CPS News Brief

Internet predator who targeted young girls online jailed

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. 

Men jailed for smuggling guns into the UK on the bottom of a tourist coach

Two men have been jailed for a total of 28 years today (31 August) for smuggling guns into the UK, using magnets to attach them to a tourist coach.

The court heard that Mark Maynard and Nicholas Barbary worked as a team to bring two sub-machine guns, one of which was loaded, and a loaded Luger pistol from Europe to the UK.

They used strong magnets to stow the guns to the underside of a tourist coach in Europe. They also attached a tracker so he could follow the coach’s journey back to its depot in Coventry.

Both men then collected the guns using a van, securing them to the underside of the van in the same way. They were stopped by police while driving back to Crawley and the three guns, along with a silencer and a package of ammunition containing 13 live rounds for the pistol and 166 live rounds for the submachine guns were found. 

Tom Guest from the CPS said: “Maynard and Barbary used a tourist coach excursion to smuggle deadly weapons into the country. Both engaged in significant planning to carry out this serious criminality. 

“These loaded weapons clearly had potential to kill. The CPS worked closely with Sussex Police to build a strong case against both men, leaving them with no choice but to plead guilty.”

Notes:

• Tom Guest is a Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service.

• Nicholas Barbary and Mark Maynard pleaded guilty to importation and possession with intent to endanger life.

• Mark Maynard received 16 years two months in prison, Barbary received 12 years in prison and both will have an extended licence period of four years.