A BRITISH sexual predator at the centre of an international paedophile ring represents such a danger to young boys he may never be released from jail, a judge ruled.
Gareth Hulme, 25, was found guilty of various sex offences, including two counts of rape against a child.
The former security guard lured a 10-year-old boy into woods in Cheshire, northern England, on the pretext of walking his dog, before raping him and photographing the event on his mobile phone.
Described by the judge as “every parent’s nightmare”, Hulme trawled MSN chatrooms to groom other victims, including a 15-year-old boy, but his real interest was in inflicting sexual pain on pre-pubescent boys.
His arrest in June 2009 led Greater Manchester Police to material on his computer and phone which broadened the inquiry, leading 23 polices forces, including Interpol, to break up an international paedophile ring.
Police launched Operation Impact after an informant reported messages Hulme posted on a website. Hulme boasted that he forced a nine-year-old boy into having sex with him, expressed an interest in “raping younger lads”, and said that “9 is the youngest that I’d go.”
Hulme pleaded guilty to two rapes of the 10-year-old boy and taking an indecent photograph of the boy.
He also pleaded guilty to making and distributing child sex abuse images, attempting to arrange child sex, meeting a child following grooming and sexual activity with a child, along with possession of an offensive weapon.
Judge Anthony Gee, QC, sitting at Manchester Crown Court, imposed an indeterminate sentence for the protection of the public.
He told Hulme that he would serve at least seven years before he could be considered for release but warned that in Hulme’s case it would be a long time, if ever, before he could be considered to be no longer a danger to young boys.
Gee said that no right-thinking person hearing the facts of the case could feel anything but “horror, revulsion and disgust”, adding: “I have no doubt whatsoever you are properly to be considered a dangerous offender. You are a sexual predator and a paedophile.
“I regard you as a real danger to young boys whom you regard as your prey to satisfy deviant and perverted urges.”
So far 25 people were arrested in the UK alone since Hulme was caught, three of the suspects were charged, including a former High School math teacher.
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