December 2020

Peterborough paedophile caught by online activist group ‘Totnes Justice’ 

A Peterborough paedophile has been caught by an online activist group after he attempted to start sexual conversations with two people he thought were underage girls.

45-year-old Anthony Chapman was sentenced to seven months in prison, suspended for two years at Peterborough Crown Court on Tuesday, December 8.

Chapman contacted the first ‘girl’ on August 22, 2018, via Facebook thinking she was 13-years-old, asking her to switch to a webcam and starting a sexualised conversations with her.

He persisted by contacting the account again on August 25 to ask the ‘girl’ to show him her breasts and then performed an indecent act when communicating with her on September 2.

On September 15 he contacted a second ‘girl’ – an account set up by the online child activist group – this time posing as a 14-year-old girl – and asked to move their conversation onto a webcam, before again performing an indecent act.

At this point a member of the activist group used a phone number provided by Chapman to contact him, pretending to be a delivery driver with a parcel for him and after he confirmed his address, the group confronted him on September 23 before contacting the police.

Chapman had his home searched which led to examinations of various electronic devices revealing 24 indecent images of children, three of these images were category A – the most severe and was subsequently arrested.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of attempting to incite a girl aged 13 to 15 to engage in sexual activity and three of making indecent photographs of a child, and as well as the prison sentence, he was also handed a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for 10 years.