Christine Callaghan, of Bexhill, East Sussex, has been sentenced to six years’ imprisonment after being paid £2,285 to broadcast live-streamed footage of herself sexually abusing a young girl over a period spanning almost three years.
The prosecution revealed that Callaghan used the digital telecommunications application Skype to transmit live abuse directly to fellow paedophile Dean Petley between 2016 and 2018.
The offending came to light following a police raid on Petley’s address, where officers seized a high-capacity encrypted hard drive.
Specialist digital forensic analysts cracked the device, recovering a substantial volume of evidence that directly linked Petley to Callaghan.
The drive contained detailed chat logs and screenshots spanning a two-year period, alongside unredacted full-face photographs showing Callaghan actively abusing the young victim.
The recovered communications established that Callaghan engaged in transactional abuse, routinely negotiating sums of money with Petley in exchange for carrying out specific illicit acts.
Petley issued direct instructions outlining precisely how the child was to be abused.
Further analysis of recovered video footage and timestamped screenshots confirmed that on at least ten separate dates between 2016 and 2018, Callaghan performed penetrative sexual activity directly in front of the young girl.
Callaghan entered formal guilty pleas to an indictment comprising four serious sexual offences:
- Distributing Category A live-streamed indecent images of a child
- Distributing Category B live-streamed indecent images of a child
- Two counts of causing or inciting a girl under 13 to engage in sexual activity
The presiding judge sentenced Callaghan to an immediate determinate custodial sentence of six years (72 months).
Release Calculation: Under UK sentencing legislation governing standard determinate sentences under seven years, Callaghan does not fall under the two-thirds custodial release provisions. She is entitled to automatic statutory release on licence at the precise halfway mark. Callaghan will be required to serve one-half (36 months / three years) of her 72-month sentence in prison custody before becoming eligible for release on licence. Upon discharge, she will remain subject to strict probation supervision and licence conditions in the community until the expiration of the full six-year term.
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