Paedophile Jailed for Grooming Boys Online with Cash Gifts

A 23-year-old man from Cilgerran has been sentenced to four years in prison after admitting to sexually assaulting a young boy and grooming multiple children online by offering them money and gifts in exchange for sexual images. 😠⚖️

Jake Roberts appeared at Swansea Crown Court facing a series of sexual offences committed between the ages of 15 and 21. The court heard how Roberts sexually assaulted a nine-year-old boy, with the victim later telling his mother about the abuse after concerns were raised by a family member.

Prosecutor Georgia Donohue told the court that Roberts contacted several boys online, offering them cash or gifts in exchange for indecent images. In one case, police discovered a 14-year-old boy had received £320 from an account named ‘J. Roberts’ after the child’s mother became concerned when she saw him recording videos of himself in his underwear.

The court heard Roberts had used the fake name ‘Janet Roberts’ online and had sent the boy explicit images and videos, whilst receiving similar content in return.

Another victim described how Roberts groomed him after meeting whilst playing Xbox online in 2020, with the abuse continuing from when the boy was aged 13 to 16. “I was made to feel like I owed him,” the boy said.

Roberts admitted sexual assault of a child, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, two offences of sexual activity in the presence of a child, three offences of causing a child to watch a sexual act, and six offences of sexual communication with a child.

Defence barrister Ashanti-Jade Walton said: “This defendant is under no illusions. He appreciates how serious the offences are. The strongest mitigation in this case is the early guilty pleas and the fact that the offending took place whilst he was a younger man.”

She added that Roberts had taken steps to address his offending, selling his car to fund sessions with the Lucy Faithfull Foundation. “He is disgusted by his behaviour,” she said.

Sentencing Roberts, Judge Paul Thomas KC said: “For a period between you being 15 and 21 you engaged during that six-year period in sexual communication with six different male children. The general pattern is you would ask for sexual pictures from them and you would send payment.”

Roberts was jailed for four years, must register as a sex offender for life, and was made subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.