🔴 Snapchat Child Rapist, 25, Caged for 18 Years in Boy Abuse Horror
A prolific child rapist who orchestrated a years-long campaign of grooming and sexual exploitation targeting vulnerable boys as young as 12 has been sentenced to 18 years’ imprisonment with an extended licence period of four years.
Barthimaus Ehiemere, 25 (born 13.07.2000), of Chart Street, Hackney, N1, appeared at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Thursday where His Honour Judge Timothy Greene imposed a total custodial term of 18 years followed by four years on licence, alongside an indefinite Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
Ehiemere had pleaded guilty to 32 counts, including multiple charges of rape of a child under 13, inciting children to engage in sexual activity, and repeated breaches of an earlier Sexual Harm Prevention Order.
A jury subsequently convicted him on a further 15 offences, among them sexual assault and paying for the sexual services of a child, bringing the total to 47 counts involving seven identified victims aged between 12 and 16.
Prosecutor James Brown KC told the court that Ehiemere harboured a calculated “commercial interest” in the sexual abuse of young teenage boys, systematically offering cash, gifts and flattery via Snapchat to coerce victims into producing explicit images and videos.
Those images were then traded or sold to other offenders, while Ehiemere openly advertised for fresh material, posting messages such as “always meeting new boys… pop up and take my money” and “I trade quality nudes”.
Searches on his devices included terms such as “young boy rape”, and detectives recovered more than 1,600 indecent images of children across four phones.
The offending spanned 2019 to 2023, during which Ehiemere used the now-defunct Spotafriend app alongside Snapchat to locate and contact boys.
He committed seven rapes against two separate 12-year-old victims.
Ehiemere first came to police attention in July 2020 when intelligence revealed his phone was distributing child abuse material.
In February 2021 he received an eight-month suspended sentence at Wood Green Crown Court and was placed on a Sexual Harm Prevention Order, which he repeatedly breached while continuing to target children.
Further devices seized in subsequent investigations uncovered footage of the rapes and additional victims.
Sentencing, Judge Greene described the offending as a sustained “campaign of predatory sexual offending against boys” over several years, declaring Ehiemere posed a serious danger to young males.
In mitigation, Barry Kogan said his client expressed “deep shame and remorse” and claimed he had been negatively influenced by an older adult who encouraged him to profit from illegal images.
A victim impact statement read to the court detailed ongoing nightmares and the lengthy process of recognising that the abuse was not their fault.
Detective Chief Inspector Kirk Doyle, who led Operation Teigar, described Ehiemere as a prolific predator who preyed on vulnerable children through social media, using inducements to obtain imagery that he then weaponised to lure others.
DCI Doyle stressed that while seven victims have been formally identified, investigators believe the true number runs to “many, many more”, some potentially into the hundreds.
He issued a fresh appeal for anyone affected to contact police, quoting Operation Teigar, emphasising that reports would be met with belief and support regardless of how much time had elapsed.
An NSPCC spokesperson highlighted the case as evidence of record levels of online grooming and called for platform design changes to prevent such exploitation.
