Kent paedophile who paid £56k for child abuse images jailed
Sentenced on Friday, he will also be subjected to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO). Investigators discovered Howlett would contact other offenders using online messaging platforms and share abuse images through Dropbox. The NCA found 1,277 images were of a single victim who had been continually sexually abused for years at Howlett's instruction.More than 5,000 of the total 14,311 images discovered on Howlett's devices were assessed by NCA investigators to have been created exclusively for him.One time, while requesting abuse videos of a nine-year-old girl, he even bemoaned being unable to watch livestreamed footage due to the fact he was at work.
NCA investigators said Howlett's cache of images had been created from 2003 up until his 2021 arrest. They have also been working closely with law enforcement in the Philippines who are carrying out their own investigation into those Howlett was in contact with.Nineteen children identified as having been abused as a result of the offending have now been safeguarded. Adam Priestley, unit head of CSA investigations at the NCA, said: "Patrick Howlett is a dangerous paedophile who has offended for many years."The NCA will continue to pursue those who pose a significant sexual risk to children and fuel their continued abuse."
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Daily Mirror
10 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Three men raped teenage girls 'in the most horrendous way'
Kessur Ajaib, 43, Sageer Hussain, 39, and Mohammed Makhmood, abused their victims 'in the most horrendous way' 25 years ago, the Crown Prosecution Service said Three men have been found guilty of raping teenage girls in Rotherham 25 years ago. Kessur Ajaib, 43, Sageer Hussain, 39, and Mohammed Makhmood, abused their victims "in the most horrendous way" after targeting them "in isolated locations", the Crown Prosecution Service said. Hussain is already serving a lengthy sentence after he was jailed for 19 years in 2016 for raping a 13-year-old girl in the South Yorkshire town. He will be sentenced again in November after was found guilty on Wednesday of raping a girl alongside Ajaib and Makhmood, who were convicted of raping a second teenager. The convictions are the latest to arise out of the NCA's Operation Stovewood, which is the huge investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. A jury heard how the girl Hussain raped was about 14 at the time and is now in her 30s. Hussain, who was about the same age, led her down an alleyway in Rotherham town centre and said he would not let her back out unless she had sex with him. Prosecutors told the jury how Hussain raped her with two other people present, one female and one male. They said she cried throughout the ordeal as her exit was blocked. The second girl was also about 14 when Ajaib and Makhmood raped her, the court heard. Prosecutor Andrew Bailey told the jury how Ajaib was about 18 when he raped her in an alleyway. Mr Bailey said Makhmood, who was about 18 or 19 at the time, raped the same girl in an old graveyard in Rotherham as she fought against him. He said that he called her a "slag" and a "dirty b***h" before spitting at her and laughing. Mr Bailey said she "did not dare tell anyone." The offending took place between 1999 and 2002, the court heard. Hussain is due to be sentenced again on November 7, the NCA confirmed. Ajaib and Makhmood are due to be sentenced on November 21. All three were remanded in custody by Judge Charles Thomas. NCA senior investigating officer Alan Hastings said: "Ajaib, Hussain and Makhmood subjected two young girls to devastating acts of sexual abuse, the consequences of which the victims have lived with for almost 25 years. Those victims have now, at last, had their voices heard and their accounts believed. "While this could never eradicate the suffering caused by their attackers, I hope it will pave the way for the women to move forward with their lives." Liz Fell, specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service's organised child sexual abuse unit, said: "These men deliberately exploited the victims' youth and vulnerability to manipulate and control them. "They sexually abused the victims, who were children, in the most horrendous way. The treatment these young girls endured was appalling - they were attacked in isolated locations and subjected to humiliation and verbal abuse." The NCA says Operation Stovewood is the single largest law enforcement operation of its kind in the UK and has identified more than 1,100 children involved in the exploitation. The agency said 46 people have now been convicted. Ajaib, 43, of Walter Street, Rotherham, was found guilty of one count of rape and one of indecent assault. He was found not guilty of a further count of rape. Makhmood, 43, of Falding Street, Rotherham, was found guilty of one count of rape. Hussain, 39, formerly of Rotherham and currently a serving prisoner, was found guilty of one count of rape. He was acquitted of two counts of raping the girl who was raped by the other two defendants. Hussain was jailed in 2016 alongside seven other men by the same judge who had previously sentenced his brothers Arshid, Basharat and Bannaras to 35, 25, and 19 years in prison respectively. The judge in 2016 heard how Hussain's victim, who was abused by all eight of the co-defendants, had complained to police in 2003 but the inquiry was dropped, partly because she was so terrified of her abusers. Judge Sarah Wright told the eight men: "She was targeted, sexualised and subjected to acts of a degrading and violent nature."
