Subscribe to trusted local news
If you are accessing this story via Facebook but you are a subscriber then you will be unable to access the story. Facebook wants you to stay and read in the app and your login details are not shared with Facebook. If you experience problems with accessing the news but have subscribed, please contact subscriptions@thestrayferret.co.uk. In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.
- Subscription costs less than £1 a week with an annual plan.
Already a subscriber? Log in here.
08
Dec 2021
Harrogate man jailed for sex assault on toddler
A Harrogate child abuser and online groomer has been sentenced to six years and 11 months in jail.
Wenxiong Jiang, 26, was also made subject to a 20-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and will remain on the Register of Sex Offenders indefinitely.
Jiang was convicted at York Crown Court on Friday of the following offences that he committed between February 2017 and December 2020:
- sexual assault on a two-year-old boy
- three counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity
- engaging in sexual communication with a child
- taking an indecent image of a child
- five counts of making an indecent image of a child
- possessing an extreme pornographic image involving an animal
- possessing a prohibited image of a child
Detective Constable Rebecca Townsend, of Harrogate CID, led the intensive investigation into Jiang’s offending following his arrest on December 15, 2020.
Posed as 15-year-old boy
The inquiry uncovered that he had added a 12-year-old girl on Snapchat and engaged her in conversations while he was posing as a 15-year-old boy.
Jiang pressured and then eventually threatened the girl to send him naked pictures of herself engaging in penetrative sexual activity.
When he was arrested, officers recovered 250,000 images from his devices including a video of himself sexually assaulting a two-year-old boy.
Read more:
- Harrogate flat used for sex trafficking and prostitution, court hears
- M&S gives sneak peek of expanded Harrogate Oatlands store
The Digital Forensic Unit examined all the material to help identify offences and possible victims.
DC Townsend said:
Reporting suspected crimes involving indecent images of children and sexual abuse
You can contact:
- North Yorkshire Police on 101 or make a report via www.northyorkshire.police.uk. If you are in immediate danger, always dial 999 for an emergency response
- Child Exploitation Online Protection command (CEOP)
- Internet Watch Foundation - report suspected abuse of children online
- Stop It Now! – seek anonymous and confidential help if you or someone you know could be a sexual risk to children
- Supporting Victims in North Yorkshire online or by calling 01609 643100
- NSPCC Helplines: Help for adults concerned about a child – call 0808 800 5000
- Childline: Help for children and young people - call 0800 1111
Victims who would prefer not to go direct to the police and are not in immediate danger, can contact Bridge House, North Yorkshire’s Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC), on 0330 223 0362, email bridgehouse.sarc@nhs.net or go to www.bridgehousesarc.org/
0