Tyre fitter was dark web child abuse ring chief
A TYRE fitter acted as a mastermind behind a horrifying underground website that let 100,000 paedophiles worldwide share millions of videos and pictures of child sex abuse.
Loner Nathan Bake, 28, perpetrated the exploitation of babies, toddlers and youngsters on the dark web from his terraced home in Cheshire.
His rise to become second in command of the global operation can be revealed for the first time after he was branded ‘a committed and dangerous paedophile’ as a judge jailed him for 16 years.
Chester Crown Court heard that Bake was caught after police uncovered a server hosting a sinister child pornography site in Romania in August 2020.
A moderator, known as Pink, of the platform was identified as Asperger’s sufferer Bake.
After finishing work at a garage near his home in Runcorn, he spent most evenings controlling the site, which allowed paedophiles to swap images and videos in rooms or ‘gateways’ – with names such as ‘tots are us’.
To join, members had to demonstrate their trustworthiness by supplying images and even real-life footage of previously unseen child sex abuse.
Bake advised them how to avoid detection and urged them to flood the website with images and links of child abuse.
In one message recovered by investigators, posted in August 2022, sick Bake said: ‘Come on people. Show us what you’ve got for HAPPY HOUR. Show us the boys and girls that turn you.’
Members made 1.9 million posts and shared 9.6 million files, some of especially vile child sex abuse dubbed ‘hurtcore’.
Investigators said there was no doubt children had been abused so paedophiles could win ‘kudos’ and access the website.
Judge Patrick Thompson said Bake was a ‘serious danger’ to children, adding: ‘People are revulsed by offending of this nature.
‘You are a committed paedophile who represents a very significant risk of causing serious harm to children.’
Bake admitted 12 offences, including facilitating sexual exploitation of children, participating in an organised crime group, possession of a paedophile manual plus distributing and making indecent images of children.
Bake, single with no children, used a special browser to access the dark web anonymously.
A National Crime Agency raid on his home in November 2022, revealed 3.6 million images of child sex abuse on his devices, including at least 8,000 of the most serious category.
Girls’ clothing and shoes were recovered from his computer desk along with adult sex aids.
Investigators discovered Bake was a moderator of two other sites. He also had a ‘chilling’ 576page paedophile manual. NCA branch commander Adam Priestley said such websites were ‘key facilitators for child sexual abuse’ because they made abusers feel ‘safe’ and ‘accepted’.
He added: ‘There was nothing on this site which was off-limits.’
‘You represent a significant risk’