Paedophile who inflicted ‘horrific’ abuse on girl in Conwy jailed

Michael Stewart, 41, of no fixed abode, was jailed at Mold Crown Court today (July 13), where he was ordered to serve a minimum term of 16 years.

Co-defendant Matthew Penny, 44, of no fixed abode, was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment; he will be eligible for release on licence after 13 years, and will serve a further six years on licence afterwards.

Matthew Penny (Image: North Wales Police)

Stewart admitted the charges of sexual abuse made against him, while Penny was found guilty after trial.

Prosecuting, Anna Pope told the court that the girl, who cannot be named, was “systemically abused” by Stewart from the age of about 10.

A number of “particularly graphic and violent” videos and photos of the abuse would be distributed onto others by Stewart.

As well as raping the girl herself, Stewart directed the sexual abuse of her by other men throughout North Wales, on the condition that the abuse be filmed and a copy be sent to him.

The majority of the other men involved have yet to be found, but Penny was identified and convicted from two meetings he had with girl in Conwy and Prestatyn.

At those meetings the girl was raped by both Stewart and Penny.

Police attended Stewart’s home address on Anglesey last year to execute a search warrant after reports of two “Kik” accounts, linked to his IP address, which had uploaded footage of child sex abuse.

Stewart was arrested, and while on his way to custody, said he had been forced by another man known as “Rich” to send indecent images to others, and that if he didn’t, he would be revealed as a paedophile.

Further examinations of material seized from his devices found videos of multiple rapes and sexual abuse of the girl, as well as covertly-filmed explicit footage, and evidence of him distributing the material to others.

When Penny was later identified, photos of the girl were recovered from his phone, while his number was found to have been saved in Stewart’s contacts list as “Rich”.

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Stewart was already a convicted sex offender, having made and distributed indecent images of another child, while Penny had no previous convictions.

The girl said she felt she had no choice but to comply and felt “threatened”, and did not previously report the abuse for “fear of what would happen” to her.

She believed she had been abused by “four or five” other men, as well as Stewart and Penny.

Stewart also posed as “Rich” on Instagram to contact her directly, sending her messages threatening to report her to police or tell her friends unless she sent sexual messages to him.

He also used another fake online profile, posing as an 18-year-old rugby player, in a bid to obtain more indecent images of her, and through which he also directed her to meet other men for sex.

Penny was identified after becoming involved in an online conversation, under the name “Rhyl Jack”, with an undercover officer.

He told the officer he had a sexual interest in children, and was currently sexually active with a girl.

The undercover officer and Penny made arrangements to meet, and after the IP address linked to the account was found to be under his wife’s name at their Prestatyn address.

Penny was arrested in December 2022.

In a statement, the girl said she “bottled up inside” the abuse for “so many years”.

“Things will never be the same again,” she said, adding that she has felt “unbearable” guilt.

Defending Stewart, Simon Rogers said that this was his first contact offence, and that while he was assessed as being of high risk of harm to children, he was at “low risk of further generic offending”.

He urged the court to draw back from a life sentence, saying that this is “not an exceptional case” in which such a sentence should be passed.

Representing Penny, Simon Killeen asked for the sentence not to be extensive, and for the court to “stop short of finding him a dangerous offender”.

Sentencing, Judge Timothy Petts also imposed a lifetime restraining order, prohibiting both defendants from ever contacting the girl again.

They are also banned for life from working with children or vulnerable adults, and must adhere to sex offenders register notification requirements indefinitely.

An indefinite sexual harm prevention order was issued to Penny.

Judge Petts also paid tribute to those involved in the investigation which led to both defendants’ convictions.

He said: “This is a case of virtually indescribable suffering.”

To Stewart, who sat throughout the entirety of the sentencing with his head face-down on a desk in custody, Judge Petts told him he had treated the girl in an “utterly horrific way”.

Judge Petts added to him: “You have not demonstrated, in my view, any remorse, beyond the fact of entering your guilty pleas.

“You have accepted no responsibility for what you did. You have maintained your story, which I don’t accept, that you were blackmailed.

“This is one of those exceptional occasions where the last resort of a life sentence is thoroughly merited.”

Judge Petts told Penny that, though he was involved to a “much lesser extent” than Stewart, he had caused the girl “severe psychological harm” nonetheless.

The fact that he had no previous convictions was, Judge Petts said, “of little weight compared to the enormity of what you did”.

He told him: “She was already an incredibly damaged and traumatised child when you raped her.

“You are yet to have demonstrated that you are a sex offender with a predilection for children.

“Even after the rapes here, you were looking for potential new victims on the Internet, as evidenced by your conversations with the undercover officer.”

Judge Petts also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of all devices recovered containing the abuse, while both defendants will pay a statutory surcharge following their releases.