A NUMBER of sex offenders in Dorset have been convicted this year for indecent offences in 2020.
Some include men who groomed underage children, possession and creation of child pornography or raping a teenager after holding her at knife point.
Justice has caught up with these criminals who have been handed suspended prison sentences, jail terms, and placed on the sex offenders' register.
Here are the criminals who have been convicted for serious sex offences this year.
Weymouth man groomed underage girl - and continued to see and message victim despite being on bail
Matthew Lucas Cheshire, aged 21 and of Ranelagh Road in Weymouth, admitted three offences of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and a charge of sexual activity with a child at Bournemouth Crown Court.
Cheshire – who was 20 at the time – was first arrested by officers from Dorset Police on August 6, 2020 following a report from a third party that he had been involved in a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl who he had contacted over social media.
When he was interviewed, the defendant said he had been in contact with her over social media but denied any sexual contact or communication.
Cheshire was released on police bail and his phone was seized for examination. It revealed messages exchanged between the defendant and the 14-year-old girl involving sexualised content and there were references to sexual activity that had taken place between them.
He was further arrested on September 10, 2020 following reports that he had been seen with the girl, in breach of his bail conditions. It was also found that Cheshire had continued to message the girl in a further breach of the terms of his bail.
In December 2020, he was sentenced to a total of four years and two months in prison with an extended licence period of a further two years. The defendant was also made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for a period of 10 years.
Man raped 11-year-old girl and then cycled away from the scene
James Connell Loveman, 23, attacked a 11-year-old girl in the Old Windmill near Easton on a night in August 2019.
Loveman, of Portland, was convicted of charges of rape and assault by penetration following a trial at Bournemouth Crown Court in September 2020.
He had previously admitted an offence of sexual assault of a female aged under 13.
The victim, who was 11 at the time of the incident, was with her 14-year-old friend and they had spent the evening walking around Portland.
At around 1.30am on Saturday, August 31, 2019 they were in the area of Easton Square when they met a man who was sitting on a bicycle.
They walked with him to an old windmill to the south of Park Road, where they chatted for a time before the victim’s friend went outside. Once he was alone with the victim, Loveman sexually assaulted her and then raped her before riding off on his bike in the direction of Weston.
Following an investigation led by detectives from the Force’s Major Crime Investigation Team (MCIT), Loveman’s DNA was found to be a match of a profile obtained from the victim’s clothing and he was arrested on Saturday, September 7, 2019.
He was jailed for seven years.
Dorset paedophile jailed for life after serious child sex abuse in Kent
A child sex offender who encouraged two women to abuse children has been handed a life sentence.
James Jewell, 36, of Brymer Road, Puddletown, was jailed at Maidstone Crown Court on Thursday, August 13, 2020.
Jewell was sentenced after admitting six counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, aiding and abetting the sexual assault of a child and aiding and abetting an offender to engage in sexual activity with a child.
He was also sentenced for three counts of making indecent images of a child and two counts of distributing indecent images of a child.
The charges related to offences which occurred in Greenhithe and Tunbridge Wells between November 2017 and July 2018 where Jewell encouraged two women he met online to carry out sexual abuse of children.
Kirsty Kimber, 26, of York Road, Tunbridge Wells, was jailed for more than nine years in February after pleading guilty to six counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, four counts of taking indecent photographs of a child and three counts of distributing indecent photographs of a child.
Concerns were raised on 20 July 2018 after videos were found by a friend on a mobile phone of her abusing a child. She was also found to have shared these videos via an instant messaging app with Jewell.
A second woman from Greenhithe was handed a 14-month sentence, suspended for 18 months in July 2019 after pleading guilty to seven child sex offences.
Both women were also handed Sexual Harm Prevention Orders.
Man groomed school girl on Snapchat
Keets, 23 and of Bennett Road, Bournemouth was jailed for four years and four months at Bournemouth Crown Court on Thursday, October 29, 2020 after he admitted string of child sex offences.
After first messaging in August 2019, Keets and the girl, who was aged 14 at the time when he was 22, engaged in consensual sexual activity at the defendant’s home.
The victim was reported missing in November 2019 and was found by family members at Keets’ address.
He was arrested and admitted to engaging in sexual activity with the victim but claimed he did not know she was underage.
He was released on bail with conditions not to contact the victim but, following reports Keets was breaching those conditions, officers attended his address in February 2020 and found him in company with the victim.
Keets was arrested again and an examination of his mobile phone revealed a number of messages illustrating the defendant’s grooming behaviour toward the victim as well as indecent images of her.
DC Caroline Gould, of Dorset Police’s Child Exploitation Team, said: "We are committed to supporting vulnerable young people who are at risk of grooming at the hands of offenders such as Keets and will do all we can to bring those who commit these despicable crimes to justice.”
Former businessman jailed for historic sex offences
Formerly a successful businessman, Eric Alan Amey, from Puddletown, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court, days after being convicted of four counts of indecent assault of a child aged under 12.
The offences occurred on one occasion at some time between July 10 1984 and July 10 1988 in the Puddletown and Crossways areas.
Amey, 92, was a successful businessman in the local community and was well-known under the nickname 'Giant'.
Police officers said they hoped Amey's jail sentence would give some sense of closure to the victim and her relatives.
Amey was sentenced to five years and three months in prison at Bournemouth Crown Court on November 9. He has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.
Sex pest pushed victim to floor and held her by throat in attempted rape
This man attempted to rape a young woman after punching her in the face during a terrifying attack in Weymouth town centre.
