Anthony Millwood: Convicted Barnsley sex offender flouted court order to rape 12-year-old girl twice

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A Barnsley man jailed in his early 20s for sexual offences committed against a child is beginning another stint behind bars, after he admitted to raping a 12-year-old girl.

Anthony Millwood’s first sex offence conviction saw him receive a sentence of three years’ imprisonment in a young offenders’ institute in 2015 for offences of sexual activity with a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and meeting a child following grooming. He committed all three offences the previous year, in 2024, Sheffield Crown Court heard.

As part of Millwood’s sentence, he received a decade-long sexual harm prevention order, the purpose of which was to restrict his contact with children and limit his use of the internet, in a bid to stop him from committing further sexual offences.

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Anthony Millwood, 28, of Commercial Street, Barnsley, was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, two offences of rape of a child under 13 and one offence of breaching a sexual harm prevention orderAnthony Millwood, 28, of Commercial Street, Barnsley, was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, two offences of rape of a child under 13 and one offence of breaching a sexual harm prevention order
Anthony Millwood, 28, of Commercial Street, Barnsley, was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, two offences of rape of a child under 13 and one offence of breaching a sexual harm prevention order | South Yorkshire Police

Millwood, now aged 28, breached numerous parts of the order, however, to commit his next set of offences on June 26, 2024, when he twice raped a 12-year-old girl he had been communicating with over Facebook, after the pair met up outside a branch of Primark.

Millwood’s account, which has been accepted by prosecutors and corroborated through the messages they exchanged, is that the girl told him she was 17; and he only found out her true age when he was arrested.

The judge, Recorder Richard Thyne KC, told Millwood, however, that as a 12-year-old child, ‘she was not capable of consenting and the offence you committed is one of rape of a child under 13’.

Jailing Millwood for six years, Recorder Thyne continued: “I’m sentencing you on your basis of plea that you believed she was 17. Your lack of maturity and your previous convictions demonstrate that you have an interest in teenage girls.”

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“The reality is that when adults engage in sexual activity with a young person, it’s the adult who carries the burden of responsibility.”

During a hearing held on January 14, 2025, Recorder Thyne said CCTV of the girl, who is entitled to lifelong anonymity, showed her looking ‘visibly distressed’ as she left the location where the rapes took place.

She subsequently reported Millwood to the police, the court heard.

In a statement read to the court, the girl described the continuing, and damaging, impact of Millwood’s crimes.

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She said: “I’m 12-years-old, I should not have been subjected to such a horrible incident so young.”

“Millwood has affected my emotional health, has given me bad emotional health and has started to affect my physical health,” the girl added, and explained that the anxiety she feels has led to her ‘itching her arms’ and feeling unable to go out.

Millwood, of Commercial Street, Barnsley, was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, two offences of rape of a child under 13 and one offence of breaching a sexual harm prevention order at an earlier hearing.

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Prosecutor Aaron Dinnes told the court that Millwood has a number of other offences on his record including breaching his sex offender notification requirements, along with a charge of malicious communications.

In mitigation, Erin Kitson-Parker told the court that the best feature in Millwood’s favour is his guilty pleas, which, she suggested, are a ‘genuine sign’ of his remorse.

Ms Kitson-Parker reiterated Millwood’s belief that the girl was 17, and said the anger reflected in his pre-sentence report comes after he has spent the years following his release from youth detention trying to ‘change’.

“He was working at the Travelodge. He had a proper job, he had a property, a licence,” Ms Kitson-Parker said, and asserted that the sex offences he was to be sentenced for took place in ‘very different circumstances’ to the crimes he committed more than a decade ago.

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She said Millwood has spent his time in prison on remand trying to improve his employment prospects by undertaking courses, including ones in first aid and mental health.

Ms Kitson-Parker asked Recorder Thyne to take Millwood’s autism spectrum, and personality, disorder, along with the traumatic childhood he endured, into account when passing sentence.

In addition to handing Millwood a six year prison sentence, Recorder Thyne also imposed a one-year extended licence, bringing his total sentence to one of seven years.

Millwood was also made the subject of a new sexual harm prevention order, which will remain in place until further order of the court. He was also told he must remain on the sex offenders’ register, and subject to notification requirements, until further order of the court.

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