More paedophiles caught due to links to Vicki Bevan

Vicki Bevan, 37, was given a life sentence at Liverpool Crown Court in May, after she had organised the sexual abuse of a girl under 10 with two other men.

Meanwhile, Tony Hutton 42, and Paul Rafferty, 62, who also abused the victim, were given prison sentences in the same hearing.

READ > Judge said 'scale of depravity' shown by woman and accomplices 'beggars belief'

The victim had been subjected to abuse over a two-year period between 2019 and 2021.

Images of the horrific abuse were shared between the three and Bevan also shared them more widely on the platform Kik Messenger.

Bevan also expressed depraved fantasies of kidnapping, torturing, killing and eating children in messages with another man.

She also discussed “charging money” for the abuse of the girl to “purchase a house with a cellar” in which to carry out the depraved acts.

Paul Pickerill

Meanwhile, as the Star reported, a paedophile who pleaded guilty to offences that linked him to Bevan appeared in court on Thursday.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said Paul Pickerill, 66, from Runcorn, had been communicating via WhatsApp messages with Bevan.

Pickerill was being investigated for other sexual offences when his mobile phone was seized at his home on April 5, 2021.

On this and other electronic devices police found thousands of indecent images of children.

There were also thousands of messages between Pickerill and Bevan where they discussed the assault, injury and sexual abuse of children.

The messages were said to be extremely distressing for the prosecution team to view.

Pickerill was interviewed in prison in Doncaster about the messages with Bevan.

He was further arrested and charged with three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing an indecent photograph of a child and one of intentionally encouraging or assisting in the commission of an offence.

On August 25, 2022, at Chester Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to all of the offences. He will be sentenced on 22 September.

Christopher Smith

Earlier this month a man who received videos of Bevan abusing children was sentenced to jail after being caught by an undercover police operation.

Christopher Smith was caught by an unconnected undercover police operation in which officers posed as chatroom users. Smith offered to ‘trade’ child images and was traced through his phone.

Smith, 31, of Clare Drive, Tiverton, was convicted of two counts of distribution and four of making, by downloading, indecent images of children.

He was jailed for two years and four months at Exeter Crown Court.