Wallsend pervert who preyed on more than 30 children in campaign of online sex offences is jailed
Daniel Lee, of Wallsend, lied about his age, identity and gender to trick girls and boys into sending him indecent images of themselves
by Rob Kennedy · ChronicleLiveA serial online predator who exploited more than 30 children for his sexual gratification has been jailed.
Daniel Lee lied about his identity, age and gender to trick vulnerable teens into sending him indecent videos and images of themselves on various social media platforms. Concerns were first raised by the authorities in the USA, which sparked an investigation by the National Crime Agency in the UK.
Their investigation revealed the shocking extend of Lee's criminal behaviour as he targeted children aged between 13 and 16, many in this country but others as far afield as Germany and Denmark. Now the 29-year-old, of St Peter's Road, Wallsend, has been locked up at Newcastle Crown Court for 45 offences.
Emma Dowling, prosecuting, said: "He engaged in a campaign of sexual abuse encouraging children to engage in sexual activity online for his sexual gratification. He gained their trust, he regularly lied about his identity, age and gender, pretending to be a similar age to them and pretending to be female to get young boys to send videos to him. In the case of some of the children the chats were short, only taking a few messages before images were solicited.
"Sometimes payments were discussed in vouchers and money. Sometimes he established an emotional relationship before soliciting pictures, receiving pictures, videos or seeking to get live sessions with the children involved.
"There are 41 counts of sexual offending against more than 30 different children aged between 12 and 16 between January 6 2021 and August 9 2022. There is also a count of distributing images and three of making indecent images."
The offending came to light after a referral to the National Centre of Missing and Exploited Children, based in the USA, who involved the National Crime Agency in the UK. That happened after images were posted on Twitter of a 15-year-old girl.
A NCA investigation then identified seven of Lee's victims, while it was not possible to identify many further child victims, some of whom lived outside of the UK.
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The NCA visited one 15-year-old girl, about whom the initial referral was made. She said men online had encouraged her to sell nude pictures and became upset. Police examined her phone and found Lee was one of the men who had done so.
After police became aware of a second victim, who lived near Lee, they arrested him and the full scale of what he had been up to was revealed, including repeatedly asking and receiving sexual images of teenage girls. He also posed as a female to get teenage boys to send him indecent images.
One victim, aged 13, was in Germany and another, aged 15, was in Denmark. One of the victims was 12 while the rest were teenagers.
Lee admitted 41 offences, including sexual communication with a child, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, inciting sexual exploitation of a child, attempted incitement of a child to engage in sexual activity and attempted sexual communication with a child He also admitted having 97 of the most serious, category A images, including one of a toddler, 94 category B images and 215 category C images. He also distributed an indecent image while pretending to be a teenage girl.
He was jailed for four years and five months, must sign the sex offenders register for life and will be subject to a sexual harm prevention order and is barred from working with children and vulnerable adults.
Mark Harrison, defending, said: "His family are devastated by his behaviour and still have not come to terms with what has happened and what will happen.
"He felt a sense of inclusion when communicating with children. He felt emotional congruence with children.
"He accepts entirely the grim facts set out in terms of the material he solicited and obtained and the chats that give rise to them. While he raised the possibility of meeting in person, no such meeting took place.
"He lives with his parents and has learning disabilities and is on a waiting list to see if he is on the autism spectrum." Mr Harrison added that Lee is vulnerable and isolated and said his remorse is genuine.
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