March 2012

Paedophile-ring members have jail sentences increased

Robert Hathaway, Melissa Noon and Simon Hilton used the internet to discuss the abuse of children

Three people jailed for their part in a Portsmouth-based paedophile ring have had their sentences increased. Senior judges at the Court of Appeal agreed that Melissa Noon, Robert Hathaway and Simon Hilton’s sentences were “unduly lenient”.

They were convicted in December of abusing two young children and posting images and videos on the internet. Ringleader Hathaway’s sentence was changed to life and Noon and Hilton’s terms were doubled to eight years.

Hathaway, 37, of Portsmouth, had previously received an indeterminate sentence with a minimum tariff of six years. He must now serve at least 10 years. His partner Noon, 30, also from Portsmouth, and Hilton, 29, of north London, will have to serve a minimum of of four years each.

January 2012

Portsmouth paedo ring members sentenced

Robert Hathaway and Melissa Noon used the internet to discuss the abuse of children with others

A Hampshire man and his partner who ran an international paedophile ring have been jailed for child sex offences.

Robert Hathaway, 37, and Melissa Noon, 30, of Portsmouth, set up a nudist forum website as a front for the sex abuse of two children aged under 13.

Hathaway admitted 45 charges including rape and was given an indeterminate sentence. Noon was jailed for four years.

The court heard how Noon and ringleader Hathaway, both of Tyseley Road, committed crimes involving two children in the UK and one in Australia.

Hathaway’s offences also included the sexual assault of a child and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Noon had denied 11 charges, including causing a child to engage in sexual activity, but was convicted at the end of a six-week trial in November for her part in the network. She admitted two other charges.

The couple used the internet to discuss the abuse of children with other defendants and arranged to meet some of them to carry out further sexual assaults on their victims.

Stephen Fraser, Simon Hilton and Lee Parson have all been jailed

Stephen Fraser, 42, of Hemingford Road, Cambridge, was sentenced to four years with an extended licence period of six years; Simon Hilton, 29, of Wolsey Road, north London, was imprisoned for four years with an extended licence period of six years; and Lee Parson, 38, of Arundel Street, Portsmouth, was jailed for three years.

Daniel Bell, Mark Day and John Maddox had all denied the charges against them

Three men who were part of an international paedophile ring have been sentenced for child sex offences.

Mark Day, 45, of Kent, serving soldier Daniel Bell, 27, of Hampshire, and John Maddox, 47, of Essex, received their sentences at Portsmouth Crown Court. Father-of-two Mark Day, 45, of Whitefriars Meadow, Sandwich, Kent, was jailed for three years for one charge of arranging a child sex offence.

Soldier Daniel Bell, 27, (pic below) who lives in military accommodation but was previously of St James Road, Emsworth, Hampshire, was given a four-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, for attempting to distribute an indecent image of children. 

He was also given concurrent sentences of one month in prison, suspended for a year, for each of two charges of possessing indecent photos of children.The court heard that it was a “matter of discretion” for Bell’s commanding officer whether he would keep his position in the army.

John Maddox, 47, of Ellis Avenue, Rainham, Essex, a carer for his disabled sister and elderly mother and who works as a volunteer for a hospice, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years’ imprisonment for one charge of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

He also received concurrent sentences of two months’ imprisonment for two charges of possessing indecent photographs of children.