Ex-camp boss groomed boys
A former children’s holiday camp manager who groomed more than 70 teenage boys online – including from Portsmouth – by pretending to be a 16-year-old girl has admitted his guilt.
The National Crime Agency investigated Cameron Osman, 44, of Southampton, who used the online alias ‘Lizzielemon’ to identify his victims on Instagram and platforms MyLol and Love Crush before moving them on to Google Hangouts, Discord and Skype throughout 2020 and 2021. His victims came from across the UK and included boys from Portsmouth and Southampton in Hampshire.
He engaged them in sexualised chat revolving around a fantasy online world with Osman pretending to be a teenage girl. He never identified himself, instead telling victims his camera was broken.
The NCA tracked Osman down to a friend’s address in Crowborough, East Sussex, in September 2021 and arrested him. He had resigned from his job at a holiday camp activity centre in Hailsham a few days earlier.
His laptop and mobile phone were seized and Osman was found to have contacted 76 boys in the UK aged between 12 and 16 during the offending period. All have been safeguarded.
Officers found no evidence of Osman grooming children at the activity centre. Investigators in the United States also uncovered chat logs showing sexualised communication by Osman with underage boys in 27 countries. He also searched online for under age boys in Columbia,where he was planning to visit.
He was released on bail as the investigation continued, but proceeded to offend again, leading to his arrest on March 27 this year after a further victim was identified.
The defendant appeared at St Albans Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to 36 separate charges, including attempting to in cite a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, sexualcommunication with a child, and making two category C indecent images of children.
NCA operations manager Danielle Pownall said: ‘Cameron Osman callously preyed on vulnerable teenage boys, masquerading as a teenage girl for his own sexual gratification.
‘I have no doubt, if we had not stopped Osman he would have gone on to commit more severe offending.’