David Collins paedophile child sex offender
David Collins paedophile child sex offender

A depraved Croydon paedophile, David Collins, who photographed himself molesting two young children has been sentenced to prison, while the relatives of his victims recount their “horrible” experience of enduring a five-year wait for justice.

David Collins, 52, perpetrated abuse against two young children over several years and was discovered in possession of hundreds of indecent pictures, including “selfies” captured during the sexual attacks. After a trial at Croydon Crown Court, he was convicted of three counts of sexual assault by touching involving two children under the age of 13.

David Collins has been sentenced to five years in prison for his “clever and conniving” conduct, which has devastated the lives of his victims and their grieving families. A family member stated to MyLondon that they felt “crushed” by his acts and that the five-year delay in obtaining a conviction had adversely affected the victims’ mental health.

His first victim, who we will refer to as Child A to protect their anonymity, first came forward with the abuse in 2017, after confiding in a schoolfriend. Their mum soon became aware, and as preliminary investigations into David Collins began, Child B came forward and informed ]their] parents that they, too, had been abused.

David Collins, a former game developer for Sony, had sexually assaulted his victims while they were sitting on his lap, using an iPad as a “smokescreen” to cover his actions. Upon his arrest, 844 pictures of Child B were discovered on his devices as well as other “compromising” images of Child A.

A relative of Child A said: “I watched [them] change from being this full of life, bubbly young kid to a sad, depressed [child]. I remember taking [them] out once and we got the photos [from the outing] back and [they] just looked dead behind the eyes. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve seen.”

After reporting the abuse to the police in 2017, it took five years for David Collins to be placed on trial, increasing the stress and strain upon his young victims. “It’s taken five long years, it’s shocking,” the relative said. “That is what has done half of the mental health damage because the whole long process of it all and it being years before they were interviewed again.”

As well as awaiting years for the trial, the families were also told at short notice on two occasions that the sentencing date had been changed, causing further anxiety. “It shouldn’t be hush-hush, he shouldn’t be getting any leniency on this. We’ve been checking the sex offenders register, he still hasn’t been put on there. Everything regarding this case has been wrong,” she said.

While the family of Child A welcomed his five-year prison sentence, the impact on his victim has been enormous and they have been unable to continue attending school. “It came out in [their] statement how [they] wanted to kill [themself], [they] didn’t want to be here anymore. It’s given [them] epilepsy and although they’re saying that would have been lying dormant, the trauma of this is what has triggered it,” she said.

“David Collins gets to serve two years, come out and move away and he can start his life all over again while there are people out there who this has crushed.”

Both families are concerned, however, that further victims may have not come forward and are urging anyone with information to contact the police. A relative of Child B said: “We don’t believe that he woke up at the age of 40 and decided ‘I’m going to play with a child today’. We believe there are more victims. The reason for the victims doing this is that they want to prevent this from happening again.”

She continued: “We believe he didn’t get long enough for the crimes that he committed; his face was actually in the photographs, and you could see what he was doing. I personally don’t believe it was long enough; however, is any sentence going to be long enough? Would life be long enough? No, because he’s going to get out.”

David Collins, of Byrnes Road, Croydon, has been jailed for five years and has been made the subject of a 10-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. He has also been placed on the Sex Offenders Register for life.


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