A 68-year-old man has been jailed for over six years for historic child abuse in Harrogate.

Malcolm Peter Barwick, who now lives in Ripon, was sentenced to six and a half years in jail today after pleading guilty to seven counts of sexual activity with a child.

The abuse occurred at Woodfield Drive in Harrogate where the victim was sexually abused by Barwick between April 2014 and April 2015.

The victim, now in her early 20’s, reported the abuse to North Yorkshire Police in June last year. An investigation was then launched by Harrogate CID.

Barwick appeared at York Crown Court today. As well as the jail sentence he is subject to an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order and he will remain on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

Detective Constable Matthew Reeve said:

“The effect this case has had on the victim has caused a lifetime of trauma and has deeply affected her.

“She showed true bravery in reporting the matter to the police and seeing the case through. I really hope this outcome will give her the strength to move on from this horrendous experience.”

“Barwick is a predator who targets vulnerable youths and grooms them for his own sexual gratification. Dangerous and manipulative offenders like him deserve to be behind bars.”

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To seek advice and further support, or report child abuse, you can contact one of these organisations:

• North Yorkshire Police on 101. If you are in immediate danger, always dial 999 for an emergency response
• Victims who would prefer not to go direct to the police, and are not in immediate danger, can contact Bridge House, North Yorkshire’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), on 0330 223 0362, email sarc@nhs.net or go to www.bridgehousesarc.org/
• Supporting Victims at supportingvictims.org or call 01609 643100
• NSPCC Helplines: Adults concerned about a child should call 0808 800 5000; Children and young people should call Childline on 0800 1111. Or go to www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse

A Harrogate sex offender who groomed an underage teen girl on Snapchat has been jailed for over three years.

Stefan Antonio Slack, 27, contacted the girl on the social media site and tried to entice her into meeting him for sex.

The Harrogate man was on a court order at the time designed to limit his contact with children following previous similar offences, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Mike Greenhalgh said the new offences occurred in October 2018 when Slack was aged 24.

After adding the 15-year-old girl on Snapchat, he began sending sexually charged messages. In one message he asked to meet the girl and her friend for “group sexual activity”.

He then asked to meet her on a specific day for sex. The message read:

“Meet me Tuesday. Just me and you and maybe (the other named girl) if she’s game.”

Slack then told the girl in gratuitous sexual detail what he wanted to do to her. She duly blocked him on Snapchat and took a screenshot of the messages.

Her mother reported the matter to the police. Slack was arrested and brought in for questioning.

Previous conviction

He told officers he knew that the girl was under-age but “sought to excuse his behaviour, saying he was heavily in drink (at the time) and couldn’t recall sending the messages”, although he admitted it must have been him, added Mr Greenhalgh.

Slack, of Avenue Street, Starbeck, was charged with inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and breaching a sexual-harm prevention order by deliberately contacting an under-age girl. He admitted both offences and appeared for sentence today.

The court heard that Slack received a suspended prison sentence in 2012 for a “very-similar” offence involving an 11-year-old girl. Slack was 17 at the time of that offence.

Abbi Whelan, for Slack, said her client was immature but had “very much turned his life around” since the offences in 2018.

Recorder Dafydd Enoch QC said Slack had “developed an unhealthy interest in minors”.

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He told Slack he had failed to take heed of the “warning shot” when he received the suspended sentence and sexual harm order.

“That order should have left you with no illusions that you would face prison if you were to commit these (kinds of) offences again.

“Once again…you allowed yourself to be tempted into communicating with (an under-age) girl. You took complete advantage of that situation.

Mr Enoch said Slack’s behaviour was “totally unacceptable” and amounted to “extremely serious conduct which could lead to much worse scenarios”.

As well as the three-and-a-half year jail sentence, he was subject to a new, five-year sexual harm prevention order for the protection of children and will remain on the sex-offenders’ register for an indefinite period.

A Harrogate man has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to 17 child sex offences.

Dale Tyson’s crimes included sexual communication with a child and distributing indecent images of a child.

Tyson, of Christina Street, used an alter ego online to talk to children and get them to send sexual images of themselves.

York Crown Court heard he would pretend to be a young North American man to build stronger relationships with his victims in order to obtain more graphic images.

The 17 offences related to 10 children in the UK and USA. However, North Yorkshire Police said in a statement it believes there are many more.

Tyson pleaded guilty to seven counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, six counts of making indecent photographs of a child, three counts of intentionally encouraging an offence and sexual communication with a child.

North Yorkshire Police Detective Sergeant Steven Alderson said:

“This case really highlights the fact that it is almost impossible to know if the person you are speaking to online is who they claim to be.

“The young victims who came forward showed incredible bravery in speaking to the police about what happened to them and in speaking out they have helped protect many more young people from Tyson’s deplorable behaviour.

“The investigation spanned the UK and USA, with fantastic work from our investigators at North Yorkshire Police who managed to locate a number of these victims, without whom the case would not have been so strong.”

Tyson, whose trial was heard on Friday, is also subject to a sexual harm prevention order for an indefinite period.

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North Yorkshire Police added that anyone who thinks they or their child may have been a victim of online abuse should report it to the police.

If you are worried about online sexual abuse or the way someone has been communicating with you online and you would prefer not to speak to the police, you can report confidentially online through the child exploitation and online protection command centre here.

The NSPCC also has a range of resources for parents to help them keep children safe online.

A child sex abuser from Harrogate has been jailed for 3 years at York Crown Court.

Daniel John Gresham, aged 34, was arrested in March this year. Police seized electronic devices from his home which were analysed by North Yorkshire Police’s Digital Forensics Unit.

The Online Abuse & Exploitation Team identified Gresham as the person responsible for making indecent images of children. Detectives were then able to prove that he had been sexually abusing the girl in the images over a  2 year period from 2013 and that he had then shared the images online earlier this year.

Gresham had earlier pleaded guilty to sexual touching a girl aged under 13 and also making and distributing indecent images of the same girl.

As well as being imprisoned for 3 years Gresham was made subject to a 15 year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the sex offenders’ register.

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Detective Sergeant Lee Allenby, of the Online Abuse and Exploitation Team, said:

“Despite the emerging operational difficulties posed by the coronavirus during this time, we were able to progress the investigation and secure charges against Daniel Gresham.

“More importantly, we were able to identify and safeguard a young victim who had been keeping her abuse a secret for many years. I have nothing but admiration for her bravery in supporting the investigation and I hope the outcome at court will help her to put this terrible experience behind her…

“..As for Gresham, he is clearly a dangerous individual who is now facing up to the consequences of his depraved actions.

“We will not rest until such offenders are arrested, convicted and put behind bars where they can do the least amount of harm to vulnerable victims and to society as a whole.”