A Bristol financial adviser who duped money from a 97-year-old relative has been made to pay back £75,000 by a court.

Terry Pocock, 54, from Hanham, was jailed for nine months last October after admitting he took the money to pay off his debts.

At a confiscation hearing last week, benefit of £75,380.84 was declared and a confiscation order made for the same amount.

Pocock was given six months to pay the order. Failure to pay will mean a further jail sentence of 21 months, after which he will still be liable to pay the order, plus any interest accrued.

Dr Kirstie Cogram, manager of Avon and Somerset police’s financial investigation unit said: “We are committed to seizing any assets that criminals have gained as a result of crime. It is not acceptable that criminals benefit from illegal activities and we will relentlessly pursue them through the courts to ensure their money is taken. By doing this we show criminals that they will not benefit from crime and hopefully deter others from entering a life of crime.”

In 2002, the victim – who was related to Pocock and lived in Devon – signed an Enduring Power of Attorney to take care of her property and affairs. This was never registered and therefore never validated.

In 2006 the victim moved into a care home and the following year her home was sold and the funds – £124,470 – were paid into her bank account.

In June 2010, Pocock informed Torbay Care Trust that the funds in the victim’s account had fallen to below £23,500 and requested financial help. This was queried by the trust, the police were informed and inquiries revealed that £75,380.45 had been withdrawn from the victim’s account.

Pocock admitted taking the money for his own purposes, after getting into financial difficulty and trying to use the funds to pay off his debts. He stated that he didn’t know the amount he had used and did not have records to show amounts. He did state that the Power of Attorney allowed him to do what he wished with the account and that he was to be the sole beneficiary of her will.

On April 15, 2011 Pocock was charged with making false representation to make or gain for self or another or to cause loss to another, or expose other to risk.

He admitted the offence and was charged and on October 27 last year at Bristol Crown Court, where he was subsequently jailed for nine months.

Nathaniel Moffat, left, and Thaberi Francis

A pair of teenaged muggers guilty of a string of violent knife-point robberies in Bristol have been jailed – after one victim’s five-year-old daughter wrote a letter to the judge.

Nathaniel Moffett, 16, and Thaberi Francis, 18, terrorised women and children in a spate of attacks in Fishponds and Speedwell - even punching a pregnant women in the stomach.

But the duo were named, shamed and jailed by Judge Simon Darwall-Smith after the pregnant woman’s five-year-old girl – who witnessed the attack – penned a heart-rending note.

He lifted the anonymity order preventing Moffett from being named because of his age – after the five-year-old girl said she was “terrified” at what happened and now dreaded going out.

Judge Darwall-Smith, sentencing the pair at Bristol Crown Court, jailed them for a total of 11 years.

He said: “These offences are the kind the public fear most – that is to see weapon robberies in public, at times when people are going about their normal business.

“In these exceptional circumstances the public has a right to know, and should know, what has been happening and what has transpired in respect of this 16-year-old and 18-year-old working together.”

The court heard it was Moffett, the younger of the pair, who took the lead in many of the attacks in Bristol during October and November last year. They often pulled out a knife to strike fear into their victims before getting away with mobile phones and cash.

The pair struck in public places in Fishponds and Speedwell, often in daylight – with apparently no fear of being caught. All of their victims were women, girls or boys.

James Cranfield, prosecuting, told the court that at about 7.15pm on October 22, a pregnant mum had been shopping at Morrison’s supermarket in Fishponds.

She had just put her five-year-old daughter in her car when the two robbers – who had watched her withdraw cash moments before – approached.

They covered their faces with scarves, rode bikes over to her and one grabbed her arm, pushed her up against the car and punched her in the stomach.

Although police could not gather enough evidence to charge Moffett with throwing the punch – Francis was positively identified as his accomplice.

In the handwritten letter to Judge Darwall-Smith, the victim’s daughter wrote: “To Judge, I’m terrified what happened at Morrison’s.

“The boy punched my mum and hit the baby in her tummy. The other boy made sure nobody was looking. Now I don’t like going shopping. I hope they don’t hurt any more people.”

Her mother, who was six months pregnant, also made a victim impact statement to the court.

She said: “At the time I was very upset, shocked and angry at the two boys, especially the one who grabbed my wallet and punched me when I was six-and-a-half months pregnant at the time.

“I was so concerned about the baby being injured and my five-year-old daughter, who was very upset and crying. When I want to go out she asks me not to, because she does not want to go and is worried for me.

