Sex Offender Targeted School Girls Through Fortnite Game

A 30-year-old registered sex offender has been handed an extended sentence after sending explicit sexual content to primary school-aged girls and requesting inappropriate images from them. 🚨

Ethan Owen, from Vale of Glamorgan, initially met the young victims through the online game Fortnite before adding them to a WhatsApp group named “bad” where he could clearly see they were children from their profile pictures.

Prosecutor Martha Smith-Higgins told Cardiff Crown Court the girls initially thought he was a “normal person” but this quickly changed when he sent various pictures and videos which showed his genitals, him and a woman having sex and him performing sexual acts alone.

One victim described the content as “disturbing” as Owen went on to ask one girl to send pictures of her genitals and perform sexual activities. The court heard one message stated he was “going to come to her house and do something to her” and that after being blocked, he attempted to contact one victim through his girlfriend’s phone.

The court was informed Owen has “a number of relevant previous convictions” with seven convictions for 31 offences dating back to 2009 when he was 15 years old.

When sentencing, Judge Francis emphasised: “During the time you were involved, and knowing what both girls looked like, you nonetheless indulged in sexual conversation with them. You sent them images, sexual images and asked one to send you intimate photos. This offending did not happen in a vacuum. You have a significant history of sexual offending. You have been appearing before the courts for it since you were a teenager.”

The judge added: “You were a dangerous offender then and you are a dangerous offender now.”

Owen pleaded guilty to causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of engaging in sexual communications with a child, two counts of causing a child to watch an explicit act and the breach of a sexual harm prevention order.

He was sentenced to an extended sentence of five years, with 40 months custodial and five years on licence. He will continue to be under a sexual harm prevention order for life and remain on the sex offenders’ register for life.

Guidance to parents from Epic Games

When a player in the UK creates a Fortnite account and indicates they are under 13, they cannot access certain features, like voice or text chat, until a parent provides consent. Once they do, using parental controls, parents can choose who their child can communicate with: ‘Everybody’, ‘Friends and Teammates’, ‘Friends Only’, or turn chat off entirely. Parents can also choose to require their Parental Controls PIN be entered for their child to send or accept friend requests in Fortnite.