International paedophile ring broken up

Police have smashed a global internet paedophile ring with more than 700 suspects worldwide, a British law enforcement agency said today.

The UK's Child Exploitation and Online Protection (Ceop) centre said about 200 of the suspects are based in the UK, and 31 children have been rescued from abuse.

The paedophiles used an internet chatroom called “Kids the Light of Our Lives” to swap photos and videos of children being subjected to horrific sexual abuse.

The last 10 months of the massive police investigation has involved agencies from 35 countries around the world.

A member of the internet chatroom who has admitted nine offences of possessing or distributing indecent images of children is due to be sentenced at Ipswich Crown Court in England later today.

Timothy David Martyn Cox (aged 27), of Buxhall, near Stowmarket in the UK, was said by Ceop to have hosted the website, masquerading behind the online identity “Son of God”.

He was arrested in September last year, which allowed undercover officers to infiltrate the chatroom and gather evidence on other members.

Cox was found to have nearly 76,000 indecent and explicit images of children on his computer, and there was also evidence that he had supplied nearly 11,500 images to other users, a CEOP spokesman said.

CEOP chief executive Jim Gamble said: “These children ranged from the very, very young – babies – right up to those who were in their early teens.”

He added: “This is the biggest co-ordinated, collaborative approach on the online environment ever. It sets the standard we will have to follow forever.”

He revealed that a “significant minority” of the 31 children rescued from abuse were in the UK, but he declined to give a firm figure.

Cox lived at home in a large farmhouse with his parents and sister, carrying out his online trading from his bedroom.

He was employed in the family’s micro-brewery which was based on the farm.

The complex investigation exposed another member of the Kids The Light of Our Lives website, who is also due to be sentenced later this month.

Gordon Mackintosh from Hertfordshire, England attempted to resurrect the website after Cox’s arrest.

Mackintosh 33, used the user names “silentblackheart” and “lust4skoolgurls”.

His computer was found to contain more than 5,000 indecent and explicit images of children and 392 indecent movie files.

He admitted 27 charges of making, possessing and distributing the material and is due to be sentenced on June 29.

Mr Gamble said Cox had been a member of a US-based online paedophile ring which was closed down by US authorities in March last year.

The host of the “kiddypics” and kiddyvids“ site adopted the username ”G.O.D.“, and therefore Cox’s online identity ”Son of God“ was believed to be a reference to this earlier case.

CEOP’s Ian Robertson described how police used techniques developed to arrest drug barons and other organised criminals to take on members of the online paedophile ring.

Raids were mounted with dramatic speed to prevent the men alerting members of the chatroom that they had been snared by law enforcers.

Undercover officers moved in swiftly to maintain the normal activities of the site as Cox was arrested, placing a message that he had gone for his tea and would be back in 30 minutes in an attempt to avoid arousing suspicions.

They then continued operating the chatroom under Cox’s online identities so evidence could be gathered on other members of the ring.

Officers in Britain did not distribute child pornography themselves.

Mr Gamble said: “We did everything permissible within British law to stop this taking place.”

Officers found that up to 70 online paedophiles were queuing up in the website to download new images of abuse.

Mr Robertson said: “The amount of data that came out was massive.”

The operation after Cox's arrest involved officers from Ceop and Toronto police carrying out online surveillance for 10 days.

The subsequent operation after Mackintosh’s arrest took in even more international forces, as officers from the US, Australia, Canada and the UK took shifts to gather details on chatroom members across the globe.

Mr Gamble said Cox’s arrest “sends a powerful warning to those using the internet to facilitate the sexual exploitation of children”.

He added: “From the apparent 'safety' of his home, Cox spent hours each day planning, promoting and encouraging the abuse and exploitation of innocent young victims.

“In doing so he provided a service to hundreds of like-minded individuals, enabling those with a sexual interest in children to share indecent images and discuss further plans for abuse.

“Anybody who thinks they can carry out such horrific activities undetected is in for a very rude awakening.

“The belief that the internet provides anonymity is unfounded and for Cox and Mackintosh it has already proved to be a costly misconception.”