ONLINE PREDATOR PRESSURED BOY IN AMERICA TO RAPE A YOUNG RELATIVE
Groomer given 18-year jail sentence
AN online predator who pressured a boy 4,500 miles away into raping a young relative has been jailed for 18 years – while his victim was locked up for half a century in the U.S.
Twisted Nicholas Hatton, who had a huge stash of child abuse images, groomed the boy from the age of 12.
Chester Crown Court heard the victim – who had been in contact with Hatton for several years from 2014 – told officers that he had been coerced into sexually abusing the two-year-old family member on camera.
As a result of his confession, the teenager has been convicted of rape and sexual assault in America and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Hatton, 34, of West Street, Crewe, was handed an 18-year jail term in the UK.
The court heard the boy was one of Hatton’s four victims. Detectives identified two of them who were both based in America.
The investigation began in 2021 when officers from Cheshire Police received intelligence from a social media company in relation to Hatton’s online activity.
A warrant was carried out at Hatton’s home in Crewe where a number of electronic devices were seized and sent for analysis.
Officers recovered more than 12,000 indecent images of children, more than 750 indecent videos and 1,050 banned images.
Following the discovery, Hatton was rearrested in June 2022.
During questioning he denied all knowledge of who the children in the images were. He was then released on conditional bail.
It was at this point that a Cheshire Police Victim Identification Officer identified the two U.s.-based victims.
Hatton was charged and later pleaded guilty to all of the offences. He admitted:
Six counts of causing/inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity;
Two counts of causing/inciting the sexual exploitation of a child aged 13-17;
One count of possession of indecent images of children;
Three counts of making indecent images of children;
Three counts of taking indecent images of children;
One count of possession of prohibited images of children.
Following his sentencing, Detective Constable Faye Taylor, of Cheshire Police, said: “Hatton is a sexual predator who preyed on vulnerable young boys and had no regard for the effects his actions would have on the victims or their families.”
Hatton was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and handed an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.