jailed in 2020.
Judges in and near the county handed out prison sentences with the longest for David Hough, who was jailed for life. The shortest sentence, eight months, was given to Matthew Verity.
Here’s a summary of notable court reports from 2020 covered on The Lincolnite, with sentences in descending order.
David Hough
David Hough. | Photo: Humberside Police
A Scunthorpe child rapist, who was jailed for life, was caught when he took indecent pictures and uploaded them online.
David Hough, 56, of Derwent Road in Scunthorpe, maintained his innocence until the final day of the trial, forcing his three victims to relive the ordeal in court.
Oliver Wilson and Rebecca Holloway were found guilty of rape and sexual offences against children. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A man and a woman from Lincolnshire who struck up a twisted relationship with each other were sentenced to a combined 48 years in prison for rape and sexual offences against children.
Oliver Wilson, 28, of Donington, Spalding was handed a prison sentence of 34-and-a-half years.
Rebecca Holloway, 26, of Rutland Street in Grimsby, was jailed for 13-and-a-half years.
A Grimsby man who raped a child for years was jailed for more than two decades.
Kenneth Leslie Mantle, 62, of Willingham Street, Grimsby was sentenced to 24 years in prison after a four-day trial and all the offences happened in North East Lincolnshire.
Ralph Stevenson will serve 22 years in prison. | Photo: Nottinghamshire Police
A 76-year-old pensioner could spend the rest of his life in prison after being found guilty of rape and indecent assault on a young girl in the 1970s and 80s.
Ralph Stevenson was jailed for 22 years for repeatedly assaulting the girl at multiple addresses in the Nottingham area.
David Wright has been jailed for 12 years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
David Wright was jailed for 12 years for a string of historical child sex offences including raping a young girl.
Wright, 79, lived in Bardney at the time of the offences, which date back to between the 1970s and 1980s, appeared at Lincoln Crown Court back in February.
A Buddhist meditation master based near Newark was jailed for eight years after admitting to sexually abusing a three-year-old girl, four decades ago, at her home in Brighton over six years.
Koji Takeuchi, who also goes by his professional name of Buddha Maitreya, went to the girls’ house for meditation sessions with her parents. He told them he would look after her so they could sleep, but subjected her to sexual abuse for several years.
David Wilson was jailed for seven years. | Photo: Humberside Police
A ‘perverted’ 78-year-old man was jailed for seven years after admitting to historic child sex offences dating back to the 1980s and 90s.
David Wilson, of Yaru Street, Queensland, Australia, will also spend the rest of his life on the Sex Offenders Register after he “stole the innocence” of two girls and two boys. Over a number of years he integrated himself into families with the intention of abusing vulnerable children.
John Pycock was jailed for six years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
An elderly paedophile may spend the rest of his life in custody after he was jailed for six years.
John Pycock, a former scout leader, admitted three charges involving sex attacks on a young girl when he appeared in court in November.
Pycock was previously jailed for 51 months back in June 2014 when he pleaded guilty to five offences involving sexual assaults on young boys, but had been released from that sentence when the latest offences came to light.
*Lincolnshire Police did not release a picture of the defendant
A man who had sex with a vulnerable young girl resulting in her becoming pregnant was jailed for six years back in April.
Damian Bavister targeted the girl and groomed her before having sex with her. The offence came to light after it was discovered that the teenage girl was pregnant and she later underwent a termination.
Matthew Twitchen was sentenced to five years imprisonment. | Photo: Northumbria Police
A Lincolnshire man was jailed for five years for grooming a schoolgirl online, convincing her to send him intimate photos before later engaging in sexual activity with her.
Matthew Twitchen, 38, told his victim, who has lifelong anonymity and should not be identified, that he was 18, when he was actually in his 30s.
*Lincolnshire Police did not be release a picture of the defendant
Police dropped their investigation into reports that a stepmother was having sex with her teenage stepson, until the victim came forward four years later.
The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, began having full sex with the boy when she was in her early 30s and he was just turning 16. She was jailed for five years back in March.
Stephen Jagger has been jailed. | Photo: Humberside Police
Grimsby man Stephen Jagger was jailed for grooming a young girl with gifts before twice sexually assaulting her, including kissing her against her will.
Jagger, previously known as Stephen Hemingway, of Tasburgh Street in Grimsby, was jailed for four years and two months for two sexual assault incidents dating back to 2017. Police described him as a “despicable man who targeted a vulnerable child for his own sexual gratification”.
