Wigan man amongst eight convicted of sex offences against underage girls

Eight men have been convicted of sex offences against underage girls after grooming them on social media.

The men were convicted following a trial at Liverpool Crown Court on Tuesday 11 February 2025.

The group, who groomed and engaged in sexual activity with underage girls, including one girl on numerous occasions over a substantial time period, were found guilty of a range of sexual offences including rape, sexual assault and sexual activity with a child under 16.  

The offences took place in the Blackrod area of Bolton from 2016 to 2018.

The victim-survivors in relation to this case were girls aged between 13 and 15, with one of the victim-survivors documenting numerous instances of sexual contact with several of the men over approximately 18 months.

The men would prey on teenage schoolgirls by getting to know them from a local community centre where they would hang out, and by messaging them via social media platforms.

They plied some of the victims with alcohol and drugs. Some of the men would send indecent images of their private body parts to the girls as well as initiating sexual conversations with them on messaging platforms.

The group were friends of Cory Barrett and would visit his main home address of the time, a rented property in Blackrod, where several, but not all, of the offences took place.

Corey was a regular drug-user and would often bring his friends over to the house where they would hangout, use drugs and drink alcohol.  
After a while, some of the friends would stay over at the address. Both Jack Poulson and Daniel Flatters began to stay over at the address on a regular basis.

Witnesses would describe how the condition of the property deteriorated after visitors punched holes through the internal doors, smashed lightbulbs and even urinated in the corners of some of the rooms.

The offences eventually came to light after an incident involving one of the victims and Daniel Flatters.  

On Sunday 17 June 2018, the victim received text messages and phone calls from Flatters asking her to come over.

She went over to an address in Blackrod and upon arrival, Flatters began hugging her and was clearly intoxicated. They went upstairs to the box room where he had sexual intercourse with her.

Flatters then left to get a drink from downstairs and returned with a pair of car keys, not belonging to him.

The pair left the house and Flatters sped off with the 15-year-old girl travelling as a passenger. He drove round a bend, swerving to miss an oncoming vehicle, and crashed the car into a row of parked vehicles.  

The impact set the airbags off and caused a cut to the girl’s eye.

On waking up for school the next day her eye was badly swollen. She initially told her mother and teachers at school that she had fallen out of bed when they asked.

Her friends became suspicious and told teachers of their concerns which led to the victim confessing and other victims coming forward.

The police were notified and investigations commenced.

On Tuesday 11 February, eight men were found guilty of the following offences:

Daniel Flatters, (13/05/1990), of Bolton, was found guilty of four counts of sexual activity with a child under the age of 16. Ahead of the trial, he entered guilty pleas to Supply Class A Cocaine and Aggravated TWOC.

Jack Poulson, (25/04/1993), of Bolton was found guilty of two counts of rape, five counts of sexual activity with a child under 16, one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, one count of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and one count of sexual communications with a child.

James Fitzgerald, (05/06/1988), of Bolton, was found guilty of one count of sexual assault by penetration.

Cory Barrett, (08/10/00), of Wigan, was found guilty of three counts of rape, one count of oral rape and one count of sexual assault by penetration.

Richard Haslam, (16/02/1989), of Bolton, was found guilty of two counts of rape, one count of oral rape, two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16 and one count of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Brandon Harwood, (20/09/1999), of Bolton, was found guilty of one count of rape, one count of attempted oral rape and one count of sexual activity with a child under 16.

Harvie Aspden, (11/12/1999), of Bolton, was found guilty of two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16.

Elliott Turner, (05/06/1988), of Bolton, was found guilty of two counts of sexual activity with a child under 16.

The men have been remanded into custody until a date is decided for sentencing.

Detective Inspector Samantha Parry, Bolton CID, said: “Thank you to all the brave young women who took the difficult step to come forward and report this abuse to the police.  

“Thanks to your courage, you have helped remove a group of dangerous depraved sexual offenders from the streets of Blackrod and Bolton.

“I hope today’s verdicts bring a sense of justice for the victims-survivors and reassurance for the community.

“I’d like to take this chance to reach out to all victim-survivors of sexual abuse and let them know that we are here to listen to you when you are ready and will work at a pace that is comfortable for you.  

“We take sexual offences very seriously, no matter the passage of time since it took place.”