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our episodes deal with serious and often
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distressing incidents if you feel at
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anytime you need support please contact
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please see the show notes for this
00:01:57
episode on your app or on our website
00:01:59
this episode features serious and often
00:02:02
distressing subject matter pertaining to
00:02:04
the sexual abuse of children and the
00:02:07
production of child exploitation
00:02:08
material there will not be suitable for
00:02:11
all listeners the names of several
00:02:14
witnesses have been changed schoolgirls
00:02:24
Allyson and Mary had been best friends
00:02:27
for years spending most of their time
00:02:29
together at school soccer practice and
00:02:31
sleepovers the pair lived in Greenfield
00:02:35
a small California in town located
00:02:37
within Monterey County approximately
00:02:40
thirty miles inland from the Central
00:02:42
Coast with a population of just over
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seven thousand residents it was a
00:02:47
relatively close-knit safe community
00:02:49
where many of the town's people knew and
00:02:51
trusted one another Mary lived in a
00:02:55
modest one-story farmhouse situated on a
00:02:58
ranch amongst green fields rolling
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hillsides her best friend Allison spent
00:03:03
the night there often enjoying the
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sprawling rural space that provided a
00:03:08
contrast to her suburban home Mary's
00:03:12
father 36 year-old Ronald Riva was an
00:03:15
unemployed truck driver and former
00:03:17
prison officer he had plenty of spare
00:03:20
time to supervise his four young
00:03:22
children and to their friends joining
00:03:24
them as they played together despite all
00:03:28
the fun to be had Allison would
00:03:30
occasionally return home from her visits
00:03:32
to Mary Rivas house moody grumpy and
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overtired
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in one instance her mother Cheryl asked
00:03:40
what was wrong and warned Alison she
00:03:43
would no longer be allowed to go to
00:03:44
Mary's house if she continued to come
00:03:47
home in an irritable mood
00:03:49
Alison simply replied it has nothing to
00:03:53
do with Mary at around 4 p.m. on April 8
00:03:59
1996 Cheryl was watering the front lawn
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at her home when she heard the phone
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ring she rushed inside to answer it
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discovering mary's mother leah was on
00:04:10
the other line as the woman's only
00:04:12
connection to one another was through
00:04:14
their children
00:04:15
Cheryl knew the call must have something
00:04:17
to do with her daughter 10 year-old
00:04:20
Alison Leah revealed that she had some
00:04:23
extremely difficult news to deliver
00:04:25
regarding her husband she explained Ron
00:04:30
was arrested for child molestation
00:04:34
[Music]
00:04:44
[Music]
00:05:00
on the last weekend of March 1996 meri
00:05:06
Riva hosted a slumber party at her house
00:05:09
for a group of her friends that her
00:05:10
father's suggestion her best friend
00:05:14
Allison was in attendance as were
00:05:16
sisters eight-year-old Emily into
00:05:18
six-year-old Melissa at the conclusion
00:05:22
of the party Ronald raver invited the
00:05:24
girls to spend a second night Emily and
00:05:27
Melissa's mother declined the offer
00:05:29
wanting to spend some time with her
00:05:31
children
00:05:32
the next day whilst preparing for a trip
00:05:35
to the beach Melissa suddenly blurted
00:05:38
out to her mother that during the
00:05:40
sleepover Ronald Riva had touched her
00:05:42
inappropriately Melissa's admission
00:05:47
prompted her older sister to divulge
00:05:49
that she too had been molested by Riva
00:05:52
however her abuse extended beyond the
00:05:56
night of the sleepover it had been a
00:05:58
year-long ordeal that Reaver had coerced
00:06:01
Emily to remain silent about their
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mother was horrified she regarded the
00:06:07
Reavers as a nice church-going family
00:06:10
and she trusted Ronald or Eva
00:06:12
wholeheartedly permitting him to take
00:06:14
her daughter's on various outings and
00:06:16
leaving them alone in his care as he
00:06:18
taught them how to play computer games
00:06:21
Emily told her mother
00:06:23
I thought Ron was my friend but he lied
00:06:29
knowing her young daughters would never
00:06:31
make up such a serious story she
00:06:34
reported the allegations to the police
00:06:38
Ronald Arava who had a no prior criminal
00:06:41
record of child molestation was placed
00:06:44
under arrest his wife Leah was left with
00:06:47
the difficult task of phoning the
00:06:49
parents of the other children who had
00:06:51
attended the slumber party to inform
00:06:53
them of her husband's actions in the
00:06:57
call to Alison's mother Cheryl Leia
00:06:59
warned you need to talk to your daughter
00:07:02
and to see if she's being a victim
00:07:07
Cheryl was in shock and paused to gather
00:07:10
her thoughts
00:07:11
given the closer into loving
00:07:13
relationship she had with her daughter
00:07:15
she was certain Alison would have
00:07:17
confided in her if anything untoward had
00:07:20
happened at the sleepover with great
00:07:23
care she gently questioned Alison about
00:07:26
Ronald rivas behavior
00:07:29
Alison crossed her arms and resolutely
00:07:31
denied having been harmed before
00:07:34
shutting herself away in her bedroom
00:07:36
this strong reaction raised Cheryl's
00:07:39
concerns and she entered Alison's
00:07:41
bedroom finding the 10 year-old code up
00:07:44
on her bed in the fetal position it was
00:07:48
in that moment
00:07:49
Cheryl knew something was seriously
00:07:51
wrong what followed was the most
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difficult 45 minutes of Cheryl's life as
00:08:00
Alison described her distressing ordeal
00:08:02
at the hands of Ronald Reba Riva had
00:08:06
been grooming Alison's since she was
00:08:07
eight years old
00:08:08
beginning with fleeting moments of
00:08:11
inappropriate touching
00:08:12
before escalating into severe acts of
00:08:15
abuse the next day Cheryl and her
00:08:19
husband escorted Alison to the police
00:08:21
station to report their daughter's abuse
00:08:24
as a third survivor had now come forward
00:08:27
the case was escalated to the Monterey
00:08:29
County Sheriff's Department who began an
00:08:32
immediate investigation starting with
00:08:35
interviewing all the children who
00:08:36
attended the slumber party at the Reaver
00:08:38
house
00:08:40
they soon learnt that Alison's ordeal
00:08:43
had been vastly different to Emily and
00:08:45
Melissa's as she slept in her friend
00:08:49
Mary's bedroom
00:08:51
Alison was awoken by Reva who led her
00:08:54
into his study where another man was
00:08:56
waiting the two men proceeded to assault
00:09:00
Alison in front of a computer
00:09:02
documenting the abuse with a digital
00:09:05
camera
00:09:05
[Music]
00:09:11
detectives conducted a search of Ronald
00:09:13
Rivest house where they seized his
00:09:15
digital camera and computer from the
00:09:18
study the Federal Bureau of
00:09:20
Investigation assisted the Monterey
00:09:22
County Sheriff's Department to uncover
00:09:25
the computers data discovering Riva had
00:09:28
amassed thousands of pornographic images
00:09:30
of children online chatroom transcripts
00:09:34
were also found of discussions held
00:09:36
within global online communication tool
00:09:39
Internet Relay Chat better known as IRC
00:09:44
IRC hosted thousands of chat rooms
00:09:47
dedicated to a variety of topics and it
00:09:50
was here that Ronald Riva began
00:09:52
interacting with like-minded pedophiles
00:09:55
these interactions mostly occurred
00:09:58
