King's Lynn man given 33 year sentence for 96 sexual offences against young boys

A Lynn man who admitted more than 90 sexual offences against young boys has today been given an extended 33 year sentence this afternoon.

Victims of David Nicholas Wilson described him as “a pathetic paedophile” and said he should not be able to walk Lynn’s streets during the hearing at Ipswich Crown Court.

And prosecutors said he may have committed offences against hundreds more children.

Wilson, 36, of Kirstead, Fairstead, pleaded guilty to a total of 96 offences at an earlier hearing.

They included blackmail, arranging or facilitating the sexual exploitation of a child, causing or inciting children to engage in sexual activity or causing children to watch sexual acts.

Judge Rupert Overbury sentenced him to 25 years in prison, of which he will serve at least two thirds before his case can be considered by the Parole Board, plus a further eight years on licence.

He told him: "You carried out a lengthy and pre-mediated campaign of sadistic and manipulative abuse.

"Any normal humanbeing listening to this case would be astonished by the level of depravity involved.

"You are, in my judgment, an extremely dangerous individual. You can properly be described as a serial paedophile."

Earlier, the court heard statements from several of Wilson’s victims and their families about the impact of his offending on their lives.

One said he had been left feeling suicidal, adding: “From now on, the world will know that David Wilson is a pathetic paedophile.”

A number of victims’ parents said they felt they had failed their children.

And another said Wilson “should not be allowed to walk the streets of King’s Lynn again.”

Catherine Farrelly, prosecuting, told the court Wilson had contacted his victims using a number of fake Facebook profiles in which he pretended to be a teenage girl.

He encouraged them to send indecent images of themselves to him and often asked for further pictures and videos of their siblings, threatening to expose their images more widely if they refused.

Where victims blocked one profile, others would then contact them demanding they reverse the action.

And, in some cases, Wilson even ignored warnings from victims that they were considering taking their own lives because of his behaviour.

The court was told that the first sign of Wilson’s activity emerged in August 2017 when one of the fake accounts was linked to a mobile phone that he was caught on CCTV buying a top-up voucher for in a Lynn shop.

He was arrested soon afterwards and a phone which was used to control the accounts was seized.

But it was more than two years from then until detectives from the National Crime Agency received material from authorities in the United States, including the FBI, that indicated the full extent of Wilson’s offending.

Miss Farrelly said the files contained more than 250,000 separate messages.

She added: “It is thought the defendant contacted over 5,000 children through those profiles and over 500 have sent images to the defendant.”

The court heard Wilson was arrested on two further occasions. On the last of them, he threw a mobile phone down the toilet.

Judge Overbury said that showed Wilson's lack of empathy and remorse for his crimes.

Simon Clare, mitigating, said his client, who appeared in court via videolink from Norwich Prison, was unclear why the prosecution stated those numbers.

But he stressed that Wilson took full responsibility for the offences he had admitted.

He added: “He has opened up to the probation officer preparing the report about his own experiences of child sexual abuse.

“But he hasn’t sought to blame those experiences, or any of his other life experiences, for his own behaviour.