A former Suffolk hotel manager who “molested” a schoolgirl and an Ipswich man found to have two “lethal” firearms were among those jailed in Suffolk this week.
Hotel manager gets nine months
Adam Ali, former manager of the White Horse Hotel in Leiston, took the teenager to his room at the premises and sat on the bed and removed his shoes, Ipswich Crown Court heard.
He invited her to do the same and then put his leg over her while they were on the bed so he was three-quarters over her body, said Nicola May, prosecuting.
He told the 14-year-old: “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kiss you,” but she had panicked and didn’t know what to do, said Miss May.
“She thought if she shouted, she would make the situation worse,” she said.
Miss May said Ali had received a caution in 2013 for indecently assaulting a 17-year-old girl.
Ali, 36, of Parnell Road, Ipswich, pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to five offences of sexual activity with a 14-year-old girl in 2019.
In addition to being jailed for nine months on Friday, Ali was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for ten years and made the subject of a sexual harm prevention order.
Woman sent indecent images to man over internet
A woman who sent naked pictures of a child to a man she met online after he promised her a job was jailed for more than three years on Wednesday.
Ipswich Crown Court heard how Claire Kelly, 36, of Yew Drive, Brandon, was taken to hospital on August 21, 2019, following a suicide attempt.
She then disclosed to paramedics how she had sent indecent pictures of a child to a man she met via the internet.
Police discovered ten indecent images were sent and that Kelly also took three category B images, and 13 graded as category C, the court heard.
There was also evidence of discussions around involving a child in a sexual act, the court heard.
Kelly previously pleaded guilty before magistrates to distributing indecent photographs of a child, arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence, and taking indecent photographs of a child.
Judge Emma Peters jailed Kelly for three years and two months, and the judge also ordered her to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely and made her subject to a sexual harm prevention order.
Man found to have two firearms
An Ipswich man found to have two “lethal” firearms and ammunition in the boot of a car was jailed for seven-and-a-half years on Friday.
Sentencing 29-year-old Patrick Smith, Judge David Pugh said he was satisfied the firearms and ammunition were clearly intended for use in serious criminal activity, namely the supply of drugs.
He said that when a Fiat Punto in which Smith was a passenger was stopped by police in Yarmouth Road, Ipswich in December last year, two knives were found under a seat and £750 cash and drug dealing bags were also discovered.
Subsequently, two firearms and ammunition were found in a case in a supermarket plastic carrier bag in the boot of an Audi A4 linked to Smith.
Ipswich Crown Court heard that the weapons and ammunition found in Smith’s possession were a Retay handgun, a Flobert revolver and ten cartridges with bullets designed to explode on or immediately before impact.
Andrew Jackson, prosecuting, described the weapons and ammunition as “lethal”.
Ian Persaud, for Smith, who has 42 previous convictions, said his client was arrested in February and had been in custody since then.
He said there was no evidence that the guns and ammunition were intended for use in drug dealing as no drugs were found in the Audi or his home address.
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