A ‘pathetic’ man who recorded sickening sexual assaults on a young child ‘because of isolation and loneliness’ has been jailed for six years. Masud Mridul, 25, also made secret recordings of two women while they were sitting on the toilet and showering after ‘falling into deviant behaviour’ because of online influences, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard on Tuesday (July 29).
Mridul, of Leyton, moved to the UK in 2019 in search of a better life, but became lonely after the pandemic cost him the opportunity to study and he lost his job as a carer. Without a friend network to support him, Mridul then began abusing alcohol and went down a ‘dark path’ on the internet, his defence barrister claimed.
The paedophile was only caught after police noticed indecent images were being uploaded from his IP address. During a raid on the property they seized his devices and discovered photos of him sexually assaulting a child, and recordings of two women, all of whom they were able to identify. A second child was never identified, the prosecution said.
In total there were 125 Category A moving and still images, which included the oral and vaginal rape of young children, plus 175 Category B, and 42 Category C. Seventy-four of the Category A images were created by Mridul during a series of sexual assaults on the identifiable child.
Mridul would masturbate himself in the presence of the child, then escalated the sexual abuse by touching them with his erect penis through their clothes when they were not looking, the court heard. The prosecution said the child was ‘mostly unaware’ but there were still times when they would look at him, and other times Mridul would put them on his lap.
Defence counsel Ben Summers described Mridul as a ‘very quiet, afraid, and rather pathetic figure’, who was previously of good character and had written a letter of remorse to the judge.
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“The story is rather a sad one,” said Mr Summers, “He came to the UK in 2019. His background is deprived, or rather underprivileged, to better himself… His plan was to study and work, then as soon as the pandemic hit his studies came to an end and he became very isolated.
“Today’s world being what it is, he found solace and connection through the internet and unfortunately his time on the internet led down a dark path where he was exposed to indecent photos and there the rot set in.”
From here, Mr Summers said the abuse escalated from voyeurism to contact offences with the child. Mridul had previously worked as a carer for an autistic person, but lost that job after his company lost the contract.
“I hope it really captures a rather pathetic figure who has fallen into deviant behaviour due to isolation and loneliness, not to excuse it but to explain it I hope,” added Mr Summers.
‘An escalating series of offences’
Recorder Rosamund Horwood-Smart KC said: “These were an escalating series of offences, most of them very serious, involving assaults on a very young child.”
Mridul previously pleaded guilty to six counts of making indecent images of a child and two counts of voyeurism. On Tuesday he also pleaded guilty to seven counts of sexual assault and two counts of sexual activity in the presence of a child.
Recorder Horwood-Smart sentenced Mridul to concurrent sentences of six years for each sexual assault, 18 months for the sexual activity counts, 18 months each for the indecent images, and 12 months each for the voyeurism.
Mridul must notify police of his whereabouts indefinitely as a registered sex offender. He must also comply with the terms of a sexual harm prevention order.
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