David Chellapah Jailed for Ten Years for Grooming and Sexual Exploitation

A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment at Isleworth Crown Court for a prolific series of online child sexual exploitation offences.

David Chellapah, born on 2 September 1994, was sentenced on Friday, 22 May, after entering guilty pleas to 21 counts on Friday, 27 February.

The criminal offences took place over a three-month period between August and October 2025.

The Metropolitan Police initiated an investigation after receiving operational intelligence that the defendant was communicating with a child online and attempting to coordinate a physical meeting for the purpose of abuse.

Detectives from the Met’s Central Specialist Crime Command, Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (OCSAE) team, intercepted and arrested the defendant on Friday, 17 October 2025.

Chellapah was apprehended by officers at the point of attending the pre-arranged rendezvous location.

An extensive digital forensic analysis of the defendant’s mobile phone and electronic devices established that he targeted multiple children aged between 12 and 15 across various social media platforms.

The prosecution evidence demonstrated a pattern of sustained grooming behaviour, which included transmitting sexually explicit messages, inciting minors to engage in sexual activity, and attempting to arrange illicit physical meetings.

Investigators successfully identified multiple victims through communications recovered from the hardware, noting that some children had been subjected to coercion and pressure to produce sexual images and videos.

A search of the defendant's residential address resulted in the seizure of further digital storage media, including a USB stick containing a significant volume of indecent images and videos of children, including material involving very young children.

The formal charges to which Chellapah pleaded guilty included sexual communication with a child, attempting to meet a child following grooming, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, and offences relating to the production and possession of indecent images of children.

Detective案 Specialist DC Alan Stepkowski-Fellows stated that the defendant exhibited clear and persistent predatory behaviour.

The officer confirmed that specialist, trauma-informed digital evidence gathering ensured that strong technical files were presented to the court, removing the operational requirement for the young victims to testify during the judicial process.

The 10-year custodial sentence marks the final disposal of the case by the Crown Court.