Predator sentenced for multiple online child sexual offences

A predator posed as a teenage boy to pressure young girls for explicit sexual images.

Kevin Wyeth used an account on a mobile phone to bully the girls, including making threats to locate them and rape them.

The 39-year-old caused the girls to engage in sexual activity in group chat messages.

Officers located him at a flat in Eastbourne, where a mobile phone was seized and examined.

Wyeth preyed on the fears of four victims to obtain indecent images and videos, which he stored on a mobile device.

The girls, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, have been provided with support from specially-trained officers.

One victim said: “He made me feel like I could not talk to anybody.”

Wyeth, formerly of Eastbourne but of no fixed address, was charged with 35 offences, and appeared for sentencing at Lewes Crown Court on Friday, 2 May.

The court imposed a 20-year sentence, which includes 15 years in prison, and an additional five years on licence as part of an extended sentence.

Wyeth was previously remanded in custody after a hearing before Brighton Magistrates’ Court on October 12 last year.

The offences were seven counts of distributing indecent images, ten counts of making indecent images, five counts of engaging in sexual communications with a child and one count of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, three counts of breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, three counts of inciting girls under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity which includes one count of penetrative sexual activity, two counts of disclosing or threatening to disclose a private sexual photograph or film with intent to cause distress, and three counts of malicious communications.

Wyeth was previously jailed in 2018 and 2020 for similar offences of making indecent images and of engaging in sexual communications with a child, and was also jailed in 2023 for breaching a Sexual Harm Prevention Order.

The court heard that officers visited his flat in March 2023, and he refused to provide a PIN access to a mobile phone.

Following an investigation by the Online Child Abuse Team (OCAT), further offences involving four victims were identified.

The victims were all under the age of 13 a the time, and have all suffered ongoing fear and trauma as a result of Wyeth.

Parents described how Wyeth’s crimes had caused their daughters to have changed behaviour.

One parent described Wyeth as a “prolific child predator” and said he has caused “lasting emotional scars”.

“The trust we had in the online world has been shattered,” a parent said.

Investigating officer Detective Constable Gary Baker, from the OCAT team, said: “Wyeth preyed on the fears of the girls to commit his crimes.

“He has repeatedly committed similar offences, breached Sexual Harm Prevention Orders, and is a danger to children.

“His crimes have caused lasting harm to the victims, who all require ongoing support.

“We remain determined to catch offenders like Wyeth and to secure justice for victims who have been abused.

“Anyone who has been a victim of serious sexual offences is asked to report it to us.”

Information can be reported on the Sussex Police website.