within to chat rooms that members
00:10:00
occasionally communicated directly
00:10:02
through email in early 1996 Riva created
00:10:08
a private invitation-only chat room
00:10:11
titled orchid club wherein members
00:10:14
electronically distributed illicit
00:10:16
images of children to one another under
00:10:18
his leadership the only way to join
00:10:22
orchid club was to be recommended by an
00:10:25
established member with the group then
00:10:27
voting to determine whether the newcomer
00:10:29
was allowed to join if accepted they
00:10:33
would be given the password to enter
00:10:35
orchid clubs private chat room
00:10:38
eventually orchid club grew to include
00:10:41
sixteen members who interacted with one
00:10:44
another under user names like two tough
00:10:47
L dude poe bear and Cessna in an effort
00:10:51
to distance themselves from their real
00:10:53
old identities Reba's computer was
00:10:57
programmed to save text files of all the
00:11:00
depraved conversations that occurred
00:11:02
whenever he was online allowing
00:11:04
investigators to implicate other orchid
00:11:07
club members in an effort to lessen his
00:11:11
eventual punishment ronald Arriva agreed
00:11:14
to assist detectives in identifying the
00:11:16
other members of his online pedophile
00:11:18
ring he logged into orchid club in the
00:11:22
presence of law enforcement agents
00:11:24
giving them all covert access to the
00:11:26
sinister group it was unlike anything
00:11:30
investigators had ever seen many members
00:11:33
not only viewed and exchanged illicit
00:11:36
material but also took part in
00:11:38
assembling and producing the content
00:11:40
themselves sometimes they met in real
00:11:44
life to film one another carrying out
00:11:46
their crimes at least eight children
00:11:49
were abused in direct connection with
00:11:51
the club although orchid club members
00:11:57
employed two usernames to hide their
00:12:00
real identities every computer that
00:12:02
connected to the chatroom did so via the
00:12:05
Internet this didn't afford complete
00:12:08
anonymity as every time a web connection
00:12:11
is established a unique string of
00:12:13
letters and numbers is formed to link a
00:12:15
user to their online activity this code
00:12:19
is known as an IP address into details
00:12:22
that uses Internet service provider city
00:12:24
and state but not their residential
00:12:27
address or geographical location when
00:12:32
federal agents obtained the IP addresses
00:12:34
from orchid clubs 16 members they
00:12:38
discovered the individuals were spread
00:12:40
across the country and even overseas
00:12:43
they then subpoenaed the customer
00:12:46
records from the various Internet
00:12:47
service providers are listed in each
00:12:49
user's IP address to obtain the name and
00:12:52
address of each suspect
00:12:56
Ronald Rivas accomplished during the
00:12:58
slumber party assault of ten-year-old
00:13:00
Allison was identified as another
00:13:03
Californian man 54 year old Santa Rosa
00:13:07
trova Milton Lee Myers Myers had two
00:13:11
previous convictions for child
00:13:13
molestation from 1971 for which he
00:13:16
served only 60 days in prison during the
00:13:20
orchid Club investigation it was
00:13:23
discovered that Myers hadn't been
00:13:25
properly registered as a sex offender
00:13:26
and to therefore the sinner Rosa
00:13:29
Community was not aware of the threat he
00:13:32
presented to children a search of Maya's
00:13:36
residence revealed he was in possession
00:13:38
of approximately 20 pornographic images
00:13:41
of children aged between 2 and 12 taken
00:13:44
by him at or near his home in an effort
00:13:48
to identify those featured in the images
00:13:51
police placed two notices in the local
00:13:53
papers reaching out to parents whose
00:13:55
children had contact with Myers
00:13:57
a videotape obtained from his home also
00:14:02
captured footage of a meeting between
00:14:04
himself and four American members of
00:14:06
orchid club in which the men casually
00:14:09
spoke about their crimes as police
00:14:14
initiated arrests several orchid club
00:14:16
members double-crossed their
00:14:18
collaborators but fully cooperating with
00:14:20
authorities in exchange for leniency
00:14:24
eventually all 16 members were formally
00:14:27
identified and arrested 11 were from the
00:14:31
American states of California Oklahoma
00:14:34
Washington Kansas Illinois Minnesota
00:14:37
Michigan Mississippi and Texas while the
00:14:41
remaining three were from Canada Finland
00:14:44
and Australia collectively the men were
00:14:49
found to be in possession of a total of
00:14:51
50,000 indecent images of children and
00:14:54
all were charged with conspiracy to
00:14:56
possess and distribute child pornography
00:15:01
transcripts of online conversations
00:15:04
within the walk at a club revealed that
00:15:06
days before the slumber party held at
00:15:08
Ronald Reba's home members were
00:15:10
expressing their excitement over what
00:15:13
they refer to as a pedo party
00:15:16
that weekend Reverend Myers live
00:15:19
broadcasted Allison's assault to several
00:15:22
orchid club members who were complicit
00:15:24
in the attack by requesting certain acts
00:15:27
be performed following this discovery
00:15:31
six of the men including Reverend Myers
00:15:34
were additionally charged with the
00:15:36
joining were abetting in the sexual
00:15:38
exploitation of a minor although the
00:15:43
internet had been used to exchange
00:15:45
illicit content in the past authorities
00:15:48
declared this the first case they were
00:15:51
aware of where the internet had been
00:15:52
used for the real time molestation of a
00:15:55
minor assistant US attorney Tony West
00:15:59
called it a very serious and a very
00:16:02
tragic case that Illustrated how new
00:16:05
technology could be used to exploit
00:16:07
others in total five victims came
00:16:14
forward alleging to have been abused by
00:16:16
Ronald Riva between 1991 and to 1993
00:16:21
Riva faced 18 counts for various state
00:16:25
and federal crimes with the possibility
00:16:27
of a life in prison in return for a
00:16:31
30-year prison sentence he agreed to
00:16:33
plead guilty to his federal charges of
00:16:36
conspiracy to commit sexual exploitation
00:16:38
of a minor conspiracy to traffic in
00:16:41
child pornography and sending and
00:16:43
receiving pornographic images of
00:16:45
children over the Internet yet he chose
00:16:49
to plead not guilty for state charges
00:16:51
relating to child molestation Grievous
00:16:56
accomplice Milton Meyers faced five
00:16:58
counts of molestation to which he pled
00:17:01
guilty
00:17:03
both men remained silent during court
00:17:06
proceedings as their young survivors
00:17:09
bravely took the stand
00:17:11
Allison chose to testify because she had
00:17:14
learned not to blame herself for the
00:17:16
abuse she endured and wanted to stand up
00:17:19
for other children who were unable to
00:17:20
speak for themselves
00:17:23
she appeared wise beyond her years
00:17:25
before the court maintaining poiice as
00:17:28
she identified herself in the explicit
00:17:30
images taken by reverend meyers and
00:17:33
shared with in orchid club poignant
00:17:37
victim impact statements revealed the
00:17:40
true suffering the men had caused with
00:17:42
Alison's torment manifesting in night
00:17:45
terrors to support her daughter at home
00:17:49
Cheryl quit her job teaching having the
00:17:52
family's income and leaving them
00:17:54
overwhelmed with unpaid bills Alison's
00:17:58
19 year old brother had since fallen a
00:18:00
semester behind in college and struggled
00:18:03
to find the motivation to return her
00:18:07
state employee father used 1400 hours of
00:18:10
vacation and sick leave to attend court
00:18:13
appearances therapy sessions and to stay
00:18:15
home with his daughter inevitably
00:18:18
requesting a transfer so the family
00:18:20
could start fresh in another town for
00:18:25
his stay defenses Ronald Riva was found
00:18:28
guilty and ordered to serve an
00:18:29
additional 125 years in prison Judge
00:18:34
