These are the dangerous sex offenders recently jailed in the North East
A retired music teacher who had sex with a woman 60 years his junior, a teen who attacked a couple on their first date and a man who carried out a sex act involving a “cuddly toy” in front of a child.
These are just some of the dangerous sex offenders recently jailed in the North East. Many of their victims have been left traumatised by their actions, with on woman only realising the impact it had had on her life once she reached adulthood.
One man claimed his victim had told him that she was 19 and that he met her through the dating app Tinder. However, messages recovered showed she had told him she was actually 13 and the victim had not been active on the Tinder app.
While another man was found in possession of videos depicting children as young as three years old.
These are the dangerous sex offenders recently jailed in the North East.
• Thomas Lock
Thomas Lock carried out a sex act involving a “cuddly toy” in front of a child and told them he was carrying out a “naughty game”.
The 32-year-old continues to deny the offence but was found guilty by a jury after a trial at Durham Crown Court lest week.
Lock, of High Etherley, near Bishop Auckland, was jailed for 30 months and will be on the sex offender’s register indefinitely. An indefinite sexual harm prevention order was also imposed.
Craig Gilbert
Persistent pervert Craig Gilbert had been free for just two weeks when he was caught with indecent images and having breached restrictions, at a hostel in Newcastle.
Gilbert was previously locked up for inciting and attempting to incite four different children and was released from a 66 month extended prison sentence on licence in July last year.
But when police officers monitoring him went to the hostel in Elswick, Newcastle, where he was living to check he was complying with his sex offender registration requirements and his sexual harm prevention order, they found a sexual exchange with a girl who appeared to have been 16 on his mobile phone in which he asked if she was still at school and offered to be her “sugar daddy”.
A further examination of his phone showed he had deleted his browsing history, which he was forbidden from doing under the terms of the sexual harm prevention order. And he had also downloaded 11 indecent images of children, which were saved in a folder on his phone – with one showing a girl aged between three and five being raped.
Now Gilbert, 32, of no fixed address, has been given given a two year prison sentence, extended by an extra three years on licence, by a judge at Newcastle Crown Court after he admitted possessing indecent images of children, breaching his sexual harm prevention order and attempting to breach it.
Martin Fisher
Retired music teacher Martin Fisher groomed and abused an underage girl 60 years younger than him. He was a pensioner when he began engaging in sexual activity with the girl from the age of 15.
The court heard they engaged in sexual activity before she was 16 and he had sex after she reached that age. At the time, the girl said what was happening made her feel “really grown up” and widower Fisher spoke of them getting married.
At one point police were involved after a report of concern for what was going on but she denied anything sexual was happening as “she cared for him and wanted to protect him”. However she went on to disclose what happened to her after reaching adulthood after realising how young she had been when it first began.
Fisher, 80, of Cornhill-on-Tweed, Northumberland, pleaded guilty to eleven charges of sexual activity with a child and was jailed for six years at Newcastle Crown Court. He must also sign the sex offenders register for life, was given an indefinite restraining order and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
Sean Robinson
Sean Robinson, of Sunderland, was just 17 when he brutally assaulted a man and raped a woman while they were walking home from their first date. The man and woman were walking home from an enjoyable first night out together when their happiness turned to horror at the hands of Robinson who savagely attacked the man and knocked him unconscious in a relentless onslaught then told the woman he wouldn’t kill him if she had sex with him.
Robinson, now 18, then took the woman into some bushes, made her lie on an old coat he had found, and raped her, telling her to stop crying like a baby and warning if she stopped he would kill the man. Robinson pleaded guilty to raping the woman and assaulting the man, who have both been left deeply traumatised by the ordeal.
Robinson, of Halesworth Road, Sunderland, admitted rape and assault occasioning actual bodily harm and was locked up for five years, of which he must serve two-thirds in custody, with an extended licence period of a further three years. He must also sign the sex offenders register for life and was given a lifelong restraining order.
Ellis Henderson
Ellis Henderson carried out the serious offences against two girls in the run up to his 18th birthday in 2020, and left one feeling scared to leave her home.
The now 20-year-old was said to have showed “a measure of grooming” behaviour whilst carrying out the offences in County Durham. Henderson, of Newton Aycliffe, appeared at Durham Crown Court via link from HMP Durham on Monday to be sentenced for assault of a child by penetration, two counts of rape of a child, and two counts of sexual activity with a child. He had been found guilty of the charges after a trial.
