Thomas Winterson, a 34-year-old man from Ebbw Vale, Wales, was sentenced at Newport Crown Court for a series of child sexual exploitation offences after grooming a young girl online and possessing a vast collection of indecent images.
The case came to light when Winterson contacted a 10-year-old girl from the north of England via the TikTok app. Posing as a 15-year-old boy, he complimented her appearance, telling her she was 'pretty', and persuaded her to move their conversation to Snapchat. There, he offered her money to purchase items on the Roblox gaming platform in exchange for photos of herself. The girl complied by sending innocent images, to which Winterson responded by sending pictures of his erect penis. Shocked, the girl labelled him a 'paedophile' and immediately informed her mother, who reported the incident to the police.
Investigators from Gwent Police traced Winterson through the phone number linked to his TikTok account. Officers arrested him at his home and seized his electronic devices. A forensic examination of his iPhone and an associated Mega cloud storage account uncovered over 800 indecent images of children, predominantly videos, with 220 classified as Category A—the most severe, depicting rape and extreme sexual abuse of children as young as 12 months old up to teenagers. Many files were hidden in a concealed folder. Additionally, Winterson had been communicating with an individual known as 'Evil Mouse', sharing links to his storage account and discussing the trading of images. Evidence also showed he had accessed Russian websites notorious for hosting child sexual abuse material. One particularly disturbing image involved intercourse with a sheep, classified as extreme pornography.
Winterson had a prior conviction in 2018 for possessing indecent images, for which he received a community order and a sexual harm prevention order. Despite this, his barrister, Meabh McGee, told the court that Winterson had voluntarily sought help from the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, a charity supporting sex offenders, and was committed to change. She noted he was in a 'very low place' at the time of the offences, triggered by the public disclosure of his previous conviction, and highlighted his stable employment as a bakery worker and desire to reconnect with his son.
Judge Eugene Egan condemned Winterson's actions, stating he had groomed the child on TikTok and sent her an image of his erect penis, causing 'huge upset'. He emphasised that the indecent images involved real babies and children being sexually abused. Winterson pleaded guilty to causing a child to engage in or witness a sexual act, three counts each of possessing and distributing indecent images across Categories A, B, and C, and possessing extreme pornography.
Sources: Wales Online, reporting on the Newport Crown Court proceedings, 28 May 2025.