Depraved online sex offender tried to blackmail teenage boy into having sex with a cat

Moosa Kayat tricked his victims into sending him sexual images before threatening to post them online unless they complied with his vile requests to be sent degrading pictures and videos.

A judge praised the efforts of West Yorkshire Police detectives for bringing Moosa to justice after a "painstaking" investigation which took almost five years.

Kayat, now aged 22, was jailed for four years after pleading guilty to blackmail and a series of sexual offences dating back to 2015.

Leeds Crown Court heard the offences were committed against four vulnerable boys who lived in fear of being exposed to friends and family.

One of the victims described how he felt suicidal as a result of Kayat's constant threats.

Richard Woolfall, prosecuting, said Kayat preyed on a 15-year-old boy in 2015 after they met through a website.

The boy told Kayat that he was not openly gay and had joined the website to find people to talk to about his sexuality.

The prosecutor said the victim initially thought the defendant was a nice person and seemed to understand the issues that he was struggling to deal with.

The victim and Kayat spoke on the phone and sent messages to each other.

The boy later sent sexual images of himself to the defendant.

Kayat began to request images more graphic in nature and asked that the boy include his face in the material.

He also invited the boy to meet him in Leeds so they could have sex.

The court heard the boy eventually became suspicious and stopped contact with Kayat.

Mr Woolfall said Kayat then contacted the boy on Facebook and began to threaten him.

He told the boy he would expose him online and threatened to send the images he already had of him to his friends unless he complied with his demands.

The victim initially complied with Kayat's demands but the requests became more depraved.

Kayat demanded to be sent images of the boy having sex with his pet cat, which the victim refused.

The court heard Kayat sent an image of the boy carrying out a sex act to one of the victim's friends.

The defendant also threatened to post further videos online despite the boy begging him not to.

Kayat demanded that the victim get other teenage boys to engage in sexual activity with him.

The defendant told him: "If you ever block me on social media your secret will be out."

Mr Woolfall said Kayat preyed upon a second victim, who was aged 16 at the time, after they had met online and swapped sexual images of each other.

Kayat told the victim that he "owned" him and demanded that he be his slave.

He made demands for videos and images much more graphic in nature.

The victim initially compiled but the demands became more and more depraved.

The prosecutor said the victim felt suicidal and eventually broke down and told his mother about the abuse.

A third victim was targeted when Kayat posed online as a boy called Sam.

He obtained a sexual image of the boy which Kayat threatened to send to the victim's friends.

A fourth victim was targeted in a similar way. He described how the offending had made him feel "fragile" and "lacking in self-worth."

Police seized Kayat's phone and recovered over 100 indecent child images on the device.

A total of 22 of the images were at category A - the most serious level of offending.

Kayat, 22, of Dennison Street, Batley, pleaded guilty to blackmail, five counts of attempting to cause a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, attempting to cause a child to engage in sexual activity, two of distributing indecent photographs and three of making indecent photographs.

The case took more than four years to reach court, mainly due to the detailed and complex nature of the police investigation.

Mr Woolfall said: "This investigation started life with there being the possibility of 40 separate victims.

The victims lived in different areas of the country.

Police officers downloaded 5,000 pages of evidence from Moosa's phone.

Ricky Holland, mitigating, said Kayat began the offending when he was himself a youth.

Mr Holland said the defendant felt isolated at the time.

He said: "His best friend became his smartphone.

"He wasn't generating any great friendships and in that particular vacuum became interested in this activity.

"It became an addiction that was borne out of sexual motivation. He felt empowered in relation to others.

"He took on the role of being dominant."

Mr Holland said Kayat is now a different person compared to when he carried out the offending.

Sentencing, Judge Tom Bayliss QC said: "Any injury done to the victims in a case like this is likely to be enduring.

"They felt shame, ever present anxiety and fear of exposure.

"It was designed to demean them and designed to humiliate them.

"You gained sexual gratification from demeaning these boys and humiliating them."

Thanking the police officers involved in the case, the judge added: "It was very important that it was conducted with the care that it was.

"They are to be commended, and formally commended."

After the case, an NSPCC spokesperson said: “This horrific case, and the depth of Kayat’s depraved manipulation of four vulnerable boys, underlines how devastating online grooming can truly be.

“We hope his victims have the support they need to move on with their lives.

"For too long, tech companies have seemingly put their own interests ahead of the safety of our children online.

"It is crucial that the Government acts as soon as possible, bringing in a full Online Harms Bill, to hold these social media companies to account and to help prevent offenders like Kayat from trying to target, groom and abuse children online.”

Children can contact Childline on 0800 1111. Adults with concerns about children can contact the NSPCC Helpline on 0808 8005000.