Child sex offences.

Fugitive Paedophile Arrested in Dover

A fugitive paedophile, Mezbaha Uddin, was arrested by police in Dover after being found hiding in a lorry bound for France. Uddin is now facing a lengthy prison sentence after a jury convicted him of a string of child sex offenses.

The 39-year-old had been under investigation by Nottinghamshire Police for a series of offenses committed between September 2018 and July 2020. A jury found him guilty of 16 child sex offenses, including 10 counts of attempting to engage in sexual communications with a child and six counts of inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. He is scheduled to be sentenced on October 22.

Canterbury Crown Court heard that Uddin's arrest followed an allegation of sexual communication with a child in Nottinghamshire in July 2019. Evidence presented to the jury revealed that Uddin had communicated with a decoy account set up by an online child activist group.

The group alerted police when Uddin sent indecent images of himself and arranged to meet what he believed was a 14-year-old girl in Mansfield. Uddin was arrested and his mobile phone was seized. Messages from a chatroom website revealed that Uddin had attempted to engage in sexual communications with over a dozen underage girls, in some cases with the intention of meeting them in person.

On other occasions, he encouraged girls to engage in sexual activity while he watched. Detective Constable Stuart Dolby, of Nottinghamshire Police's public protection team, welcomed the convictions.

"This was a complex and thorough investigation which included disturbing evidence for our officers to deal with," said Dolby. "I am pleased with the verdicts and I hope they send a clear message that Nottinghamshire Police will do what is necessary to tackle these crimes and to protect the most vulnerable people in our communities."

"Child sex offences of any kind are taken incredibly seriously and we have a number of tactics in place to catch offenders out. No child should be subjected to any sexual offence and it's our duty to protect them."