Robert moody thanked the jury for quote
00:18:37
taking an unpleasant and difficult
00:18:40
journey into a side of a life I'm sure
00:18:42
you never wanted to see we all know this
00:18:45
is a journey you never wanted to make
00:18:47
but somebody had to do it and you did it
00:18:51
well survivors families thank to the
00:18:55
efforts of prosecutors saying the
00:18:57
verdict too gave them their lives back
00:19:01
Milton Myers attorney attempted to
00:19:04
diminish his clients accountability
00:19:06
characterizing him as an impaired person
00:19:09
who was not completely responsible for
00:19:11
being the person who he is
00:19:13
he even boldly remarked that his client
00:19:17
could have done a lot of things that
00:19:18
were far worse under California's three
00:19:22
strikes law offenders who had previously
00:19:25
been convicted of two or more serious
00:19:27
felonies faced the significant increase
00:19:29
in their subsequent prison term the law
00:19:33
rained to prevent such offenders from
00:19:35
receiving anything
00:19:37
than a life sentence as this was Myers
00:19:41
third offense and therefore third strike
00:19:44
he was sentenced to over 300 years in
00:19:47
prison when Greenfield sisters Emily and
00:19:53
Melissa later saw Ronald Reva chained
00:19:55
and shackled on television their mother
00:19:58
asked the young girls if they knew why
00:20:00
he had gone to jail they responded yes
00:20:05
because we put him there over the
00:20:10
following years trials were held
00:20:12
throughout the United States for the
00:20:14
remaining American members of the orchid
00:20:17
club and Alison and her family traveled
00:20:20
across the country to testify at each
00:20:22
the misconception that abused the
00:20:25
children only came from dysfunctional
00:20:27
unattentive families infuriated her
00:20:30
mother Cheryl who expressed that
00:20:32
obedient well loved and cared for
00:20:35
children were also a target for
00:20:37
predators she refused to accept any
00:20:41
apologies from the accused men saying
00:20:44
they're all sorry when they're caught
00:20:47
these are not trading cards these are
00:20:50
real children the prison sentences
00:20:55
imposed on the remaining members of
00:20:57
orchid Club ranged from 12 months to
00:21:00
several years some were ordered to pay
00:21:03
restitution fees to survivors with one
00:21:06
member forced to pay close to $60,000 to
00:21:10
Alison which her family used to help
00:21:12
cover the associated costs for
00:21:14
counseling and medical care during one
00:21:19
trial judge Timmy Leonard stated the
00:21:23
damage done to win esand young children
00:21:26
is something that can't be repaired when
00:21:29
a child is harmed the family is harmed
00:21:34
Sharyl described her daughter Alison as
00:21:37
her hero gifting her with a pet horse to
00:21:40
help her recover from the trauma of her
00:21:42
ordeal and overcome her psychologically
00:21:45
fragile they nevertheless the
00:21:49
ramifications of that March night in
00:21:51
1996 would continue to haunt the family
00:21:54
forever
00:21:55
Cheryl stated it's still unfathomable to
00:22:00
me that there are pictures of my child
00:22:02
and the videos of my child that were
00:22:04
trafficked and there's no stopping it
00:22:06
once it's out there they were given
00:22:09
varying sentences for the participation
00:22:12
and direction of that night when she was
00:22:14
molested online but her sentence is a
00:22:18
life sentence our child is going to deal
00:22:21
with this as a part of her history
00:22:23
forever following the arrests and
00:22:30
convictions the orchid club chat room
00:22:32
went silent although their efforts to
00:22:36
dismantle Ronald Rivas self-made
00:22:38
pedophile ring were a success American
00:22:41
investigators remained determined to
00:22:43
apprehend those others responsible for
00:22:45
producing the heinous content shared
00:22:48
within as they examined the remnants of
00:22:52
the club investigators noticed the many
00:22:54
of its members had also accessed another
00:22:56
private IRC channel which was still
00:22:59
active a chat room titled Wonderland
00:23:05
calculated efforts had been made to
00:23:08
prevent unwelcome two users from
00:23:09
accidentally stumbling across this chat
00:23:12
room Wonderland's title began with a
00:23:15
hash sign and featured a zero in place
00:23:17
of the letter O furthermore access was
00:23:22
restricted by passwords and security
00:23:24
checks as with the Walker Club
00:23:27
investigators understood that the only
00:23:29
way for them to gain entry into
00:23:31
Wonderland was to apprehend a member who
00:23:34
would be willing to provide them with a
00:23:35
key in exchange for leniency in criminal
00:23:38
prosecution
00:23:41
one active Wonderland user named sheepy
00:23:44
had communicated frequently with
00:23:46
convicted child molester Ronald Riva via
00:23:49
email sent from a uk-based the web
00:23:52
address US authorities notified their
00:23:55
British counterparts who used the
00:23:57
sheepies IP address to trace the user to
00:24:00
a residential property in Hastings a
00:24:02
resort town on England's Sussex coast
00:24:06
the house Sat office at a school and was
00:24:09
occupied by 31 year old computer
00:24:12
consultant Ian Bulldog to determine if
00:24:16
all dock was sheepy or an innocent user
00:24:18
who accessed the same computer as the
00:24:20
unidentified pedophile detectives put
00:24:23
him under surveillance they soon learned
00:24:26
Bulldog rarely left the house except to
00:24:29
work the night shift at the Oxford
00:24:31
University Press offices he didn't
00:24:34
associate with anybody else instead
00:24:36
spending the majority of his spare time
00:24:39
at home alone logging onto the internet
00:24:41
for hours each day at the exact time
00:24:44
sheepy was active online as one
00:24:47
detective remarked he had no other life
00:24:53
in October 1997 police raided Bulldogs
00:24:58
home and seized his computers finding
00:25:01
what they described as a massive library
00:25:03
of child pornography consisting of
00:25:05
42,000 images the enormous collection
00:25:09
was four times larger than anything
00:25:11
police computer forensics expert Nick
00:25:14
Webber had ever seen before he
00:25:17
discovered that in the six days prior to
00:25:19
Bulldogs arrest the men had distributed
00:25:21
just over 1600 images to 17 other
00:25:25
Internet users according to Weber there
00:25:28
was a distribution on an absolutely
00:25:31
massive scale
00:25:33
computer forensics experts examined
00:25:36
Bulldogs computer to gain entry to
00:25:38
wonderland an extensive safeguards
00:25:41
employed by the chatroom community
00:25:43
prevented their access although it was
00:25:46
not unusual for online predators to use
00:25:49
sophisticated defense tactics to prevent
00:25:51
police from accessing elisa material
00:25:53
wonderland operated on a technological
00:25:56
level like a noir the chatroom was
00:26:00
protected by an artificial person known
00:26:02
as a bot who ensured strangers could not
00:26:05
enter there were also seven separate
00:26:08
security checks to pass through and to
00:26:10
electronic gatekeepers known as Alice
00:26:12
and Sandra a code originally developed
00:26:16
by the Soviet Union's security agency
00:26:19
the KGB encrypted all communications
00:26:22
within after five months of examining
00:26:27
Bulldogs computer experts managed to
00:26:30
uncover one key document associated with
00:26:33
wonderland titled basic guidelines the
00:26:37
document offered tips to readers on how
00:26:40
to evade detection and quote confused
00:26:43
the hell out of the police that also
00:26:46
established the rules of Wonderland club
00:26:48
in which members going by the usernames
00:26:51
that I hand Bravin 1 & 2 jazz were
00:26:54
referenced as being responsible for
00:26:56
vetting new members sometimes meeting
00:26:59
them in real life to screen them in
00:27:01
person before the final decision was put
00:27:03
to a group of vote it was clear to
00:27:07
investigators that these three users
00:27:10
held a leadership position in Wonderland
