A 35-year-old man was sentenced to 14 years in jail yesterday for posing as US pop star, Justin Beiber online to lure children into sexual abuse.
Robert Hunter, 35, was caught after a girl from Tasmania informed police.
Officers found 800 videos from all over the world – some from boys as young as nine – at his home at Brough Court.
Hunter pleaded guilty to 15 charges of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and 14 of making indecent photos at Teesside Crown Court.
The court heard Hunter spent years targeting hundreds of girls and boys across the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Asia and Canada.
“It represents callous, almost sadistic exploitation over a number of years”, Judge Peter Bowers said.
Girls, believing he was the pop star, stripped off in front of their computer cameras after he said he would be their boyfriend, the court heard.
Schoolboys also became his victims when he posed as a teenage girl and persuaded them to perform sex acts on camera which he used to lure more girls, said prosecutor Richard Bennett.
But when they tried to back out he blackmailed them with threats.
A 12-year-old girl slashed her arms after he posted indecent photos of her on Facebook along with her address and phone number.
Det Sgt Paul Higgins, of Cleveland Police, said: “Robert Hunter was a calculating and malicious predator who set out to coerce and bully young girls into exposing themselves over the internet.”
Passnownow Note: This emphasises how dangerous the internet can be especially when you try to look-up to it for romance. There are so many fake people out there. You’ve got to be very careful. Don’t ever give out your privacy on the internet. If you feel you’re mature enough for a relationship, you have people around you; at least people you can trace their source. You’ve got to be very careful.
