Source: United Kingdom London Metropolitan Police
A man has been jailed after detectives gathered evidence from around the country to prove he had been sexually communicating with social media profiles he believed belonged to young teenage girls.
At Inner Crown Court on Wednesday, 27 September, Ilia Stoilov, 48 (13.04.75) of no fixed abode, was sentenced to two years and four months in jail after pleading guilty to 14 charges.
Between March 2018 and August 2019, Stoilov spoke to nine individuals on an app called ‘chat hour’ to communicate with multiple profiles that he thought belonged to young girls all under the age of 16.
On each occasion he sent sexual messages. He also sent sexually explicit photos of himself and asked them to send similar in return.
He was apprehended in Bulgaria on Friday, 7 April and returned to the UK in June.
He was charged with nine counts of attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, one count of attempting to cause or incite a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, two counts of attempting to cause or incite a child under 16 to engage in sexual activity and two counts of attempting to cause a child to watch a sexual act.
DC Mike Penn said: “Stoilov believed the individuals he was talking to were under 16 and continued to send messages of a disturbingly graphic nature.
“It is clear that he poses a real danger to the public and we are pleased that the significant hours of work spent gathering evidence from police forces nationwide led to his guilty plea and ultimately his custodial sentence.”