A comedian has been convicted of paying for and directing sexual abuse of children in the Philippines and Romania.
Eamon Goodfellow, a former Camelot worker and actor, was found guilty of paying sex offenders to abuse children under 13 so he could stream it online. Detectives from the National Crime Agency discovered the crimes after uncovering chat logs and tracing payments.
CheshireLive has revealed that Goodfellow was a fixture in the region and was also a member of the Nantwich Players theatre group and appeared as a lawyer in the crime drama 'Rough Justice'. He ran a series of comedy shows called 'Hits and Giggles' at 34 Pepper Street Café in Nantwich during 2018 and 2019.
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The 50-year-old, originally from Northern Ireland, was also a hit at the Edinburgh Fringe. He was convicted following a trial and will be sentenced later this month.
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.
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.
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.
