William Power, aged 42, of Fort Road, Halstead, near Sevenoaks, Kent, has been sentenced to nine years and six months’ imprisonment at Maidstone Crown Court after being convicted of using a live action role play community to groom and sexually abuse teenage boys.
The court heard that Power, a qualified social worker who was either in training or working professionally during the commission of the offences, had established himself as a prominent and senior figure in the live action role play (LARP) hobby.
In that role, participants assemble in costume to enact elaborate fantasy storylines.
In an extraordinary position of authority, Power had previously assisted in drafting formal safeguarding guidelines for one of the organised events.
Behind this outward appearance of responsibility, prosecuting barrister Eloise Marshall KC detailed how Power weaponised his standing to groom teenage boys who shared an interest in the hobby.
Power systematically broke down personal boundaries by providing the teenagers with alcohol, chauffeuring them to events, purchasing elaborate costumes, funding cinema and theatre excursions, and dispensing substantial cash sums.
He provided one victim with open access to his personal credit card, with the victim estimating that Power spent up to £10,000 on him.
The relationship escalated into serious sexual offending, encompassing intimate touching, oral sexual acts, and rapes.
During one event, Power entered an area where a teenage boy was changing out of his fantasy costume and sexually assaulted the victim while he was dressed only in his underwear.
In addition to physical offending, Power exploited his statutory position within social services to illegally access and review confidential personal records relating to one of his victims.
The police investigation was initiated after parents contacted authorities regarding an incident in which an intoxicated Power made disturbing comments about dating a 13-year-old child.
During inquiries, detectives discovered Power displayed an obsessive fixation, admitting he had developed feelings toward one of the teenagers.
Power was arrested by Kent Police in July 2023.
Although he denied all allegations of sexual misconduct, he was charged the following year and faced trial at Maidstone Crown Court.
A jury unanimously convicted him of eight offences:
- Two counts of rape
- Two counts of causing a person to engage in sexual activity
- Two counts of sexual activity with a child
- One count of sexual assault
- One count of unlawfully obtaining personal data without consent
Sentencing him on Thursday, 17 September, Judge Gareth Branston rejected any suggestion of consent, confirming that the victims were legally and practically incapable of consenting to sexual contact with a substantially older adult.
Judge Branston stated that the verdicts demonstrated the victims had been “cynically and manipulatively groomed for sex.”
The judge sentenced Power to an immediate custodial term of nine years and six months (114 months).
In addition, the court imposed a 15-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) placing sweeping curbs on his associations and internet access, and ordered that he remain subject to the notification requirements of the Sex Offenders Register indefinitely (for life).
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation governing standard determinate sentences of seven years or more for serious sexual offences, statutory release at the halfway stage does not apply. Power is subject to the mandatory two-thirds custody provision, requiring him to serve a minimum of two-thirds (six years and four months / 76 months) of his nine-and-a-half-year sentence in prison custody before becoming eligible for statutory release on licence under the supervision of the Probation Service.
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