SHEFFIELD PAEDOPHILE DANIEL ELMS PREYED ON SCHOOLGIRLS

In September 2012, a Sheffield man named Daniel Elms was convicted of criminal acts involving the exploitation of young girls. A Sheffield Crown Court heard that Elms, 37 years old, targeted girls nationwide by using instant messaging from his home on Floodgate Drive, Ecclesfield. The court was informed that Elms, who worked as a supermarket shelf-stacker and spent his spare money on prostitutes, employed false identities and pretended to be a teenager to gain the trust of his victims.

Elms threatened one girl, aged 12, that he would share her private pictures with her family and friends and told her he would leave her 'dead in the woods' if she refused his demands. Following his arrest, authorities discovered a collection of disturbing child abuse images on Elms’s laptop, including 37 at the most severe level.

Judge Roger Keen QC sentenced Elms to eight years in prison. He described him as a ‘persistent, predatory, pestering paedophile’ and stated, “You used persuasion, blackmail, corruption and threats in the most callous of ways to achieve sexual satisfaction.”

Prosecutor Fiona Swain explained that Elms first contacted a 12-year-old girl in Humberside via MSN in 2007. She recounted, “She spoke to him two or three times before he started to threaten her, saying if she didn’t do as she was told he would find her and kill her.” The girl later sent Elms an indecent photo approximately three days after his threats escalated.

In 2009, Elms reached out to a 13-year-old girl in the Midlands, who sent him at least 20 images and appeared on webcam. The following year, authorities identified his conduct towards a 14-year-old girl in Scotland; her stepfather reported the incident, leading to Elms’s arrest. He made no comments during police interviews. While on bail, he contacted the Midlands girl again, reiterating his threats to share her images.

Defence solicitor Christopher Tonge stated that Elms was ‘deeply ashamed’ and found it difficult to speak to women. The court noted that Elms, who had no prior convictions, pleaded guilty to charges including inciting a child to engage in pornography and sexual activity, making threats to kill, and creating and distributing indecent images of children. As part of his sentence, he was banned from contacting minors and will be required to register with the police for life.