UK jails Internet predator who targeted teen girls

LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) A British court jailed a man who has wrested control of the computers of girls as young as 13 in order to blackmail them for his sexual gratification.

The Inner London Crown Court sentenced 36-year-old Adrian Ringland from the northern English town of Ilkeston to ten years in prison after he pleaded guilty to blackmail, indecency with a child and grooming, a term used to describe methods paedophiles use to befriend their victims.

Ringland would pretend to be a teenage boy in Internet chat rooms in order to lure young girls into conversation, said Jenny Hopkins of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Then he would raid their computers for embarrassing material he could use to blackmail them into posing for indecent photos.

''Even after he had been arrested and placed on bail for his initial internet offences he continued to groom a 13-year-old girl and then formed a sexual relationship with her,'' Hopkins told BBC television.

Ringland would send the girls a dummy photo of his teenage persona containing a hidden computer virus -- known as a Trojan Horse -- which allowed him to gain control of their computers.

He would then find potentially embarrassing material on the computers which he threatened to disclose to the girls' parents or friends if they refused to pose for explicit photos.

''To demonstrate the control he had over them, he would turn their monitors on and off, or he would switch their printers on and off. These girls were terrified,'' Hopkins said.

Ringland was tracked down and arrested yesterday after a victim in Canada plucked up the courage to report what had happened.

He pleaded guilty to one count of indecency with a child, three counts of blackmail and six counts of making indecent photos of children.

He also pleaded guilty to one offence of grooming and six offences of sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15.

His victims, girls aged between 13 and 16, lived in Britain and Canada.

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