Police worker who used Habbo to get children to perform sex shows is jailed

Some what more bad press for Habbo Hotel as this is now in the Daily Mail:

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• Children as young as ten posed indecently for the PCSO
• The officer was in his post for two-and-a-half years before he was exposed
• Habbo, the controversial web-chat site attracts ten million youngsters each month who could be putting themselves at risk

A POLICE worker who coaxed children into performing webcam sex shows has been locked up.

Paedophile Ashley Whitfield used animated kids’ web-chat site ‘Habbo Hotel’ to find victims late at night.

Children as young as ten posed indecently for him via webcams in their bedrooms as their parents slept unawares.

The PCSO, who secretly recorded the images, won his victims’ trust by pretending to be a teenager.

In reality, Whitfield, 25, was a serving police community support officer with a secret obsession with child porn.

He had been in a £20,000-a-year post with Cheshire Constabulary for two-and-a-half years when he was exposed.

Whitfield, of Redfern Walk, Warrington, had used a string of different email addresses to avoid detection.

He sobbed in the dock as he was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Manchester Crown Court.

He had admitted six counts of causing a child to engage in sexual activity, three counts of taking indecent photographs of a child, and 13 counts of possessing child pornography at an earlier hearing.

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Read the full article by going to:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ws-jailed.html

Lmao, another brilliant image for Habbo.

Absolutely disgusting what he did though +o(

I hope this don't start all over again -_-''''

Thats just ridiculous

Three years? Damn this country sucks for this. LIFE!

Worst thing was he was a member of the police!! That's messed up ..

Wonder if anyone on here knew him :o

Gross, but Habbo is actually a lot safer than other chat sites. There are so many chat rooms that are constantly filled with old men that message you, "I'm 46, is that OK?", and then try to take things further on MSN; they purposely go into the 'teen' category and are purposely looking for children. I haven't seen a lot of this on Habbo - the Daily Mail know that Habbo is currently an interesting and saleable talking point.

On another note, I think three-years imprisonment is satisfactory. Life would be extreme, unless he touched a minor. Sickening.

That's so wrong and disgusting. I agree that three years is acceptable as well.

his sentence should be longer..

Sentence is ridiculous, should have been much longer. This just leads me on to think that Habbo needs to be closed even though I opposed this a few months ago. But I wouldn't want my child playing a game like that? Rammed with paedophiles... it's not safe at all and its disgusting, because things like this will still carry on.

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Originally Posted by branch

Sentence is ridiculous, should have been much longer. This just leads me on to think that Habbo needs to be closed even though I opposed this a few months ago. But I wouldn't want my child playing a game like that? Rammed with paedophiles... it's not safe at all and its disgusting, because things like this will still carry on.

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Same as any other website on the internet....

3 & a half years? wow whats wrong with the justice system, thats outrageous. not a good look for Habbo either.

Oh dear, this is the last thing habbo needed.

Just shows you can't trust anyone. Not even the law - at times.

And only three years - I swear you get more for stealing a loaf of bread.

Habbo is actually alot better then other sites that i've seen and theres not much of the cam stuff going on anymore either.

I agree with someone who already posted. Habbo isn't the WORST site.. it just gets prime target because it's popular. There are hundreds of websites this happens on.. least Habbo does its best to monitor the website. You'll never, ever be 100 % safe. If your that young, you shouldn't be allowed to use the internet unsupervised or at ridicilious hours of the night. Parents do need to take some responsibility for what there children are doing.

he will most likely get what is coming to him in jail, they dont like paedos in there. 3 years is fine imo

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Originally Posted by Hiding

his sentence should be longer..

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Agreed

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Originally Posted by Habbic

Same as any other website on the internet....

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Thanks for the -rep. But there's a different, most other websites aren't specifically designed for young children are they? When you sign up to Habbo, as a parent you'd expect it to be safe, it SHOULD be a safe environment for your children, but it's far from that. Habbo is paedo heaven and the fact that this has been going on for years and nothings been done about it, is even more disgusting so please elaborate how that is the same as any other website? When you sign up to other websites you might expect that or you'd be more cautious, but when you sign up to a game specifically for children, you wouldn't expect stuff like that.

