- Nicholas Hatton, 34, from Crewe, forced his victim to abuse a two-year-old child
- The teenager confessed to rape and sexual assault and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
- Hatton was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in inciting violence against his victim.
An online predator who tricked a boy into raping a young relative 4,500 miles away has been jailed for 18 years – while his victim will serve a 50-year sentence in the US.
Twisted Nicholas Hatton, who had a huge stash of child abuse images, groomed the boy from the age of 12.
Chester Crown Court heard the victim, who had been in contact with Hatton for several years from 2014, told police he was forced to sexually abuse the two-year-old family member in front of the camera.
Following his confession, the teenager has since been convicted of rape and sexual assault in America and sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Meanwhile, Hatton, 34, of West Street, Crewe, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the UK.
Nicholas Hatton, 34, from Crewe, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for grooming a boy and forcing him to rape a young relative in the US.
The court heard the boy was one of Hatton’s four victims. Detectives were able to identify two of them, both based in America.
The investigation into Hatton began in 2021 when officers from Cheshire Police received intelligence from a social media company regarding his online activity.
An arrest warrant was executed at Hatton’s home in Crewe, where a number of electronic devices were seized and sent for analysis.
When examining the devices, officers recovered more than 12,000 indecent images of children and 750 indecent videos, as well as 1,050 prohibited images.
Following this discovery, Hatton was arrested again in June 2022.
During his interrogation, he denied knowing who the children depicted in the images were.
He was later released on bail. It was at this point that a Cheshire Police victim identification officer identified the two US-based victims.
Hatton was subsequently charged and later pleaded guilty to all offences.
He was charged with six counts of causing or inciting a boy under 13 to engage in sexual activity; two counts of causing or inciting the sexual exploitation of a child aged 13 to 17 and one count of possessing indecent images of children.
Hatton also pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of taking indecent images of children and one count of possessing prohibited images of ‘children.
Following his sentencing, Detective Constable Faye Taylor, from Cheshire Police’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team, said: “This was a complex and lengthy investigation which ultimately revealed Hatton’s despicable behavior.
“It emerged throughout the investigation that Hatton was a sexual predator who preyed on vulnerable young boys and had no regard for the effects his actions would have on the victims or their families.
“As a result of his abuse as a child, one of Hatton’s victims in America received a lengthy prison sentence, while a member of his family suffered sustained sexual abuse .
“While none of the victims will ever be able to forget what happened to them, I hope that Hatton’s conviction and the sentence he received will allow them to move on.”
“I also hope that Hatton’s conviction serves as a reminder that there are no boundaries when it comes to sexual abuse, that it can happen anywhere and at any time and that its impact can be life-changing. “
As well as his prison sentence, Hatton was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
Chester Crown Court heard the victim, who had been in contact with Hatton for several years from 2014, told police he was forced to sexually abuse the two-year-old family member in front of the camera.
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