Kent child sex offender threw laptop off balcony when police arrived to arrest him

A sex offender, who threw his laptop off his balcony as police arrived to arrest him, has been jailed.

Jonathan Martin abused a young child and engaged in explicit conversations with others.

Martin also filmed himself committing a number of serious sexual assaults against a boy and also encouraged children from outside the UK to engage in sexual activity online.

Kent Police’s Paedophile Online Investigation Team was first alerted to Martin’s crimes in May 2022 after he uploaded indecent images of children to the internet.Police searched his home address in Swanscombe and found mobile phones and a tablet under the kickboard in the kitchen.

He was arrested again in July 2022 and when officers arrived at his home to detain him, he threw his laptop from his balcony.

Police located two mobile phones hidden inside cereal boxes and a toaster, along with other devices.

Numerous videos and images were found on the phones of the 35-year-old sexually assaulting a young child.

Investigators were able to identify the child victim, and safeguarded them.

Martin also had sexual conversations with other victims, some as young as 10.

He had encouraged them to engage in sexual acts, send him pictures and to meet with him.

On one occasion Martin had arranged to meet a child in a park but he was late and the child had to leave.

Kent Police worked with Homeland Security Investigations and shared information regarding child victims living in the US.

All identified children were visited and safeguarded by US authorities.

A child in Finland who Martin had been in contact with was also safeguarded.

A total of 162 videos were found on Martin’s devices of which 59 were of the most serious Category A. A further 1,095 images were found including 175 Category A.

Martin, from Swanscombe, was charged with a total of 32 child sex offences including rape, sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, making indecent images and others.

He pleaded guilty to all but two of the offences and has been sentenced to ten and half years in prison.

He will also serve another year on licence. Martin was also placed on the sex offenders register for life and issued with a lifelong sexual harm prevention order.

Advice for parents/guardians (source: Kent Police)• Check what online restrictions you can put in place as most devices have parental controls. Ask your child to be open and honest with you about their passwords and profiles.

• Watch out for uncharacteristic behaviour. Are they being upset or secretive? Have they recently changed friends, or is there a change in the amount of time they are spending online?

• It is important your child checks privacy settings online regularly, especially when updating apps. The same applies for their location settings too.

• Encourage them to use strong passwords such as three or more random words or capital letters, numbers and symbols.

• Talk about the risks when uploading and sharing private information. You can never be sure whose hands it will end up in or who can see it.

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