"Extremely prolific" paedophile to be sentenced after grooming 45 children with fake identities
David Harmes posed as a model scout to encourage children as young as six to engage in explicit acts
A Cheshire man convicted of grooming 45 children whilst posing as a model scout is set to be sentenced later.
David Harmes, 27, from Winsford contacted over 300 children whilst on licence following his release from prison for similar offences.
The court heard he would encourage children to engage in explicit acts whilst pretending he was trying to recruit models for popular high-street fashion brands.
The charges relate to 39 children in the UK and 6 in the US.
He would contact children, some as young as six via Instagram, Snapchat and Tiktok and invite them to earn £1,200 by taking part in a 'four stage' audition process which became increasingly sexualised.
Harmes would record the children using screen-recording software and keep the videos on his laptop as well as making 'compilations' of his victims.
Prosecution barristers described how if the children became suspicious and stopped cooperating, Harmes would threaten to publish the videos online.
During an extensive investigation, police found over 1,200 'Category A' indecent images - the most serious kind - on Harmes' laptop and phone.
There were thousands more Category B and C images that the court heard Harmes would watermark with his initials, potentially for distribution to other paedophiles.
Specialist forensic officers were able to track down Harmes using his IP address and Instagram accounts before identifying him using a video where he accidentally turned his camera on during a call.
Harmes had just been released following similar offences
Harmes pleaded guilty to all 88 offences on the 24th of July.
He committed the offences less than six months after being released from prison on a licence following similar crimes.
In 2016 Harmes was sentenced to 8 years after admitting 35 sexual offences against 28 children.
He served 5 years in prison and was released in February 2019 to serve the remaining 3 years on licence. In July 2019 Harmes began committing his crimes again.
'Low and disgusting with a sick fetish'
In a statement read out in court on behalf of one of Harmes' victims, she said: "You probably won't remember me as there were many other boys and girls, I don't remember much of you either.
"I've always been a shy girl, I am embarrassed to tell people but I don’t want anyone else to go through it.
"You took advantage of me and all these other girls and boys... I really hope this time how low and disgusting the things you’ve done are."
A statement from another victim read "Why would you strip boys and girls of their innocence for your sick fetish."
Harmes will be sentenced later today.
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