A child rapist, and a man and a woman sentenced for rape and sexual offences against children, were among over 30 paedophiles 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.
The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The 2024 Lincolnshire Business Excellence Awards are now open for nominations, seeking to spotlight outstanding businesses within the Greater Lincolnshire area.
Hosted by Stonebow Media, the publisher behind The Lincolnite and the MyLocal platform, this prestigious event is designed to honour the achievements of the regional business community.
Thanks to the headline sponsorship from the University of Lincoln Enterprise & Research department, the Lincolnshire Business Excellence Awards are a unique opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions of local enterprises.
The awards are also sponsored by Ringrose Law, Duncan & Toplis, Sills & Betteridge and Pearson Hydraulics. A small number of sponsorship opportunities remain available. Contact [email protected] to discuss partnerships.
Businesses can nominate themselves across eleven awards categories:
The deadline for nominations is May 24, with the judges’ deliberation lunch set for May 29.The judging panel includes business experts and professionals from Lincolnshire and event sponsors.
The Lincolnshire Business Excellence Awards 2024 gala will take place at the Engine Shed on July 12, 2024.
Enhance profile & credibility: Securing an award or being shortlisted acts as a powerful endorsement, signaling trustworthiness to potential customers and helping to distinguish your business from competitors. Displaying the award on your communications can significantly boost your brand’s perception.
Insightful focus & feedback: The application process encourages deep reflection on your business strategy and direction, offering invaluable feedback and clarity, even for new ventures.
Team confidence boost: Recognition from the awards can significantly uplift your team’s morale, affirming the value and potential of your business in the eyes of industry experts.
Marketing & PR boost: Being associated with the awards, even as a nominee, can enhance brand visibility, providing ample content opportunities for social media and other marketing channels.
Networking opportunities: The awards connect you with local business leaders and experts, offering a platform to seek advice, share ideas, and foster future partnerships. The ceremony itself is an excellent occasion for networking with peers and celebrating mutual successes.
Potential to win: Entering offers a chance to win and gain all the associated benefits, but even without taking home a trophy, the process can yield significant advantages for your business.
A Lady Gaga loving kitten owned by a couple who run a charity for disabled pets featured on Channel 5’s The Pet Psychic.
Pet Psychic Beth Lee-Crowther comes to the aid of pet owners and in Tuesday night’s episode she met Cookie the kitten, a depressed camel, and looked at whether a dog can predict the future.
Whatsapp
