Paedophile who fled UK is tracked down in Kenya and jailed for child sexual abuse

A paedophile has been convicted of sexually assaulting three girls, following his extradition to the UK from Kenya.

Anthony Kamau, 51, abused the children in Saffron Walden in Essex over the course of 10 years between 2006 and 2016.

He was charged with two counts of assault by touching, four counts of engaging in non-penetrative sexual activity with a girl, and one count of inciting a girl to engage in sexual activity.

Kamau fled the country after his first court hearing. The police had seized his passport but he had managed to obtain an emergency identity document to fly.

They tracked him down to a place of work outside of the Kenyan capital Nairobi. Officers worked with partner agencies to secure his extradition and he was returned to the UK in July last year.

Kamau, formerly of Winstanley Road, Saffron Walden, was originally arrested in February 2019 after the offences came to light. He denied the charges against him.

However, following a trial at Chelmsford Crown Court, he was found guilty of all seven charges.

He is due to be sentenced at the same court on 14 June.

Caroline Horden, who led the investigation, said: “I want to pay tribute to the courage demonstrated by the victims in the case to come forward and tell us what happened.

“They have been subjected to an ordeal no child should ever have to experience.

“Anthony Kamau is a prolific offender who poses a risk to children but now faces time behind bars.

“He tried to flee the country and evade justice but you cannot hide from Essex Police, no matter how you try.

“No conviction will ever reverse the damage he has caused but I hope this result will help those affected move forward.”

The Quest team investigate cases where the victim was a child at the time of the abuse but is now an adult and which took place more than 12 months ago.

Det Sgt Shirly Cole, who leads Quest, said: “People worry that they won't be believed and that because it happened a long time ago in come cases, it won't be taken seriously or investigated.

"They also worry about the impact it will have on their family or feel embarrassed or ashamed when clearly they're not to blame.

"People think it’s word against word and we’ll never be able to find proof, but we know what the Crown Prosecution Service want to bring charges.

"It can take time to bring these investigations to court, but we are now beginning to see a lot of our cases coming to trial.

“It doesn’t matter when an offence took place, you deserve justice and we’re to help you achieve that."

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