Latest Offenders York

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A 39 year old man has been jailed for 18 years after he spiked a woman’s drink, dragged her to his hotel room and raped her.

Following a British Transport Police Investigation dubbed Operation Milkwort, Siyabonga Dunga, of Sweet Street, Holbeck, Leeds, was found guilty of committing an offence with the intention of committing a sexual offence, rape, kidnap and administering a substance with intent by a jury at Leeds Crown Court on Friday 19 April.

He was jailed for 18 years today, Thursday 13 June and must sign the sex offenders register indefinitely.

The court heard how, in the early hours of Saturday 21 January 2023, Dunga gave the woman a drink at the Back Room Bar in Leeds and shortly afterwards she became disorientated and confused.

On the pretence of coming to her aid, Dunga helped the woman outside to get some air and in a bid to separate her from her friend, asked the friend to go back into the club telling her the woman had left her phone inside.

In fact, he had the woman’s phone in his pocket.

While the friend was inside looking for the phone Dunga took the woman, who could not walk unaided, back to a nearby hotel.

CCTV from the hotel shows the woman collapse and become unresponsive while Dunga dragged her back to his room where he carried out the rape.

Investigating officer DC Andy Jones said: “Dunga is a dangerous and calculating sexual predator who is thankfully now off the streets.

“By her own admission the woman has been left a shell of her former self. Her last memory is of being in the club and saying to her friend she wanted to go home before waking up in a hotel room with Dunga.

“I commend her bravery and strength throughout the investigation – she has supported us every step of the way despite struggling with the trauma which she still endures. She remained insistent that this should not happen to anyone else.

“The events of that night continue to haunt her and it is hoped that now Dunga is behind bars where he belongs it will help in some small way to her getting her life back.

“We take all reports of sexual offences seriously and I hope this sends a strong message to offenders that we will do everything in our power to ensure that justice is served.”

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Steven Kerley, 36, of Park View, Brierley, in Barnsley, has been sent to prison for a series of offences including sexual assault.

Officers responded to a report of a sexual assault of a 25-year-old woman in Barnsley on 2 May 2021.

An investigation was immediately launched, and a scene established at the location of the assault, attended by CSI. House to house and CCTV enquiries were also carried out.

In addition, officers put safeguarding measures in place to ensure the wellbeing of the victim.

Officers arrested Kerley on 5 May 2021, and he was bailed pending further enquiries. Kerley was charged with assault by penetration on 10 August 2022.

Kerley was convicted of sexual assault by penetration, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and engaging in coercive/controlling behaviour, at Sheffield Crown Court court on 24 April, and was found not guilty of six other counts.

He was handed an extended sentence of 21 years comprising of 18 years imprisonment and an extension period of 3 years at the same court on Friday 7 June.

Description

An online sexual predator who thought that he was exchanging messages with a young girl aged under 16 was later found with more than 1,600 indecent images of children on his phone.

Daniel O'Connell believed that he was chatting with a real girl when he became involved in sexualised conversations on Snapchat – but really it was an undercover police officer who was working covertly to identify possible sexual offenders. The haul of indecent images that was discovered included 466 in the most serious category, Hull Crown Court heard.

O'Connell, 26, of Hull Road, Withernsea, originally denied attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity, for the purposes of sexual gratification, via online chat between March 28 and April 10, 2021 and three offences of making indecent images of children between January 1, 2019 and April 22, 2021.

The case had been adjourned on September 28 last year for a trial that was due to be held on May 7. Defence barrister Benjamin Donnell told the court at the original hearing that O'Connell denied the offences at that time because he claimed that the IP address that had been linked to his device had seemingly been "cloned" by someone else.

But at a resumed hearing on April 30, arranged ahead of the scheduled trial, the court was told that O'Connell was now pleading guilty to the charges and he was abandoning the cloning claims. He accepted the full prosecution case and he now did not want to take the case to trial.

The court heard that O'Connell was in communication with a decoy 12-year-old girl whose profile on Snapchat had been set up by undercover police in a bid to catch possible online sexual predators.

Messages were exchanged between the fake girl and O'Connell. He believed that he was chatting online with a real girl. The conversations became sexual and O'Connell asked the fake girl to send him a picture of her chest.

