Ex-Lovers jailed after Child Filmed being Sexually Assaulted

Abhiyaan Malhotra, aged 25, of Swansea, has been jailed for 42 months after pleading guilty to both voyeurism and arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence.

William Greenhalgh, aged 22, formerly of Blackpool, was jailed for 40 months after pleading guilty to making and distributing indecent photographs of a child, possessing a prohibited image of a child and sexual assault against a child.

Both were made the subject of a lifetime sexual harm prevention order and ordered to sign the sex offenders register for life.

The pair were caught after Lancashire Police’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) launched an investigation in early 2020 as they had been made aware of an individual uploading an indecent image of a child to Facebook.

This led officers to Greenhalgh’s home where they seized his phone for further examination.

They found that he had been communicating with his former student boyfriend Malhotra through a social media app.

Chats between the two revealed that Greenhalgh had sent Malhotra indecent images of a young boy, followed by live video recording.

At one point, Malhotra tells Greenhalgh to call himself a sex offender while he was sexually abusing the child.

It was also discovered that Malhotra had taken a photo of a man sleeping naked without his knowledge and sent it to Greenhalgh.

When Greenhalgh was arrested, he told police officers that he had committed the offences under duress and that he and Malhotra had a dominant/submissive relationship whereby he was the submissive party.

He claimed that his co-defendant had taken control of his finances and had threatened to ‘out’ him to his family if he didn’t continue to send him money.

Meanwhile, Malhotra provided a prepared statement during his police interview.

He denied that he had committed any offences.

He said that Greenhalgh was the dominant partner in the relationship and said part of the ‘fantasy’ involved his co-defendant telling him to do things he didn’t want to do

Detective Constable Rachel Hill, of OCAIT, said: “These two individuals are extremely dangerous and I am pleased they have both been given significant sentences.

“They worked together to expose their child victim to sickening abuse for their own perverted sexual interests.

“It is thanks to the hard work and professionalism displayed by the OCAIT that the indisputable evidence detailing Malhotra and Greenhalgh’s vile offending was brought to light.

“I would like to thank all my colleagues and the CPS for helping to secure these convictions and achieving some form of justice for the victims in this case.”

Malhotra was jailed for 42 months.

Greenhalgh was sentenced to 40 months in prison.