background and current in order
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7938024.stm
former teacher turned playground designer has been jailed for attempting to abduct a five-year-old girl.
Robert Bill, 54, of St Asaph, Denbighshire, was jailed for a total of six years at Caernarfon Crown Court.
North Wales Police said after the case that Bill would be closely watched when he is eventually released from prison. ....continues
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/7606312.stm
A 54-year-old teacher turned playground designer and builder has been convicted of attempting to abduct a five-year-old girl on a housing estate.
Robert Bill of St Asaph, Denbighshire, who denied the charge, was remanded in custody pending sentence.
Mold Crown Court was told he had an unhealthy interest in children and had cruised a Holywell housing estate where he tried to abduct the girl in 2007.
However, it was accepted that he had not actually touched the girl.
Bill first qualified as an art and design teacher in 1975 before setting up a playground equipment company called Play Quest in 1991.
He sold the company in 2001 and went into property development and decking work before later forming a company called Play Zone with his sons.
It was the second time Bill had stood trial for alleged child offences after a jury discharged him in June when it failed to reach a verdict.
 |  I knew that there was something wrong... it just was not normal Mother of potential abduction victim |
In this latest case, the court heard how he had been seen cruising for hours around a Holywell estate in his Ford Mondeo on the afternoon of 22 June, 2007 searching for a victim.
He was spotted by the mother of a girl as he stopped her daughter while the five-year-old walked home from a playground where she had been playing with friends.
"I knew that there was something wrong," she said. "It just was not normal."
Prosecutor Simon Medland said the mother saw Bill's dark-coloured estate car pull, apparently suddenly, from the right side of the road to the wrong side.
"It parked up on the pavement just in front of where she was going to walk," he said.
"The defendant got out, the door was opened and he engaged her in conversation.
"He asked her 'Have you seen a cat?' She replied no and at the same time her uncle arrived.
"He came across the scene, not himself knowing what was going on and sent her off home."
'Very fortunate'
Mr Medland said it was "very fortunate" her uncle appeared as Bill was about to abduct his niece off the street.
Bill accepted that he had stopped his car but said it had been to check a wheel and that he had not approached the child and could not recall having seen one.
He said that he was simply driving around the estate to try and release the brakes on his Mondeo estate which had been making a noise and he had stopped a number of times to check the vehicle.
Bill denied the charges of attempted abduction but the jury returned with a unanimous guilty verdict against him on Tuesday morning after taking more than five hours to come to a decision.
There were emotional scenes and crying up in the public gallery as the verdict was returned but Bill showed no reaction, apart from indicating to his family that he was all right.
Judge Philip Hughes told Bill to expect a prison sentence but, as he was a man of good character, he would need to have a pre-sentence report from the probation service before sentencing took place.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/8313043.stm
'Predatory' ex-teacher to appeal
A former teacher and church official jailed for attempting to abduct a five-year-old child is appealing against his convictions.
Robert Bill, 54, of St Asaph, Denbighshire, was told by a judge that he had an "unhealthy sexual and predatory interest in children".
He has also been convicted separately of indecently assaulting a young girl, and possessing 730 indecent images.
The case will be heard at the Court of Appeal in London later this year.
Bill, a senior Jehovah's Witness, taught art and design for 16 years before setting up a playground equipment company in 1991, then later a play company with his sons called Play Zone.
His trial at Mold Crown Court last year heard he had stopped on an estate in Holywell, Flintshire, in his Ford Mondeo on the afternoon of 22 June, 2007 and asked a five-year-old girl, returning home from a playground, if she had seen a cat.
Prosecutor Simon Medland said the incident had been seen by the girl's mother from her window, and the girl's uncle appeared before an abduction could take place.
Bill, previously a man of good character, had denied the charged and claimed he stopped his car to check a wheel and had not approached the child.
Indecent images
Mr Medland also said when Bill ran his playground equipment company he had been warned off a holiday park in Towyn by police after officials became concerned about his behaviour towards children.
Bill, who was put on the sex offender register for 10 years, was told by the judge he had an "unhealthy sexual and predatory interest" in children.
In separate trials, he had also been convicted of indecently assaulting a seven-year-old girl 10 years ago in St Asaph, and possessing 730 indecent images last September.
Bill was sentenced to four years in prison for the attempted abduction of the girl, 18 months for indecent assault and six months for possession of indecent images, which were said to be of the lowest category, and he was disqualified from working with children.
His appeal against the convictions will be heard on 13 November.