July 2022

Bridgwater paedophile jailed for 11 years for multiple rapes of nine-year-old boy

A sexual predator has been jailed for committing multiple offences against a boy.

Simon Wheaton, 37, of Saltlands, Bridgwater, was found guilty at Taunton Crown Court in June of five offences, including raping a nine-year-old boy more than once.

He returned to Swindon Crown Court court today (July 14) for sentencing and was sent to prison for 11 years.

Judge Jason Taylor QC said: “There were undoubted elements of sexual exploitation at the outset. This was a calculating and predatory pattern of behaviour on your part.”

The offences dated back to the early 2000s when Wheaton sexually abused a nine-year-old boy.

Judge Taylor said at the time Wheaton was still a teenager himself and his age had to be taken into account when passing the overall sentence.

The offences included inciting a boy under fourteen years of age to commit an act of gross indecency and an indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14. He was also convicted of indecently assaulting a boy, under 14, on at least two further occasions after that.

Wheaton was also found guilty of the rape of a boy aged under 16 and the rape of a boy under 16 years old on at least two further occasions.

The abuse only came to light when the victim was an adult and opened up to a counsellor who agreed to report the matter to the police on his behalf.

Officers worked with the victim to complete a thorough investigation, including speaking to the victim’s former partners and other witnesses.

Wheaton, who has no previous convictions, must serve two-thirds of his sentence in jail before release.

June 2022

Bridgwater paedophile convicted of multiple rapes of nine-year-old boy

A paedophile from Somerset has been convicted of a string of sex offences – including raping a nine year-old boy more than once.

Simon Wheaton, 37, of Saltlands, Bridgwater, was found guilty at Taunton Crown Court yesterday (Thursday, June 23) of five offences.

Police said the predator had shown no remorse for the way he targeted children and abused them.

The offences included inciting a boy under fourteen years of age to commit an act of gross indecency and an indecent assault on a boy under the age of 14.

He was also convicted of indecently assaulting a boy, under 14, on at least two further occasions after that.

Wheaton was also found guilty of the rape of a boy aged under 16 and the rape of a boy under 16-years-old on at least two further occasions.

The court heard how in the early 2000s, Wheaton sexually abused a nine-year-old boy, including committing multiple rapes upon him.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, disclosed the abuse to girlfriends over the years before finally opening up to a counsellor, who agreed to report the matter to the police on his behalf.

Officers worked with the victim to complete a thorough investigation, including speaking to the victim’s former partners and other witnesses.

In a statement, the victim said: “I was only a child when Wheaton did what he did to me. He took advantage of me being young and trusting.

“He took advantage of this, using it to get what he wanted from me, to abuse me. He made me feel like it was my fault, that I would get into trouble, that I had no choice in what happened to me.

“He calculatedly used thing after thing to keep me under his control, taking away from me my dignity, my trust and my life. It destroyed my trust in people, my ability to emotionally connect with them, to be able to open up.

“The last 18 years of my life were stolen from me, by what he did to me. I wish I had spoken to someone sooner, but I spent too much of my life hating myself for what he did to realise that I was the innocent one.”

Wheaton showed no remorse for his actions at any stage of the court process