PARENTS are being warned to keep their children safe on the internet after a Bradford man was sentenced for inciting a girl of ten to sexually abuse herself on the LiveMe app.

The child was urged to commit vile sex acts on herself in a live stream broadcast watched by several users who messaged her with encouragement and instructions.

The NSPCC has today urged parents to have regular online safety chats with their children.

Edward Bey, 31, of Planetrees Street, Allerton, watched the broadcast for three minutes, pressing “like” when another viewer asked the girl to abuse herself with a hairbrush, Bradford Crown Court heard.

Bey pleaded guilty to three charges of causing a child under 13 to engage in penetrative sexual activity and one offence of inciting her to engage in penetrative sexual activity, on February 27, 2017.

Prosecutor Abigail Langford told Bradford Crown Court on Friday the girl was asked by LiveMe users to expose herself and commit sexual acts with a hairbrush in return for virtual rewards.

Miss Langford said the broadcast was noticed by volunteers who monitor the internet for child sexual abuse.

The child’s mother was informed and her daughter said she had not told her because she wanted to forget about what she had done.

Miss Langford said the girl was particularly vulnerable because of her age. Bey was acting together with others to encourage the abuse.

An NSPCC spokesman said: “This case underlines how risky Livestreaming can be, with children coerced and manipulated to broadcast their own abuse.

“Regular online safety chats with our children are vital to keeping them safe but social network sites that allow livestreaming must also be made to take more responsibility, to tackle abuse at its source.

“Following the NSPCC’S #WildWestWeb campaign, the Government has announced it will bring in legislation to make sites safer but these laws must be fit for purpose, with real consequences for those who wilfully fail to protect our children online.

“We want to see measures such as limiting livestreaming to contacts only, and developing algorithms to alert moderators to children being groomed. The technology is there, so we must ask ourselves why are they not already doing this?”

Bey's barrister, Camille Morland, said he was socially isolated and struggled to form relationships. He used dating sites and claimed to be in a relationship with a stranger.

She said:“He was interacting with a real child and that makes it a very serious matter indeed."

Bey was naïve in his relationship with women and thought the girl was over 18.

“He hasn’t sought out a young girl. He was sitting at home in isolation with his iPad,” Miss Morland said.

Bey had attended special schools and had patterns of behaviour similar to Asperger’s syndrome.

Judge David Hatton QC said both Bey’s probation officer and his psychiatrist were strongly of the view that his mental health would deteriorate in prison.

He told the court: “Those who promote or participate in the exploitation of children must be deterred by sentences of imprisonment.”

But Bey had no previous convictions for sexual offences. He was drunk at the time and was alcohol dependent.

“Your participation lasted for a brief period of time, no more than three minutes. The activity that was taking place was occurring, and would have continued to occur, irrespective of, and inspite of, you,” Judge Hatton said.

Bey was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment, suspended for two years, with a rehabilitation activity requirement of up to 90 days. He must attend the accredited sexual offender programme and a nine month alcohol treatment requirement.

The judge made a ten year Sexual Harm Prevention Order and Bey must sign on the sex offenders’ register for 10 years.

The Telegraph & Argus contacted LiveMe on Friday but has not yet received a response.

  • LiveMe describes itself as a place where people can “share their passions and talents” and build connections around the world.

 Based in Santa Monica in the USA it can be accessed from a phone, tablet or computer and streams around 300,000 hours of footage a day.
Users will stream anything from cooking demonstrations to music performances and followers can comment instantly and can express their appreciation with an online currency called ‘diamonds’.
Those who use the website can spend their own money building up ‘diamonds’, a crypto-currency used on LiveMe.
It can then be used to get profile to the top of streams.
Unlike other websites like Facebook where content can be streamed, there are no controls over who can see the videos, which was the case with Edward Bey, a 31-year-old man from Allerton who joined a live stream of a 10-year-old girl abusing herself.
A Parents’ Guide to LiveMe states anyone under 18 needs their parents’ permission to use LiveMe, but it is not clear how chiefs prevent children from using it, and there have been various cases around the country where children have suffered at the hands of older users posing as youngsters.
Michael Coulter, from Newcastle, was jailed in July after he was found to have abused girls all over the world by using the app.
He spent around five hours a day online where he would issue sexual demands while posing as a teenage boy.