Teens blackmailed for sexual images

"He knew I was just a child, he knew what he was doing ... he kept doing it for his own satisfaction." Victim impact statement

A 37-year-old man who blackmailed teenage girls into sending him sexually explicit images and videos of themselves over several years has been sentenced to four years and one month in jail.

Keith Jock Wickliffe was sentenced in Palmerston North District Court on Friday on three charges of blackmailing girls between the ages of 12 and 14.

He also faced 27 charges of possessing objectionable material, which Judge Gerard Lynch described as ‘‘truly disturbing’’.

Wickliffe’s first victim was 12 years old and met Wickliffe when he made a friend request to her via Facebook under an alias.

In 2012 Wickliffe persuaded her to send pictures of herself in stages of undress. He then threatened to post the photos if she did not send him videos of her performing sexual acts.

Between 2013 and 2014, Wickliffe coerced the girl into webcam videos where he would tell her what to do as he watched.

Wickliffe recorded up to 20 of the videos. He again threatened to post them online if she did not continue.

In a victim impact statement, the girl said she had changed her appearance for fear that she might be identified.

She left school partway through studying due to this distress.

Wickliffe met the second girl, 14, from Canada, through chat website Blogtv. Again he started out asking to see her in states of undress.

On another occasion the girl undressed, unaware the video was still going and Wickliffe was watching.

He threatened to post the images online, including to her high school website, if she did not perform sexual acts. She refused but Wickliffe continued with threats over several months.

He then threatened to kill her parents and siblings if she ‘‘continued to play games’’, the judge quoted.

In her victim impact statement, the girl said the incidents often caused her to wake up at night crying. She had also been driven to harm herself.

The third victim, 14, was met through Skype, in 2013, with Wickliffe again using an alias.

He persuaded the girl to engage in video chat and perform sexual acts on camera.

Wickliffe requested the acts get progressively more explicit, once again threatening to post images of her online.

On one occasion he had her undress while he and other men watched.

‘‘Mr Wickliffe also threatened to kidnap her and kill her family and threatened to send a link to Youtube showing one of the videos she had made,’’ the judge said.

The girl’s victim statement said she felt trapped, suicidal and ashamed.

‘‘She lived in fear of seeing herself posted on the internet and obsessively checked.’’

The judge read a passage from the girl’s statement.

‘‘I think what Keith did was horrible, he knew I was just a child, he knew what he was doing, he had seen when he got me to do things that I was upset ... he kept doing it for his own satisfaction.’’

In 2014 when police were investigating the blackmail charges they conducted a search of Wickliffe’s property and he was seen trying to hide a laptop under the house.

Police found a deleted folder containing a large number of objectionable images and videos relating to children aged 6 to 15 years old.

Wickliffe told a sentencing report writer that the blackmail was not always sexual and much was about control. The judge disagreed.