Andrew Lenton jailed in Adelaide on child sex charges
How an elaborate police sting took down a vicious child sex predator preying on children from around the world – while learning his fate
- Adelaide man Andrew Lenton jailed for child sexual abuse
- Groomed children from all over the world to send images
- Arrested when he thought he met a 16-year-old boy
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A sex predator who preyed on children from around the world using an internet chat forum has been jailed after an elaborate police sting.
Andrew Lenton, 36, was sentenced to nine years behind bars in Adelaide’s District Court on Thursday for persuading children to send him sexually explicit photos of themselves and arranging to meet a 16-year-old boy for sex – who is actually a undercover was a police officer.
The court heard that Lenton started a conversation in July 2019 via a courier service popular with teenagers, telling the boy he was “really hot”, asking about the color of his underwear and bombarding him with sexually suggestive imagery.
On January 17, 2022, Lenton arranged to meet the boy, who he said was 16 at the time, but was instead greeted by SA police officers from a child protection task force and arrested.
Police then seized Lenton’s mobile phone, computer and a memory card from his Adelaide CBD address and found nearly 300,000 images and videos, most of which depicted child sexual exploitation.
Adelaide man Andrew Lenton, 36, has been convicted of possessing and distributing hundreds of thousands of child sexual exploitation images
Using messenger apps, Lenton communicated with children around the world and police found 241 unopened chat messages.
Lenton sent a photo of his penis to an unknown 13-year-old boy in Victoria and had convinced a 12-year-old boy in Florida, USA, to send nude photos of himself and his brother.
He also tried to trade nudes with a 13-year-old boy in South Africa.
In summary, Judge Liesl Kudelka said the offenses Lenton was charged with were just the tip of the iceberg.
Judge Kudelka noted that the police were unable to review all the files he kept due to the sheer number, but that they had “exceeded the recommended maximum reviewable files” to alert the court to such a huge amount of material.
Lenton was also found guilty of violating bail conditions by using a mobile phone to communicate with a child under 18, but this did not add to his sentence.
During sentencing, Lenton cried after previously acting casually by cleaning his fingernails while the indictment was read, according to the Adelaide advertiser.
At sentencing, Judge Kudelka said she had considered an assessment of Lenton’s mental health but deemed him to be at “high risk of recidivism” and that the community should be protected.
Police discovered that Lenton was communicating with boys around the world, whom he was preparing to exchange sexually explicit material
“Children are vulnerable members of the community,” Judge Kudelka said.
“That vulnerability is magnified by the Internet, which allows sexual predators like you to contact children without a responsible adult knowing about it.
“Nobody wants sexual predators like you in the community.”
Judge Kudelka imposed a sentence of 14 years, but reduced it to nine years due to the imprisonment on concurrent charges.
The sentence took effect retroactively on March 7, 2022 with a non-parole period of seven years.
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