SIMON WEBB, KIRKBY PREDATOR, SENTENCED TO LIFE IN PRISON IN NOTTINGHAM

In July 2007, Simon Webb, a 22-year-old man from Central Avenue, South Normanton, was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nottingham Crown Court for a series of horrific crimes. Webb was ordered to serve a minimum term of 10 years after being convicted of raping a two-year-old baby in Kirkby and grooming a 13-year-old girl. Throughout the sentencing, Webb sat emotionless. The attack on the baby occurred on March 8th this year, just months after he met her mother through an internet chatroom. The relentless assault left the young victim requiring stitches, and Judge Michael Stokes described Webb as one of the most disturbing paedophiles he has encountered. The judge stated, “You need to be taken out of circulation for a very long time. You will not be released until it is safe for you to be released. If it means you are still in prison in your middle age then so be it. Sitting here in my job I am used to dealing with perverted people, but you are something else.” The judge made these comments after hearing details of Webb’s sickening crime, which occurred after he spent an evening drinking with the child and her two friends at her mother’s home. Prosecutor Julie Warburton explained that the children returned to their mother’s house in Kirkby for more drinks, leaving Webb alone with the baby for half an hour while the mother took her friends home. During this time, Webb, who had been drinking heavily—consuming vodka, three pints of lager, and other drinks—was left alone with the child. When the mother returned, she found Webb in an anxious state on the doorstep. Upon checking on her daughter, she discovered her nappy had been removed, and the child was naked and bleeding heavily. The infant was promptly taken to King’s Mill Hospital for treatment and surgery. Webb’s DNA was linked to the scene by bloodstains found on his boxer shorts. While on bail for this offence, Webb proceeded to abuse a 13-year-old girl whom he had groomed online. Prosecutor Warburton described her as naive, noting that Webb had lied, telling her he loved her, and continued to send sexually explicit texts and groom her via chatrooms. On April 6th, Webb met the girl on a park bench in South Normanton and then drove her to nearby woodland where he got her drunk and persuaded her to engage in sexual activity. He continued this abuse on April 7th until police raided his home. In imposing life behind bars, Judge Stokes emphasized the serious threat Webb posed to females of all ages, saying, “How anyone can even consider what you did to this innocent child is beyond understanding. When you were supposed to be looking after her, you abused her. She bled heavily and was screaming in pain because of your actions. This shows there are no limits for the categories of wickedness. You also engaged in sex with a 13-year-old girl. You knew this was illegal, but you did not care. You are unable to control your sexual appetite and you pose a very serious and very real threat to females of all ages.” Webb was also placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register and banned for life from working with children.