Latest news with #sexualpredator
BBC News
23-06-2025
- BBC News
Paedophile caught by undercover PC jailed
A "dangerous sexual predator" who "openly stated a preference for victims as young as eight" has been Mitchell thought he was messaging somebody else with a sexual interest in children but was in fact speaking to a police 57-year-old, of Leyland, Lancashire, was then arrested at his house on 17 was jailed at Preston Crown Court for six years after admitting attempting to cause or incite a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity and facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child under 13. During the online exchanges, Mitchell told how he wanted to witness the abuse of a child in exchange for payment through gift cards, the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit said. 'Deeply disturbing' Det Con Tris Farley said following Friday's sentencing: "This case demonstrates the commitment of our regional units to identifying and prosecuting individuals who pose a serious threat to children. "Mitchell's messages exposed a deeply disturbing and calculated intent to exploit children. "He openly stated a preference for victims as young as eight years old and provided explicit instructions for what he wanted to witness online. "He is a dangerous sexual predator who now finds himself behind bars." Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
Telegraph
22-06-2025
- Telegraph
Sex predator can stay because home country can't treat his mental illness
A dangerous sexual predator has been allowed to stay in the UK after claiming his home country could not treat his mental illness. An immigration tribunal backed the Bangladeshi man's claims that he should be allowed to stay in the UK despite his convictions for a violent sexual assault on a stranger when he was 17. The Metropolitan Police also provided evidence that he had carried out further sexual offences in the decade since the assault even though he had not been convicted of them. He was also convicted for conspiring to supply 'significant' quantities of heroin as part of a county lines gang. 'High risk of harm to the public' The Home Office argued that he was a sexual predator who was likely to reoffend if he remained free and presented a 'high risk of harm to the public.' A lower tier immigration tribunal, however, accepted expert evidence that he had undergone rehabilitation and could be safely managed in the community. It also agreed that he would face persecution in breach of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) if returned to Bangladesh, which did not have the facilities to treat his mental illness, and had a reputation for treating those suffering such ill health as outcasts. It ruled the man should be given asylum. However, its decision was overruled by an upper tribunal which concluded it was mistaken in its assessment that the Bangladeshi was not still a sexual predator who posed a threat to the public. It ordered that there should be a re-hearing of the case by a new lower tier tribunal. The case, disclosed in court papers, is the latest example uncovered by The Telegraph where illegal migrants or convicted foreign criminals have been able to remain in the UK or halt their deportations. Ministers are proposing to raise the threshold to make it harder for judges to grant the right to remain based on Article 8 of the ECHR, which protects the right to a family life, and Article 3, which which protects against torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has pledged to change the law so that any foreign national convicted of a sex offence will be barred from refugee status in the UK. The tribunals were told that the Bangladeshi had attacked the woman after he offered to walk her to a bus stop, claiming that she was drunk and needed his help. As they walked through a park, he pulled her to the ground, ripped off her bra and started to assault her. He was 17 at the time and handed an 18 month detention and training order at a secure training unit for sexual assault. The judge said the Bangladeshi man had been 'insincere' in his expressions of remorse and failed to recognise his guilt. 'Highly vulnerable' However, the lower tribunal set store on an expert witness who backed his rehabilitation and that he was at low risk of any further sexual offending. This was despite evidence that the expert had been previously heavily criticised over a similar risk assessment. The upper tribunal concluded that he 'posed a high risk of reoffending and a high risk of harm to the public having regard to the particular nature of the offence for which he has been convicted.' It said the victim, who was highly vulnerable, had suffered serious psychological harm which had led to her attempting to commit suicide. The upper tribunal ruled: 'The decision of the First-tier Tribunal involved material errors of law. We set aside the decision and do not preserve any findings of fact. The matter is remitted to the First-tier Tribunal to be reheard before a judge other than the judges who decided the [Bangladeshi's] appeal proceedings.'
