Stephen Kelly

Stephen Kelly, 40, from Elm Road, Bournville, Birmingham, was sentenced to eight years for two counts of arranging or facilitating child prostitution and one count of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child. He was the central figure in a child sex ring that abused a 14-year-old boy in care during 2009 and 2010, as determined at Warwick Crown Court in a three-month trial.

Kelly discovered the boy begging in Birmingham city centre and prostituted him to multiple men in cars, vans, and hotels, enabling rapes and other abuses including beatings and online broadcasts. The victim's early complaints to West Midlands Police were not pursued, but his 2012 statement brought justice. Judge Sylvia de Bertadano noted the police's initial failings.

• Kelly initiated and organised the prostitution.
• His oversight allowed widespread abuse by co-defendants.

The judge told Kelly and others: 'Therefore you are each partly responsible for his situation as a young man who is struggling.' Assistant Chief Constable Carl Foulkes described the 'horrific' nature of the crimes and the force's subsequent learnings. The case exposed another indecent assault by Ronald Potter.