LONDON – The leader of an online paedophile ring who drew in four female accomplices was jailed yesterday for a minimum of nine years and might never be released.
IT consultant Colin Blanchard (40) convinced four women – Vanessa George (40), Tracy Lyons (41), Tracy Dawber (44) and Angela Allen (40) – to sexually assault young children and share the images.
Lyons was jailed for seven years and Dawber for four, while fellow paedophiles George and Allen are already serving prison sentences.
“This case involving the three of you, together with Vanessa George and Angela Allen, has caused widespread revulsion and disbelief,” said the judge, Justice Royce, at Bristol Crown Court.
Prosecutors have described the defendants as “one of the most sickening paedophile rings this country has seen”. Police broke up the gang when a work colleague of Blanchard found child sex abuse images on his computer in June 2009 and called police.
The net closed in on the rest of the group when detectives identified nursery worker George, mother-of-nine Lyons, community care worker Dawber and ex-prostitute Allen as being the other members. Blanchard met the women over the internet and convinced them to sexually assault young children and send him the images.
George abused young children at a nursery in Plymouth, and Allen and Lyons both assaulted youngsters to please Blanchard.
Dawber was the only one of the women whom Blanchard actually met. – (PA)