Kevin Cox 29

Description

Depraved paedophile raped a girl before using explicit images she had previously sent him to pressure her into meeting him again - where he raped her twice more.

Sick Kevin Cox had been handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) in May 2019 after he was convicted of voyeurism and possessing indecent images. But when ViSOR (Violent Sexual Offender Registrar) officers checked his devices on January 25, 2023, as part of routine management of a high-risk sex offender, they discovered a catalogue of horrific evidence.

A total of 39 indecent images of children were found - most of which were Category A, reserved for the most explicit and most harmful images. Officers also found the 29-year-old had been sending sexually explicit pictures and messages to a 14-year-old girl online.

When they dug even deeper, they also revealed a conversation Cox, of Mowbray Street, Sheffield, had been having with a girl, during which she mentioned he had raped her several times between December 2017 and December 2018 when she was 15 years old.

South Yorkshire Police says when they spoke to the girl, she told them Cox had added her on social media and he raped her when they met up in person. A force spokesman said: "Cox then used explicit photos which he had coerced her into sending him to pressure her into meeting him again, and he raped her on two further occasions."

When interviewed by police in March 2023 and April 2024, about the messages he had sent to the 14-year-old girl, he gave no comment. When they interviewed him about the rape allegations on April 26, 2023, he claimed he had had consensual sex and believed the girl had been 16.

He initially pleaded not guilty to the sexual conversations he had with the 14-year-old, but on September 26, 2024 admitted to the counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child. The next day he also changed his plea to guilty for the counts of making indecent photographs/ pseudo-photographs of a child.

But he denied the five counts of rape and cruelly forced his victim to endure a three-day trial trial at Sheffield Crown Court before a jury saw through his lies and found him guilty on all counts on November 21, 2024.

He was jailed for 14 years and given a lifetime SHPO for his vile crimes, as well as a lifetime restraining order against the girl he raped.

DC Amy Shore, of the Protecting Vulnerable People Team, said: “Cox is a depraved sex offender who caused untold pain for his victims, and I am thankful that he will spend more than a decade behind bars for his string of crimes.

“His lifetime SHPO ensures that officers can continue to monitor his online behaviour when he is released, and the restraining order provides further protection for the victim to whom he caused so much harm.

“I would like to pay tribute to the strength and bravery of Cox’s victims in providing evidence of his abuse, and I hope that this lengthy sentence provides them with a sense of closure.

“Although no sentence could ever undo the pain that Cox has inflicted, I hope these two women are able to move on with their lives”.