Colin Thackeray Peterborough Paedophile was a high-ranking moderator on a dark website debating child sexual assault. Using the dark web, 62-year-old Colin Thackeray advised others on how they might raise children with an eye towards sexual abuse.
The sites included talks about child sexual abuse as well as the sexual abuse of boys connected with obscene pictures.
On his devices, he also had more than 2,000 obscene photographs of children: 350 in Category A, 655 in Category B, and 1,459 in Category C.
NCA officials detained Thackeray in September 2019; when they searched his residence, they discovered a laptop and several chat logs where he was discussing how to groom and mistreat minors and role-playing sexual behaviour with them.
Colin Thackeray had personally asked a user he thought to be a 10-year-old child for sexually graphic photographs of themselves on several occasions.
Files found by NCA officers on Thackeray’s devices revealed he had developed his site with photographs of youngsters and had moderated at least one child sexual abuse site.
Colin Thackeray was accused of creating obscene photos of children, possessing forbidden images, purposefully promoting or helping the commission of an offence, and trying to cause or inspire a youngster under 13 to engage in sexual behaviour.
At Luton Crown Court in July 2022, he entered a guilty plea to three counts of creating obscene photos of children and one count of possessing indecent images. He entered a guilty plea to a count of purposefully assisting in the distribution of lewd photos of children in July 2024. He was further found guilty by a jury yesterday (25 July) of two counts of purposefully encouraging the sexual assault of a child under 13 and one count of attempting to incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Spencer Davies from the NCA said: “Colin Thackeray was extremely active on the dark web, encouraging others to commit offences against children whilst also sharing photos of the worst abuse possible.
“Colin Thackeray was a high ranking and valued member in the chat rooms he used and had created an online persona in which he portrayed himself as a sea captain roaming the oceans with a crew of children that he would sexually abuse. Other users believed him entirely but in reality, Thackeray lived alone in squalor, spending 14 hours a day online in his horrific fantasy world.
“Protecting children is a top priority of the NCA and we will continue to pursue offenders like Colin Thackeray who puts them at risk.”
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