Daniel Lee appeared at Newcastle Crown Court today (Monday October 14) for sentence having admitted a 45-count indictment involving at least seven youngsters in the UK, but it is thought there were others abroad who may have also been contacted by the predator.
The 29-year-old defendant of St Peter’s Road, Wallsend, admitted all the offences, which included making indecent images of children, distributing indecent photographs of children, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, inciting and attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity and sexual communications with a child.
Emma Dowling, prosecuting, said the defendant used “catfish” tactics, sometimes masquerading as a girl to procure images from young boys.
(Image: Northumbria Police)
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) prosecuted Lee following an investigation by the National Crime Agency (NCA).
During the offending period, between January 2021 and August 2022, the defendant lied about his identity, age and gender, to children he targeted and engaged online using fake profiles he had created on social media.
Having gained his victims’ trust, Lee would direct the conversation to sexual matters before requesting them to engage in sexual activity and send him indecent images of that activity.
Lee sometimes enticed children to send indecent images by stating he would pay them in exchange, but other children believed they were in a genuine relationship with the online personas created by the defendant.
The investigation found that Lee had committed sexual offences against more than 30 different children aged 12 to 15.
Judge Penny Moreland, who described him as posing, “a high risk of causing serious harm to children”, imposed total prison sentence of four years and five months.
Speaking after the hearing, Bethany Raine, Specialist Prosecutor for the CPS, said: “Daniel Lee made a number of different accounts with false personas for the predatory purpose of targeting children online and obtaining sexual images of them.
“His offending has affected dozens of children, who were manipulated and exploited, all for his own sexual gratification.
“The CPS will continue to work closely with law enforcement partners to relentlessly pursue justice for victims and prosecuting those who engage in online child sexual abuse.”
To deal with some of the more complex and challenging child sexual abuse cases, the CPS has established its dedicated Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit to share specialist understanding, build strong cases and increase the amount of successful prosecutions.
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Danielle Pownall from the National Crime Agency said: “The NCA is committed to protecting children and bringing those who seek this material out to justice.
“Daniel Lee was a prolific offender, targeting children on social media sites and soliciting illegal images from them for his own gratification.
“We uncovered tens of thousands of messages on Lee’s device, both to his victims and to other accounts to request sexual content. He preyed on vulnerable children to continue his offending.”
