A prolific sex offender who abused nearly 50 children after posing as a teenage boy on Snapchat and Instagram has been jailed for 27 years.
David John Andrews, 55, from Northern Ireland, had pleaded guilty to 130 charges of sexual abuse, which involves 47 victims, 46 of whom are children.
His youngest victim was an eight-year-old girl.
During the course of a four-year investigation detectives discovered nearly 10,000 illicit images of children on Andrews’ electronic devices, and approximately 40 usernames that he had used to pose as young boys online.
Most of the offences relate to so-called catfishing, where a person pretends to be someone else online to deceive others, but some relate to the direct abuse of a vulnerable adult woman.
Andrews would pretend to be a boy aged 13 or 14 on Snapchat and Instagram before coercing victims into sending him nude photographs
Police have said it is clear his offending spread across the UK.
His crimes include attempted rape, causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, blackmail, attempting to pay for sexual services of a child, attempting to arrange or facilitate child prostitution or pornography and making and possessing indecent images of children.
Many of the offences took place between 2019 and 2020, with Andrews having been on remand for more than four years.
Delivering the sentence at Downpatrick Crown Court, Judge Geoffrey Miller KC said he would not detail Andrews’ offending in full as it was “too harrowing and vile to be repeated”.
The judge said: “In short form he deceived the children into engaging with him in the mistaken belief he too was a child.
“Having done this he then cynically and with clear pre-meditation, used threats to inveigle and coerce them to share images of themselves with him.
“The correspondence instigated by the defendant with each child victim is extremely graphic in content and gives an insight into his depraved thought processes which are deeply troubling.”
The judge said Andrews “exploited” his victims by “distributing the images he had obtained” and threatening “both they and their friends into providing still more material for his gratification”.
“Each time the circle of victims grew and throughout it all he took care to try to cover his tracks,” he added.
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Regarding the direct contact offences against the adult victim, the judge said the abuse included Andrews dressing her up and taking explicit photographs, which he sometimes shared with other victims.
The judge said: “The abuse he committed against her over several years displays a depravity that is difficult to comprehend and which is utterly sickening.”
PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Jill Duffie described Andrews, whose address was listed as Maghaberry Prison, as a “heinous child predator”.
She added that Andrews would use the indecent images his victims had sent him to “threaten, blackmail and abuse them”.
DCI Duffie said the investigation into Andrews began following a report from Derbyshire Police on 27 March 2020 that a number of underage girls had been groomed online by a man believed to be residing in Northern Ireland using the alias of a 13-year-old boy.
She said detectives visited his home in Belfast the same day before arresting him and seizing a number of electronic devices.
She added that he had been remanded in prison ever since.
Andrews was told during his sentencing hearing that he would serve a minimum of 13 and a half years, after which parole commissioners would determine when he can be released.
