PAEDOPHILE WHO EXPLOITED HIS ROLE AS A FREELANCE NANNY AND BABYSITTER TO SEXUALLY ABUSE CHILDREN WAS LOCKED AWAY FOR 20 YEARS
Robin Elms, a 23-year-old from Hunston, Chichester, was handed a sentence of 20 years and six months by Portsmouth Crown Court after being convicted of sexually assaulting nine minors.During the offences, which took place between 2018 and 2020, he also recorded and watched videos of the children without their knowledge.
The crimes involved 20 separate incidents committed across five households, targeting children aged just two to 14 years old.
Elms managed to gain employment through reputable online childcare agencies, which facilitated access to the young victims.
Of the children affected, seven resided in west Sussex, distributed across three households, while two others from east Kent, also in two households, were victimized.
Despite his previous reputation for good conduct and experience working in non-residential childcare environments, authorities found no evidence linking him to offences against children outside these incidents.
In sentencing Elms, judge Lance Ashworth said: ‘You groomed the families, moving from home to home, beguiling them and making them feel sorry for you.’ Detective Constable Chris Smith of Sussex Police said: ‘Elms used his access, and the trust placed in him by the parents, to systematically abuse children in their own homes.
‘His offences were horrendous breaches of trust, which are every parent's greatest concern.
He had no previous convictions or any other DBS-related record, and the parents all had found him through reputable child care agencies.’ The child abuser pleaded guilty to 10 counts of sexual assault, five counts of taking indecent videos of children, and four counts of voyeurism and one count of sexually assaulting an adult man - not related to his work as a nanny or babysitter.
Elms will spend 15 and a half years of the sentence in prison and five years on extended prison licence supervision.
He will be a registered sex offender for life and was given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) to last until further court notice.