“Every two or three days she asks if the men have been caught or are still out there. I think, if these two boys can do that to a pregnant woman with a small child, who else can they do it to?”

The court was told that on October 28 Moffett pulled out a rusty knife with an 8in blade as the pair robbed a 14-year-old boy of two mobile phones and 21p in change.

Three days later, Francis befriended and lured a 17-year-old girl to a cycle path in Fishponds, where he organised a bogus robbery in which he pretended to be a victim.

He handed over his silver chain and phone to the ‘gang’ – his own accomplices – and told the girl to give up her valuables.

A few days later the pair robbed a group of five young boys at knife-point on their way to school – getting away with mobile phones. The father of one of the victims later went to a pawn shop to try and trace the stolen phones.

He was shown CCTV and immediately recognised Moffett and Francis – who were still hanging around outside the shop, the court heard.

He confronted the pair and Moffett, who had previous convictions for attempted robbery and possessing a knife, pulled a blade on him.

Moffett, of Fishponds, Bristol, admitted five robberies. He also admitted three attempted robberies and three charges of possessing a bladed article.

Francis, of Eastville, Bristol, admitted five robberies, three attempted robberies, one count of possessing a bladed article and asked for three other offences, including street robbery and theft, to be taken into consideration.

Judge Darwall-Smith sentenced Francis to six years in jail and Moffett to five years in custody.

After the case DC Paul Hopes, of the police’s Bristol Robbery Team, said: “This series of robberies was committed by two young individuals who thought nothing of using a knife to threaten people in order to steal their property.

“Some of the offences involved physical violence, including punching a pregnant lady to the stomach in order to steal her purse in front of her five-year-old daughter.

“It is only by chance, I feel, that nobody has been seriously hurt. A street robbery is a traumatic, highly impactive crime for most victims. I can only hope that the sentence passed today brings some comfort to their victims.

“The Fishponds and Speedwell areas of the city are safer now that Nathaniel Moffett and Thaberi Francis are behind bars.”

Three people including a 15-year-old boy have been arrested by police in Bristol investigating badger baiting and hunting with dogs.

Officers from Avon and Somerset police swooped on four South Bristol addresses yesterday under the Wildlife and Countryside Act.

They rescued nine dogs from two properties in Filwood, one in Windmill Hill and one in Whitchurch, and seized a cache of weapons which included five air rifles, a hunting knife and a long bow.

Four of the dogs, which were lurcher and terrier breeds, had suffered injuries and were being tested by vets to see if they were caused by badgers.

Two male teenagers aged 15 and 17 and a 28-year-old man were arrested and are currently being held in custody.

The swoop was part of a joint investigation into badger baiting by the RSPCA and police, with the spectacle involving dogs fighting badgers banned nearly 180 years ago.

Sergeant Trevor Sweeting, from Avon and Somerset police, said: “We take offences against wildlife extremely seriously and working together with the RSCPA will continue to take action against the individuals responsible.

“I would urge anyone with any information on this type of crime to get in touch. All information received will be treated in confidence and acted upon.”

Badger baiting was made illegal in 1835 and is currently an offence under the Protection of Animals Act 1911. The sport involves badgers being dragged from their sett and then made to fight dogs to the death.

Badly injured badgers are sometimes ‘finished off’ with shotguns but are also left to be ripped apart by the aggressive dogs.

In recent years there has been an increase in the sport with campaign group Digging Out estimating 10,000 of the peaceful animals are caught, tortured or killed by huntsman with dogs each year.

Badger baiters have also adapted their game by breeding a new type of dog known as a bull lurcher – which packs the jaw power of a pit bull and the size and agility of a lurcher.

A school “failed on every level” to prevent a Bristol teacher from sexually abusing pupils in his classroom – despite concerns being raised for 14 years, a damning report found yesterday.

Nigel Leat, 51, was seen taking pictures of children on his phone, stripping down to his underpants with pupils and even experiencing an erection as he sat with a schoolgirl.

Fellow teachers found explicit images on his school camera and watched him share ‘adult’ jokes with pupils as young as six – who were also seen stroking his leg in class.

A total of 30 inappropriate incidents were witnessed by staff at Hillside First School in Worle, Somerset, but only 11 of these were reported to headteacher Chris Hood and none were passed on to the local education authority.

Leat received just one verbal warning about his behaviour, leaving him free to abuse children as young as six between 1996 and 2010, when a mother finally reported him to police.

