Former Northumberland paedophile pleads guilty to further sex charges

Barry Radford, 54, appeared in front of Newcastle Crown Court where he admitted two extra charges of sexual assault.

Radford was sentenced to 12 years behind bars in May 2019 for a series of grooming offences, taking indecent images of one of his victims and possessing more than 1,000 images of children.

He had been wanted by authorities in Australia for sexual offences alleged to have been committed in 1999, before he moved back to the UK the following year.

Interpol contacted Northumbria Police in 2007 after the force stopped him for a driving offences.

But Radford never returned to Australia and the country's warrants for his arrest were revoked, leaving him free to prey on teens in Northumberland, where he was based at the time.

At his sentencing hearing last year, a court was told that pervert Radford had lured boys with drink and drugs, as well as buying them expensive clothing items during the sick grooming process.

Appearing before Newcastle Crown Court via a video link from custody, Radford spoke only to enter his guilty pleas, as well as one not-guilty plea to a third count of sexual assault which prosecutors confirm will lie on the file after he is sentenced.

Radford, of no fixed address but previously of Greystone Avenue, in Whickham, Gateshead, is due to be sentenced again on January 15 next year.

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