Paedophile targeted almost 2,000 victims in ‘industrial scale’ online blackmail plot
A paedophile who exploited and blackmailed nearly 2,000 victims globally has admitted to 158 charges, in what has been described as “industrial-scale” offending.
Abdul Elahi previously admitted a majority of the offences but pleaded guilty to the final allegations at Birmingham Crown Court last month.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said Elahi admitted to what is thought to be one of the highest number of offences one individual has ever pleaded guilty to.
His pleas could only be reported after restrictions were lifted on Monday.
The 26-year-old’s offending included blackmailing victims into sending degrading videos and images of themselves, children and siblings, which he then sold online, the NCA said.
He operated by pretending to be a businessman or stockbroker on sugar daddy websites and then tricked victims who were in debt, or too young to legitimately be on the sites, into sending naked or partially clothed pictures of themselves.
Elahi, formerly of Allcroft Road, Sparkhill in Birmingham, also targeted some people on social media where he promised thousands of pounds for images and sent fake screenshots of money leaving his account to convince victims.
Once he had revealing images, he would threaten to expose the photos to the victims’ loved ones and families, sometimes blackmailing women into sending footage of them abusing themselves or others.
Kirsty Nicolls, 35, of Northolt, Middlesex, also admitted offences. Pic issued by the National Crime Agency
Investigators said many of the victims were so terrified they felt they had no choice but to comply, with some “goaded” to contemplate suicide.
Elahi would then go on to sell the images via encrypted Telegram app, making more than £25,000.
He also held online classes on the app, teaching people how to blackmail victims and obtain indecent images.
Elahi was caught in December 2018 by NCA agents, after an allegation he was blackmailing a teenage girl in the United States.
Investigators uncovered the scale of his offending after seizing and examining his mobile phone and computers.
Elahi admitted offences against a total of 79 victims, ranging from children aged under one to adults, carried out between January 2017 and August 2020.
They included multiple counts of blackmail, disclosing private sexual films and photographs to cause distress, making and distributing indecent images of children, encouraging the sexual assault of children, sexually assaulting a boy, causing or inciting children to engage in sexual activity, fraud and possessing more than 65,000 indecent images of children.
Tony Cook, the NCA’s head of child sexual abuse investigation operations, said: “The investigation team have been horrified by Elahi’s sadistic depravity and the industrial scale of his offending.”
He urged parents to speak with their children about who they talk to online, adding investigations stemming from Elahi’s offending were continuing.
A second defendant, Kirsty Elizabeth Nicholls, 35, of Northolt, Middlesex, also admitted offences.
Nicholls knew Elahi from a sugar daddy website and together they admitted two sexual assaults against a child and both admitted making indecent images of the child.
Singer and actress Marianne Faithfull has died at the age of 78.
A spokesperson said: “It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull.
“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family.
“She will be dearly missed.”
Marianne Faithfull in 1995. Pic: Reuters
Faithfull was best known for her 60s hit As Tears Go By, written by The Rolling Stones’ Jagger and Keith Richards.
She also starred in films including The Girl on a Motorcycle and 2007’s Irina Palm, for which she was nominated for a European Film Award for Best Actress.
In recent years, she provided voice work for the 2021 remake of Dune and 2023’s Wild Summon.
Faithfull in The Girl on a Motorcycle. Pic: Mid-Atlantic/Ares/Claridge/Kobal/Shutterstock
Born in 1946, Faithfull started her singing career in 1964 after being discovered by the Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
Her self-titled debut album was released a year later, with As Tears Go By reaching number nine on the UK singles chart.
She went on to have a string of successful singles, including Come and Stay with Me, This Little Bird, and Summer Nights, and famously dated Sir Mick from 1966 to 1970.
Faithfull was prolific throughout the 60s, releasing six albums – some only in the UK and some for the US – as well as contributing backing vocals to the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine and inspiring the Stones’ Sympathy For The Devil.
That decade also saw her star in films like 1967’s I’ll Never Forget What’s’isname – where she was one of the first people to say f*** in a mainstream studio film – 1968’s The Girl on a Motorcycle, and Tony Richardson’s 1969 adaptation of Hamlet.
Her relationship with Sir Mick was notorious, with the couple being arrested in 1968 for possession of cannabis.
She was also infamously found by police wearing only a bear skin rug when they arrived for a drugs raid at Richard’s home in 1967.
Faithfull and Mick Jagger dated from 1966 to 1970. Pic: Shutterstock
After breaking up with the Stones frontman, Faithfull spent two years homeless in Soho while suffering from anorexia and heroin addiction, before she started living in a squat.
She wrote in her 1994 autobiography: “For me, being a junkie was an admirable life. It was total anonymity, something I hadn’t known since I was 17.
“As a street addict in London, I finally found it. I had no telephone, no address.”
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In 1979, following success in Ireland with the country-themed Dreamin’ My Dreams, Faithfull released the Grammy-nominated Broken English – widely considered her best album.
She later achieved critical acclaim as a jazz and blues singer with 1987’s Strange Weather and went to rehab that same decade.
Faithfull performing in Montreux, Switzerland, in 2009. Pic: Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA/Shutterstock
Faithfull released a total of 21 solo albums throughout her career. Her most recent was the spoken word album She Walks in Beauty from 2021, which saw her work with frequent Nick Cave collaborator Warren Ellis.
She made a full recovery from breast cancer in 2006, and fell into a coma after catching COVID-19 early in 2020 before recovering.
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