A "despicable" paedophile discussed raping and eating children in a cellar during an exchange of thousands of horrific messages with notorious abuser Vicki Bevan.
Bevan, 37, of Napier Street, St Helens, was jailed for life earlier this year for 34 offences of child abuse including the rape of a young girl and sexual assault, some of them committed with two adult accomplices. On Friday, at Chester Crown Court, Paul Pickerill, 66, of Lockgate West, Runcorn, faced justice over the series of "sickening" conversations he had with Bevan on WhatsApp in spring last year in which he encouraged her to carry out abuse.
It was Pickerill's arrest, in April 2021, and the search of his phones that led police to find the messages and in turn to identify Bevan and discover her crimes. The court heard during their WhatsApp chats, between March 10 and April 5 last year, Pickerill and Bevan discussed "plans" including raising money to buy a cellar in which to "kidnap, rape, torture, kill and then eat children after sexual abuse".
