Paedophile jailed for ‘remote rape’ after blackmail campaign
A BRITISH paedophile who blackmailed children into abusing younger relatives has been jailed for rape, despite being thousands of miles away when the attacks took place.
Using fake Facebook profiles and posing as a child, Paul Leighton, 31, befriended teenagers in the United States, Canada and Australia, and then persuaded them to send naked or sexual images of themselves. He then used the pictures or videos to blackmail the frightened children into becoming abusers themselves, threatening to send the images to family members.
In one case a 14-year-old boy from Florida, who believed he was talking to a girl, was blackmailed into repeatedly raping his 12-month-old niece.
The boy has since been charged by the US authorities, but the FBI are investigating other victims Leighton may have targeted. Leighton, from Seaham, County Durham, admitted raping the baby girl six times even though he was 4,000 miles away – by using the teenager as his unwilling accessory. It is thought to be the first time somebody has been convicted of rape in such circumstances. In another case Leighton trapped a 13-year-old girl in Tennessee and forced her into having sex with her older brother. Leighton blackmailed two British teenage girls and also sexually abused a nine-year-old girl living in the North East of England.
Sentencing Leighton to 16 years with a six-year extended licence at Newcastle Crown Court yesterday, Judge Robert Adams told him: “You have effectively destroyed the lives of these people against whom you made these threats.” The judge ruled Leighton was “clearly dangerous” and posed a risk to children in the UK and abroad.
Prosecutor Paul Reid told the court: “This was the utterly appalling abuse of many children and it is suspected by the police this could be as many as 100 in the United States, Canada and potentially a couple in Australia.”
Det Sgt Peter Morgan, who was part of the investigation team, said “Paul Leighton is one of the most serious offenders I have ever come across and his actions have had devastating impacts across the world.” “