00:27:12
and exerted considerable power over
00:27:14
others within the community as it seemed
00:27:18
likely they would have a greater insight
00:27:20
into the true identities of members it
00:27:22
became paramount for the police to
00:27:24
identify who why hand Raven 1 & 2 jazz
00:27:27
were in the real world
00:27:32
meanwhile in the Greater Manchester town
00:27:35
of Stockport local mother Barbara
00:27:37
received a shocking phone call from her
00:27:39
nine-year-old daughter Lucy Lucy was at
00:27:43
the home of one of her friends and
00:27:45
called her mother to inform her that she
00:27:47
would not be coming home as she wanted
00:27:49
to stay with her friend's father Gary
00:27:51
salt the 36 year old taxi driver and
00:27:56
former Royal Air Force engineer had
00:27:58
befriended Lucy through his daughter and
00:28:00
often invited the young girl over for
00:28:03
dinner and sleepovers following the
00:28:06
concerning call from her daughter
00:28:08
Barbara ordered salt to bring Lucy home
00:28:11
threatening to call the police if he
00:28:13
didn't comply salt did as he was told
00:28:18
and - the next day the nine-year-old
00:28:20
told her mother the truth about what was
00:28:23
really going on whenever she visited her
00:28:25
friend's house over a period of several
00:28:29
months Gary salt had groomed to Lucy and
00:28:32
once he had earned her trust he began
00:28:35
taking indecent images of her in his
00:28:37
bedroom
00:28:39
Barbara alerted Manchester Police and
00:28:42
the Gary salt was promptly arrested with
00:28:45
forensic computer experts uncovering
00:28:47
over 20,000 pornographic images of
00:28:50
children on his computer salt featured
00:28:54
in some of the imagery himself having
00:28:56
cowardly blurred his own face whilst
00:28:59
leaving his victims clearly visible salt
00:29:02
had also fashioned a noose that he kept
00:29:05
on standby should he ever be caught for
00:29:07
his crimes
00:29:10
Salt's arrest turned out to be an
00:29:12
unexpected breakthrough for British
00:29:14
police as his electronic trail led to
00:29:17
deep into wonderland secret chat room
00:29:19
where he operated under the username
00:29:22
jazz one of the club's three leaders in
00:29:26
charge of vetting newcomers facing life
00:29:30
in prison for his crimes
00:29:32
Sault agreed to grant police access to
00:29:35
Wonderland in return for a reduced
00:29:37
sentence without his assistance the
00:29:41
Central Intelligence Agency estimated it
00:29:44
would have taken 400 officers 44 years
00:29:47
to unravel the layers of encrypted
00:29:49
information required to gain access to
00:29:51
the entire club sult subsequently pled
00:29:56
guilty to multiple counts of rape
00:29:58
indecent assault and gross indecency and
00:30:01
was sentenced to 12 years in prison
00:30:06
upon entering Wonderland that soon
00:30:09
became evident that local police did not
00:30:11
have the adequate knowledge or power
00:30:13
required for an investigation of this
00:30:15
magnitude two computer consultants from
00:30:19
specialist companies were therefore
00:30:20
recruited to work on the case full-time
00:30:23
it was their job to sift through
00:30:25
Wonderland's extensive data and defeat
00:30:28
the digital security specifically
00:30:30
designed to keep them out by the time
00:30:37
authorities uncovered Wonderland they
00:30:39
believed the club had been in operation
00:30:41
for at least five years priding itself
00:30:45
on containing the most dedicated and
00:30:47
trustworthy pedophiles Wunderland had an
00:30:50
exorbitant entry fee of 10,000 new or
00:30:53
original indecent images of children
00:30:57
like orchid club members interacted
00:31:00
anonymously under user names such as
00:31:03
satan guess who me again smirk and
00:31:07
caesar the chatroom was active 24 hours
00:31:12
a day with dozens of users conversing
00:31:15
back and forth boss / trading a vast
00:31:17
library of child exploitation material
00:31:20
detective Superintendent John stewartson
00:31:23
told BBC television program panorama
00:31:26
quote people don't realize that these
00:31:30
images were not just children undressed
00:31:33
romping about on a beach these images
00:31:36
were absolutely hideous on some
00:31:39
occasions the abuse these children
00:31:41
suffered was the worst kind of possible
00:31:44
abuse you can imagine the highest status
00:31:48
Wunderland members documented their
00:31:51
abuse of children and made that content
00:31:54
available to others Gary salt was one
00:31:58
such member he produced and liberally
00:32:01
shared his own illicit content whilst
00:32:03
earning additional recognition from the
00:32:05
club for having been abused as a child
00:32:07
himself as investigators unraveled
00:32:11
assaults influence they discovered he
00:32:13
styled himself as Wonderland's chairman
00:32:16
into his head of its British arm he was
00:32:20
also known to invite other pedophiles to
00:32:23
his Stockport home to exchange illegal
00:32:25
images and to meet the children he
00:32:27
abused in person detective
00:32:30
Superintendent John stewartson quote
00:32:34
some of them traveled to salts home
00:32:37
address and were pictured sitting on his
00:32:39
bed with the children not in indecent
00:32:42
poses but just so that they could get a
00:32:45
buzz saying that they've met the stars
00:32:48
of the movie
00:32:49
that's the sort of mentality of the
00:32:52
people we're dealing with in April 1998
00:32:58
the investigation into Wonderland was
00:33:01
handed to organized crime experts the
00:33:03
British National Crime Squad from their
00:33:07
London headquarters the 1500 member team
00:33:10
launched a large-scale police inquiry
00:33:12
named Operation Cathedral
00:33:15
to track down Wonderland's elusive
00:33:17
members using Gary salts computer they
00:33:20
were able to covertly observe the
00:33:22
chatroom
00:33:23
with computer forensics expert Nick
00:33:26
Webber explaining to BBC television
00:33:28
programme panoramas we worked out a
00:33:32
technique where we could actually watch
00:33:34
them live on the Internet so we were
00:33:37
sitting very quietly and watching them
00:33:39
coming and going they were in effect
00:33:42
coming past us but couldn't see us we
00:33:46
were able to backtrack and find out who
00:33:49
they really were
00:33:51
it wasn't without risk news of Gary
00:33:55
salts arrest had reached wonderland and
00:33:57
as a result its members were acting more
00:34:00
cautiously than usual
00:34:02
investigators understood they had to
00:34:05
tread very carefully
00:34:08
[Music]
00:34:10
with operation Cathedral underway
00:34:13
investigators continued to reach out to
00:34:15
Internet service providers to collect
00:34:17
the names and addresses of customers
00:34:20
with IP addresses linked to the club
00:34:23
upon obtaining this information
00:34:25
detectives dispersed across the country
00:34:28
to conduct a mass surveillance of 13
00:34:30
addresses where Wunderland members were
00:34:32
suspected to operate it was imperative
00:34:36
they prove exactly who at each address
00:34:39
was utilizing a computer at the precise
00:34:41
time the internet was being used to
00:34:43
access the site in some cases the
00:34:47
computer was situated in a share house
00:34:49
university or library making the process
00:34:52
of identifying the correct suspect far
00:34:55
more complicated by May 1998 operation
00:35:01
Cathedral was closing in on one
00:35:03
Wunderland member who operated under the
00:35:06
username spanked daddy this uses online
00:35:10
presence was easier to monitor than
00:35:12
others as they were constantly active
00:35:14
within the chat room engaging in long
00:35:17
depraved conversations with Co members
00:35:20
the user was traced to a terrorist house
00:35:23
in a back street of Dartford Kent a town
00:35:26
18 miles southeast of London it was the
00:35:30
home of 24 year-old computer technician
00:35:33
Gavin Sega's detectives monitored
00:35:37
seekest movements following him to DAR
00:35:40
feeds the local Sea Cadets headquarters
00:35:42
a youth organization specializing in
00:35:45
