June 2016 Somerset paedophile guilty of more than 50 sex offences against children A PROLIFIC child sex offender from Somerset has been found guilty of more than 50 offences against children. Paedophile Mark Lester, 60, of Riverside Close, Bridgwater, has been found guilty of 51 offences including rape and sexual assault, the majority of which involved children. Lester was arrested after breaking into a house in Bridgwater last January, where he threatened the two occupants with a knife, tied them up and sexually assaulted one. He was convicted of two counts of false imprisonment and two counts of sexual assault in connection with this incident. Lester was also investigated for non-recent sexual crimes against children and has been convicted of five counts of rape on a child and a further 42 counts of gross indecency on a child, sexual assault on a child, incitement to cause a child to commit sexual activity and making or taking indecent images of children. These charges relate to five victims and are non-recent offences.