Arun Wilding, then aged 22, of Highbury Road, Oldbury, West Midlands, was sentenced to 17 years and nine months’ imprisonment at Wolverhampton Crown Court after pleading guilty to 16 offences involving the sexual exploitation and blackmail of young children.
The prosecution concluded a comprehensive investigation led by West Midlands Police into offending carried out over a 12-month period between December 2024 and December 2025.
The court heard that Wilding established contact with multiple girls, all aged under 16, by interacting with their profiles across social media networks.
Wilding liked and commented on the children’s posts before initiating contact through private direct messaging.
He then directed the victims onto secondary messaging platforms, where he began coercing them into taking and sending indecent photographs of themselves.
When victims attempted to break off communication or refused his demands, Wilding responded with sustained campaigns of harassment and blackmail.
He repeatedly threatened to publish the victims’ private images on public internet forums unless they capitulated and provided further explicit imagery.
To heighten their fear and compel compliance, Wilding investigated the children’s backgrounds, identifying their specific home localities and the schools they attended to intimidate them into silence.
Wilding was arrested and subsequently charged with an array of serious sexual and extortion offences.
At a preceding court hearing, Wilding admitted his guilt across all counts:
- Multiple counts of blackmail
- Engaging in sexual communication with a child
- Threatening to share a photograph of a person in an intimate state
- Causing a girl to engage in sexual activity
On Tuesday, 1 September, the presiding judge at Wolverhampton Crown Court sentenced Wilding to an immediate custodial sentence of 17 years and nine months (213 months).
In addition to the custodial sentence, the court handed Wilding a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) containing rigorous conditions designed to monitor and curtail his access to internet-enabled devices and protect children from harm.
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation governing determinate sentences of seven years or more for serious sexual offences, Wilding is required to serve at least two-thirds (142 months / 11 years and ten months) of his 213-month term in prison custody before becoming eligible to apply to the Parole Board for early release on licence. Release is not automatic, and if granted, Wilding will spend the remainder of the sentence under strict supervision by the Probation Service in the community.
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