waterborne activities where they
00:35:47
discovered their suspected pedophile was
00:35:50
a volunteer youth leader who was in
00:35:52
contact with 25 children aged between 10
00:35:55
and 18 years old investigators soon
00:36:01
learned that Seger's was particularly
00:36:03
disturbed as he often expressed he had
00:36:06
fantasies about abducting raping
00:36:08
torturing and killing children the
00:36:12
National Crime Squad faced the dilemma
00:36:14
seekers online behavior indicated he was
00:36:17
a serious threat to children but
00:36:20
arresting him immediately would risk
00:36:22
alerting other Wunderland men
00:36:24
to operation cathedrals existence as
00:36:27
they considered their next step it was
00:36:30
decided that seekers would be placed
00:36:32
under strict surveillance whenever he
00:36:34
conducted his volunteer work ensuring he
00:36:36
didn't leave with any children
00:36:38
if seekers was ever alone with one or
00:36:42
two minors at a time
00:36:43
investigators were instructed to place
00:36:45
him under arrest by June 1998 two months
00:36:53
into operation Cathedral National Crime
00:36:56
Squad detectives had identified over 200
00:36:59
unique persons from 33 nations had
00:37:02
interacted in Wunderland making it the
00:37:05
largest global Internet pedophile ring
00:37:07
to date detective Superintendent John
00:37:11
stewartson explained we could have
00:37:14
adopted the attitude that we would deal
00:37:16
with people in this country and we could
00:37:19
have done it very quickly and it would
00:37:21
have all been done and dusted sooner
00:37:22
than it was but in truth that would not
00:37:26
have been the way to go forward because
00:37:29
basically every one of those images
00:37:31
represented a disaster to a family
00:37:33
somewhere and we decided we would go
00:37:36
forward by getting as many countries as
00:37:38
we could on board with us so that we
00:37:41
could maximize our evidence
00:37:44
the monumental investigation posed many
00:37:48
challenges the sharing of sensitive
00:37:50
criminal intelligence network operation
00:37:53
and investigative leads between law
00:37:55
enforcement agencies throughout the
00:37:57
world required meticulous planning lost
00:38:00
adapting to the differing police powers
00:38:02
resources and knowledge of each nation
00:38:07
information was relayed on a strict 2
00:38:09
need-to-know basis and detectives were
00:38:12
instructed not to type the word
00:38:14
wonderland into any internet search
00:38:16
engine out of fear it would somehow
00:38:18
expose their undercover activities to
00:38:21
club members by July a parallel police
00:38:26
inquiry titled Operation Cheshire cat
00:38:29
was established in the United States for
00:38:31
the purpose of pursuing American
00:38:33
Wonderland members u.s. customs computer
00:38:37
forensics expert Jim Ferrell was
00:38:40
assigned to the task of examining the
00:38:42
massive data handed over from British
00:38:44
police which included a four-page list
00:38:46
of usernames email addresses and two
00:38:49
possible US locations of suspects
00:38:53
as special agents tracked each suspect
00:38:55
down they discovered most hid their
00:38:58
depravity behind stable marriages
00:39:00
long-term relationships respected
00:39:03
families and successful careers one
00:39:07
Wonderland member was a professor at the
00:39:09
University of Connecticut another was a
00:39:12
retired US Air Force pilot whilst others
00:39:15
were law and medical students by the end
00:39:21
of August to 1998 after months of
00:39:24
round-the-clock online surveillance and
00:39:26
covert real-world stakeouts
00:39:28
investigators had built a clearer
00:39:30
picture of Wonderland's members and to
00:39:32
the potential danger they posed risk
00:39:36
assessments were constantly performed to
00:39:39
determine whether the need to gather
00:39:40
evidence was eclipsing the safety of
00:39:42
children it was agreed that undercover
00:39:46
operations would immediately cease and
00:39:48
suspects be apprehended if any posed a
00:39:50
threat to a minor but when exactly to
00:39:53
act remained a point of contention
00:39:56
meanwhile Wunderland users were becoming
00:39:59
suspicious with some secretly encoding
00:40:03
their illicit images in an effort to
00:40:04
hide them they had also become extremely
00:40:07
active in providing daily updates to one
00:40:10
another on any police investigations
00:40:12
that might be honing in on their group
00:40:15
international police agency Interpol
00:40:18
held an urgent meeting in France where
00:40:21
law enforcement agencies from around the
00:40:23
world convened and concluded that it was
00:40:26
time to act suspects were becoming more
00:40:30
vigilant and to the longer they waited
00:40:32
the greater the risk of jeopardizing the
00:40:35
entire operation they decided it was
00:40:38
time to start making large-scale arrests
00:40:42
in an effort to preserve evidence and
00:40:45
prevent Wunderland members from one
00:40:47
country warning the others at exactly
00:40:50
4:00 a.m. Greenwich Mean Time on
00:40:52
September 2 1998 an estimated 1500
00:40:57
police and Child Protection officers in
00:40:59
12 countries simultaneously raided the
00:41:02
homes of over 100 suspected Wunderland
00:41:05
men
00:41:18
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you
00:45:37
the Wunderland raids needed to be
00:45:39
conducted at the exact same time across
00:45:41
the world otherwise a few seconds was
00:45:45
all it took for club and then there's
00:45:46
the type of warning to the chatroom
00:45:48
enabling their co-conspirators the
00:45:50
opportunity to swiftly destroy evidence
00:45:53
of their crimes working together to the
00:45:56
exact second authorities in the United
00:45:59
Kingdom Australia Austria Belgium
00:46:02
Finland France Germany Italy Norway
00:46:06
Portugal Sweden and to the United States
00:46:09
kicked down doors and storms through
00:46:12
homes efficiently placing over 100
00:46:15
suspects under arrest while the vast
00:46:18
majority of Wonderland's members were
00:46:20
men some women were also involved at
00:46:26
dawn police closed in on a small German
00:46:29
Village where Wonderland to user gronke
00:46:31
lived a quiet life with his girlfriend
00:46:34
he was oblivious to the fact that police
00:46:37
knew about his online activities later
00:46:40
telling bbc's panorama it hit me like
00:46:44
lightning I was suddenly dragged back
00:46:47
into the real world of course I had
00:46:49
always been worried about it being
00:46:51
illegal and completely immoral but my
00:46:54
obsession got the better of me the last
00:46:56
thing on my mind was arrest I never
00:47:00
expected to find the police on my
00:47:02
doorstep
00:47:05
in the country's West a key Wonderland
00:47:08
member known as Ultima was taken into
00:47:10
custody at a government guest house near
00:47:13
the Riverside city of Bonn Ultima was
00:47:16
part of the committee that ran
00:47:17
Wonderland but in real life he was a
00:47:20
senior civil servant it was the middle
00:47:24
of the night in the United States when
00:47:26
the raid commenced one of the dozens of
00:47:29
addresses targeted was the North
00:47:30
Carolina flat linked to Wonderland user
00:47:33
Amy in reality amy was thirty
00:47:37
one-year-old medical student William
00:47:39
Rosa who lived with his unsuspecting
00:47:41
girlfriend by day Rosa was studying to
00:47:46
become a doctor at Chapel Hill College
00:47:48
with his training including a stint in a
00:47:50
children's hospital unit by night he
00:47:54
spent hours online secretly downloading
00:47:57
images of child abuse amassing a
00:47:59
collection of 70,000 images he operated
00:48:04
in Wonderland under a female user named
00:48:06
knowing that may all members would trade
00:48:08
more generously if they thought he was a
00:48:10
woman over 800 miles away in st. Charles
00:48:15
Missouri the trailer belonging to
00:48:18
Wonderland member Bart was also raided
00:48:21
he enjoyed a high status within the club
00:48:23
for being a Content producer with other
00:48:26
users acknowledging him straight away
00:48:28
