Ripon paedophile jailed for nine child sex offences

A convicted sex offender from Ripon has been jailed after he was caught arranging to rape a four-year-old girl during a police operation.

John Peter Noble, aged 36, of North Street, was given a 14-year sentence to include 10 years in prison and four years on licence for nine child sex offences. He was sentenced at York Crown Court on July 19 after pleading guilty on May 1. He was arrested following an investigation by North Yorkshire Police’s Online Abuse and Exploitation Team and the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit.

The offences included arranging to rape a child, sexual assault on a child, arranging to use a sex toy on a child, and arranging for a child to urinate in a glass for his own sexual gratification and consumption.

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The court heard how Noble had engaged online between March and April 2021 and made arrangements to meet with the intention to rape a four-year-old girl. Noble attended the pre-arranged meeting location in Ripon on April 30, when he was arrested by officers. During this investigation, there was never a real-life victim and no children were ever in any danger.

Noble was also charged with breaching conditions of his Sexual Harm Prevention Order by trying to arrange for the four-year-old girl and a baby to stay over at his home. The order was issued to him by York Crown Court on September 19, 2019, for indecent images of children, inciting or causing children to perform sexual acts, and sexual communication with a child offences.

Detective Sergeant Lee Allenby, from the exploitation team, said: “This was a particularly distressing case where Noble, a man who had already been caught by the police and put before the courts just a couple of years ago, had purchased items for a baby as well as sexual items to facilitate the abuse on the four-year-old girl. Noble simply could not resist acting on his sexual deviancy towards children. It is frightening to think that he was actively arranging to rape a child.”

DS Allenby added: “This was a successful operation where the extensive and strong collaboration between North Yorkshire Police’s Online Abuse and Exploitation Team and Yorkshire and Humber Regional Organised Crime Unit ensured Noble was brought to justice. It also showed the lengths of depravity that Noble would go to conduct child sex abuse. A long custodial sentence is a pleasing outcome in this case, and it sends a stark warning to other paedophiles who think they can operate with impunity online.”