It's understandable that no site can ever be 100% safe, but you would expect that something would be done on Habbo to try and tackle this, that at least it is being monitored and controlled more, but it isn't and so far everything they have done is completely useless.

Honestly the sentence is good

I'm not saying what he did was right, but first off - Habbo is for 13+, so 10 year old children should not be on it. Second, their parents were asleep so I don't know why 10 year olds bedtimes are after their parents, or if they sneak on or something? That should be dealt with.

Yes, it's partially Habbo's fault, YES, that man is at fault and deserves jailing but bad parenting is also a hand in this.

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Originally Posted by Ribbonaire

Honestly the sentence is good

I'm not saying what he did was right, but first off - Habbo is for 13+, so 10 year old children should not be on it. Second, their parents were asleep so I don't know why 10 year olds bedtimes are after their parents, or if they sneak on or something? That should be dealt with.

Yes, it's partially Habbo's fault, YES, that man is at fault and deserves jailing but bad parenting is also a hand in this.

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Sure, habbo need to get better safety, parents need to look after their children but no one forced a disgusting man to do this.

He deserves 50 years in prison, anyone who thinks I'm being too horrible... just take a think for a while what type of man this is, and especially since he's meant to be keeping us safe by being with the police. In three years time, there is no guarantee at all that he has changed his ways. Even if its only 15 years in jail, that would be more suitable. My opinion :) -- everyone has their right for their opinion.

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Originally Posted by Intricat

Wonder if anyone on here knew him :o

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I live not far from him, sick person terrible considering he was a PCSO.

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Originally Posted by Mk,

Sure, habbo need to get better safety, parents need to look after their children but no one forced a disgusting man to do this.

He deserves 50 years in prison, anyone who thinks I'm being too horrible... just take a think for a while what type of man this is, and especially since he's meant to be keeping us safe by being with the police. In three years time, there is no guarantee at all that he has changed his ways. Even if its only 15 years in jail, that would be more suitable. My opinion :) -- everyone has their right for their opinion.

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There is no guarantee of that not matter what sentence they are given. I suspect that's one of many reasons why people like @-:Undertaker:-; would support the death penalty. It ensures it doesn't happen again.

Not that I support it, just saying : P

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Originally Posted by Intersocial

There is no guarantee of that not matter what sentence they are given. I suspect that's one of many reasons why people like @-:Undertaker:-; would support the death penalty. It ensures it doesn't happen again.

Not that I support it, just saying : P

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I support the death penalty or the actual life in jail until you die sort of thing. You should get that for murder and things like this :). My own opinion :)

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Originally Posted by Intersocial

There is no guarantee of that not matter what sentence they are given. I suspect that's one of many reasons why people like @-:Undertaker:-; would support the death penalty. It ensures it doesn't happen again.

Not that I support it, just saying : P

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I only support the death penalty in cases of murder, rape and child rape are in my opinion worthy of a life sentence but not death.

Most people seem to think 3 years is too short - I still disagree. Three years is a very long time. It's easy to say "just three years!?", but when you think about it - think of life in your own experience - three years takes a long time to pass (well, it takes exactly three years, to be precise), especially when you're in a prison.

He never touched anyone. He never mentally harmed anyone. What he did was disgusting, but not life-threatening, and the sad truth is that the internet is absolutely riddled with guys just like him, most of which are not on Habbo but are on other sites. Has anyone watched the program "How To Catch A Predator"? Those guys actually meet up with children! That is a far worse offence, in my eyes...

I'm not condoning what he did, nor do I support, like or encourage paedophiles; he's a sick man. Better make that clear! I'm not sticking up for this paedophile - I'm supporting the actions of the court.

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Originally Posted by Munex

Most people seem to think 3 years is too short - I still disagree. Three years is a very long time. It's easy to say "just three years!?", but when you think about it - think of life in your own experience - three years takes a long time to pass (well, it takes exactly three years, to be precise), especially when you're in a prison.[/B]

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And? this sounds to me like a pity plea for a man who took advantage of young children, and whilst I agree it is not as bad as touching children (which deserves life) three years is certainly too short - especially considering how soft our justice system is, a system where he will be met with a broadly comfortable life (warm single rooms, television provdied, good meals, console games, easy access to drugs and so on).

