Peterborough paedophile who used dark web to encourage others to abuse children locked up for 10 years
Colin Thackery shared photos of ‘the worst abuse possible’ online
A Peterborough paedophile who used the dark web to encourage others to abuse children has been caged for a decade.
Colin Thackeray, (62), of Linnet, Peterborough, used the dark web to give advice to others on how they could groom children – as well as sharing horrendous images of abuse.
Now he is behind bars.
Luton Crown Court heard how the sites used by Thackery involved the sexual abuse of boys and linked to indecent imagery as well as discussions of child sexual abuse.
He also had more than 2,000 indecent images of children on his devices, with 350 in Category A (the most severe), 655 in Category B and 1,459 in Category C.
National Crime Agency (NCA) officers arrested Thackeray in September 2019 and when they searched his address, found a laptop and a number of chat logs where Thackeray was exchanging indecent images, discussing how to groom and abuse children and role-playing sexual activity with children.
Thackeray had communicated directly with a user he believed to be a 10-year-old child, repeatedly requesting they sent sexualised images of themselves to him.
NCA investigators recovered files from Thackeray’s devices which indicated he had acted as a moderator on at least one child sexual abuse site and had created his own site focussed on images of children.
Yesterday, Thackery was jailed for ten years at Luton Crown Court. He will also have an extended licence period of seven years and a lifetime Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing indecent images at Luton Crown Court in July 2022. He pleaded guilty to a count of intentionally assisting the distribution of indecent images of children in July 2024 and was further convicted by a jury of two counts of intentionally encouraging the sexual assault of a child under 13 and one count of attempting to incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity.
Spencer Davies from the NCA said: “Colin Thackeray was extremely active on the dark web, encouraging others to commit offences against children whilst also sharing photos of the worst abuse possible.
“Thackeray was a high ranking and valued member in the chat rooms he used and the chat logs we recovered proved he was a significant threat to children.
“Protecting children is a top priority of the NCA and we will continue to pursue offenders like Thackery who put them at risk.”
Two NCA officers were highly commended by the judge for their work on the case.