Man drove to Clapham to sexually abuse children jailed for eight years

A man who travelled to Clapham from Huddersfield to sexually abuse children has been sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.

James Ritchie, 30, was arrested in Clapham last July after driving 190 miles to meet someone he had approached online and who he believed could help him gain access to children.

Having contacted this covert profile online, Ritchie described in detail the abuse he intended to commit to children and made claims of having abused other children in the past. During weeks of conversations, Ritchie sent a number of intimate images of himself and requested these be shown to the children before he met with them.

Ritchie, who has an Engineering degree, also divulged details of security measures he had added to his phone, including a 'kill switch' which would delete the entire contents of the phone and hide his offending from his partner and family.

Ritchie drove for over four hours to Clapham on July 10, where he was arrested by officers on the scene who took possession of his phone whilst it was unlocked which prevented Ritchie from hitting this 'kill switch,' securing evidence which proved essential at trial.

Devices officers seized were reviewed and found to have a number of images of child sexual abuse, including Category A images – the most explicit form of indecent images of children.

Ritchie was charged with Arranging / Facilitating the Commission of a Child Sex Offence Contrary to section 14 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003, Possession of Category A, B and C Indecent Images of Children, and Possession of Extreme Pornographic Images, and held on remand at Croydon Crown Court on 11 July 2020.

PC Gurpreet Singh, of the Met's Online Child Sexual Abuse & Exploitation Command, said: "Ritchie is a dangerous individual who stated that he was not sure that he would be 'able to control himself' if he were to come into contact with children younger than six years old.

"The work of our team, which involved hours of online research and meticulous evidence gathering, helped us put together a robust casefile and submit multiple charges to the Crown Prosecution Service, which has ultimately landed Ritchie this lengthy custodial sentence.

Ritchie will also be a Registered Sex Offender for the rest of his life.

We hope that our dedication to this investigation will reassure the public that The Met work obstinately to protect the most vulnerable people in our society.

"If you feel that you have been a victim of crime such as this, we appeal for you to contact police to make a report, or contact Crimestoppers UK completely anonymously online or call 0800 555 111.

"The Met has teams who are absolutely dedicated to investigating cases such as this, and can provide the help and support that you are entitled to.

We also partner with charities who can help you through the reporting process and beyond. Please do contact us if there is anything that we can help with."

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