Two people, Zoe Williams and Thomas Surtees, Newcastle Paedophiles, were imprisoned: a primary school teacher and her boyfriend, who recorded themselves raping and sexually assaulting a young child.
Their victim’s mother told Newcastle Crown Court that Zoe Williams, 30, and Thomas Surtees, 37, were “monsters”.
The depraved couple’s, Zoe Williams and Thomas Surtees, recordings were unearthed following Surtees’s arrest for sexually abusing young teens.
Thomas Surtees was sentenced to serve 15 years after admitting sixteen offences. Zoe Williams admitted six offences and will spend ten years imprisoned.
Both Zoe Williams’ & Thomas Surtees’ phones contained the recorded child abuse videos, with one phone also featuring sexual images of other youngsters as young as two.
The court also heard graphic communications whereby Zoe Williams urged her lover to engage in more abuse.
Judge Julie Clemitson said Zoe Williams was also “titillated” and helped Surtees by using her primary school teaching post.
The victim’s mother said in a statement presented to the court that the couple’s conduct was “unforgivable” and that they were “just sorry they had been caught” rather than “not remorseful”.
Representing Thomas Surtees of Bellshill Close in Wallsend, Jeremy Barton claimed his client was “very regretful for the horrible things he has done”.
For Zoe Williams, Lorraine Mustard reported her client claimed to have “no sexual interest in children” but had followed Surtees’ directions.
Ms Mustard claimed it had been a “rocky” relationship, including physical violence, that Zoe Williams had been “permissive when acting at the behest” of her partner, adding she wanted to “curry favour with him” and not cause “displeasure”.
Colleagues of Zoe Williams, of The Gables in Widdrington, Northumberland, had cautioned her that Surtees “appeared to be bad news”. Ms Mustard added.
The judge declared the couple, Zoe Williams and Thomas Surtees, “fuelled by drink or drugs”, and she found it “very hard to credit” that neither “shared an interest in paedophilia”.
The court added the teacher “wholely embraced” Thomas Surtees’ misconduct and “even encouraged [him] to escalate his behaviour” while she accepted Zoe Williams was “besotted” with her lover of several years.
Before starting her teaching career, the court added that Zoe Williams was an “intelligent young woman” with a degree in crime investigation and psychology.
“With that background, you will have understood only too well the harm sexual abuse causes children,” the judge told Williams.
She said a pre-sentence report written about Zoe Williams said she was “ashamed but lacking any real remorse or empathy”.
The judge said Thomas Surtees had wanted to be a police officer before becoming a business analyst but fell into cocaine use (cocaine use does not cause someone to develop child molestation urges that are not already there).
Both admitted multiple offences, including sexually assaulting a child aged under 13 and engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
The judge said she was “satisfied” both Zoe Williams and Thomas Surtees were a “danger” and presented a “significant risk of causing serious harm to children” in the future.
Zoe Williams and Thomas Surtees were told they would be made subject to a sexual harm prevention order and “notification requirements” for the rest of their lives and must serve an extended licence period of five years upon their release from prison.
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