whenever he appeared online but turned
00:48:32
out to be 34 year-old Scott allymeier
00:48:35
who lived alongside several families and
00:48:38
worked in a nearby store a Lamaze
00:48:41
trailer resembled a prison some of the
00:48:44
doors were four inches thick and he had
00:48:46
built an inner sanctum out of plywood
00:48:49
police found weapons and explosives as
00:48:52
well as a homemade video documenting his
00:48:54
crimes girl's underwear was strewn about
00:48:57
with additional pairs been under stuffed
00:49:00
in plastic bags and hidden in the
00:49:02
trailers ductwork
00:49:04
Scot wasn't the only LMAO family member
00:49:07
in Wonderland his 60 year old father
00:49:10
fred allymeier also participated in the
00:49:12
club at 5:00 a.m. in england eight
00:49:18
suspects were arrested and had their
00:49:20
computers seized with a seven and a half
00:49:22
tonne lorry required to transport all
00:49:25
the equipment back to the National Crime
00:49:27
Squad headquarters following the bust
00:49:30
detective Superintendent John stewartson
00:49:33
announced the content would absolutely
00:49:36
turn the stomach of any right minded
00:49:39
person it is disgusting stuff people who
00:49:43
engage themselves in this kind of
00:49:45
depraved activity have felt relatively
00:49:47
secure up until now in the knowledge
00:49:49
that the Internet is virtually unpoliced
00:49:52
this coordinated action around the world
00:49:55
has demonstrated that that is no longer
00:49:57
the case the for operation cathedral
00:50:05
swooped on wonderland the largest ever
00:50:07
seizure of online child pornography was
00:50:09
7000 separate images after examining
00:50:13
over 100 Wunderland members computers
00:50:16
police uncovered a staggering 750,000
00:50:20
images of child abuse along with 1,800
00:50:23
video clips featuring some of the most
00:50:25
degrading footage they had ever
00:50:26
witnessed one Italian man owned one
00:50:30
hundred and eighty thousand images alone
00:50:32
as some of the computer hardware was so
00:50:35
highly protected and impossible to
00:50:37
decode experts estimated the true number
00:50:40
of illicit images amassed by the group
00:50:42
might have been upwards of two million
00:50:47
officers given the difficult task of
00:50:49
viewing the material broke down in tears
00:50:53
Detective Chief Inspector Alex would
00:50:55
have told a bbc's panorama quote
00:51:00
certainly one series that sticks in my
00:51:03
mind is a series that was labeled Colby
00:51:06
Colby would appear to be a child of no
00:51:08
more than a year old and the initial
00:51:11
images are of a young toddler very blond
00:51:14
haired lad walking in a hallway in
00:51:16
nappies that image goes through some
00:51:19
twenty or thirty slides and ends up with
00:51:22
the most horrific abuse of a child
00:51:25
certainly like the rest of the team I
00:51:28
guess that one image probably stays with
00:51:30
you and that for me would be the most
00:51:33
horrible that I saw some of the
00:51:38
encryption used by wonderland members
00:51:40
were so advanced that even the world's
00:51:43
leading code-breaking experts were
00:51:44
unable to crack it the computer of 40
00:51:48
year-old UK based computer salesman
00:51:50
Stephen Ellis was sent to government
00:51:52
intelligence agencies in the United
00:51:54
States where experts ran code breaking
00:51:57
programs on his system for a month with
00:51:59
no success Ellis had ended his own life
00:52:03
just days after his first court
00:52:05
appearance for his involvement with
00:52:07
Wonderland if he was still alive he
00:52:10
would never have faced the trial as
00:52:12
investigators were unable to obtain the
00:52:14
evidence required to use against him
00:52:17
Stephen Ellis was one of seven
00:52:19
Wonderland members who took their lives
00:52:21
following their arrest it took years for
00:52:27
authorities to intercept preserve
00:52:29
analyze and prepare all available
00:52:31
evidence before taking Wonderland
00:52:33
members to trial many of whom were
00:52:36
granted bail throughout this process
00:52:39
after a two-year effort in February 2001
00:52:43
the seven remaining uk-based the members
00:52:46
pleaded guilty to conspiracy to
00:52:48
distribute indecent images of children
00:52:51
the accused will mostly computer
00:52:54
consultants technicians and taxi drivers
00:52:58
at the forefront was 31 year old Ian
00:53:01
Bulldog whose association with convicted
00:53:04
orchid club a child molester Ronald
00:53:06
areva led to the complete downfall of
00:53:09
Wonderland along with his closest cohort
00:53:12
29 year old to youth volunteer Gavin
00:53:15
seekers regarded as one of the club's
00:53:17
more dangerous members 30 year old
00:53:22
unemployed to me and David Hinds spoke
00:53:25
publicly about his involvement in
00:53:27
Wonderland telling bbc's panorama that
00:53:30
he had found child pornography online
00:53:32
within 24 hours of gaining access to the
00:53:35
Internet he showed no remorse for his
00:53:39
crimes saying it was great to find a
00:53:42
like-minded people who shared his
00:53:43
interest in pedophilia he explained
00:53:46
quote we didn't see it as abuse we just
00:53:51
saw it as some members being in
00:53:53
relationships with children the net
00:53:56
draws you win it sucks you in I had
00:54:00
people I could talk to I had people I
00:54:03
could trade images with I never had so
00:54:06
many friends before 46 year old
00:54:11
Frederick Stephens had only been
00:54:13
involved in Wunderland for six months
00:54:15
but had already amassed close to 9,000
00:54:18
images and over 600 videos within that
00:54:21
short time frame despite having a young
00:54:24
family he made no effort to protect the
00:54:27
obscene content on his computer with a
00:54:29
password or encryption in contrast 25
00:54:34
year old Andrew Barlow had configured
00:54:36
his computer in such a highly secretive
00:54:39
manner that authorities were only able
00:54:41
to retrieve 200 obscene images from what
00:54:44
they believed to be a much larger
00:54:46
collection
00:54:48
thirty one-year-old Hamer Darlie
00:54:50
maintained that ninety percent of the
00:54:53
thirteen thousand pornographic images of
00:54:55
children found on his computer were
00:54:58
quote friendly harmless stuff thirty
00:55:02
six-year-old Antony Skinner was one of
00:55:05
the offenders who visited Gary salts
00:55:07
Stockport home to meet the children salt
00:55:09
abused in his videos Skinner
00:55:12
emailed photos of his encounters to
00:55:15
Wonderland members as a twisted memento
00:55:17
in defense of his actions
00:55:20
Skinner's lawyer stated the internet
00:55:24
sucks you in and becomes an obsession it
00:55:27
becomes your life it is a dichotomy of a
00:55:30
repulsion and attraction fantasy and
00:55:33
reality On February 13 2001 the seven
00:55:42
guilty men appeared together at Kingston
00:55:44
upon Thames Crown Court to receive their
00:55:47
sentencing prosecutor David Perry
00:55:50
detailed the defendants secret and
00:55:52
secure digital underworld telling the
00:55:55
court each of them was involved in the
00:55:58
distribution of indecent material on the
00:56:01
Internet throughout the world dean
00:56:04
decent material depicted children
00:56:06
involved in sexual acts with adults and
00:56:08
also with other children all of the
00:56:12
children involved were under the age of
00:56:14
16 and in one case the child was only
00:56:17
three months each defendant had a huge
00:56:21
quantity of indecent images stored in
00:56:24
the hard drives of their computers and
00:56:25
on compact discs it was a vast
00:56:29
international lending library whose
00:56:32
members swapped a vast quantity of
00:56:34
paedophile images
00:56:37
Judge Kenneth McCray addressed the
00:56:39
defendants who stood passively in the
00:56:41
dark telling them you directly or
00:56:46
indirectly exploited the most vulnerable
00:56:48
in our society children represent the
00:56:51
future they should be cared for and
00:56:54
protected you have betrayed that
00:56:57
principle the use and abuse of children
00:57:00
