Locations
Clifton Place, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, NG18
Description
An online sexual predator who used computer games to groom and abuse a vulnerable 11-year-old boy has been jailed.
Christopher Collinge, now aged 33, used a mutual love of computer games to befriend the boy, before bribing him with to share explicit images in return for credits to his PlayStation account.
Collinge was exposed when the boy’s father was alerted to virtual purchases made by the boy, who had no money of his own.
He then discovered a series of sexualised messages sent between the victim and his abuser on the Discord app – a communication platform popular with gamers.
Collinge, who was well aware of the boy’s true age, had coached him to pose as a 13-year-old in order to download the app.
He then offered virtual gift-cards in return for the completion of a series of “dares” that grew more serious in nature over the course of several weeks.
Information was passed to Nottinghamshire Police and Collinge was arrested in February 2023.
A subsequent search of his mobile phone and hard drive revealed several hundred images of child sexual abuse – around half of them graded as Category A.
Collinge gave no comment answers in each of his police interviews, but later pleaded guilty to two counts of causing or inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of making indecent photographs, and four counts of possessing indecent photographs.
Appearing at Nottingham Crown Court on Tuesday 6 May, Collinge, of Clifton Place, Mansfield, was jailed for four years.
He was also added to the sex offenders’ register and made the subject of a Sexual Harm Prevention Order that will tightly restrict his online activities and access to children when he is released.