Two Hull Fair staff guilty of child sex offenses

Two men who targeted two teenage girls while working at Hull Fair last year have been found guilty of multiple counts of child sexual assault.

Ryan Edgar, 29, was found guilty of sexual intercourse with a child, rape, assault by penetration and two counts of assault. He denied all the accusations.

Ashley Phillips-Dawson, 19, was found guilty of assault on a child and three counts of sexual activity. He also denied the accusations.

Both men were remanded in custody and will be sentenced at Hull Crown Court on November 18.

While working at the fair, Edgar and Phillips-Dawson chatted with two teenage girls, exchanged phone numbers and encouraged the girls to befriend them.

Edgar, of Park Street, Hull, demanded the girls send him nude pictures and persuaded both girls to return to his flat with him and Phillips-Dawson, of Topcliffe Garth, Hull.

The girls were reported missing but were later found hiding in Edgar’s bedroom apartment after he lied about them not being there.

The men were arrested on suspicion of rape.

It was later revealed that Edgar took one of the girls to the bedroom, pinned her down and raped her, while Phillips-Dawson sexually assaulted the second girl downstairs.

Both men subjected the girls to both assault and forced them to take cocaine.

Det Con Megan O’Meara, who is investigating, described the men as “dirty individuals” who “took advantage of two impressionable young people”.

“I would like to congratulate the two girls and their families for coming forward. Taking this step and reporting sexual crimes is not easy in the first place but they then had to relive the trauma through a trial when both men refused to confess to their reprehensible crimes.”

He added: “Thanks to the girls’ bravery, both men were held accountable for their crimes.”

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