Northampton paedophile's arrest leads police to ringleader of online child abuse gang

Police tracked down the ringleader of an online child abuse gang after arresting a known Northampton paedophile.

Simon Peach, 36, was jailed for seven years in June 2021 after detectives found a laptop with 128 recordings on his laptop of live streams of girls under 16 performing sexual acts.

But officers from Northamptonshire Police Paedophile On Line Investigation Team (POLIT) then discovered messages between Peach and Matthew Mather-Franks, who was later identified as playing a leading role in the group and arrested.

The gang — said to include between six and ten men — even kept a Google spreadsheet containing details of young girls, mainly from Russia, taking part in live sex streams.

Crown Court Judge, His Honour Judge David Herbert QC, jailed Mather-Franks, 37, for eight years at a hearing on Friday (February 11).

Both Peach and Mather Franks were already on the sex offenders register.

Peach, previously of Clarke Road, had more than 1,000 indecent images of children on his phone and laptop, breaching a sexual harm prevention order when he was arrested in early 2020.

Four out of five devices belonging to Mather-Franks seized were not registered with the police, breaching a sexual harm prevention order.

He had been using the devices to commit online sexual offences relating to young girls, mainly aged between nine and 12, although some involved infants. Some of the children involved appeared drugged or intoxicated.

Judge Herbert told Mather-Franks: "The facts show that the work you did as part of that order failed."

Police also found evidence of images being shared on an encrypted Telegram group.

Mather-Franks, previously of Redding Road, Rushden, pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, one of paying for the sexual services of a child, one of distributing category A live streams of child abuse, one of breaching a sexual harm prevention order and one or encouraging or assisting the commission of an offence

Judge Herbert told him: "You have an entrenched sexual interest in very young girls and you represent a serious danger to them."

Mather-Franks will serve at least five years, four months behind bars before he can be considered for parole. Once released, he will serve the remainder of his sentence plus and extra four years on licence.

Following Friday's sentencing, DC Andy Shears from the Police POLIT team said: “I am really pleased to see the lengthy sentences handed out to both of these men who preyed on young children for their own depraved satisfaction.

“Both men used sophisticated methods to try and evade detection which makes their behaviour even more deplorable.

"However, there is nothing we can’t and won’t do to uncover child abuse and bring the offenders to justice.

“The protection of children is something that is hugely important to me and to Northamptonshire Police and I hope this case shows that if you are a predator like Peach or Mather-Franks, that we will catch up with you and put you where you belong – behind bars.”