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Children, dog sexually assaulted, videotaped
West Cumbria, EN (UK)Incident Date: Friday, Jun 30, 2006
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Keith Ashworth
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
A pensioner who preyed on young children in West Cumbria and had sex with his pet dog has been warned he faces a long jail sentence.
Keith Ashworth, 65, admitted a catalogue of offences which included one count of child rape and two others of attempted child rape, including one against a boy under five. He even made videos of his victims� ordeals at his hands.
As well as admitting 12 sex offences, Ashworth asked for a further 57 offences to be taken into consideration, some relating to his personal computer collection of 3,000 obscene images.
The OAP targeted three victims, the youngest under three years old.
Ashworth had worked as a handyman and has been a regular holiday visitor to West Cumbria for the past 20 years, in recent years staying at a static caravan park in Braystones, near Egremont.
Senior detectives who had to investigate Ashworth said that the case was the worst of its kind that they have ever had to deal with.
In court, Ashworth admitted one rape, two attempted rapes, three indecent assaults, two sexual assaults, two counts of making indecent photos, one of having indecent photos and one of having sex with an animal.
The animal involved was his pet collie dog, which he filmed as it had sex with him. He committed the offences between June 1994 and July of this year, the court heard.
Of the indecent images found on his computer, 274 were category four, the most serious kind, involving children being sexually abused by adults.
Remanding him in custody, judge Paul Batty QC told Ashworth: �You have admitted a catalogue of grievous crimes against youngsters. A very, very heavy sentence awaits you in respect of these offences. They�re about as serious as I have ever seen.�
After the case, Detective Inspector Paul Smith said police are confident that they have traced all of Ashworth�s victims.
He said: �There were about eight of my staff who had to deal with the evidence and all have had mandatory professional counselling, such was the nature of the material.
�A colleague who worked in our high-tech computer department for three years dealing with this kind of material says it is the worst he has ever seen. Ashworth is a very dangerous man.�
Ashworth, whose home address is in Longsight, Manchester, will be sentenced on March 23 after psychiatric and background reports have been prepared. He was put on the Sex Offenders' Register.
Case UpdatesA depraved pensioner who preyed on young children and his dog has been jailed for life.
Keith Ashworth, 65, admitted a catalogue of sick offences which included one count of child rape, and two others of attempted child rape, including one against a boy under five. The pervert even made videos of his victims� ordeals at his hands
As well as admitting 12 sex offences, Ashworth asked Carlisle Crown Court for a further 57 offences to be taken into consideration, some relating to his personal computer collection of 3,000 obscene images.
The OAP targeted three victims, the youngest under three years old.
Ashworth, from Manchester, had worked as a handyman and has been a regular holiday visitor to West Cumbria for the past 20 years, in recent years staying at Tarnside caravan park in Braystones, Cumbria.
Detectives who had to investigate Ashworth said that the case was the worst of its kind that they have ever had to deal with.
In court, Ashworth admitted one rape; two attempted rapes; three indecent assaults; two sexual assaults; two counts of making indecent photos; one of having indecent photos; and one of having sex with an animal. The animal involved was his pet collie. He committed the offences between June 1994 and July 2006.
The court heard of the indecent images found on his computer, 274 were category four - the most serious kind, involving children being sexually abused by adults.
Judge Paul Batty QC, told Ashworth: �You have admitted a catalogue of grievous crimes against youngsters. A very, very heavy sentence awaits you in respect of these offences. They�re about as serious as I have ever seen.�
After the case, Detective Inspector Paul Smith said police are confident that they have traced all of Ashworth�s victims.
He said: �There were about eight of my staff who had to deal with the evidence and all have had mandatory professional counselling, such was the nature of the material.
"A colleague who worked in our high-tech computer department for three years dealing with this kind of material says it is the worst he has ever seen. Ashworth is a very dangerous man.�
�It�s apparent from the judge�s comments that this man is going to be removed from the streets for some time.�
Ashworth, whose home address is in Longsight, Manchester, has been put on the Sex Offenders� Register and was told that he would have to serve a minimum of 15 years. | Source: Whitehaven News - March 23, 2007
Update posted on Mar 23, 2007 - 11:32PM |
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