Jury Considers Verdict In Baby Rape Plot Case

A jury in Bristol is considering its verdict in the trial of two men accused of plotting to rape a baby.

John Denham, 49, from Wiltshire, and Matthew Stansfield, 34, from Hampshire, both deny conspiring to rape a child under the age of 13.

The court has heard that five men have admitted a range of offences after members of a gang carried out sex crimes against a baby and pre-school child.

On several occasions, it is alleged, one of the men - Robin Hollyson, who had access to a victim - would arrange meetings so the group could abuse him together.

Some of the men travelled long distances to carry out offences while others watched and shared abuse images over the internet.

Hollyson, 30; Christopher Knight, 35; Matthew Lisk 32, Adam Toms, 33 and David Harsley, 51, have all pleaded guilty to a range of child sex offences, including Hollyson admitting to raping a baby.

During the trial at Bristol Crown Court, the jury heard graphic online chat logs by Stansfield and Denham, discussing the sexual abuse of children.

Both men told the court this was pure fantasy and denied it was evidence of them planning to rape a real child.

Denham, previously known as Benjamin Harrop, told the jury he had become "desensitised" to viewing indecent images of children online and needed to see increasingly extreme images of young children and babies for sexual gratification.

The father of two described himself as having a "Jekyll and Hyde" type character, outwardly a family man but behind closed doors he said his desire for indecent images was similar to an addiction: "If I had one, I wanted another one. I collected it, I wanted the whole set."

Denham denies conspiracy to rape a child under the age of 13 and the alternative charge of conspiracy to sexually assault a child under the age of 13 in January last year.

He said his meeting with paedophile Knight in London on 17 January 2014 was for coffee and not part of a plan to rape a baby.

He also told the court online discussion about the abuse of a baby was fantasy chat for sexual kicks.

The prosecution disputes that, alleging the plan only failed because the man arranging access to the child, Hollyson, was detained in hospital.

Denham has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child, which also involved Lisk and Harsley, and child pornography offences.

Stansfield, 34, has pleaded not guilty to two counts of conspiracy to rape a child and one count of conspiracy to sexually assault a child under the age of 13.

He told the court a round trip of more than 150 miles he made from his home in Hampshire on 5 February 2014 was not part of a plan to rape a baby, as the prosecution alleges.

He claims he went to watch films and photographs of child abuse at a "party" hosted by another man but that the "party" was cancelled.

He has pleaded guilty to child pornography offences.

The jury has now retired to consider its verdict.