Five guilty in ‘nudist website’ paedophile trial

A WOMAN and four men - one from North Yorkshire - were found guilty today of offences relating to an international paedophile ring.

Melissa Noon and the four other defendants, including serving soldier 27-year-old Daniel Bell, were convicted of 16 charges at Portsmouth Crown Court.

The offences related to the abuse of two young children by the ring which used a nudist website as a guise for their perversions.

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The jury is still deliberating on one charge against Noon of arranging a child sex offence.

Kerry Maylin, prosecuting, told the trial that Noon and her partner Robert Hathaway were at the centre of the international paedophile ring which abused two British children under 13.

Hathaway set up a naturist website as a guise for distributing indecent photos and videos of children as well as to meet like-minded perverts around the world, the jury was told.

Using the internet, the couple discussed the abuse of children with some of the other defendants and arranged to meet some of them to carry out further sexual assaults on their young victims, the trial heard.

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The abuse included rape, attempted rape and the use of sex aids, and police seized more than 20 sex aids from Noon and Hathaway, the trial heard.

The children were also made to engage in naked wrestling and play the game Twister in the nude.

As well as the defendants convicted today, a further four have already pleaded guilty to their part in the paedophile ring.

Ringleader Robert Hathaway, 36, of Tyseley Road, Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to 45 offences.

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These included two charges of rape of a child, four of sexual assault of a child, 15 of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, two of distributing indecent images of children, and one of possessing prohibited images of children.

He also pleaded guilty to one charge of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, three of arranging a child sex offence, four of making indecent photographs of children and 13 of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Stephen Fraser, 41, of Hemingford Road, Cambridge, admitted 27 charges.

These included one offence of sexual assault of a child, two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one of engaging in sexual activity in front of a child, and one charge of arranging a child sex offence.

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He also pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing extreme pornography, one of making an indecent image of a child and 19 of possessing indecent images of children.

Lee Parson, 38, of Arundel Street, Portsmouth, pleaded guilty to one charge of arranging a child sex offence, three charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of taking indecent photos of children.

Jonathan Garner-Harris, 37, a teacher, who lived at Marrick Priory, Marrick, North Yorkshire, was investigated by Durham police and pleaded at Durham Crown Court for 20 offences.

These are three charges of inciting a child sex offence and 17 counts relating to indecent photos of children.

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He is to be sentenced alongside the other convicted defendants at Portsmouth at a later date.

Noon has previously also pleaded guilty to two charges of cruelty to a child.

Hilton has previously pleaded guilty to 13 offences.

These are made up of three charges of sexual assault of a child, two of arranging a child sex offence, two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, five of possessing indecent images of children, and one of possessing extreme pornography.

Maddox previously pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing indecent photographs of children.

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Hampshire police launched their investigation into the ring after being tipped off by the authorities in Australia who had uncovered a “mirror image” ring there which also abused a young child.

Hathaway had been in contact with this ring and shared images with them and one of the charges faced by Noon was her encouraging the Australian child to engage in sexual activity.

A total of 2,000 pages of chat logs were uncovered by police as well as 14,000 indecent images of children and 300 videos of children being abused.

Noon closed her eyes and shook her head as the chairwoman of the jury announced the first of the guilty charges against her.

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She then began to sob as she was found guilty of further charges.

The jury of six women and six men took more than 12 hours to reach the verdicts in the majority of the charges.

Noon was found guilty of three charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, one of causing a child to watch a sexual act, two of sexual assault of a child, two of arranging a child sex offence, one of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and two of possessing indecent photographs of children.

Simon Hilton, 29, of Wolsey Road, London, was convicted of one charge of arranging a child sex offence.

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Mark Day, 45, of Whitefriars Meadow, Sandwich, Kent, was found guilty of one charge of arranging a child sex offence. The judge had ordered a not guilty verdict to be ordered on a second similar charge against Day.

Bell, a serving soldier living in military accommodation but previously of St James Road, Emsworth, Hampshire, was found guilty of two charges of possessing indecent photos of children and one of attempting to distribute an indecent image of children.

He was found not guilty of two charges of arranging a child sex offence.

John Maddox, 47, of Ellis Avenue, Rainham, Essex, was convicted of a charge of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

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The final charge against Noon, of arranging a child sex offence, was ordered to lie on file by Judge Roger Hetherington after the jury was unable to reach a verdict.

He adjourned the case until December 19 for sentencing, with Bell, Maddox and Day likely to be sentenced separately on a date to be set in January.

He remanded Noon and Hilton in custody and released Bell, Maddox and Day on bail.

He ordered the defendants to sign the sex offenders register.

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Julian Wooster, director of children’s services at Portsmouth City Council, said after the case: “We have worked closely with the police on this case and ensuring the safety of children was and will always be our top priority.”