for your own gratification has horrified
00:57:02
me you have used your computer skills to
00:57:05
do this the photographic records a proof
00:57:09
of your perversity according to their
00:57:13
counsel the defendants were suffering
00:57:16
from a classic pattern of pedophilia
00:57:18
where abuse was perceived as affection
00:57:21
and had simply pandered to their basic
00:57:23
sexual interests judge McRae Dean to
00:57:26
these claims to be nonsense and was
00:57:29
equally critical of Anthony Skinner's
00:57:31
assertion that he was only recruited
00:57:33
into the ring for his encryption skills
00:57:35
telling him that he was like so many
00:57:38
others still in denial under British law
00:57:43
at the time the maximum sentence that
00:57:46
could be imposed for such offences was
00:57:48
just three years but judge McRae had to
00:57:52
give credit to the offenders for
00:57:53
pleading guilty as such for their
00:57:57
participation in the world's largest the
00:57:59
known online pedophile ring the
00:58:01
defendants were handed prison sentences
00:58:03
ranging from 12 to 30 months they were
00:58:08
ordered to serve at least half their
00:58:10
allotted term and remain on licence for
00:58:12
the remainder which meant they would be
00:58:14
released back into the community under
00:58:16
certain conditions including the
00:58:18
forfeiture of their computer equipment
00:58:21
five of the men were placed on the sex
00:58:24
offenders registry for seven years while
00:58:27
Liam bull doc and David Hinds were the
00:58:29
only two placed on the registry for life
00:58:34
the Wunderland trawl was viewed by many
00:58:37
as a test case for dealing with
00:58:39
pedophile activity on the Internet and
00:58:41
the controversial penalties handed to
00:58:44
the perpetrators were immediately
00:58:46
condemned whilst the sentences were as
00:58:49
severe as investigators for operation
00:58:52
Cathedral expected a coalition of seven
00:58:55
UK charities campaigning for child
00:58:57
protection said they were deeply
00:58:59
disappointed by the results while
00:59:02
praising the efforts of police in
00:59:04
tackling internet crime and child sex
00:59:06
abuse they worried the lenient sentences
00:59:09
meant that pedophiles would continue to
00:59:11
thrive online
00:59:14
Ruth Dixon the deputy chief executive of
00:59:18
the internet watch foundation told BBC
00:59:21
news journalists that the internet must
00:59:23
not be seen as a safe and anonymous
00:59:25
haven for people to do what they like
00:59:29
director of the Child Protection charity
00:59:31
kids gape
00:59:32
dr. Michelle Elliot called the sentences
00:59:35
a joke saying you would get a longest
00:59:39
sentence for accumulating masses of
00:59:41
parking tickets or for burglary
00:59:43
I am absolutely stupefied by the Saline
00:59:46
E&C that sends a clear message that
00:59:48
these crimes are not being taken
00:59:50
seriously the courts should be
00:59:53
concentrating on the pitches these men
00:59:55
collected of horrific child abuse which
00:59:57
encourages more abuse of vulnerable
00:59:59
children if we want to stop people doing
01:00:02
things like this 12 months is no
01:00:05
deterrent especially when they will be
01:00:07
out in half the time
01:00:11
london-based attorney Robin bino
01:00:14
believed plea bargaining was
01:00:15
inappropriate in such a case explaining
01:00:19
whether it is a lighter sentence or not
01:00:21
they are effectively getting cash back
01:00:24
for not wasting the Court's time I think
01:00:27
where there is a case like this where
01:00:29
material of this nature is being
01:00:31
disseminated it sends out the wrong
01:00:34
message if nobody gets the maximum
01:00:36
sentence the judicial system owes it to
01:00:40
the nation when something is being dealt
01:00:42
with for the first time as is the case
01:00:44
here that all the issues are considered
01:00:47
in a full-strength trial nevertheless
01:00:51
for the officer in charge of operation
01:00:54
cathedral detective Superintendent Peter
01:00:57
Spindler the convictions were a victory
01:01:00
quote when the Crime Squad took on the
01:01:04
operation we were aware that they could
01:01:06
only be sentenced to three years in
01:01:08
prison but we had to take on the
01:01:11
operation to highlight the level of
01:01:13
appalling behavior on the Internet
01:01:15
it has contributed to change it's a
01:01:19
great relief to conclude what's been a
01:01:21
very long operation we can combat crime
01:01:25
on the Internet we won't tolerate child
01:01:29
pornography in the UK if anybody thinks
01:01:32
that in a modern civilized society that
01:01:35
a sexual preference for children is
01:01:37
acceptable then they're wrong and to the
01:01:41
prison sentences in the future will be
01:01:43
three times as long as they'd been today
01:01:46
as the operation Cathedral arrests were
01:01:52
underway a new law was proposed in the
01:01:54
UK to increase the maximum sentence for
01:01:57
such offences to ten years it was passed
01:02:01
by British Parliament in January 2001
01:02:03
and although this was too late to impact
01:02:06
the Wunderland trials it ensured
01:02:08
pedophiles appearing in court in the
01:02:10
future would face far more severe
01:02:13
sentencing as a result of being wiry
01:02:16
harsher legislation was also introduced
01:02:19
overseas
01:02:22
following the breakdown of the
01:02:24
Wunderland to network officers who took
01:02:26
part in operation Cathedral were praised
01:02:28
for their diligence and to the thankless
01:02:30
task of viewing all the illicit material
01:02:33
the investigation had a profound impact
01:02:36
on those involved with officers having
01:02:39
to undergo compulsory psychological
01:02:41
debriefing and some retiring from the
01:02:44
force altogether the deputy director
01:02:48
general of the National Crime Squad
01:02:50
Bob Peckham stated it has been a
01:02:53
difficult and distressing investigation
01:02:55
and I hope that our actions have
01:02:58
prevented further abuse of children
01:02:59
across the world the national directors
01:03:04
of charity organizations Save the
01:03:06
Children and end child prostitution
01:03:09
pornography and trafficking released the
01:03:11
joint statement that read we applaud the
01:03:15
raid on the internet child pornography
01:03:18
ring known as Wonderland the raid is a
01:03:21
timely reminder of the need for a
01:03:23
coordinated approach to fight this
01:03:25
threat to children but also a message of
01:03:28
hope for the results that cooperation
01:03:30
can bring with 40 million Internet users
01:03:34
worldwide the threat is a truly global
01:03:37
one child sex offenders who formerly met
01:03:41
to swap child pornography in secret can
01:03:44
now do so from any country in the world
01:03:46
in the apparent security of their own
01:03:48
homes the ease of spreading such images
01:03:52
also threatens to introduce new and
01:03:54
wider audiences a fact that is
01:03:57
especially alarming given the higher
01:03:59
correlation between the practice of
01:04:01
viewing child pornography and the
01:04:03
commission of sex offenses against
01:04:05
children
01:04:07
the statement went on to explain the
01:04:10
importance of raising awareness of the
01:04:12
often anonymous dangers facing children
01:04:14
when they login online and ended with we
01:04:19
congratulate all those involved in
01:04:21
operation Cathedral in an exclusive
01:04:26
conversation with ZDNet news convicted
01:04:29
Wunderland member david heinz admitted
01:04:32
if it wasn't for the internet on might
01:04:35
have gone on to rape a child and he
01:04:38
warned other pedophiles will start their
01:04:41
own channel and then they'll go looking
01:04:43
for each other and regroup and the group
01:04:46
will eventually be as big as it was with
01:04:48
new members with new pictures and with
01:04:51
all of the old pictures which are still
01:04:53
floating around out there his statement
01:04:57
echoed research conducted by the
01:04:59
National Association of probation
01:05:01
officers which concluded that most
01:05:04
online pedophiles did not seek treatment
