In 2024, the Offender Database recorded that 25-year-old Curtis Thackray was jailed for over four years after being snared by online decoys posing as young girls. Thackray—of Brookacre, Ingleton, North Yorkshire—sent videos and indecent messages to what he believed were children aged 11 and 12. It was reported that the investigation was initiated by online child activist groups, whose decoys captured evidence of Thackray’s predatory conduct before involving North Yorkshire Police.
The investigation established that Thackray used a specialist app to anonymously access child abuse material on the dark web. Bradford Crown Court heard that when police arrested Thackray, they recovered more than 7,000 indecent images on multiple mobile phones. The prosecution reported that the collection included Category A material—the most severe classification—featuring children as young as one year old, contradicting Thackray’s initial claims that he had no interest in such material.
Judicial Findings and Investigative Detail
The court reported that Thackray’s interactions with the decoys became sexualised almost immediately. Bradford Crown Court heard that he demanded naked photographs from a supposed 11-year-old and threatened to tell her schoolmates she was a slut if she did not comply. The investigation established that over a three-week period, Thackray sent the decoy several videos of himself masturbating and ten other pornographic videos, while also targeting a second decoy by asking for pictures of her in a school uniform.
Recorder Patrick Palmer presided over the sentencing on 1 February 2024, jailing Thackray for four years and three months. For his actions in Ingleton and Bradford, he pleaded guilty to charges including making indecent photographs, attempting to engage in sexual communication, and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. The judge noted that despite Thackray’s claims of remorse and sex addiction, his manipulative behaviour and the sheer volume of severe imagery required a substantial custodial term and lifelong placement on the Sex Offenders Register.
Status and Statutory Requirements
For the records reported in North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, the status of Curtis Thackray as of April 4, 2026, was as follows:
- Custodial Status: SERVING (4-year 3-month term; sentenced 2024).
- Sex Offenders Register: Notification requirements are active for life.
- Legal Status: CONVICTED (Making indecent images; Sexual communication with a child; Inciting sexual activity; 6 counts total).
- Judicial Oversight: Sentenced at Bradford Crown Court; investigated by North Yorkshire Police.
- Criminal Record: 7,000+ indecent images (Category A included); Grooming of 11 and 12-year-olds; Dark web access.
- Origin: Brookacre, Ingleton, North Yorkshire.
Monitoring and Public Protection
Thackray is managed as a high-risk dangerous predator within the national prison estate and the Ingleton area. Due to the nature of his conduct—which involved the use of anonymous apps to source images of infants and the use of blackmail threats against supposed schoolgirls—his management is a maximum priority for the North Yorkshire Public Protection Unit. Authorities state that his refusal to hand over his phone during the initial interview indicates a calculated effort to hide his entrenched interest in child exploitation.
As a registered sex offender for life, then 25-year-old Thackray’s details are permanently logged on the national police database. Authorities state that any eventual release will be subject to the most stringent licence conditions, including a total ban on the use of the dark web and monitoring of all internet-enabled devices. Any failure to notify police of his movements in Ingleton or any attempt to contact minors via social media will result in immediate arrest to ensure the ongoing safety of the public from his demonstrated pattern of predatory digital behaviour.
QUESTION – Given that the offender used a specialist app to bypass standard internet security and access the dark web, do you believe that any individual caught with Category A material should be legally banned from owning any internet-enabled device for life?
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