Man who created ‘custom’ AI images of child abuse for pedophiles gets 18 years in prison

A man who used artificial intelligence to create ‘bespoke’ child abuse images to sell to other pedophiles has been jailed for 18 years.

Hugh Nelson, 27, accepted requests from individuals through online chat rooms for explicit images of children suffering both sexual and physical harm.

The former student, who has a master’s degree in graphic design, also used images of real children for some of his computer-generated ‘artwork’, Bolton Crown Court heard.

Nelson frequently discussed child sexual abuse with other chat room users and on three separate occasions encouraged the rape of children under the age of 13.

He posed the highest risk category to the public, the probation service concluded.

Judge Martin Walsh, honorary registrar of Bolton, said at sentencing: “There appears to have been no limit to the depth of depravity displayed in the images you were prepared to create and distribute to others.

“The nature and content of the communications you have entered into are completely chilling.”

He ordered Nelson to also serve six years of probation after being released from prison, and he was ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

Judge Walsh told Nelson it was impossible to tell whether a child was actually sexually abused as a result of his images, but he intended to encourage others to commit child rape and had “no idea” how his images would be used.

Earlier, David Toal, prosecuting, said the case arose from Operation Influence, an investigation into the “creation and development of AI (artificial intelligence) trends in relation to child sexual exploitation”.

He added: “The use of AI is improving rapidly and the images are becoming more realistic.”

60 AI-generated characters

The suspect was exposed as the manager of a pedophile chat room when he had a conversation with an undercover police officer in May last year.

Nelson told the officer that he took commissions from clients for images created with 3D modeling software and then sent computer-generated images depicting child sexual abuse.

Mr Toal said: “The defendant said he had more than 60 characters in total, ranging from six months to middle age, and charged £80 to create a new character.

“He went on to say, ‘I’ve done assault, suffocation, hanging, drowning, decapitation, necro, beast, the list goes on’ with a laughing emoji.”

The defendant went on to say that “making 3D porn could get me jail time,” later adding, “Most of the people who commission me don’t/can’t fuck their nieces, daughters, etc. so the way I see myself providing a valuable service.”

Nelson, who had no previous convictions, was arrested at his family home in Egerton, Bolton, in June last year and told police he had a particular sexual interest in girls aged around 12.

He said he met like-minded people on the Internet and eventually started creating images for sale because he felt his offending had “gotten out of hand.”

Several devices were seized and found to contain a large number of indecent images, as well as online chats with adults in France, Italy and the United States about the sexual exploitation and rape of children, although there was no evidence in court to substantiate this to say. child has been sexually or physically abused.

‘Socially isolated existence’

Bob Elias, defending, said Nelson was a “shy, gauche man” who led a “lonely, socially isolated existence” in his bedroom at his family home.

His father sat in the court’s public gallery, next to Nelson’s mother, who cried with her head bowed into the crook of her arm as their son, who appeared via video link from HMP Forest Bank, was jailed.

The suspect pleaded guilty at trial to various sexual offences, including deliberately encouraging or assisting the commission of the rape of a child under the age of 13, making and distributing indecent images of children and attempting to sexually assault a child under the age of 16. to engage in sexual acts. activity.

Derek Ray-Hill, interim director of the Internet Watch Foundation, said: “Technology is now making previously thoughtless violations of innocent children possible.

“We are discovering more and more synthetic and AI images of child sexual abuse, and these can be disturbingly lifelike.

“Children deserve safety, and the misuse of this technology is a nightmare that only risks making the internet a worse and more dangerous place for everyone.”

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