Sex offender David John Andrews jailed after abusing nearly 50 children by posing as teenage boy on Snapchat
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David John Andrews, 55, from Northern Ireland, pleaded guilty to 130 charges of sexual abuse involving 47 victims, 46 of whom are children, across the UK.
During a four-year investigation, detectives discovered nearly 10,000 illicit images of children on his electronic devices, and approximately 40 usernames that he had used to pose as young boys online. While the majority of the offences involved "catfishing," where he would pretend to be a boy aged 13 or 14 on Snapchat and Instagram before coercing victims into sending him nude photographs, the charges also involved the direct abuse of a vulnerable adult woman.
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Hide AdHis crimes include attempted rape, causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, blackmail, attempting to pay for sexual services of a child, attempting to arrange or facilitate child prostitution or pornography and making and possessing indecent images of children. Many of the offences took place between 2019 and 2020, with Andrews having been on remand for more than four years.


Delivering the sentence at Downpatrick Crown Court, Judge Geoffrey Miller KC said: "In short form he deceived the children into engaging with him in the mistaken belief he too was a child. Having done this he then cynically and with clear pre-meditation, used threats to inveigle and coerce them to share images of themselves with him.
"The correspondence instigated by the defendant with each child victim is extremely graphic in content and gives an insight into his depraved thought processes which are deeply troubling."
The judge said Andrews "exploited" his victims by "distributing the images he had obtained" and threatening "both they and their friends into providing still more material for his gratification." He added: "Each time the circle of victims grew and throughout it all he took care to try to cover his tracks."
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Hide AdRegarding the direct abuse of an adult victim, the judge explained that Andrews forced her to dress up and took explicit photographs, which he sometimes shared with other victims. He described the abuse as displaying a "depravity that is difficult to comprehend and which is utterly sickening."
PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Jill Duffie, speaking after the sentencing, called Andrews a "heinous child predator." She added that Andrews used the indecent images his victims sent him to "threaten, blackmail and abuse them."
DCI Duffie explained that the investigation into Andrews began following a report from Derbyshire Police on March 27, 2020, which revealed that several underage girls had been groomed online by a man believed to be living in Northern Ireland under the alias of a 13-year-old boy. Detectives visited Andrews’ home in Belfast on the same day, arrested him, and seized multiple electronic devices.
Andrews has been in custody since his arrest. During his sentencing, the court ruled he will serve a minimum of 13 and a half years in prison, after which parole commissioners will decide when he may be released.