Two Basingstoke Paedophiles, James Hedges & Lauren O’Hanlon, who repeatedly tortured and raped a small child in Ash have been sentenced to long terms in prison.
Following a two-week June trial, convicted paedophile James Hedges, 38, and his girlfriend Lauren O’Hanlon, 28, were found guilty of five charges of sexual assault at Winchester Crown Court.
After police looked at James Hedges’ iPhone, which he was banned from holding by the conditions of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO), evidence of the abuse surfaced in March 2018.
Hampshire Constabulary’s Detective Constable Dan Lucas said police had found proof of the “applicable abuse” James Hedges and Lauren O’Hanlon committed on the kid in Ash as well as “more than a thousand other indecent images of children”.
Apart from the allegations of sexual assault, James Hedges was accused of ten counts of creating obscene photographs and violating his SHPO, while Lauren O’Hanlon was charged with six counts of the same. Both claimed not to have committed the offences.
Judge Susan Evans QC sentenced James Hedges, of Cumberland Avenue, Basingstoke, to sixteen years in jail at a Friday, August 16 sentencing hearing. Of no fixed residence, Lauren O’Hanlon got an eight-year term.
“This was a truly shocking case, and we would encourage anyone who has any information about a child being abused to contact police,” DC Lucas said.
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