Two Hull Fair workers guilty of child sex offences
Ashley Phillips-Dawson (left) and Ryan Edgar (right) targeted two teenage girls while working at Hull Fair last year
- Published
Two men have been found guilty of multiple child sex offences after they targeted two teenage girls while working at Hull Fair last year.
Ryan Edgar, 29, was found guilty of sexual activity with a child, rape, assault by penetration and two counts of assault. He had denied all the offences.
Ashley Phillips-Dawson, 19, was found guilty of assault and three counts of sexual activity with a child. He had also denied the offences.
Both men were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Hull Crown Court on 18 November.
While Edgar and Phillips-Dawson were working at the fair, they instigated conversation with two young girls, swapped phone numbers and encouraged the girls to befriend them.
Edgar, of Park Street, Hull, made requests for the girls to send him nude pictures and convinced both girls to go back to his flat with him and Phillips-Dawson, of Topcliffe Garth, Hull.
The girls were reported missing but were later found at Edgar's flat hiding in the bedroom after he lied about them not being there.
The men were arrested on suspicion of rape.
It was later found that Edgar had taken one of the girls to his bedroom, pinned her down and raped her, while Phillips-Dawson sexually assaulted the second girl downstairs.
Both men also subjected the girls to assaults as well as forcing them to take cocaine.
Det Con Megan O'Meara, who led the investigation, labelled the men as "sordid individuals" who "took advantage of two impressionable teenagers".
"I'd like to commend the two girls and their families for coming forward. It's not easy to take that step and report sexual crimes in the first place, but then they had to relive the trauma through a trial after both men refused to admit their reprehensible crimes."
She added: "It's because of the girls' bravery that both men have been held accountable for their crimes."
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