The court was told Henderson carried out the offences against two underage girls, when he was also a youth, but older than the victims. Henderson was handed an eight year prison sentence and a 12 year restraining order, as well as a 12 year sexual harm prevention order. Henderson will be on the sex offenders’ register for life.
• Wayne Burnham
Wayne Burnham was only recently released from a lengthy prison sentence for raping a child, but once again been jailed.
In 2017, Burnham was given a 12 year prison sentence for raping a teenage boy who he had given alcohol and drugs to. After serving six years of his sentence, the former judo instructor was released, but after regaining his freedom his past once again caught up with him.
On Tuesday, the 56-year-old – whose last address was HMP Risley in Cheshire – was hauled back in front of a judge at Durham Crown Court for committing an indecent assault on a boy in the Langley Park area of County Durham around 20 years ago.
Robin Turton, prosecuting, said the offence was committed against a boy under the age of 14 and that Burnham had plied the youth with alcohol. He said: “Having been drunk, he passed out. Heavily intoxicated, he woke up to find the defendant with his hands inside his underwear, fondling him. The victim expressed shock and the defendant tried to laugh it off.”
Sentencing Burnham, Judge James Adkin jailed him for two years. Burnham remains on the sex offenders’ register for life.
David Carr
Sex offender, David Carr was already the subject of a sexual harm prevention order when he was found in possession of 17 hard-drives which included indecent images and extreme pornography involving animals. Included in the hoard of images the 44-year-old possessed, were category A videos depicting children as young as three-years-old child, with one video lasting over an hour.
Carr, of Woods Terrace, Murton, County Durham, appeared at Durham Crown Court on Wednesday, via link from HMP Durham, to be sentenced for possession of indecent images, prohibited images of children and extreme pornography. He was also sentenced for breaching a sexual harm prevention order. He had pleaded guilty to the offences.
The court heard that police raided Carr’s home in October last year and seized 17 hard drives and some laptops. When the hard drives were analysed, indecent images dating as far back as 2007 were discovered, as well as extreme porn and prohibited images of children. As Carr had also been using a “Tor browser”, had failed to notify his offender manager of having the devices, and had used cloud storage, he was in breach of his sexual harm prevention order.
Andrew Finlay, prosecuting, said 29 category A images were found, alongside two category B and three category C images. A total of 78 extreme porn images involving “bestiality” were also discovered, as well as 553 prohibited images of children – 433 of which were “live”.
Carr was jailed for two years and was made subject of a 10 year sexual harm prevention order. He will be on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
Sean Yearnshire
Sean Yearnshire contacted a 13-year-old girl on Snapchat in June 2022 and sent her sexual messages before the girl’s mother became aware of what was going on and contacted the police. When the 24-year-old was arrested, messages were discovered that showed he had agreed to meet up with the girl, with some text exchanges being sexual in nature.
After being arrested, in interview Yearnshire claimed the victim had told him that she was 19 and that he met her through the dating app Tinder. However, messages recovered showed she had told him she was actually 13 and the victim had not been active on the Tinder app.
Yearnshire, of Montague Street, Lemington, Newcastle, was later charged with one count of sexual communication with a child and another of meeting a child under the age of 16 following grooming. He pleaded guilty to the offences and appeared for sentence at Newcastle Crown Court.
Yearnshire was jailed for a total of 35 months and was made subject of a sexual harm prevention order. He will also remain on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.
Jordan Rutherford
Convicted sex offender Jordan Rutherford left a woman he befriended online ‘petrified’ by threatening to go to her house and kill her after she found out about his disturbing past.
Rutherford was locked up for two years in October 2021 for engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl, threatening to kill her and possessing knives. He was released from that sentence in January last year and failed to engage properly with the probation service.
Having struck up an online conversation with the woman from Ashington in March, Rutherford went on to tell her he had been in prison but gave an account which minimised his offending.
Newcastle Crown Court heard that despite him not revealing the truth about what he had done, the woman, who had planned to meet him, was nonetheless shocked and said she needed to get back to work and hung up.
Rutherford then texted her telling her to ignore what he was about to send her on WhatsApp – which was a message saying “I’m going to kill you, I’m going to come to your house and I will put your door through. I will come in and I really want to hurt you. I love you but I need to end you.”
The woman woke the following morning to find more threatening messages from Rutherford, threatening to go to her home and kill her. He the expressed frustration that she had blocked him and continued to send threatening messages.
The court heard that in the previous offences against the 14-year-old, he had also threatened to go to her house and kill her.
Rutherford, 21, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to stalking involving fear of violence and was jailed for three years and given a restraining order. Pre-sentence reports said he poses a high risk of harm.
