Norfolk man said to be 'Britain's most prolific paedophile' admits 96 sexual offences against boys
A Norfolk man has admitted to 96 sex abuse offences against 51 boys aged between four and 14.
Labourer David Nicholas Wilson, who is 36 and lives in King's Lynn, posed as a teenage girl online to build trust with his victims. Using unregistered phones, he sent sexual images of young women from the internet in exchange for the boys sending him videos and images of themselves.
Once he obtained the explicit images, he would use them to blackmail them into sending him more extreme footage of themselves – and in some cases, of them abusing younger siblings or friends.
On some occasions, he then sent those images to friends of the victims.
The National Crime Agency say that there is evidence that suggests Wilson had as many as five hundred victims and that he'd contacted at least 5,000 children in the UK and abroad.
They said that he is the most prolific paedophile that they have ever investigated and that several of his victims had suffered so much by his actions that they talked about ending their lives. The offences were committed between May 2016 and April 2020.
Wilson, of Kirstead in King's Lynn appeared at Ipswich Crown Court yesterday (Monday, November 23) and admitted the charges against him which included: intentionally causing or inciting boys to engage in sexual activity; blackmail; intentionally causing children to look at sexual images, and intentionally facilitating the sexual exploitation of children by sending on images of those children.
He will be sentenced on 12 January 2021.
Tony Cook, the National Crime Agency's head of Child Sexual Abuse operations, said: "David Wilson is a prolific offender who has caused heartbreaking suffering to some of the boys and their families in this case. He was able to gain the boys’ trust and exploit their use of social media using well practiced techniques to convince them he was genuinely a young female who was interested in them.
"He then manipulated or forced them to send images of themselves or other children which he craved. He knew the anguish victims were suffering but ignored any pleas from them to stop until he got what he wanted from them. Wilson retained material the children had sent and used the threat of sharing it among their friends to control them.
"I commend the victims and their families for their bravery in helping the prosecution and our investigators for painstakingly and tenaciously proving Wilson was responsible.
"Wilson is an example of adult sexual offenders who use the internet to hide their real identities, using plausible online personas to exploit children.
"We know children are increasingly sharing personal material on social media sites but I would implore them to think carefully about their interactions online and be aware of the hurt and long-term damage manipulative offenders like Wilson cause.”