Derek Smith, a child rapist from Ellesmere Port, who captured indecent images of his victim and persisted as an internet predator while on police bail, has been sentenced to an extended prison term.
Derek Smith was sentenced to 15 years in jail, with an additional five years of extended licence, at Chester Crown Court on Friday, 23 June.
The 42-year-old was previously convicted on 24 charges, including possession and distribution of indecent photographs of minors, engaging in sexual conversation with a child, enticing a kid aged 13 to 17 to participate in sexual behaviour, and multiple counts of rape.
The inquiry commenced after the National Crime Agency (NCA) informed Cheshire Police of the upload of a ‘category C’ obscene image of a child to the internet.
Detectives successfully identified the address of the user who posted the image, leading to the arrest of Derek Smith on Tuesday, July 27 of the previous year. Searches were undertaken at two properties associated with him in Chester and Ellesmere Port.
Officers recovered numerous electronic devices during the warrants, two of which were later found to contain 231 indecent images and videos of children.
Of the images found, 43 were of category A, 74 were of category B, and 114 were of category C.
Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) discovered that 26 of the images recovered were first generation images of a young girl, taken by Derek Smith on his own device.
On Friday, September 9, Derek Smith was charged with nine offences and was released on conditional bail for the case to be heard at court. However, he was not deterred by this and continued his predatory online activity.
Derek Smith, who went by the name ‘Degsi’ on a dating app, engaged in several sexualised conversations with three young girls, aged 13 and 14. He requested inappropriate images of them and encouraged them to commit sexual acts upon themselves.
However, unbeknown to Derek Smith, he was speaking to three adults acting as child ‘decoys’.
In a bid to identify Derek Smith, the decoys arranged a meeting on Wednesday, October 5, using a decoy profile of an adult woman.
Derek Smith was waiting at Cheshire Oaks when he was confronted by the decoys and swiftly arrested by officers.
During questioning, he answered no comment to everything posed to him by officers, even when shown messages that he had sent to the three different decoys.
A further seven sexual charges were secured against Smith, and he was remanded into custody.
As detectives were working to bring the extent of his crimes to light, the victim pictured in the indecent images (recovered from Smith’s devices), felt able to disclose her abuse at the hands of Smith.
While he was still on remand, Derek Smith was arrested again and subsequently charged with eight more offences, including multiple counts of rape and sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 17.
Derek Smith pleaded not guilty to all offences. However, after listening to the extensive evidence gathered against him, a jury found him guilty on all charges on Wednesday, May 17 this year.
Detective Constables Louise Murphy and Abi Axon, from Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, attended Smith’s sentencing and said: “The long list of offences Derek Smith subjected the victim to is nothing short of horrific.
“He has shown no consideration for the victim at any stage, refusing to admit to the extremely serious sexual offences he committed and making the victim give evidence at court.
“Being subjected to the court process can be a stressful experience for victims in cases involving sexual offences, particularly when they are so young.
“We would like to praise the victim for the bravery shown in disclosing what Derek Smith subjected her to and how she conducted herself whilst the trial was ongoing.
“On top of this, he also possessed more than 230 indecent images of children for his own sexual gratification – behind each of these images there is a child being sexually abused.
“We hope the fact that Smith is now behind bars, where he can no longer sexually exploit young girls, gives the victim and her family some closure.
“However, they will continue to receive the help and support they need to move forward with their lives.”
In addition to the custodial sentence Derek Smith was ordered to sign the sexual offenders’ register and comply with a sexual harm prevention order for life.
Detective Sergeant Dave Walton, of the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “Sexual abuse is an unforgivable crime, and this is a particularly distressing case.
“I would like to thank the officers involved in this complex investigation for all their hard work in unravelling the extent of Smith’s offending and gathering the required level of evidence to secure convictions for all 24 offences.
“Derek Smith’s attempts to engage with children online highlights the need for parents and guardians to warn their children of the dangers of communicating with people via social media, to check that they are using those applications safely and to keep an eye out for any warning signs of sexual exploitation.
“I hope that Derek Smith’s convictions and sentencing encourages anyone who has been subjected to similar offending to report it to the police.
“They should feel confident that they will receive the help and support they need from our specialist officers and other support agencies we work alongside.
“All victims will be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve, and any allegations will be taken extremely seriously and thoroughly investigated, with the wishes and the needs of the victim as our main priority.”
For advice on identifying signs of sexual exploitation, visit https://www.nspcc.org.uk/what-is-child-abuse/types-of-abuse/child-sexual-exploitation/.
To report a sexual offence call Cheshire Constabulary on 101. Information can also be given online at https://www.cheshire.police.uk/ro/report or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 111 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.