No suggestions of a meeting between them were made and nothing of that type was arranged. The conversations came to an end and O'Connell was later arrested.

Police found indecent images of children on his phone. They included 466 in the most serious Category A, 384 in Category B and 791 in Category C – a total of 1,641 images. The pictures were said to have been inaccessible because they had been deleted previously.

O'Connell, a carer, had no previous convictions. Mr Donnell was not asked to provide any mitigation after the judge indicated that he intended to impose a suspended prison sentence.

O'Connell was given credit of 15 per cent for his late pleas of guilty, which was less than he would have been given for early pleas. He lost some credit because the case had originally been listed for trial.

O'Connell was given a 66-week suspended prison sentence, 31 days of a sex offender treatment programme and 20 days' rehabilitation. He was given a six-year sexual harm prevention order and must register as a sex offender for 10 years. The images on the phone will be erased.

Description

A serial sex offender has been given a community order after he told York magistrates he was a reformed character.

David Stansfield, 48,  had previously served a prison sentence for what a judge called his “vile addiction” to indecent images of children.

York magistrates heard that since 2016, Stansfield has been subject indefinitely to a court order restricting his use of the internet and enabling police to monitor him. He is also on the sex offenders’ register.

On February 5, 2021, police on a routine visit to his home discovered a phone he had hidden from them that contained 230 indecent images of children.

Stansfield, of Middlethorpe Grove, Dringhouses, pleaded guilty to having indecent images of children of the least serious category.

His solicitor Chris McGrogan told magistrates: “The gentleman who appears before you today is in a very different position and situation to the person who committed the offences.”

Stansfield now had a full-time job with a family firm where he was welcome and had made friends and had also made friends at a car club. He had not been before a court for three years.

“There are significant number of positives that are present in his life that weren’t present three years ago," said Mr McGrogan.

Magistrates gave Stansfield a 30-month community order with a 45-day rehabilitative programme, 40 days’ rehabilitative activities and 200 hours’ unpaid work.

They also made him subject to a new indefinite sexual harm prevention order with extra provisions including one about taking lie detection tests. He will now be on the sex offenders’ register until May 2029.

Alison Whiteley, prosecuting, said Stansfield was convicted in November 2012 at York Crown Court of six charges of having indecent images of children. He was given a three-year community order with a rehabilitation programme and made subject to a court order forcing him to tell police about all his internet devices among other provisions.

In May 2016, Stansfield was back before York Crown Court for having more indecent images of children which he had tried to conceal on his phone by installing an app. This time he was jailed for 12 months and Judge Paul Batty QC said he had a “vile addiction” to indecent images of children.

In February 2021, police found he had hidden another phone from them.

In May 2021 Stansfield appeared before York Crown Court for a third time charged with breaching a sexual harm prevention order and he was given an 18-month community order with rehabilitative activities.

Ms Whiteley said Stansfield had not helped police because he hadn’t told them about the illegal contents of the phone and they had had to analyse it forensically to find them.

If he had told them, the latest indecent images charge could have been dealt with by the judge in May 2021.

Mr McGrogan said Stansfield had been “very forthcoming”.

“It is totally incorrect (to say) he had not assisted the police,” said Mr McGrogan.

In 2021, Stansfield had been isolated with no-one to turn to. He had turned to drink and space cakes.

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A York company director who tried to give a '12-year-old girl' sex instructions and told her to think like a slave is today starting a jail term.

For six weeks, Timothy Michael Downie, 52, masqueraded online as a 19-year-old woman as he gave the 'girl' advice on how to perform sexual acts and encouraged her to find older boys to treat her sexually, Matthew Moore-Taylor, prosecuting, told York Crown Court.

“Stop thinking of yourself as a little girl and start thinking like a Roman slave girl who needs to please her master or get thrown to the lions,” he told her on an online social media platform.

He also told her performing sexual acts with older boys would give her self confidence.

But the “girl” was an undercover police officer taking part in an operation to track down and arrest online sex offenders and Downie was arrested.

Downie, who ran a management consultancy, of Chestnut Avenue, Heworth, pleaded guilty to attempting to incite an underage girl to perform sexual acts and attempted sexual communication with a child.

He was jailed for 32 months, put on the sex offenders’ register for life and barred from working with children or vulnerable adults.