It does tire me the way some people seem to care more about the welfare of the criminals as opposed to their victims whose lives they have made incredibly difficult or hard to deal with, not to mention the lives of those close to them (the parents for one example).

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

It does tire me the way some people seem to care more about the welfare of the criminals as opposed to their victims whose lives they have made incredibly difficult or hard to deal with, not to mention the lives of those close to them (the parents for one example).

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But with this mentality, why not lock every petty criminal up for life? Why not give them the death penalty? I'm only being rational with this case. It costs a lot of money to keep people locked up, and I think 3 years is enough money to be spent on him for the crime he did.

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Originally Posted by Munex

But with this mentality, why not lock every petty criminal up for life? Why not give them the death penalty? I'm only being rational with this case.

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I am being rational also in thinking that a man who took advantage of children sexually should be punished for a longer period of time (and more harshly, see post above) rather than the paltry period of three years in a soft prison. I don't know the ins and outs of this case in particular, but i'd suggest a minimum of 10 to 15 years for the lesser crimes that fit into this category.

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Originally Posted by Munex

It costs a lot of money to keep people locked up, and I think 3 years is enough money to be spent on him for the crime he did.

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It does, but that is something that could be drastically lowered if we stopped the justice system wasting money on 'rehabilitation' programmes (which do not work), providing illegal substances for prisoners, providing prisoners with entertainment and so on. And besides, law and order is one of the purposes of having a state as the state is there to provide the basics of law and order (protecting individual liberties) and national defence - if the state stopped trying to provide things it shouldn't be in the business of providing (aid, social programmes and cultural propaganda, state healthcare, state education and much more) then it would easily be able to afford and properly run a justice system as it is supposed to do.

There are few things I want the state to do, but the things it ought to do (in this case punishment for a genuine crime) I want it to do properly and administer strong justice.

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Originally Posted by -:Undertaker:-

I am being rational also in thinking that a man who took advantage of children sexually should be punished for a longer period of time (and more harshly, see post above) rather than the paltry period of three years in a soft prison. I don't know the ins and outs of this case in particular, but i'd suggest a minimum of 10 to 15 years for the lesser crimes that fit into this category.

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Okay, but then you need to ask how young someone needs to be to merit 15 years in prison. In the UK, you can have sex at 16 - that is considered illegal in the USA. I was told by a friend the other day that the age of consent in Japan is 13! I'm sure other countries are even lower (although, I haven't done the research).

I personally think 3 years is satisfactory, perhaps not a great sentence, but nonetheless, satisfactory. I wouldn't give him over 6 years for what he did.

As for everything else you said, I agree with. Prisons need to be tough, not a pleasure.

He would have been caught sooner, had parents taken responsibility for supervising their children’s activities on the internet.

Well done to whoever exposed him.

It's always a game used as a scapegoat for a parents behavior. Yes, it was the catalyst but it wasn't the direct cause. Why were the children up at that hour? Why did they have webcams? and more importantly, why were they up after their parents had gone to bed?

http://i.imgur.com/CgrMo.gif

that's absolutely disgusting, sick man.

Wasn't there a guy who was a PCSO on this forum around a year ago, was it him? In his mid 20s from what I can remember..

oh god, this'll be all over the news again..

I see another mute on the way. Soon the words Police and British Media will be banned. -.-

Awkward, this guy is in the same town as me.

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Originally Posted by Intersocial

Lmao, another brilliant image for Habbo.

Absolutely disgusting what he did though +o(

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Exactly that.

Habbo is going down the ****ter and that officier is gross and deserves everything he gets.

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Originally Posted by Mk,

He deserves 50 years in prison

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You really want to be more like America and have a majority of prison population being non-violent offenders? Cause that's where your logic heads towards...

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Originally Posted by Unsuspected

Why do Americans love keeping non-violent criminals in prison? The majority of prison inmates in the US are non-violent offenders. People like this guy are terrible, but you really need to set some priorities.

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I'm scottish (in Scotland). That is in Britain, not America... However, I totally agree with American's way of time in jail. I think it should be even stricter!

Yeah bad press for Habbo but you only find that sort of behavior if you go and look for it

Only like 2% of people who use Habbo would do that sort of thing