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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Coronavirus cases are rising again, with 801 positive tests recorded in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, as the government admitted winter will be “challenging” and health advisers warn of “waning immunity” from vaccinations.
Monday’s figure is 9.7% higher than the 730 cases at the same point last week.
The latest government data also shows one death of a Lincolnshire resident has been taken off the records, while two new deaths were reported at Greater Lincolnshire’s hospitals.
The latest COVID stats for Lincolnshire are:
801 new cases of coronavirus in Greater Lincolnshire with 643 in Lincolnshire, 63 in North East Lincolnshire and 95 in North Lincolnshire
One death taken off the government figures – this happens when data is revised or looked at again in some way
Hospital data showed two deaths in the region’s facilities, with one patient each at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals Trust
The latest data for Lincolnshire shows West Lindsey is currently the area with the fifth highest infection rate nationally with a rate of 743.4 per 100,000 population.
Other authorities in the top 100 authorities include South Kesteven District Council whose infection rates have increased to 654.2 and East Lindsey with 576.6.
Greater Lincolnshire as a whole has seen a rise in infection rates and, on average, sits above the England average of 424 per 100,000 population.
Out of the region’s authorities, six areas sit above that national average with five moving up the rankings, but five going down.
North Lincolnshire, which has spent several weeks near to the top of the area has now dropped to 133rd highest and is the only authority to see a drop in rates in the past few days.
Lincolnshire’s infection rates from September 27 to October 19 | Table: Daniel Jaines, Data: Gov.UK
Sky News has reported that Downing Street has admitted winter will be “challenging”.
Asked about rising rates, Downing Street said it was keeping a “close watch” on the latest statistics, but that they were “still broadly in line” with modelling.
They said the vaccination programme continues to be the first line of defence, along with new treatments, testing and public health advice.
“It is thanks to our vaccination programme that we are able to substantially break the link between cases, hospitalisations and deaths.”
However, Professor Andrew Hayward, a member of SAGE, has told BBC Radio 4’s World At One that waning immunity is “probably part of” the reason infections are high.
“I think it’s concerning that we’ve got very high rates of infection and higher rates of hospitalisation and mortality than many of our European counterparts,” he said.
“Whenever we approach a winter period we expect respiratory virus infections to increase, so I think it’s very important that we go into that with as high a level of population immunity, especially in elderly and clinically vulnerable groups, as possible.”
He added there was “huge potential” for the NHS to come under pressure, resulting in a “lot of unnecessary deaths” and said vaccination rates needed to be higher.
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, October 18
128,664 cases (up 801)
85,178 in Lincolnshire (up 643)
21,194 in North Lincolnshire (up 95)
22,292 in North East Lincolnshire (up 63)
2,375 deaths (down one)
1,736 from Lincolnshire (down one)
327 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
312 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,428 hospital deaths (up two)
876 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up one)
44 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
507 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)
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.
A body has been found at Grimsby Town train station and British Transport Police officers are trying to identify the person, but the death is not being treated as suspicious.
Officers were called to the station at 5.35am on Saturday, October 16 following reports of a casualty.
Paramedics also attended, but sadly the person was pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesperson for British Transport Police said: “Officers are continuing to work to identify the person and inform their next of kin.”
A Shadow Executive made up up Labour and Independent councillors has been formed as the opposition on Conservative-led Lincolnshire County Council.
Councillor Robert Park, Labour Group Leader, will serve as Leader of the Opposition until the next Annual Meeting of the Council in May 2022. The role will then transfer to Councillor Phil Dilks, Independent Group Leader, for the following year.
This follows the agreement at the county council meeting on September 18 that the Labour Group and Independent Group should together be recognised as the opposition.
September’s council meeting also endorsed a protocol to alternate the post of Leader of the Opposition on an annual basis.
The eight elected members of the county council named as the official Shadow Executive are as follows:
Labour
Councillor Robert Parker – Resources, Communications, Commissioning, and Procurement
Councillor Julie Killey – Children’s Services including Safeguarding
Councillor Karen Lee – Adult Social Care, including Local Authority Public Health
Councillor Kev Clarke – Fire and Rescue, including Community Safety and Cultural Services
Councillor Robert Parker said:“This is a practical solution to make sure that there is a recognised Opposition to hold Conservative councillors and particularly the Executive to account for their actions.
“We will be doing so on behalf of the people of Lincolnshire. After all, the Council has a revenue budget of £505 million a year and a capital budget of £208 million: scrutiny of that level of expenditure is essential.
“We will also be putting forward our own policies as will the Independents. Where we agree with their policy proposals no doubt we will support them.”
Independents
Councillor Phil Dilks – Waste, Trading Standards, People Management, Legal and Corporate Property
Councillor Ashley Baxter – Economic Development, Environment and Planning
Councillor Marianne Overton – Highways, Transport and IT
Councillor Richard Cleaver – NHS Liaison and Community Engagement
Councillor Phil Dilks said: “Effective Opposition and well-informed constructive scrutiny in local government contributes to more robust and accountable decision-making. So it’s important that an agreement has been achieved which allows a functioning Shadow Executive to be established.
“We look forward to working creatively to offer positive and innovative proposals for the benefit of the people of Lincolnshire – whilst ensuring that the identity and integrity of both our groups is maintained.”
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