Corey Anderson

A 50-year-old man from Tipton, West Midlands, has been jailed for grooming and abducting a child, posing a significant risk to children as described by investigating officers.

Corey Anderson first made contact with the victim online in 2018 when she was just 12 years old. Over the following three years, he engaged in sexual communication with her, grooming her meticulously until the summer of 2020. At that point, the victim was 15, and Anderson arranged to meet her in Suffolk. He then took her back to his home on Castle Street in Tipton, where he sexually assaulted her.

• Initial online contact: 2018, victim aged 12
• Grooming period: 2018 to 2020
• Abduction and assault: Summer 2020, victim aged 15

The victim's family grew concerned and reported her missing after discovering she was with Anderson. Suffolk Constabulary located them in a vehicle, leading to Anderson's arrest. He was transported back to Suffolk and questioned at Bury St Edmunds Police Investigation Centre. In February 2024, a jury at Ipswich Crown Court found him guilty of sexual activity with a child, meeting a child following sexual grooming, sexual communication with a child, and child abduction.

On Friday, 10 March 2023, Anderson was sentenced to six years and 10 months in prison. In addition, he received a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and was ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register indefinitely. Detective Constable Sam Chandler of Suffolk Constabulary stated: “The defendant in this case poses a significant risk to children. Throughout the trial he insisted his motivations were purely honourable, in that he was concerned for the welfare of the child to whom he was not related. However, the evidence in this case proved that he had been in communication with the vulnerable child since she was 12 years old and that he had groomed her over a three-year period, before abducting her and sexually assaulting her at his home, all for his own sexual gratification.”

DC Chandler further emphasised: “The sentence sends a clear message to other potential perpetrators of child sex abuse; this kind of offending will not be tolerated, and Suffolk Constabulary will investigate all such matters carefully and thoroughly in order to bring these perpetrators to justice and to protect the most vulnerable within our society.” The case was reported by the East Anglian Daily Times, highlighting the courage of the victim and her family in supporting the investigation and trial.