Nathan Bake: Mechanic, 28, from Cheshire was ‘second in command’ at worldwide child sexual abuse site
A mechanic who helped run one of the dark web’s biggest child sexual abuse sites has been jailed for 16 years after he was convicted under organised crime laws in the first case of its kind.
Nathan Bake, a 28-year-old tyre fitter from Runcorn, Cheshire, was the head moderator and second in command of The Annex – which had 90,000 users worldwide.
The site, where paedophiles shared millions of images – including the most extreme kind of abuse material involving toddlers and babies – has been shut down after a global operation involving the National Crime Agency and American law enforcement.
The man who ran the operation has been sentenced to life in prison in the US, while 14 other Americans have been charged over their roles, with eight receiving sentences of between six and 28 years.
Three British moderators have also been charged including former junior doctor Kabir Garg, 34, who worked as a psychiatrist for the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. He was jailed for six years last June, while another man faces sentencing on Monday.
Kabir Garg was jailed for six years. Pic: CPS
Bake, whose username was “Pink”, was caught with a 576-page “paedophile manual” and more than 60 digital devices containing more than 800,000 images and videos of child sexual abuse when he was arrested in November 2022.
He was jailed for 16 years today after he pleaded guilty to 12 charges, including child sexual offences and participating in activities of an organised crime group.
Judge Patrick Thompson said he considered Bake to be a dangerous offender and ordered an extended licence period of four years.
“You are a committed paedophile who represents a very significant risk of causing serious harm to children,” he told him.
“In this day and age, given the wide public access to news material, there is very little that shocks the public, but this is such a case.
“People are revulsed by offending of this nature and those who take sexual gratification from the abuse of children in any form.”
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It is the first time the NCA has secured a conviction under the organised crime law, which investigators hoped would give the judge more scope to impose a bigger sentence.
There is currently no legislation that specifically deals with the moderation or administration of child sex abuse websites and the agency is in talks with the Home Office to toughen up the laws.
There are about 1.4 million users of the Tor browser, which can be easily downloaded and used to access the dark web, with around 40% of searches relating to child sexual abuse, according to investigators.
Anna Pope, prosecuting, told the court The Annex was identified by American law enforcement officers on a server in Romania in 2020 before being moved to a server in Moldova.
‘Nothing was off limits’
The 30 people responsible for running the site put as much time into their work as any other job and would hold staff meetings and suggest people for promotions, said NCA branch commander Adam Priestley.
Users would have to prove themselves in “the gateway” by sharing child sexual abuse material before being allowed into other areas.
“There was nothing on this site that was off limits – everything was encouraged, everything was allowed for,” he said.
“The men were very much part of a team of staff – that you would expect to see within any other business – that provided a platform to facilitate a community of paedophiles to encourage the abuse of children all over the world.”
Bake answered queries from other site users and offered advice on not getting caught, saying in one post: “Come on people, show us what you’ve got for HAPPY HOUR. Show us the boys and girls that turn you on the most.”
The court heard that children’s tights, underwear and sandals were found in the bottom drawer of his computer desk, although investigators said he didn’t have any access to children.
Keith Jones, defending said Bake was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome at the age of 16, had converted to Islam, and was studying Arabic.
“He acknowledges that his behaviour is morally reprehensible,” he said.
Zack Polanski and Nigel Farage might be polar opposites when it comes to politics – but they do have one thing in common.
The pair are both cutting through in a changing media landscape when attention is scarce and trust in mainstream politics is scarcer still.
For Farage, the Reform UK leader, momentum has been building since he won a seat at the general election last year and he continues to top the polls.
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Badenoch doesn’t want to talk about Farage
But in the six weeks since Polanski became leader of the Greens, membership has doubled, they’ve polled higher than ever before while three Labour councillors have defected. Has the insurgent firebrand finally met his match?
“I’m sure I don’t need to say this, but I despise Nigel Farage’s politics and disagree with him on almost everything,” Polanski tells Sky News.
“But I think his storytelling has undoubtedly cut through and so yes there has been a huge part of us saying ‘If Farage can do that with a politics of hate and division, then it’s time for the Green Party to do that with a politics of hope and community’ and that’s absolutely what I intend to keep doing.”
Polanski was speaking after a news conference to announce the defections of the councillors in Swindon – a bellwether area that is currently led by a Labour council and has two Labour MPs, but was previously controlled by the Tories.
It is the sort of story the party would previously have announced in a press release, but the self-described “eco populist” is determined to do things differently to grab attention.
He has done media interviews daily over the past few weeks, launched his own podcast and turbocharged the Greens social media content – producing slick viral videos such as his visit to Handsworth (the Birmingham neighbourhood where Robert Jenrick claimed he saw no white people).
