Robert Haggart – Crediton/Cowdenbeath

14 Wednesday Oct 2026

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A Crediton man has been convicted of raping a girl and sexually abusing two young children in Scotland more than three decades ago.

Robert Haggart, 53, denied the charges but was found guilty of three offences — rape, indecent assault and lewd and indecent behaviour — following a trial at the High Court in Edinburgh.

His first victim was just 10 when the abuse began in August 1987. Haggart was 13.

The court heard that he repeatedly attacked the girl at addresses in Cowdenbeath, forcing her to the floor and removing her clothing. He covered her mouth with his hand and raped her.

Further indecent assaults followed from November 1988, including an incident in which he grabbed her by the hair.

Haggart also targeted a second girl, aged 14. Between August 1990 and February 1991, he forced her to touch him sexually.

Judge Alison Stirling acknowledged the difficulty of the case when thanking jurors, referring to the nature of the offences and the time that had passed.

Haggart was placed on the sex offenders’ register and remanded in custody pending sentencing.

Juan Figueroa-Ball – Reading/Canterbury

14 Wednesday Oct 2026

Posted by in Berkshire, Kent

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The owner of a martial arts club has been jailed for raping a woman at his studio in Reading.

Juan Miguel Figueroa-Ball, aged 44, of Long Acre Close, Canterbury, was sentenced to eight years’ imprisonment at Reading Crown Court on 8 October after being convicted of rape.

He was also made subject to a restraining order for 10 years and will remain on the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely.

A jury found Figueroa-Ball guilty of one count of rape following a six-day trial at Reading Crown Court. He was convicted on 25 August.

The offence took place on 21 July 2023 at Ceres Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu on Richfield Avenue, Reading.

Figueroa-Ball had offered the victim a free one-to-one introductory session at his studio, when he took advantage of getting her alone. During a Ju-Jitsu roll, Figueroa-Ball attacked the victim and raped her.

Clare Louise Townsend – Sherborne

14 Wednesday Oct 2026

Posted by in Dorset

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A woman who supplied a 15-year-old boy with Class A drugs and repeatedly engaged in sexual activity with him has been jailed for three years and nine months.

Clare Louise Townsend, 37, of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Salisbury Crown Court on 12 October 2026 after admitting two counts of sexual activity with a child.

Dorset Police said Townsend met the boy around late October 2024.

Over the months that followed, she supplied him with cocaine and MDMA and engaged in sexual activity with him on at least 10 occasions.

Detectives investigating the abuse located Townsend in a warehouse in Sherborne in February 2026, where she was arrested. She pleaded guilty on 10 April.

Alongside her prison sentence, Townsend was handed a 10-year sexual harm prevention order and a five-year restraining order.

She will remain on the sex offenders register indefinitely

Richard Kemp – Huntingdon

14 Wednesday Oct 2026

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A man who twice sexually assaulted by penetration, a woman who visited him to check on his welfare has been jailed for five years.

Richard Kemp, 57, of no fixed abode but associated with the Huntingdon area, attacked the woman on 9 May 2023.

Kemp was drunk and verbally abusive. When she tried to leave, he grabbed her from behind, pulled her hair and sexually assaulted her.

He stopped and told her he had forgotten who he was attacking. But when she made another attempt to get away, he sexually assaulted her again.

The woman eventually escaped to a friend’s home.

Kemp later sent her an apology by message, while also saying he had “enjoyed” the assault. The following day, he sent another message saying he would capitulate if she decided to report him.

Five days after the attack, Kemp arrived drunk at Parkside Police Station in Cambridge and told officers he had sexually assaulted a woman earlier that month.

Despite that admission, he denied two counts of assault by penetration.

A jury at Peterborough Crown Court found him guilty of both offences following a trial in August.

He was sentenced at the same court on Thursday, 8 October, to five years in prison and placed on the sex offenders register

Paula Lister – St Helens

14 Wednesday Oct 2026

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A twisted and remorseless woman who knowingly failed to stop her partner repeatedly raping and sexually abusing two young girls has been jailed for 14 years.

Paula Lister, 46, knew the extent of Melvin Miller’s abuse but left the children unprotected for years, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Judge Neil Flewitt KC rejected any suggestion she had been coerced. He found she had put her own desire for a quiet life ahead of the girls’ safety.

“I can’t imagine a worse case of child cruelty,” he said.

Lister, from West Park, appeared by video link after a jury convicted her of two counts of child cruelty.

The court heard Miller recorded much of the abuse. Lister could be seen in the background of one recording.

The judge said her poor health and social isolation meant she was almost always at home when the offences happened. He was certain she understood what Miller was doing and repeatedly failed to intervene.

The consequences for the girls have been profound.

One told the court she had changed her identity as she tried to move forward. She continues to struggle with sleep, and the effects of the abuse still damage her quality of life.

The other described a childhood devastated by the offending.

Addressing Lister, one victim’s mother said: “You’re a monster, you knew what was happening and did nothing.”

She accused Lister of showing concern only for herself, while praising her daughter’s courage and determination to rebuild her life.

Miller, 51, received a 16-year prison sentence in 2020 for sexual offences against the girls.

He was given a further 15-year concurrent sentence in 2022 after admitting additional offences, followed by an 11-year concurrent term in 2025 for historical rapes.

Those later sentences run alongside his existing sentence.

The court heard the cases reached sentencing separately because the victims needed time to process their experiences and disclose the full extent of the abuse.

The judge found she had shown neither remorse nor an understanding of the harm inflicted on the girls.

He imposed two seven-year prison terms to run consecutively, rejecting a defence request for concurrent sentences because that would not adequately reflect her offending.

Lister was also given a 15-year restraining order banning contact with one victim