Keighley man groomed transgender teen online, Bradford court hears

Liam Crosby was handed an extended sentence of six years plus a further three years on licence after being judged to be a high risk to children.

Crosby, 31, of Harewood Rise, Keighley, claimed to be an online vigilante hunting paedophiles and continued to deny that he had a sexual interest in children despite being convicted at trial of multiple sexual offences.

They were: making indecent images of children, distributing indecent images of children, attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child, attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to incite a child to engage in penetrative sexual activity, and causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity.

Liam Crosby has been jailed (Image: police)

In a powerful statement the 15-year-old victim told Crosby: “You are not a human. You are a sick and twisted demon who hurts poor children but now you’ve got what you deserve. I loathe you.”

Prosecutor Richard Holland told Bradford Crown Court that police raided Crosby’s home on July 11, 2022, after being alerted to offending on his social media accounts.

Crosby was arrested and his phone was seized, which was found to contain indecent images of children, some of which had been shared, as well as sexual communications with children including pictures of his penis and of him masturbating.

On June 15, 2023, a trans youth reported that he had had an online conversation with a man the previous day in which the man had promised to send him money in exchange for naked photographs.

The photographs, described as “increasingly explicit”, were sent and the two took part in a live video conversation as Crosby masturbated in the bath. The youth decided to offer the pictures as his parents were suffering financial difficulties.

However, no payment was made and the youth contacted Crosby the next day concerned at what would happen to them. Two of the images were subsequently shared by Crosby in online sexual conversations.

The case was held at Bradford Crown Court

Police who arrested Crosby on September 1 found more indecent images and videos on his phone as well as further sexual conversations with children.

In a victim personal statement read to the court the trans youth said his anxiety had “spiked” since the incident involving Crosby, that he had been permanently affected by trauma, that he had been groomed, and had had thoughts of suicide allied to feelings of guilt, anger, and naivety.

He added: “I have a never-ending feeling of being unclean, a feeling that will never be washed off.”

“I frequently worry [that] these pictures of me and the other children you scarred are somewhere floating on the internet. I shudder at the thought of anything else you’ve done with them.”

Mitigating, Frida Hussain KC said Crosby had had “a very unsettled childhood” having never met his father and being brought up by his alcoholic mother who was violent towards him, self-harmed in his presence, and abandoned him when he was 14.

She said Crosby had disclosed that he was sexually abused between the ages of four and seven, and as a child was also subjected to neglect, as well as emotional and physical abuse.

Taking note of all 14 counts Her Honour Judge Kirstie Watson sentenced Crosby, who appeared via video link from HMP Leeds, to a total of six years imprisonment plus a three-year licence period to make an extended sentence of nine years.

She said: “The intervention of the police, your arrest, and their seizure of those devices did not stop you. You carried on seeking out children to engage.

“Most of those with whom you were in contact have never been identified. If they were the age that you thought they were, the impact on them can never be assessed. But what is clear is that you thought they were children.

“You continue to deny your involvement in these offences, putting forward to the probation officer the suggestion that you thought you were engaging with adults. I reject that in its entirety.

“You insisted in the interview that you did not have any sexual interest in children and maintained that you were acting as a vigilante in attempting to ensnare paedophiles.

“I am satisfied that you do present a risk [to children].”

She made Crosby the subject of a 15-year sexual harm prevention order. His phones are to be forfeited and destroyed.

He will have to sign the sex offender’s register for life.