Zack Polanski announces the defection of Labour councillors
Polanski insists that it is not increased exposure in and of itself that is attracting people to his party but his messaging – he wants to “make hope normal again”.
“I’m not going to be in a wetsuit or be parachuting from a helicopter”, he says in a swipe at Lib Dem leader Ed Davey.
“I think you only need to do stunts if you don’t have something really clear to say and then you need to grab attention.
“I think when you look at the challenges facing this country right now if you talk about taxing wealth and not work, if you talk about the mass inequality in our society and you talk about your solidarity with people living in poverty, with working-class communities, I think these are the things that people both want to hear, but also they want to know our solutions. The good news is I’ve got loads of solutions and the party has loads of solutions. “
Some of those solutions have come under criticism – Reform UK have attacked his policy to legalise drugs and abolish private landlords.
Discontent is fuelling the rise of challenger parties. Pic: PA
Polanski is confident he can win the fight. He says it helps that he talks “quite quickly because it means that I’m able to be bold but also have nuance”. And he is a London Assembly member not an MP, so he has time to be the party’s cheerleader rather than being bogged down with case work.
As for what’s next, the 42-year-old has alluded to conversations with Labour MPs about defections. He has not revealed who they are but today gave an idea of who he would welcome – naming Starmer critic Richard Burgon.
Like Burgon, Polanski believes Starmer “will be gone by May” and that the local elections for Labour “will be disastrous”.
He wants to replace Labour “right across England and Wales” when voters go to the polls, something Reform UK has also vowed to do.
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Is Zack Polanski squeezing the Labour vote?
Could the Greens be kingmakers?
Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, says this reflects a “new axis of competition” as frontline British politics shifts from a battle of left vs right to a battle of process vs anti-establishment.
Farage has been the beneficiary of this battle so far but Tryl says Polanski is “coming up in focus groups” in a way his predecessors didn’t. “He is cutting through”, the pollster says.
However, one big challenge Polanski faces is whether his rise will cause the left vote to fragment and make it easier for Farage to win – something he has said he wants to avoid at all costs.
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And yet, asked if he would form a coalition with Labour to keep Farage out of power in the event of a hung parliament, he suggested he would only do so if Sir Keir Starmer is no longer prime minister.
“I have issues with Keir Starmer as prime minister,” he says. “I think he had the trust of the public, but I would say that’s been broken over and over again. If we had a different Labour prime minister that would be a different conversation about where their values are.”
He adds: “I do think stopping Nigel Farage has to be a huge mission for any progressive in this country, but the biggest way we can stop Nigel Farage is by people joining the Green Party right now; creating a real alternative to this Labour government, where we say we don’t have to compromise on our values.
“If people wanted to vote for Nigel Farage, they’d vote for Nigel Farage. What does Keir Starmer think he’s doing by offering politics that are similar but watered down? That’s not going to appeal to anyone, and I think that’s why they’re sinking in the polls.”
A former paratrooper accused of murdering two civilians in the Bloody Sunday shootings in Northern Ireland 53 years ago has been found not guilty.
Soldier F – who cannot be identified for legal reasons – was accused of killing James Wray and William McKinney during disorder after a civil rights parade on 30 January 1972 in Londonderry, also known as Derry.
The veteran was also found not guilty of five attempted murders at Belfast Crown Court on Thursday.
He had denied all seven charges.
Thirteen people were shot dead by the Parachute Regiment on the day in question.
Soldier F did not give evidence, but the court heard about previous statements from two paratroopers – known as G and H – who were in Glenfada Park North along with F.
The prosecution said their testimony was direct evidence that the defendant had opened fire in the area.
Bloody Sunday Trust undated handout photos of (top row, left to right) Patrick Doherty, Bernard McGuigan, John “Jackie” Duddy and Gerald Donaghey, (bottom row, left to right) Gerard McKinney, Jim Wray, William McKinney and John
However, the defence argued that they were unreliable witnesses as their statements were inconsistent with each other and with other witnesses who gave evidence.
The trial was held in Belfast in front of a judge, not a jury.
Delivering his judgment, Judge Patrick Lynch said the evidence presented against the veteran fell well short of what was needed for conviction.
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Two people have died and five others were taken to hospital following a fire in Glasgow.
Emergency crews were called to the blaze at a property in Hughenden Lane in Hyndland at about 10.20pm on Monday.
Police Scotland said a man and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene.
The force said their next of kin have been informed.
Five others were taken to hospital for the effects of smoke inhalation.
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A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “The fire is not believed to be suspicious, and no criminality has been established.”
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