A Paedophile, Owen Baxter, Who Volunteered As a Church Youth Worker So He Could Sexually Abuse Young Boys before Boasting about It on the Internet, Has Been Jailed.
By Andrew Hough
Telegraph
February 9, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/7190755/Paedophile-church-worker-who-boasted-about-his-abuse-online-jailed.html
UNITED KINGDOM -- The 23 year-old, a member of St Matthew's Church in Kingsdown, Bristol, "revelled" in assaulting victims as young as four as he discussed his exploits with other paedophiles, a court was told.
Described by a judge as "predatory and opportunistic", Baxter, of Redland, Bristol, gained the trust of parents at the church so he could volunteer to work with their children, Bristol Crown Court heard.
While babysitting the children, none of whom can be named for legal reasons, he then photographed himself abusing them before posting the "chilling" images online.
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| Owen Baxter was braded 'predatory' by the sentencing judge. |
Baxter, who suffered from Asperger's syndrome, then boasted about his exploits to other paedophiles in online chatrooms, in exchange for more child pornography, the court was told.
At a hearing on Friday, Baxter, himself the victim of sexual abuse, pleaded guilty to 23 charges dating from when he was aged under 16, in 2001, until 2008.
The charges included producing more than 8,000 indecent photographs and videos of children and distributing 3,000 images and videos of children via the internet.
Parents wept in the public gallery as he also admitted sexually assaulting and taking indecent images of four boys aged between four and 12.
On Monday as he jailed him for 12 years, Judge Jamie Tabor described his actions as "worrying and chilling".
"You revelled in being at the hub of an internet wheel in which you boasted of your exploits and sent images of your exploits to other people," he told the court.
"This aspect of the case is particularly worrying and chilling. You knew perfectly well what you were doing and you knew it was wicked.
"This is not the actions of a mind so disabled that it does not know what it is doing."
He also ordered Baxter be made the subject of a Sexual Offences Prevention Order to stop him from working with children in the future.
Earlier the court, heard that in one online conversation Baxter boasted: "If you wanna do something, make sure the kid isn't going to talk."
In another, he talked about a church group where he volunteered to look after children.
The court heard that in the chat to a fellow paedophile he said: "One boy was in my lap, he kept saying loudly 'Stop touching me' but I said no. His mum knows me but she doesn't know me. If she did I would probably not see him again."
Another paedophile he chatted to online has since been convicted of abusing his own son, the court heard.
The court heard Baxter took photographs of the abuse as it happened, but pixellated his own face before posting the images online.
Speaking outside court the mother of one of Baxter's victims, said: "Owen befriended us in order to get to our son and it doesn't get much worse than that really. We were all taken in by him. It can happen to any community."
Rev Mat Ineson, vicar at St Matthew's Church, added: "It's awfully sad and it's been a difficult case for everybody involved."
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