AN online sexual predator from Australia whose victims included eight children from north Worcestershire has been jailed. 

South Australian man Brett Allford, 42, from Edwardstown in Adelaide, solicited sexually explicit material from ten overseas children via social media platforms.

Allford was handed a 23-year prison sentence of which he must serve at least 17 years thanks to the joint investigation by officers from West Mercia Police and the South Australian Joint Anti-Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET), comprising members from the Australian Federal Police and South Australia Police.

He communicated with his victims - eight from Redditch and one from Canada - on Snapchat and Instagram, where he encouraged them to engage in sexual activity and send explicit images of themselves.

The SA JACET Team began investigating in 2022 after we referred a report of a teenager engaging online with a man suspected to be in South Australia.

During a warrant at Allford's home in October 2022, Australian officers seized a phone that contained sexually explicit communications with 10 victims - aged 11 to 16 at the time of the offending - from the UK and Canada, along with numerous files containing child abuse images.

He man pleaded guilty last December to 14 online child abuse offences.

Allford had manipulated the victims and taken advantage of their personal circumstances to satisfy his deviant sexual desires, an Australian judge heard on Monday 3 June.

The man induced victims to send photos and videos by offering money to spend on clothes or food.

Detective Senior Constable Jordan Dowling, of South Australia Joint Anti Child Exploitation Team (SA JACET), said: “This is a fantastic result, and it couldn’t have been achieved without the significant efforts of DI Laura Douglas and the North Worcestershire Child Exploitation Team.”

Thanks to this collaborative work, the man received a total of 23 years imprisonment with a non-parole period of 17 years, and he will not be eligible for parole until 2039.

Detective Inspector Laura Douglas, of the Child Exploitation Team in North Worcestershire LPA, said: “We are delighted this great result following close working between my team and the SA JACET.

“We had eight victims of online sexual exploitation identified in this case that reside within the North Worcestershire LPA.

“This case only serves to highlight how online exploitation can take place anywhere in the world and the importance of protecting children and the vulnerable from predators like Allford.”