Judge Simon Hickey said Downie had believed he was talking to a real girl. 

For Downie, Sean Smith said he had never tried to meet the 'girl' or get her to send photographs of herself. He had also taken substantial steps in rehabilitating himself since his arrest in 2022.

Mr Moore-Taylor said the detective set up a false profile on Kik social media of a 12-year-old girl called 'Mia'.

On January 12, 2022, 'Mia' was contacted by a profile claiming to be Katy Brown, a 19-year-old York woman on a gap year. But it was really run by Downie. It had been on Kik for 2,866 days.

Early on in the conversation Downie asked 'Mia’s' age and when she said she was in Year 8, Downie started sexual messages, including asking about her sexual experiences.

Police amassed 34 pages of messages between the two between January 12 and February 28 in which Downie gave continuous sexual instructions and tried to persuade “Mia” to perform acts that she said she was reluctant to do.

In the messages were references to 'Mia’s' age of 12 years. The messages were not sent every day.

Police went to Downie’s home, arrested him and confiscated his internet equipment. He didn’t answer their questions about his sexual crimes. He had no previous convictions.

Mr Smith handed in letters from Downie's family that the judge said showed a different side of him and how shocked and surprised they were by what he had done. 

Co-director of Safer Lives sex offender rehabilitation agency and qualified probation officer Andrew Green gave evidence on behalf of Downie and the rehabilitative work he had done with the agency.

He said he believed Downie would not reoffend.

Mr Smith said Downie had also worked with a psycho-sexual-therapist and completed 48 sessions.

Description

A 70-year-old man who carried out an "appalling catalogue" of sexual abuse against boys over three decades has been jailed.

Keith Lockwood, of Park Lane in Keighley, was described as a serial child abuser by detectives.

His offending took place in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s across the Kirklees district.

Leeds Crown Court heard that Lockwood had committed sexual offences, including gross indecency with a child and indecent assault, against seven boys aged under 16.

He was jailed for 23 years after being found guilty of 23 non recent sexual offences committed over a 30-year period.

The pensioner is currently on the Sex Offenders register and will remain so for life.

DC Gilly Hodds, who investigated the case, said: "Lockwood was found guilty by a unanimous guilty verdict of an appalling catalogue of offending against victims who were young and vulnerable.

"He forced those victims to relive the dreadful offences he committed against them by putting them through the ordeal of a trial, and I am pleased for them that the jurors saw through his attempts to evade answering for what he has done."

She added: "Victims in this case demonstrated exceptional bravery in coming forward and supporting both the police and CPS in taking action against a man who has been a serial abuser of children whilst in a position of trust."

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A Cleckheaton man who sexually abused children over three decades has been jailed after being found guilty of more than 30 sexual offences.  

George Thorley (74) of Moorbottom in Cleckheaton was sentenced to 27 years at Leeds Crown Court on May 8 for committing 32 sexual offences, including rape, between the 1970s and 1990’s in locations across England.

The 74-year-old was described as posing a genuine danger to children by detectives who welcomed his conviction for offending in Durham, London and West Yorkshire.  

He was jailed for one offence of rape, multiple indecent assaults and other serious sexual offences and will also have to register on the sexual offences register for life.  

Leeds Crown Court heard that Thorley had committed offences against seven child victims, both boys and girls, with the first offence taking place in 1973 and the last occurring in 1995.  

The matters came to police attention after three of the victims, one each from West Yorkshire, London and Durham, came forward independently of each other to their respective police forces over a 12-month period, with the West Yorkshire report being made in 2021.  

These reports led to police enquires being launched in all three police force areas, resulting in seven victims being identified in total; two in West Yorkshire, four in the London area and one in Durham.  

Due to the suspect living in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire Police took primacy for the investigation.  

Thorley was arrested in March 2021 and eventually charged with multiple sexual offences in 2022.

Description

Former Next warehouse worker Barry Lester had no clue that the teenage profile was run by a hunter group, using the internet to catch out predators. The 31-year-old contacted the profile on the chat app, MeetMe in October 2021, before asking for her number so they could swap their conversation to WhatsApp, Leeds Crown Court heard.

She told him from the outset that she was just 14, but he turned the conversation sexual, asking if she knew “how sex worked” and talked about having sex in the bath. He sent her explicit pictures of himself and told her he wanted sex with her in a hotel room.

