A PAEDOPHILE who travelled to Nepal and the Philippines to sexually abuse children, and coached others on how to groom victims, has been jailed for 21 years.
Investigators were able to trace online activity to track down David Mould, 68, who was living in Seaford, East Sussex when he was arrested in April 2020.
A National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation was launched in 2019 into a prolific user of a dark web child abuse site called Boyvids4, after it was identified they were likely based in the UK.
Using the pseudonym Globetrotter, Mould shared his own experiences of abusing children, and gave extremely detailed advice to a large number of users on where best to travel to find victims, as well as how to approach them.
He also gave technical guidance on encrypting devices and how to avoid detection by law enforcement.
On the same day of his arrest, NCA officers searched his house and workplace, seizing a large number of electronic and digital storage devices.
Mould had saved some of his chat logs from the site on a hard drive. These highlighted the standing which other paedophiles placed him in, with many thanking him for his advice.
One said: “You have been a great deal of help to me, you should write a paedo guide to help rookies like me not to make stupid mistakes and take advantage of opportunities.”
Mould had arranged to meet with another user in Nepal and introduce him to some young boys who he had abused in the past.
The user was identified by the NCA as an American man named Michael Taylor and this information was shared with US partners.
As a result, Taylor was arrested in Nepal in March 2021 and is currently serving 14 years in prison there for child sex offences.
The NCA shared evidence from the investigation with international law enforcement – three children have since been safeguarded in the Philippines.
In total, over 100,000 indecent images of children, together with four interactive paedophile manuals detailing techniques on how to abuse children and avoid detection, were recovered from one of Mould’s hard drives.
Hazel Stewart from the National Crime Agency said: “David Mould is a prolific sexual predator, who dedicated his time and money to abusing children and encouraging others to do the same.
“Offenders like him think that by travelling to remote parts of the world to conduct their abuse, and by using anonymisation techniques online, they won’t get caught.
“However, the NCA has the capabilities to identify and disrupt the most dangerous offenders.
“Borders are not a barrier; we work closely with international partners to ensure that Britons committing offences abroad are prosecuted in the UK and vulnerable children are safeguarded, wherever they are in the world.”
Anyone who thinks they may have been a victim of Mould, or has information on his offending, can contact the NCA Control Centre on 0370 496 7622.
