Gareth Vickers Wigan Paedophile
Gareth Vickers Wigan Paedophile

A Wigan Paedophile, Gareth Vickers, who created and disseminated photographs of himself sexually assaulting a young girl was apprehended due to a meal delivery application. Gareth Vickers, 45, utilised the online alias “daddyv230304” to disseminate images of the girl in her undergarments, claiming he experienced sexual arousal.

The National Crime Agency found the predator after the FBI surveilled his sexually explicit communications on the Kik online chat platform. The photographs he disseminated were progressively more wicked as he sexually attacked the little girl in front of the camera. In April of the previous year, he was apprehended by NCA officers at his residence in Wigan, following which he remarked, “I was at my lowest.”

A forensic analysis of his devices uncovered online searches for terms related to adolescent pornography and the utilisation of an anonymous TOR browser, facilitating access to the dark web. Gareth Vickers had also sought guidance on how to erase his internet history.

His destiny was determined when authorities connected an email address he utilised on a meal delivery application to the incriminating Kik account. His hands were photographed, and forensic analysis confirmed their match with those depicted in the indecent photographs.

Gareth Vickers pleaded guilty to assault of a girl under 13 by touching, and taking and distributing indecent images of children offences in December, having denied the charges at a previous hearing. He appeared at Bolton Crown Court today (January 24), where he was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, given an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order, and placed on the Sex Offenders’ Register for life.

NCA operations manager Phil Eccles said: “A young girl was callously abused and had her privacy violated, all for the sexual pleasure of Gareth Vickers and for the benefit of other online users with a sexual interest in children.

“Child sexual abuse is a global threat and this case highlights why the NCA’s close cooperation with international partners is so vital to protecting children. We work tirelessly to identify those posing the greatest risk to children and ensure offenders are brought to account.”


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