A Teesside HGV driver who arranged a video call to watch a livestream of a "grandad raping his granddaughter" has been jailed for nine years.
Christopher Lumley, 38, of The Pastures, in Hartlepool, also distributed appalling images and videos of children being sexually abused. One of his online conversations with an American was initially intercepted by the FBI, and the information was passed to the National Crime Agency.
Undercover sting
Using the username "chicken lips", the lorry driver "explicitly discussed the sexual abuse of children", prosecutor Caoimhe Bicknell told Teesside Crown Court. When arrested, Lumley surrendered his phone and admitted to officers he had made a terrible mistake.
While on bail during the police investigation, Lumley started communicating with another user on a photo-sharing platform. He was unaware that the man he was messaging - "Tony" - was an undercover officer working to identify child sex offenders operating online, reports Teesside Live.
When the officer claimed he had been sexually abusing his 10-year-old granddaughter, Lumley demanded photos and videos of the girl. A video call was scheduled, where Lumley believed he would witness the "grandad" rape the child, Ms Bicknell said.
Call captured
On July 2, Lumley went online. The call was captured and revealed him seated on a bed, the court heard. The undercover officer pretended there was a problem "with the sound quality" on the call and claimed he couldn't hear Lumley. Lumley urged him to "try again" and sent appalling images of "children between the ages of four and eight" being sexually exploited, saying the photos were intended to give Tony "ideas".
He was apprehended on August 11. His phone revealed that he had searched for a Russian website, known to be frequented by sex offenders with a sexual interest in children, 3,051 times. Evidence from his phone showed that he continued to download indecent images of children even after his initial arrest, and he had hundreds of illicit images stored on his device. After his first arrest, he shared 250 of these images with others, the court was told.
Loneliness and boredom
Lumley later admitted to arranging the commission of a child sexual offence, specifically rape; six offences of making indecent images of children; and an additional six counts of distributing the indecent images.
Three years prior to committing the offences, Lumley moved out of his parents' home, his solicitor Tyler Plunkett informed the court. "He was struggling with loneliness at work and at home." Mr Plunkett explained that Lumley started accessing adult pornography, which led him to the illegal material. The defence barrister stated: "At first he was inadvertently coming across the material on the dark web. Then he had the conversation with the undercover officer. Being bored and lonely is genuinely the only explanation he can give at the moment."
Lumley had a good upbringing, his solicitor told the court, "and he repeatedly says how much he feels he has disappointed his parents".
Sentence
Judge Deborah Sherwin told Lumley that his offending "took a significant turn for the worse in 2026" when he began distributing the illegal images and videos. Before that point, the court heard, he had been storing them on his mobile phone.
"I've read the log chats between you and Tony," the judge said. "It's quite clear you were trying to persuade him to rape his 10 year old granddaughter, and you wished to watch this by means of the livestream. You thought you were talking to someone who had similar interests in abusing children, to you. The livestream wasn't actually going to take place. You were talking to an undercover officer."
Lumley was sentenced to nine years behind bars, and will serve an additional year on extended licence upon his release. He must sign the sex offenders' register indefinitely, and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for life.
