February 2017 Online groomer jailed An online abuser was told he had ruined the lives of two families at opposite ends of the country as he was jailed. Andrew Coop, 26, talked two young girls into performing sex acts for him on camera after meeting them in internet chatrooms. The girls were both aged 14, but did not know each other – one lived in the north-east, the other lived in the south-east. However both sent Coop intimate pictures and videos, or performed sex acts for him on Skype Coop, of Timperley, Greater Manchester told one of his victims he loved her. Her abuse was discovered after her phone was confiscated by a teacher in class and found to contain explicit messages from Coop, including ‘nip into the bedroom and take a picture of your boobs’. Coop had performed sex acts on Skype in front of the second victim, whose abuse was discovered when her mother scrolled through her phone and found lewd messages from ‘Andy’. Coop, who had a partner of four years, had suggested to both girls that they meet in a hotel to have sex. Coop has now been jailed for 34 months after admitting multiple charges of engaging a child in sexual activity. His sentencing hearing was told that both his victim’s families have been torn apart. The victim from the south of England has ‘gone off the rails’ since the offences against her came to light, running away from home and skipping school. Social services have become involved in her life and she has been referred for counselling after self-harming. Her mother told police: “He’s ruined part of my daughter’s childhood.” Sentencing, Judge Michael Leeming rejected the defence plea for Coop to be punished in the community, telling him he ought to have known better. Jailing him for 34 months, he told Coop: “The two victims, living at opposite ends of the country had the misfortune of coming across you over the Skype app and the Kik app.