A convicted Newport paedophile, Lee Callaghan, has been discovered to be employed by an organisation aiding vulnerable children in Ukraine.
Lee Callaghan, 45, from Newport, confessed to the creation and distribution of obscene photos of minors as young as 12 and received a two-year prison sentence in 2017.
The British charity Siobhan’s Trust provided pizzas to families displaced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and employed Lee Callaghan, who referred to himself as Jack Morgan, with minimal, if any, background verification, according to a story by the Telegraph.
The organisation, now known as HopeFull, stated that it was unaware of the charges against him at the time of his dismissal in February 2024.
According to the Telegraph, Lee Callaghan conducted frequent visits to orphanages, schools, and camps representing the charity in western Ukraine beginning in early 2023.
The publication also quoted an American former volunteer who joined the charity in February 2023 as saying there were “serious failings” in the charity’s vetting process, describing it as “extremely lax”.
The Telegraph said she claimed there were no background checks when she was recruited following a brief exchange conducted over WhatsApp.
Lee Callaghan was arrested by National Crime Agency (NCA) officers in 2016, acting on information that he had made contact with a known paedophile online and wanted to arrange to meet and sexually abuse a child.
A number of indecent images, at least one of which he had shared, were found on a phone and laptop seized from his home.
“In his communications with others it became clear Lee Callaghan was a dangerous man who wanted to abuse children, so his arrest and conviction has protected potential victims,” Martin Ludlow from the NCA said after Lee Callaghan’s conviction in 2017.
HopeFull said it was “committed to the safety of its volunteers, employees, and the communities it serves”.
It added: “As part of the charity’s safety processes, no volunteer is left unsupervised with vulnerable children or adults and we always operate in teams of at least four people.
“Lee Callaghan gained his position under an assumed identity and was then dismissed by the charity in February 2024, at which point the charity was unaware of the allegations against him.”
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