April 2021

Pervert from Folkestone Road, Dover jailed for downloading thousands of indecent images of children

A pervert who argued depression and anxiety led to him downloading thousands of indecent images of children has been jailed.

Graham Pitcairn had received a suspended prison sentence in 2008 for “similar offences”, Canterbury Crown Court heard.

But in 2019 the retail worker was found to be hoarding more than 3,000 still and 64 moving images ranging from the worst, category A, to category C.

Devices discovered in the 46-year-old’s home contained a number of videos showing children being abused.

The court heard Pitcairn, of Folkestone Road, Dover, told officers he was attracted to children and handed over a laptop and two memory sticks when they attended his home following a tip-off.

James Benson, prosecuting, explained Pitcairn used the dark web via proxy servers to access the material.

“He felt it had become an addiction and it had helped his depression,” he said.

Pitcairn kept his eyes on the floor, not once looking up as Mr Benson delivered the prosecution’s case.

The barrister highlighted aggravating features including some children being as young as four and the illicit material being downloaded and stored.

He also had a previous (criminal) record for similar offences and possessed a “high volume of images”, he added.

The pervert had 481 category A images, 1,044 category B and 1,837 category C when he was arrested in May 2019.

Judge Simon James ordered the devices be destroyed before jailing Pitcairn for 15 months.

“You were placed on an intense three-year sexual offenders’ programme (after your previous conviction). It seemed that it failed to address your underlying issues with thousands of indecent images being received from our computer,” he said.

March 2021

Steven Tonks, of Windmill Road, Gillingham, jailed for online grooming

A pervert has been locked up after engaging in online conversation with a person he believed to be a 12-year-old girl.

Steven Tonks admitted attempting to groom a child online when he appeared at Maidstone Crown Court on Friday.

He was arrested in Goudhurst Road, Gillingham, after it was revealed he’d made sexual remarks and sent explicit images of himself during the interaction in November 2018.

Tonks, 50, of Windmill Road, Gillingham, was sentenced to a year in jail for attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child.

Update: Clifton was sentenced to 18 years and the judge extended the jail sentence by five years and said Clifton cannot be considered for parole until 2024 at the earliest – and even then he will not be released until the authorities think it safe.

September 2015

Floyd Clifton, brother of double murderer Brett Clifton, guilty of raping student

The brother of a double murderer raped a student in her bed then issued a blood-curdling threat to her flatmates warning them to “Google me – see what I’m capable of”.

Floyd Clifton has been unanimously found guilty of attacking the 22-year-old after tagging along with her friends on a night out in Canterbury.

A jury heard how Clifton had a record dating back to 2000 for crimes including burglaries, robbery, witness intimidation, threats to kill and kidnapping.

They were told how, when arrested, the 29-year-old had joked to police officers: “Rape? That’s me going back to Elmley Prison then.”

Clifton had latched on to a group of young students who were enjoying a party in a city centre pub.

Deciding they were drunk, the group had hailed a taxi to head home – with Clifton jumping in with them.

Back at their flat Clifton helped carry the victim’s friend to bed before joining her in her own bedroom.

The jury was told Clifton, of Gordon Road, Canterbury, had left the room and the victim had fallen asleep.

“I woke up sometime later and he was on top of me. He was having sex with me,” she said. “I pushed him off me. I then jumped up and put some pyjama bottoms on. I started screaming.”

She alerted her fellow students and Clifton became defensive, claiming he had done nothing wrong.

“I was really upset, crying and hysterical. I just wanted him out of my house,” she said. “He told us: ‘Google me, see what I am capable of’ ”.

Clifton later admitted to the jury that he wanted the students to see stories of his brother Brett, 31, who is serving time for a double murder in Faversham nine years ago, to prove who he was.

The jury was told Clifton had a criminal record of 24 convictions dating back more than a decade

He will be sentenced in October and was remanded in custody.

After the verdict was announced Judge James O’Mahony said: “I am completely sure that blood-curdling threats were made and it is perfectly clear to me that there is every reason to think that this defendant is extremely dangerous. He stalked these girls and laid in wait.”

March 2021

Pervert from Maidstone used a ‘spy watch’ to film victim in bathroom and uploaded footage to porn site

A voyeur secretly filmed a female in the shower using a ‘spy watch’ before uploading the videos to an international pornography site.

Floyd Winch, from Maidstone, perched his covert camera on the side of the bath, primed to film his victim six times.

The 30-year-old was jailed at Canterbury Crown Court for one year for voyeurism, which left the female now “paranoid about being watched”.

She was contacted by a stranger in America who discovered the video on a pornography site which receives millions of visitors. He told her the footage had been watched thousands of times.

Originally believing it to be a joke, the victim’s fears were soon confirmed and she notified the police.

It has taken five years for the case to reach sentencing at Canterbury Crown Court this week.

A probe revealed Winch had stored six videos of her on his “spy watch” and a computer tower seized from his Kingsley Road home – though it’s not where the offences took place.

Following his arrest Winch maintained the recordings were accidental and he uploaded one video in error, because “he has poor eyesight”.

But he pleaded guilty on the day of his trial earlier this year.

Winch’s victim told the court she feels “paranoid about being watched” after the ordeal in 2016.

“I feel very embarrassed and more so that I have been published on a porn website and thousands of people around the world would have seen it.

“I also feel I now need to sleep in pyjamas because I’m concerned what could happen in my sleep.

“Also I feel uncomfortable undressing in the house,” she said.

Judge Simon James told Winch he lacked remorse and his previous denial was “manifestly false and self-serving”.

“Your victim discovered what you had done after she was contacted by one of the many thousands of people who had seen those images.

“The offences were planned, the images were recorded and circulated as far and wide as possible.”

Softly-spoken Winch, supported by his mother in court, appeared in the dock wearing a medical face mask and dark cardigan.

He could be seen taking deep breaths throughout the hearing and spoke to confirm his name, address and charges.

A restraining order will prevent him from contacting his victim for 10 years and he will remain of the Sex Offenders’ Register for 10 years.

July 2007

Man jailed after abusing schoolgirl

A Tunbridge Wells pervert that hid a schoolgirl under the floorboards of his home when police arrived looking for her, has been sentenced to three and half years

Daryl Bartley, 28 of Sherwood road, pleaded guilty to two charges of engaging in sexual activity with a female child 

Maidstone Crown Court heard that the 14-year-old girl – who cannot be named for legal reasons – claimed she and Bartley had engaged in sexual intercourse up to 40 times over the course of a few months

The court was told that the girl had been missing for a week. She was found under the bed in his bedroom after he had denied seeing her

Days later, she disappeared again and later described Bartley as her boyfriend and that they did not use contraception

The victim said Bartley had cut out some floorboards inside a built-in cupboard and would put her in there if he thought the police were at the door.

Police were called in after the girl received two text messages from Bartley, one which threatened to rape the girl

However, the girl met Bartley again after the threatening texts. They had sexual intercourse at his house, then they went to Kennington Park where sex took place in the woods

As well as being jailed, Bartley was told to regsiter as a sex offender for ten years