Locations
Walbrook Road, Derby, Derby City, DE23
Description
A judge has warned dangerous sex offender Siah Riley that "a life sentence is not out of the question" after he admitted to an extraordinary series of crimes against 121 young victims.
Derby Crown Court heard how the 35-year-old from Normanton created a fake online persona as a teenage boy, coercing victims—many underage, some as young as 12—into sending indecent photos or videos of themselves performing sexual acts while naked or partially clothed. Riley captured screenshots from Snapchat and organized them into folders named after the victims.
When victims stopped complying, he blackmailed them by threatening to share the explicit material. All victims were real individuals, not decoys from vigilante groups or undercover police.
Appearing from custody, Riley, of Walbrook Road, pleaded guilty to 144 of 145 charges during a 45-minute hearing dedicated to reading them out. An additional count of arranging or facilitating a child sex offence will lie on file, per Derbyshire Live.
Remanding Riley in custody ahead of sentencing later this spring, Judge Shaun Smith KC said:
"Before I sentence you I will need as much information about you in order to do what I am going to do. Obviously it is going to be a prison sentence and obviously it is going to be very long.
"Quite frankly this is a very, very, unusual case even for a judge and ex-barrister as experienced as me. There are 121 victims and these offences are not like, for example, burglaries where there are TICs (other offences to be taken into consideration).
"You have got a serious previous conviction and a life sentence is not out of the question. But if it is not going to be a life sentence it is going to be one of many years."
The offences, spanning 2021 to 2023, targeted mostly UK-based victims, with some possibly abroad. Riley admitted to:
- 12 counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
- 9 counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity.
- 45 counts of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in penetrative sexual activity.
- 49 counts of causing or inciting a child under 16 to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity.
- 5 counts of engaging in sexual communication with a child.
- 2 counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in prostitution or pornography.
- 22 counts of blackmail.
Judge Smith asked prosecutor Leanne Summers:
"This is an unusual presentation of the evidence, how many of the 121 victims are real and how many are decoys?"
She replied:
"They are all real people but not all have provided (victim impact) statements."
Sentencing is set for May 7, expected to last a full day.