Charlie Clark 21

Description

A  21 year-old man from New Brighton has been jailed after making indecent images of children and sharing them online.

Yesterday (Thursday 20 November) Charlie Clark of Vaughan Road was sentenced to two years and four months at Liverpool Crown Court for eight counts of malicious communications - sending offensive/indecent/obscene/menacing material via a public communications network, making an image of a child, offences under section 2 of the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990 and three counts of possession of criminal drug including ketamine and MDMA.

Clark was also handed indefinite restraining orders for life against four of his victims and a 10-year sexual harm prevention order. He will be required to sign the sex offenders' register for the next decade.

This follows an online report from a victim of Clark made in September 2023 who discovered that images of her had been uploaded to a website. The following day, a friend informed her that the images had been posted by Clark who when confronted via Instagram by the victim and admitted responsibility.

The victim also reported that Clark had accessed her Snapchat account without permission and downloaded images from her private folder, which he later uploaded online. He also extracted publicly available images from her social media profiles, edited some of them, and published them online along with derogatory comments targeting her and other females. One of the uploaded images depicted the victim at the age of just 16. Clark confirmed his actions via Instagram direct message.

Clark deleted his social media accounts but data was successfully recovered from cached sources and he was arrested on suspicion of offences under Section 2 of the Computer Misuse Act (CMA) and making a pseudo-image of a child. A search of his home address led to a further arrest on suspicion of possession of a controlled drug.

Following his arrest, seven more victims came forward, reporting that their images had also been uploaded online by Clark.

Detective Inspector John Black of the Cybercrime Investigation Unit said:

“Clark clearly had a shocking disregard for his victim’s privacy and the trauma his actions caused them.

“Following a detailed forensic examination of his device, officers uncovered an overwhelming amount of evidence relating to manipulated indecent images of his victims. The device also showed usage of deepfake-related platforms and emails impersonating staff from adult websites.

“Not only was Clark creating these images, but he was also found to have online social media accounts and access to adult websites that shared the photos.

“Each of his victims have shown immeasurable bravery in coming forward and telling us exactly what happened to them.

“I would like to thank them for supporting our investigation during what has been a difficult and distressing trial. It is thanks to them that Clark is now behind bars for his numerous crimes.”

Detective Constable Kirsty Carter added:

“Merseyside Police is completely committed to protecting children and women from online sexual abuse.

“The impact on them can be significant and long-lasting.

“If you have experienced any form of sexual abuse, or know of a child being abused, please come forward and report this to police.

“We take all such reports extremely seriously and if you can find the courage to come forward and speak to us we have specially trained officers who will treat you with sensitivity and compassion.”