January 2021

Worker found indecent images of children after accessing man’s computer

A man living in supported accommodation was found to have downloaded indecent images of children after he allowed a worker to access his computer, a court heard.

Norwich Crown Court heard that the worker with his permission  was helping Lewis Ryan, 22, with documents on his laptop when she was shocked to find an email involving indecent images.

Sheilagh Davies, prosecuting, said police were contacted and there were found to be eight images in the most serious category as well as prohibited images of children.

She said  Ryan at first tried to claim he had not downloaded the images, but later admitted the offences.

Ryan, of London Road, King’s Lynn, admitted downloading indecent images between July and September 2019 and was given a nine-month jail term, suspended for two years

He was also ordered to do 200 hours unpaid work.

Ryan was also put on the sex offenders register for 10 years and made subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

February 2020

Family evicted after sex attacker fled to Spain

The former partner of a man who admitted sexual offences against a child has described herself and her children as ‘victims’ of his crimes.

Norwich Crown Court heard Peter Futter, 41, became sexually involved with a girl, then 15, after Snapchat conversations with the teen, who cannot be named for legal reasons, started off as “benign” but became more “inappropriate” and sexualised.

Nicholas Bleaney, prosecuting, said sexual contact between the two later followed, on more than one occasion, before the victim eventually spoke out about what happened.

Futter was initially arrested in March 2017 but denied any wrongdoing and claimed he meant to send the messages to a woman he was having an affair with.

He later had to be extradited from Spain to the UK.

Mr Bleaney said Futter initially said he was in Tenerife without a passport but that “clearly wasn’t the case” and he was extradited to face trial.

But shortly before his trial, which was due to take place last December, Futter, of no fixed address, admitted three counts of sexual activity with a child between June 2016 and March 2017.

He also admitted inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

The victim did not want her statement read out in court ahead of sentencing on Monday (February 3) but Futter’s former partner provided a statement which detailed the impact his arrest had on her and her children.

She said that they were indeed victims of her ex-partner’s behaviour in that after his arrest they were “evicted from our family home”.

She said it was done in “the most cruel and callous way possible” and left both her and her children homeless and said they were subject to slurs from the community that they must have known what he was up to.

She added: “I would hope that Peter Futter realises now the devastation and impact his behaviour has had on what was once a happy family.”

Judge Stephen Holt sentenced Futter to a total of 47 months in prison, made him the subject of an indefinite sexual harm protection order (SHPO) and put him on the sex offenders’ register for life.

January 2021

Sleepover paedophile, 43, given ‘one more chance’ after attacking girl, 15

A sex offender who attacked a 15-year-old girl at a sleepover after plying her with gin has been spared jail and given “one more go” at changing his life.

The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was sleeping over at a house when she was sexually assaulted by Oliver Sharp, 43.

At Norwich Crown Court on January 7, 2021, Sharp pleaded guilty to three sexual offences, including sexual activity with a child under the age of 16. 

The man had picked up the two 15-year-old girls from Anglia Square on July 3, 2019 before driving them to his former home address in Gipsy Close, Norwich.

Norwich Crown Court heard how Sharp left the house at 9pm to buy a litre of gin for the teenagers.

In her victim impact statement, the girl said she “didn’t want to drink too much” but Sharp “kept pouring drinks”.

Once her friend fell asleep, Sharp began trying to kiss the 15-year-old, and sexually assaulted her.

Phillip Far, prosecuting, said she had said “no” multiple times.

Once the girls went upstairs Sharp continued to call and text the victim multiple times, asking her to come downstairs.

Recorder Simon Taylor said: “Even once she did manage to escape your clutches by going upstairs you continued pestering her for sexual activity.

“She was so afraid of you that she said she kept slapping her friend to wake her up so that when you came upstairs her friend would be awake.”

The next day the victim confided in her friend, who helped her tell her parents. Sharp was arrested and interviewed on July 7, 2019.

The defendant had already been convicted of a sexual offence against a child in 2005, which was “similar” to the new offences according to the prosecution.

Sharp was given a two-year prison sentence, suspended for two years by Recorder Taylor.

He told Sharp: “You supplied them with drink and deliberately in my estimation got them drunk which took context in them playing a game on their mobiles which involved sexualised questions.

“While they were answering those questions, you took part with commenting on their answers and feeding them alcohol laced with lemonade.

“Your victim experienced you assaulting her. She said no repeatedly but you ignored it, she tried to get out of the way on the sofa but space didn’t really permit it.”

Sharp was also ordered to take part in 60 sessions of the Horizon programme for sexual offenders, which aims to stop defendants from reoffending.

Sharp was also ordered to complete 200 hours of unpaid work, and take part in 30 days of rehabilitation.

