Police Smash UK-Based Paedophile Ring

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Police Smash UK-Based Paedophile Ring


Police Smash UK-Based Paedophile Ring
Updated: 23:49, Monday June 18, 2007

Police have smashed a global internet paedophile ring run by a 28-year-old British man who was today sent to jail indefinitely.

Timothy Cox
Officers involved in the 10-month operation rescued 31 children who were being abused.

Some of the vile sex attacks were shown live online.

Around 700 suspects - 200 from the UK - were identified in 35 countries during the operation. Some are still being pursued.

Offenders used a web chatroom called Kids The Light Of Our Lives to swap photos and videos of horrific abuse.

It was hosted by brewer Timothy Cox, who admitted nine offences of possessing and distributing tens of thousands of indecent images of children.

A judge at Ipswich Crown Court told him: "These are shocking images which involve very young children.

"In the worst cases (they are) being subjected to sadistic, painful abuse which you, for some distorted reason, appear to take enjoyment from."

Judge Peter Thompson said Cox posed "significant risks" and had to be imprisoned for "for public protection".

The court heard he lived with his parents and sister in their large farmhouse in Buxhall, Suffiolk, and worked at the family's micro-brewery.

He operated the website from his bedroom using the pseudonym "Son of God", a reference to another online child sex pervert.

The prosecution said Cox spotted a "gap in the market" after a similar American website was closed down by police.

He possessed more than 75,000 indecent images, including more than 1,000 films, which amounted to two weeks of continuous viewing.

Cox was arrested last September after an undercover Canadian policeman found the chatroom during an investigation into paedophile websites.

After his arrest, undercover officers spent 10 days infiltrating the chatroom, assuming his identity to collect evidence about other users.

Sky's Crime Correspondent Martin Brunt said it could well be the biggest internet paedophile operation ever mounted in the UK.

It was led by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre.

Its CEO, Jim Gamble, said: "As predators become increasing sophisticated in their use of the Internet for exploiting young people, so too do the techniques we use to detect them."

Source: Skynews