‘We will find you and you will be punished’: the message to online predators from Lancashire Police
The force's Online Child Abuse Investigation Team have safeguarded 744 children
Lancashire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) is a specialist team of detectives and staff who work around the clock to keep children safe. In the last twelve months, they have investigated 529 crimes and safeguarded 744 children and they vow to continue to help keep the online world a safer space.
Working closely with the North West Regional Organised Crime Unit (NWROCU), the National Crime Agency (NCA) and other nationwide forces, the OCAIT team is committed to identifying and arresting those who offend online, using the internet as a place to exploit children by grooming them and distributing indecent images. Furthermore, in collaboration with NWROCU, the team investigate those offenders who actively engage online with undercover officers posing as children. This often leads to ‘meets’ where offenders agree a meeting place with an undercover officer only to be intercepted by arrest teams.
Every day, the team gathers information on potential suspects and build comprehensive files of evidence which will help to bring them to justice. As a result of this work, 55 child sex offenders have been prosecuted in the last year and the team have not had a single failure at court.
In early 2020, the OCAIT team launched an investigation after being made aware of an individual uploading an indecent image of a child to Facebook. It led officers to William Greenhalgh’s home in Dunelt Road, Blackpool. Examination of a seized phone revealed that the 23 year old had been sharing indecent images of children with his former boyfriend, 25 year old Abhiyaan Malhotra, who was living in Wales at the time, via a social media application.
Within a chatlog on the app, officers found that Greenhalgh had sent Malhotra indecent images and video footage of a young boy. It also revealed that Malhotra had taken a photograph of a man sleeping naked, without his knowledge, sending it to Greenhalgh.
Greenhalgh pleaded guilty to making and distributing indecent images of a child, sexual assault against a child by touching and possessing a prohibited image of a child. He was jailed for 40 months.
Malhotra, of Terrace Road, Swansea, pleaded guilty to observing a person doing a private act and arranging/facilitating the commission of a child sex offence. He was sentenced to 42 months behind bars.
Both men were also made subject of a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order and were made to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.
The team sifts through data taken from computers, hard drives and phones which have been seized from suspects and, using state of the art technology, work to identify victims of sexual abuse. They then work with local authorities across Lancashire to enable victims to be safeguarded appropriately.
Inspector Rachael Ashcroft, who leads the OCAIT team, said: ‘Protecting children is our top priority and something that each member of the team is absolutely passionate about. Each time an offender views or distributes an image of child sexual abuse, that child is victimised once again.’
‘Online child abuse can be perpetrated in many ways. This can be from children sending indecent photographs of themselves to one another, to individuals who have a specific sexual attraction to children and would seek to harm a child. It is for this reason that each case needs to be treated differently. The former of these may require education to prevent children from becoming exploited. Often, children are unknowingly breaking the law by sharing indecent images of themselves.’
‘Some individuals within society are a danger to children and therefore we and our partners will utilise all our powers to identify, investigate and prosecute offenders and seek to safeguard their victims. Referrals in relation to online child abuse continue to increase year on year and we will leave no stone unturned when it comes to investigating each case.’
Lancashire Constabulary is working closely with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, the UK charity which works to prevent abuse from happening in the first place – and to prevent it from happening again if it already has. They provide a free helpline (0800 1000 900) for offenders and their families, helping offenders to stop offending and helping family members to spot the signs and seek advice. They also provide advice and self-help resources through Stop It Now! , a website for adults who are concerned about their own online activity and people who feel they potentially could pose a sexual risk to children so that they can get help before they potentially harm a child. It also encourages people who are concerned about the viewing habits of someone they know to report it to the police.
Anyone with concerns about the online behaviour of someone they know can pass information on to us online www.doitonline.lancashire.police.uk or by calling 101. You can also give information anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.