A brazen pervert from Boston had a picture of naked young girls as his computer screensaver when police visited him over reports of sexual assault.
Jeffrey Powell was arrested and when his computer was checked he was found to have downloaded thousands of indecent images of young children. He was jailed for four years.
Terence MacKenzie, 67, has been jailed for four years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A pensioner who admitted sexually assaulting a young girl was jailed for four years.
Terence MacKenzie abused the seven year-old earlier this year while he was living in the Spalding area. The offences came to light when the young girl told her mother who called in police.
Andrew Cook has been jailed for another four years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A convicted Lincolnshire sex offender who continued to message underage girls after he was released from prison was sent back to jail for four years.
Andrew Martin Cook was also given an extended licence sentence of three years on his release from prison after a judge concluded that he was “dangerous” and posed a significant risk to children.
Jack Nicholls, 25, has been jailed for over three years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A 25-year-old man from Lincoln was jailed for three years and three months for the downloading of more than 12,000 images of child abuse images, some of which were downloaded while on bail.
Jack Nicholls was charged with six counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of possession of indecent images of children and breaching a sexual harm prevention order in July.
A Lincoln man found himself caught in a paedophile hunters sting after sending explicit messages and pictures to what he believed to be teenage girls.
Patrick Malone, 34, set up a meeting with someone he believed to be the girl on WhatsApp, but when he turned up he was confronted by members of a paedophile hunter group. The group called the police, who then detained Malone and he was later jailed for two years and ten months.
Patrick Malone was caught in a sting. | Photo: KKS
Jack Payne was jailed for two years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A man was caught in a sting set up by a group of paedophile hunters after contacting what he believed to be 12-year-old girls over the internet.
Jack Payne initially made contact with the girls via an app not realising that “Katie” and “Madison” were actually adults who had set up decoy accounts aimed at trapping paedophiles. He was later jailed for two years.
Michael Taylor was jailed for two years. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A Cleethorpes man was jailed for two years after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a girl under the age of 13.
Michael Taylor, of Fairview Avenue, Cleethorpes was sentenced at Lincoln Crown Court in September for the offence that took place in Tattershall in August 2018.
A convicted paedophile was put back behind bars for 20 months after he was caught downloading hundreds of indecent images of children as young as two-years-old.
Raymond Whittle attracted the attention of police again in April 2019 after a mobile phone linked to him was discovered to have accessed the illegal images. Whittle, who had previously spent nine years in custody after being convicted of 19 sex offences including the rape and attempted rape of young girls, was living at an address in Spalding following his release from jail.
Nathan Budgen, also known as Nathan Smith. | Photo: British Transport Police
A homeless man who sexually assaulted a 16-year-old girl after drugging her at Lincoln train station was jailed.
Nathan Budgen had previously spoken to the victim and her friend and then sat near to them when their train arrived to take them to Retford. He offered the two girls a bottle of wine and then offered the 16-year-old a roll-up cigarette.
Roger Hicks, 58, used a chatroom to chat to what he believed to be teenage girls. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A married dad was jailed for 16 months after being caught talking to teenage girls by a paedophile sting set up by the Metropolitan Police.
Roger Hicks, who was living in Long Sutton at the time, used a chatroom to contact what he thought were two 13-year-old girls. However, the pair were actually officers from the Met Police who had set up decoy accounts to trap paedophiles.
Carl Potter was jailed for 16 months. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A 33-year-old man was jailed for over a year for offences including sexual communications with a child.
Carl Potter was jailed for 12 months for sexual communications with a child, and four months consecutive for a breach of a suspended sentence for an offence of stalking in 2019.
*There was no photo of the defendant available from police
A 62-year-old man from Grimsby has been jailed for a year after touching himself in his car in a sexual way in front of two young girls.
Jaroslav Skorpik of Kesgrave Street pleaded guilty to the offence of “intentionally engaging in sexual activity in a place knowing or believing that a child would be aware of that activity”. He is also not allowed to attend any play areas or parks for 10 years.
Matthew Verity was jailed again in August 2020. | Photo: Lincolnshire Police
A registered sex offender, who was jailed last summer after being caught by a paedophile hunter, is now back behind bars for breaching a court order by deleting dating apps from his phone.
