A Hastings Paedophile, Jamie Welch, solicited young girls on social media while masquerading as a teenage boy. Jamie Welch, 31 years old, pleaded guilty on July 10 to charges of inducing each of the three females to participate individually in online sexual activities, as well as an additional charge of revealing a private sexual photograph without the agreement of one of the girls.
The girls, two from East Sussex and one from Somerset were aged 12 to 15 at the time of the acts.
Jamie Welch, a kitchen worker at St Georges Road in Hastings, was 27 when his offences began. He targeted young girls on Facebook while pretending to be a 15-year-old boy to start online relationships with them.
Jamie Welch incited the girls into sending him indecent images of themselves for his own sexual gratification before threatening to post their pictures on social media for their families and friends to see unless they continued to meet his sick demands.
Jamie Welch will be a registered sex offender until further court decision and was also given a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, again to last until further court notice, severely restricting his access to children and computer devices.
Jamie Welch was also given court restraining orders prohibiting him from ever contacting any of the victims again.
Detective Sergeant Jo Cooper, who investigated Welch, said, “He used multiple fake social media accounts throughout his offending and preyed on vulnerable children who were too scared to report him.
“One victim was so scared after he threatened her that she felt unable ever to leave her home alone. Another victim attempted suicide.
“No sentence can ever reflect what Jamie Welch took from the victims of his horrendous crimes, but they should feel extremely proud of themselves for standing up to him.”
Jamie Welch was sentenced at Hove Crown Court on August 17 to three and a half years in prison.
If you or anyone you know have been affected by the people highlighted in this article, then please report those individuals to the Police on 101 (999 if an emergency) or visit their online resources for further details of the options for reporting a crime. You can also make a report at Crimestoppers should you wish to be completely anonymous. There is help available on our support links page.