Bexhill woman jailed for live-streaming child sexual abuse

A Bexhill woman who was paid £2,285 to stream footage of herself sexually abusing a young girl for almost three years has been sentenced to six years behind bars.
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Christine Callaghan, 33, used Skype to send fellow child sex offender Dean Petley, 30, the harrowing abuse footage.

Last month Callaghan, of Bexhill, admitted distributing category A (the most serious) live streamed videos, distributing a category B indecent live streamed video; and two counts of causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity.

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On Friday afternoon (December 6), at Isleworth Crown Court she was jailed for six years, given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and put on the sex offenders register indefinitely, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Christine Callaghan. Picture courtesy of the National Crime AgencyChristine Callaghan. Picture courtesy of the National Crime Agency
Christine Callaghan. Picture courtesy of the National Crime Agency

The NCA caught Callaghan, and Petley, of Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, after investigating Jodie Little, 30, who was jailed for 12 years and four months in August this year for sexually abusing children online.

In July 2018, the NCA became aware of Little sexually abusing children on an adult services website from her home in northern Cyprus.

She was returned to the UK and admitted nine offences.

She was convicted of eight of them using Section 72 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 – legislation designed to prosecute British nationals in the UK for crimes committed abroad.

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Little’s investigation generated new leads, according to the NCA.

In October last year the NCA arrested Petley, an automotive engineer, after identifying him as one of Little’s customers. He admitted 11 charges and was jailed last month for eight years, the NCA said.

Online chat found on Little’s devices showed Petley had asked her to perform sex acts in front of young children, according to the NCA, and that he paid her £750 from January 2017 to February 2018 to see her sexually abuse two victims.

Little, originally from Huddersfield, sent Petley 10 electronic files, one of which showed her sexually abusing a very young girl and talking graphically about the child being raped, the NCA added.

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The NCA said Petley was rearrested in May this year after further evidence – linking him to Christine Callaghan – was found on an encrypted hard drive at his home.

It contained screenshots of conversations with Callaghan over two years and full facial images of her abusing the victim with a small window of Petley watching it, the NCA added.

Callaghan discussed with Petley what she would do for money and he instructed her how to abuse the victim, said the NCA.

The hard drive also contained a video of Callaghan abusing the young girl; and screenshots showed that on at least 10 different dates over three years, 2016 to 2018, she performed penetrative sexual activity in front of the victim.

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Matt Hall, NCA operations manager, said: “These were horrendous crimes that Callaghan carried out for money.

“Her and Petley’s prosecutions were possible because of our determination to ensure Jodie Little faced justice.

“Little might have been abroad but distance is not a barrier for the NCA in pursuing UK child sex offenders wherever they are.

“These crimes are an example of what the NCA is seeing more and more, with increasingly worsening cyber-enabled child sexual offending.

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“The NCA knows that the scale and severity of offending against children are worsening.

“We and UK police arrest around 500 child sex offenders a month and safeguard about 700 children a month.

“There is no greater priority for us than protecting children.”

Child Protection Charity The Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs the Stop It Now! helpline which offers confidential advice to anyone concerned about their own or someone else’s behaviour towards children.

If you are concerned a crime has been committed against a child contact your local police. For advice on child safety visit Thinkuknow.co.uk