Paedophile who stabbed girl loses sentence appeal

A paedophile who repeatedly stabbed a 15-year-old girl after hounding her for sexual selfies has lost an appeal against the length of his prison term.

Ellis Dismore, 25 and from Middlesbrough, was jailed for 38 years with a further five years on extended licence at Teesside Crown Court in January after being found guilty of 26 offences including attempted murder.

Over eight years he befriended nine girls aged between 13 and 15 on social media before blackmailing and threatening them into performing sex acts, going on to try and kill one of them when she stopped.

Rejecting his claim that his sentence was too long, judges at the Court of Appeal in London said he could have had a life sentence.

Paul Abrahams, representing Dismore, who appeared via videolink from HMP Wakefield, said there was no doubt his client merited a lengthy prison term but the crown court judge had gone too far beyond the upper limit of 35 years as set in sentencing guidelines.

In response for the prosecution, Shaun Dodds said the judge had been "justified" as Dismore's crimes were "extreme indeed".

Giving the appeal court's decision, Mr Justice Sheldon said Dismore created fake profiles and posed as a "friendly teenage boy" of similar ages to his targets, but the "initial friendliness" soon turned "very nasty".

He would pressure the girls into performing sex acts, threatening to rape them, attack their families and in one case saying he would stab one of his victim's five-year-old sibling if they did not comply, the court heard.

Dismore would then blackmail the girls into sending more images of themselves by threatening to release pictures if they refused, the judge said.

He went through with that threat by posting images of a girl on social media causing her "immense anxiety and embarrassment", the court heard.

His offending culminated in the "almost fatal stabbing" of his ninth victim who had "spurned the offender and faced his wrathful response", Mr Justice Sheldon said.

The girl was repeatedly stabbed in the back as she walked home from school on 22 June 2023, with her life only being saved by the intervention of a passing motorist.

Dismissing Dismore's appeal, Mr Justice Sheldon said the case was so serious his lengthy sentence was appropriate.

Dismore sexually abused and manipulated girls for years, the judge said, adding while he may have been a teenager when he started, the paedophile's offending escalated and only became more entrenched as he reached adulthood.

The judge also said it was a "clear case" where Dismore, who stalked his victims and used information he gleaned to add to their terror, could have been given a life sentence.

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