December 2022 Paedophile wormed way into Cornish home and photographed girl A convicted paedophile wormed his way into the home of a kind-hearted family who took pity on him before trying to take inappropriate pictures of their young daughter, a jury has been told. Brian Wood, 58, told the Launceston family he was going to be made homeless before moving into a tent in their back garden and allegedly breaching a number of conditions relating to a previous sentence for the repeated sexual assault of a child under 13 and groping an 11-year-old girl in 2006 Wood, of no fixed abode, is on trial at Truro Crown Court charged with two charges of failing to comply with notification requirements as a registered sex offender, two breaches of a sexual harm prevention order and voyeurism. The first four charges stem from Wood allegedly failing to inform the police of an address change, staying in a house with someone under 18 and having unsupervised contact with a child. Prosecuting the case, Jason Beal said that the couple’s daughter was 11 at the time of the alleged offence earlier this year. Mr Beal told the jury how Wood met the family and told them that he was from Kent and had moved to Launceston 18 months prior. In June of this year Wood told the father that he was being evicted from his property and was being made homeless as he had nowhere to go. The father spoke to his wife and it was agreed Wood would stay in a tent in the garden. Mr Beal said: “On June 24 Mr Wood moved into the tent and he was allowed to use the house and paid a small amount for keep. Over the course of the next month Mr Wood would spend his days in the house. He would come in at 7am and spend most of the day drinking beer and spent the evening playing cards with the family and drinking beer. “There were occasional days when Mr Wood would do odd jobs and he would spend time alone with the daughter.” Mr Beal went on to say that the girl’s mum would feel uncomfortable about Wood being alone with her daughter but put it down to her being over-protective, before adding that Wood seemed particularly keen to engineer situations when he’d be alone with the girl. The family says that Wood would use inappropriate language around the girl. The voyeurism charge, Mr Beal says, related to an occasion when the girl was in the lounge on her laptop with her legs slightly apart. The girl’s mother is said to have seen Wood secretly taking a photo of her oblivious daughter with the camera angled up her dress. Wood was challenged, told to leave the house, police were called and Wood was arrested. That night, unable to sleep, the girl’s mother went online and searched Wood’s name and found online reports about his previous conviction. A number of deleted images were found on his phone. Mr Beal then told the jury about Wood’s previous conviction in Kent. In interview Wood said that he was aware of his notification requirements as a sex offender but didn’t have credit on his phone to make contact. He admitted taking pictures of the girl but said it was just of her face and denied ever being alone with her. Wood denies the charges. The trial continues. July 2022: Now living in Launceston, Cornwall July 2016 Pervert jailed for molesting young girl A pervert has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after a jury convicted him of repeatedly molesting a young girl. Brian Wood, of Nevill Place, Snodland, had denied two offences of sexual assault of a child under 13, committed last year. Maidstone Crown Court heard the 52-year-old, who has learning difficulties, had been convicted as a juvenile of separate assaults on a girl and a boy and was given probation orders. He had also groped an 11-year-old girl in 2006 but was not charged. Judge Jeremy Carey described one of the offences in the latest case as “a gross act on an innocent child”. His previous offending was an aggravating factor. The judge said Wood needed sex offender treatment. He will be on the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and barred from working with children and vulnerable adults. A sexual harm prevention order was made.