An 18-year-old Arkansas man will serve 50 years in prison for raping a little girl after she was deceived online by a predatory pedophile who lived 4,500 miles away.
Nicholas Hatton, from Crewe, England, forced the teenager to sexually abuse a two-year-old boy on camera after grooming him since he was 12, Britain’s Chester Crown Court heard.
The teenager, one of Hatton’s four victims, confessed to the assault and was later found guilty of rape and sexual assault. He was sentenced on February 8 of this year in Howard County Circuit Court, police told DailyMail.com.
Hatton, 34, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in the United Kingdom on Tuesday. He previously pleaded guilty to a litany of sexual offenses after being found with a collection of more than 12,000 images of child abuse.
In addition to his prison sentence, Hatton was also ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for life and given an indefinite sexual harm prevention order.
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Nicholas Hatton, 34 (pictured) of Crewe, England, was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years for his role in grooming an Arkansas teenager and forcing him to rape a two-year-old girl on camera.
The teenager, one of Hatton’s four victims, confessed to the assault and was later found guilty of rape and sexual assault. . He was sentenced on February 8 of this year in Howard County Circuit Court, (pictured) police told DailyMail.com.
Chester Crown Court heard the Arkansas teenager was one of Hatton’s four victims. Detectives were able to identify two of them, both based in the United States.
The investigation into Hatton began in 2021 when officers from Cheshire Police received intelligence from a social media company in relation to his online activity.
A search was carried out at his home in Crewe, where a number of electronic devices were seized and sent for analysis.
During the examination of the devices, officers recovered more than 12,000 indecent images of children and 750 indecent videos, as well as 1,050 prohibited images.
Following the discovery, Hatton was arrested again in June 2022.
During interrogation he denied having any knowledge of who the children in the images were.
He was later released on conditional bail. It was at that time that a Cheshire Police victim identification officer identified the two US-based victims.
Hatton was subsequently charged and subsequently pleaded guilty to all offences.
He was charged with six counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity; two counts of causing or inciting sexual exploitation of a child aged 13 to 17 and one count of possession of indecent images of children.
Hatton also pleaded guilty to three counts of making indecent images of children, three counts of making indecent images of children and one count of possessing prohibited images of children.
Following his sentencing, Detective Constable Faye Taylor, of Cheshire Police’s online child abuse investigation team, said: “This has been a long and complex investigation which finally uncovered Hatton’s despicable behaviour.”
Chester Crown Court (pictured) heard the Arkansas teenager, who had been in contact with Hatton for several years since 2014, tell officers he had been forced to sexually abuse the two-year-old on camera.
‘Throughout the investigation it became clear that Hatton is a sexual predator who preyed on vulnerable young children and had no regard for the effects his actions would have on the victims or their families.
“Due to bullying he suffered as a child, one of Hatton’s victims in the United States has been sentenced to a long prison sentence, while [the toddler] suffered sustained sexual abuse.
‘While none of the victims will ever forget what happened to them, I hope that Hatton’s conviction and the sentence imposed on him will provide them with some closure.
“I also hope that Hatton’s conviction serves as a reminder that there are no boundaries when it comes to sexual abuse, that it can happen anywhere and at any time and that the impact can be life-changing.”
DailyMail.com has contacted the Howard County Circuit Court for more information.