The Independent
14 hours ago
- The Independent
How social media is helping the far-right spread fear and hate
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In the past two weeks, prominent leaders in neo-Nazi groups and far-right organisations have been accused of exploiting the situation by pivoting demonstrations towards violence, with some demanding a 'national call for action'. Their weapon of choice? Social media, which the far-right have long been known to harness as a tool to spread fear and hate. Several right-wing activists have rebranded themselves as citizen journalists or political commentators, helping them accrue millions of followers in the UK and across the globe. Joe Mulhall, of the charity Hope Not Hate, said that is dangerous at a time when misinformation online spreads quickly and can whip up tensions. 'It's deeply concerning that a rumour or allegation can spread so quickly and take hold. Last year in Southport, misinformation from influencers like Andrew Tate spread like wildfire about the ethnicity and nationality of the perpetrator of the awful murders. 'When misinformation spreads, it can legitimise existing biases and as a rumour or allegation takes hold, things can quickly move offline.' Among those who have set up the private Facebook page Epping Says No, which advertises the protests, are three members of the group Homeland. Founded in 2023 after splitting from neo-Nazi group Patriotic Alternative, it has been described as the largest fascist group in the UK. This week, one of its prominent members has shared several videos of the protests on social media, and has called for future action, urging: 'If you live in an area that has a hotel occupied by asylum seekers, start organising.' Members of other groups, including former neo-Nazi terror group Combat 18, the British National Party and the Patriots of Britain, have also been spotted at the demonstrations. Mr Mullhall warned that with over-worked and over-stretched police forces, racist and anti-immigration rhetoric online can often fall under the radar. He said the UK 'needs to be ahead of the curve' to clamp down on this activity. 'Tracking these comments and the individuals responsible is tricky,' he said. 'The far-right are no longer divided into neat groupings but are instead thousands of people posting videos outside migrant accommodation, posting rumours and making comments online. 'Gone are the days when the police or social media companies can simply deplatform a particular group to resolve this issue.' Since Elon Musk 's takeover of X, formerly known as Twitter, the platform has changed significantly, with the Tesla founder reportedly tweaking its algorithms and removing its fact-checking mechanisms. This included turning the platform into a pro-Maga Trump echo chamber in the run-up to last year's US presidential elections, and reinstating previously banned figures such as Tommy Robinson and Katie Hopkinson. For Hope Not Hate, it has become a visible and concerning trend to see US figures commenting on UK politics and societal issues, boosting far-right voices, such as those of anti-Islam activist Robinson, who has hinted he will be in attendance at an Epping protest on Sunday. Mr Mullhall said: "The far right has changed dramatically and ironically, knows no borders. What we're seeing now is key figures emerging online. We're no longer looking at organisations but key people who emerge during a time of crisis. 'The far right is international, they move around and they move in pacts and trying to find any weakness. They have no formal leader; there's no single leader, it's like they're a group of fish that move around the internet exploiting situations. 'It is no surprise that we've seen a rise in far-right activity in the UK, US and Europe – these groups and ideas are interconnected.' Dr Karen Middleton, from the University of Portsmouth, who has been an expert witness in the UK government's inquiry into social media, misinformation, and harmful algorithms, said the recent protests in Epping were 'in many ways, a continuation of the riots from last year'. She said: 'Sensationalist and polarising content gathers more clicks, gathers more engagement, so there is a systemic incentive for spreading misinformation online.' She urged large social media platforms to go much further in addressing the spread of misinformation, but warned this was not about limiting free speech. 'This is about taking responsibility for published information that is online that goes to a large number of people, and is very often spread by people with high profiles,' she said. A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs Council (NPSCC) said communities had a part to play in halting the spread of misinformation and urged people to 'carefully consider' what they read, share, and trust online to avoid stoking tensions. 'We would encourage the public to access formal authorities for accurate information. The spread of disinformation and misinformation by individuals or groups can significantly contribute to community tensions and has real-world implications. We all have a responsibility in this respect, and relevant criminal law applies to online actions,' they added. They also called on social media companies to be vigilant to the spread of false information and to 'ensure harmful content is detected, challenged and removed in a timely manner'.
