Messages also included him offering to make money out of her
Shaker Sharif, aged 44, of West London, was jailed for three years and nine months for trying to recruit vulnerable young girls as escorts after posting modelling ads on Craigslist.
He sexually abused five teenagers, who he knew to be under 16, between 2015 and 2016.
Before the hearing, Sharif had been on a restrictive sexual risk order since 2020, limiting his contact with children.
According to Companies House filings, he was formerly a director of a dissolved property management company, Tenantbox Limited, which previously advertised rooms across London, while offering landlords a zero per cent management fee.
Among the accounts followed by the company’s X page are a massage equipment company and a user called ‘Sexpestinthecity’.
Sharif met a 14-year-old girl in 2015, using the pseudonym ‘Jay Biggs’ to swap sexual images with her, including fully nude photos.
Corinne Bramwell, prosecuting, said Sharif used “grooming” methods, like sending links to pornography websites and references to his escorting business.
Ms Bramwell said: “He would talk about meeting girls and providing £600 for happy endings.”
The explicit chats continued for months until the girl told Sharif it seemed like he only wanted indecent images of her masturbating or for her to have sex with him.
After telling her they were in a relationship, Sharif continued to ask for the photos.
In total, 159 indecent images of the girl were recovered by police.
In August 2016, Sharif started chatting to a 13-year-old girl on a teenage dating app, which is known to be “a playground for paedophiles”.
The girl claimed she was 19.
Sharif asked the girl if she was a virgin and preyed on her vulnerabilities when she disclosed self-harm and being bullied at school.
Within a day of starting the conversation, he sent the girl a photo of his penis and called her 89 times. He also asked her for contact details of friends, to which she provided a number.
Ms Bramwell said there was evidence Sharif called that number.
In September 2016, Sharif requested more pictures.
When the girl asked what of, he told her:
“I want to see your body, t**s, p**sy, all.”
She sent him two more images and this prompted him to ask again. She eventually told him she would stop because he was “annoying” and she was not allowed to.
Sharif told the third victim: “I wish you were older.”
Messages also included him offering to make money out of her if she “trusted” him.
After telling her “how much girls make in the sex industry” he asked her to come to London. Police later found evidence of 55 payments to her bank account.
The fourth victim was 15 years old in 2015 when she responded to Sharif’s Craigslist advert for teen models claiming she was aged 16.
Sharif asked if she wanted to join the agency, while she disclosed a rate of £170 per shoot.
After the girl responded to two more adverts, Sharif asked if she would do “sexual shoots or videos” in Shepherd’s Bush.
The final victim received multiple bank transfers in exchange for sexual content when she was just 14.
Messages included Sharif claiming that he “loved” the girl and accused her of not caring about him.
But the victim said it was Sharif who did not care about her and would talk about other girls and sex, rather than asking her how she was.
This was in reference to Sharif’s legitimate adult escorting activities, but could not provide evidence that his abuse of the girls was “commercial”.
Sharif was arrested at his home on September 27, 2017, on an unrelated matter.
Devices were seized and they contained evidence of his child exploitation.
He denied 20 counts in October 2022 but at a pre-trial hearing in 2023, he reversed his pleas on five counts.
The case was set to go to trial in March 2024.
Ten days before the trial, Sharif reversed another seven pleas.
The Crown decided it was not in the public interest to pursue the remaining eight counts which were left to lie on file.
Defence counsel Zacharias Miah called for a suspended sentence as he outlined the long delay in bringing the case to court and the recommendation of a community order by the probation service.
He argued: “In part, this is a victimless case.
“As some of them are not involved in these proceedings. It was all based on data from his laptop and phone.”
Ms Bramweel hit back by reading out one victim impact statement, in which the girl blamed her depression, anxiety, and panic attacks on Sharif’s abuse.
Mr Miah highlighted Sharif’s previous good character, poor mental health at the time, and obesity as he reached for mitigation.
The barrister also highlighted Sharif’s progress with various schemes for sex offenders, including a ‘Sexaholics’ clinic and the Safer Lives programme, and his compliance with the sexual risk order made in 2020.
Recorder Sam Robinson highlighted Sharif’s “pattern of long manipulative communications with vulnerable young girls”, some of which lasted years, and left them with “serious psychological harm”.
Referring to the lead offence, Recorder Robinson said:
“I’m in no doubt the chats between the two of you were manipulative and controlling.”
“The fact you sent links to porn websites and references to escort agencies.
“You sought to entice her about what other girls made in the escort business. She could make £600 with a happy ending.
“She, 15 years old, said she would like that money. You could see the power which you had over her.”
Summarising the case, the judge added: “Your offending throughout these two years shows a high level of manipulative behaviour.
“You were constantly asking for images of young vulnerable girls.
“You persistently asked for sexual photos and videos and wanted to get some of them to act as escorts and come and meet you.
“You have described yourself as being deeply ashamed of your behaviour. So you should be. You have caused your victims a great deal of psychological distress.”
Sharif was jailed for three years and nine months.
He also received a seven-year sexual harm prevention order, must sign the sex offenders register for life and pay a £170 victim surcharge.
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