He told her he was sterile so did not need to use contraception, prosecutor Ashleigh Metcalfe said. Lester, of Whitmore Street, South Elmsall, arranged to meet her in Newcastle and on October 28, 2021, made the journey north. However, he was met by the hunter group at Newcastle Central Station. He was then arrested at that location. Lester gave a no-comment interview to police.

He later admitted a charge of facilitating a child sex offence, and a charge of breaching the sex offender register rules by failing to notify the authorities of a new bank card he had obtained. He has one previous conviction but for an unrelated matter.

Mitigating, Peter Malone said: “At the time he was at the lowest point ever. He was in a bad relationship. There was the issue of Covid and he was restricted to live with that person. It was the start of severe depression.

“It’s something that he deeply regrets. He is ashamed to have behaved in that manner. It’s quite clear it’s something that should not have happened.”

He said that Malone had been homeless for a spell, and had worked at the Next distribution centre in West Yorkshire, but was now working in a vape shop.

Judge Tahir Khan KC told Lester: “You travelled to Newcastle expecting to meet this girl. It’s clear to me that had it not been for the fact she did not exist, you intended to carry out a child sex offence.

“It’s so serious that only an immediate sentence of custody can be justified.”

He jailed Lester for two years, put him on the sex offender register for 10 years and gave him a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) to curb his internet use.

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A Keighley man has been locked up for more than three years for sex offences involving an underage girl.

Daniel Want was found guilty at Bradford Crown Court of two charges of sexual activity with a girl under 16, possession of a folding pocket knife, and sexual communication with a child.

Want, 33, of Parkwood Court, Parkwood Rise, Keighley, was jailed for three years and four months.

He was placed on the sex offenders register for life.

Description

A Keighley man who sent an indecent image of a child to her relative and filmed himself engaging in sexual contact with another has been jailed.

Aidan Whittingham, 21, distributed the nude photograph to a relative of one of the girls and secretly recorded some of the sexual activity he had with another under-age girl. He also had sex with a third teenage girl, but Bradford Crown Court heard on Monday she had been branded a "liar" by others - despite Whittingham being convicted.

Whittingham, of Whinfield Avenue, pleaded guilty to making indecent images of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child. He was found guilty of voyeurism and sexual activity with a child following a trial in October last year.

In addition to the five-year jail sentence Recorder Jackson KC also told Whittingham that he would now be subject to a sex offender registration with the police for life and he must also comply with an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.

Barrister Abigail Langford, for Whittingham, highlighted his learning disability and other issues and said her client had already spent over a year in custody on remand. She said expert reports from a psychiatrist and a psychologist had referred to her client’s lack of maturity and his vulnerability.

But Recorder Jackson said Whittingham’s pattern of offending had escalated and he was satisfied that he had targeted young females. He said Whittingham knew what he was doing, and intended to do, and it was not a consequence of his learning difficulties.

The judge explained that Whittingham would have received an even longer sentence for his offending but for his young age and the difficulties that he had. Following the sentencing, Detective Constable Paul Maxwell from the Child Vulnerable to Exploitation Team in Bradford said: “We welcome the sentence handed down to Whittingham today. He is a danger to children.

“I would like to praise the bravery of the victims in coming forward and reporting these crimes to us. Offences of this nature are always taken very seriously, and we have a dedicated specialist safeguarding team who will support victims to get them justice.”

Description

The victim of a perverted serial sex offender has been damaged so badly by his "terrible ordeal" that it has "blighted his life in every way imaginable".

He still suffered nightmares and sometimes "shut himself away" from others, Hull Crown Court heard. He found it difficult to show his emotions and trust people and he believed that the problems he had endured had affected him for life.

Anthony Jones, 40, formerly of Bridlington, admitted raping a boy and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.

Andrew Petterson, prosecuting, said that the offences took place in Bridlington. The victim did not report them at the time but, when he became an adult, he felt strong enough to tell the police. Jones was arrested, but during police interview he denied that any sexual activity took place.

In a statement, the victim said that the offences made him feel "terrible". He felt that nobody would believe him. The offences had affected him for life.

"I find it really hard to trust anyone," he said. There had been a "devastating effect" because of the offences.

