Paedophile Gang who Raped Babies, Toddlers Jailed for 78 Years

A gang of paedophiles who raped babies, toddlers and pre-school children and streamed the abuse over the internet have been jailed for 78 years.

Pictured above are some of the men in the 7 man gang – John Denham, 50, Matthew Stansfield, 35, and Adam Toms, 33. After the cut are Christopher Knight, 35, Robin Hollyson, 31, David Harsley, 51 and Matthew Lisk, 33.

The seven man ring, aged between 31 and 51, preyed on the families of the children they targeted, in
one case grooming a mother and father before their baby was born. They travelled across the country to carry out vile attacks together in groups, or used internet streaming so they could be ‘encouraged and directed’ in real-time by other paedophiles.

Internet logs revealed the gang, who lived across the UK, would offer advice on using ‘date rape’ drugs or over-the-counter medication to drug and sedate children and babies.

Known victims of the men include one baby, aged between three and seven months at the time of the abuse, a four-year-old boy and a boy aged between four and five.

In July 2013, Harsley performed a sexual act near a four-year-old boy, while Denham and Lisk watched through a video link to a hotel room at Heathrow Airport.

Hollyson claimed to have repeatedly raped a baby from the age of three months and filmed himself doing so between December 2013 and January 2014. Later that month, Hollyson, Knight and Denham planned to meet to sexually abuse the boy but could not do so as Hollyson was in hospital.

However, in May 2014, Hollyson, Stansfield and Toms met up to rape and sexually assault the baby, with the incident filmed and shared.

A video from July 2014 shows Hollyson abusing the baby, while logs reveal Hollyson and Stansfield conspired to rape him in July and August 2014.
Hollyson was arrested in September 2014, ending the baby’s abuse. Investigators uncovered images of the baby being abused.

In April 2014, Toms administered drugs to a four-year-old boy to allow him and Knight to abuse him. Photographs of this were shared online. The attacks were carefully planned, with defendants driving hundreds of miles to commit their crimes.

The National Crime Agency uncovered the abuse last September after Toms contacted police to admit he had abused a child.