A Derby man has been given an extended jail sentence for prolific online child abuse against more than 100 children.

Siah Singh Riley, 36, of Normanton, Derby, used social media platforms to contact young teenagers, befriend them, and persuade them to send explicit images. He later stockpiled those images and used them to blackmail victims into sending more.

A total of 152 victims were identified. In 24 cases, Riley threatened to publish images online if the victims did not comply with his demands.

Riley, a previously convicted sex offender, was initially charged with eight offences. However, analysis of electronic devices in his possession revealed the true scale of offending, resulting in a total of 145 charges, including causing a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, causing or inciting the making of indecent images of children, and blackmail.

Prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service and the investigation team at Derbyshire police worked closely to together to ensure the prolific nature of Riley’s offended was documented for the court and every criminal action covered by the strongest possible charges. In the face of this overwhelming evidence, Riley pleaded guilty to all but one offence and was today, 7 May, jailed for a total of 31 years at Derby Crown Court, a 25-year sentence, extended by six years.

Ghazala Mumtaz from the Crown Prosecution Service said: “The scale of this abuse is staggering. Siah Singh Riley relentlessly targeted young victims online for his own gratification, repeatedly exploiting their vulnerability.

“One of the hidden harms of this type of offending is that victims can blame themselves for what happened. They should be clear that the responsibility for this abuse lies entirely with Riley. He presents a real danger to society and it is extremely important that his abuse was stopped. I would like to reassure people that where this kind of abuse is uncovered, the response from criminal justice agencies will be comprehensive.”

Building the case: large scale online offending

The nature and extent of Riley’s offending was uncovered through detailed forensic analysis of his electronic devices, which showed a clear and repeated pattern of contacting children online, obtaining explicit images, and storing them.

Derbyshire police received intelligence about Riley’s online activity and identified accounts linked to him. He was then made subject to a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, giving police enhanced powers to restrict and monitor his behaviour. Over 100 offences were recovered from his devices, exposing the full scale of the abuse and Riley was then arrested for the second time. Further searches were carried out, uncovering continued offending and breaches of that order, leading to his remand in custody

While the offending was clear cut, prosecutors still had to ensure that Riley’s actions were all covered by the most appropriate charges. This allowed the court enough sentencing powers to deal with the risk Riley posed, not just to the community, but to young internet users everywhere. As the investigation progressed, the CPS prosecutor and police spent hours together unravelling the offending against each victim and gathering the evidence for each charge. This collaborative work ensured that not Riley not only had no option but to plead guilty, but that the court could deal with him in the most robust way possible. In addition to grooming based offending, the prosecution team identified 24 victims who were subjected to escalating abuse through threats to distribute images online, resulting in blackmail charges.

Where victims could not be traced, expert analysis was used to assist in establishing age profiles.
At sentencing, the CPS presented evidence of the prolific nature of the offending, alongside Riley’s previous conviction for a sexual offence, to demonstrate the ongoing risk he posed to the public. The court determined that Riley was dangerous and this was reflected in the sentence.