55 YEAR OLD MALE CLAIMING TO BE 19 WAS ARRESTED FOR GROOMING A CHILD ON SNAPCHAT
Giving the strongest hint yet that she would like to ban social media for under 16s, she said, “I think the reason why parents have been so supportive of a ban is because of the simplicity”.Our investigation reveals how the online often transfers to the offline, with paedophiles repeatedly using Snapchat to locate children in real life.
Among recent victims was 11-year-old ‘Sophie’, whose name we have changed to protect her lifetime anonymity.
In 2022, she was sent explicit photographs by a user who called himself Tom Bailey and claimed to be 19.
It’s thought he had managed to find her via Snapmap, which allows users to search for other people – including children - in their area.
“Hope u like xxx,” he messaged out of the blue one morning before school as Sophie was getting ready, after sending her a photo of a man in his underwear.
“Like to see more xxx,” he added.
“I’m in derby and 19 u?” “I’m 11, go away,” Sophie’s family replied on her behalf, after she alerted them to what was happening.
“Oh nice,” her predator persisted, “My ex was 13 lol”.
“Bet your well fit,” he told her.
“You done anything wiv a boy”.
“I’m 11 years old,” Sophie’s family replied again, hoping to warn him off.
“So loads are doing younger lol,” he said.
“Once you had a play down between ya legs you would love it x” “Have you seen a boy hard yet x” “Like to see me x” Sophie received a second image, this time of an erect penis.
“The messages carried on coming through quite quickly, and they were getting quite vile.
It was crude and disgusting.
I was physically sick,” Sophie’s mum told me.
Police managed to track down her predator, whose real name is Mark Rayworth - a 55-year-old paedophile who was working as a bathroom fitter.
He was arrested and convicted of attempting to engage in sexual activity with Sophie.
But because of Snapchat's location feature, she became terrified that he would be able to track her down.
“It was quite scary,” she told me.
“It made me really paranoid even to go out with family.
I was worried that he would be upset that I’d told people, that he’d hurt my family for reporting it.” Sophie’s parents had to install CCTV at their house to reassure her.
“I don’t see that there’s any need for maps to be on any apps that children access,” her mum told me.
“Anyone can locate them.
I don’t see how that serves any purpose to any child.”
