A comedian who was a fixture in a Cheshire town has been unmasked as a paedophile who paid for vulnerable kids to be sexually abused in the Philippines and Romania. Eamon Goodfellow – once a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe – sourced victims aged under 13 through fixers.
Police uncovered sick chat logs in which the 50-year-old discussed live-streaming sex acts being performed on children. Detectives from the National Crime Agency found evidence that he sent payments for abuse to be carried out.
Goodfellow, from Northern Ireland, ran comedy nights in Nantwich and appeared in the town’s theatre. He was convicted following a trial and will be sentenced later this month.
He ran a series of comedy shows called 'Hits and Giggles' at 34 Pepper Street Café in Nantwich, Cheshire, during 2018 and 2019. He was also a member of the Nantwich Players theatre group and appeared as a lawyer in the crime drama 'Rough Justice', CheshireLive has revealed.
Goodfellow, who was living in Hertfordshire, was first arrested in June 2018. Despite the arrest, he continued to crack gags on paedophilia, incest and pornography before his case came to court this month.
In clips online, he jokes about another young comedian being too ugly for 'child-molesting Moors murderers' Myra Hindley and Ian Brady. Goodfellow, who has since deleted his Twitter and TikTok accounts, appeared on screen as fellow comics joke about paedophilia during one Zoom show, The Mirror reports.
In another clip he made a joke about Goldilocks being in a train toilet with one of the three bears. He was a runner-up in the 2019 New Act of the Year at The Hackney Empire in London with a routine that included a gag about a sex act.
Prince Andrew was the butt of one of his jokes. Goodfellow took his shows 'Humour Trafficking' and 'For He’s a Jolly Goodfellow' to the Edinburgh Fringe.
He was arrested by National Crime Agency officers on 14 June 2018 and all of his electronic devices were seized for analysis. A number of online chat logs were recovered which showed Goodfellow discussing the abuse of children with facilitators, one in the Philippines and the other in Romania.
When a child at the right age was identified, he would direct the facilitators to perform sexual acts on the children with a view to live-streaming the offending.
Aside from comedy, he worked for National Lottery firm Camelot, which said it acted swiftly when he was revealed as a paedophile. A Camelot spokesman said: “We were unaware of the charges until the conviction this month. We immediately suspended the employee and the matter is subject to Camelot’s internal disciplinary process.
“We are mindful of our employment law obligations and will pursue the strongest possible action.”
Martin Ludlow, from the NCA, said: “Goodfellow made it very clear that he has sexual interest in young children in these chat logs.
“He attempted to arrange for the most horrific abuse of vulnerable children thousands of miles away from him for his own gratification.
“He was helped by facilitators whose motive is to make money. This kind of financially driven offending is a key threat to the UK.”
Goodfellow was found guilty at St Albans Crown Court, Beds, of two counts of attempting to cause the sexual exploitation of a child under 13 following a six-day trial. He will be sentenced on May 31.
A spokesmen for the Nantwich Players said: “Nantwich Players notes the recent conviction of Eamon Goodfellow, who was a member of Nantwich Players Theatre for a short time eight years ago, between 2013 and 2014, and appeared in theatre productions for Nantwich Players in September 2013 and February 2014, which we can confirm did not involve children. Nantwich Players fully applies all relevant Government and Local Authority Child Protection legislation and procedures, including DBS checking & Chaperones, and confirms that Eamon Goodfellow was never involved with or had access to, any event, meeting or other activity involving its Youth Theatre."
