Jail for paedophile who used Snapchat, TikTok and other platforms to entice children to perform sex acts
A man who enticed children to perform sex acts online using social media and gaming platforms has been jailed.
Lorcan Elliott, 25, contacted 26 victims aged between 13 and 16 through platforms such as Snapchat, TikTok, Skype and KIK during 2022 and 2023.
He trawled internet sites where youngsters posted details of their Snapchat accounts to select victims, searching mainly for young boys and adding them as contacts.
Then he enticed them to pose and perform sex acts with the promise of receiving hundreds of pounds – paying more if they co-operated with his demands.
He also took images of the victims and distributed them to other victims suggesting they would receive money if they did the same. He showed the children receipts, claiming he had paid other victims already.
One victim was a young boy with autism who was groomed to carry out a sexual act and had images on his phone of children as young as eight.
While living in Cambridge, Elliott registered a new account on Dropbox in a false name in January 2022 and later uploaded three indecent videos of a child online.
He was arrested in May last year following a police investigation, which identified him as now living at an address in Peterborough.
Police searched his Peterborough home and seized phones and laptops and a gaming tower discovering more than 1,200 indecent images of children, including 142 in the highest category of offending.
Elliott, from Orton Southgate, Peterborough, was jailed at Cambridge Crown Court last Wednesday (4 September) for four years and eight months after pleading guilty to five counts of making and distributing indecent photographs of children, eight counts of inciting sexual activity and nine counts of sexual communication.
PC Alex Cochrane said: “The offences were committed over a sustained period with numerous victims here and abroad and it is clear Elliott knew they were children because some were wearing their school uniform.
“Although there was no physical contact between the defendant and the victims, this case highlights the potential dangers of online activity with unknown people.
“As a force we work tirelessly to detect and prosecute these types of crimes while protecting the vulnerable children involved.”
Visit the force’s dedicated child abuse information webpages to find out more about Cambridgeshire Constabulary’s work to tackle child abuse, including how to spot the signs and report concerns.
