April 2022

Dad targeted ’13-year-old girl’ for school uniform pictures

Paedophile hunters trapped a convicted sex offender who thought he was exchanging messages with a 13-year-old girl.

He had asked the girl if he could watch her in the shower and see pictures of her in her school uniform and underwear.

Seedy and obsessed Alistair Tough had been given a “golden opportunity” in the past to tackle his sick urges but he ignored it and brazenly sent sexually-charged messages to the fake girl. 

He knew the risks that he was taking because he told the decoy teenager that he “could get shot for talking to her”, Hull Crown Court heard.

Tough, 58, of Spring Road, Market Weighton, admitted attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child between November 17 and December 9, 2020 and failing to register his details as a sex offender on January 3 last year.

Ben Hammersley, prosecuting, said that Tough was given a one-year suspended prison sentence at Hull Crown Court in March 2019 for two offences of making indecent images of children and he had to register as a sex offender for 10 years.

He had been found in 2018 with 518 of the most serious Category A images of children, 544 in Category B and 354 in Category C, most of them movies. 

The latest offences were discovered after police were contacted by a paedophile hunters group to say that Tough had been having sexualised conversations on Facebook with a fake 13-year-old girl.

He sent messages to the decoy girl, who told him that she was 13, and he said that he “could get shot for talking to her”. He told her: “Don’t forget to delete our messages before you go to sleep.”

Tough asked the girl to send him a picture of her in her pyjamas and later asked for one of her wearing underwear. 

He told her that he was looking for a girlfriend and asked her to send photographs of herself in her school uniform.

Tough later asked her if he could watch her in the shower and asked her to send a picture in her school uniform.

When the fake girl sent a picture, Tough replied: “Pretty pic.” He was required to register his details as a sex offender every year but failed to do so.

Judge John Thackray QC told Tough: “You were given a golden opportunity by the court in March 2019 to resolve the obvious and very serious issues that you have and you have gone on to commit very serious offences.

“There was no actual harm here because what you thought was a 13-year-old girl didn’t exist. You thought you were communicating with a 13-year-old child. You intended sexual harm to a 13-year-old child. The offence is so serious that only an immediate custodial sentence can be justified.”

Tough was jailed for eight months and must register as a sex offender for 10 years.

January 2021

Paedophile downloaded ‘banned software’ on his Samsung phone

A East Yorkshire paedophile broke the rules around downloading software after being charged with making indecent photographs of children.

Alistair Tough, 57, of Spring Road, Market Weighton, was given a suspended sentence in March 2019 of 12 months suspended for two years, which he breached on October 21 last year by breaking a sexual harm prevention order.

Hull Crown Court heard that Tough installed a “secure wipe” app on his Samsung Galaxy phone, which removes files permanently from devices.

Richard Thompson, prosecuting, told the court that Tough had a sexual harm prevention order in place on him for 10 years after being caught with child sexual abuse images, which allowed police to monitor his devices

As part of the monitoring process, officers found the banned software, which Tough claimed was downloaded to create memory space on his phone, but was nevertheless a breach of his conditions.

Judge David Tremberg gave Tough a sentence of six months suspended for one year and ordered that he complete another five rehabilitation requirement days.