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Press Releases
Panorama: One Click From Capture |
An internet predator jailed for grooming three underage girls on line
for sex – including a Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Panorama researcher posing as a 14-year-old – has an emotionally unstable personality disorder and is
likely to re-offend without intensive treatment.
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Panorama's One Click From Capture (Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú One, 8.30pm, Monday 26 May) details how the
programme's initial contact with "Swimcoach3", late last year,
ultimately led to the jailing at Bristol Crown Court last Tuesday
of 43-year-old security guard, Roger Kenneth Manning, from
Cullompton in Devon.
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Concerned at the speed with which Swimcoach3's contact with their "Jane" was escalating, the Panorama team alerted police when
Manning asked to meet for sex.
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Police took on her identity and
continued their online chats.
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They also invented an 11-year-old
girl, Rosie, and another 14-year-old, Jessie. Manning contacted and
groomed both those fictional girls too.
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He was caught by police in January this year after driving almost
40 miles from his home to a McDonalds car park in Torquay having
arranged to pick up "Jessie" and take her home for sex.
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When
arrested, he was about to send a text message to her mobile
telling her he had arrived and asking where she was.
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Manning had set off to meet Jessie after a webchat lasting just
90 minutes.
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Detective Inspector Simon Snell, of Devon and
Cornwall Police, tells the programme: "The fact that he jumped
into his car after about an hour-and-a-half of communication
demonstrated to me that this man Mr Manning could well have been
very dangerous."
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He adds: "This was a man on the edge. This was a man we needed
to deal with very, very quickly."
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During his police interviews, featured in tonight's Panorama,
Manning, who had been drinking when arrested, is asked if he
would have had sex with the girl had things gone according to
plan.
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Manning answers: "Right here right now, my own mind tells me no, I
wouldn't. But fuelled by the booze, who knows what the hell
would have happened."
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An expert report from a psychologist – commissioned by Manning's
defence team – was presented to the court and the Crown
Prosecution Service. It recommended a lengthy prison sentence
should be imposed.
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Panorama has seen that report. In it, the expert – chartered
psychologist Ian Anderson – found Manning to have "memory loss
around issues that he did not wish to discuss" which was both
"unconvincing" and "selective".
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The report also said that, while he felt very sorry for himself
over his arrest for these offences, Manning had absolutely no
empathy with his intended victims, saying of the 14-year-old he
was hoping to meet for sex: "She was not really worth very much."
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Mr Anderson cannot comment on Manning specifically but tells
Panorama that this lack of empathy is not unusual for this type
of offender, adding that they often tend to blame others
rather than themselves for their actions.
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This was certainly the case in Manning's police interviews during
which he claimed the only reason he was trawling profiles for
young girls to message was because his fiancée worked away from
home much of the time, leaving him lonely, bored and frustrated.
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He even blamed the computer itself.
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"I use it probably every day
when I am at home on my own," he said, saying he spent his days
"sitting in front of that horrible goddamned computer that I
wish I never got."
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Manning told police he had always been attracted to young girls
of between 11 and 15, saying: "I just enjoy talking to young girls whether it is a sexual
nature or just in general."
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He told them he only used one site, Teenspot, and had been
using it for about 18 months.
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He would see the list of who was
online each day and then open their profile pages to see if he
liked the look of them.
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In the programme, Manning can be heard admitting: "When it's
young girls, I end up steering the conversation around to sex."
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There is also the following exchange:
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Snell: Why haven't you gone for adult chat rooms and social
networking sites?
Manning: Cos I don't think I'm good enough for anybody.
Snell: But why would you think that you were good enough for
children?
Manning: I don't know. Maybe cos I sort of think, well, they
look up to adults.
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Manning – who at 43 is middle aged and overweight – also told
officers that he preferred sporty, fit girls with small breasts,
saying at one point "Small breasts do it for me I guess".
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In her profile, Panorama's Jane Brown had said she liked swimming
and dancing.
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In their exchanges, Swimcoach3 had claimed to be
a 32-year-old model scout. He told "Jane" she'd make a good
model and repeatedly asked her for her bra size now and when she
was 11.
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His online chats would routinely escalate rapidly
towards sexually explicit content.
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The researcher who posed as Jane went online just ten times,
always between four and six in the evening, peaktime for kids.
She did not solicit attention, just went online and waited for
someone to start a webchat.
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In addition to Swimcoach3, several
other men also propositioned her online, many sending explicit
photos of themselves.
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Panorama called in police when he asked to meet "Jane" at which
point officers took on her identity and continued the chat.
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The American site Teenspot helped accelerate the police inquiry
as officers tried to discover Swimcoach3's true identity and
whereabouts.
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Their record of his registration details gave
Manning's name, phone number and postcode.
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They also revealed
that when Swimcoach3's profile was shut down automatically by
their filter system, for unspecified content violations, he was
back on line within 10 hours, this time as Likelylad4u and that
he had gone online almost every day.
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Manning refused Panorama's request for an interview and, when
Jeremy Vine and a camera crew approached him in the street
outside his home, remained silent as he was asked why he had
claimed to be a model scout and whether he was a risk to young
girls.
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Manning then punched the camera and ran away, shoving a
photographer out of his way.
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After Manning slams his door in Jeremy Vine's face, the
breathless reporter says: "He certainly had a lot less to say to
us than to our researcher when he was talking to her online."
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In court last week, it emerged that Manning has previous
convictions for violence and sexual assault. As a 16-year-old he
sexually abused a seven-year-old girl, an offence which resulted in
him spending some time in a psychiatric hospital.
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He then moved to Australia where he lived in Sydney with his then
wife and daughter, now 17, working on fairgrounds and as a
swimming coach for
several years before returning to Britain in 2001 with his
current partner.
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Armed with his DNA police are now investigating whether
Manning has been involved in any other offences.
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In his report to the court, psychologist Ian Anderson had
recommended a lengthy custodial sentence to allow Manning to
receive intensive treatment for his offending behaviour.
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He was
given an indeterminate sentence and will not qualify for release
until he has convinced the authorities that he is no longer a
threat to young girls.
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He will also be on the sex offenders'
register for life.
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The sentence was welcomed by the police team.
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Detective Inspector
Snell told Panorama: "I think the judge did a really sensible
thing. An indeterminate sentence showed how serious this
incident was."
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The Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre's Chief
Executive, Jim Gamble, says parents and children need to be alive
to the dangers but adds: "There's not a paedophile on every
corner online or offline. But when a paedophile engages your
child, the only statistic you are interested in is the number one."
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He also says that, when Panorama broadcast its first programme on
this topic in January, reports of abuse from children via CEOP's
website – which links directly to investigating officers – doubled
from 500 a month to 1,000.
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The programme details easy steps parents and kids can take to
help them stay safe online.
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Reporter: Jeremy Vine
Producer: Alison Priestley
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Panorama: One Click From Capture,
Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú One, 8.30pm, Monday 26 May 2008
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