Voyeur jailed

A man has been jailed for possessing indecent images of children and voyeurism.

In March last year, JonPaul Elessar, 38, took naked photos of the victim without their consent when they visited his South Tyneside home – later bragging to others about what he had done.

After finding out about the abuse, the victim quickly reported what had happened to police and Elessar was arrested.

In a separate earlier investigation, Elessar’s phone was examined – where a number of indecent images of children on the device were discovered.

Later in the same month, Elessar, of Norfolk Drive, Washington, was charged in connection with both investigations.

He attended Newcastle Crown Court earlier this year, where he pleaded guilty to one count of voyeurism and two counts of possessing indecent images of children.

And on Monday (June 9), he returned to the same court where he was sentenced to one year and eight months behind bars.

He will also spend 10 years on the Sex Offenders’ Register, will be subject to a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), and was handed a lifelong restraining order to protect the victim.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Constable Amy Burridge said: “I’d like to thank the victim in this case after Elessar’s offending came to light – meaning the full scale of his depravity was uncovered.

“Elessar took photos of someone in what should have been a totally private space, without their knowledge or consent.

“He showed no respect for the victim – even bragging about what he’d done.”

Det Con Burridge continued: “We’re committed to ensuring sexual offenders in our community are identified, arrested, and brought to justice.

“We have trained teams of officers who are experts at pursuing suspects of any form of sexual abuse and ensuring their crimes do not go unpunished.

“They’ll be there for you throughout every stage of the investigation and will offer you whatever support you need.

“We would always encourage anybody who is a victim of crime, or who has any information about this type of offending, to come forward and report it to us so we can act for you.”

Anyone who has been subjected to any form of sexual offence is encouraged to can get in touch using the ‘Report’ pages of the Northumbria Police website or call 101.

If a crime is ongoing, please call 999.