The Independent
14 hours ago
- The Independent
Spacey told actor ‘don't worry about it' after alleged assault, documents claim
Kevin Spacey allegedly sexually assaulted a young actor at a party at The Savoy hotel and then told him 'Don't worry about it', court documents for the High Court legal claim suggest. Ruari Cannon is suing Mr Spacey as well as two organisations connected to the Old Vic Theatre in London, claiming he suffered psychiatric damage as a result of sexual and emotional abuse. The 33-year-old has waived his anonymity in the claim. In court documents seen by the PA news agency, Mr Cannon alleges that Mr Spacey, who was a 'powerful figure and a world-famous actor and celebrity' at the time, assaulted him in about June 2013, when he was 'a very vulnerable young man'. Oscar-winning actor Mr Spacey has previously denied allegations of inappropriate behaviour and wrongdoing, and details of his defence are not yet available. According to the documents, filed in June, Mr Spacey was working as artistic director at the Old Vic Theatre at the time of the alleged assaults on a production of a play by Tennessee Williams known as Sweet Bird Of Youth, and Mr Cannon was a member of the cast in this production. They claim that Mr Spacey 'took a particular interest' in Mr Cannon for 'reasons of sexual interest' and sent him a 'lavish' gift of a framed poster of the 1985 production of the play directed by Harold Pinter. After the press preview of the show on June 12 2013, Mr Cannon attended a party at The Savoy in London organised by The Old Vic Theatre Company (The Cut) and The Old Vic Theatre Trust 2000. It is claimed that one of the alleged assaults took place at the event. Setting out the allegations, Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel KC, for Mr Cannon, said: 'Kevin Spacey pulled the claimant towards him, turned him around through 45 degrees and placed his left hand on the claimant's buttocks and lifted up the recess material of his suit.' It is alleged that Mr Spacey then pushed Mr Cannon's underwear 'as far up' into his bottom as possible, 'so as to cause pain and distress'. Ms Gumbel added: 'Mr Kevin Spacey pulled the claimant closer to him and whispered into the claimant's ear 'Don't worry about it'. 'Mr Spacey made more uncalled for and unwelcome advances to the claimant during the evening.' The following day, Mr Cannon reported the alleged assaults to his stage manager at the Old Vic Theatre, but no action was taken. According to the documents, it is accepted that Mr Cannon did not ask for any action to be taken, and was scared about how any further action might affect his career. Later that year, during the run of the show, Mr Cannon saw Mr Spacey at the Old Vic bar. Mr Spacey allegedly said to him, 'I hear you have a dirty secret', and then said: 'Open up.' Ms Gumbel said: 'Kevin Spacey then forced open the claimant's mouth with his fingers and thumbs and commented 'quite a bad boy' before the claimant could pull away. 'The claimant then left the bar. The forcing open of the claimant's mouth was another assault for which Kevin Spacey was responsible and for which the second and/or third defendants were vicariously liable. 'Further in 2017 when the Old Vic set up a confidential complaints email on October 31 2017 the claimant reported the above complaint again to the Old Vic.' She added that the alleged assaults were carried out by Mr Spacey in the course of his work for the organisations connected to the Old Vic, and they are 'vicariously liable' for the alleged assaults carried out in the context of a theatre production.
