Tuesday, July 1, 2025 - The founder of a Pride group, who r@ped an 'extremely vulnerable' boy who he met on Grindr, has been jailed for 13 years.
Stephen Ireland, 42, who co-founded Pride in Surrey in
2018, r@ped the child at the flat he shared with his then partner and
co-defendant David Sutton, 27, in Addlestone on April 19, 2024.
Ireland had arranged for the 12-year-old boy, referred to in
court as Child A, to meet him at his flat after messaging him on the
dating app Grindr, the court heard.
The boy, who had been reported missing at the time, told
police they had s£x in the flat.
The boy said they also smoked a bong which was later found
to have contained methamphetamine, and that pornography was played on a laptop.
Judge Patricia Lees, sentencing at Guildford Crown Court on
Monday, told the hearing Ireland 'took advantage' of a vulnerable child.
She said: 'Stephen Ireland is a man who prided himself on
being versed in and highly alive to the vulnerabilities of young people linked
to the Surrey Pride organisation he was at the time pivotal to.
'A was quite obviously to any adult an extremely vulnerable child who was highly sexualised.
The boy, who had been reported missing at the time, told
police they had s£x in the flat.
The boy said they also smoked a bong which was later found
to have contained methamphetamine, and that porn0graphy was played on a laptop.
Judge Patricia Lees, sentencing at Guildford Crown Court on
Monday, told the hearing Ireland 'took advantage' of a vulnerable child.
She said: 'Stephen Ireland is a man who prided himself on
being versed in and highly alive to the vulnerabilities of young people linked
to the Surrey Pride organisation he was at the time pivotal to.
'A was quite obviously to any adult an extremely vulnerable
child who was highly s£xualised.
'Any responsible adult would have quickly appreciated that there was a high likelihood A is a young man who had been the subject of s£xual gro0ming by adult men at a very early age and been concerned for him instead of taking advantage of him.'
The court heard the boy had initially told Ireland he was aged 17 - but when he later claimed to be aged 13, Ireland replied: 'OK - we just have to keep it a secret.'
'Your response was telling,' Judge Lees told Ireland, who
sat in the dock dressed in a large red T-shirt and showed no emotions
throughout the hearing.
'Far from finding that repugnant, you found that exciting,
and sought to do it again.'
In a Telegram chat that took place after their encounter,
Ireland sent Child A a message in which he described his age as 'naughty and
kinky', the court heard.
On the same day, Ireland asked the boy if he would have a
threesome and sent the child pictures of himself and Sutton.
Jurors heard that Ireland sent a picture of Child A to
Sutton, describing him as a '14-year-old baby' who 'wants to play with men's
bodies', and the pair exchanged messages about the child.
Ireland along with Sutton, who was a volunteer for Surrey
Pride, were found guilty of a string of s£xual offences against children
including voyeurism, arranging commission of a child sex offence, and
possession of prohibited images of children, after a trial at Guildford Crown
Court earlier this year.
In August 2022, Ireland and Sutton discussed arrangements to
procure a 13-year-old boy for Sutton's 25th birthday in October of that year,
the court heard.
Both men were also sentenced on one count each of voyeurism
after Ireland watched live camera footage of Sutton having s£x with another
16-year-old boy at their flat in March 2024.
The teenager did not know he was being recorded, with
Ireland sending Sutton messages such as 'he doesn't know I'm here' and telling
him what to do, the court heard.
'You fed off one another,' Judge Lees told the defendants
during the sentence hearing on Monday.
'You definitely supported one another in your perversions.'
Ireland and Sutton also perverted the course of justice by
intentionally deleting material and search history from their phones after they
were released on police bail in June 2024.
Ireland was sentenced to 13 years' imprisonment on one count
of r@pe, three counts of causing a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity,
s£xual ass@ult, conspiracy to engage in s£xual activity with a child, arranging
commission of a child s£x offence, six counts of making indecent photographs of
children, four counts of distributing indecent photographs of children,
possession of prohibited images, and possession of an extreme porn0graphic
image.
Sutton was sentenced to four-and-a-half years' imprisonment
for offences including voyeurism, possession and distribution of prohibited
images of children, and perverting the course of justice.
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