Description
A London man who travelled to Cambodia and engaged in sexual activity with a child has been jailed.
Gary Cosgrove, 59 (05.03.62) of Bethnal Green was sentenced on Friday, 29 October at the Old Bailey to two years and five months' imprisonment. He was also given a sexual harm prevention order for a period of ten years.
On Monday, 6 September, prior to a trial, he pleaded guilty to making indecent images of a child and inciting a child to commit a sexual act.
On Friday, 13 April 2018 the Met received intelligence reports from the National Crime Agency of a male sexually abusing, grooming and exploiting children in Cambodia.
Intelligence suggested the male had been travelling around the locality of an area called Sihanoukville, meeting with children and sexually assaulting them.
Detectives from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime began investigating and detained Gary Cosgrove on Thursday, 31 May 2018 at Heathrow Airport. He was arrested on suspicion of sexual activity with a male child under 13-years-old.
During his interview he confirmed he was present in Cambodia, engaging with children, giving them gifts such as food, money, clothing and toys. He denied committing any offences of a sexual nature against these children.
Numerous items were seized from him, including data storage devices. Further electronic items were seized following a search at his address.
He was subsequently bailed with conditions.
A number of items seized were sent for analysis, one of which was found to contain video of a male sexually communicating with a child and also a large number of images of naked children.
A particular video, which was around 50 seconds in length, revealed an explicit conversation with a child where a male could be heard trying to persuade her to remove her underwear – she was around four-years-old. She appeared to be holding paper currency.
It was discovered that the video was made on an iPhone 6 Plus on 5 January 2018. The location of the footage showed to be in Cambodia, which was where Cosgrove was at the time.
Cosgrove was further interviewed about this matter on Tuesday, 26 June 2018 but denied he was the person recording or talking on the video. He was again bailed.
Voice analysis was later completed and a report from an expert in forensic speech and acoustics found the recording provided moderately strong support that Cosgrove was the speaker. Cosgrove continued to deny all questions put to him. In July 2019 he was charged with possession of indecent images of a child, engaging in sexual communication with a child and inciting a child to commit a sexual act.
Detective Constable Mike, Penn, from Central Specialist Crime said: “This sentence highlights the Met’s and partner agencies determination to track down these offenders and tirelessly investigate offences to secure their convictions and safeguard vulnerable children no matter where they are in the world.
“If you have been a victim of sexual assault or rape or you have information about an offender, contact police on 101 or 999 in an emergency – there are specially trained officers who will listen and investigate where needed.”
Peter Vernon from the NCA’s International Liaison Network, said: “Gary Cosgrove targeted vulnerable children in Cambodia then groomed them, building their trust through the provision of gifts, before sexually abusing them.
“Transnational child sex offenders like Cosgrove think that by conducting their abuse in a remote part of the world, they won’t get caught. However, as this case shows, borders are not a barrier.
“The NCA works closely with international partners to target British nationals who commit these offences overseas. We are then able to share information with our partners back in the UK to ensure they face justice for their crimes.”