He habitually touted himself as a pimp, offering a service to other paedophiles
A man from Mitcham who planned to travel overseas and rape children as young as six has been convicted. Edward Gratwick formed a sick web of contacts around the world, with whom he swapped indecent images and offered substantial sums of money in exchange for access to children.
The 68-year-old’s abhorrent behaviour came to light when the National Crime Agency (NCA) found evidence he’d been discussing his desire to sexually abuse a nine-year-old girl with someone online. The pair had been planning to drug the child with GHB so she would not remember the ordeal.
Gratwick was arrested at Stansted Airport on March 7 of this year as he attempted to board a flight to Bucharest. A search of his home uncovered multiple electronic devices containing thousands of extremely graphic messages and pictures hidden behind encrypted apps.
Within these, the pensioner actively discussed abusing children with people he believed had contact with young girls aged between six and ten. He frequently mentioned drugging potential victims, suggesting rohypnol and GHB which he described in his messages as “a good rape drug.”
Multiple bottles of Gamma Butyrolactone (GBL), a potent Class B drug, were found in Gratwick’s kitchen fridge, photos of which were sent to his online contacts. In one such message, he wrote “I’ll bring enough GHB so you can have some fun when I’m not there”.
In other conversations, he touted himself as a pimp, offering a service to other paedophiles. As part of his role, he told other online users he would take a 25% cut of the payment made for his part in the arrangement of the sexual abuse of young girls.
In another conversation with a person based in Romania, the defendant discussed how much extra it would cost a customer to beat a 10-year-old child he purported to be managing. Investigators recovered a booking for an Airbnb in Bucharest for March 7 to 9 shared between Gratwick and a contact in Romania, who stated they were the mother of a 10-year-old girl.
The conversations took place between February and March, and contained detailed descriptions of the sexual abuse Gratwick intended to carry out when he arrived. Chat logs showed the person Gratwick was talking to was concerned their house was being watched, with Gratwick asking “Do you have a time operated plug? One you can set to turn a light on and off”.
He also discussed with the person a specific top he wanted the young girl to wear, stating ‘[she] will look great in the sleeveless top’. When Gratwick was stopped at the airport, officers searched his travel bag and recovered both of these items.
On March 9, he was charged with 11 child sexual abuse offences including 10 charges of arranging the commission of child sex offence – namely the rape of a child under 13 – and remanded into custody. He was subsequently charged with additional offences during his trial, and found guilty of 38 of them at Guildford Crown Court yesterday (October 10).
These included arranging or attempting to arrange the commission of a child sex offence, attempting to engage in sexual communication with a child, distributing indecent images of children and possessing indecent images of children. He is due to be sentenced at the same court on November 28.
Danielle Pownall, Senior Investigating Officer at the NCA said Gratwick’s chat logs are some of the worst seen by her team’s specialist child abuse investigators. She added: “Gratwick has continually denied the offences he faced, despite overwhelming and indisputable evidence, which shows his lack of remorse and disregard for the safety and welfare of children.
“Work continues with our international partners to identify those who Gratwick was engaging with and we will do everything in our power to safeguard any children from harm, wherever they are. We are grateful for the immediate response and support from UK and international partners during this investigation””
Sign up to our London Crimewatch WhatsApp community for the latest major court updates and breaking news delivered straight to your phone. Sign up HERE. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the MyLondon team. We also treat our subscribers to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. To unsubscribe, click on the name at the top of your screen and choose ‘exit group’. If you’re curious, you can read our privacy notice.
