When Richard Ehiemere was accused of links to a neo-Nazi paedophile cult, he blamed his older brother Barthimaus. Bart, as he is known to friends, was caught with hundreds of indecent images of young boys in a raid on their East London home in September 2020, and Richard now had his brother’s old Samsung mobile. The images were already on the phone, Richard’s defence team argued.
Jurors were unconvinced. In February this year, Richard Ehiemere was convicted on three counts of possessing indecent images and two counts of fraud – the frauds in relation to personal data he was selling to CVLT, an online hate group that blackmails young children by grooming them to record sex acts, and, in the worst cases, to take their own lives on camera.
Despite Richard’s links to an international child sex abuse ring, and the involvement of the National Crime Agency, he avoided jail with a 12-month suspended sentence. The number of indecent images found on his phone (29 in total) was relatively low compared to many of the cases in the crown court, and aged 17 at the time of offending, he was also a youth in the eyes of the law.
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Now court proceedings are no longer active, MyLondon can reveal that while 21-year-old Richard Ehiemere was going through the courts, his 25-year-old brother Barthimaus Ehiemere was also on remand awaiting trial at Snaresbrook for 17 child sex offences, having already admitted 32 offences, including child rape. Their relationship was first reported by Essex News & Investigations.
During his trial, Barthimaus argued he had not known the ages of the boys (despite their obviously young appearance), and plainly accused one young boy of making up the rape allegation (because he had been spurned). But jurors heard damning accounts from the victims, and were read a text to a mystery male where Barthimaus described intercourse with 12-year-olds as the ‘best sex ever’.
Barthimaus was found guilty on 15 of the 17 counts, bringing his total convictions to 47. They include multiple counts of raping a child under 13, paying for the sexual services of a child, sexual communication with a child, meeting a child following sexual grooming, inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, and attempted rape.
This week, neighbours on Blakeney Close seemed to know little about the Ehiemere family, or the paedophile brothers. “I have seen one boy. He’s been polite and said good morning,” said one woman. “I know everyone else, but I do not know them,” said another man. We left a note at the family’s door asking them to contribute to this article.
In fact, it was far easier to get information about Richard Ehiemere by doing a Google search. This led us to a notorious forum that facilitates harassment and doxxing (publication of an individual’s private information). The forum was blocked by internet providers in 2022 (due to ‘an imminent and emergency threat to human life’), but we could still access a version in the UK this week.
On the forum, which we have chosen not to name, we found Richard’s intricate personal details, including bodyweight, house number, email and social media accounts and passwords, IP address, family member names, and screenshots allegedly showing public comments by Richard about his own mental health and family. There were also references to disputes with other forum members.
The doxxing attack shows how deeply embedded Richard was in a dark corner of the internet, and the dangers posed by other users. On the same forum, members discussed Richard’s links to CVLT, described by the NCA as a form of ‘Com’ network, and a place where ‘members attempt to gain status within the group by committing or encouraging ever more shocking or harmful acts’.
What is CVLT, O9A, and 764?
When the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment relating to CVLT charges against four American men in January this year, prosecutors made a number of allegations about the group’s purpose and activities. They were:
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‘CVLT members worked collectively to entice and coerce children to self-produce child pornography’
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‘They wanted to create an army of sadist followers’
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They coerced children into dehumanizing acts like cutting and eating their own hair, carving with razor blades CVLT members’ names into their skin, and exposing children videos of animals being tortured to death and women being raped
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For children who resisted, CVLT members would threaten to ‘SWAT’, ‘dox’, or distribute the child pornography of the child
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‘For children who refused, CVLT would sometimes carry through on their threats’
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‘CVLT espoused neo-Nazism, nihilism, and pedophilia as its core principles’
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They exposed children to these principles with ‘repeated uses of Nazi symbols and language’
Research from the Global Network on Extremism and Technology (GNET), a King’s College London-backed academic initiative, also maps CVLT’s links to ‘764’ and the Order of the Nine Angles (O9A).
GNET says 764 is a violent extremist group involved in sextortion which adopts the visual aesthetics of O9A, itself a ‘militant accelerationist cult’ which combines ‘Hitler worship with occultist trappings and encourage adherents to commit violence, rape, child sexual exploitation, and even the ‘culling’ (read: murder) of human victims to undermine civilisation’.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) put out a warning about 764 in 2023, and this May revealed investigations into 250 people associated with the group. In 2024, a joint investigation by Der Spiegel, Recorder, The Washington Post, and WIRED identified and analysed more than three-million messages across 50 chats on Telegram and Discord, exposing disturbing harms by the group.
