Keith Bold, the Waun Wen Paedophile, was utilising Russian websites that facilitate the sharing of images depicting child sexual exploitation.
Keith Bold, identified as a “committed paedophile,” participated in abhorrent internet discussions on child rape and transmitted obscene photographs to an undercover police officer, as presented in court.
Keith Bold, also known as Stuart Jones, encountered an individual he presumed to be a fellow paedophile on a Russian website dedicated to the upload and dissemination of child sexual abuse imagery. Bold utilised the alias Stefan Vilchek during the communications; nevertheless, the officer felt that it was, in reality, the defendant, a registered sex offender with an extensive history of online sexual acts against minors. The 59-year-old made multiple journeys to Ukraine as part of the offence.
Megan Jones, representing the prosecution, informed Swansea Crown Court that in September of this year, Keith Bold initiated communication with another user of a Russia-based website that facilitated the sharing of “sexualised images of children.” Keith Bold, identifying himself as Stefan Vilchek, commenced emailing his contact, during which he recounted instances of raping and abusing minors both in the UK and internationally.
The defendant then sent the other man images of girls as young as four being sexually abused, and also discussed sharing information on an app with end-to-end encryption. Miss Jones said the man Keith Bold was communicating with was actually an undercover police officer, and the officer suspected Vilchek was actually Swansea sex offender Bold.
Police executed a search warrant at the defendant’s house on the evening of September 30, and when cautioned and told why he was being arrested replied: “Oh really”. Officers seized a number of devices including laptops, memory sticks, a phone, and a computer hard drive. In his subsequent interview Keith Bold said the online discussions about his sexual activity with children had been “fantasies” but he admitted he was sexually attracted to children aged between six and 10 and admitted using Mega because of its encryption facilities. Read about a paedophile who took photographs of himself sexually abusing a baby.
Keith Bold, formerly of Pen-y-Dre, Gowerton, but now of Griffith John Street, Waun Wen, Swansea, SA12, had previous pleaded guilty to distributing indecent images of children of Categories B and C and to breaching the terms of a sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) by using a false name online when he appeared in the dock for sentencing. He has three previous convictions for 29 offences, all relating to online child sex matters.
In December 2010 Jones was jailed for distributing indecent images of children, and the following year convicted of encouraging the commission of indictable offences – chatlogs recovered from computers seized during the 2010 investigation showed he had been inciting other men to commit the sexual abuse of young children. In 2017 Bold was sentenced to a total of 27-months in prison for offences including possession of indecent images of Categories A – showing the most extreme kinds of sexual abuse and rape – B and C. It also emerged he had visiting Russian websites known to host underage child pictures, had been searching for “flat-chested sex dolls”, had been reading pornographic fiction involving children, and had made repeated trips to Ukraine “in furtherance” of his interest in obtaining images of children.
Rhiannon Lee, for Keith Bold, said the defendant’s sexual attraction to young children stemmed from his own traumatic childhood experiences. She said the defendant suffered with depression and had previously been medicated for the condition but that medication had caused episodes of bipolar mania which caused him to go on spending sprees and which results in considerable debts. She said as Bold’s debts increased his mental health deteriorated and he turned to the offending before the court “to make himself feel better”.
Judge Paul Thomas KC described Bold as a “committed paedophile” who had breached the term of his sexual harm prevention order in a “sophisticated, calculated, brazen and persistent” way. He told the defendant that the children in the images he had shared were real youngsters somewhere in the world being “unspeakably abused” to give people like him sexual thrills.
With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas Keith Bold was sentenced to a total of two years and eight months in prison. He will serve up to half that period in custody before being released on licence to serve the remainder in the community.
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.