The father-of-two was immediately arrested and later admitted 36 sexual offences including attempted rape, sexual assault and voyeurism. He was jailed indefinitely at Bristol Crown Court in June last year.

At least 20 children were victims of Leat’s abuse or witnessed it at the school, which caters for 128 children aged between four and eight.

One mother, who claimed her daughter was a victim of Leat, described him as “too cuddly”. The parent, who wished to remain anonymous, said her daughter did not initially complain of having been abused by Leat.

But she finally broke down and told of her abuse at his hands when he was jailed. Her claims were not part of the police investigation.

Speaking after the publication of the Serious Case Review into Leat’s crimes, she told the BBC: “There was always something there that wasn’t quite right. He was too cuddly, he was too touchy-feely. She had been touched. It was all in the classroom.

“She didn’t come out until after the court case because then she found that she was safe and he had been put away and the threats that had kept her quiet were gone.

“I honestly thought she wasn’t a victim. I spoke to her – I spoke openly with her – and she said ‘no nothing happened to me, Mummy’ and she said she was fine and she’d tell me. But when she confessed it to me she broke down and I broke down.

“I reassured her that she’d done the right thing. We obviously took it to the police and reported it.”

The Serious Case Review by North Somerset Safeguarding Children Board ruled the school had failed to protect children from his predatory advances for years.

Tony Oliver, chair of the board, said safeguarding procedures had not been followed, leaving children exposed to Leat’s sick abuse – which went unchecked for 14 years.

He said: “There was a failure at every level within the school. The fact that these incidents were reported within the school and not acted upon is incredible.

“Thirty incidents were of note in the school and only 11 of those went as a report and of that it was grossly negligent that those incidents were not reported to the local authority. There was an endemic culture of neglect.

“In terms of safeguarding, parents at the school rightly expected their children would be cared for and kept safe.

“Procedures were not followed and this prevented the correct action from being taken. Concerns were not followed up and this led to children not being protected from Nigel Leat. This was a gross failure of responsibility.”

Staff at the school first noticed Leat selecting girls who were “less academically able, emotionally needy or pretty” as his “favourites” a year after he started teaching there in 1996.

His behaviour was so well known that staff tried to prevent children likely to become his “star pupils” from being put into his Year Two and Year Three classes.

In 2004, a mother claimed Leat had been taking pictures of her daughter with a mobile phone but he simply denied the accusation and no action was taken.

Four years later, two children told staff Leat had been touching their legs and kissing one of them – causing her to be physically sick. A teacher twice reported him to the head.

Another member of staff saw Leat projecting an indecent image of an adult onto a wall during a lesson, warning pupils not to tell their parents what they had seen.

Leat was seen lifting up and groping young girls in the playground, tickling and cuddling pupils in class and sitting on cushions in a classroom with a schoolgirl, experiencing an erection.

Pictures of the  teacher posing inappropriately with one of his schoolgirls were also discovered.

The 11 reported incidents went to headteacher Mr Hood, who failed to pass them onto the local authority or inform the police. Official records show those who reported Leat’s behaviour were told they should not “insinuate things” or “accuse him of things”.

Mr Oliver added: “It was really obvious that what Nigel Leat was doing was grooming, but other staff were not aware of this.”

Leat was only arrested in December 2010, when a schoolgirl told her mother he abused her “every day apart from when the teaching assistant was in the classroom”.

A police investigation found the abuse took place in the school’s computer room, resource room, staff room and even during lessons with other pupils present.

The children were often in class or alone and clutching a cuddly toy when he abused them.

He often filmed the pupil’s harrowing ordeals using a camera provided by the school – storing hundreds of films on more than 20 memory sticks with the girls names on in his classroom and home.

Police who raided the home he shared with his wife, also a teacher, found more than 30,000 images – including 61 pictures and 21 movies at the most serious level, level five.

Three Ofsted inspections undertaken during the time Leat was abusing his students graded it as “good”.

A report in 2009 noted: “Pupils feel exceptionally safe and secure because they know that staff have their well-being at heart”.

Mr Oliver said: “Ofsted has stated that they are unable to provide the evidence on which these judgements are based because their records are not retained for more than six months.”

The Serious Case Review has outlined 35 recommendations to the school to protect children from future abuse. These have all been accepted and will be implemented.

Mr Oliver added: “I recommend that this serious care review is read by every head teacher, every chair of governor and safeguarding boards across the country because of the issues it raises and the recommendations it makes.”

The headteacher, Chris Hood, was fired from the school in December 2011.

