Pervert who followed women and squirted them with syringe of his bodily fluid jailed

Paul Sild, 34, has been jailed after following several women in Hartlepool and squirting them with a syringe full of his own semen, as police also found shocking pornography

A pervert who squirted a syringe of his own semen on 19 different women and children he followed in the street has been jailed.

Paul Sild, 34, targeted "young-looking females" and two teenagers, as well as a woman pushing a pram when he squirted the liquid down the back of their clothes around Hartlepool. The victims reported a wet feeling on the back of their leggings or coats and contacted police when they realised it was bodily fluid.

One initially thought it was bird droppings or Sild had thrown ice- cream at her. They all reported feeling alarmed at how close Sild was to them and how they had not heard him walking up behind them.

Paul Cleasby, prosecuting, said that the police began patrolling the streets where the victims had been walking when they were startled by Sild coming up behind them. Sild was spotted and arrested on suspicion of sexual assault. He had two syringes and a medicine bottle with him and he told the police the bottle contained Calpol, eggs, yoghurt and milk and was a “practical joke”. Forensic tests found the syringe contained Sild's semen.

Sild had hollowed out a book to hold his mobile phone so he could record his sexual assaults. Sick videos found showed he had squirted 11 more women, on top of the eight women who had contacted the police. CCTV captured him waiting in his car, until a woman he wanted to target walked past, before he began following them. Some of the sexual assaults that Sild filmed were in a car park and many of the victims have never been identified.

Police also found videos and images of children being sexually abused on Sild's phone and an image of an animal being sexually abused. One of the videos, which has been classified as category A - the most serious kind of child abuse - was 26 minutes long. Sild pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assaulting a child, 17 counts of sexual assault, two counts of making indecent images of children and the possession of extreme pornography.

In mitigation, Stephen Constantine told the court "there was no physical contact between any part of his body and the victims". He added Sild "wishes to apologise to each and everyone of his victims. If he could turn the clock back, he would."

Judge Jonathan Carroll told Sild: "You set about fulfilling your sexual fantasies, having carefully planned your approach. You would sit in your car, waiting for your target. Having got within touching distance, you would discharge your syringe to give the impression they had been ejaculated on.

"For these victims it felt degrading, it's disgusting, humiliating and violating. Every one of these women felt diminished and objectified by your behaviour. They feel dirty - a feeling that doesn't go away with a bath or a shower." The judge classified Sild as "a dangerous offender" and he was handed an extended sentence, totalling six-years. Sild will serve four-years six-months in prison and 18-months in the community. He was made the subject of an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

After the sentencing, Detective Sergeant Ian Boyes, from Hartlepool CID, added: “I am satisfied with the sentence handed to Paul Sild today, as it means he is no longer a danger to women in the town. Sild will be a Registered Sex Offender who will be monitored upon his release, to further protect vulnerable women and girls.

“Paul Sild had not committed offences prior to May 2024, and so the sudden escalation of his behaviour was extremely concerning and, as officers went through the content on his phone, it became clear he posed a danger.

“Sild committed sexual offences against women and teenage girls at random in the street and filmed them on his mobile phone. A number of those women may not have even known what had happened to them until afterwards, or until they got home. I hope today’s outcome provides some comfort to those victims.”