EXPOSED: The twisted paedophile who claimed to be innocent of child porn possession 20 years ago

AN AGEING paedophile who once claimed he was falsely convicted is likely to have been offending for at least 24 years, Britain's FBI fears. David Mould, 68, (above) was jailed for 21 years on Friday after he admitted 24 sickening offences, including sexually abusing and exploiting children during trips to the Philippines and Nepal and teaching other paedophiles how to groom and abuse vulnerable victims. The prosecution concerned overseas trips he made between April 2018 and May 2019, but investigators for the National Crime Agency (NCA) suspect he may have been offending from at least 1999 when he was arrested for possession of child abuse images and briefly jailed after being convicted in September 2000. Three years later Mould, from Seaford, East Sussex, complained to a local newspaper he "lost everything" after being wrongfully convicted. A cynical ploy to get his conviction quashed came after similar charges were dropped against a detective when technical experts, on whose evidence Mould was convicted, had methods called into question. Mould told The Argus in Brighton in September 2003: "My life has been ruined. I am still very bitter. I would like to see an inquiry into all the cases (they) have covered, not just for myself but for the other people who may have become innocent victims." But, even at the time of his arrest in 1999 investigators found he was highly computer literate and managed to erase an entire D drive of child abuse images by overwriting it. However, he missed a single child abuse image he had used as wallpaper and there was evidence of his computer accessing paedophile websites, leading to the conviction. Hazel Stewart, senior investigating officer on the latest case told the Sunday Express: "We have uncovered offending back to his travel to the Philippines in 2018, but we do know he has got a previous conviction and the suggestion is he will have offending from that earlier conviction to the present day. He is someone who certainly should be in prison." The NCA is appealing for any other victims of Mould to come forward by contacting its Control Centre on 0370 496 7622. Other offences he admitted ahead of sentence at Lewes Crown Court on Friday were attempting to cause a child to engage in non-penetrative sexual activity, two counts of causing/inciting child sexual exploitation, five counts of sexual activity with a child, one count of possessing prohibited images of a child, six counts of intentionally encouraging/assisting the commission of an offence, four counts of possessing a paedophile manual, three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of distributing an indecent image of a child and one count of possessing an extreme pornographic image. He also received an extended licence of seven years and was banned from travelling to 22 countries as part of a five-year Sexual Harm Prevention Order. The court heard in 2019 Brazilian police passed the NCA details of a prolific user and moderator of the dark web Boyvids4 site with the username “Globe Trotter”, who they believed was in the UK. The user shared his own twisted experiences of abusing children, and gave extremely detailed advice to a large number of users on where best to travel to find victims, as well as how to approach them. He also gave technical guidance on encrypting devices and how to avoid detection by law enforcement. The NCA was able to identify the user as Mould, who, in once case, arranged to meet another user in Nepal and introduce him to young boys the former had abused in the past.

The user was identified by the NCA as an American man named Michael Taylor (top left with Mould and a child on a beach in Pokhara, Nepal) and this information was shared with US partners. As a result, Taylor was arrested in Nepal in March 2021 and is currently serving 14 years in prison there for child sex offences. Prosecuting Ian Hope said: "GlobeTrotter was in due course identified as David Mould, and some at least of his stories were true, and portrayed real children that he was in fact abusing in different countries, and had been doing for years." When Mould was arrested at home during lockdown on April 2 2020, he refused to be interviewed citing a weakened immune system. A variety of digital equipment from his home and work address was seized which provided a wealth of digital evidence linking Mould to his offences. More than 100,000 indecent images of children in categories A-C, together with four interactive paedophile manuals detailing techniques on how to abuse children and avoid detection, were recovered from one of Mould’s hard drives. With the assistance of the Philippines National Bureau of Investigation a number of victims were located who helped to identify Mould, who worked for a computer manufacturer, as one of a number of men who sexually abused them when they were younger children. Globetrotter's true accounts of his sordid acts abroad on the forum were key evidence for National Crime Agency (NCA) investigators who could tie them up with his travel history and souvenir images he held of the abuse. While on bail he was rearrested in July 2021 after making contact with one of his victims Mould had saved some of his chat logs from the site on a hard drive which highlighted the standing other paedophiles placed him in. One said: “you have been a great deal of help to me, you should write a paedo guide to help rookies like me not to make stupid mistakes and take advantage of opportunities.” Another stated: “Well you have done just about everything except buy me a plane ticket, bring the boy to my room and unzip him… This gave me the information to come up with a real plan of attack.” “David Mould is a prolific sexual predator, who dedicated his time and money to abusing children and encouraging others to do the same. “It was clear that he was respected and admired by other like-minded individuals online, where he provided offenders with a safe environment in which their sexual inclinations were validated. “Mould took gratification from knowing that the advice he gave led directly to others carrying out abuse. “Offenders like him think that by travelling to remote parts of the world to conduct their abuse, and by using anonymisation techniques online, they won’t get caught. “However, the NCA has the capabilities to identify and disrupt the most dangerous offenders. Borders are not a barrier; we work closely with international partners to ensure that Britons committing offences abroad are prosecuted in the UK and vulnerable children are safeguarded, wherever they are in the world.” Jeanette Smith, Specialist Prosecutor of the CPS’ Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit, said: “David Mould travelled to the Philippines and Nepal, where he targeted vulnerable children, exploiting and manipulating them, to sexually abuse them. Not content with satisfying his own sexual desires, he used the dark web to advise and encourage other paedophiles how they might best commit equally horrific crimes. “Mould sought to evade detection, using the dark web and encryption software, but the National Crime Agency investigation uncovered his activity and their intervention brought an end to it. “Our Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit was set up in April 2022 to prosecute offenders who engage in child sexual abuse. This case highlights that predatory paedophiles who conduct their activity in different parts of the globe will be pursued by UK law enforcement and prosecuted by the CPS. Stopping the worldwide sexual exploitation of children and the use of the internet to disseminate abuse is an absolute priority.” The judge commended NCA officers and law enforcement in the Philippines and Nepal.