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09
Feb
A Harrogate paedophile, who downloaded more than 30,000 indecent images of children and offered to sell sexual images of young people online in return for Bitcoin and Amazon gift cards, has been jailed for two years.
Stuart Witham’s “vast” collection of images included videos featuring children as young as five, York Crown Court heard.
Witham, 31, shared images with others in a WhatsApp, group or 'network', called ‘Schoolgirls in Stockings’.
Prosecutor Brooke Morrison said Witham was also having video chats on a dark website called ‘Illegal’, where he would perform lewd acts in front of women and young girls and encourage them to do the same.
The father-of-two was also active on the KIK private-messenger app on which he “offered to sell quantities of indecent images in exchange for Bitcoin and gift cards”.
York Crown Court
He was charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, two counts of distributing indecent images and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child under 13 years of age.
Witham, of Back Mayfield Terrace, admitted all the offences and appeared for sentence yesterday.
Ms Morrison told the court:
After being trapped by the undercover cop, officers visited Witham’s home and seized his internet devices. Forensic analysis revealed a huge cache of indecent material, namely 32,708 photos and videos of children - some of them extremely young.
They included 3,800 images of children rated Category A in their level of seriousness and featuring the sexual abuse of minors.
Ms Morrison said police also found chats on Witham’s KIK messenger account in which offered to sell indecent images of children in exchange for digital currency and gift vouchers.
She said forensic officers also found over 40 videos or “screen-recorded conversations” on the ‘Illegal’ website which “pairs users with each other randomly…with anyone across the world”.
Witham would move the camera so that the other user would see him doing the act. On other occasions, he would message the user urging them to “show themselves” and to perform similar acts.
In one video chat, Witham performed a sexual act in front of a nine-year-old girl and asked the child to “show (their) body on camera”.
Analysis of his internet search history revealed he had sought out “hidden-camera instructions” and covertly filmed children walking past his house from his window.
During police questioning, Witham admitted that he had sought out indecent images of children since he was 12 years of age. He was charged only with the online offences committed in 2021.
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