In December 2025, the Offender Database reported that Ian Develin, 64, of Rowan Road, Eckington, was sentenced at Sheffield Crown Court. Develin was jailed for a series of predatory indecent exposure offences committed in Endcliffe Park, following a sophisticated and determined investigation by the Sheffield Neighbourhood Crime Team.
The court heard that between November 2024 and July 2025, Develin established a pattern of targeting women in the park, where he would expose himself and commit indecent acts. To catch him, South Yorkshire Police launched a dedicated operation that included house-to-house enquiries, the installation of covert CCTV, and the deployment of both uniformed and plain-clothes patrols. Park rangers and community officers were also placed on high alert as detectives reopened previous reports to link the serial offending.
The breakthrough occurred in August 2025 when a quick-thinking victim provided a partial registration plate of a vehicle Develin used to flee the scene. Alert officers, working in tandem with council CCTV operators, tracked the car through Nether Edge, where Develin was intercepted and arrested. Although he remained silent during police interviews, several victims were able to positively identify him during formal identification parades, securing the evidence needed for prosecution.
At Sheffield Crown Court on December 23, 2025, Ian Develin was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison. He pleaded guilty to six counts of indecent exposure, one count of outraging public decency, and one count of using threatening, abusive, or insulting words or behaviour to cause harassment, alarm, and distress. The judge commended the victims for their bravery and the police for their “good old-fashioned” yet technologically assisted investigative work.
In addition to his custodial sentence, Develin has been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for ten years. He is also subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO), which includes strict conditions prohibiting him from entering Endcliffe Park and other specified public spaces. These measures are designed to ensure that the Sheffield Neighbourhood Policing Team closely monitors his behaviour upon his eventual release.
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