Paedophile who blackmailed children into raping their siblings is jailed for 16-years

Paul Leighton was jailed for 16-years
Paul Leighton was jailed for 16-years Credit: PA

A British paedophile who blackmailed children into abusing younger relatives, has been jailed for rape, despite being thousands of miles away when the attacks took place.

Using fake Facebook profiles and posing as a child, Paul Leighton, 31, befriended teenagers in the USA, Canada and Australia, and then persuaded them to send naked or sexual images of themselves.

He then used the pictures or videos to blackmail the frightened children into becoming abusers themselves, threatening to send the images to family members.

In one case a 14-year-old boy from Florida raped, who believed he was talking to a girl, was blackmailed into repeatedly raping his 12-month-old niece.

The boy has since been charged by the US authorities, but the FBI are investigating other victims Leighton may have targeted.

Leighton, from Seaham, County Durham, admitted raping the baby girl six times - even though he was 4,000 miles away -  by using the teenager has his unwilling accessory.

It is thought to be the first time somebody has been convicted of rape in such circumstances.

Paul Leighton was jailed for rape despite being thousands of miles away from the incident
Paul Leighton was jailed for rape despite being thousands of miles away from the incident Credit: PA

In another case Leighton trapped a 13-year-old girl in Tennessee and forced her into having sex with her older brother.

Leighton blackmailed two British teenage girls and also sexually abused a nine-year-old girl living in the north east of England.

Sentencing Leighton to 16 years with a six year extended licence, Judge Robert Adams told him: "You have effectively destroyed the lives of these people against whom you made these threats."

The judge ruled Leighton was "clearly dangerous" and posed a risk to children in the UK and abroad.

Prosecutor Paul Reid told the court: "This was the utterly appalling abuse of many children and it is suspected by the police this could be as many as 100 in the United States, Canada and potentially a couple in Australia.

"He contacted children through various Facebook accounts using assumed names such as Emma Sanderson, Laya Anderson and June Clarke.

"He coerced them into sending videos or photographs of themselves naked and then made threats to expose their previous activity to family and friends.

"He admitted to using 30 to 40  Facebook accounts to commit coercive acts beyond getting people to send images of themselves.

"He succeeded in persuading them to carry out sexual assaults and ordered the vaginal and anal rape of even younger relations.

"FBI investigators in the United States discovered 15 Facebook accounts traceable to this defendant."

Leighton had up to 40 Facebook profiles
Leighton had up to 40 Facebook profiles Credit: PA

He said the case involving the Florida rape had taken place in the summer of last year.

Mr Reid said: "The defendant has pleaded guilty to raping this baby girl - 4,000 miles away as she was - by using the boy, as it were, as an accessory."

The little girl was raped six times in different ways on two occasions, with Leighton sending messages to the boy on the specific things he wanted him to do to her.

Mr Reid said: "The defendant sent a picture of the boy's school and asked if he wanted the video of him raping his niece to go online. The defendant told him, 'You will have a hard time in jail'."

"For this reason the boy did rape his niece again."

Leighton admitted rape, sexual assault on a girl under 13, distributing indecent images, causing or inciting sexual grooming, blackmail, making indecent images possession of a class B drug.

Andrew Rutter, defending, said Leighton was a cannabis user and had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity.

He added: "He protests it was not for sexual gratification but because it gave him a feeling of power to exercise the utmost control over other individuals."

Detective Sergeant Peter Morgan, part of the team who investigated Leighton, said the case was the worst they have ever come across in their career.

He said: "Paul Leighton is one of the most serious offenders I have ever come across and his actions have had devastating impacts across the world.

"He has victims in this country, America, Canada, and Australia and there may be dozens more who have not yet reported abuse to the authorities.

"His offending has had a lasting impact on all the officers on the investigative team but from the minute Leighton was arrested he has shown no remorse for his actions.

"He was calculated and sophisticated in his approach to this abuse and his lack of thought for his victims is spine-chilling."

 

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