July 2014
Jail for soldier who used internet to groom seven schoolgirls
A WARNING on the dangers of social media has been sounded after a North Lincolnshire man was jailed for eight years after targeting teenage girls online.
Craig Coy, 26, of Carr Lane, Redbourne, admitted 20 charges of committing sexual offences against seven girls aged 15 and under.
Coy, who was a soldier but has now been dishonourably discharged from the Army, contacted girls via the internet while he was home on leave, Grimsby Crown Court heard.
He paid for some of the girls to perform acts with him and incited others to do the same, as well as asking them to find other girls willing to participate in acts with him.
After seizing Coy’s computer, police found more than 22,000 messages between him and the girls, sent over a 13-month period.
Speaking after the case, the police officer who led the investigation into Coy said she thought parents and children needed to be aware of internet safety.
Detective Constable Katie Mann, from Humberside Police’s protecting vulnerable people unit at Scunthorpe, said: “It is definitely a warning to parents because not one of the parents had a clue their child was a victim until the day we knocked on their front door.
“The fact that these offences have been committed while those children are at home is the scary bit.
“It is not just on a computer, it is a phone or a tablet. It seems 24 hours a day, they can be subject to such risk.”
DC Mann said although rare, cases of this type were becoming more prevalent and she gave advice to parents and youngsters.
She said: “Speak to children about internet safety.
“For children, if there is someone sending inappropriate messages, speak to an adult or parent to put the right blocks on those messages.
“A lot of people accept anyone who has given them a friend request and at the end of the day, Coy is not a stereotypical predator.
“He was a good-looking lad and the girls were taken in by that initially.
“We get a number of low-level jobs we can nip in the bud straight away, but this one has targeted a number of girls who all fell victim to him.
“The majority of them didn’t recognise they were victims for such a long time.”
DC Mann said police became aware of Coy’s offending after a friend of one of his victims expressed concerns.
She said: “A friend became concerned and told her mum.
“She was present when one of the offences happened.
“It came in initially through social services and we did a joint investigation, but it was only when we got the computer we realised how many girls he had been contacting.
“It was clear when he was on leave he would spend eight hours a day bombarding these girls with messages.
“They didn’t make any complaints until we knocked on their door and said we knew this guy had been in contact with them.
“Once we had the computer, it identified the girls we needed to speak to and they all did interviews on a DVD.
“Once we did that, he did start to admit to all this offending.
“There are a lot of investigations going on, but this is certainly one of the worst in Scunthorpe but unfortunately it won’t be the last, I’m sure.”
Coy was sentenced to eight years in prison, as well as being made subject to a sexual offences prevention order.
DC Mann said: “I would have liked a little bit more, but because he pleaded guilty, eight years is a good sentence and the girls haven’t had to come and give evidence, which is the most important thing.”
And she urged anybody subject to a similar type of abuse to speak out.
She said: “We would urge any young people subject to this type of message, threatening or abuse to confide in an adult, a teacher or anyone they feel safe to do so.
“These were young girls and there is an embarrassment factor or shame that they feel they are to blame for this.
“A lot of our jobs are done through teachers and we will see the girls or boys at school.
“We can go with them to see their parents because a big barrier is they don’t want their parents to know.
“Some of the girls didn’t know how to stop because there had been an element of encouragement and they didn’t know how to put an end to it.”
