Man from Selby jailed for child sex offences

Today, Friday 14 March, a man from Wistow near Selby has been jailed for more than six years for committing child sex offences.

Oliver Thomas Lupton Lane, 24, of Richmond Hill, Garman Carr Lane, Wistow, Selby pleaded guilty to 11 of 18 charges; including sexual activity with a child, arranging or facilitating the commission of a child sex offence and several charges of making indecent photographs of children.

He was sentenced to six years and 10 months at York crown court.

The court heard that officers from North Yorkshire Police were alerted to a disclosure from a child that she had started speaking to a man on SnapChat and they had met and engaged in sexual activity. The child was fourteen years old when the sexual activity had taken place. Oliver Lane was quickly identified as the suspect and arrested. Officers seized several electronic devices from Lane. Child sexual abuse material of the victim was located on these devices. North Yorkshire Police’s Victim Identification Unit also identified two other children who featured in child abuse material found on Lane’s devices.

North Yorkshire Police’s Digital Forensic Unit were able to repair and download one of the victim’s phones. A lengthy SnapChat conversation between the victim and Lane was recovered. The contents of the chat clearly show that Lane was fully aware of the child’s age and yet he went on to groom her, cause her to make explicit photographs and video and to meet her for sex. 

Lane was charged with 18 offences which included engaging in penetrative sexual activity with a girl aged 13-15, cause / inciting a girl 13-15 to engage in sexual activity, engaging in sexual communications with a child, make indecent images of a child and blackmail.

At the time he was identified as a suspect Lane was in his third year of a law degree and had boasted to one of his victims that he was already a lawyer.

Detective Constable Oliver Dalby from York CID said: “The offences for which Lane has pleaded guilty are wholly reprehensible. He has inflicted such a profound level of emotional trauma upon one of his victims, that she is unsure whether she will ever fully recover.

“Throughout the investigation, Lane has shown no remorse. His decision to enter guilty pleas just before the start of his trial meant that one of his victims had already undergone a pre-recorded cross examination, in which she had to revisit the abuse that she had suffered.      

“I would like to thank the victims in this case for their bravery, trust and patience, it would not have been possible to bring Lane to justice without their co-operation. “