Record details
A "sadistic" paedophile forced children to perform degrading sexual acts on camera and threatened to distribute the images if they did not send more.
One of his victims was left crying in pain while begging the pervert to stop.
Alexander Tindal, 31, of Bridgend, sexually abused more than 30 children online over a period of two-and-a-half years, and continued to exploit girls after he was first arrested. The "isolated" defendant pretended to be a teenage boy and approached his victims on Snapchat before asking them for intimate photos of themselves.
A sentencing hearing at Newport Crown Court on Thursday heard Tindal forced one girl to send a photo of her little sister's genitalia to him, after threatening to disclose sexual images of her to friends, family and her school. When he was arrested by police, he was found with more than 23,000 indecent images of children, aged between 10 and 15-years-old.
Having been detained by police at his home in 2022, three devices were seized from the defendant as well as a mobile, a hard drive, and a desktop computer. During the examination of the devices, a thousands of indecent images were discovered and Tindal was found to have communicated with children and coerced them into performing sexual acts.
He was further arrested in September 2022, having been found to breach his bail conditions, after setting up further Snapchat accounts which he used to speak to child victims. After victims had been identified, they were visited by police and asked to provide a statement about their interactions with Tindal, who was found to have access to 19 Snapchat accounts under various names.
The first victim was 14-years-old when she was forced to perform sex acts.. She had sent the defendant close to 400 images, 45 of which were category A. The victim was first contacted by Tindal who claimed he was a 17-year-old boy, and encouraged her to send sexual images of herself. He became increasingly aggressive and threatened to distribute a video of a girl who looked like her to her, and would tell people it was her. When asked by the victim why he was doing this, he told her it was to "teach her a lesson".
In one message, she could be seen naked and crying in pain. She messaged Tindal saying "You're making me feel sick to my stomach. I so want to stop this, please I can't do this anymore". The defendant told her to carry on and she responded: "It hurts so f****** bad, I can't do this, please stop, I am f****** begging you." The abuse only came to a stop after the defendant was arrested.
The second victim was 13-years-old at the time of the abuse. Tindal was found with 100 category A images of the victim. When he became aware the victim had a six-year-old sister, he demanded pictures of her genitalia and threatened to "ruin her" if she did not. She subsequently sent the images.
In messages sent by Tindal to the victim, he said: "I am going to add your mother's number, I swear to f****** God, last chance you piece of s**, lie back and f*** yourself properly."
A further 19 victims were identified, with more who were unable to be identified. He used the images he had obtained to demand more extreme ones, or he would distribute the pictures, in some cases sending them to friends of victims.
A mother of one of the victims described her daughter as becoming "aggressive and angry". Another mother walked in on her daughter while she was performing a sexual act, and confronted Tindal but he taunted her and said the police would be unable to catch him.
The youngest victim was just 10-year-old. Another victim lived in Germany and explained to Tindal she had health issues, but he did not relent.
Tindal, of Hazel Tree Way, Brackla, later pleaded guilty to 24 counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, nine counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, 10 counts of threatening to disclose a private sexual photograph of film with intent to cause distress, six counts of possessing indecent images, two counts of possessing prohibited image, and two counts of possessing extreme pornographic images. The court heard he was of previous good character.
Defence barrister Adam Sharp said his client's best mitigation was his guilty plea, and was realistic the defendant would be receiving a "significant" term of imprisonment. He described Tindal as "socially isolated" and had been diagnosed with depression, and was previously hospitalised with a collapsed lung, which caused chest pain and shortness of breath. In 2021, he was hospitalised after taking an overdose of painkillers.
Sentencing, Judge Daniel Williams described the nature and scale of the defendant's offending as "truly horrifying", and his treatment of his victims as "pitiless". He added: "The control you extorted over the girls thrilled you as much as the sexual gratification you obtained."
A probation report deemed Tindal to be a "very high" risk of harm to children. Judge Williams added: "You sadistically committed time to degrade so many girls and continued that abuse while on bail, unperturbed by your arrest , is the clearest demonstration of the risk you pose.
Tindal was sentenced to a total of 11 years imprisonment, with an extended licence period of four years. He will serve two thirds of the custodial sentence before he can be considered for parole. The defendant was also made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and sex offender notification requirements indefinitely.
Following the hearing, detective constable Martin Charles of South Wales Police said: “This is one of the largest cases our team has worked on, and the strength of evidence gathered gave Tindal no other option but to plead guilty.
"I am thankful for the other police forces across the UK and abroad who supported the investigation as well as our Digital Forensic Unit in identifying victims ensuring we can safeguard them from further harm. Most of all, I am grateful for the bravery shown by Tindal’s victims across the UK for talking to the Police and helping to put him where he belongs beyond harm’s way.
“Alex Tindal’s crimes are of the most sinister and predatory offences seen as most of the victims’ families were completely unaware of the abuse being perpetrated. The online world is an integral part of a child’s life but is often hidden from close family and those who would intervene to help a child if they fell victim to this particular type of crime."
