13 paedophiles jailed or punished by courts so far this year
| Published date | 03 May 2021 |
| Publication title | WalesOnline (Wales) |
Most have been jailed, and will also face years on the sex offenders register.
Liam Tripp
Liam Tripp
A vile paedophile who raped an 11-year-old girl after grooming her by pretending to be a 15-year-old boy online has been jailed for three years.
Liam Tripp, 34, contacted his victim on a social media app and was sent indecent pictures of her in November 2019 before he raped her, a court heard.
Hull Crown Court heard how Tripp sexually abused the 11-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, after targeting her online.
His campaign of abuse came to an end in April 2020 when the National Crime Agency NCA established an internet account linked to Tripp had been downloading indecent pictures of children.
Officers arrested him at his home in Hull, East Yorks., on April 17, seized his electronic devices and found more than 5,000 indecent pictures of children on his phone.
Tripp, who is unemployed, admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, possession of prohibited images, engaging in sexual communication with a child and sexual activity with a girl under 13.
He was jailed for three years, was put on the sex offenders register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order restricting his use of the internet.
Sara Barrett, NCA operations manager, said: “Tripp had gone to considerable lengths to set up a fake online profile and target the victim who we safeguarded.
“Offenders who view child sexual abuse are causing ever more victims to be abused and condemning them to years of extreme trauma and suffering.
“Every child in an abuse image is revictimised when the photograph is viewed or shared.
“There is no greater priority for the NCA than protecting children from sexual abuse.”
Tripp’s Samsung Galaxy mobile phone contained 689 category A abuse images of children, 1,110 category B images, 1,744 category C and 19 prohibited images of children.
As he was arrested Tripp said: “I knew this was coming. I hate myself for it.
“It’s me you want, and my phone is what you’re after. I hate myself.”
Another mobile phone of his contained 13 category A, 18 category B and 911 category C images.
In an interview with NCA investigators Tripp said he had pretended to be a teenage boy online to receive images from the 11-year-old girl in November 2019.
NCA officers arrested him a second time on 12 November 2020 after he had obtained a new laptop he used to continue offending.
As he was arrested he said: “I didn’t learn my lesson did I”
The laptop contained 128 category A abuse files, 83 category B and 195 category C.
He also had a computer tower containing 182 prohibited images.
David Wilson
David Wilson
An online predator who targeted thousands of boys on Facebook and tricked hundred into sending him sexual videos and images of themselves has been jailed for 25 years.
Labourer David Wilson, 36, approached more than 5,000 boys worldwide by pretending to be multiple teenage girls and blackmailed some victims into abusing younger siblings or friends and sending him the footage.
He is one of the most prolific child sexual abuse CSA offenders the National Crime Agency has ever investigated.
Wilson, of Norfolk, terrorised his young victims who were terrified and felt they had no choice but to do what he demanded. Some were so traumatised they spoke of wanting end their lives.
At Ipswich Crown Court, Wilson, was sentenced after admitting 96 sex offences against 52 boys aged from just four to 14 between May 2016 and April 2020.
Judge Rupert Overbury said in his 40 year career Wilson's offending was among the worst he had seen.
He told Wilson: "You demonstrated a complete and utter disregard for every child you manipulated irrespective of their age.
"There was a sadistic element to your offending including blackmail and a relentless targeting of vulnerable children who often pleaded for mercy."
He added: "You are in my judgement an extremely dangerous individual who has a perverted and sadistic sexual interest in young boys. On the facts presented to the court you can properly be described as a serial paedophile."
Using unregistered phones, Wilson scoured social media sites for vulnerable victims.
To deceive young boys into believing they were talking to a teenage girl, he created a spider’s web of fake girls’ identities. He sent them sexual images of young women from the internet in exchange for the boys sending him videos and images of themselves.
He built up trust with his victims before blackmailing them into sending him more extreme footage of themselves – and in some cases, of them abusing younger siblings or friends.
On some occasions Wilson then distributed the images to victims’ friends.
Tony Cook, NCA Head of CSA operations, said: “David Wilson has absolutely devastated not only his victims but the families they belong to.
“He has caused heart-breaking suffering and huge disruption to the lives of those he targeted from the problems his abuse caused.
“Wilson preyed on their vulnerability. They genuinely believed they were talking to a teenage girl who was interested in them.
“He groomed, bullied and blackmailed young boys into sending him indecent images and in some instances performing horrific abuse on themselves and others. Despite knowing their utter anguish and despair he ignored their pleas for him to stop.
“He retained indecent material and threatened to share it among victims’ friends so he could maintain control of them.
“Sadly there are many offenders out there like Wilson who use the internet to hide their real identities, using convincing personas to groom children.
“I urge parents to speak with their children about who they communicate with online and what they share. People need to understand this can happen to anyone.
“Many boys’ parents in this case spoke of their disbelief that their children had become victims.
“It’s vital children know they can turn to a parent or trusted adult for help without blame.
“I commend the victims’ bravery and their families for helping us put Wilson in jail.”
The NCA launched its investigation into Wilson in 2017 after Facebook identified in June and July 20 accounts of boys ranging from 12 to 15 years old, who had sent indecent images of themselves to an account seemingly belonging to a 13-year-old girl.
The material was forwarded to the NCA for investigation by NCMEC – the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children – which receives industry referrals before disseminating them to law enforcement agencies to investigate.
NCA officers arrested Wilson in August 2017 and found a phone used to commit some of the offences hidden in his room.
Officers also uncovered other key evidence against him: IP addresses used to commit the offences resolved to his house; CCTV footage of him buying a top-up voucher for a ‘pay as you go’ phone number linked to one of the fake Facebook accounts.
There was insufficient evidence to charge Wilson at the time and he was released on bail for the complex investigation to continue.
NCA investigators used huge amounts of communication data to begin linking the offending profiles and ultimately prove Wilson was the person responsible.
Between November 2017 and January 2018 NCMEC made dozens more referrals.
The NCA uncovered a web of false social media identities that the child sex offender used to commit his crimes.
Wilson used consistent tradecraft to avoid detection.
Investigators arrested him a second time in January 2018 but they still lacked sufficient evidence for him to be charged and had to use a legal process known as an ILOR International Letter of Request via the Crown Prosecution Service to acquire the necessary missing evidence from social media companies such as Facebook in America.
This process took nearly two years to complete and return to the investigation team.
In all Facebook material made up 90 referrals from NCMEC to the NCA.
Their information was crucial to Wilson facing justice – though Facebook...
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