A man who took pictures of a teenage girl from her mother's Facebook page and sent them to a paedophile in the United States has been sentenced to 28 months in prison. Chris Williams, 40, from Waun Wen, Cwmavon, Afan Valley, appeared at Swansea Crown Court after pleading guilty to multiple offences related to indecent images of children.
Investigation and Arrest
On September 23 last year, police attended Williams' home address following information linking him to online offending. Officers seized his phone and a triage examination revealed pictures of a teenage girl in school uniform. Although these images were not indecent, Williams was arrested. A full download of the phone uncovered 103 indecent images, including 41 of Category A, which depict the most extreme kinds of child sex abuse and rape. Additionally, 81 extreme images depicting bestiality were found.
Prosecutor Joseph Hocquard told the court that the teenager in the uniform photos was identified, and it was established that the pictures had been downloaded from her mother's Facebook page without her knowledge.
Online Chats and Exchange of Images
Examination of Williams' phone revealed extensive chats on the Telegram app between the defendant, using the alias 'Welsh Guy', and a man named Ben in San Francisco. The pair discussed in graphic detail the kinds of child sexual abuse acts they wanted to engage in. They exchanged indecent pictures of young girls they had taken, as well as videos of themselves masturbating.
Williams also encouraged the contact in America to sexually abuse his daughter while she was asleep, advising him to give the child drugs to keep her asleep and expressing a desire to join in the abuse. He sent the Facebook photos of the teenager in her school uniform to the man in San Francisco.
Sentencing and Judge's Remarks
Williams pleaded guilty to three counts of possessing indecent images of Categories A, B, and C, distributing indecent images of Category A, taking indecent images of Category C, and possessing extreme images. He had no previous convictions.
Andrew Evans, defending, said a pre-sentence report could not recommend an alternative to immediate custody, and expressed hope that Williams would engage with appropriate agencies to gain insight into his offending. He added that his client was concerned about the impact of his conviction on his children and his former partner.
Judge Huw Rees noted that Williams denied having any sexual interest in children in his pre-sentence report, but said 'that is wholly false, and I reject it entirely'. He told Williams he had a 'deeply unhealthy and degenerate' sexual interest in young children, and said his offending should be to his 'undying shame'.
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas, Williams was sentenced to 28 months in prison. He will serve half the sentence in custody before being released on licence. He will be a registered sex offender for 10 years and was made subject to a sexual harm prevention order for the same period.