David Amos, the new head of the school, yesterday said: “The children are happy, feel safe and secure and have responded very positively to the many broad learning opportunities offered.”

A Bristol MP has called on the government to rethink its policing policy, after it emerged there were more than 190 fewer Avon and Somerset officers on the beat.

Kerry McCarthy, the MP for Bristol East, was speaking after it emerged the number of police officers nationally has fallen to its lowest level in a decade.

Gloucestershire Chief Constable Tony Melville became one of the most senior officers to speak out against the Government’s budget cuts, warning his force was “in the middle of the perfect storm”.

“Never before in my 34 years of policing have I experienced an issue which has galvanised staff and officers in the way that this has and I feel compelled to respond,” he said.

There are now more than 6,000 fewer officers on the streets across England and Wales, at a time when personal crime, which includes theft and violence, has gone up by 11% – the biggest increase in a decade.

“People in Bristol will have real concerns about the loss of 193 officers here in our region,” said Ms McCarthy.

“The deepest cuts to policing budgets will hit this year and HMIC [Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary] estimates the loss of 16,000 officers through this Parliament. This is not acceptable. The Government needs to rethink the scale of police cuts and give the police the support they need to cut crime instead.

“I know people in Bristol value the work that local police officers do in our community and I would like to assure my constituents that I will be voting against the Government’s police cuts next month.”

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said David Cameron and Home Secretary Theresa May were “letting down communities and turning their backs on the police”.

But Policing Minister Nick Herbert said: “The strength and quality of frontline policing cannot, and should not, be measured simply in terms of officer numbers. What matters is not the total number of officers employed, but how officers are deployed.

“The best forces had twice the visibility and availability of those at the bottom of the table. So spending isn’t the sole issue.”

A 69-year-old man is due in court this morning, charged with sexually assaulting an elderly woman as she walked through Bedminster on New Year’s Day.

Malcolm Dearlove was arrested and charged by Bristol police, and will appear at Bristol magistrates court today.

The incident occurred in East Street, Bedminster at about 10.30am, when the victim aged 79 was walking along the street. She became aware of a person behind her and was then subjected to a sexual assault.

Following investigations and a media appeal, police officers arrested Mr Dearlove at the weekend. He was charged yesterday with sexual assault by touching.

The family of a pensioner from Bristol who died just hours after two burglars ransacked her home have called their early release from custody a “slap in the face”.

Liam Cunliffe and Louis Corbett, both 18, broke into the home of Pauline Reddick, 80, in Westbury-on-Trym, while she hid in an upstairs bedroom.

The victim, who had a history of high blood pressure in stressful situations, suffered a stroke later that day and died in hospital.

Cunliffe was given 27 months and Corbett two years in young offenders institutions after admitting burglary and theft last June.

But manslaughter charges against the pair were dropped – causing Cunliffe to boast on Facebook: “I’m only lookin (sic) at 6 months haa bring it on easy!”

The family of Mrs Reddick claimed yesterday, following an inquest into her death on Friday, that the pair were already out of custody on a home detention scheme.

Her son Andrew, 52, said: “The coroner said, on the balance of probabilities, mum died of a stroke but the burglary was a contributory factor. That means that Cunliffe and Corbett were responsible, in our opinion, for our mother’s death.

“We’ve been informed that both of them are out of custody already on home detention and we are appalled by this.

“During the trial, the judge said Cunliffe’s boasting on Facebook was a dagger through the heart of the family. We feel that the criminal justice system has done that to us by allowing these two people to be out so soon.

“We think this aspect of burglary law is wrong and should definitely be looked at. It’s no deterrent at all against people committing offences like this. It’s a complete slap in the face.”

Assistant deputy coroner Terence Moore, sitting at Flax Bourton Coroner’s Court, near Bristol, recorded a narrative verdict into Mrs Reddick’s death on Friday.

He said there was no “scientific link” between the burglary and the death, but “on the balance of probability”, the death and burglary were likely to have been connected.

Mrs Reddick died the same day Liam Cunliffe and Louis Corbett, broke into her home.

The pair snuck into her house at 3.30am on August 17, 2010. When Mrs Reddick was disturbed she thought her daughter was downstairs and called out.

The intruders fled and there was no evidence of a physical assault – but hours later Mrs Reddick suffered a brain bleed and died at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol.

Cunliffe, of Weston-super-Mare, Corbett, formerly of Brentry, Bristol, were sent to a young offenders’ institution for 27 months and two years respectively last June.

