A man from Harrow has been sentenced to 10 years in prison today (1 September) after using social media to target young girls and get them to engage in sexual activity online.
Derek Hutton used social media platform MovieStarPlanet, aimed at children aged eight to 15, to contact girls and engage in sexualised conversations with them before moving them to platforms with a video function.
Hutton then filmed himself and encouraged his victims to engage in sexual activity themselves or to send him pictures.
The social media platform continually alerted police to Hutton’s conduct but he avoided detection using fake IP addresses. Hutton had created 407 usernames and approached 3,715 individual users over two years.
It is estimated that Hutton attempted to engage girls in sexual activity on the platform 500 times, doing so successfully on 250 occasions and inciting sexual activity by a child under 13 on 50 occasions.
Tom Guest, from the CPS, said: “Derek Hutton spent more than two years approaching hundreds of young children on the internet.
“Hutton went to great lengths to hide his identity and avoid being caught, using false IP addresses and routinely wiping his computer history so he could continue his offending.
“The CPS put a case before the court that reflected the scale of his offending, including evidence from social media platforms based abroad, resulting in Hutton’s guilty plea.”
Ends
Notes to editors:
- Tom Guest is a Specialist Prosecutor in the International Justice and Organised Crime Division.
- Derek Hutton appeared at Blackfriars Crown Court and pleaded guilty to:
o causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity;
o six counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child;
o two counts of procuring the making of indecent photographs of a child;
o four counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity;
o attempting to engage in sexual activity in the presence of a child.
- Hutton received a 10 year prison sentence and will be on an extended licence period of five years. He will be on the Sex Offenders Register and subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order for life.
