Crime This article is more than 14 years oldPaedophile who worked for Save the Children jailed
This article is more than 14 years oldSohail Ayaz faced no criminal records check by charity because role did not involve direct contact with young peopleSave the Children is carrying out an inquiry into the safeguards in place on hiring its staff after an employee who led a double life as a "predatory and devious" paedophile was jailed for four years.
Sohail Ayaz, a leading member of an international child abuse network, came to the UK on a two-year visa after molesting and photographing a 14-year-old boy. He got a job at the Save the Children headquarters in London, but the charity did not have the option of putting through a check with the criminal records bureau as the role did not involve direct contact with young people.
Ayaz, who did not have a criminal record at the time he was employed, is also wanted in Italy in connection with a Romanian child sex ring. He was arrested at the charity's office this year. A search of his home in Barking, east London, recovered images of thousands of children being abused.
Some depicted six-month-old babies, and several fell into the most serious, level 5 category, showing "distressed" youngsters struggling against "sensory deprivation" as they were "tied up, blindfolded, suspended" and subjected to sadomasochistic acts.
Further inquiries revealed that Ayaz, a Pakistani national, had also abused a young boy in another country that cannot be identified for legal reasons. Ayaz was connected to a number of other paedophiles around the world and forwarded pictures of his assaults to a fellow paedophile in Britain, London's Southwark crown court heard.
Detectives from the Metropolitan police child abuse investigation command feared Ayaz might have used his position within the charity to target children who were being helped. But their inquiries suggested Ayaz had not had time to gain such access.
Save the Children said today that Ayaz had not had access to children or details of them during his work as a grants monitoring adviser. A spokeswoman said an inquiry was under way into whether better checks could have been made when Ayaz was employed.
The 35-year-old pleaded guilty to one count of penetrative sexual activity with a child, two of sexual activity with the same youngster, two of indecently photographing him, and one of distributing the images. He also admitted two counts of possession of child abuse images – one involving 397 "viewable" indecent pictures of children and the other 112 video clips, all of which had been collected through "file-sharing activities".
The judge, Gregory Stone QC, sentencing Ayaz today, said: "One can only conclude that you are driven by powerful paedophile interests. Offences such as these cause immense damage to children. Society has utter revulsion for such activity which brings nothing but degradation upon vulnerable children."He said one of the most disturbing aspects of the case was that Ayaz sought and obtained work at Save the Children. "There is concern that you were attracted to this work because it may have appeared to you that it would give you access to such children," he said.
Pre-sentence reports said Ayaz posed a "high risk of harm to children". But the judge chose not to impose an indeterminate prison sentence on him and instead jailed him for four years. Ayaz will have to register as a sex offender for life and will never be allowed to work with children. He will also be recommended for deportation.
Ayaz, a qualified bookkeeper and accountant who has a 17-month-old child, came to Britain in January 2008 from Pakistan on a two-year skilled worker's visa. Last October he applied for a job as a grants monitoring officer at Save the Children's headquarters in Farringdon, central London, and started the following month.
Peter Zinner, prosecuting, said Ayaz was identified during an inquiry into an international paedophile ring which had started after the arrest of a Norwegian police officer. Investigations revealed the officer had been in touch with Ayaz and provided him with contacts in Romania who could provide at least 15 children for adults to abuse. Ayaz had passed the information to a fellow abuser in Italy who is now awaiting trial for child sex offences.
Once Ayaz had been identified, Scotland Yard's paedophile unit tracked him down and launched an intensive surveillance exercise. Save the Children officials were alerted and worked with the police. Ayaz was arrested in January.
Since then, Oslo police have interviewed the Romanian children, while the Italians have issued a European arrest warrant accusing Ayaz of "facilitation".
"The evidence also suggests Ayaz was in regular contact with like-minded individuals, not only in the UK, but also consistent with a paedophile ring involving central and eastern Europe and the Middle and Far East," said Zinner. "There was also email activity between him and others discussing depraved sexual acts proposed with children for sexual gratification."
The barrister said Ayaz's successful application for a job at Save the Children was "audacious" and potentially gave him the opportunity to contact some of the most vulnerable children in the world.
Outside court, Detective Sergeant Nick Duffield, of the Met's paedophile unit, welcomed the sentence and said it "sent out a clear message of deterrence to other like-minded individuals".
Ishbel Matheson, a spokeswoman for Save the Children, said the charity had been shocked by the case. "We do think it is important to stress that although he was briefly employed at Save the Children for just over 12 weeks ... he had no contact with children and absolutely no access to sensitive information about children."
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