Mohammad Abdullah, aged 23 and of no fixed abode, was sentenced at Winchester Crown Court to seven years in prison today after being found guilty of attempted rape at an earlier trial at the same court.
Dorset Police said the incident took place at around 4.30am on Saturday, May 18 when the victim, who was 18 years old, was walking alone through the town centre when the defendant approached her and offered to walk with her.
As they reached a block of flats, Abdullah forced his victim into a communal hallway and pushed her to the floor before holding her by the throat when she screamed for help.
He then punched her twice to the face as she tried to get away and forced her to the floor again, holding her arm behind her back.
Abdullah attempted to undress his victim but a passer-by heard her screams and went to her aid. The defendant fled the scene.
Police were called and officers attended. Following enquiries, Abdullah was arrested at an address in Poole the following day. He initially gave his age as 16.
The judge also ruled that Abdullah would serve an additional four years on licence.
Rapist attacked woman in her own home
Rapist Dennis Adkin, 49 and of Cuthbury Gardens, Wimborne, was told by Judge Robert Pawson QC at Bournemouth Crown Court on October 8, 2020 that he should have been charged "probably two years earlier than you were".
Adkin raped a woman in her own home in November 2017 and was convicted following a trial.
The victim reported the attack a month after it took place and the offender was interviewed the following day, however, he was not charged until January 2020.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said: "I felt very crushed. This is something that will stay with me for a very long time.
"I still wait up at night fighting and shouting in my sleep. I am constantly scared and feel vulnerable all the time."
Adkin was jailed for three years and three months. He was also handed a restraining order banning him from contacting his victim indefinitely. He will also have to register as a sex offender.
Rapist attacked school girl in playing field as she walked home from part-time job
Rapist Adrian Cordery was jailed for 15 years for viciously attacking a 15-year-old girl at knifepoint in Dorchester.
Cordery viciously attacked the 15-year-old as she walked through school playing fields as she walked back from her part-time job at night.
He dragged her from the path on to the grass and held her at knifepoint before slashing her clothes and raping her.
He had originally admitted rape, but changed his plea to not guilty, leading to a trial.
A jury unanimously found him guilty of rape, along with another charge of threatening with a knife relating to the attack in fields on Barnes Way on December 5, 2019.
The 33-year-old, of Dorchester, was handed the sentence at Bournemouth Crown Court in November 2020.
He was told he will serve 15 years in jail and will be subject to an extended licence period of a further eight years.
The judge called it a 'shocking' crime and praised the victim in the case for her bravery as well as the police investigation which led to Cordery being arrested.
Full story of how Dorchester rapist was brought to justice
Man groomed 14-year-old boy after sharing an interest in cars
Jack Vincent Lane, 23 of Hangersley, Ringwood, was sentenced at Bournemouth Crown Court on Tuesday, December 8, 2020 after being found guilty of three offences of sexual activity with a child.
Lane had met with a teenage boy from Poole on a number of occasions between March 2017, when his victim was 14, and July 2017. The pair both shared an interest in cars and went to a number of car meets together.
They attended events in Poole, London, Hampshire, Wiltshire and Northamptonshire and the pair also communicated through Facebook as well as text messages.
In July 2017, they travelled together to an event in Ringwood and when they were in the car Lane touched his victim inappropriately.
Around the same time, they also went to a mini car show in Devon and on the way back Lane again inappropriately touched his victim.
When the victim challenged him, he claimed he had done it accidentally.
That evening they went for a swim in the sea in Boscombe and the defendant touched his victim inappropriately over his swimming shorts.
In November 2017, the victim disclosed the offences to his mother.
Following inquiries Lane was interviewed by officers in April 2018 and, after a detailed investigation including examination of electronic devices, Lane was issued with a postal requisition to appear at court.
He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for ten years, as well as being placed on the sex offenders’ register for the same period.
Man found with more than 64,000 indecent images on computer
The haul of still and moving images David Ballam possessed included scores of the most serious type.
Some of the content involved children no older than 10 years of age.
Officers had been contacted about suspicious online search activity relating to child sex abuse from the IP address associated with his home address.
Following an investigation, police visited the 52-year-old’s address in Belle Vue Road, Bournemouth where he lives with his elderly father, in December 2019.
Prosecutor James Nash told Bournemouth Crown Court: “Police officers went to his home address. Mr Ballam’s father let them in.
“He (the defendant) presented his hands.
"He said: ‘I am guilty. I have been looking at pictures. They are there. They are very young. I have been looking for the last couple of months.’”
Police seized his computer and found a total of 64,116 still and moving images, with 178 Category A (the most serious), 122 Category B and 63,816 Category C.
At a hearing on December 4, 2020, Mr Nash confirmed Ballam had not been involved in the creation of the images but sought them out online and downloaded them over a year-long period, with evidence of systematic storage on the computer.
Mitigating, Tom Evans said the defendant, who had no previous convictions, was remorseful and aware of the contribution his offending had on child sex abuse crimes.
Mr Evans added that Ballam, who is the full time carer for his father, was an “extremely isolated” individual who suffered from mental health issues for some years.
Ballam was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment, suspended for 18 months, and ordered to pay £200 costs and a £140 surcharge.
He was issued with a 10-year sexual harm prevention order, placed on the sex offenders register for 10 years, required to follow an eight-week overnight curfew and told to complete 30 rehabilitation activity requirement days.
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