Mrs Reddick’s daughter Mary Hilton, 55, said: “We are quite disturbed that they are both out already. As far as the Criminal Justice System is concerned, we feel let down.

“We were pleased with the outcome because the narrative verdict does say that our mother’s death was linked to the burglary, which is what we have always believed.

“That gives us a certain amount of closure.”

Winterbourne View

Police in Bristol have charged another person in connection with allegations of abuse and neglect at the care home featured in a BBC Panorama documentary last year.

Neil Ferguson, aged 27, has been charged with two offences of ill treatment under the Mental Health Act. He is due to appear at North Avon Magistrates Court on February 2.

Ten people charged with ill treatment and neglect offences under the Mental Health Act appeared at North Avon Magistrates Court last month and were bailed to appear at Bristol Crown Court on February 9.

A man in his 40s remains on police bail, pending further enquiries, while another man, in his 20s, has been released without charge.

The investigation began in June last year after footage shot for Panorama showed disabled patients being slapped, kicked, sat on and drenched with water at Winterbourne View.

The five-week undercover BBC investigation filmed abuse at the privately-owned, purpose-built, 24-bed facility.

Andrew McDonnell, a leading expert in working with adults with mental disabilities, labelled some of the examples captured on film “torture”.

Castlebeck Care – which has 24 locations across the country – closed Winterbourne View on June 24, after transferring all patients to alternative services.

The controversial care home was found to have “systematically failed” to protect patients from abuse, a damning report ruled in July.

Eight men have been jailed for a total of more than 30 years for a drugs conspiracy in Bristol during the last three years.

A police investigation, codenamed Operation Shogun, led to officers recovering drugs including cocaine and cannabis with a street value in excess of £200,000.

Deshpal Singh, aged 30 was sentenced to eight years imprisonment, Gurnam Singh, also aged 30, was jailed for two years and Rajpal Singh, aged 31, was jailed for 30 months.

Kevin DeCarteret, 30, was handed a five year sentence, Benjamin Ware was sentenced to four years and Jarrad Beacham, 34, was sentenced to three and a half years.

Danny Clenshaw, 49, was given a three year sentence and Andrew Murray, 32, was sentenced to 30 months for his part in the conspiracy.

Detective Inspector Simon Wilstead said: “This criminality directly affected acquisitive crime in the Bristol area and the sentencing of these offenders should act as a deterrent to those thinking of dealing drugs in our city.

“We will continue to work with our neighbouring forces and nationally to reduce the harm caused by drugs and those involved in supply. The same goes for people who attempt to re-offend while in prison or shortly after they leave.

“I would like to thank the local community for their help in bringing this organised crime group to justice and ask that they continue to support our work.”

Peter Rowell (Picture: SWNS)

Former BBC Radio Bristol presenter has today admitted a string of sex attacks against five underage girls.

Father-of-one Peter Rowell, 53, admitted 12 counts of indecent assault, six counts of making indecent images and one count of possessing them.

The sexual assaults – all on girls under the age of 16 – took place between 1989 and the early 1990s.

Rowell, who presented BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Radio Somerset shows until his arrest last year, denied one charge of rape against a girl aged under 16.

Prosecutors accepted the not guilty rape plea as Rowell had admitted a linked sexual assault on the same victim.

The presenter, dressed in a dark grey suit, blue shirt and blue tie, stared ahead and clearly answered “guilty” as 19 counts against him were read at Bristol Crown Court.

He admitted possessing 464 indecent photographs on January 22 last year and making images – including a movie – on January 19 2009.

The images are classed across categories one, the lowest level, to four, the second most severe.

Rowell also pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, which were allowed to lie on file.

Ian Fenny, prosecuting, said: “This defendant accepts all the serious allegations against him.”

The married father went missing in March last year after failing to turn up for work at the BBC.

He was later found in the Lake District and detained under the Mental Health Act.

Police officers arrested Rowell, of Wickwar, in April on suspicion of indecent assault and he was subsequently charged with a list of 24 sexual offences.

His Honour Judge David Ticehurst adjourned the case until March 3, when Rowell will be sentenced for his crimes.

Defending, Edward Burgess, did not ask for any reports prior to sentencing and his client was remanded in custody.

He told the court: “He [Rowell] knows that a custodial sentence will follow.”

Mr Rowell, originally from Sunderland, presented the afternoon show on BBC Radio Bristol and BBC Somerset since 2010.

He was also a news bulletin reader on ITV West for more than 10 years and worked as a DJ for commercial radio station GWR in the 1980s.