Jones previously served two jail sentences for sexual offences. He was jailed at York Crown Court for nine years in April 2014. In April 2015, he was jailed at Hull Crown Court for 11 years. He was known at the time as Anthony Vowles, but he later changed his name.

Helen Chapman, mitigating, said that offences of this type inevitably caused damage to those who suffered it. Jones had served two lengthy prison sentences, but he had been at liberty for about three years since then and he had committed no further offences. "He has served an enormous period of his life in custody," said Miss Chapman. "That period of his life is well and truly over."

Recorder David Kelly said of the victim: "Your actions have blighted his life in every way imaginable. Even now, he continues to have nightmares about what you did to him.

"He finds it difficult to trust others. He finds it difficult to show emotion and has periods of low mood when he shuts himself away. All this continues to blight his life after the terrible ordeal that you subjected him to. He is determined to see himself as a survivor and not a victim."

Jones, recently of Kings Road, Harrogate, was jailed for nine years. He was given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and an indefinite restraining order.

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A York paedophile has been jailed for seven years for sexually abusing a young girl whose life had been completely ripped apart by his predatory behaviour.

John Patrick Steenson, 60, from Jewbury, subjected his victim to acts which had a devastating and lifelong effect on her, York Crown Court heard.

Prosecutor Jeremy Hill-Baker said that Steenson had repeatedly abused the youngster by forcing her to perform sex acts on him at a property in York.

When the victim first made allegations about Steenson in 2003, it was not followed up because it was thought she was “too young to give any evidence”.

It took the victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, another 17 years to come forward to police again, but when Steenson was brought in for questioning, he vehemently denied the allegations.

He was charged with two counts of gross indecency with a child but pleaded not guilty, which meant the victim had to endure the ordeal of a trial.

A jury found Steenson guilty on both counts and he appeared for sentence yesterday (Thursday, 14 March) knowing his fate was sealed.

Mr Hill-Baker said that one of the charges related to indecency with a child on multiple occasions and the other was one incident. The offences occurred between late 2003 and early 2004.

The victim said the abuse became “routine” over a five-month period.

In her early childhood, she didn’t realise why she was so angry because she was so young to understand what had happened to her.

By her teens, she was suffering with anxiety and depression. Later in life, she started to come to terms with what had happened to her and came forward to police.

Unhealthy interest

Steenson’s sexual predilection for children was evidenced even before his conviction for abusing the girl when he was convicted in 2022 of making and distributing indecent images of minors, for which he received a suspended prison sentence, a rehabilitation programme and a sexual-harm prevention order.

However, his online behaviour had been more long-lasting, as evidenced by the caution he received in 2006 for making indecent images of children.

The victim said the devastating effects on her had seeped into adulthood and had led to depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts. Her schooling and mental health had been profoundly affected and she had since suffered problems forming relationships.

Defence barrister Nicholas Hammond said that Steenson had held down a job for most of his adult life and was now in poor health.

Judge Simon Hickey told Steenson: “You clearly have an unhealthy interest in young children.”

He described the impact on the victim as “severe”, adding: “She’s still suffering with mental-health issues…and she’s having to fight these issues for the rest of her life.”

Steenson was jailed for seven years but will only serve half of that sentence behind bars before being released on prison licence.

He was ordered to sign on the sex-offenders’ register for life and made subject to a sexual-harm prevention order to curb his online activities and contact with children.

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A PAEDOPHILE who has a habit of exposing himself daubed in faeces on North Yorkshire beaches has been jailed.

Karl William Martin Fox will continue to commit sexual offences as long as he can, a judge has warned.

Claire Holmes, prosecuting, said the 51-year-old wanted a child to receive and “enjoy” several videos of him sitting naked or wearing a nappy at the seaside and to read his diary, York Crown Court heard.

A 14-year-old boy unwittingly found them and when he realised what they were told his mother: “It’s sick, it’s sick, I feel ill.” The police were informed.

Fox will now have his movements permanently monitored and have to undergo lie tests after he finishes his prison sentence.

He has previously served a six-year prison sentence for sexually assaulting a child, been convicted of sending obscene messages to the Samaritans and several offences of breaching court orders designed to protect the public from him.