01:05:06
as they don't consider themselves
01:05:07
criminals and to view their actions as
01:05:10
victimless spokesperson Harry Fletcher
01:05:14
said we are only beginning to understand
01:05:18
the scale of this crime it is a major
01:05:21
problem that their offending behavior is
01:05:23
not being challenged operation Cathedral
01:05:28
faced criticism minutes aftermath is
01:05:30
only a fraction of Wonderland's 200-plus
01:05:33
users were ever identified and arrested
01:05:35
of those who were less than half faced
01:05:39
Patrol although the pedophile ring was
01:05:43
found to be established in 47 countries
01:05:45
just 14 participated in the inquiry and
01:05:49
were invited to the Interpol conference
01:05:51
where the raids to take down Wonderland
01:05:53
were planned some countries lacked the
01:05:56
legal framework required expertise or
01:05:59
political will to tackle the issue or
01:06:01
their law enforcement agencies were
01:06:03
considered too corrupt to participate in
01:06:06
a sensitive international inquiry
01:06:09
according to a report released by the
01:06:11
International Network to end child
01:06:13
prostitution pornography and trafficking
01:06:16
excluded countries included Ireland New
01:06:19
Zealand Israel Japan
01:06:20
in Spain and South Africa Holland and
01:06:25
Canada were initially involved but
01:06:27
pulled out of the operation shortly
01:06:28
before the raids were scheduled to go
01:06:30
ahead the Dutch police took action
01:06:33
against a number of suspects later on
01:06:35
but the Canadian authorities never
01:06:37
tackled their 14 suspects despite these
01:06:42
criticisms operation Cathedral inspired
01:06:45
several other global inquiries in the
01:06:47
preceding years including Blue Orchid
01:06:50
Candyman
01:06:51
artists and tween Odysseus which
01:06:54
resulted in the identification of
01:06:56
thousands more online predators from
01:06:58
across the world in 2001 the British
01:07:03
National Crime Squad was at the
01:07:04
forefront of another international
01:07:06
crackdown titled Operation landmark
01:07:09
which saw the arrest of another 130
01:07:12
suspected pedophiles from 19 countries
01:07:14
as a result of that investigation
01:07:17
authorities were able to add another
01:07:20
60,000 obscene images to its database to
01:07:23
assist in victim identification and
01:07:25
global missing children cases in the UK
01:07:30
the seven convicted Wonderland members
01:07:33
were steadily released from prison with
01:07:35
some serving less than half of their
01:07:37
allotted time upon their release several
01:07:41
of the men changed their names and went
01:07:43
on to Rea offend in 2012 former
01:07:48
Wunderland member Gavin sieges changed
01:07:51
his name to Gavin Smith and was realized
01:07:54
after he was caught on lyin discussing
01:07:56
his fantasies of sexual abuse and
01:07:58
torture against children he pled guilty
01:08:01
to nine offences of publishing obscene
01:08:04
material and was handed a three-month
01:08:06
suspended jail sentence on December 11
01:08:13
2010 a staff member at Manchester's old
01:08:17
trafford library contacted police to
01:08:19
report that a man had been witnessed
01:08:21
viewing and uploading indecent images of
01:08:23
minors
01:08:25
he had been using the library's
01:08:27
computers near the children's book
01:08:29
section when the offender reappeared at
01:08:32
the library two days later police placed
01:08:35
him under arrest
01:08:36
seizing two computers and for memory
01:08:38
sticks he was identified as 49 year old
01:08:42
Anthony Andrews of no fixed address
01:08:46
analysis of the computers revealed
01:08:48
Andrews had been interacting with a
01:08:50
highly sophisticated global pedophile
01:08:53
network that was under investigation by
01:08:55
the FBI and authorities in Italy the
01:08:59
search of the hostel where injuries were
01:09:01
staying uncovered a locked box that
01:09:04
contained two journals full of
01:09:05
handwritten sexual fantasies about
01:09:07
children
01:09:08
he also possessed the guard on how to
01:09:11
groom and abuse children plus another on
01:09:14
how to survive prison and what to do
01:09:16
upon release as it turned out
01:09:20
Anthony interest was the new identity
01:09:23
adopted by convicted child molester and
01:09:25
former Wonderland Chairman Gary salt in
01:09:30
April 2006 salt was released from prison
01:09:33
on licence after serving just half of
01:09:36
his 12 year sentence for sex crimes
01:09:38
against children he broke his conditions
01:09:41
shortly after buying computer magazines
01:09:44
and receiving discs in the mail from a
01:09:46
convicted sex offender he was
01:09:49
subsequently recalled back to prison
01:09:51
where in January 2008 prison officers
01:09:54
raided his cell and found a literature
01:09:56
outlining sexual encounters with
01:09:58
children and evidence to suggest assault
01:10:01
was plotting a new online pedophile ring
01:10:05
salt was released from prison again on
01:10:08
April 16 2010 and to join to the
01:10:11
Manchester library service the day after
01:10:13
by December he had downloaded 250,000
01:10:18
illicit images and videos of children
01:10:21
Detective Constable Barry Conway of the
01:10:24
Greater Manchester police stated salt is
01:10:28
a convicted sex offender who has shown
01:10:30
no desire to rehabilitate he has some
01:10:34
sort of perverse status among other sex
01:10:36
offenders
01:10:37
and in the sickening circles in which he
01:10:40
moves it is something he clearly
01:10:42
relishes Gary salt had admitted to 25
01:10:47
offenses including making indecent
01:10:50
images of children possessing indecent
01:10:52
images attempted distribution of
01:10:55
indecent images possessing extreme child
01:10:57
pornography and breaching a sexual
01:11:00
offences prevention order until could be
01:11:04
proven he no longer posed a risk to
01:11:06
children salt was jailed indefinitely
01:11:09
with sentencing judge Peter lakyn
01:11:11
telling him you were clearly a committed
01:11:15
and very active pedophile who is not
01:11:17
willing or able to address your
01:11:19
distorted behavior the National Crime
01:11:24
Squad cropped and sanitized a portion of
01:11:27
the 750,000 images seized from
01:11:30
Wonderland to allow investigators to
01:11:32
better examine them for clues to help
01:11:34
identify and to locate the victims they
01:11:38
scrutinized the backgrounds of the
01:11:40
pictures for any details that could help
01:11:42
indicate where or when they were taken
01:11:44
such as electrical sockets furnishings
01:11:47
magazines or wallpaper Detective Chief
01:11:52
Inspector Alex wood stated for me the
01:11:56
worst images were the ones showing the
01:11:59
expression on the child's face and not
01:12:01
necessarily what's happening to them
01:12:04
I can't help but think of the damage
01:12:07
that's been done out of 750,000 images
01:12:13
the faces of 1263 individual children
01:12:18
have been isolated and compiled into a
01:12:20
database categorized by gender age and
01:12:24
ethnicity Interpol has distributed this
01:12:28
database to police forces worldwide and
01:12:30
it is only available to view through law
01:12:33
enforcement agencies that investigate
01:12:35
online child sex offences National Crime
01:12:39
Squad detective Superintendent John
01:12:41
stewartson believes that the work of
01:12:43
operation Cathedral will only be
01:12:45
complete when authorities can identify
01:12:47
all the nameless victims in the database
01:12:51
investigators hold concerns that many of
01:12:54
these victims are at risk of further
01:12:55
abuse or even death Detective Constable
01:13:00
Barry Conway of the Greater Manchester
01:13:02
Police stated every indecent image
01:13:06
recovered tells a story of harrowing
01:13:08
abuse and we are dedicated to
01:13:10
identifying and bringing to justice
01:13:12
anyone involved in such offending
01:13:15
whether it is for the sharing of images
01:13:17
or the abuse itself only 17 children
01:13:23
featured in Wonderland's immense library
01:13:26
have been positively identified
01:13:37
[Music]
01:13:47
you