Anthony Burns: 'Manipulative predator' from Suffolk controlled dozens of women worldwide
A "controlling and manipulative sexual predator" has been found guilty of encouraging a woman he met on an online dating site to abuse a child - as details of dozens of other victims were revealed.
Anthony Burns directed and controlled 27 women from all over the world in acts of online sexual behaviour between 2018 and 2020, Birmingham Crown Court was told.
The scale of the 39-year-old's offending was revealed after he was found guilty of two counts of causing a girl under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, watching the abuse take place on a WhatsApp video call and screen-recording it.
Burns - originally of Lowestoft, Suffolk - worked with notorious online child sex offender Adbul Elahi, who was jailed for 32 years in December 2021 after targeting 2,000 people globally to commit sadistic online abuse.
Between May 2018 and March 2021, Burns used ‘sugar daddy’ websites to trap dozens of unsuspecting women and girls into performing sexual and degrading acts under the threat of blackmail.
The National Crime Agency discovered that Elahi had "tutored" Burns on the psychology of blackmail, including techniques such as scripted wording to help gain the trust of victims, and warning him how they would respond to threats and what to say to them.
In a “sustained campaign of predatory online sexual behaviour”, Burns would “direct and control (women) to perform sexual acts online” on the promise of payment, which he never gave, and then record it and store it in the cloud, prosecutors said.
Investigators believe he may have tried to contact up to 600 people all across the world, including the US, the UK and Australia - and are appealing for people who feel they were victims to come forward.
During one episode in August 2020 - for which he has now been found guilty - a woman from the US performed sexual acts on herself on a video call with Burns before sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl who was also in the room at the time.
The jury, who had heard Burns had previous convictions in 2010 and 2013 relating to indecent images of children, deliberated for just two hours and nine minutes.
'A controlling and manipulative predator'
Burns, of no fixed abode, used several online personas to ensnare his victims, including posing as the head of a model agency searching for clients. He also pretended to be an NCA officer on one occasion.
Once Burns had gained the trust of his victims, he moved them to WhatsApp - a platform protected by end-to-end encryption.
Once his messages had been read, Burns was able to delete them from his and his victims’ phones, thereby removing visible evidence.
All the victims were ordered to film themselves carrying out sexual acts in the belief they would be paid £600, but the money was never transferred to them.
Burns would ask the women for photographs of their identification, which he said was to ensure they were of legal age – before actually using the information to research them online.
When the women would agree to a video call over WhatApp, Burns would keep his camera off but “direct and control” them by giving them specific instructions about what to do and have them carry out increasingly explicit sexual activity.
When he had received enough explicit material, Burns threatened to expose the pictures to the victims’ families and friends unless they sent more increasingly depraved photographs and videos.
Once he had entrapped his victims, his demands then became even more extreme.
The trial was told one such call in August 2020 resulted in a woman from the US performing sexual acts on herself before sexually abusing a seven-year-old girl.
Lisa Wilding KC said it was the prosecution’s case that Burns was the one directing the woman, who has been jailed for her part in the abuse, to carry out the acts on the child when he noticed she was in the room, although the video screen recording in question did not have any sound.
Victims became 'trapped in a web of fear'
Burns was charged with 46 counts including blackmail, attempted blackmail, causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, arranging the commission of a child sex offence; making and distributing indecent images of children (IIOC), possessing extreme pornography, malicious communications offences and failure to comply with notification requirements.
He admitted 39 counts and was found guilty of a further two on Wednesday, following a two-day trial at Birmingham Crown Court. The remaining five charges will lie on file.
He is due to be sentenced at the same court on 18 January 2024.
Bethany Raine, specialist prosecutor for the CPS, said: “Anthony Burns had an obsessive interest in controlling women and children into performing increasingly degrading sexual acts online for his own gratification. Burns also had a perverse desire to see others engage in sexual activity with children and animals.
“Burns belittled and humiliated victims. They became trapped in a web of fear where their own images became tools of manipulation and extortion, leaving them vulnerable to his depraved demands.
“This conviction sends a clear message that the CPS is committed in bringing offenders like Burns, who sexually abuse and exploit victims, to justice, wherever that abuse takes place.”
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