Daily Mail
22-06-2025
- Daily Mail
'Evil' student sentenced to life in jail for drugging and raping multiple women
One of Britain's worst rapists suspected of targeting over 60 victims has been jailed for life. Chinese student Zhenhao Zou, 28, was described as an 'evil' sexual predator who hid behind a 'charming mask' as he was imprisoned for a minimum of 24 years for drugging and raping ten women in London and China during his time as a student at University College London. Following his conviction in March, detectives revealed they had evidence relating to suspected attacks on another 50 women after uncovering a sickening collection of trophy videos kept by the engineering PhD student as a souvenir. A further 24 victims came forward to say they were raped by Zou while he was studying in the UK. He filmed some of his victims in sick home videos that he kept of his attacks. Victims told how they were 'haunted' by the sickening attacks as a judge said the sexual deviant had treated unconscious women like 'sex toys' for his own pleasure. Inner London Crown Court heard that Zou had offered to be chemically castrated to avoid a life sentence. However, Judge Rosina Cottage said he would always be a risk to the public because of his 'sexual interest' in 'asserting power and control over women', and added that his victims were just 'pieces in an elaborate game'. Upon sentencing him to life, Judge Cottage said: 'The charming mask hid the fact that you are also a sexual predator.' The son of a wealthy Chinese Communist Party official and industrialist, Zou stalked student bars, accommodation, and online dating apps for victims, plying unsuspecting women with drinks laced with drugs. He lured the women back to his lavish student apartment in East London with the promise of a party or help with studies, before stupefying them with drink and drugs until they fell unconscious, enabling him to film his sickening attacks on hidden bedroom spy cameras. One victim, who Zou had described as 'the perfect girlfriend choice', recalled waking in a strange room after going to a drinking party in 2021. The victim said: 'I experienced for the first time a loss of consciousness. I opened my eyes for a few seconds during the sexual assault in [Zou's] room, he was thrusting violently against my body. I was completely powerless and could only use all my strength to demand he stop. 'Although I lost consciousness just moments later, his face in that moment will clearly stay in my mind forever.' She later awoke naked next to him: 'Panic surged through me-everything about the room I was in was unfamiliar and I had no memory of how I got there. 'That night, it was as if the world had vanished from my life for hours. 'I will never forgive him.' TV appearance: Zou boasted of his sexual prowess and appeared on a dating show in China Another app: A Tinder profile where he appeared under a different name Disturbingly, many of the women targeted may not realize they had been raped as some of Zou's home videos showed his captives so incapacitated that he was able to slap one victim around the face without them rousing. Zou unwittingly left a treasure trove of evidence for officers by recording the attacks for his own twisted gratification and hoarding personal items stolen from victims, ranging from underwear and lipstick, to a Chanel earring. Out of it: Zou's home videos showed his captives so incapacitated that he was able to slap one victim around the face without them rousing By the time of his trial, only two of the ten victims had been identified by police, but now detectives have traced a third victim. Detectives have established from the video clips seized that there are at least another 50 unknown women attacked. One victim said the attack in his London flat in May 2023 had a 'severe impact' on her mental health, resulting in her self-harming to try to manage the pain. The judge said of her case: 'Outrageously, she was trolled on social media for having bravely warned others. It has rocked her to her core, she feels guilt for your behavior, you (Zou) feel no shame.' Found: A number of other illicit substances were also recovered by police Another victim in China described being 'gagged by shame' and 'haunted' by nightmares following the attack. On June 19, jurors who had earlier wept upon seeing the distressing rape videos returned to Inner London Crown Court to see him sentenced. Bespectacled Zou wore a navy suit and tie and he stared at jurors, showing no emotion as he was jailed. Contraceptives: Zou kept a large collection of condoms in a Louis Vuitton box Facade: He mostly posed as a diligent student Scotland Yard began investigating Zou in November 2023 after a woman reported him for rape. When officers examined his digital devices, they uncovered over 1,600 hours of videos. Victims living in Britain, China, Australia, the Middle East, and Europe have since come forward. Chillingly, Zou said the victims in his videos were only pretending to be asleep as he enjoyed 'time-stop' pornography. Saira Pike, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 'Zou is a serial rapist and a danger to women. His life sentence reflects the heinous acts and harm he caused to women and the danger he posed to society.'
Daily Mail
19-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Predator, 66, who posed as an Uber driver and had a 'rape kit' with a balaclava and Viagra in his car is found guilty of kidnapping and sex crimes
A predator who posed as an Uber driver to pick up 'vulnerable and intoxicated' women he could abuse has been found guilty of kidnapping and sex crimes for a second time. Graham Head, 68, was found with a 'rape kit' consisting of latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets and a balaclava in his car when he was arrested in November 2022. At his home, police found business cards advertising him as a 'N-Uber driver' with the slogan 'Safe and Reliable - For All Occasions' emblazoned underneath one of his phone numbers. Head kidnapped and attempted to rape a 25-year-old woman after he offered her a free ride home in his silver Mercedes in the early hours of November 18, 2022. He also assaulted a 19-year-old woman by penetration in a separate attack. In July 2023, Head from Pevensey, East Sussex, was handed a 23-year sentence for sex crimes and kidnapping. The Court of Appeal later overturned the conviction in November last year following a complaint from Head relating to the judge who presided over the original trial. Now, today he has been convicted of all the charges again by a jury of seven men and five women after eight hours of deliberation at Lewes Crown Court. During the trial, jurors heard that Head was a 'sexual predator' who 'slipped up' the night he was arrested by police. He claimed that he offered the 25-year-old a lift home but did not touch her and never met his other alleged victim. Prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC said: 'The defendant is a sexual predator. Basing himself in Pevensey and ostensibly working as an unofficial Uber driver or taxi driver. 