A man has been jailed for sexual offences against dozens of children he “catfished” by pretending to be a 14-year-old boy.
Stuart Latham deceived the youngsters into believing he was a teenager to obtain indecent images from them, with a promise of cash or gift cards in return.
The 22-year-old, from Wigan, was sentenced at Preston Crown Court for 49 charges including rape, blackmail, making indecent images and causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
He was jailed for 14 years on Friday – as one of his 41 victims told him: “You have taken the child in me away from me.”
Latham – who used Snapchat to reach out to his victims – was sentenced for the rape of one of the girls, who was just 12 years old at the time. They met when Latham was 19 years old, but he told her he was 15.
The court heard how he pretended to be a 14-year-old boy, using a fake picture, and posted an advert saying he would give girls a £200 gift card if they could “help him out” – by sending indecent images. He would later threaten the girls with leaking the images if they asked for them to be deleted.
Several girls – some as young as 11 – responded.
Speaking in court, both of the girls he abused in person, read out their own victim impact statements.
The first girl, who believed she was in a relationship with the offender, started to cry and said it was her first serious relationship – and when she found out what he had done to other girls her heart dropped.
The girl’s friend, who Latham also abused in person, addressed him directly, saying: “I want you to realise I will never forget this. You have changed me. You have taken the child in me away from me.”
When Latham was arrested, police found a phone hidden in the back of a wardrobe which contained thousands of child sex abuse images – including Snapchats and videos that were up to an hour long, the court heard.
The case is thought to be one of Greater Manchester Police’s (GMP) largest multi-victim online child sex abuse cases.
The victims were based across the country from Scotland down to Bournemouth, but police believe there may be more victims in the US as well.
GMP is encouraging anyone else who was targeted by Latham to contact them.
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