A Kilburn Paedophile, Anthony Sheppard, who received a three-year community order for transmitting sexually explicit communications to an eight-year-old girl has now been incarcerated following an appeal by authorities against his first sentence.
Anthony Sheppard established a friendship with the girl on Snapchat and requested that she send him photographs of herself. He allegedly transmitted pornographic photographs to the minor, whom he initially presumed to be 13, and persisted in messaging her even after she disclosed that she was eight, not 13.
The issue was revealed when the girl’s mother discovered the messages and notified the police.
The account was linked to Anthony Sheppard, who was subsequently apprehended. His phone was confiscated and discovered to contain an explicit pornographic photograph.
A 61-year-old resident of Mayfield Avenue, Kilburn, was charged with attempting to engage in sexual communication with a minor, attempting to incite a girl to participate in sexual activity, and possessing an extreme pornographic image depicting an act of intercourse or oral sex involving a deceased or living animal.
Anthony Sheppard acknowledged the offences and was initially sentenced by a judge at Derby Crown Court on 25 February.
In addition to the community order, he was fined, subjected to a deprivation order concerning his mobile phone, and issued a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Subsequent to the sentencing, police filed an appeal with the Attorney General’s office, asserting that the penalty was ‘excessively lenient.’
The case was referred to the Court of Appeal, where it was heard on 14 May and Anthony Sheppard was sentenced to 28 months imprisonment, and required to surrender himself into police custody the following day.
Detective Sergeant Sophie Draycott, from Derbyshire Constabulary’s Child Investigation Unit, said:
“Anthony Sheppard was fully aware of how young his victim was but continued to send her sexually explicit content and ask her for images regardless.
“His behaviour was not only appalling and predatory, but also extremely serious.
“The sentence handed to Anthony Sheppard in February in no way fit the crimes he had committed and sent completely the wrong message to other individuals who may be at risk of sexually exploiting children.
“I am pleased that the Court of Appeal saw fit to quash Anthony Sheppard’s initial sentence and deemed that jail time was the only appropriate outcome in this case.
“This incident will understandably continue to affect the young girl involved for some time to come but I hope that she and her family can now start to look to the future knowing that Anthony Sheppard is in prison.”
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