St Leonards paedophile jailed for 11 years at Hove Crown Court

Anthony Everton, from St Leonards, used emotional blackmail to force young girls to send him pictures after befriending them online.

When one of his victims stopped sending pictures, Everton sent the ones he already had to her family, then posted them on her grandmother's public Facebook page.

Anthony Everton posed as a teenage boy to get teenage girls to send him naked photographs of themselves (Image: Sussex Police)

Everton, 35, posed as a teenage boy and told the girls he would kill himself if they did not send him pictures.

Once he had pictures, he told the girls he would send them to their families if they did not follow his demands.

Cops recovered images and conversations from his phone despite his efforts to smash it when they raided his flat in St Leonards.

Chris Prior, prosecuting, said Everton used social media to find seven girls he targeted.

If they tried to stop speaking to him or refused to send pictures, Everton would make threats to kill them or burn their houses down.

"He would start on Snapchat," Mr Prior said.

"Moving through her friendship group using her connections.

"Then he would bombard them with messages and calls and become angry when they did not respond instantly."

His victims were all aged between 13 and 15 and he knew they were at school when he was messaging them.

"He pressed them for images.

"When they refused or were unsure, he would threaten to harm or kill himself.

"Once he had obtained images, he would threaten to distribute them to their families."

Everton found out as much as he could about his victims in order to use the information against them.

He told one girl he would kill her horse if he ever told anybody about him.

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"As an example of making good his threats, when one girl angered him he located her family and friends online and sent them the indecent images," Mr Prior said.

"Even posting the images to her grandmother's Facebook account for anyone to see.

"The same images were sent to her family and friends as punishment."

While Everton was on bail he was spotted masturbating at his window in full view of a children's playground and arrested again.

Jay Shah, defending, said Everton had faced significant mental and physical challenges throughout his life and was already a target of prison violence.

"He is an individual with significant vulnerabilities," Mr Shah said.

Everton was convicted by a jury of outraging public decency, sexual communication with a child, making indecent photographs of a child and distributing indecent photographs of children.

Judge Jeremy Gold KC jailed Everton for six years with a five year extension at Hove Crown Court on Friday.

"You would befriend them online, then use emotional blackmail to obtain indecent photographs," the judge said.

"Your reaction when one girl stopped was to carry out your threat to send those photographs to family members.

"That caused immense distress to that child.

"The deterioration in her mental health makes for serous reading.

"You are an inadequate 35-year-old man who has clearly had a miserable life.

"You care little for the feelings of others and have very little understanding of the boundaries of social interaction, especially with teenage girls.

"It's clear from the facts that your numerous difficulties and your history make you a risk to the public," Judge Gold said.

Everton will serve four years before he is eligible to apply for parole.

"Once you are released on licence, you will be on licence for the balance plus five years, making a total of 11 years," Judge Gold said.

Everton has 18 previous convictions for 33 offences including ABH and outraging public decency.

Investigating officer DC Auryn Liddiard said: “Anthony Everton was persistent in identifying and contacting young girls who he would then exploit and manipulate for his own sexual gratification.

“His behaviour was intended to intimate and distress, and I’d like to thank each of his victims for being brave enough to support our investigation and give evidence against him.

“Sexual Harm Prevention Orders are an important tool to help us protect our victims and the community, and this indefinite order will ensure we are able to closely monitor Everton’s activity even after he is released from prison.”