He was given a sexual harm prevention order and will remain on the sex offender register for a further 10 years.

January 2021

Man found with indecent images of children after handing computer to police

A man was found to have downloaded indecent images of children after he handed in his own computer to police, a court heard.

Samuel Smith, 30, downloaded about 300 images including 141 in the most serious category.

He also had downloaded 157 extreme pornographic images and 66 prohibited images.

John Morgans, prosecuting at Norwich Crown Court, said the case was rather unusual in that Smith had voluntarily handed in his laptop to Norfolk police on April 9,  last year.

He said that some images were found on his laptop and a further search of other devices, in September, last year, found images on another phone and second laptop.

Mr Morgans said that Smith was co-operative with police about the offences.

Smith of Robin Kerkham Way,  Clenchwarton, near King’s Lynn, admitted downloading indecent images of children and possessing extreme pornographic images and prohibited images of children on April 9 last year.

The court heard he had a previous conviction for downloading indecent images of children in 2011.

Judge Katharine Moore imposed a 10 month jail sentence suspended for 21 months so he can get the help he needs.

She said that was the best way to protect the public so he did not re-offend.

Smith was also placed on the sex offender’s register for 10 years and made subject of a sexual harm prevention order.

He was also banned from working with children.

February 2021

Sex offender who posed as girls online jailed for 25 years

In some cases he threatened to share indecent images of the boys online unless they sent him footage of them abusing younger siblings or friends.

As many as 500 victims sent him images

November 2020

Man admits 96 child abuse charges against 51 boys after pretending to be teen girl

A labourer who pretended to be teenage girls online has admitted 96 sexual abuse offences against 51 boys aged four to 14.

David Nicholas Wilson, 36 of King’s Lynn, Norfolk created and used a series of fake identities to contact the victims on Facebook and other social media.

He is one of the most prolific child sexual abuse offenders the National Crime Agency has ever investigated.

It took a court clerk around 30 minutes to read all of the charges out to the 36-year-old and for him to enter guilty pleas to each in turn.

The offences included causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to watch a sexual act, and arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child.

Wilson also admitted making unwarranted demands for indecent images of a child with menace, threatening to post an indecent image on social media if they did not comply.

Using unregistered phones, he sent sexual images of young females 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 he then distributed the images to victims’ friends.

He showed no compassion even when some victims begged him to stop.

Such was the level of suffering Wilson inflicted several children on the indictment spoke of wanting to end their lives.

The offences were committed between May 2016 and April 2020.

At Ipswich Crown Court, Judge Rupert Overbury adjourned the case for sentencing on Tuesday, January 12 to allow time for the Probation Service to prepare a report “to deal with dangerousness”.

He told Wilson: “You have been advised that you may receive an extended sentence.

“I would think that’s highly likely but I will listen to everything put before me very carefully.

“I won’t pre-judge anything at all.”

Wilson was remanded in custody, with details of the prosecution case to be opened at the sentencing hearing.

A National Crime Agency investigation unearthed evidence of as many as 500 victims sending him images – and of Wilson contacting at least 5,000 children in the UK and abroad.

In June and July 2017, Facebook identified 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.

The NCA uncovered key evidence against Wilson:

• IP addresses used to commit the offences resolved to his house;

• CCTV footage of him buying a top-up voucher for a phone number linked to one of the fake Facebook accounts;

• When he was arrested in August 2017 the phone used to commit some of the offences was hidden in his bedroom.

He was released on bail for the investigation to continue.

The NCA uncovered a web of false social media identities he used to commit offences.

NCA investigators used huge amounts of communication data to link the offending profiles and ultimately prove Wilson was responsible.

Between November 2017 and January 2018 NCMEC made dozens more referrals. In all, Facebook material made up 90 referrals from NCMEC to the NCA.

In order to obtain the evidence from relevant Facebook, Snapchat, Google and Instagram accounts, an International Letter of Request (ILOR) was prepared and submitted to US authorities via the Crown Prosecution Service.

This was an extremely involved legal process that took close to two years to complete.

The NCA received the relevant evidential material in October 2019.

It contained more than 250,000 messages to analyse and the scale of Wilson’s offending became clear with victims across the UK and in America and Australia.

In April this year Wilson was charged with three counts and remanded. In August while in prison he was charged with the remaining counts.

David Wilson is a prolific offender who has caused heartbreaking suffering to some of the boys and their families in this case.

He was able to gain the boys’ trust and exploit their use of social media using well practiced techniques to convince them he was genuinely a young female who was interested in them.

He then manipulated or forced them to send images of themselves or other children which he craved.

He knew the anguish victims were suffering but ignored any pleas from them to stop until he got what he wanted from them.