WELSH GOVERNMENT LAWYER AND POLICE OFFICER JAILED FOR SEX ATTACKS ON YOUNG CHILDREN
A former Welsh Government lawyer and a former police officer carried out horrific sex attacks on "a number of very young children".Police said their investigation into the two men "uncovered extremely disturbing child abuse evidence".
Lawyer John Guess, 43, preyed on young girls then shared pictures and videos of his abuse on the internet with other paedophiles.
Guess - who was a senior lawyer advising the Welsh Government on legal matters - abused two girls and filmed the attacks to share online.
A court heard he also took photos of children getting changed at swimming pools or on the beach and up the skirts of girls as they walked to school.
Prosecutor James Wilson said: "He has a long standing sexual interest in young girls.
He was deeply involved with other like-minded individuals on social media and they shared child abuse images.
He was part of a network of like-minded individuals who would use messenger groups and there were a number of discussions about their shared interest in abusing children." Mr Wilson said that in one chat Guess - also known as John Ryan-Guess - was sent a picture of two young girls in swimsuits by another paedophile.
He replied: "That first one would be great to rape".
Guess, formerly of Cardiff but later of Trowbridge, Wiltshire, is a named author on Welsh Government reports as a legal advisor in his role as a senior lawyer.
Mr Wilson said: "He had the intellect and capacity to seek help but he did not." Cardiff Crown Court heard a victim impact statement from a mother of one of Guess’s victims, who said her daughter was having to see a therapist to deal with the effects of his crimes.
She said: "I was initially numb with the shock and horror - that numbness has been replaced with considerable sadness and anger.
He was able to prey upon my daughter." Guess admitted 36 charges including sexual assault of a child, assault by penetration, possessing and distributing indecent images of children, inciting a child into sexual activity, aiding and abetting a child into sexual exploitation and possessing extreme porn.
Peter Rouch QC, defending, said: "These offences were opportunistic and there was no significant degree of planning.
His life is in shreds.
He has lost his professional status and his employment prospects." Guess - of Trowbridge, Wiltshire - was sentenced to 26 years and told he must serve at least 20 of them behind bars.
The sentencing judge, Eleri Rees, told him: "You have held a perverted interest in young girls since you were a young man.
Over the course of 10 years you harvested a large collection of indecent images.
They were organised into collections in a considered and calculated fashion.
You have become a sexual predator, taking advantage of any opportunity to take indecent images of children.
Had you not been arrested it would only be a matter of time and opportunity that you would proceed to rape children.
You seek to corrupt children by inciting them to engage online in sexual activity for your own gratification.
You have become accustomed to ignoring the normal social boundaries and taboos which might inhibit others." A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "The individual concerned is no longer employed by the Welsh Government."