'He was also looking for vulnerable young women who he could sexually abuse. 'He carried Viagra and condoms with him, either on his person or in his car, as well as latex gloves. 'He would use the latex gloves to minimise the risk of leaving traces of his DNA on his victims.' Head had two mobile phones and was 'savvy enough' to know that if he kept them on while he was driving, the network provider could record his movements. He therefore kept them on flight mode while he was searching for victims, the court was told. The two attacks are said to have taken place in the early hours of August 19, 2022, in Hove Park and on November 18, 2022 outside the alleged victim's home. Mr Jarvis said: 'Now in August 2022, she (the first victim) was 19 years old. When she was, we say, intoxicated and vulnerable in the early hours of the morning the defendant sexually assaulted her in Hove Park.' 'In November 2022, she (the second victim) was 25 years old. 'When she was also vulnerable and intoxicated in the early hours of the morning, Mr Head kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her in his car and then drove off leaving her distressed on the roadside. 'On both occasions, the defendant was driving his grey Mercedes estate motor vehicle with the registration number L21 GRH.' The 25-year-old was able to remember the 'L21' portion of Head's number plate, which led to police pulling his car over and arresting him the same night, jurors heard. 'He slipped up on November 19, 2022 in two respects. First because his victim was alert enough to be able to memorise part of the licence plate for the police to be able to identify his car when they saw it,' said Mr Jarvis. The 25-year-old had been on a night out and had consumed alcohol and cocaine on the night in question, the court heard. Her account is that a man pulled up alongside her and told her he was an Uber driver who had just finished his shift but would give her a free ride home. Journeys from Middle Street, in Brighton, where the victim left Monarch Bar, to the victim's home address were found after analysis of the satnav in Head's Mercedes. Mr Jarvis continued: 'He offered to give her a life home but his real plan was to drive around until he was satisfied she was fast asleep so he could sexually assault and rape her. 'He drove close to her home address and tried to rape her in the back seat of his car but she came to and kicked him away.' The 25-year-old has since died and did not give evidence at the trial. Head will be sentenced on August 22.
The Independent
19-06-2025
- The Independent
Fake Uber driver guilty of kidnapping, attempted rape and sexual assault
A driver has been found guilty for a second time after posing as an 'unofficial Uber' to pick up 'vulnerable and intoxicated' women he could abuse. Graham Head, 68, had latex gloves, condoms, Viagra tablets and a balaclava in his silver Mercedes estate when he was arrested in November 2022. In his home, business cards advertising him as a 'N- Uber driver' were emblazoned with the slogan 'Safe and Reliable – For All Occasions' underneath one of his phone numbers. In July 2023, Head, of Pevensey, East Sussex, was handed a 23-year sentence for the kidnap and attempted rape of a 25-year-old woman, along with assault by penetration of a 19-year-old woman. In November 2024, the Court of Appeal overturned the conviction following a complaint from Head relating to the judge who presided over the original trial. On Thursday, he was convicted of all charges again by a jury of seven men and five women after eight hours of deliberation at Lewes Crown Court. During the trial, jurors heard that Head was a 'sexual predator' who 'slipped up' the night he was arrested by police. He claimed that he offered the 25-year-old a lift home but did not touch her and never met his other alleged victim. Prosecutor Paul Jarvis KC said: 'The defendant is a sexual predator. Basing himself in Pevensey and ostensibly working as an unofficial Uber driver or taxi driver. 'He was also looking for vulnerable young women who he could sexually abuse. 'He carried Viagra and condoms with him, either on his person or in his car, as well as latex gloves. He would use the latex gloves to minimise the risk of leaving traces of his DNA on his victims.' Head had two mobile phones and was 'savvy enough' to know that if he kept them on while he was driving, the network provider could record his movements so kept them in flight mode while he was searching for victims, the court was told. The two attacks are said to have taken place in the early hours of August 19 2022, in Hove Park and November 18 2022 outside the alleged victim's home. Mr Jarvis said: 'Now in August 2022, she (the first victim) was 19 years old. When she was, we say, intoxicated and vulnerable in the early hours of the morning the defendant sexually assaulted her in Hove Park.' 'In November 2022, she (the second victim) was 25 years old. When she was also vulnerable and intoxicated in the early hours of the morning, Mr Head kidnapped her and sexually assaulted her in his car and then drove off leaving her distressed on the roadside. 'On both occasions, the defendant was driving his grey Mercedes estate motor vehicle with the registration number L21 GRH.' The 25-year-old was able to remember the 'L21' portion of Head's number plate, which led to police pulling his car over and arresting him the same night, jurors heard. 'He slipped up on November 19 2022 in two respects. First because his victim was alert enough to be able to memorise part of the licence plate for the police to be able to identify his car when they saw it,' said Mr Jarvis. The 25-year-old had been on a night out and had consumed alcohol and cocaine on the night in question, the court heard. Her account is that a man pulled up alongside her and told her he was an Uber driver who had just finished his shift but would give her a free ride home. Journeys from Middle Street, in Brighton to the victim's home address were found after analysis of the satnav in Head's Mercedes. Mr Jarvis continued: 'He offered to give her a life home but his real plan was to drive around until he was satisfied she was fast asleep so he could sexually assault and rape her. 'He drove close to her home address and tried to rape her in the back seat of his car but she came to and kicked him away.' The 25-year-old has since died and did not give evidence at the trial. Head will be sentenced on August 22 2025.
