Sheffield Crown Court: The biggest cases heard this week including stabbing and indecent images

As with every week, defendants at Sheffield Crown Court have received an array of sentences for a variety of cases. Here is a recap of a few of the biggest passed in court this week.

Joel Senior: Pervert engaged in disgusting sex-chat messages with 12-year-old girl

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 9 how Joel Senior, aged 21, of no fixed abode, had been in contact with a 12-year-old girl in Rotherham in June, July, and August, 2019, before her concerned mother reported the matter to police. Officers found the defendant had been inciting the youngster to engage in sexual activity.

Ian Goldsack, prosecuting, said the youngster’s mother was aware of two occasions when her daughter had been in sexual contact with someone and when it happened a third time in August, 2019, she contacted the police.

He said: “He asked personal questions about whether she had a brother, about SnapChat and whether she would do a video-call and he asked what she was wearing and asked for a picture.”

Senior went on to send the girl a picture of him, and he asked about taking photos. He discussed sex, oral sex and masturbating acts and asked the girl to show her genitals, according to Mr Goldsack.

Senior, who has no previous convictions, pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a child aged under 13 to engage in sexual activity. Defence barrister Glenn Parsons said Senior had been young at the time of the offending and even then he had been immature.

Recorder Benjamin Nolan KC sentenced Senior to a 24-month community order with requirements to undertake rehabilitation courses. The defendant was also made subject to a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a five-year restraining order.

Paul Law: Man trapped by paedophile hunter confessed to police he had indecent images of children

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 10 how Paul Law, aged 59, of Brunswick Road, Burngreave, Sheffield, engaged in sexual conversations with an online profile purporting to be a 13-year-old girl, which had been set up as a decoy by a paedophile hunter group called Predator Exposure.

Stephanie Hollis, prosecuting, said a member of Predator Exposure set up a fake Facebook profile of a 13-year-old Leeds girl who was repeatedly contacted by Law and his conversation became sexual as the defendant encouraged the profile to chat by WhatsApp. Law also told the profile he had feelings for her and he asked if she had wanted to have sex with him and that he was willing to pay, according to Ms Hollis.

Ms Hollis said Predator Exposure passed on the details to a member of another similar organisation and one of their members visited Law at his home, where he confessed and the police were alerted. Law told police he was sorry and he also had indecent images of youngsters which officers later found involving children aged between five and 17-years-old, along with 21 images of extreme pornography, when they seized two mobile phones.

Sean Fritchley, defending, said Law has struggled with a difficult personal background that has blighted his life and this has turned him to drugs and alcohol. Law was sentenced to 18 months of custody suspended for two years with a Rehabilitation Activity Requirement. Law was also made subject to a ten-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

Christopher Priestley: Pervert jailed over 30,886 indecent images and two 'despicable' paedophile manuals

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 11 how Christopher Priestley, aged 52, of Brandreth Road, Upperthorpe, Sheffield, was caught ‘red-handed’ by police during a visit to his home where they found an open electronic device featuring a paedophilic site on a desk with a number of other screens.

Police recovered hundreds of category A indecent and category B images including still pictures and videos, as well as getting on for over 30,000 category C images as well as some category C videos. The court heard category A images are deemed to be the most serious.

Officers also found internet dialogue from a chatroom relating to two digital manuals explaining how to abuse children and avoid detection, according to Mr Webster, as well as a separate collection of material about getting caught and whether potential offenders should commit such offences.

Vanessa Saxton, defending, said Priestley’s pre-sentence report indicates that he is experiencing shame as he struggles to understand what he has done and why he has committed these offences.

Recorder Gordon sentenced Priestley to 34 months of custody and the defendant who is subject to the Sex Offenders Register for an indefinite period was also made subject an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order. The National Crime Agency has confirmed Priestley had two paedophile manuals and the total number of indecent images he had downloaded had been 30,886.

Stephen Whittaker and another: Two thugs have been put behind bars after a cyclist was stabbed

Sheffield Crown Court heard on January 10 how Stephen Whittaker, aged 20, of Chalmers Drive, near Edenthorpe, Doncaster, and a 16-year-old youth, from Knottingley, West Yorkshire, jumped from a passing red car before one of them stabbed a cyclist in the back around Wheatley Hills and Intake, in Doncaster.

The judge – Recorder Benjamin Nolan KC – told the defendants: “You could have killed him and had you done so you would have been facing a charge of murder to which you would have been liable to a sentence of life imprisonment. Fortunately, providence was on your side and he did not die.” He sentenced Whittaker to two years of detention in a Young Offender Institution and he sentenced the youth to an 18-month detention and training order.

Whittaker, who has previous convictions, and the youth, who also has convictions to his name and cannot be identified for legal reasons, both pleaded guilty to possessing a bladed article and to unlawful wounding. The youth also admitted failing to surrender to custody.