A pervert who targeted children on social media for sexual gratification has been imprisoned.
Oliver James Anglesmith, 37, is currently remanded in prison after pleading guilty to four counts of sexual communication with a child in May 2024, as well as one charge of failing to comply with the Sex Offenders Register’s notification requirements. He appeared in York Crown Court on February 14, 2025, and was sentenced to four years and four months in jail.
He was also issued a Sexual Harm Prevention Order until further notice. This means that he will face restrictions on his internet and device use, such as mobile phones and computers.
North Yorkshire Police discovered that Anglesmith, from Scarborough, targeted children’s chatrooms and SnapChat by posing as a young person. He was apprehended after police received a call from the parents of a child in another part of the country who had been threatened by him.
As the investigation progressed, the force’s Victim Identification Unit identified several other children from across the United Kingdom. Fortunately, some of the children saw through him and his lewd conversations and did not interact with him. He did, however, persuade some people to send him naked and sexually explicit images. If they refused, he threatened to hurt himself.
In police interviews, he claimed that the victims told him they were 16, but no evidence of this was discovered. He violated his Sex Offenders Register notification requirements by failing to register a mobile phone with the police.
The investigating officer, Detective Constable Steve Monty of Scarborough’s Safeguarding Investigation Team, stated that Anglesmith was particularly manipulative and used emotional blackmail to trick the children into sending sexual images of themselves. He made up a fictitious emotional story to get their attention and befriend them, then threatened to harm himself if they refused to do what he wanted. He is an online predator who is now rightfully back in prison.
“My thanks go to the vigilant parents who reported the abuse of their children and to our Victim Identification Unit who identified victims from all parts of the UK.”
For anonymous support and advice, contact the Lucy Faithfull Foundation at 0808 1000 900 or https://www.stopitnow.org.uk/helpline/.
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