A postman who used social networking sites to groom up to 1,000 children – some of whom he sexually abused – was jailed for eight-and-a-half years today.
Vile Michael Williams, 28, used different ‘profiles’ to target children he met on his post round, while doing schools runs as taxi driver, and as the secretary of a football club.
He dyed his hair different colours to hide his identity and tricked his victims into performing sex acts on a webcam or to meet him so he could sexually assault them.
Police say Williams created at least eight fake profiles pretending to be teenage boys and a girl called ‘Gorgeous Charlie’ to meet children aged 11 to 16.
On his own Facebook page he posted images of himself as a youngster meeting Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson and players including Ryan Giggs and Peter Schmeichel – although it is not known if he used the images to snare children.
He used Facebook, Bebo and MSN messenger to chat to multiple victims at once and convinced many to meet him in parks, beaches and at his home where he abused them.
Police say he is a ”fantasist” who kept newspaper cuttings about Ian Huntley and, after his arrest, warned officers his horrific offending was set to ”escalate”.
In April he admitted 27 specimen charges including grooming, sexual activity with a child and inciting children to engage in sexual activity.
But he also asked for a sickening 460 other offences to be taken into consideration – including voyeurism, sexual assault and child porn.
Police have identified around 500 victims he groomed or abused but believe there could be up to 1,000 in total because hundreds are too scared to come forward.
Officers say many of the incidents could have been avoided if Facebook had installed a ”panic button” which would allow youngsters to alert authorities if they thought they were being groomed.
Facebook has recently announced it will allow a panic button application which will report suspected abuse to the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (Ceop).
Jailing Williams yesterday at Truro Crown Court, said Williams, of Penryn, Cornwall, had ”exploited” young people and had abused his positions of trust.
”Every method employed by you was designed to exploit young children by the means you knew would be popular with them – Facebook, Bebo, MSN Messenger,” he said.
”You created completely fictitious profiles posing as the sort of person teenagers might be attracted to. They were lulled into a false sense of security.
”The extent of your position as a postman, taxi driver and secretary of a football club gave you access and trust to children living in the local community.
”I don’t overlook the corrosive effect your activities have had upon families of the children, the schools they go to and the community where they live.”
Williams began his internet offending in 2005 when he started to groom kids he met during his postal rounds, taxi routes and at Falmouth Town Football Club.
He was working at the club as a secretary and also set up video cameras in the showers where he filmed adults between the ages of 18 and 25.
Williams, a bisexual, began to dye his hair green and red and adopt different hair styles to set up a series of Facebook profiles.
The physical assaults later took place when Williams met children at his flat and other locations including a park and a beach.
One charge of voyeurism he admitted relates to various incidents where he filmed young children as they got dressed and undressed on a beach in Falmouth, Cornwall.
Williams was arrested in November 2009 when various children came forward to police saying they had been assaulted.
Officers arrested him on suspicion of making indecent images and sexual assault, which he initially denied.
But police then searched his flat and found the ”true extent” of his crimes, video evidence of which was stored and catalogued on his computer files.
It emerged that Williams had been using the internet to persuade children to perform sex acts on themselves on a web cam, which he then recorded.
Officers discovered 1,342 indecent images of children, 20 videos featuring children he met on the internet and 800 carefully archived ‘chat logs’.
He used Facebook for the majority of his grooming and had aliases including a young boy called ‘James’ and a teenage girl called ‘Gorgeous Charlie’.
Williams also had contact with many children on MSN Messenger and he would keep several windows open on his screen so he could groom ”multiple victims” at once.
Detective Inspector Simon Snell, who headed the investigation, said: ”Williams is a predatory paedophile who used the internet and his post round to infiltrate the lives of his young victims and exploit them for his own sexual gratification.
”The children who have been tricked into having sexual activity with this man are horrified and distraught. But some simple safety procedures could have stopped him.
”We are unclear of the exact figure of how many children he met through social networking sites but we believe it may be up to a thousand.”
Police say he mainly targeted children who he had got to know in his local area, but had also groomed children from other areas of the country, including the north and the south east.
On his own Facebook profile Williams had seven photographs of himself aged around ten or 11 meeting Man United staff and players at Old Trafford.
During the trip he was photographed meeting Ryan Giggs, Peter Schmeichel, Lee Sharpe, Dion Dublin as well as manager Alex Ferguson.
The images were taken from Williams’ own Facebook site shortly after his arrest but they were not part of the evidence against him.
Facebook says it has recently spent £5million on a campaign to improve safety for its users.
A spokeswoman said: ”We are deeply concerned by both the scale of the crimes committed by Michael Williams and his determination to groom young people over such a long period of time both on and offline.
”This case serves as a painful reminder that everyone must use extreme caution when talking to or meeting people they only know via the internet.”
** Williams has admitted 27 charges:
Three counts of grooming and eight (specimen) counts of sexual activity with a child aged between 13 and 15.
Nine (specimen) counts of cause/incite child aged between 13 and 15 to engage in sexual activity, four counts of cause/incite child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
One count of voyeurism, one count of making/possessing 65 images at Level 1 and one count of making/possessing 5 images at Level 4.
There were also 460 offences to be taken into consideration including 293 indecent movies of which 123 are at level 1 and 170 at level 2, 165 counts of causing/incite boy/girl under 16 to engage in sexual activity, one count of voyeurism, one count of sexual assault by intentionally touching a boy aged 13 years.
Pervert! It is scum like you that gives us at Royal Mail a bad name!