Matthew Verity, 42, appeared at Peterborough Crown Court in August when he was jailed for eight months after pleading guilty to breaching his Sexual Harm Prevention Order at a former hearing.
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There have been 1,643 new coronavirus cases and 83 COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire this week – compared to 1,670 cases and 71 deaths last week.
Some 304 new cases and 17 deaths were reported in Greater Lincolnshire on Friday – the third day in a row with 17 deaths.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 252 new cases in Lincolnshire, 28 in North Lincolnshire and 24 in North East Lincolnshire.
On Friday, 14 deaths were registered in Lincolnshire, two in North East Lincolnshire and one in North Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported six new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust, four at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust (NLAG) and one at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals. Some 51 hospital deaths have been recorded this week, compared to 48 last week.
On Friday, national cases increased by 40,261 to 3,583,907, while deaths rose by 1,401 to 95,981.
Lincolnshire health bosses estimate that 80-90% of new coronavirus cases in the county are now a mutant, more infectious strain of COVID.
Figures earlier this week said that by January 8, 59.2% of cases had confirmed the new virus — up from 36% by the end of 2020 — and now county leaders estimate the number to be even higher.
The COVID mutation that has taken over most new cases in Lincolnshire is not only more infectious, but also more deadly, it has been revealed.
NHS bosses are hoping to offer all care homes in Lincolnshire the first COVID vaccine dose by the end of the week. This comes as almost 5.4 million people have received jabs nationally.
Director of Nursing at Lincolnshire CCG Martin Fahy told BBC Radio Lincolnshire that about three quarters has been completed so far.
A single week in December saw Lincolnshire deaths reach 13 times the yearly average, explained local health bosses frustrated with COVID deniers.
Lincolnshire County Council’s Director of Public Health Professor Derek Ward explained that the week including December 14 would usually see an average of 23 deaths, but 2020 say 301 deaths that week.
In national news, there are no plans to pay everyone in England who tests positive for COVID-19 £500 to self-isolate, No 10 has said.
The PM’s official spokesman said there was already a £500 payment available for those on low incomes who could not work from home and had to isolate.
The coronavirus R number in the UK has fallen sharply since last week, suggesting the lockdown is slowing the spread of coronavirus.
The R, which refers to the number of people that an infected person will pass COVID-19 on to, is between 0.8 and 1 across the UK, according to the figures released by the Government Office for Science and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE).
This means for every 10 people infected with COVID-19, they will pass the virus on to between eight and 10 others.
Lincoln City has taken the top spot with the highest infection rate in Greater Lincolnshire.
This week saw South Holland at the top which was put down to two outbreaks in care homes with up to 100 cases. South Holland has now dropped to third place in the region.
Greater Lincolnshire still remains way below the national average infection rate of 472.9, with just 217.3 per 100,000 of the population.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate over the last seven days up to January 22 according to the government dashboard:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Jan 15 to Jan 22. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Friday, January 22
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
45,645 cases (up 304)
31,814 in Lincolnshire (up 252)
7,067 in North Lincolnshire (up 28)
6,764 in North East Lincolnshire (up 24)
1,760 deaths (up 17)
1,255 from Lincolnshire (up 14)
272 from North Lincolnshire (up one)
233 from North East Lincolnshire (up two)
of which 1,047 hospital deaths (up 11)
638 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up six)
32 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (up one)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
376 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up four)
3,583,907 UK cases, 95,981 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
The COVID mutation that has taken over most new cases in Lincolnshire is not only more infectious, but may also be more deadly, it has been revealed.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said there is “some evidence” the new variant of COVID-19 which is more transmissible could have a “higher degree of mortality”.
However, he said all current evidence continued to show that vaccines remain effective.
Health bosses in Lincolnshire on Friday estimated 80-90% of new coronavirus cases were the new variant.
Boris Johnson told reporters that there were currently no plans to change lockdown rules saying “this is the right package of measures” and that it was down to people obeying the current lockdown and enforcement.
Mr Johnson was speaking during a press briefing on Friday where health bosses said 1 in 55 people now had coronavirus in England.
There are now more than 38,000 people in hospital nationally – 78% higher than the peak of the first wave.
Mr Johnson said: “We’ve been informed today that in addition to spreading more quickly, it also now appears that there is some evidence that the new variant, first identified in London and the south-east, may be associated with a higher degree of mortality.
