DENIS ATKINSON FROM MIDDLETON SENTENCED FOR CHILD SEX OFFENCES AND POSSESSING OVER 4000 INDECENT IMAGES

In May 2022, a man from Middleton, identified as Denis Atkinson, was handed a significant prison sentence after being found guilty of a series of serious child exploitation offences. The 63-year-old was convicted at Minshull Street Crown Court and received an eight-year imprisonment term. Additionally, he was ordered to register as a sex offender for life and was subjected to a sexual harm prevention order, reflecting the gravity of his crimes.

The police investigation into Atkinson’s activities began on June 14, 2019, when authorities received intelligence suggesting his involvement in online child exploitation. It was discovered that in November of the previous year, an account on the Kik messenger app had posted an indecent photograph of a child. Further inquiries revealed that the mobile device linked to this account was registered in Atkinson’s name at his residence on Millbeck Road, Middleton.

Following this, law enforcement agencies uncovered that Atkinson had engaged in online chats with a decoy profile of a 12-year-old girl, which was controlled by the police. During these conversations, Atkinson used the alias ‘Warren’ and employed a profile picture of a male in his late teens. His interactions quickly turned sexualized, with him asking the decoy if they were “dating” and even suggesting they meet in Cardiff. Despite being reminded that the profile belonged to a foster child of only 12 years old, Atkinson persisted in requesting explicit images and expressed a desire to have sex when they met.

Throughout July 2020, Atkinson continued to show a disturbing level of interest in the decoy, proposing to stay in a hotel with her and confirming plans to meet at an arranged location. However, when the child profile explained that she was unable to meet him, Atkinson responded with a vague statement, “We will have to meet some other time.” Police seized numerous chat logs as evidence, which clearly demonstrated Atkinson’s predilection for underage girls and his persistent attempts to engage in sexual conversations with minors.

On December 2, 2020, Atkinson was arrested by the Greater Manchester Police’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team. During the search of his property, investigators recovered multiple mobile devices. These devices contained thousands of indecent images of children, including 836 classified as ‘Class A,’ indicating the most severe category of child exploitation material. Further analysis revealed that Atkinson had attempted to communicate sexually with numerous underage children through various messaging applications, often adopting multiple fake male and female personas to conceal his identity.

During police interviews, Atkinson denied responsibility, claiming, “I can’t remember,” and insisted, “It wasn’t me, I must have been hacked.” He later admitted that “everything is true,” acknowledging the evidence against him. His guilty plea covered multiple charges, including attempting to meet a child under 16, attempting to sexually communicate with a child on four occasions, inciting a child under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity, possessing extreme pornography, possessing five prohibited images of children, distributing indecent images across categories A, B, and C, and creating a total of 4,035 indecent images of children.

The court’s verdict underscores the severity of Atkinson’s actions and the ongoing efforts of law enforcement to combat online child exploitation. His sentencing aims to serve as a stark warning to others involved in similar criminal activities, emphasizing the importance of protecting vulnerable minors from predators like Denis Atkinson of Middleton.