Prosecution proves a man raped a child and sexually abused more victims in first of its kind use of digital forensics to link a camera with pictures.

Darren Welsby, 48, has been sentenced to 23 years imprisonment at Manchester Crown Court today (Tuesday 20 October 2026), after being found guilty of rape of a child under 13, sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of causing a child under the age of 13 to engage in sexual activity, five counts of distributing indecent images of children and four counts of taking indecent photographs of a child.

This investigation began in 2019 after images of child abuse were discovered on the dark web and uploaded to Interpol’s database.

In a landmark case, the Crown Prosecution Service and the National Crime Agency commissioned specialist expert evidence to prove that Welsby was the person shown abusing children in the images. This included a report from a forensic anthropologist that compared photos Welsby had created of himself with the hands of the person in the images and a further report from a digital forensic expert to prove that all of the images were taken on the same device.  

Bethany Raine, Specialist Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: 
“Darren Welsby has been imprisoned for sexually abusing children, including the rape of a girl under 13. He took images of some of these terrible crimes.

“This was a landmark case as the expert digital forensic evidence proved that those images were taken on the same device as other images, known to have been taken on one of Welsby’s phones. Another expert report confirmed that the hands shown in some of the images were Welsby, by comparing them to photos of his knuckles.

“This has been a complex and challenging case due to the unique evidence needed to bring Welsby to justice.  It would not have been possible without the comprehensive investigation undertaken by the National Crime Agency.

"The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to tackling child sexual abuse and to supporting victims through the criminal justice process.”

To deal with the most complex and challenging child sexual abuse cases like this, the CPS has established a dedicated national Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit where specialist prosecutors use their expertise and experience to build strong cases and increase the number of successful prosecutions.

National Crime Agency Senior Manager Jen Cruickshank said: “Darren Welsby is a predatory sexual offender who inflicted the most horrific sexual abuse against children, some as young as six, over a period of eight years.

“It is impossible to imagine the trauma they suffered as a result of these monstrous crimes, and the emotional scars they’ve been left with.

“Our investigation was painstaking and time-consuming; utilising innovative forensic techniques to identify Welsby, who attempted to hide his offending by using the dark web. This comprehensive investigation ensured that necessary evidence was secured to bring him to justice.

“This sentence is testament to the skill and unwavering dedication of investigators in the NCA and we will continue to pursue dangerous offenders like Welsby, who prey on those who are vulnerable, to protect children from sexual abuse.”

Building the case
Welsby was identified as the person responsible for uploading these indecent images as he had used a username “wellhnug” to upload them and the same username had been used on an adult pornography website in which the defendant had uploaded images of himself wearing ladies’ lingerie.

There were visual similarities between some of the images of the defendant and those of the male depicted committing the rape and sexual assault of a child and this led to his identification and arrest.

Expert opinion was sought from a forensic anthropologist. Through examining images that the defendant had taken of himself and comparing them with the offending images, the expert was able to say that both were taken with exactly the same device (not just same make and model but a specific device).

This was the one of first cases of its kind where this technique was deployed when the offending device was no longer available in that these images were taken around six to eight years before his arrest and so the device itself had long since been destroyed.