East London paedophile who described raping 12-year-olds as ‘best sex ever’ could have 100s of victims

Barthimaus Ehiemere pretended to be a trombonist with a camel business in Dubai, grooming and raping boys as young as 12. Police believe there could be hundreds more victims and are asking them to come forward

An East London paedophile who described raping two 12-year-olds as the “best sex ever” could have hundreds more victims, police say. Barthimaus Ehiemere, 25, groomed seven boys for explicit videos and offered money for sex, raping two of them after they were lured to meet him in public places between 2019 and 2023, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard on Thursday (November 20).

Ehiemere, of Chart Street, Hackney, admitted 32 offences before the trial, including rape of a child under 13 and breaking the terms of his sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) that was issued by Wood Green Crown Court for indecent images offences in 2021. Ehiemere was found guilty of 15 more offences in August, including further sexual assaults and paying for the sexual services of a child.

Sentencing him to 22 years, Judge Timothy Greene said: “You are a serious danger to young boys with whom you come into contact. You committed three serious rapes against two 12-year-old boys. [In relation to the second victim] you completely ignored the fact you were subject to a sexual harm prevention order. You show very little insight into why this is so serious.

“This was a campaign over several years of predator sexual offending of boys between 12 and 16. I doubt you cared about any of their ages. You cared about your sexual gratification and if you could make financial gains out of sexually exploiting them.”

Ehiemere first came to the attention of police when he was arrested with hundreds of indecent images of boys in September 2020, earning him an eight-month suspended sentence and SHPO from Wood Green Crown Court in 2021. By this point he had already raped a 12-year-old in a woodland in July 2019, and would go on to rape another in January and February 2023 in a park and cinema toilet.

In July 2023 Ehiemere was arrested again, and when police looked at his phone they found he used Snapchat to advertise for and groom boys for indecent images which he would sell, as well as searches for ‘young boy rape’. There was also evidence of Ehiemere communicating with another unknown paedophile, in which he referred to raping two 12-year-olds as the “best sex ever”.

As he awaited trial, Ehiemere’s younger brother Richard was convicted of fraud and indecent image offences linked to CVLT, an online neo-Nazi cult that blackmails children using sexual images, causing some to take their own lives on camera. Richard Ehiemere was spared jail with a 12-month suspended sentence in May. Police do not believe the brothers’ offending is linked.

When Barthimaus Ehiemere went on trial this July, jurors heard how he contacted young boys online, sharing pornography and indecent images before he asked them to copy the sex acts. Ehiemere denied raping one boy, and argued the other boys had not been frank about their true age when sharing images, but the prosecution proved it was obvious from their appearance.

One of Ehiemere’s victims said he posed as a trombonist with a camel business in Dubai, and offered him £20 for sex as it was ‘his first time’. Ehiemere was convicted of sexually assaulting the boy after luring him to a woodland in Surrey in July 2019 and raping him over a tree branch. In evidence, the boy said it “looked like he had a ring of people he was doing these things with and having sex with”.

In January 2023, another young victim met Ehiemere in a park in South West London, where he claimed he was knocked to the ground and raped before threats were made to him and his family if he spoke out. Ehiemere denied this in his basis of plea, which was accepted by the judge to avoid a separate hearing. Ehiemere filmed himself raping the same boy in a cinema toilet a month later.

Other victims who experience online abuse were asked to masturbate and penetrate themselves on camera, including a boy who used a riding crop, and another who claimed Ehiemere shared footage of him sexually abusing a boy who looked 13. Another 17-year-old victim was paid for sex, but Ehiemere claimed it was to “help his savings”.

Boy wanted to ‘scrub himself clean’ after rape

This week prosecutor James Brown KC said Ehiemere has a “deep seated interest and commercial interest in the sexual abuse of young teenage boys”, and was “very much in the business of encouraging young teenage boys to send him images of themselves performing sexual acts”.

One of his victims felt insecure about their weight and had gone on social media looking for company. After they were raped by Ehiemere, they said they “immediately wanted to scrub [himself] clean” because he knew something was wrong, said Mr Brown, adding there was “significant evidence there of severe psychological and physical effects”.

Another victim of online sexual abuse spoke about the effects on their education, with feelings of “anger” and “shame” alongside body dysmorphia and social struggles. The second child victim of rape now sees the world as unsafe, and has developed serious mental health problems and reliance on his mum, added Mr Brown.

Defending counsel Barry Kogan said the first set of offending had already cost Ehiemere his place at university studying aerospace engineering, and that he had outlined his remorse in a letter to the judge. Calling for the shortest sentence possible, Mr Kogan said: “He’s still a young man, and there’s still a chance he can do something useful with his life.”

Mr Kogan also described Ehiemere’s difficulties growing up in a strict Christian household, with a mum who allegedly believed homosexuality was “deplorable”. After an unsuccessful secret relationship with another 14-year-old boy, Ehiemere himself claimed he was groomed online by an older man who drew him into the business of sharing indecent images from the age of 12.

“[I ask the court to] give weight to the distorted thinking he would have in relation to his unusual and unhealthy experiences in the lead up to the commission of the offences,” said Mr Kogan, adding: “He is not someone who is innately evil, and despite everything has some sides to his positive character.”

‘Cowardly and abhorrent’

After the trial, Detective Chief Inspector Kirk Doyle said: “Barthimaus Ehiemere was a prolific and predatory sexual offender who committed some of the most cowardly and abhorrent crimes imaginable.

“His actions have caused deep and lasting harm to hundreds of young boys. But thanks to the extraordinary bravery of the victims and relentless work of my team, he will no longer be free to hurt others.”

Calling on parents or victims to come forward quoting Operation Teigar, he added: “We know there are still victims who have not yet come forward. The number of identified victims remains at seven, but we believe there are many many more.

“You will be listened to. You will be believed. You will be supported. No matter how much time has passed, it is never too late to speak out. Every piece of information could help us uncover the full extent of Ehiemere’s offending.”

Ehiemere was jailed for 18 years with an extended license of four years. He will serve two thirds of the custodial sentence before he is eligible for release. He also becomes a registered sex offender for life and subject to a new SHPO. Judge Greene also commended DC Lindsay Luscombe for her investigation, singling her out for “high praise”.

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