Depraved Brit mechanic led double life running paedophile forum on the dark web
A mechanic who was secretly running deplorable child sexual abuse sites on the dark web featuring the exploitation of babies and toddlers has been jailed.
Evil Nathan Bake will spend the next 16 years behind bars after he was uncovered as one of the moderators of a site called 'The Annex' before detectives discovered a 'paedophile manual' on his devices. The site, which has since been shut down, had 90,000 members and was being run by a man in the US who was jailed for life in January.
Bake, 28, was one of three moderators for the depraved site featuring some of the most extreme forms of content, which also included "hurtcore" - child sexual abuse involving the infliction of violence. A court heard the mechanic from Runcorn, Cheshire, was second in command running the site, and managed around 30 others to allow the site to remain up.
London psychiatrist Kabir Garg and a 48-year-old man from Eastbourne, Sussex, were also caught in a sting on the site. Garg was jailed for six years last year while the third man is to be sentenced next week.
The three were brought down after detectives from the National Crime Agency (NCA) closed in on the site and tracked down those running it. In one particularly disgusting post uncovered by detectives, Bake had written: "Come on people, show us what you've got for HAPPY HOUR. Show us the boys and girls that turn you on the most."
Man in 30s dies after being stabbed in park sparking police probe
London psychiatrist Kabir Garg was jailed for six years last year for his part in running the site (NCA)New users of the site would be held in a "gateway" as a form of initiation to be allowed access, where they would have to impress and gain the trust of moderators. This involved posting a certain amount of abuse material, NCA officials said.
Meanwhile Bake would provide tips to users on how to evade law enforcement while encouraging them to keep sharing links to content. He was finally arrested at his home in November 2022 as police seized multiple devices, including phones, laptops, USBs and external hard drives.
During the raid, police found the TOR browser used for the dark web was up and running, with indecent images of children right there on the screen. Later analysis of devices revealed Bake was also a co-creator for a second child abuse site, and also uncovering hundreds of thousands of abuse images and videos as well as 576-page paedophile manual.
Bake was jailed for 16 years at Chester crown court on Wednesday after pleading guilty in November to facilitating the sexual exploitation of children, participating in an organised crime group, possession of a paedophile manual, and distributing and making indecent images of children. He was also placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life and given a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
A further 14 men have been charged in the US for their roles in helping to run The Annex, with eight receiving sentences of between six and 28 years. Daniel Waywell, Senior Investigating Officer from the NCA, described Bake as playing a "vital role" in running the site.
He said: “He started as a user himself, but worked his way up the rankings by actively sharing a substantial amount of material and encouraging the discussion of horrific abuse, thus gaining the trust of other moderators. Such was his dedication to this global community of paedophiles that he also committed his time, on top of his day job as a mechanic, to running and setting up other dark web sites that assisted their offending.
“Sites such as these directly and openly encourage users to commit sexual offences against children, and those who run or access them assume they are protected by anonymity. However, the NCA has the determination and technical capability to target those who use the dark web to endanger and harm children. We work closely with international partners to ensure offenders are identified and brought to justice.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
