A Sussex man has been sentenced for child sex offences as part of an investigation into an international paedophile ring.
According to the National Crime Agency (NCA), 21-year-old Daniel Farrar, of Compton Avenue in Worthing, pleaded guilty to several counts relating to indecent images of children.Daniel Farrar, 21
In a sentencing earlier this year, Farrar was handed a 26-week jail term, suspended for 24 months.He was also ordered to undertake rehabilitation activity and to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
Farrar had admitted possessing indecent photographs, two Category A (the most extreme category) moving images of children in Goring on April 12, 2018, and possessing a Category A indecent moving image of a child in Goring on or before April 12, 2018.
He was also given a sexual harm prevention order and told to pay a £115 victim surcharge and £85 costs.
Farrar was one of 337 arrests related to the dark website Welcome To Video, a site run from South Korea containing more than 250,000 horrific videos and supporting more than one million downloads.
The website monetised the sexual abuse of children and was one of the first to offer videos for sale using the cryptocurrency Bitcoin.According to the NCA, videos could be purchased using ‘points’ obtained through uploading videos or purchasing through Bitcoin.
In the UK, 18 investigations were developed from the intelligence and seven men have already been convicted – including one jailed for 22 years for raping a five-year-old boy and appearing on Welcome To Video sexually abusing a three-year-old girl.
Arrests were made in 38 countries, including the UK, Ireland, America, South Korea, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic and Canada.
Welcome To Video was discovered during an investigation into what the NCA described as one of the UK’s worst child sex offenders, Matthew Falder.In 2017 Falder admitted 137 offences including encouraging child rape and sharing images of a newborn baby being abused.He is serving a 25-year jail sentence.
The site’s founder, Jong Woo Son, 23, was arrested in South Korea in 2018, with site transaction data used to track offenders such as Farrar.
Nikki Holland, NCA director of investigations, said: “Dark web child sex offenders – some of whom are the very worst offenders – cannot hide from law enforcement.
“They’re not as cloaked as they think they are, they’re not as safe as they think they are.
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“The NCA is relentless in pursuing them and we have specialist capabilities, which we use for all UK law enforcement, to unmask them and help take down sites like Welcome To Video.
“I’m immensely proud of the role we played in catching some very depraved and dangerous global offenders and for beginning the work that eventually caught Jong Woo Son.”
The Lucy Faithfull Foundation runs the Stop It Now! Helpline which offers confidential advice to anyone concerned about their own or someone else’s behaviour towards children.Trending Car and motorcycle collide on A21 at Johns Cross Road, near Robertsbridge Police release image of Hastings bus driver assault suspects Sussex pub landlord fined for serving ‘unsafe’ food Man ‘almost forced into van’ in Hastings kidnap attempt Watch Snapchat video of men joking about Hastings town centre stabbing The Essentials.