Sidmouth man jailed for child sex image pics

He encouraged kids to engage in porn

A Devon man who set up an online forum for sharing indecent images of children is starting three years in jail.

Nicholas Craig, 38, from Sidmouth, was arrested by National Crime Agency investigators after he was identified as an administrator of a group on the online chat platform Kik.

Mr Craig would monitor the forum, verify new members and remove those who were not active enough or failed to supply indecent images of children as per group rules.

After arresting him at his home in February 2022, NCA officers seized five devices which contained 1,518 indecent images of children in categories A-C (A being the most severe).

Further enquiries showed that he had used a number of aliases in the names of teenage boys and girls to engage children in sexualised chats on Twitter and Telegram. The youngest person he contacted was 10 years old.

When interviewed, Craig admitted to being one of the group administrators and claimed he had collected indecent images of children in order to report it to Kik and Twitter. However, he had made no such reports.

He admitted three counts of attempting to engage a child in sexual communication and 16 indecent images of children offences at Exeter Crown Court in May. All the offences were committed between December 2017 and February 2022.

Craig was sentenced to three years imprisonment at the same court today.

NCA senior investigator Patricia Lee said: “The account Craig gave about the Kik group he administered simply wasn’t plausible.

“His failure to report its contents to police or social media platforms completely undermined his cover story.

“The NCA works tirelessly to protect children from sexual abuse and to ensure those who abuse them face justice.”

The NCA’s CEOP education programme supports parents, carers, children and the professionals to ensure young people have safe and positive experiences online.

An NSPCC spokesperson said: “Offenders like Craig, who share child sexual abuse content online, take advantage of the failure of tech firms to prioritise children’s safety by adequately identifying and disrupting the uploading and distribution of such material on their sites.

“The Online Safety Bill should compel tech companies to do everything in their power to protect children and prevent this devastating material from being shared online. To be effective this must include holding senior managers liable for failure to tackle the way their sites contribute to grooming and child sexual abuse.

“We hope that all the young people who Craig attempted to groom are getting the support they need to move on with their lives following this abuse.”

Children can contact Childline on 0800 1111. Adults with concerns about a child can phone the NSPCC helpline on 0808 8005000 or email help@nspcc.org.uk

Anyone being pressured or threatened into sending sexual images or videos online should remove themselves immediately from the conversation, not respond further to any contact, and report the matter to police or a trusted adult.

There are a range of resources available on our website, thinkuknow.co.uk, for adults – to support them in navigating the online world and conversations about it with their children, and children themselves – to help build their resilience online and learn what to do if something doesn’t seem right.