April 2016 Pervert jailed for grooming schoolgirls A pervert has been jailed for five years and four months for a three-year campaign of internet stalking against two schoolgirls. Mark Vincent contacted the first girl when she was 13 and during three years of grooming her for sex with him, used sexual blackmail and threats against her loved ones until she was suicidal, York Crown Court heard. Vincent told her he would give her ailing grandmother a fatal heart attack by sending her a sexual photo of her grandchild, adding: “I’ll dance on her grave”. Andrew Semple, prosecuting, said when he accidentally sent a picture of his face to the first victim, she realised he was 47 and not the teenager he had masqueraded as, and she went to the police. By then, he had started stalking her friend, having got her details through Facebook, and threatened to put naked pictures of girls with her face superimposed on the internet. He bombarded both with messages and phone calls. When officers arrested him in Surrey, he had 70 items of computer equipment and mobile phones, some of which had nude photos and a sexual film of the first girl that he had persuaded her to send him. Vincent was a “dirty old man” whose actions were designed to get the first girl to have sex with him, the Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, said. “You spun a web of lies to that child. You became utterly obsessed with that child. You were a deeply disturbed man who was intent on getting your way with this girl no matter what.” Vincent, of Bedfont Lane, Feltham, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to four charges of possessing indecent photos of the first victim, one of distributing an indecent photo by sending it to her, one of harassment of the first girl by putting a person in fear, and one of harassing the second girl. Both live in the Selby area. In addition he will be on the sex offenders’ register and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order restricting his use of the internet, and to a restraining order to protect the two girls, all for life. March 2016 Online stalker, 47, blackmailed victim and pretended to be 15 AN online stalker blackmailed one of his victims by threatening to send nude photos of a girl to her gravely ill grandmother, York Crown Court heard. Mark Vincent, 47, targeted two North Yorkshire schoolgirls for his sexual crimes and may have subjected the first to years of abuse, starting when she was 13. He claims she was 15 when he, masquerading as a 15-year-old boy, first contacted her via the internet. Michael Greenhalgh, prosecuting, said she was 13 when Vincent began bombarding her with messages, phone calls and gifts. When she was 16, he got her to send him nude photos of herself and a video of her performing a sex act, and suggested that they meet and have sex together. When she tried to ignore him, he threatened to send the photos to her family. “The grandmother was particularly ill at this time, which he knew about. He said he hoped that made her situation worse,” said Mr Greenhalgh. The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Batty QC, said Vincent’s actions were a form of blackmail. “These are incredibly serious offences,” he told Vincent. “A custodial sentence of some length is quite inevitable. The only questions are how long, and the extent of your criminality. This has had a profound effect upon her (the first girl) and is continuing to do so today.” Mr Greenhalgh said the crimes had caused the girl to self-harm and driven her to drink. Mr Greenhalgh said when police arrested Vincent, he was in a car with another man. Officers found 70 computers and mobile phones in the car or at his house and computer records showed he had a history of “crashing” internet conversations posing as a 15-year-old. Vincent, of Bedfont Lane, Feltham, Middlesex, pleaded guilty to four charges of having indecent images of the first girl, one of distribution by sending a photo back to her and one of harassing her and one of harassing a friend of hers, whom he contacted after she refused to reply to his messages. He will be sentenced in April when the judge is expected to hear evidence to decide how old the first girl was when Vincent first contacted her. He was remanded in custody. Mr Greenhalgh said the girl only realised his real age when he sent a video, claiming it showed him deleting her photographs on his computer and she saw his face reflected in the computer screen. When her friend refused to send him naked pictures, Vincent threatened to find naked pictures of other girls and send them to her parents, claiming they were her. For Vincent, Kathryn Stuckey said he had not actually met either girl and had not made any arrangements to do so.