NEWS

Child Rescue Coalition’s Technology can often be the only thing that alerts law enforcement to criminals who are committing terrible child sexual abuse.

In this United Kingdom case, UK law enforcement utilized CRC technology to identify an address in Cambridge, England. The officers were able to obtain a judicially authorized search warrant which was executed in January 2019. Officers forced their way into the premises after the occupants refused entry.

Inside the home was a 44-year-old man, his wife, and his daughters, who at the time were 3 and 5 years of age. Officers deployed digital triage technology in the house, triage technology is used as an attempt to identify any devices which show, on an initial scan, the possession of child sexual abuse material. The scan showed recently accessed file names synonymous with Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM).

The man was confirmed as the user of the computer with the CSAM files and was arrested. Often times in cases like this, when he was interviewed, he gave no comment to almost all questions that were asked of him.

He was given bail, without having access to his home address, while officers conducted appropriately sensitive interviews with his children. The children made no disclosures regarding any abuse which may have taken place.

Specialist police officers began assessing the suspect’s devices, often a long and challenging process. They found that he was in possession of over 4 million CSAM images for the officers to review.

Officers uncovered, something they always be mindful of but often dread; what is known to law enforcement as “first generation images”. This phrase describes newly produced or recorded child sexual abuse material, which was previously unknown to law enforcement. No faces were shown in these images but there was sufficient forensic evidence to confirm that the adult in these images of the abuse of a young female child was the suspect himself. Further analysis of these and other images recovered lead to the identity of the victim being confirmed as the suspects elder daughter when she was approximately 3 years old.

The suspect was also found to have a library of CSAM which he had collected online. He had meticulously catalogued these by various acts of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

It was established that, while on bail, the suspect had returned to his native country of Poland. The suspect was located by Polish law enforcement authorities, and he returned to England for his appointed bail return date. The offender was then further arrested for contact offenses where he again gave almost all no comment answers when interviewed by officers.

Videos were also located of the girls dancing and the suspect making comments about making money from the sale of the videos on a known child abuse forum, to which the mother appeared to understand the meaning. The mother was arrested but no charges were ever brought on her due to lack of evidence. However, this evidence was used in ensuring the children remained in foster care and were subsequently adopted.

Further sensitive interviews were completed with the children while they were in foster care, and they never made any disclosures to police. The younger child did make comments to her foster carer suggesting that she had also been sexually abused by her father but never repeated this when speaking to police.

The suspect was charged with various offenses relating to the production of CSAM, possession of a pedophile manual and sexual activity in the presence of a child. While the suspect was awaiting trial, he fled the UK and again returned to his native country of Poland. UK officers obtained a European Arrest warrant, and Polish authorities located, arrested and extradited the suspect back to the UK where he was remained in custody for trial.

During his trial, the offender claimed that the evidence had been corrupted by the professional digital forensics’ examiner. This line of defense had never been mentioned in any defense case statement or at any point during the trial up to this point. The judge stopped the trial as he felt that this could not be disputed without an expert being involved and could potentially give the jury a negative image of the police investigation.

The offender employed a digital forensics expert to review the devices with the incriminating evidence; his own defense witness confirmed that there was no wrongdoing or manipulation by the police.

The offender then took the unusual decision to disregard the expert and also his qualified legal team by deciding to represent himself in court. He represented himself via an interpreter for the duration and spent 3 days giving testimony, providing his own evidence. He argued that his daughter was curious about her anatomy.

The jury took less than an hour to convict him on all charges and the offender has shown no response at all and maintains that his daughter was happy with his behavior and consented to it.

He was sentenced to:

Count 1- making CSAM – 14 months

Count 2- taking CSAM images- 2.5 years

Count 3- sexual activity in presence of child – 1yr

Count 4- taking CSAM images- 2.5 years

Count 5- taking CSAM images – 2.5 years

Count 6- sexual assault- 6 years 3 months

Count 7- possession of a pedophile manual – 12 months

He was given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and will be deported upon release.

This more detailed breakdown of a case initiated with CRC Technology provides an insight into the crucial work and lengthy processes that our law enforcement colleagues and friends do in order to safeguard children. Without the proactive technology we supply, free of charge, the children of the offender may still be subject to sexual abuse today.

We are immensely grateful for their extraordinary efforts in investigating the critical question of “what else is this criminal doing?” and of course to CRC’s supporters for making our work possible. The software provided free, thanks to the generous support from our partners and the tireless efforts of law enforcement are a powerful force to save vulnerable children from horrendous sexual abuse.

The suspect in this case has not been named in this report as this would lead to the identification of his children.