‘Dirty and monstrous’ Leeds paedophile handed lengthy jail sentence for filming abuse of young girls

Brian Stott was caught following a “highly-complex investigation” by police which led them to uncovering more than a dozen victims spanning eight years, three of which he abused, the rest he covertly recorded in bathrooms.

He eventually admitted 28 offences including attempted rape, sexual assaults and voyeurism.

Stott, who is now 42, was acquitted after a trial in 2017 of raping and sexually assaulting two young girls – both of which were sadly identified as victims in the footage seized from his home three years later.

He was sentenced by Judge Tom Bayliss KC at Leeds Crown Court this afternoon, who told him: “They were little girls. You filmed yourself sexually abusing children. The abuse was plainly planned. The impact must be quite devastating.

"Only a long sentence can be justified. I consider it necessary to impose an extended sentence to protect the public.

“There is little mitigation other than your guilty pleas.”

Police were initially tipped off about indecent images being accessed from Stott’s home address in 2018.

They found thousands of vile images and videos, for which he denied any knowledge.

But in October 2020 the police were tipped off again that an IP address at his new home was being used to share abuse files, so he was re-arrested and further devices seized. They found videos of Stott abusing girls as young as five.

Officers were able to clarify from the depraved footage that the abuse took place at three addresses Stott had lived over the years – one in Barnsley and two in Leeds.

There was also multiple other child victims of voyeurism, and two adults, with Stott recording victims in a bathroom.

Prosecuting at Leeds Crown Court, Michael Greenhalgh said Stott was arrested again in July this year and presented with the evidence.

Stott, now of Windmill Road, Belle Isle, was interviewed four times but refused to answer any of the police’s questions.

He eventually admitted 28 offences, including three charges of attempted rape, three assaults on a child under 13 by penetration, six of sexual activity with a child and 12 of voyeurism.

He also pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing thousands of indecent images ranging from the most serious Category A to Category C, and one of distributing images.

A victim impact statement was read to the court by one of Stott’s victims, who told him through tears: “It is dirty and monstrous, how can anybody do this? It’s vile. I feel sick, angry and humiliated.

"It was all true but nobody believed us.”

Mitigating, Jayne Beckett said a pre-sentence report contained an “awful lot of minimisation” in Stott’s acceptance of his crimes.

But she said: “The minimisation amounts to him not being able to face up to what he has done.

"He is willing to do anything by way of work on himself to assist him in facing up to it. That’s the best I can do.

"There is acceptance because there are guilty pleas across the board, and there’s a real committed will to work to engage with those who seek to help him.”

She said Stott had offered an unsolicited apology but accepted it may not mean “a jot” to his victims.

Judge Bayliss imposed an jail term of 20 years and three months, with a seven-year-and-nine-month extended licence period.

Speaking after the sentencing, Detective Chief Inspector Sarah Lambert, of Leeds District Safeguarding, said: “Stott is a determined predatory paedophile whose appalling catalogue of physical abuse against these two vulnerable young girls, and other unidentified child victims, will have had a very significant traumatic impact on them.

“The level and scale of his wider offending around indecent images of children and voyeurism, using a range of electronic devices and hidden cameras to secretly film

victims, saw Safeguarding officers faced with a huge investigative challenge.

“It took a very lengthy and painstaking effort by them, supported by the work of digital forensic experts, to unravel the full picture of Stott’s crimes and link him to

them.

“Their diligent work that produced such strong evidence saw him fully admit all the offences.

“We hope his conviction and the prison term he has received will provide some reassurance and support to the victims and their family as they continue to move on

with their lives.

“The activities of child sexual predators like Stott will always attract the highest level of investigation by specialist Safeguarding officers, and we hope the successful

outcome of this case will give victims of other similar offences the confidence to come forward and report them.”