May 2012 Two sex offenders who met in a controversial bail hostel have been jailed TWO sex offenders who lured schoolgirls on to a deserted railway line before trying to engage them in sexual acts met and became friends in a controversial Sandbach bail hostel a court heard. Simon Bodily, 21 was sentenced to 32 months behind bars and Timothy Read, 20, to nine months in a Young Offenders Institute at Chester Crown Court on Friday (May 4). The two befriended a group of schoolgirls at Sandbach Railway Station and showing them indecent pictures before luring them to a secluded spot and attempting to get them to perform sexual acts. Judge Roger Dutton slammed the two offenders saying they had set out to take ‘sexual advantage of two young girls’ who were taken in by their interest and advances towards them. Judge Dutton said the girls were unaware that Bodily was staying in Sandbach Bail Hostel and that he was subject to a Sex Offenders Prevention Order and that Read had received a caution in 2010 for having sex with a 14-year-old girl. Judge Dutton said: “You started seeing each other in Linden Bank Bail Hostel in Sandbach and you, Read, followed his lead, even though you yourself have a caution for a sex offence.” Judge Dutton said that it was ‘worrying that a man could be given a caution’ for having sex with an underage girl. Read was found guilty by a jury of indecent exposure and inciting a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity during a three-day trial. Bodily pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a sex offenders order and two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl. The court heard how, at just after 5.30pm on November 20 last year, Read met his co-defendant Bodily at Sandbach Railway Station along with a convicted sex offender they had become friends with and started talking to three teenage girls who were sitting on a bench on the platform. Read then showed the girls pictures of his new-born baby on his mobile phone before showing them a picture of his exposed genitals. The court also heard that at the time Bodily suggested that the girls – who were aged 12 and 13 – perform numerous indecent acts and also have sex with them. Prosecuting, Nick Williams said the pair, who have numerous previous convictions, left their victims feeling distraught. “One of the girls says that she is still not able to stop thinking about what Bodily did to her,” said Mr Williams. “She feels stressed and sometimes guilty about how she felt and what happened to her. Her grades are slipping and she is having trouble sleeping.” Defending Read, Nicholas Wood said Read was ‘immature’ for his age and had been influenced by others living in the bail hostel environment. “Being in a hostel full of other individuals, many who have a history of sex offences, was not the best or most practical atmosphere for him to be in,” said Mr Wood, who said that Read had been failed by the system and had been in and out of care since he was five years old. “He now realises how what he did was a stupid and immature thing to do, he knows he was skating on thin ice the moment he made contact with them.” Bodily’s 32-month sentence will run concurrently to a sentence he is already serving for breaching a sex offenders order. He will also have to re-sign the sex offenders’ register. Judge Dutton told him: “You had no respect for the girls’ ages or regard of what you were trying to do to them. “It is all a joke to you, I get the impression that you found the whole trial proceedings a bit of a joke, you were still smirking when you were found guilty.” Both men have been made subject to a Sexual Prevention Order and have been banned from working with children. April 2012 Sandbach Linden Bank bail hostel resident Timothy Read found guilty of sex offences A FATHER who was living at the Linden Bank Bail Hostel in Sandbach has been found guilty of inciting a schoolgirl to perform sexual acts on him. On Wednesday (April 4), following a three-day trial, it took the jury at Chester Crown Court just 20 minutes to return a guilty verdict for Timothy Read, 20, who was charged with indecent exposure and inciting a 13-year-old girl to engage in sexual activity. As the verdict was returned, a furious Read immediately turned and walked through the dock door to the court cells, followed by officers. Read will be sentenced later this month alongside fellow bail hostel resident Simon Bodily, 21, who pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching a sex offenders order and two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a 13-year-old girl. The court had heard how, on November 20 last year, Read, who received a police caution in 2010 after admitting to having consensual sex with a 14-year-old girl – met his co-defendant Bodily at Sandbach railway station along with a convicted sex offender they had become friends with. Prosecutor Nick Williams said that at just after 5.30pm, Read and Bodily began talking to three girls who were on the platform and sat with them on a bench. Mr Williams added: “The defendants were well aware that the girls were aged 12 and 13 years old. “While they were sat on the bench in the station, Read started to show the girls some pictures on his mobile phone.” These included pictures of genitals. The court heard that Bodily suggested that the girls perform indecent acts and also have sex with them. Defence barrister Mr Wood added that Read was ‘clearly unimpressed’ by Bodily’s suggestions and had wanted to leave. Mr Williams told the jury how the following day after school the two 13-year-old girls, still dressed in their school uniforms, met up with Bodily. Read and his 16-year-old friend later joined up with the group after Bodily ‘kept on asking’ him to go along. During the two meetings, Bodily sexually touched one of the girls twice and continually pestered one of the girls and forced her to perform a sex act on him. The following day one of the girls confided in a teacher about what had happened and the police were informed. Bodily and Read were arrested on Wednesday, November 23, and later charged and remanded into custody. Detective Constable Robert Lees from the Public Protection Unit at Crewe said: “Bodily and Read preyed on two vulnerable young girls and tried to coerce them into satisfying their own sexual needs. Men like these two are very clever and often the girls they groom do not even realise they are victims until it is too late. “Uncomfortable with the actions of these men the victims turned to someone they trusted to report their concerns, which was completely the right thing to do and very brave of them. “These girls have shown great courage in assisting the police investigation and we acted as soon as the information was reported to us. “I am pleased to see Bodily and Read behind bars and hope the community of Sandbach are also reassured by this.”