Man jailed after grooming girls

Paul Etheridge, from Cratfield, Suffolk, admitted 26 offences

A man who pleaded guilty to grooming young girls from across the UK on the internet and having underage sex has been jailed for nearly six years.

Paul Etheridge, 24, of Cratfield, Suffolk, admitting having sex with a 15-year-old girl and possessing thousands of indecent images of minors.

Guildford Crown Court heard Etheridge, tried to groom girls in Lancashire, Belfast, Norwich, London and Surrey.

He pleaded guilty to 26 offences, while a further seven remain on file.

A special division of Surrey Police, one of a few UK forces with a dedicated Paedophile On-Line Investigation Team (POLIT) arrested him within a month of opening the case.

'Web of offending'

They found Etheridge, a carpenter, had more than 200 indecent images of girls, aged 13 to 15, on his mobile phone and thousands more on his computer.

The court was told Etheridge offered mobile phone top-up vouchers to girls in return for them sending indecent images of themselves in messages.

Det Supt Pete O'Sullivan, of Surrey police, said: "Paul Etheridge's offending was some of the most widespread I've even seen.

"Most worrying of all, he escalated from downloading internet images, to grooming girls to make their own photos and actually meeting a girl to carry out sexual acts.

"Technology provides a wealth of benefits for young people. But with many children now owning their own mobile phone or having a computer in their bedroom, parents must also be aware of the potential dangers."

Specialist officers

Etheridge, who received a five-years, nine-month jail term, was caught after a 13-year-old girl from Reigate, Surrey, alerted police last July.

She told officers she had been propositioned online by a man who wanted her to take indecent photographs of herself using her mobile phone camera then send them to him.

Specialist anti-paedophile officers tracked down Etheridge, who was arrested at his home on 9 August.

Analysis of his computers and mobile phone revealed he had been in contact with hundreds of girls under 16 in areas across the country.

Thousands of indecent images, many from web cameras, were also found on his computer.

Detectives tracked down many of Etheridge's victims through his computer and phone records.