Man who offered boys money and then sexually assaulted them jailed
A man who offered four boys under nine money and then sexually assaulted them has been jailed.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said that Gary Campbell, 60, assaulted the boys after he'd travelled to Warrington in July 2023 from his home in Dolton in Devon.
The offences were committed between 23 July and 2 August. He targeted two of the children, aged six and eight, after he had been loitering near a subway in Warrington where they were playing.
He approached them on three separate occasions. He had dropped some money and asked them to help him find it. They did and when they had collected the money, he gave them £70 to keep.
He approached them again in a local park where they were playing a couple of days later. Campbell asked them if they wanted more money and told them to meet him near the subway again.
When there, Campbell asked them to kick him in the groin and bite him. He gave them £160 and he asked them to put it in their underwear and he watched them, before looking inside.
A few days later he spotted two other boys, aged seven and nine, playing near the same subway and again, asked them to help him find money he'd lost and also to count money he had in his hands.
He again asked the boys to kick him in the groin and bite him and he then sexually assaulted the boys before giving them money. Campbell, who'd called himself "Peter" to the boys, was spotted committing the offences on CCTV and was arrested on 25 August 2023.
His mobile phone was seized and several indecent images of the boys were found on his phone. He initially said he had no memory of assaulting the boys and blamed it on epilepsy.
He said he had travelled to Warrington from Devon as he'd lived there a few years before and was helping a friend decorate a house.
However, in the light of the overwhelming CCTV, phone evidence, and accounts of the boys, he pleaded guilty to 22 counts at a hearing at Liverpool Crown Court on 19 December 2023.
Today (29 February) at Liverpool Crown Court, Campbell was deemed to be "dangerous" by the Judge and was said to pose a high risk of serious harm. He was given a 14 year sentence, nine years in jail and an extended license period of five years.
An indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order has been imposed on him, he will be registered on the Sexual Offenders register for an indefinite period and his phones and indecent images will be destroyed.
Senior Crown Prosecutor Jiro Asafa, a specially trained lawyer in CPS Mersey Cheshire's Rape and Serious Sexual Offences (RASSO) unit, said: " Gary Campbell is every parent's worst nightmare. He is a predatory paedophile who approached children he didn't know who were simply playing in an area, where they should have been safe. He thought he might be able to assault them without being seen.
"He offered them sums of money and then demanded that they kick him and bite him - acts that presumably gave him some kind of pleasure. Then he sexually assaulted them.
"These children didn't understand anything of what they were being asked to do and have been left confused and distressed.
"He admitted his offending once faced with overwhelming evidence and is now behind bars.
"The work of Cheshire Police and the Crown Prosecution Service has brought this case to a conclusion within less than seven months.
"We hope this helps the families and the victim move on with their lives after this extremely distressing episode."