May 2023

Pervert abused two very young girls

A pervert who took indecent images of a 10-year-old girl in Swindon and molested a six-year-old more than a decade earlier has been put behind bars.

John Shannon, from Southampton, was jailed after pleading guilty to five offences including the sexual assault of a child under 13, taking and possessing indecent images of children and possession of an extreme pornographic image.

The 58-year-old was handed a prison sentence of five years and six months at Southampton Crown Court last week.

Shannon was caught out when National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators identified a woman who he had sexually assaulted in 2010.

The victim was just six years old at the time of the assault and was in Shannon’s care.

Shannon was arrested in September, 2022, and was released on conditional bail.

NCA investigators seized his phone and laptop, for analysis, and discovered child abuse material including a category A video, the most serious type, and 13 category C images of a man and a child.

The child, a 10-year-old girl, has since been identified and safeguarded.

Some of these indecent images and videos were found to have been taken at an address in Swindon.

The investigation found Shannon had attended a party at the address, and stayed the night, before recording the images on his mobile phone.

Investigators were able to prove Shannon was in the photos and had taken them himself, while records showed that he had travelled to the location where the pictures were taken.

Shannon was subsequently re-arrested in December, 2022, and charged with these additional offences.

As part of his sentence, Shannon will also be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.