Paedophile, 23, used Snapchat ‘maps’ to hunt down and groom vulnerable girls after seeing them shopping at Tesco
A TWISTED paedo used Snapchat maps to hunt for victims after seeing them shopping at the Tesco where he worked.
Matthew Clarke, 23, groomed 13 young girls after targeting them on the social media platform during a five-year reign of terror.
The fiend would strike up friendly conversations with the victims – aged as young as 12 – before their chats turned sexual.
He would then use Snapchat’s ‘Snapmap’ feature to spot when the girls were shopping at the Tesco store where he worked in Colchester, Essex.
After making real-life contact, Clarke encouraged the vulnerable victims to sexual messages and pictures with him.
The monster also sexually abused three of the girls after meeting them in person.
He would threaten to make indecent images they sent him public if they didn’t comply with his evil wishes.
Clarke has now been caged for 12 years after he pleaded guilty to 30 sex offences at Ipswich Crown Court.
Most read in The Sun
Sentencing, Judge Emma Peters said: “You are a threat to children and you are every parent’s worst nightmare.”
The court was told how Clarke’s sickening rampage finally came to an end when of one of the girls’ mums reported him for harassing her daughter in April 2019.
He was arrested the next month where police discovered 35 different conversations on Snapchat with girls all aged under 16.
Det Sgt Ben Rushmere said Clarke knew how old the victims were yet still “proactively pursued them”.
‘DANGER TO YOUNG GIRLS’
He added: “He instigated conversations with them and on many occasions persuaded them to send him intimate or explicit images of themselves to him.
“This pattern of predatory behaviour over several years clearly shows he is a danger to young girls.
“Fortunately, the work of my team meant he had no option but to admit the charges against him and will now spend a significant amount of time behind bars.
“I want to praise the bravery of the victims. They are young girls who have been preyed upon and have shown tremendous courage in reporting to us what Clarke had done to them.
“No-one should be experience what they have and I hope this sentencing will help them move forward.”
Clarke admitted 12 counts of causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, six counts of making indecent images of children and five counts of causing a child to watch a sexual act.
He also pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual communication with a child, two counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault.
As well as a 12-year jail sentence, Clarke will serve a further eight on on extended licence and will remain on the sex offender’s register for life.