BARROW MAN WITH PREDATORY SEXUAL INTEREST IN CHILDREN JAILED

A man with a ‘predatory sexual interest in children’ who demonstrated a ‘horrendous catalogue of offending’ has been sentenced after pleading guilty to multiple sexual offences. His Honour Judge Guy Mathieson described the defendant, Simon Tesseyman, of Barrow, as a ‘dangerous’ individual who posed a ‘significant risk of serious harm in the future to young girls’.The 32-year-old Tesseyman was sentenced to an extended term of 13 years, with eight years in custody and five on extended licence, after admitting 15 sex offences. These included three counts of an adult engaging in sexual activity with a child, six counts of making indecent images of children, and three counts of distributing indecent images of children. Prosecutor Lisa Worsley stated the defendant possessed over 12,000 indecent images.The court also heard that Tesseyman was charged with two counts of observing a person doing a private act and one count of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child. The sexual communications charge involved him engaging with a profile pretending to be an 11-year-old girl on the app KIK, with the chat being sexual in nature and describing her as ‘sexy’. Tesseyman showed no remorse and was described as being in complete denial, having built up many images of children for his own sexual gratification.Judge Mathieson emphasized the horrific nature of his offences and stated he ‘utterly rejected’ the defendant's narrative. He highlighted that the defendant had enjoyed boasting about his actions, stored many images of children, and at times distributed them. The judge concluded that Tesseyman represented a significant danger, imposing a lifelong requirement to sign the sex offenders register, a restraining order, and notification requirements until the court declares otherwise.