Paedophile jailed for crimes in Harrow (From This Is Local London)

Paedophile jailed for crimes in Harrow

10:44am Wednesday 26th September 2007

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A PREDATORY paedophile who targeted eight-year-olds and used "military grade software" to conceal his child porn addiction will remain in prison for at least three years and three months.

Jeremy Bowen, 49, from Hayes, regularly exposed his penis to schoolgirls in parks, school playgrounds and private gardens in Harrow, Hillingdon and Ealing, laughing as he masturbated in front of them.

In one incident, he lured two girls towards him and paid one to touch his erect penis.

Bowen, a computer support engineer for Thames Valley University, had amassed a collection of more than 150,000 pornographic images and films, all featuring prepubescent girls, Harrow Crown Court heard on Monday (September 24).

The stash, heavily encrypted and disguised as other images, was stored on two hard drives and two data disks at his home, which police raided in April this year.

They found the computer equipment hidden in three secret compartments behind shelves in Bowen's lounge.

Police were alerted to Bowen's activities when they arrested him last year for indecent exposure.

A full inquiry was launched, which revealed how Bowen, already convicted for indecent exposure, targeted girls younger than 14 and wanted to groom for sex.

Bowen appeared at court having already pleaded guilty to 24 counts of indecent exposure, ten counts of sexual activity in front of a child, two counts of inciting sexual activity with a child and 14 counts of possession and distribution of indecent images of children.

In the most serious case, on July 17, 2006, Bowen asked a nine-year-old and a ten-year-old girl to sit with him in Colham Green Recreational Ground, Hillingdon.

He asked the girls a riddle to which the answer was his erect penis and then offered them £5 to touch it.

One of the girls did, while Bowen took photos of them.

In a statement to the court, the mother of one of the girls said: "She was having nightmares, which had been about the man in the park. She no longer wanted to walk the dog and had to be coerced to come to the park."

She also described how her daughter did not like to be left alone and became physically unwell, at one point going grey in the face.

But this was not the only time Bowen prayed on children in 2006.

On September 8, 2006, he approached two 11-year-old girls in Bessingby Park, Ruislip and dropped his trousers, before starting to masturbate.

And on June 9, 2006, Bowen went towards three 11-year-old girls in Church Road, Hanwell, exposing his penis, while secretly photographing his victims.

Sentencing, Judge Alan Greenwood described Bowen's methods as "increasingly sophisticated as time goes on", luring young girls towards him, taking pleasure in their reaction when he exposed himself.

The haul of images and films seized by police was described by John Douglas, a forensic specialist who analysed the child porn for the police, as by far the most disturbing he had seen in four years working in child protection.

They included shots of Bowen with his penis inside a birthday card for one of his 14-year-old daughter's friends.

Bowen was a member of the Dick Flash Club, an online worldwide paedophile community, where indecent images are shared between users.

He had downloaded a "paedophile handbook", a guide to grooming children for sex, as well as thousands of images, some showing children being violently abused.

On the online forum, Bowen had written to other paedophiles about his experiences.

He wrote: "Everyone I know says I'm great with kids. My daughter's friends say I'm the best dad they know.

I've lost count of how many times people say I should be a teacher. Scary eh?"

Using the name Ultima, he admitted: "My age of attraction is towards young children between the age of eight and 14, but I must admit it's been creeping downwards."

Judge Greenwood described Bowen's conducts as "quite horrifying".

He said: "If the defendant had not been caught, it was his intention to go further with young girls, once he had found young girls he could influence in that way and groom."

Detective Sergeant John Price, from West Drayton, said: "Bowen's conviction will hopefully bring some reassurance to his numerous victims and will send a clear and unequivocal message to other perpetrators of such offences that this type of deviant behaviour will not be tolerated."

Bowen was imprisoned on Monday for the public's protection for at least three years and nine months, minus the six months he had spent on remand.

He can then apply for parole, but will remain on the Sex Offenders Register for life, will never be allowed to work with children and cannot go within 15 metres of a school, or 200 metres of children in a park.

He has also been banned from using the internet.

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