December 2020

Pontypool paedophile handed suspended jail sentence

A pervert who downloaded child abuse images was ordered to attend a sex offender programme after a judge told him: “You have a problem.”

Lewis Browne, 29, of Glenview Road, Trevethin, Pontypool, was also handed a suspended jail sentence at Cardiff Crown Court.

June 2020

Teen rapist jailed after his parents marched him into police station and forced him to confess

A teenage rapist who forced himself on a girl was jailed after his parents made him to confess when they found he had texted his victim to say sorry.

Restaurant worker Jack Evans, 18, nearly escaped justice over the sex attack because the women never complained.

But when he apologised to her by text two months later his appalled dad Jonathan and his stepmother saw the message and told him to tell police.

They marched him to a police station where he told officers his name and what he had done.

They tracked down his victim, who had been a virgin, who told them about the attack and he was charged with rape.

Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court heard she had told him to stop at the last minute but he had carried on.

Prosecutor Claire Pickthall said: ‘She didn’t make a complaint but two months later Evans and his stepmother turned up at a police station to say what had happened.’

The victim, who was a virgin, said she was left feeling ‘worthless” and unable to trust men again.

Evans, of Pontypool, South Wales, was jailed for two years and ordered to register as a sex offender.

He was watched by his biological mother, who he told he loved as he was sent down.

Judge Tracey Lloyd-Clarke said there were aggravating features and Evans had to be locked up.

She told him: “Two months after the rape you apologised to your victim and said you understood why she was upset.

“But that text came came to the attention of your father and mother who took you to a police station.

“You told an officer your name and said you’d has sex with the young woman.”

His father said outside court: ‘I wanted him to tell the truth, he had to do the right thing and admit his guilt.’

March 2020

Paedophile Michael Hillitt jailed for 21 years at Cardiff Crown Court

An “irredeemable paedophile” has been sentenced to 21 years in jail after being found guilty of a string of rape and child sexual abuse charges.

Michael Hillitt, 69, denied 32 offences but was convicted and sentenced at Cardiff Crown Court.

In a court statement, one victim said: “Everything was a struggle and I didn’t have a clue when he was going to assault me next.”

The court heard Hillitt’s “sexual deviance” spanned six decades.

Among the offences, Hillitt, from Cwrt Dowlais, Cwmbran, Torfaen, was convicted of rape, attempted rape, causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, sexual assault of a child under 13, causing a child to watch a sexual act, engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child and sexual activity with a child.

Judge Daniel Williams said Hillitt’s crimes were uncovered when one of his victims told a nurse on a psychiatric ward about the abuse.

“Through shame and embarrassment the assaults were not disclosed for many years,” he said.

The court heard Hillitt had also been convicted for a serious sexual offence on a nine-year-old boy in 1968.

“Your sexual deviance spans six decades. You are an irredeemable paedophile,” said Judge Williams.

He made Hillitt the subject of a sexual harm prevention order for life.

And he praised the bravery of Hillitt’s victims for coming forward.

November 2019

Pervert “took away a young boy’s innocence”

A judge told Stuart Bladen, aged 42, of Broadway, Pontypool, he was a dangerous offender and that he “posed a significant risk of harm to children”.

Newport Crown Court heard how his victim wanted to kill himself after being attacked by the convicted sex offender.