A former children’s holiday camp manager who groomed more than 70 teenage boys online by pretending to be a 16-year-old girl has pleaded guilty.
The National Crime Agency investigated Cameron Osman, 44, from Southampton, who used the online alias ‘Lizzielemon’ to identify his victims on Instagram, MyLol and Love Crush, before moving them on to Google Hangouts, Discord and Skype.
He engaged them in sexualised chat revolving around a fantasy online world with Osman pretending to be a teenage girl. He never identified himself, instead telling victims his camera was broken.
Osman would tell his victims that ‘Lizzielemon’ was from Bristol or Birmingham, that he had a fetish for dominating boys in school uniform and sports kit, and for conducting teacher/student role plays.
The offending took place between 2020 and 2021.
The NCA tracked Osman down to a friend’s address in Crowborough, East Sussex, in September 2021 and arrested him.
He had resigned from his job at a holiday camp activity centre in Hailsham a few days earlier.
His laptop and mobile phone were seized, and Osman was found to have contacted 76 boys in the UK aged between 12 and 16 during the offending period. All have been safeguarded.
Officers found no evidence of Osman grooming children at the activity centre.
Investigators in the United States also uncovered chat logs showing sexualised communication by Osman with underage boys in 27 countries. He also searched online for underage boys in Colombia, where he was planning to visit.
Osman was released on bail as the investigation continued, but proceeded to offend again, leading to his arrest on 27 March this year after a further victim was identified. Osman pretended to be a younger man on this occasion and shared photos of himself.
Osman appeared at St Albans Crown Court yesterday (2 May) where he pleaded guilty to 36 separate charges, including attempting to incite a child to engage in sexual activity, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, sexual communication with a child, and making two category C indecent images of children.
NCA Operations Manager Danielle Pownall said: “Cameron Osman callously preyed on vulnerable teenage boys, masquerading as a teenage girl for his own sexual gratification.
“I have no doubt, if we had not stopped Osman he would have gone on to commit more severe offending.
“We will continue to work with our partners across the world to combat the perpetrators of online child sexual abuse, and hold people like Osman accountable for their crimes.”
Osman is due to be sentenced at the same court on Friday, 30 June.
The NCA’s CEOP Education programme supports parents, carers, children and the professionals to ensure young people have safe and positive experiences online.
Anyone being pressured or threatened into sending sexual images or videos online should remove themselves immediately from the conversation, not respond further to any contact, and report the matter to police or a trusted adult.
There are a range of resources available on our website, thinkuknow.co.uk, for adults – to support them in navigating the online world and conversations about it with their children, and children themselves – to help build their resilience online and learn what to do if something doesn’t seem right.
3 May 2023
