A person who posed as a 16-year-old woman on-line to blackmail dozens of teenage boys has been jailed for 21 years.
Jay Lang, 24, used the alias “Chloe” to contact his victims, who had been aged between 11 and 16, on social media apps together with Snapchat and Instagram.
He instigated sexualised conversations, asking the boys to ship him photos or movies, earlier than blackmailing them into sending extra photographs or cash.
Lang focused 26 victims, primarily from Canvey Island, Benfleet, Basildon and Southend, in Essex, between April 2018 and November 2021.
He was jailed for 21 years, with an prolonged licence interval of six years, at Basildon Combined Court on Friday after pleading responsible to 46 costs.
He will serve a minimal of 14 years in jail earlier than being eligible for launch.
Lang’s identify can even be positioned on the intercourse offenders’ register for the remainder of his life.
They embrace counts of inflicting or inciting a toddler to have interaction in sexual exercise, inflicting or inciting youngster sexual exploitation, arranging or facilitating fee of a kid intercourse offence, inflicting or inciting youngster prostitution or pornography and blackmail.
Judge Samantha Cohen informed him: “You are a predatory, manipulative and dangerous young man.
“You have wreaked havoc via the lives of 26 younger males and their households.”
She said he was “aroused by the facility and management” the offending gave him and that it caused “nervousness, despair, sleeplessness and suicide makes an attempt”.
The scale of Lang’s offending came to light during an 18-month Essex Police investigation after a report from one victim.
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Officers seized electronic devices from his home in Canvey before trawling through hundreds of gigabits of phone data to identify social media accounts he had interacted with.
When confronted with the evidence in a police interview, Lang said: “Well you are meant to be doing the investigation, I’m positive you will discover out. Keep digging.”
During the sentencing the judge commended the bravery of Lang’s victims and cited the “appalling penalties” of his offending, leading to victims suffering significant anxiety and distress, with their schooling also disrupted.
Detective Sergeant Ben Rushmere, who leads the child sexual exploitation proactive investigation team, said: “Today’s sentence rightly highlights the true scale of Lang’s horrific offending. He used social media to prey upon younger folks and exploit them both for monetary achieve or for his personal gratification.
“But much more important than Lang, I would like to commend each and every victim, and their families, who came forward and worked with us. It is only with their candour and support that we have been able to build a case so strong that Lang was left with no other option but to admit 46 extremely serious offences.
“This is no doubt the most important scale youngster exploitation investigation Essex Police has ever embarked upon and it has required extraordinary dedication from our group to make sure every recognized sufferer has obtained justice.”
Chief Inspector Paul Hogben, district commander for Rochford and Castle Point, added: “This investigation and its result undoubtedly has made our district, and those surrounding it, a much safer place for our community.
“We have groups in place, each regionally and throughout our drive, that are devoted to retaining the folks of Rochford and Castle Point secure and guaranteeing those that would do hurt are arrested, charged and in the end punished by the court docket.”
Source: information.sky.com”