Umesh Kulasingham, 39, was found guilty at Inner London Crown Court.
An internet paedophile from Croydon was jailed for eight years yesterday after being found guilty of sexually abusing a schoolgirl.
Umesh Kulasingham, 39, was found guilty of two counts of engaging in sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 to 15, two counts of grooming a girl under 13 and 13 counts of possession of indecent cartoon images of children.
The trial heard that Kulasingham used a number of aliases to communicate with the victim when she was 10 years old, in 2009, and convinced her to indecently pose for him over the internet.
He contacted the victim again in 2011, threatening to send pornographic images of the girl to friends if she refused to meet him. When they met, he sexually abused her, with the offence only coming to light when the victim’s brother and sister discovered explicit text messages.
He was then arrested by officers from the MPS’s Operation Saphire Complex Case Team.
“Kulasingham is a very intelligent, cunning, calculating, deceitful man, who hid the true nature of his offending from all his family,” said DC Sarah Garrick, of the team.
“It is unknown how many other females he has contacted in this way. All of his contact with this victim was by the use of Facebook, MSN, Skype, webcam and numerous text messages. He has groomed a very young naive female.
“Kulasingham put the victim through even more distress and anxiety by pleading not guilty despite the evidence against him.
She warned parents to be vigilant when their children use the internet, particularly social networking sites.
“We know that social networking plays a big part in society, but just ask that you monitor and educate your children in the dangers held within. The people you meet on these sites are not necessarily who they say they are and are using you, your child or another young person for their own benefit.”
If you or anyone else has been contacted by this individual or someone else using the same method, please call police on 101 or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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Picture courtesy of ray forster, with thanks