“It’s largely the impact of this new variant that means the NHS is under such intense pressure.”
In response to questions over death spikes caused by the new variant he said: “Death numbers will continue to be high for a little while to come.”
Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said there was already confidence the new virus spread more easily, but that it was unclear why that was.
He said there was no difference in terms of age range being affected.
Sir Vallance added the outcome for those in hospital with the new variant was the same, however, there was evidence “there’s increased risk for those who have the new variant, compared to the old virus”.
Early evidence suggests the difference shows 13-14 deaths per 1,000 infected as opposed to 10 in 1,000 for the original virus.
However, he added: “That evidence is not yet strong, it’s a series of different bits of information that come together to support that, and I want to put it into context as to what it might mean.
“But I’m stressing that these data are currently uncertain and we don’t have a very good estimate of the precise nature, or indeed, whether it is overall increase.”
He confirmed there was increasing evidence the new variant would be susceptible to the vaccines and studies of the Pfizer Biontech vaccine showed “very good neutralisation”.
“There’s increasing confidence, coupled with I think what is a very important clinical observation, which is that individuals who’ve been infected previously, and have generated antibodies, appear to be equally protected against original virus and new variant,” he added.
England’s Chief medical office Chris Whitty said there had been a “turning the corner” for the number of people catching the virus, adding it was coming down from an “exceptionally” high level.
A Lincoln couple will reopen their independent pizzeria at a new location on Friday night, with an array of main and signature pizzas and Belgian waffles.
Weirdough’s Pizza Emporium will open at Tap & Spile on Hungate from 5pm on Friday, January 22, but it initially started out as a charity project making Neo-Neapolitan pizzas.
Husband and wife team Matt and Rachel Barnes have lived in Lincoln for around five years and last year they wanted to do something to raise money for the NHS.
Matt starting to prepare a pizza. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Kneading the dough. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Matt used to work at a Lincoln school, but they were closed to most pupils for a few weeks in March, so he started working on a project and Weirdoughs Pizza Emporium was born.
It was initially run from The West End Tap from the end of last summer, but in January the pub announced it would not reopen again under its current management, so Weirdoughs had to find a new premises.
The base ready for the next stage of the pizza making. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Matt putting the pizza into the oven. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The tasty pizza in the oven. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Adding the finishing touches to the pizza. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
All profits made from the food sold – just under £2,000 – went to the NHS. The couple also did some drop offs at the coronavirus ward at Lincoln County Hospital.
Matt was made redundant at the end of May and Rachel was due to give birth four weeks after that.
It was a hectic time for the couple as Rachel, who works at a primary school in Peterborough, would be on maternity leave and Matt would soon have no income.
The Margz main pizza – San Marzano tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The Weirdough – San Marzano tomatoes, parmesan, Emmental, mozzarella, red onions, roasted red peppers, mushrooms, spicy Nduja sausage, rocket, balsamic glaze and garlic drizzle. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
As the pizzas were working so well and following feedback from customers, the couple decided to turn it into a business.
Dan Neale, who previously ran the West End Tap, has joined the Weirdoughs team of four as a pizza chef.
Or why not try a Create Your Own Weirdoughs Waffle? | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
The dough is homemade 24 hours ahead to make their special main and signature pizzas, while customers can also order a create your own Weirdoughs waffle.
The Belgian waffles come with a variety of toppings such as Kinder Bueno, Crunchie, and Galaxy Caramel, with sauces including white and milk chocolate, salted caramel and toffee, with ice cream.
Weirdoughs will open Friday to Sunday 5pm-9pm and Wednesday to Thursday 5pm-8pm for takeaway or delivery.
Pre-ordering is advised via Facebook or Instagram or by calling 07734 297 035, with the latter option preferred if it is after 4.30pm.
Owner Matt Barnes will help meet your pizza needs. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Delivery is available to the following areas: Ermine, St Giles, Monks Road, High Street, Bailgate, Boultham, West End and the city centre.
Weirdoughs will try and accommodate other areas too, but it may incur additional charges, while the takeaway will also be joining Uber Eats in the near future.
Weirdoughs will be based inside the Tap & Spile pub in Lincoln. | Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite
Once pubs are allowed to reopen again, customers at the Tap & Spile will able to order Weirdoughs food straight to their table and Matt said he can’t wait for people to able to experience it that way.