According to GNET, 764 was created by Bradley Cadenhead in 2020, then aged 15, taking inspiration from CVLT’s use of sextortion against children, while also introducing other harms like killing pets and encouraging mass shootings. Cadenhead was arrested in 2021 and is now serving an 80-year prison sentence in Texas for ‘possession/promotion of child pornography’.
764’s tentacles have reached Britain too. This January, 19-year-old Cameron Finnigan, from Horsham in West Sussex, was jailed for nine years after pleading guilty to encouraging suicide, possessing a terrorism manual, and indecent images of a child.
Mr Justice Jay heard evidence of 764’s links to O9A, as well as Finnigan’s ‘fascination’ with Satanic symbols, imagery of mutilated animals, and extremist language. Going by the moniker ‘ACID’, Finnigan described himself as ‘Hitler’s child’, and told a girl to hang herself on camera. The girl, believed to be in Italy, was never identified and police do not know what happened to her.
These groups are part of a growing problem for UK law enforcement, parents and teachers, and tech companies. The NCA has said it is working with psychologists to better understand how young people get drawn in, while also raising awareness with schools. Finnigan told his probation officer 764 was his social network, and the ‘only source of connection and friendship’.
You don’t have to suffer in silence if you’re struggling with your mental health. Here are some groups you can contact when you need help.
Samaritans: Phone 116 123, 24 hours a day, or email [email protected] in confidence
Childline: Phone 0800 1111. Calls are free and won’t show up on your bill
PAPYRUS: For teens and young adults. Phone 0800 068 4141
Depression Alliance: The charity offers useful resources for people struggling.
Students Against Depression: For students who are depressed, have low mood, or are suicidal.
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM): Phone 0800 58 58 58. For young men who are feeling unhappy.
James’ Place: Offering life-saving treatment to suicidal men in London and surrounding area.
For information on your local NHS urgent mental health helpline, visit here
In January this year, a notice from Europol, the EU’s law enforcement agency, warned of the rise of these online cult communities. It described a modus operandi where extreme content is shared to desensitise vulnerable people ‘breaking societal norms and normalising violence to corrupt minors and groom them towards future violence’.
The notice also compared the online groups to historic cults with charismatic leaders who use deception and manipulation to make followers obedient and dependent. Early intervention by care-givers is key, with secrecy about online activity, withdrawal and isolation, and fascination with extremist ideologies or content, the key indicators a child may be entering a rabbit hole.
‘It looked like he had a ring of people’
The NCA was alerted to Richard’s online activities with CVLT after a referral from Discord, a messaging app. The app has long been popular among gamers, but it’s estimated membership has nearly doubled since the pandemic. With that growth, Discord has faced increased scrutiny over monitoring of illegal material.
A 2023 NBC News investigation identified 35 cases over six years where adults were prosecuted on charges of kidnapping, grooming or sexual assault allegedly involving communications on Discord. Discord’s CEO said the company takes the issue ‘very seriously’.
After the Discord referral, NCA investigators found Richard’s account ‘Retaliate#1337’ had access to CVLT Discord channels where he had disclosed stolen email addresses and passwords, known as ‘combo lists’, and, they believe, indecent images of children. 1337 is internet slang for ‘elite’, and is associated with online gaming and hacking culture.
Despite using VPNs to mask his location, logins were traced back to Blakeney Close in Hackney, where Richard was arrested in April 2021. A video of the arrest shows Richard looking stunned. There NCA and Met Police officers seized a computer tower with 142 combo lists stored on it, each containing personal details which had been stolen and could have been used to defraud victims.
Richard’s phone also contained 29 indecent images and conversations about hacking, selling illegally obtained information, and how to avoid detection. Though he was spared prison, Richard is subject to a 10-year sexual harm prevention order (SHPO) that limits his access to the internet and allows police to monitor any devices.
A few months after Richard walked out of Snaresbrook Crown Court, Barthimaus Ehiemere appeared in the dock facing an even bigger indictment. That trial heard how Barthimaus raped multiple boys, one as young as 12, and ran a social media channel where groomed underage boys for explicit videos, and offered paltry sums of money for sex.
During his evidence, one of the rape victims said: “Looking back now it looked like he had a ring of people he was doing these things with and having sex with.”
MyLondon also knows one of the child rape victims had previously been raped by a different paedophile they met on a different website. We reported on the case at the time, but have chosen not to share further details to protect the boy’s identity.
For the portion of the trial we attended, it was not clear whether Barthimaus’ online activities have been linked to CVLT, but his sentencing hearing on October 10 may shed more light.
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