Judge Deborah Sherwin told him: “You are somebody who is likely to continue offending in this way as long as you possibly can."

Fox, formerly of Burton Stone Lane, Clifton, and now of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to 15 breaches of a sexual harm prevention order and one each of possessing indecent images of children, possessing prohibited images of children and possessing pseudo images of children.

He was jailed for 28 months and will be on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

The court order banned him from all beaches, promenades and contact with children and had conditions enabling police to monitor him.  

The judge made a new sexual harm prevention order including all the previous conditions and, against Fox's objections, adding conditions that on release he permanently wear an electronic tag monitoring his location and take any polygraphs ordered by the police.

She told Fox: “You appear to have no insight at all as to how dangerous and damaging your actions are towards other people.

"In these circumstances, the police and courts are entitled to do everything within their power to make sure other such offending cannot occur and if it does occur it can be properly tracked and prevented and/or prosecuted.”

Ms Holmes, prosecuting, said Fox filmed himself on North and East Yorkshire beaches exposing himself in an obscene pose or sitting wearing only a nappy and put a diary of his movements on a mobile phone which was then sold at a car boot sale.

The phone included a message to the potential buyer: “This phone has been left here for a young child to find and enjoy the images on it. Please give this phone to your young child.”

Fox told officers monitoring him he found the old order “draconian”.

He also said of his offending: "I will continue as long as I can walk."

Defence barrister Matthew Stewart said Fox had not been the seller at the car boot sale.

His bedsit in York had been broken into and damaged by people aware of his background.

He had a personality disorder and had self-harmed in the past. He also had post traumatic stress disorder dating back to his previous prison sentence and physical health issues caused by a car accident in his childhood.

While in prison on remand he had got a job working in prison gardens.

He supported close relatives who had major health problems.

Description

A pervert will spend the next two years in prison following a Teesside sex attack.

George Reeves, 26, appeared at Bradford Crown Court on Friday to be sentenced following an assault on a woman in Stockton. The Whitby man pleaded not guilty to "assault by penetration" but was convicted following a trial.

The charge states the woman - who cannot be named for legal reasons - "did not consent and the defendant did not reasonably believe that she was consenting." Reeves, of Rosedale Close, listened on videolink from Durham Prison as the case was outlined by prosecutor Ian West.

He appeared to be sobbing as the offence details were heard in court and was handed a two-year prison sentence. The defendant was also made subject of sex offender notification requirements for ten years and ordered to pay a victim surcharge.

Description

A man who manipulated, blackmail and traumatised a 12-year-old for his own twisted pleasure has been jailed for multiple child sex abuse crimes.

James Michael David Webber, 39, of Hollygarth Lane, Beal, near Selby, was sentenced to 13 years in prison at York Crown Court today (Friday).

He had previously been found guilty of seven offences including blackmail; two counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity; three counts of possession of indecent images of children; and possession of extreme pornography.

The court heard how, in May 2020, Webber manipulated and blackmailed a 12-year-old child to send explicit images of herself to him via SnapChat.

He threatened to harm her family as he claimed he could see where she lived as her location was visible through the app.

When the victim refused to send him further images, Webber callously distributed these images to others.

This caused significant harm to the victims mental health and wellbeing, the impact of which she will likely have to deal with for years.

Police praised the childs incredible courage to come forward and contact them.

No remorse

Webber was located from his IP address.

Devices seized from Webber also located 97 Category A pictures the worst kind of indecent images and videos of children; 149 Category B and 144 Category C indecent images of children; and four extreme pornography images and videos.

The court heard how Webber was continuing to create SnapChat accounts just days before his arrest.

He deleted the SnapChat app from his phone as police arrived less than a minute before he was taken into custody for questioning.

DC Jenna Hallewell, the officer in charge of the investigation, said a key component of his conviction was the evidence extracted from Webbers devices by North Yorkshire Polices Digital Forensic Team.

Webber denied the offences, showing no remorse for the twisted and vindictive behaviour against his victim that still impacts on her to this day, she said.

Id like to pay tribute to the victim and her bravery in coming forward which has been incredible. Her courage means that Webber is no longer free to target and victimise children for his own pleasure.

It is important that victims of such crimes come forward to assist police in locating perpetrators to put a stop to online abuse against children.