An 18-year-old Arkansas man will serve a 50-year prison sentence for raping a toddler after being manipulated online by a predatory pedophile living 4,500 miles away.
Nicholas Hatton, from Crewe, England, forced the teenager to sexually abuse a two-year-old on camera after grooming him from the age of 12, Britain’s Chester Crown Court heard.
The teenager, one of Hatton’s four victims, confessed to the assault and was later convicted of rape and sexual assault. He was sentenced on February 8 of this year in Howard County Circuit Court, police told DailyMail.com.
Hatton, 34, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the United Kingdom on Tuesday. He had previously pleaded guilty to a litany of sexual offenses after being found in possession of a collection of more than 12,000 images of child abuse.
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.
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Nicholas Hatton, 34, of Crewe, England, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison for grooming an Arkansas teenager and forcing him to rape a two-year-old on camera.
The teenager, one of Hatton’s four victims, confessed to the assault and was later convicted of rape and sexual assault. . He was sentenced on February 8 this year in Howard County Circuit Court, police (pictured) told DailyMail.com.
Chester Crown Court heard the Arkansas teenager was one of Hatton’s four victims. Detectives were able to identify two of them, both based in America.
The investigation into Hatton was launched in 2021 when officers from Cheshire Police received intelligence from a social media company regarding his online activity.
An arrest warrant was executed at his 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 is a complex and lengthy investigation which ultimately exposed Hatton’s despicable behavior.
Chester Crown Court (pictured) heard the Arkansas teenager, who had been in contact with Hatton for several years from 2014, told officers he was forced to sexually abuse the child two years in front of the camera.
“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 childhood abuse, one of Hatton’s victims in America was sentenced to a long prison term, while (the little child) 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. “
DailyMail.com has contacted the Howard County Circuit Court for more information.
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