Replies

Paedophile squad saves girl, 6, from rapist father
By Sean O'Neill
(Filed: 03/07/2002)

British investigators flew to America to rescue a six-year-old girl who was being repeatedly raped on video by her father for the gratification of members of a highly secretive internet paedophile ring.

Officers from the national high-tech crime unit discovered the girl's ordeal - video footage of which was placed on an encrypted website - after the seizure of a computer in Bradford, West Yorks.

Two officers flew to the US and, with FBI agents, local police and a child protection team, raided a house in Georgia. The girl, an only child, was at home with her married parents.

A large amount of computer and video equipment was removed from the house for examination. The girl was taken into care and her father, 31, was arrested.

His wife claimed to know nothing of the abuse her daughter regularly suffered in the family home, although the child's distress is audible on the video footage.

The rescue was ordered despite the danger that it could have jeopardised an inquiry into the Shadowz Brotherhood, a major internet paedophile gang.

Details of the investigation were given yesterday after raids across Europe in which 30 members of the ring were arrested. Forty-six men have been detained in 12 countries since the inquiry began.

There have been 10 arrests in Britain, including six yesterday, the most important of which was that of a man whose computer led officers to the girl.

At the time of a raid on his house last December, the 29-year-old man was downloading child pornography. While officers were still at the house he received a delivery from Romania of 25 CD-Roms containing child pornography.

During examination of one hard drive, a video clip of the child being raped was found. It was traced to an email address in Georgia used by a man nicknamed "Dead".

The man is believed to have been an "administrator" in the Shadowz Brotherhood, a club thought to number 70 to 100 people.

A few "administrators" rated other members at one to four stars. The ratings allowed different levels of access to websites.

The brotherhood prided itself on its security. Members were advised how to re-route messages through different internet servers and how to remove all traces of their identity.

But since early 2001, when Swedish intelligence located the club, officers from the high-tech unit have been monitoring it closely.

Hundreds of thousands of still images and video clips have been found, some depicting the torture of children and sexual abuse of babies. More than 60 internet companies have been told to remove material from 244 websites.

"The material is extremely horrific abuse of children," said Det Supt Mick Deats, head of operations at the high-tech unit.

"Just when you think you have seen the worst, something else comes along. It is a real shock to the system."

One of those held yesterday, a 25-year-old unemployed man from Staines, Middx, is believed to be one of the group's leaders.

The others are: an electronics security expert, 58, from Northants; a 62-year-old employee of a NHS trust from Reading, a cleaner, 23, from Wiltshire; an electrician, 26, from Eltham, south-east London; and a 27-year-old jewellery trade manager from Hounslow, west London.