FOUR ‘sickening’ paedophiles will be sentenced at the Old Bailey today following a lengthy investigation by the Met’s Paedophile Unit.

It took two years for the officers to trace and secure convictions for the offenders, whose assaults on children spanned more than 20 years.

Operation Doorknock uncovered a wealth of evidence at private residences along with more than ten pallets of material recovered from a storage facility. It gave officers a disturbing insight into the men’s level of criminal offending.

The men, Julian Levene, Keith Charles Romig, Leslie Kenneth Baldwin and Trevor Mellis all pleaded guilty to their part in a paedophile ring following the Unit’s investigation.

Detective Constable Andy Murray said a search at Romig’s address in April 2000 revealed him as ‘storeman’ of paedophilia collections across England. The men actively used an appreciation society for child star, Hazel Ascott, founded in the 1940s, as a communication network.

Intelligence uncovered systematic and organised sexual abuse of children in London, the Home Counties and Yorkshire.

According to Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Dave Marshall, the men are calculating and manipulative.

Sickening

“We recovered a vast quantity of material showing the serious sexual abuse of children, including a sickening hand-written list entitled ‘The Hobby Do’s and Don’ts’. This was a guide on how to ‘groom children’ (for sexual abuse) who were referred to as ‘The Hobby’.

“We were able to detail their offending behaviour as predatory paedophiles with the behaviour advocated in the ‘Hobby Do’s and Don’ts’.”

Examining evidence was difficult and lengthy with the recovery of over 110 videos and films of graphic child pornography; 10,000 photographs; 32,000 negatives; 18 audiotapes with detailed conversations of a sexual nature with children and 500 assorted magazines containing 8,000 indecent photographs.

DC Murray said evidence was prioritised to find similarities in order to identify victims. They were interviewed by MPS child protection officers seconded to Operation Doorknock. Staff from the NSPCC and AMIP also assisted. “Some of the photos had names on the back,” said DCI Marshall. “A number of pictures showed more than one child and we were helped by victims remembering other victims’ names.”

Victims

“These men would groom the whole family,” said DC Murray. “They would make friends with parents in order to abuse their children.”

l Anyone with information about the existence of child pornography is asked to contact the freephone MPS Child Pornography information line on 0808 100 0040.