By targeting single mums on dating websites OF PAEDOS I don’t want others to suffer like I did
They claim he didn’t do anything to them and I pray it is true but I’ll never get over the thought of what might have happened or the fact I had a sexual relationship with someone like that.
“My friends would sometimes bring their sons and their girlfriends to my house and I couldn’t get it out of my head that he could have been looking at them in a sexual way.
Charming
“With a young daughter I was never going to meet a man in a pub. I wanted someone with similar interests. Along came Russell saying he was into books and politics. We got chatting.
“Within three months he’d moved himself in. He was loving and charming and a little bit geeky, but I just had a funny feeling that something didn’t add up about him. So started rooting about a bit. It was then I found the letter.”
Sarah asked Fairburn’s family and claims she was told his victim was a liar and a prostitute. When she finally got Fairburn to give her Megan’s name she looked her up and got in touch on Facebook to discover the full, horrific truth.
Within days she had called police and Fairburn was arrested. He got ten months’ jail in December 2015 for breaching his probation.
A spokeswoman for POF said: “We are profoundly disturbed and saddened to learn of this heinous crime and our thoughts are with Sarah and her family.
“The deplorable nature of this is beyond words and we are eager to support law enforcement with their investigation. We strive to make POF a safe place for singles.
“Should any users feel uncomfortable disclosing whether or not they have children, we offer a ‘prefer not to say’ option for this reason.”
Sarah is just one of many single mums targeted by perverts online. MEGAN Sullivan was an innocent schoolgirl when warped Russell Fairburn groomed her online. The pervert took her virginity when she was 14 after luring her to his flat and plying her with alcohol and cannabis. Now 20 and with a child of her own, she has bravely waived her anonymity to speak out after learning of how Fairburn went on to target mum-of-three Sarah Marshall on Plenty of Fish. Megan said: “A lot of mums on their own are vulnerable, coping with jobs and kids, and this gives men like Russell a chance to take advantage of them. “I couldn’t believe it when I found out that he had been allowed to go and physically search for women with children like that so easily after what he did to me. “It’s dangerous and other paedophiles will be attracted to it for that very reason. It seems ridiculous. “I know the effects of being the victim of a sexual predator when you are just a child and no mother would want to put their child at risk of that. Experts warn that POF is not the only dating website being misused.
A spokesman for the NSPCC said: “Paedophiles go to great lengths to groom victims. It is disturbing that predators use dating sites to reach young people. When an adult starts any new relationship they should trust their instincts before they leave children with a stranger.”
Crisis
Research suggests up to 750,000 men in the UK may have a sexual interest in children. And an analysis by the National Crime Agency suggested as many as one in 35 adult males is a potential pervert. Our shocking report also comes days after it was revealed Britain faces a national crisis over child protection. Local authorities have had a 124 per cent rise in cases of children Something has to change It’s just wrong.” Megan was using an internet cafe when Fairburn contacted her on Facebook. He lied about his age, claiming to be 23. She was flattered by his attentions.
Within days she had agreed to meet him at his flat in Kensington, Liverpool.
After she was in a stupor from the drink and drugs he gave her, the fiend had sex with her – while his son of the same age sat in another room.
Megan, who had a fractured relationship with her parents, spent weeks visiting Fairburn before she was put in a children’s home further away.
Survivor
Desperately unhappy, she kept running away and the paedophile even paid for taxis so that she could hide out with him.
Megan said: “Looking back, I was ridiculously immature. I thought we were in some sort of amazing relationship.
“The weirdest thing was the first couple of times I went round, there was a young lad there the same age as me. As we had sex in the bedroom the boy was in another part of the house.
“Fairburn said it was his brother but later admitted it was his son.”
Megan said Plenty of Fish is making it easy for perverts to prey on single mums with their dating options.
Megan added: “I am a survivor but I never want any other children to go through what I went through. Something has to change.” who are suffering, or likely to suffer, significant harm. Yet almost 80 per cent of councils inspected by Ofsted in the past three years failed to meet the “good” rating for support.
Childline figures show counselling sessions for youngsters worried about online sexual abuse rose 24 per cent in the past year to 3,716. Most were girls aged 12 to 15. Police forces across England and Wales get 85 reports of abuse a day.
In March, James Smith got three years after spending hours trawling dating sites looking for single mums so he could abuse their kids.
The 32-year-old, of Grangemouth, Stirlingshire, used different identifies on POF, including the names Steve Smith and Richard Noble.
He was jailed for attacks on two children including one on a five- year- old outside her school. In May, his sentence was extended by 20 months after it emerged he continued seeing one of his victims during his trial.