Church volunteer jailed for abusing children

A church volunteer who befriended families to ease his abuse of young children - then bragged of the results online - was today given a 12-year sentence.

Owen Baxter, 23, a member of St Matthew's Church in Kingsdown, Bristol, "revelled" in assaulting victims as young as four, the city's crown court heard.

Judge Jamie Tabor told "predatory and opportunistic" Baxter he would serve six years in custody and six on licence, making a 12-year extended sentence.

Describing his internet boasts as "chilling", Judge Tabor said the fact that Baxter suffered from Asperger syndrome did not affect his ability to know what he was doing.

After abusing the children Baxter, of Redland, Bristol, would visit online chatrooms, boast of what he had done and exchange child abuse images.

He made more than 8,000 indecent photographs and videos of children and distributed over 3,000 images and videos online.

Baxter pleaded guilty to 23 charges, dating from when he was aged under 16, in 2001, until 2008.

After the sentencing, one mother, who knew Baxter for more than five years, said: "Owen befriended us as a family to get at our son. It doesn't get much worse than that.

"We were fooled and taken in by him. Everyone was totally taken in by him. You think you know someone then find out you don't."

When Baxter entered his plea on Friday, families of his victims, who cannot be named, sobbed in the public gallery as details were revealed.

The court heard impact statements from families describing how Baxter had affected their lives.

One told how their son "was discussed in internet chatrooms as if he were a piece of meat. The sense of failure I have as a parent is all consuming".

Another said: "The coldblooded and methodical abuse was planned, promoted online and reported on."

Baxter, who was a boy when he first abused a younger child, claimed in one online exchange: "If you wanna do something, make sure the kid isn't going to talk."

In another chat he gave an insight into the duplicity that allowed him to continue the deception, saying of one boy: "His mum knows me but she doesn't know me. If she did I would probably not see him again."

The court heard Baxter took photographs of the abuse, but pixellated his face out.

His collection of abusive pictures, numbering thousands, would be posted for other perverts to appreciate.

Michael Cullum, defending, said Baxter had tried to get help and needed treatment.

At an earlier hearing, the Rev Mat Ineson, vicar at St Matthew's Church, said: "It's awfully sad and it's been a difficult case for everybody involved," the Bristol Evening Post reported.

Police officers and an expert medical report described Baxter as a predatory paedophile who remained a danger to the public.

He admitted sexually assaulting and taking indecent images of four boys aged between four and 12.

Baxter has Asperger's syndrome- a form of autism affecting social interaction.

But Judge Tabor said: "This is not the action of a young man whose mind was so disabled that he did not know what he was doing."

He told Baxter: "You revelled in being at the hub of an internet wheel in which you boasted of your exploits."

That, combined with the distribution of images, made the case "particularly worrying and chilling", the judge added.

Baxter has been disqualified from working with children under the terms of a Sexual Offender's Prevention Order.

Baxter was convicted of three counts of making indecent images and movies of children, two counts of taking indecent photographs of children, eight counts of distribution of indecent material and five counts of sexual assault on a boy under the age of 13.

Baxter was also charged with two counts of indecent assault, two counts of non-penetrative sexual activity with a boy under 13 and one of arranging or facilitating a child sex offence.

Detective Constable Abigail Hodder, who was praised for her work by the judge, said the images in Baxter's "library" were some of the most extreme she had seen in her career.

Ms Hodder said: "The investigation involved police officers from the Metropolitan Police, Turkey and America.

"Owen Baxter collected thousands of films and photographs depicting children being abused. Those images included some of the most extreme examples of child abuse I have seen in my police career.

"In his own words, he considered himself a 'librarian', supplying the images to others. Not only did he satisfy his own sexual interests but he encouraged others to abuse children and created a market for this type of material.

"Owen Baxter actively sought out young children to abuse. He recorded this abuse and shared it online with other paedophiles.

"In doing this, he betrayed the trust of others in the worst possible way."