August 2014

Paedophile accountant jailed for internet relationship with 14-year-old girl

An accountant who contacted hundreds of girls on the internet and made one victim take “degrading and humiliating” pictures of herself was today jailed for five years and four months.

Eduard Van Buul (47) admitted two charges of inciting the 14-year-old to engage in sexual activity via his work’s computer.

Van Buul, of Canal Bridge Close, Loughborough, and formerly of Enderby, also pleaded guilty to 10 offences of possessing indecent images of children, 10 counts of distributing them to fellow paedophiles and three of possessing extreme pornography.  

Sentencing the married father-of-one at Leicester Crown Court, Judge Robert Brown said: “The victim was between 13 and 15 years old and over a period of 15 months you engaged in a relationship with her over the internet.

“You were frank with the police, accepting you’d been involved in on-line chats with hundreds of women of all ages, but the vast majority were under 16.

“With this particular girl you exchanged 311 e-mails.

“You’re a highly intelligent and manipulative man.

“She fell in love with you and you persuaded her to send you indecent images of herself.

“You sent her images of a sexual nature that became more extreme and violent as time went on.

“What she did to herself at your request amounted to humiliation and degradation.

“One of the concerning aspects is you didn’t see anything wrong with your conduct.

“It’s plain you need treatment.

“This involved planning, grooming and the targeting of a young child.

“I’m mindful that your abuse of this young girl was over the internet and not in person.”

He said: “The defendant toyed with her emotions in a very clever way and was grooming her.

“In her case, the trauma she’s suffered could hardly be greater.”

Victoria Rose, prosecuting, said Van Buul was arrested as a result of a covert internet investigation with officers posing on-line as a young girl, contacted by the defendant last April.

His online abuse of the 14-year-old came to light and the victim was “horrified” when she realised she had been duped.

Miss Rose said: “His chatting to her became more violent and he said he wanted to beat her so hard he would break her bones.”

In a victim impact report she claimed to feel “stupid” and blamed herself, resorting to self-harm with scissors.

Judge Brown said: “She has done nothing wrong, she’s the victim and mustn’t blame herself.”

Van Buul possessed 630 indecent images of children at level one, 50 at level two, 154 at level three, 189 at level four (including 72 videos) and 20 in the most serious category, level 5.

He distributed images to other paedophiles internationally, communicating with them in English, German and French and Dutch.

They involved 627 images at level one, 69 at level two, 244 at level three, 357 at level four and 47 at level five.

He had 16 images or videos of extreme pornography involving bestiality.

James Varley, mitigating, said Van Buul had no previous convictions and had since voluntarily paid to attend a course with the Lucy Faithful Foundation, where he confronted the error of his ways.

Mr Varley said: “He now realises how wrong he was and expresses a willingness and a desire to change.

“It’s acknowledged by him he made a victim of this 14-year-old girl.

“He escaped into a horrid world of fantasy.

“There was never any attempt to meet this girl or any of the people he talked to online.

“The psychological report says his offending was less sexually motivated and more driven by social or emotional deficits, in layman’s terms a form of loneliness.

“All the offending was on his work computer, not at home.”

He was sacked when his employers found out about the police investigation.

Det Sgt Paul Hawkins who heads Leicestershire Police’s Paedophile and Online Investigation Team, said: “Van Buul admitted to us that he had been communicating with children and paedophiles and accessing such material for more than 20 years.

“His offending appears to have been kept from his family, as there was no evidence to support that he accessed such material from home.

“The evidence presented in court against Van Buul is just a snap shot of his offending and that it is highly likely that there may be other victims out there – I would encourage them to come forward. Van Buul’s offending is sickening, as he thought nothing of distributing images of very young children being abused, children who were clearly in distress.