Paedophile goaded police officers to ‘keep digging’ after arrest for targeting boys

A paedophile posed as a 16-year-old girl called Chloe on Snapchat and Instagram to blackmail indecent images from young boys.

Jay Lang, 24, from Canvey Island in Essex, also attempted to ‘groom police officers’ and taunted detectives to ‘keep digging’, a new documentary has claimed.

Lang would target boys aged 11 to 16 before conversations turned sexually explicit, as he would encourage them to send him indecent videos and photos of themselves.

Unbeknownst to the victims, Lang was using a screen-recording app on his phone and would save the images to later use them to blackmail the boys.

He would reveal himself as a man and ask for more images or demand cash, threatening to publish the photos if they did not comply.

Essex Police opened one of their largest ever child sexual exploitation cases to bring Lang to justice after a victim raised the alarm.

When Lang was questioned at Basildon police station in Essex, officers were filmed asking him about how hundreds of thousands of indecent images ended up on his phone.

For a new episode of Channel 4’s Social Media Monsters, the video footage of the interview was analysed by a clinical psychologist and a detective.

In the footage, Lang can be heard urging officers to ‘keep digging’, prompting one officer to respond: ‘We’ve completed the investigation, and it points to you, mate. That’s the reason why we’re here.’

He also says: ‘Keep digging, it won’t, trust me.’

When asked whether he is sure, he replies: ‘I’m 100 per cent it won’t.’

The officer says: ‘But you seem to be indicating that there’s someone else involved in this and you’re not responsible. Is that right? Is that what you’re indicating?’

Lang tells him: ‘Even if I did give you a name, I’m just going to be in here even longer.’

Another officer told Lang that police ‘can only hold you for a certain amount of time,’ after which the first officer added, ‘In the grand scheme of things, isn’t that a good thing when it comes to getting this sorted out and showing that you’re not the person responsible?’

DS Ben Rushmere, supervising officer at Essex Police, analysed the video and said: ‘He was trying to groom us as well, which I find quite common in predators and sexual offenders.

‘They don’t normally fight with police, they don’t normally want to be your enemy, they want to be your friend.

‘They almost play the victims themselves in front of us.’

Clinical psychologist Dr Roberta Babb adds: ‘By saying ‘keep digging’, he is really demonstrating a lack of remorse.

‘But I think what he’s also trying to do is to maintain a sense of control and superiority because we know that power and control were core aspects of his offending behaviour.’

One of Lang’s victims was sexually abused after feeling like they had no choice but to meet him, the court was told.

Lang also blackmailed another boy into filming himself performing a sex act with a male friend.

The offending occurred over three years, from 2019 to 2021, and was uncovered in November 2021 after one of the victims reported what had happened to the police, the court heard.

Police analysis of Lang’s phone identified 540 videos and 140,000 images.

A total of 220 potential victims were identified and 26 of them provided evidential accounts to officers.

One victim told how he was sent a selfie-style image of a topless teenage girl, who he thought he was speaking with.

Lang’s fake social media account said it was ‘only fair’ that the boy should send an image back, which the victim did with an image of his genitals.

Further images and a video of the boy performing a sex act were requested by the account.

When the boy tried to end contact with the account, Lang got in touch through a separate account, revealing himself as a man.

He threatened to share the images with the boy’s family and friends.

Lang asked the boy to meet him in person, to which the boy agreed due to the threats of publishing the images, the court heard.

The boy was then driven to a secluded location in a van and was sexually abused by Lang.

The court also heard that Lang demanded £2,000 from another victim, threatening to post the images on Facebook if payment was not made.

Lang admitted to 46 offences, including causing or inciting a child to engage in sexual activity, blackmail and causing or inciting child sexual exploitation.

He also admitted to arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and to causing or inciting child prostitution or pornography.

Lang was placed under an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and ordered to remain on the sex offenders’ register for the rest of his life.

He was jailed for 21 years with an extended licence period of six years afterwards.

See the full story on Channel 4’s Social Media Monsters – 10pm, Tuesday 13 January, Channel 4.

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