A serial sex attacker whose offences included the rape of a baby has been jailed for 30 years. Jay Perren admitted 25 offences, many against children, which were branded as "unforgivable" by the police officer in charge of the investigation.
His string of offending included five counts of rape, including a child under 12 months old, sexual assault of a child under 13, multiple charges of causing a child to engage in sexual activity and two breaches of a sexual harm prevention order. He appeared at Teesside Crown Court on Monday where he was sentenced to 30 years in prison plus five years' extended licence, reports Teesside Live.
The court was told how Perren's crimes were committed over several years. He had carefully documented them in 33,000 images and videos which were stored in 140 folders, filed under either the victim's names or locations on an SD card.
The 34-year-old's offending was discovered during a police search of his home in Stockton-on-Tees in November 2020. Officers found several devices containing illegal images. Weeks later further devices were found during a second search of the property.
Summarising the investigation into the catalogue of offences, Recorder Watson said: "On this occasion they found material which can only be described as depraved and deplorable. It gives rise to the various counts on this indictment."
During the hearing, the defendant - who previously went under the name of Stephen Jardine - was told how his crimes left his victims "broke" with one woman saying she contemplated taking her own life and another saying the defendant had "ripped her soul apart".
In a victim impact statement, one woman who had been abused by Perren as a child, told how it had affected her. She said: "This broke me as a person and ripped my soul apart.
"He is where my downfall began. I completely isolated myself and hated being around any man and feared they'd do the same." Another victim said the court case almost drove her to suicide.
The court heard Perren has several victims and admitted to one he had a "monster inside his head and had to feed it". A psychiatric report outlined in court concluded the defendant suffers from paedophilic disorder.
Perren's barrister, Victoria Lamballe, said the defendant has admitted to this, she said: "He recognised as far back as 2017 that he needed help. He admitted to a sexual attraction to children.
"Mr Perren recognises he has a problem and has shown himself prepared to accept a variety of different measures with a few of reducing the risk he might pose in the future."
Ms Lamballe also asked for credit for the defendant's guilty pleas and said his admissions have spared his victims from a trial. The defendant, now of Cromwell Road, Nottingham, was jailed for 30 years.
His offences included:
- Five counts of rape (including a child under 12 months old)
- Sexual assault of a child under 13
- Two counts of causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography
- Three counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity
- Sexual assault
- Sexual activity with a child
- Causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent
- Three counts of making indecent images of a child
- Six counts of taking indecent images of a child
- Two counts of breaching a sexual harm prevention order
Speaking after the hearing the office in charge of the investigation, Detective Constable Dave Medd from the Paedophile Online Investigation Team (POLIT) said: “Perren is a serial offender and a real danger to women and children. He committed unforgivable crimes against his victims and subjected them to horrendous ordeals.
“Perren was devious and manipulative, not only in hiding his crimes, but grooming vulnerable victims, recording his abuse of them and then storing these images on a memory card for his own depraved pleasure. This has been an extremely complex investigation. Myself, DC Nikki Meakin, DC Steve Rookes and Senior Digital Forensic Investigator Connor Spence have worked on this investigation for two and a half years alongside our supervisor, Detective Sergeant Ian Boyes.
“When Perren was arrested in November 2020, he initially handed over a ‘clean phone’ but we noticed he was charging another phone under his pillow. This phone contained an SD card, which in turn contained the history of his offending.
“This led us to discover that Perren was digitally documenting the crimes he had committed against his victims in folders which were stored under the victim’s name or the location of where they lived (towns and cities across the UK). This assisted us in the identification of the victims, and we could start building a case against him.
“One particularly disturbing image hid Perren’s face but we proved it was him based on the cuff of a distinctive jacket he was wearing. We found an exact replica of the jacket on eBay (the only one being sold in the UK at that time) and following this, we managed to match it to a photograph of him wearing it on a trip he took seven days after the offence.
“This was one of the many ways we proved that Perren was guilty of his crimes, however it is the victims that have been central to the success of this investigation. They have co-operated at great emotional cost and carried themselves with courage and dignity throughout the whole process. Due to their age at the time, many of the victims didn’t realise they had been subjected to a crime until we visited them, and this has been incredibly distressing for them to come to terms with.
“On behalf of the team, we would like to thank all of our victims and witnesses in this case; without their strength and determination, we would have been unable to achieve such a positive outcome."
